As we regrouped with everyone, quiet celebration and happy reunions ensued.

"Missed ya, man," Gajeel bellowed to Pantherlily, "Hope they treated ya well enough."

"Actually our stay was quite nice." Lily nodded, and Gajeel scooped him up before starting to muzzle him.

"I'm so happy to hear that, Lily," The iron hunk gushed. I grimaced from his sudden use of affection.

"Lecter! Frosch!" Sting exclaimed.

"You're alright?" Rogue asked anxiously, grabbing Frosch into a hug. The green cat smiled adorably into the embrace. Rogue's eyes trailed up to meet mine. I smiled happily at him.

"We're fine," Lecter promised before turning to Sting, "I'm so glad you're okay. Those bots came out of no where and separated us."

"I know, but we're together now," Sting assured his cat, "Nothing's breaking us apart again." They fist bumped.

"Natsu! Lucy! Erza! Gray!" Romeo ran over and jumped into their arms, "It's so good to see you." He cried, and his eyes fell on Wendy. A blush crept on to his face, "Oh, uh, hey, Wen."

Wendy smiled sweetly at him, "Hey."

"Glad to see you," Cana said suddenly behind Wendy, poking the girl's cheek and making her jump in surprise.

"Whoa! Where did you come from?" The Sky Dragon Slayor exclaimed.

"Jay!" Mirajane called, and I turned to see her face before she wrapped her arms around me, "Amazing work! You must be so tired, huh?" She asked sympathetically as Juvia approached. She had just finished attacking Gray in a bear hug.

"Yeah, I'm a bit drained." I looked at Juvia, "You mind lending me some water? I gotta stay frosty with these cyborgs."

Juvia nodded, "It's no problem at all," She said before making a bubble of water in her palm. She extended it to me, and my body felt tingles just by being in the presence of it. Before I could even think, I sucked in air and the water flew into my mouth. It felt like my brain had awakened from a six-month slumber.

I sighed in rejuvenation, "Thanks, Juvia." I said gratefully and she nodded.

"It won't be long now," Mirajane said, placing a hand on my shoulder, "We'll bust this place wide open and fix all of this. Then, you'll be able to have a real Fairy Tail welcome."

She hugged me, and my heart dropped at knowing she would know the truth behind all of this in a moment. Elfman stepped up.

"Hey, Jay," He said huskily and I smiled up at him, "Thanks for keeping our friends safe like a real man."

I laughed lightly, "It's no biggie."

"Have you seen Lisanna anywhere maybe?" He asked, and I could hear the desperation in his voice. I looked at Mira and she looked just as anxious, "We looked everywhere we could and found no sign of her."

"She could be on a floor we didn't have time to check," Mira assured him before looking back at me, "Any luck?"

"Um..." I mumbled, looking over the room to see Natsu, Wendy, Gajeel, Sting, and Rogue overhearing our conversation among the many around us. I looked at Natsu, and he looked at me with a blank expression. I looked at Wendy, and she sighed before approaching us. I looked back at the Strauss siblings, "Well, there's... something we uh... have to tell you guys."

Their faces fell into haunted looks, and my eyes widened. I could tell they were holding their breaths.

"I... I traveled with Lisanna before I was captured..." I started, and Mira's hand fell from my shoulder, "We were rounding up guilds... so that we could fight back, y'know... a-against whoever was attacking us."

Mira's jaw clenched, and my heart stuttered.

"She uh... She—" I tried to formulate the right words, but Mira cut me off.

"She was killed?" She choked out, and my eyes widened in horror.

"No." I said quickly, and I looked up at Elfman to see his eyes starting to brim before he let out a breath of relief, "No, no, she... she's-she's fine... She's okay."

"Well, then where is she now?" Elfman asked, his voice raising slightly in desperation. I stiffened.

"Guys," I heard Natsu call, and everyone acknowledged him. He looked over at me before approaching like Wendy had. I heard Gajeel sigh before doing the same, "There's something... Something you all should know."

