Lisanna was adorned in her Cat Animal Soul form that I once adored. Her claws sent a shiver down my spine.

"How about," She started, and I could see her raise up her small circular remote control in her hand, "I turn these guys off, and we all have a chat?"

I grunted shakily as my eyes widened at her. Suddenly a pack of feet raced down the hall, and we all stiffened as Lisanna's brainwashed guilds came to stand in front of the second group of cyborgs I held.

I heard Gray step up beside me, "Lyon..." He gasped at his red-eyed brother. I continued to strain as my eyes trailed over the captured mages: Lyon, Sherry, Shellia, Yuka, Jura, Bob, Ichiya, Jenny, Hibiki, Eve, Ren, Goldmine, Bacchus, Rocker, Warcry, Jaeger, Nobarley, Semmes, Risley, Milliana, Kagura, Beth, Arana, Thibault, Mattan, Banaboster, and some members of Sabertooth. Like Lyon, all of their eyes were bloodshot red.

"Lisanna," Mira choked out, "What have you done?!"

Lisanna sighed, "Nothing yet," She replied and my eyebrows furrowed as I turned back to her, "But I plan on telling you guys everything... I think I owe you that much."

"Ya think?" I growled between my clenched teeth, and Lisanna looked at me.

"Oh, especially you, Jada," She nodded slowly, "I have much to tell you." I tried not to focus on the depth of her words and more on the paths slipping from my grasp. She turned her attention to her frozen cyborgs, "I have to say... I'm proud... I never would have thought Water Dragon Slayor abilities included the Blood Control Ritual... Seems there's a crack in every system. It just had to be an innate ability, spiritual, not magic. And my bots just had to be part-human, didn't they?" She seemed to be rambling as we all gawked at her in shock.

"Yeah," I breathed, ignoring the fact she understood my power better than any of us, "And I guess you can count yourself lucky," She looked at me, "If I wasn't so preoccupied right now, I'd be controlling your slick ass too." A soft smile etched on to her face.

I heard Freed step up, "I don't know if that's a good idea, Jada," He said, and I furrowed my eyebrows while keeping my eyes on Lisanna, "She's placed a invisible Blood Shield rune on herself... As well as her human henchmen."

My lips parted while sweat continued to slip down my forehead.

"Good eye as usual, Freed." Lisanna nodded in his direction, "I only noticed you guys escaping an hour ago... Gave me enough time to read up, protect them and myself. Still, I doubt it'll matter much soon, Jada's losing energy."

Breaths slipped through my nose stubbornly, but I knew she was right. In another hour, I probably would not have been able to stand.

"Since you're all so curious as to what's happening, I'll gladly call for a time-out and elaborate," Lisanna proposed, "As long as none of you attack me, of course... Otherwise, we can all wait until Jada breaks and my bots recalibrate to escort you all back to your cells... I'm fine either way."

Juvia placed her hands on the sides of my head, and I felt her send water through my ears to sustain me. I felt my power return bit by bit.

"Miss Jada won't be breaking anytime soon," Juvia hissed at Lisanna, "Not while Juvia is standing here."

"Lisanna," Elfman called, "You don't have to do this... Whatever this is, we can help you, we can all stop this together."

Lisanna looked at him emotionlessly, "Oh, we will." She promised, "You see, even if you all salvage magic to keep Jada standing until next week, it won't matter."

I squinted at her.

"My plan is already in effect," She said, "I simply want the chance to explain why I've wronged the many people I care about before it's done. So, are we going to keep standing here playing chess until I inevitably win, or will you all lay down your forces and listen?"

We all stood in thought. Lisanna's eyes locked with mine, blue going against blue. I didn't know what to do. If she was telling the truth, regardless of what we did, we would lose. Was an explanation worth listening to when it was clear we had no way of swaying her resolve?

"Turn them off, Lisanna," I heard Master Makarov say. We all turned to him in shock. He looked at Lisanna stoically, "They all deserve to know the truth." His sharp eyes locked with mine as they did before, and my heart skipped before I looked back at Lisanna. Nonchalantly, she flipped a switch on her remote control and disabled her cyborgs. I felt their paths dissolve from my veins as I let out a harsh breath and let my arms fall. As I sank to my knees, I felt my eyes warm back up. It felt like I'd ran a marathon and completed a thousand pushups.

