"That's so adorable," Erza whispered with a small smile, eyes sparkling. Clearly, she was getting into the story. "You found your true love. . .At such a young age as well!"

   "This sounds like a fairy tale," Lucy sighed, a hand on her cheek. "You should really write a book, you got all of us so wrapped in. . ."

   "This is the boring icky stuff!" Natsu complained. "Can we get to the action pack scene yet?! I wanna hear you two take on some bad guys!" 

   "You idiot," Gray hissed to Natsu. "She's getting there! Stories take time, not everything is just a fight and over with!"

   "Well, my  stories are."

   "Which is why they suck."

   "Why you!"

   "Hey," Gajeel finally snapped at the two. Everyone had shifted to a couch or chair, but Gabbey who leaned heavily against Gajeel's leg. Juvia was on one side of Gabbey's side and Levy on the other. Both were holding her hands, already knowing the story all too well. Gajeel was gently running his fingers through Gabbey's hair to calm her down. "Would you shut up? Going through this is hard enough for her, but hearing you two must be so much worse!"

The ice and fire mage stopped, eyes wide at the warning in Gajeel's voice. They've never heard him sound so serious before, especially over another person.

   "We need to be quiet," Wendy nodded in agreement, sitting next to Lucy on the love seat. 

   "Gabbey?" Daella asked softly, noting the woman's defeated figure. "Are you able to go on?"

   "Yeah," Gabbey cleared her throat. "Yeah, just give me a moment."

Daella nodded solemnly, sinking into the chair and Panther Lily's side. The Exceeds had a couch to themselves, albeit it was the smallest one. 

Gabbey closed her eyes, letting Gajeel know through the bond that she was really okay, just trying to get her thoughts together. With a deep breathe, she continued. 

   "I guess it was kinda like a fairy tale. At the time, I thought it was just that, nothing was ever going to tear us down or apart. Not just with my relationship with Akemi, but my relationships with Juvia, with Gajeel, hell even my guild mates. But like all stories, even fairy tales, there is always a down fall."

🌹🌹🌹

It was another day at Phantom Lord. The sun was actually shining today, the weather was nice, and everyone was complaining about the rising guild Fairy Tail. Not that they didn't know of Fairy tail they've been around for years now, but they have recently been getting a lot  more popular. 

Gajeel, Gabbey, Juvia, and Akemi sat at their regular spot with Gabbey having an arm wrapped around her girlfriend. 

Akemi had recently just turned eighteen, leaving the other three of the group to make fun of the youngest member. But, nothing was really happening. Especially since it seemed that Fairy Tail was taking more of Phantom Lord's job requests. 

    ("That wasn't our fault!" Natsu snapped, causing him to be hit in the head. 

   "Shut up already!" )

Although the job requests were low, the days were looking up. Well, at least to them. Without them knowing, something greater was brewing beneath the pan they all were in. 

   "I just don't think that it's that smart or heroic to shove yourself in front of a sword or bullet for someone else!" Gabbey groaned through their argument. "If you have enough time to get in front of the damn thing, then you have enough time to push the other person and  yourself out of the way!"

   "Juvia thinks that it would be romantic for someone to do that," Juvia said, sipping on her drink from the bar. "For someone to try and save Juvia."

   "See, Juvia gets it!" Akemi exclaimed, slamming her hands on the table in front of them. "It's romantic and you save them!" 

   "I'm with Gabbey on this one, Kemi," Gajeel grunted, grinding the bolts. "It is pretty stupid to throw yourself in harms way, when you can easily push both of you out of the way."

   "You guys just don't know how to be romantic!" Akemi huffed. "Gajeel, you've never even took a girl out on a date!" 

   "Because girls are overrated," Gajeel responded. "Besides, I haven't found the one yet." 

   "Don't be saying I'm not a romantic woman," Gabbriel chided with a grin, leaning in close to Akemi's ear. "I mean, I swooned you pretty well last night,"

   "Speaking of last night!" Gajeel snapped suddenly, turning red slightly. "You need to warn me when you're gonna do stuff like that! I didn't want to hear any of that!"