I breathed in, "I think we have enough of us to tell the truth-" I said before I froze. As my eyes scanned the crowd, I noticed Laxus was missing, "Where is Laxus?" I asked immediately.

"He's still off to get Gramps," Cana assured me, and I felt a bit worried since he was alone. I nodded anyway.

"Jay..." Mira pressed, and I met her eyes.

"Okay..." I started, "Well... You've all been wondering who our enemy is..."

"Hell yeah!" Elfman bellowed, "It's time to kick some ass like a real man!"

Everyone agreed with him, and I looked to the Dragon Slayors in anxiety. They all looked at me the same way. Just then, I heard Laxus coming around the corner with a familiar pair of small feet. Great... This was going to be even harder to break to Makarov. He'd never believe Lisanna was pulling the strings.

"Well..." I continued after everyone calmed down, "You might not feel the same way once you know who it is."

Everyone looked on in interest. I struggled to find the words to tell them, knowing how much it was going to hurt them to know. So, I looked at Wendy, and her eyes widened as she looked to the floor.

"Uh... Well, uh... It's—" She started, but was cut off.

"It's Lisanna." We all heard at the end of the hallway. My breath caught in my throat as we saw Makarov standing in front of Laxus's towering figure. Master had spoken, and I could have cut the tension among us with a knife.

Everyone furrowed their eyebrows at him, including me. How the hell...

It was dead silent for a moment, and then Mirajane started to chuckle.

"That's funny, Master, but we don't have time for jokes right now—" She started.

"He's not joking." Laxus cut her off, his expression stoic. I looked at Mirajane with anticipation. Her smile faltered, and her eyebrows furrowed again.

Hesitantly, she said, "Excuse me?"

"Lisanna is the one who has been stealing magic from all of us." Gajeel said, his eyes looking over the mages in the room. Mirajane squinted in disbelief. She shook her head.

"I don't believe you," She said, scowling at Laxus and Gajeel, "I... I don't believe this..." The room was dead silent.

"Lisanna..." Erza and Lucy mumbled in shock.

Elfman was speechless.

Mirajane stepped past me, "If you don't have some explanation at the ready for accusing my sister..." She threatened, and I felt her aura darken before her body illuminated to showcase her Halphas Satan Soul form. My eyes widened.

Natsu approached Mira slowly, "Mira... I didn't want to believe it either," He said softly, and her penetrating eyes snapped to him, "But after everything we've seen... after not seeing her all this time, and for her to not be standing in this room with us, isn't that strange to you?"

"She is stuck somewhere in this hellhole." Mira growled, "She's in some cage, and you all want to waste time butchering her innocence?"

"She did that on her own, Mirajane." Makarov said softly, stepping fully into the room. Mira looked at him in shock, "She came to me after I woke up. One of her goons knocked me out too fast for me to use Fairy Law, and she waited by my side."

Mira's eyebrows quirked in confusion.

"She told me everything... Why she's doing this, where she's been... And she assured me she was not under someone's control. According to her story, I am not surprised that she's acting on her own." He explained, and all of us looked at one another in shock, "She felt she owed it to me to explain herself... And she also knows I could never use Fairy Law against her, seeing as I could never see her as an enemy to the guild. She didn't want me to waste my magic on it."

Mira stood in frozen shock for a long moment. Her gaze was glued to the master, and he looked at her in complete confidence. She let out a stifled breath before dispelling her Satan Soul and looking to the floor with wide eyes.

"But..." She started, and when I thought she wouldn't finish her sentence, she said, "But it's... It's Lisanna... Why... What could she possibly... Why?" She asked in broken words, looking to Makarov desperately for Lisanna's reasons.

And then, Makarov's gaze shifted to me. I stiffened under his eyes, and slowly, everyone followed his gaze.