"Good choice," Lisanna mumbled as her brainwashed mages stepped around her protectively. I panted, looking at her through my lose hair strains in disbelief. There was no way this was the same Lisanna I watched on television. Sure, I always had a grudge towards her character for the way Mashima put her in the way of NaLu, but I knew at her core she was a great person.

Not now. The girl in front of us was a cold stranger.

"I must say," She started, taking a seat in the middle of her protective semi-circle, "It is nice to see all of you together. As strong as you can be, ready to defend our family."

"Exactly," Natsu cried suddenly, "Our family... Your family, the people who would never leave you or hurt you... The ones who have stood by you and protected you since day one. Why are you doing this, Lisanna?" I could practically feel the heartbreak within him. It almost made me cry.

Lisanna blinked tiredly, sighing before rubbing at her forehead, "A dream..." She mumbled, "It all started with a dream..."

I furrowed my eyebrows as she began her tale.

"You all remember the day... The day I died... The day that Anima came and took me away?" She said, and everyone in Fairy Tail nodded at her slowly, "Well, that part has always been true... I was taken away, but... Edolas was not my first destination."

I blinked at her in confusion.

"Not... Not your first?" Mirajane asked in horror, "What are you saying?"

"The first place I went after going through that Anima was Earth... not Edolas." She said, and my eyes widened. She looked at all of us as the information sank in before continuing, "The reason I never told any of you was to conceal my plan... His plan."

"... His?" I mumbled. She looked at me.

"On Earth, there was a scientist who studied the abnormalities of their universe, the... wrinkles, as he would say." She smiled sadly as she relived the tale, "He wanted to know if there were other worlds, other dimensions besides his own. In his research, he procured a way to open a door to another dimension... Our dimension. The door was like a teleportation device, but it was weak. It couldn't pull in someone from our side who held an abundance of magic power... But at that time, I was on the brink of death... I was so weak that the portal was able to pull me in, and take me to Earth.

"When I got to the other side, I was different... My form, my mind, all of it was changed. I was older, easily an adult. And more importantly, my magic was taken away. The scientist was in awe of me, skeptical at times, but he treated me for weeks until I fully recovered. All the while, he told me of his world and I told him of mine. After hearing about the magic in Earthland, he started wishing he could go. He had this dream to leave his boring, grey dimension. It was why he studied Interdimensional Teleportation in the first place.

"It wasn't long before I grew to care about him... I loved him, actually... So, I pledged to help him in bringing our worlds together." She said distantly before looking up at me, "Jaden Folster... That was his name... And within our research... our love bore a child."

My heart stopped, and my widened while my expression turned blank.

"Jaden was so excited... Our child was proof that our worlds could coexist... That magic could thrive on Earth, if we wanted it to." She said, tears brimming in her eyes as she looked at me. I felt white noise cloud my ears as I returned her gaze. All I could hear were my shaky breaths as my eyes trailed over her features, subconsciously trying to make sense of her words. A tear slipped her eye as she watched me, and then her gaze trailed to the people behind me. I couldn't bring myself to look back, I was too preoccupied looking at her. No one said a word until she continued her story.

"But Jaden was soon incarcerated for his research... They called it unauthorized for him to investigate the marvels of his own home... I could only assume what they would do to me... To the baby I carried... I could do nothing but take as much of his research as I could and hide... I had to watch them take him away." She said, biting her lip as silent tears rolled down her face, her teeth gritting, "Months later... They reported his body found in the bathroom of his prison... They never said if his death of self-imposed... or if his cellmates did it to him... But I just know... I know they killed him to silence him, after making him look crazy in front of the world..."

My tears ran faster, the information streaming by too fast for me to wrap my head around it.

"I knew there was little I could do in that predicament... The only friend I had in the world was gone... My child was due to be born any moment... And I had no magic, no protection..." She breathed, "But I knew I could not raise my child in a world so cruel, so colorless. A world where her father was labelled as an insane criminal... So I did the only thing I could think of... With the remaining research I had, I started putting our plans into effect.