   "Believe me, we learned to tell you when we plan on doing stuff when you walked in on us one time," Gabbey deadpanned as Akemi blushed madly, burying her face in her hands. "Last night just. . .happened."

   "Then keep it down!" Gajeel argued. "You're my sister, dammit, I don't need to be hearing that shit!" 

Gabbey started to cackled at that, tears welling up in her eyes. "Then you must have heard Akemi's slip up! You couldn't have missed it, she moaned 'Dadd-'"

    "Shut up!" Akemi cried out, covering Gabbey's laughing mouth. "No one else need to know about that! It's not funny!"

   "It is pretty funny," Gajeel suddenly snickered. "I didn't expect to hear that."

   "Was that why we heard you laughing?!"

   "What else would I be laughing at?"

   "Juvia is confused. What did Akemi say?"

   "S-She said, 'Da-'"

   "Gabbriel!"

   "What?"

   "We're never doing it again at your guys place. Ever."

   "Aw, Akemi! We were just joking around!" Gabbey whined. 

   "That doesn't-"

   "Akemi! Gabbriel!" At the new voice to holler their name, the two looked up to see Master Jose staring at them. "Come up to the throne room for me, will ya?"

He didn't wait for an answer as he turned around and walked back up the steps to the said room. Gabbey's face dropped, eyes wide. 

   "This is it. I'm going to die, all because I'm dating the master's niece."

   "You aren't going to die-"

   "Goodbye, cruel world!"

   "Shut up," Gajeel rolled his eyes. "He probably has a job for you two, better get up there before he gives it away."

   "Juvia will see her friends later, then," Juvia waved goodbye to the two women. 

   "Keep an eye on Gajeel for me, will ya?" 

   "Juvia will."

   "I'm not a damn baby!"

   "Then stop pouting like one!"

   "We'll see you later, Juvia, Gajeel," Akemi interrupted the incoming argument, giving Gajeel and Juvia a hug before pushing Gabbey up the stairs. Gabbey blew a kiss to the two of them before the door slammed shut behind them.

With a teasing smile on her face, Gabbriel took hold of Akemi's hand and gently guided her up the stairs towards the big meeting room. Unlike the throne room that the huge space would soon turn into, there was a long wooden table with enough chairs for ten people. Not including the two seats at each end of the table, which is where Jose sat currently.

   "If it isn't my favorite niece!" Master Jose smiled, eyes not yet vacant. 

   "I'm pretty sure I'm your only niece," Akemi giggled, sliding in a chair next to her uncle. Gabbey easily put herself in the chair next to Akemi, letting go of her hand to lightly rest her hand on Akemi's knee. 

   "Pish, posh," Jose waved his hand around. "Shall we get on to the real reason you two are here?" When the two women nodded, he spoke up. "You both know how lately we've been steering towards the. . .darker jobs for the guild, since most jobs are being taken up by Fairy Tail?"

   "They must have some pretty good wizards," Gabbey admitted with narrowed eyes. "To be able to take most of the jobs."

   "I've heard they have a dragon slayer in Fairy tail," Akemi mused. "I don't know his name, though. People call him 'Salamander'." Gabbey snorted but chose not to comment. 

   "Well, to prove to the magic council that we haven't. . .turned from the light, their words, they have given me a job to prove our loyalty."

Gabbey had to give the Magic Council a point, Phantom Lord has recently started to get more disturbing jobs just to keep the guild running. Some weren't that bad, but others. . .Gabbey shuddered. 

   "So, with you two being trusted members of the guild, I'm offering you this job." Jose continued. "You will just have to infiltrate the dark guild, Serpents, and see what they are scheming up. There has been talk that the guild is planning on overthrowing the current Magic Council and, hopefully, conquer the world."

   "Serpents," Gabbey hummed. "I haven't heard of a guild like that. . ."

   "It's a mostly new guild," Jose admitted, clasping his hands together. "But I know you two have what it takes to get in, get out, and report back."