Before anyone could say anything, the sound of multiple heavy sets of feet approached us. My eyes snapped to the entry of our hallway and then to Natsu. He looked back at me in confusion as the feet drew closer.

What could have triggered them? We'd been there for over ten minutes, and they didn't bat an eye. I felt the air around us tense, and I knew my fellow mages were on high alert. My heart could have beat out of my chest. But unlike my mindless self, I was more anxious than scared.

I had magic, and I had people to protect. My legs worked on their own, and I made my way out of the hall, hearing my friends call after me as I stood in front of the oncoming soldiers.

I felt my eyes cool before I rose both hands, "Stop!" I yelled, and I felt the millions of blood paths tie into my veins as the soldiers stopped abruptly. There were ten of them, and my eyes flickered from one face to another. The cyborg's eyes beat the same red as their beams of light.

Everyone ran out to stand around me. Those who hadn't witnessed my magic gasped in shock.

"Where the hell did they come from?" I heard Cana exclaim.

"They were always back there," Wendy replied, "The real question is why are they attracted to us all of a sudden?"

The paths glitched in my veins, and I strained to hold on to them. They were the most I'd controlled at once.

"Miss Jada." I heard Juvia call.

"Can't talk." I replied, gritting my teeth in exertion.

"Here." She simply said, holding up another, larger bubble of water. She placed it in front of me and my eyes flickered to it before I breathed in. It flew into my mouth and went straight to my core. The strain in my arms disappeared as my focus and power grew stronger. I didn't speak again, not wanting to lessen the hold I had, but I desperately wanted to tell Juvia thank you. It felt like my energy was slipping away.

Suddenly, the sound of heavy footsteps echoed from behind our group. My heart sank as the next group of cyborgs surrounded the back of us. I clenched my teeth.

"Get against the walls!" I exclaimed to my friends. They moved as quickly as they could and I dropped one of my arms to recollect the blood paths of the bots in front of me in the one still raised. It felt like my arm would tear apart.

Once the paths were secure, I turned my body sideways and tore my gaze away from the frozen robot men to see the new group heading for us. I let them get a bit closer to our group before I rose my free hand to them.

"Stop." I said, feelings the new cyborgs' paths connect to me. They froze in place, and I felt like the paths on my right and left would pull me apart. Each of their cells were fighting against my hold on them, and my body tensed as I fought back.

"Nice, Jada!" Natsu chanted at me.

"We can't let her strain herself like this," Erza said in worry, "We need to get out of here."

"But we're trapped between these things. Even if we all manage to squeeze through, we can't leave Jada behind," Lucy cried. I felt sweat form and drip down my forehead as I looked from one frozen cyborg group to the other.

I heard more footsteps approaching, and I knew I was going to pass out if I had to collect anymore paths. I shook harshly, trying like hell to keep them all at bay while my friends thought of a plan. However, in my struggle, I noticed that the new pair of footsteps were much lighter than those of the cyborgs around us. I was afraid to hone in on the sound and break my focus.

"Someone's coming," Wendy said, and I silently thanked her for taking the focus away from me.

"We gotta think of something fast." Levy exclaimed, "Gajeel, why don't you stay back while all of us get out of here, grab Jada, and follow after?"

"I think you're forgetting the fact that I won't be able to fit past these things, Shrimp," He replied, "And what about Elfman? He's twice my size. The only ones who can get through are you girls and the cats."

I heard Makarov approach me, "Jada, dear, is it possible for you to control them to move?"

"I can barely keep em' still." I replied quickly through gritted teeth. The new set of feet entered our hallway. I felt my body stiffen as the scent of this new person hit my nose.

"I have a better idea." She said, and we all froze as we looked in the direction of her entry. She slid past the first group of soldiers I'd frozen and stood before us with a stoic aura.

A gasp slipped my lips through my exertion. Mirajane stepped up stiffly to appraise our newcomer. One word slipped her lips as she choked back tears.

"Lisanna."