"I took everything Jaden taught me and tested as many portals as I could. Eventually, I found the right algorithm. After that, I only needed to find the right destination... When I found a dimension that looked exactly like Earthland, I decided it would be best to go home and get you guys' help... However, our daughter was born... the shape of a heart on the side of her neck... A testament to my and Jaden's love..." She said, smiling softly. It felt like I was about to throw up. My gaze dropped from her face to the floor. I couldn't look at her another moment.

"The situation changed so abruptly. I was terrified of anything happening to her," She continued, "Given the general risk of my actions, and the differences between her birth-logistics and mine... How could I know for sure she would make it on the other side?"

My lips parted in shock, silent breaths leaving as my eyes looked on crazed.

Suddenly, I had a flashback to the director of my orphanage. The woman was explaining my situation to me for the millionth time, after I had another failed family-match. She spouted at me how I needed to move on because of how my mother left me, how she was never coming back, how no one even knew what she looked like. My friends had always been great distractions from the sadness of it all, but I was lying to myself when I said they were the only reason I refused to leave our facilities. The director knew that.

Even if I wouldn't admit it, she knew I wanted to see if my mother would ever come back for me.

"In the end, I left her behind," Lisanna continued, and I shut my eyes, causing heavy tears to pour out as a dull pain rippled through me, "I went alone... But I promised to return for her as soon as possible."

"No," I mumbled, hearing silence for a moment before she spoke again.

"I named her for her father."

"Stop." I cried, feeling my body shake harshly from my tears as my mind refused to accept her words.

"Her name is Jada Folster--"

"Shut up!" I screamed, standing to my feet as my eyes cooled and I charged for her. The eyes of her brainwashed mages snapped to me in preparation. I didn't get far before fiery arms clasped around me, "No! No!" I screamed in blind rage.

"Jada, Jada, stop—" Natsu begged, struggling to keep his hold on me.

"Get off me! No!" I growled through clenched teeth before he tackled me to the ground, "You! You liar!" I screamed as my gaze pointed to Lisanna, "You monster! You monster!" Her eyes looked back at me blankly. She almost seemed dead on the inside.

I couldn't speak anymore as my cries choked me. Flashes of my life on Earth, the images of her I watched on television, my friends there and around me then flew around in my head. Each sent waves of unbearable pain, confusion, and grief. If I thought I didn't know who I was before...

I heard Mirajane come to sit beside Natsu and me, her soft hands shakily rubbed at my back as I sobbed on the floor. When my body tired from its struggle in Natsu's tight hold, all I could do was lay limp as he held me. I could hear silent cries all behind me, everyone in standing in indescribable shock.

I groaned and heaved out in an attempt to catch my breath. Natsu shushed me all the while.

"Jada, breathe." Mirajane whispered as my body twitched through hiccups and tears. My eyes trailed up to see Lisanna still looking at me emotionlessly. I reached a hand out of Natsu's grasp to dig into the floor's cement, trying to claw in her direction.

"Jada, stop." Natsu said. I could hear the tears in his voice.

I clenched my jaw, snarling in response.

"Don't let your anger for her overtake you." He whispered to me, and I stiffened in response to the depth in his voice, "I know it hurts... Believe me... She can promise you she did it for your own good... But she left all the same... It hurts, I know." He promised me, and his hold on me tightened into a hug, "But you have to calm down... Just breathe."

I knew all too well what he meant. Igneel leaving Natsu was one of the many reasons why he was my favorite character. I knew that Natsu would know exactly how I felt. However, the matter of my mother leaving me was not the only reason for my upset. The other was because I could not believe she was Lisanna.

"She's not..." I started, choking on air, "She can't be... She can't..."

I heard Gajeel stomp forward, "You know you're making no sense, right, Lisanna?" He snarled at her, crossing his arms, "How the hell could you be her mother? You two are damn near the same age. And if you were in Earth, why did we find you in Edolas?"