   "Is there anything else? Does the Magic Council know what kind of plan they schemed up?" Akemi asked, pursing her lips in thought. "And what about our Phantom Lord guild marks?"

Gabbey raised her hand to gently brush it over her upper back, not feeling the mark but know it was there in a fiery reddish black color. Akemi's own fingers brushed over her yellow stamp that was on her outer thigh. 

   "Your marks could just easily be covered up by your clothes," Jose answered, eyeing the tank top at Gabbriel wore and the shorts that Akemi wore. The two of them huffed. "But, they say that there informer caught the guild guarding a huge rock. . .They think it might be the Infinity Elixir Stone. There's also reports of them building a machine underground."

   "The Infinity Elixir Stone?!" Akemi gasped out. "B-But, the stone has been lost since Zeref fell!"

   "What's the Infinity Elixir Stone?" Gabbey asked cautiously. 

   "It was rumored, back when Zeref was trying to take over the world and become the most powerful wizard, he had created a weapon with powers to raise the undead. But, once he fell, he destroyed the weapon into piles of rubble, eventually sinking into the ground and charming the Earth beneath it. Thus, a stone with the magic power to revive the dead, or live forever, was made. The catch, some say a curse, is that it could only revive one single person." Akemi explained, before adding, "If it's even real. Some say the Infinity Elixir Stone is only a theft's dream."

   "But we can't take any chances, myth or not. We need to get back on the Magic Council's good side. Are you two in?"

🌹🌹🌹

   "How do we even get into the guild?!" Akemi groaned as the two women hiked through a dense forest. "It's a dark guild! I'm pretty sure they just don't willingly accept people into their guild. What if we have to kill someone?!"

   "I'm sure it won't come to that," Gabbey sighed, rolling her eyes. "Calm down, we'll find a way to get into the guild when it comes time."

Akemi muttered something under her breathe, tugging on the tights she wore. They were a solid black, unlike her see-through tights she wore regularly, and she still kept her black and white shirt, yellow jacket, and converse on. 

Gabbey, on the other hand, had to abandon her tank tops and crop tops for a tight-fit T-shirt. It was a solid red color, with a black leather jacket thrown over her shoulders. Not really thinking about it much, she threw her black fingerless gloves on as well. 

   "How long did Jose give us for this mission?" Akemi asked, skipping over a fallen log. 

   "He gave us a month. I told him we could get it done in a week, but he wants us to infiltrate the guild and gain their trust. He gave us this thingy," Gabbey dug around in her bag before pulling out a small lacrima, "To send him a short message saying we need a couple more days."

   "Smart."

   "I know, right?"

 The two women continued to walk through the forest, keeping their conversations to a minimal as the sun slowly turned into the moon. Dark shadows plagued the ground they walked on and the thoughts in their heads, but they continued on, stopping only when they heard a cry for help. 

   "Gabbey," Akemi hissed, coming to a stop as the Dragon Slayer kept going. "Stop!"

   "As harsh as it sounds, love, saving people isn't the mission. We gotta find the guild hall of this Serpent guild." Gabbey paused, glancing behind her, only to see Akemi running towards the cries for help. "Why do I even bother at this point?"

With a groan of annoyance, Gabbriel followed behind the spunky noirette, easily keeping pace with her until they skidded to a stop at a clearing. In front of them, was a young girl with silver hair that glimmered in the moonlight. She let out another shriek, what looked like sound waves coming from her mouth, before thrusting her hands towards the creature that lumbered towards her. 

The creature itself was huge, towering near the top of the trees just on its four legs, with a long green tail to sweep the said trees up from their roots. It's claws were huge and it's teeth bared threateningly. 

    "We got to help her!" Akemi gasped, eyes watching the fight. When Gabbey didn't respond, she turned her hard gaze towards her. "Gabbriel, if you do not help me help that girl, I will do it myself! She's barely a teen!"

