Grief hung low within the atmosphere, the chirping of birds missing from the morning sky. Lucy stretched her arms out, looking to the wooden table from before. The red-headed mage sat at the table, her features plagued with anxiety and fear. "Erza, what's wrong?"

The woman turned to the Celestial Mage. "Mystogan is missing and Edolas is in shambles."

"Wait, what?" Lucy shot up in bed,"How do you know all this?"

"I've been talking to the villagers." Lucy nodded, pushing herself out of bed and finding the bathroom. After she washed up and they thanked the old man, the two headed outside.

"Let's ask the villagers where the guild hall is, I bet everyone will meet up there." Lucy tried to keep the stresses of everyone being separated from getting to her. Erza kept her expression plain and unaffected.

"Alright."

Gray was beginning to get anxious, everyone was in bad condition. "Mystogan, how far are we from the guild hall?" He gave the former mage a worried look.

"Around two hours left." He placed his hand on Gray's shoulder and shifted his weight so he could balance on his own two feet.

"What about Varian...?" Rain spoke very quietly, the group almost didn't hear her. "I have a feeling he's hurt... bad."

Gray took a deep breath in and smiled. "We'll get to him soon, don't worry."

"Don't make promises you can't keep." Rain muttered under her breath, but no one heard her. Jellal gently grasped her shoulder and gave her a sympathetic smile.

"I feel the same way." Jellal's voice was weak, but she knew why. They were going through the same thing, except it was possible Varian was dying and Erza would be fine. She smiled back at him and nodded, looking down at the ground.

"Isn't there any way we could get there faster?" Rain was beginning to feel irritation at how long the walk was taking. If it took them two hours to reach the guild, it would take even longer to find Varian.

"I'm sorry, Ra-"

"Wait, there might be a way." Mystogan stopped in the middle of the dirt road, the wind blowing through his blue hair. His hands ran through all of his pockets, his royal garments ripped at every edge. He seemed to finally grasp something, pulling out a crushed device.

"What's that?" Rain asked, disinterest echoing through her voice.

"A device Levy had given to me. She said that if I flicked the switch on the device, it would send them a signal and they would find me." He sighed,"But, it broke when the edoloins attacked me."

"Do we have any tools? I might be able to fix it if I can salvage the pieces." Rain reached out, taking the small pieces in her hands. "It seems the mainframe is broken..."

Jellal sighed as Rain threw the pieces to the ground in annoyance. "I apologize, I thought maybe we could fix it."

"Well, we can't, so keep walking." The dark-haired girl didn't care if she sounded rude, her best friend could be dying. The king of Edolas didn't argue and began walking once again.

"If we increase our speed by 2.3% we can get there in an hour." Mystogan's monotone voice only angered Rain further, but she knew he was just trying to help.

"Then speed up." She muttered under her breath and everyone did just that.

Natsu looked around, confused. "Nothing happened." He stated the obvious, only making Levy angrier.

"It didn't work!" The short, blue-haired girl stomped her feet. "Why?" Annoyance dripped from her voice as she looked over at Edo-Lucy. "This is all your fault!" She pointed a finger at the blonde. Lucy opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything a bright purple light appeared in front of them. The ball of light began moving toward the door.

"Huh? What's that?" Natsu ran toward the light, following it, with Wendy close behind.

Carla and Happy scampered across the floor. "Hey! Wait!" Happy cried out, grabbing Carla's paw and dragging her along.

Edo-Lucy leaned into Edo-Levy's face, a shadow looming over them. "We'll continue this later." She stood up straight and ran after the group. They followed the ball of light to a nearby village, where it began to dodge people. The group kept knocking into villagers, receiving insults, and then apologizing.

"Look, it's slowing down!" Wendy pointed out, catching some villagers attention. The ball of light seemed to get absorbed into someone's chest. The group looked up to see Erza and Lucy standing there, staring at them.

"We're not far now." Mystogan's voice was tired and quiet.

"How much longer, Mystogan?" Gray tried to help the blue-haired king stand up straight.

"Just a couple minutes..." His voice began to sound distant. Although she was annoyed, Rain could tell Mystogan couldn't continue in his condition. She met Gray's pace and stood beside Mystogan.

"Put him on my back." She ordered, dismissing the shock on his face.

"No, no, I'm f-fine." The king began to protest, but without his strength, he wasn't able to fight against the two wizards. Gray helped him onto Rain and backed away.

"You good, Rain?" He asked, walking beside her.

"Yea, I'm fine." She responded, nodding her head towards the shadow of a tall building. "I think we're here."

"Be careful, they may have set traps," Jellal spoke from behind. The three scanned the field in front of them for anything odd. Gray shrugged and began walking again.

"I don't se- ah!" He yelped as a small explosion threw him back. Rain shook her head as she laughed quietly.

"You idiot." She giggled, smacking his head lightly. "Come on, get behind me." She directed, scanning the ground, looking for even the smallest lumps. "Follow my exact path." Her voice was quiet as she took small, careful steps toward the building.

"Finally!" Gray let out a sigh of relief as they reached the doors. He pushed at the doors, but they didn't open. "Argh!" He groaned in annoyance. "C'mon!"

"Try pulling it, genius." The dark haired girl rolled her eyes, a small smile adorning her face.

"Oh." He pulled the door open, letting Rain in first.

"Jellal!" Someone's voice rang. "Oh my, is he okay? What happened? Did you do this?" Edolas Mira knelt before the bench Rain had placed Mystogan.

"No, Mira, they're friends. I got hurt fighting Edoloins."

"Those wretched things." She shook her head and ordered Edo-Elfman to get an emergency first-aid kit.

"Has anyone here seen Varian, Natsu, Wendy, Happy, Carla, Pantherlily, Erza, or Lucy?" Rain called out in desperation, hoping to find at least one of them at the guild hall. When no one answered, Rain slouched back and began to walk back to a seat.

"Natsu, Wendy, Pantherlily, Happy, and Carla left a little while ago with our Lucy to find you guys. They were using this tracking device I made, it must have found another one of your groups." Edo-Levy, Edo-Lucy's rival, shuffled through the crowd. Rain perked up, hope saturating her thoughts.

"Do you have another one of those devices? My friend! He could be dying right now, I need to go find him!" The strong-willed, determined girl fell to her knees, holding the blue-haired guild member's hand in desperation. The sight was one to behold if you knew the mage quite well enough.

"The device never went anywhere, it just makes a small ball of light that looks for dormant magical energy. The thing is, though, I can make another one appear but it will go back to the same person as before unless you have something that means a lot to the person you're looking for. Of course, I'll have to reprogram it and everything, but I can do it." The girl shrugged, helping Rain up to her feet. The excitement was apparent on Rain's face as she pulled out a small charm. It was shaped like a shooting star but it had something written on it.

"It isn't his, but we both have the same one. We never leave them anywhere, they both mean a lot to us... Will it work?" Desperation had even infiltrated her voice now.

"As long as it means something to him." Levy took the charm from Rain's hand and walked to the flight of steps in the back of the hall. "I'll be back soon."

Rain nodded and sat back down on the seat, anxiety on her face. Gray noticed this and slid over to her. "We'll find him, I know we will." He smiled reassuringly at the girl.

"Thanks." She smiled softly, her hands clasped together. Gray pulled one of her hands away, wrapping it in the warmth of his own hand.

"Calm down." He muttered, both their faces turning slightly red at the contact.

"Mhm." Rain's gaze fell to the ground, a small smile on her face.