Lisanna's gaze finally shifted to him blankly, "As I said, Edolas was not the first destination I landed in... I also said I was aged on Earth... Time moves much slower, much stranger here than it does in Earth's dimension," She explained, "Jaden and I guessed I was thirty at the very least... All I know is that magic defies all logic on Earth, and our world is made to have it. I could never make sense of it, but while Jada grew up, we all stayed the same, save for period after the Tenrou Island incident... The fact remains that time means something totally different from there and here."

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion through my heavy breaths. Lisanna looked to the ground before looking back at me. A sad smile played on her face.

"As for how I ended up in Edolas... That's the dimension I found, though it looked like Earthland... It was anything but." She said, "That is when I ended up in Edolas."

I heard a few silent gasps within my friend group.

"I was going to come home and come back for you," She told me, "But I fucked up... I had no means to teleport again... I had to wait all that time for a miracle while you grew up without a mother," She scowled in shame before looking to Natsu, "And then the same people I've hurt... were the ones that brought me back here," She looked back at me, "And gave me the opportunity to be with you again."

I blinked, feeling my eyes warm back up as the truth settled in.

"After Edolas, I knew Fairy Tail would be apprehensive to any idea related to crossing dimensions... Or more specifically, sending out magic... I knew Animas and portals deeply affected your views of different worlds, so I decided to act alone... To leave all of you out of it... I'm sorry." She said, looking down in shame. She sniffled before standing up.

"My plan has gone accordingly," She said, "First, I wanted to bring Jada over to us... I didn't want her to stay on Earth with the plan I had in store. So, I sent a basic Anima there, plotting it on the coordinate of the town I left her in. It only accepted those with even a speckle of Ethernano. Anything else would have been dumped back on Earth... Since you're my daughter," She explained, and I grimaced at her, "You were born with a core of Ethernano, but it was dormant due to Earth's inability to hone magic.

"As I waited for you to arrive, I manufactured my cyborgs... To save time and magic power, I sacrificed a man to craft them." She said with her dead eyes, "I duplicated them, made them magic proof and magic absorbent... The perfect defense tool against mages. I teleported them to every guild and kept them stationary.

"Then, I went on my 'job.'" She said with finger-quotes, "I cast a thin shield spell over the Grand Magic Council, cutting off their ears for guilds... It's a simple enough spell to where great wizards like them have overlooked it, but effective enough to keep them blind of what's going on... I sent anonymous job requests out to every overpowered mage I could think of, like the Dragon Slayors," She said, looking at Natsu, "In order to weaken the guilds.

"And then I was alerted that Jada arrived, and it took everything in me not to race home earlier than my job entailed. So, I sent out my cyborgs to capture the Dragon Slayors and attack Fairy Tail." She sighed, "I got the call that the guild was being destroyed and returned... In the chaos, I searched for Jada all night and found nothing. I couldn't waste time, so I got on a train for Blue Pegasus to start capturing and brainwashing any remaining guild members." She waved an arm to her surrounding protectors, "And then... you appeared," She said to me, shaking her head in disbelief, "With all those exceeds... That heart-shaped birthmark... And a name close enough to the one I gave you... Not to mention, you came out much lighter than your father but much darker than me...

"When I saw you'd lost your memory... I knew I couldn't just tell you who I was... I was scared... I mean, you appeared so suddenly, so I just... I just took the opportunity to spend time with you... That's all I wanted, just some time." She said as tears continued to pour out of her eyes. I felt my face turn blank again as I listened to her, "I knew how in love you were with the guild, and I just couldn't let you see the monster in me... Not when you had so little knowledge of me to begin with... But at the same time, I had to collect as much magic as possible..."

I stared at her, not knowing what to make of her speech. Everything was so clear to absorb, and yet I didn't understand any of it... Especially the thing she had yet to tell us.

"Why?" I hissed after a moment, and she raised an eyebrow at me, "Why are you doing any of this?" My voice sounded gone. Her eyes darkened.

She hesitated before replying, "I'm finishing what Jaden started... I've transcribed all of the magic I stole into a World Collision device. It's booting up right now, and once the process is complete, magic power will reconfigure the make-up of Earth."

My eyes widened.

"No one wanted to believe him when he told them magic existed," She said lowly, grimacing at the thought of Jaden's prosecutors, "I'm going to show them how right he was."