Gabbey scanned the beast once more, her thoughts going to the fact that Akemi could barely protect herself from the monster, much less someone else. She sighed. "Get the girl to safety, I got the beast."

   "You're such a softie!" Akemi cheered quietly, pecking Gabbey's cheek before rushing towards the girl with a bright moonlight shield protecting her. Gabbey rolled her head and shoulders, stalking towards the beast.

   "Over here!" Gabbey called out, waving her arm to get the beasts attention. Luckily, it slowly started to turn its head over. "Yup! Talking to you, big boy! Why don't you try to chomp down on some of this metal?"

When the lumbering green giant got closer, Gabbriel narrowed her eyes and muttered, "Metal-Make; Hammer!"

A huge iron hammer appeared from thin air, a rose signal on its side and the handle twisting like vines. The beast snarled at the new threat, starting to run towards Gabbey. 

   "Hammer Time!" Gabbey called before swinging the hammer full-force into the monster's jaw. The green beast went flying, far off into the distance with a wail of pain. Gabbey let out a yawn, letting the hammer disappear as soon as the monster was far enough. "Well, I had my time."

   "Gabbey!" Akemi cheered, rushing towards the red-eyed woman and throwing her arms around Gabbey's neck. "That was so cool! That hammer was pretty, too! I've never seen that weapon before!"

   "I just thought it up then and there," Gabbey admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck. Akemi giggled and gave her a gentle peck on the lips, making Gabbey sputter. "W-W-hat, Why-"

   "Gabbey," Akemi let go of her love, wrapping a gentle arm around the shorter new girl, with moonlight hair. "This is Maja, she's from the Serpent guild," Akemi sent Gabbey a look. "Maja, this is my love, Gabbriel."

   "Just call me Gabbey," The said woman tried a smile and stuck out her hand. Maja shook it was a grin. 

   "You both are so pretty!" Maja exclaimed. "Thank you so much for helping me! I was just heading back into town from a mission and that thing appeared. . .I was just too tired to fight it."

Gabbey winced internally. She talked too fast. 

   "But you looked like you had it handled! Thank you, again," Maja yawned before stammered. "I-I should probably get back to my guild. . ."

   "Actually!" Akemi interfered. "Do you think we could join you? We are actually looking for the town the Serpents are in, we would love to join the guild."

Maja gave her a slightly suspicious look. "You. . .want to join Serpents?" 

   "Our last guild wasn't going anywhere. Especially since that idiotic guild, Fairy Tail, is such a rise. We heard joining with the Serpents can help us become stronger and that's what we both want." Gabbey lied smoothly, covering their ass. 

   "What was your last guild?"

   "Titan Nose," Akemi scoffed, shaking her head. She caught onto the plan easily. "The guild master is just a old fart that can't lead his guild to greater power. Not like Serpents can."

Maja seem to think about this, orange eyes flickering between the two women before nodding slowly. "Okay. . .I can take you to the guild hall, actually. But it's not up to me if you get to join."

   "Sounds like a plan!" Akemi cheered, about to set off, before Gabbey stopped her. 

   "How about we set up camp here for tonight?" Gabbey offered, looking at the exhausted Maja. She could relate. "We've all had a long day of traveling. Lets rest, wait till the suns up, and go from there."

   "But. . ." Akemi trailed before nodding, grasping Maja's shoulders gently. "Okay. Maja, lets go find some firewood while Gabbey sets up the tent. . ."

Gabbey watched Akemi and Maja make there way to the edge of the clearing. She huffed, wondering how long this could hold up, and got the tent out. 

🌹🌹🌹

True to her words, Gabbey had the two other girls up just as the sun was fully risen. They journeyed a good while, Maja and Akemi easily filling the time with chatter. It wasn't until high noon did they reached the town. 

Caister City. 

And a city it was. 

Tall buildings reached for the sky, no more than five stories up. The pathways were made of fine cobblestone, not a trace of grace peaking through. Color was everywhere, from the buildings, to the vendors that littered the streets, and all the way to the people. Flags flew, birds chirped, and children laughing rang through the air. 

   "We're here!" Maja cheered. "Caister City! Who would ever look for a guild like Serpents here?!"

   "Someone who keeps shouting it at the top of her lungs," Gabbey responded dryly, but Akemi's voice drowned her out. 

   "It's so pretty here! I can already see the hotel we can check into, Gabs!" 

   "Oh, no," Maja shook her head and started to lead the group again. "If you get into the guild, you get to stay in the guild's buildings. Master has to keep an eye on us just in case."

   "So where is the guild's building?" Gabbey asked. 

   "Rightttt, there!" Maja pointed to the tall castle that looked over the city. It, as well, was decorated brightly, but there was a subtle hint of the darkness that lurked in its corners. It blended in nicely, but the two Phantom Lord members knew better. 

   "The castle?" Akemi guessed, feigning the lack of knowledge they possessed. Jose had said something about them having a castle. 

   "It's more than a castle," Maja grinned, a bit of insanity shining in her eyes. "It didn't come from me, but there's something underneath that will definitely bring order back in this damn world."

   "Can't wait to see if we'll be apart of it," Gabbey grinned right back. Akemi nodded in agreement. 

  "Then lets get you in front of Grand Master Chai! I'm sure he'll be excited for the new helping hands," Maja exclaimed, speeding up. The two women followed closely, marking the city with steady eyes. 

The closer the group got to the the castle, the crowds started to thin out. It wasn't so noticeable unless you were looking for the right things. Either the people in this city knew about the darkness that made its home here, or it was just natural. It didn't make Gabbey feel better. Akemi grabbed at Gabbey's hand, and laced their fingers together. Gabbey pulled her closer. 

Soon, the cobblestones turned into gravel. As they entered the castle, the floors went from rocks to metal and wooden walls kept the ceiling high. An advantage for Gabbey, if it came down to it. Their footsteps were quick to multiple as more people started to fill in. The red-eyed girl glanced behind them, seeing wizards clearly in the guild closing off their entrance way. 

And only known exit. 

The space before then expanded out into a humongous throne room, still with metal flooring, but the walls became stone instead of wood. In front of them were a small level of steps that lead up to a throne made of sharp pointed swords. And sitting on the throne, was an old man. 

His eyes were dark and cold, but something flashed in his eyes at the appearance of Akemi and Gabbriel. It was gone before she could even identify it.

    "Grand Master Chai!" Maja knelt in front of the self-proclaimed Grand Master. Gabbey's lip twitched. "I have returned from my mission!"

   "And?" The old man's voice wasn't as croaky as Gabbey thought it would be. It was smooth, with a hint of razor point edge to it. This wasn't someone they wanted to mess with. 

   "It was a success!" Maja didn't dare raise her head, but there was a smile on her face. "I have the prize in my bag as of this moment."

   "Good," Chai mused. "Now, who are these. . .wizards behind you?"

Maja stood back up, moving to stand behind Akemi and Gabbriel, muttering a 'Introduce yourself and kneel'  before speaking up again. "They wish to speak to you, Grand Master Chai. I feel, no, I know they will be of great help."

If Gabbey didn't notice the crowd that gathered at the edge of the room, hidden in the shadows, she would now. There was a murmur that spread throughout the room and even the darkness seem to dance. 

   "Very well," Chai turned his cold gaze to the two girls. "Well?"

In unison, Akemi and Gabbriel knelt before this so-called Grand Master. "My name is Gabbriel Gilbert. This is my girlfriend,"

   "Akemi Doxter,"

   "We wish to join you guild." There was a small pause. 

   "Why?"

Akemi pursed her lips in thought, but Gabbey easily answered. "We have heard rumors about this guild. About how within the next couple years, it will rise above everyone, including the Magic Council! We simply wish to be apart of something so. . ."

   "Breath-taking," Akemi answered, her voice dripping in fake enthusiasm. "The idea that something can raise above the Magic Council is something we want to help happen."

The two Phantom Lord members, undercover, held their breathes. This was it. Either they made it in, and it made this whole damn job a lot easier, or they didn't make the cut. Gabbriel prayed to whatever God watched over them for Grand Master Chai to choose the right choice for them. 

   "What are your powers, girls?" Chai asked, his voice peaking in interest. The two girls straighten up to look at him slightly, but still knelt. 

   "I am a Metal Makers. I can control any and all metals, also creating whatever still-objects that I think up." Gabbey answered halfly. Maybe they could keep this Dragon Slayer magic on the downlow. 

   "I am a Light Manipulator." Akemi echoed after. "I can manipulate sunlight, and or moonlight."

Again, with the small pause. A woman, that had easily blended into the shadows behind Chai's throne leaned forward and whispered something into his ear. Her figure was thin and bony, with sleek black hair, but Gabbey could feel there was something more she was missing. Chai nodded before turning back to the kneeling girls. 

   "Parker. Show these ladies where they can get their guild marks, and where they will be staying."

Within the four weeks that they were in the guild, Akemi and Gabbriel had found little information about this so-called Infinity Elixir Stone.  They haven't even had a whiff of the plan Serpents had for the stone. Earlier that morning, before they went down to the section of the castle for food, they sent Jose a message that they needed more time. 

But, while in the castle that belonged to the dark guild, they had gotten close to their guild members. Maja, who never seem to leave the twos side, became especially close to them. Akemi didn't mine, but Gabbey was not use to having two easily-excited people around her. Surprisingly, she had gotten close to a woman named Imogen and a man named Divine. While Imogen was usually quiet and kept to herself, the two girls had pretty good conversations together. Divine, at first, was shy. But, he soon came out of his shell and talked a lot more. 

Besides those three, there was three other girls they talked too - Hughie, Parker, and Santino - and a four others guys - Rui, Bryson, Thia, and Ethan. There were way too many people in the Serpents guild, a lot more than the two girls anticipated, but they somehow managed. 

Jose did send them on this mission because  of their skill. 

It wasn't until another week had passed before they finally got something creditable to search after. It came from a person. And as much as Akemi opposed from using this person, they knew that their time was running short.

The person it came from was a twelve-year-old silvered hair girl, with beautiful orange eyes. 

Maja Ortiz. 

🌹🌹🌹

   "Are you sure that it's in here?" Gabbey hissed. 

   "Absolutely!" Akemi replied softly, her head peaking out of the door way to make sure no one was coming. "Maja said that she had the stone in her bag. They lead her here, and put the stone in a safe of some sorts."

   "Well, I don't see a safe!" Gabbey let out a groan. "I see nothing but dusty old shelves and random boxes filled with junk."

   "Maja might have meant a different room," Akemi admitted slowly, her gaze going from the dark hallway to her love. "I'm pretty sure there are thousands of old storage rooms."

   "We'll just have to keep looking. . ." Gabbriel trailed off, her eyebrows furrowing as her nose twitched. "Hold up."

   "What?" Akemi moved from the door to get closer. "Did you find it?"

   "Stay there," Gabbey demanded, waving her hand in front of her. "Your cherry scent is going to throw me off."

   "I smell like cherries?"

   "Not the point. If this room is suppose to just be filled with random junk," Gabbey stepped closer to a shelf, bracing her hands against the side. "Then why do I smell fresh oil."

Grunting, Gabbey pushed against the shelf in front of her. Slowly, the tall thing moved and reveled an opened doorway. It lead into darkness, but Gabbey could now smell fresh air, oil, and water. "Bingo."

   "A secret passage," Akemi murmured in awe, standing next to Gabbey. "This must lead to Serpents secret plan."

   "Only one way to find out," Gabbey replied, starting their long walk. Akemi followed close behind, lighting her hand up to be use as a guiding light.  They walked for what seemed like hours, but was most likely only ten minutes. Unless time wasn't a concept down this tunnel, but Gabbey highly doubted that. 

When the tunnel opened up into a ginormous cavern, the girls gasped. Not because of the view, but because of the giant machine that filled up most of the space. 

There was a platform in the middle, with some kind of pedestal that Gabbey assume was where the stone was suppose to be. But it was empty. The machine didn't just fill up the caves' space, a lot of the machine was buried underground. Probably to get more range underneath. There wasn't much on top, just a metal column that went through the roof and surely to the ground above. 

   "Whoa," Akemi breathed, eyes wide. "This. . .This machine is huge! What kind of bidding does it do?"

   "I'm not sure," Gabbey murmured. "Maybe it causes earthquakes? The machine does go down pretty far."

   "Then what is that column that goes up? Surely that reaches the ground up top. Maybe its an evil red laser?" Akemi replied. 

   "No, but those are very good ideas."

Akemi dropped their light, turning around to face the owner of the voice, while Gabbey shoved the light wizard behind her. In front of them, the cave wall wavered before disappear completely. Three figures stood there instead.

One, was the same woman that seemed stuck to Chai's side, never once leaving unless ordered. Her eyes looked completely dead, grey and emotionless. The next was that damn old fart, Chai, who was smiling at them like he knew all along. Lastly, was the same silver haired girl with sparkling orange eyes that brought them here. 

   "Maja. . ."

   "No, this machine doesn't cause earthquakes," Chai corrected them nonchalantly. "And that metal column that leads topside? Yeah, that's just a solar panel to get energy from the sun. Because what are we, monsters?"

   "If you don't count raising the dead to take over the magic world, then yeah, I guess you aren't monsters," Gabbey retorted with a small grin. 

   "Raising the dead?" Chai snorted, shaking his head. "Is that what he put on that letter? Dear god."

   "How do you know about the letter?" Gabbey demanded, narrowed eyes widening in shock.

   "You really  didn't think that the Magic Council called on some nearing dark guild to solve their problems? Please!" Chai laughed. 

   "The message wasn't from the Magic Council?" Akemi whispered in disbelief. 

   "As if! I really have perfected Crawford Seams' signature. Hard work pays off," Chai sighed, waving his hand towards the two girls in front of him. "I'm bored. Maja, take care of them."

   "Maja," Akemi started off, holding her hands up in a calming gesture. "Come on now, you don't have to do this."

   "Don't try to sugarcoat your way out of this," Maja cried. "Chai told me everything! How you only became my friend to use me! To get the stupid stone!"

   "That's not why we became friends with you," Gabbey confessed. "We stuck around with you, so we could take you with us when the mission was over."

   "You may only be eight years younger than us, but we still want to become your moms," Akemi added. "Remember? We talked about just the other night."

   "That was before I knew you two were traitors," Maja snapped. "Serpents found me and gave me a purpose. Nothing is going to stop us from raising Zeref."

   "Zeref?!" Gabbey and Akemi exclaimed. 

   "Maja!"

   "Banshee Cry!" Maja screamed. 

   "Met-"

The two Phantom Lord spies flew back at the wailing cry that left Maja's throat, causing them to hit the rock wall behind them. Gabbey covered her ears, trying to block out the noise, but it was no use. It still rung in her ears and caused her ears to start bleeding. 

Akemi tried to raise her arms, but couldn't even hold them up for a few seconds before falling to the ground, knocked out. Gabbey stretched her arms out, taking a hold of Akemi's hand and trying to pull her closer. 

But the scream was too much.

Last thing Gabbey saw was Akemi's hand clasped in her own.

Short A/N;

 I apologize for not updating as much as should. I'm trying to go ahead and write out the rest of this book so I can go ahead and update every week when its done. It doesn't really help that I only get to work after 9 to 12, since my mother is starting to be very weak from the Chemo and Radiation treatments. I am now the adult that has to take care of everything in the house.

After this chapter, there is going to be a small pause so I can go ahead and write the rest of this book out. BUT, on a good note. . .

THE BOOK IS ALMOST OVER!

That's right. I'd say about a little over five more chapters before this book will be completed. 

Maybe there'll be a squeal, maybe not. . .

Who knows?