At first everyone just focused on fighting. However, after a while, people began staring and whispering at something else in the middle. Curious, Kira turned around and almost fell over from the shock.

"Lucy?"

It was only after Kira said her name when she realized that something didn't look right. Lucy wasn't wearing a red dress . . . Mirajane was. And Lucy knew that Mirajane could also transform into other people or animals if she wanted to. That wasn't Lucy; she was Mirajane.

Apparently, Kira was the only one too slow to realize that "Lucy" was a fake, as everyone else referred to her as Mira.

"Mira! What are you doing?" Erza hissed as she marched over to the girl, but Mirajane just ignored her. 

"You people are looking for me, right?" she yelled at the giant, her arms outstretched in the air. "Stop your attack on the guild this instant!"

Kira bit her lip nervously as she sent twenty phantoms flying away from her. Would Jose believe Mirajane was Lucy? Then, she had another thought. If Mirajane was here, who was protecting Lucy? As she turned to voice this worry to Erza, Jose finally decided to respond.

"Begone . . . you damn impostor!"

Mirajane lowered her arms, visibly confused. "But . . ."

"I knew from the start!" Jose laughed. "I knew that Lucy wasn't there."

Kira frowned. Mirajane was now back to her real self, and the phantoms began attacking again. Even though she had to make sure the phantoms didn't touch her, Kira still looked over at Mirajane to see her just standing there. Thankfully, Cana ran up to comfort her, and Kira could fight in peace.

Suddenly, she heard Cana cry out, "MIRA!"

Kira turned just in time to see Mirajane fall into a green magic circle below her feet. In less than a second, she had disappeared.

"Mira! Let her go this instance, you coward!" Erza shouted at the giant.

Kira turned to face where Erza was shouting at, and gasped. Mirajane was squeezed in between two parts of the giant's arm.

"I detest girls like this who try to deceive me," Jose growled. "Witness your friend's final moments as I crush her slowly."

Everyone began arguing, but Kira knew it was pointless. The only way Mirajane could be freed would be if they defeated the giant, or if Mirajane actually fought back.

Kira turned to Erza. "She would be able to get out of there if she actually tried, right?"

Erza frowned. "Yes, but . . ."

"Her magic power depleted considerably after that day," Cana said. "I don't know if she'll ever get it back."

"But she could die," Kira said. "Surely her life is more important to her."

Erza shook her head. "I don't know. REQUIP!" She grunted softly as she aimed her Black Wing axes at oncoming phantoms. "I hope Lucy is alright, though."

Kira's eyes widened. "Oh, I almost forgot! Tsunami Storm! Lightning Storm!" She quickly aimed her palm at the other side, where all the Shades got electrocuted and fell. "If Mirajane is here, who's protecting Lucy?"

"Reedus," Cana answered. "He took her to a safe place."

Both Erza and Kira raised an eyebrow, although it was Erza who voiced their thoughts.

"Reedus is guarding Lucy . . . alone?"

"I'll admit Reedus isn't the strongest, but you can't underestimate him," Cana argued as she threw some of her own cards at the phantoms. "Whatever he draws come to life, remember?"

"What happened to trusting our guild members?" Bisca asked mockingly as she and Alzack shot at a few of the phantoms.

"I was thinking of going to check on them, anyway," Loke said as he shone green light on the phantoms. "I feel as if something bad will happen."

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion close to where Mirajane was.

"Elfman!" she screamed at the hole in the wall.

Elfman appeared after the smoke cleared, much to Mirajane's chagrin. As the siblings and one of the Element 4, who appeared behind Elfman, conversed with each other, Kira turned to Loke.

"Please go check on Lucy," she said. "It's not that I don't trust Reedus, I just think it won't hurt to have back-up," she said quickly when Cana opened her mouth.

"I was going to agree with you," she said in mock annoyance. "Calm down there."

Kira gave a weak laugh. "Ah, alright then."

As Loke turned around to leave, the others were split between fighting the phantoms and watching Elfman and the wizard behind him.

"Tornado Storm! Sand Storm!" Kira, one of the fighters, jumped out of the crowd as she waved her hand over the phantoms. Thankfully, no one seemed to be near her target as sand and a tornado flew around the phantoms, blinding and dizzying some of them, when she spotted someone on the ground. Slightly annoyed, Kira barely managed to move the storms away from the figure before she finally saw his face.

Huh, she had completely forgotten about Brandon. It seemed as if her determination to fight for Fairy Tail overpowered the fear she had of him.

"If you can move, you can fight!" she yelled at him. "Either do something or leave!"

Kira didn't wait for his response, but she saw a rope of red fire tie some of the phantoms together and send them flying. Grinning, she outstretched her arm at a group that was heading for Cana and the others. "Thunder Storm! Torrential Rains!" 

Lightning rained down onto the phantoms every other second, and rain began pouring down in buckets. In fact, the rain alone seemed to bring the phantoms down into the water, where they continued to be electrocuted by the lightning. The winds also veered the phantoms still in the air off-course, where Brandon shot a giant ball of fire at them.

Before the thunderstorm spread to the others, Kira waved her hand once, and the lightning, wind, and rain stopped. She turned to give a small smile at Brandon who just stared at her with a slight frown. However, she knew it was just his pride getting in his way, so she didn't mind too much.

Then, a huge purple light caught the attention of Kira. She quickly ran back to Erza to see what was going on.

"Erza, what's going on? Who created that magic circle?"

"Elfman!" Erza yelled back. "I think he's trying to do a full-body Take Over!"

He was going to do what? She didn't know the full details, but she knew that the reasons why the Strauss population went from three to two was because of Elfman's attempt at a full-body Take Over. When the purple light faded, a beast's silhouette could be seen. As the smoke cleared, a flash of purple could be seen in the beast's eyes.

For a while, Elfman stayed inside the building, until he finally came out. He leaped onto the giant's arm as he made his way to his trapped older sister. Kira watched him carefully with narrowed eyes. There was something different about him than when he first transformed. . . .

Elfman jumped roughly right in front of Mirajane. He glared down at her, which was when it hit Kira.

"His eyes. . . ."

Erza turned her head to face Kira. "What's wrong with his eyes?" she asked.

Kira shook her head, smiling. "Before, when he first transformed, his eyes were purple. But now that he's facing Mirajane . . ."

"You think the purple took away his sense of reasoning?" Erza asked.

"Well, it's only a hunch," Kira admitted, "but let's hope for Mirajane's sake that it's right."

This time, Kira allowed the others to fight as she and Erza watched Elfman jump into the space where Mirajane was trapped. He grabbed his sister in her arms after he widened the gap in between. He then swiftly brought her back up to the arm itself, as he hugged her gently. It was impossible to hear what they were talking about, but it was clear that Elfman hadn't lost control again, which was confirmed when he turned back into his human form.

At this, Kira moved her head to face Erza, when she realized something. "Erza," she called.

"What?"

"Does the magic circle seem to be moving slower to you?"

"Elfman took out one of the Element 4," Erza mused. "Maybe that has something to do with it?"

"So you're saying that relies on the condition of those wizards?" Kira asked.

Erza nodded. "Yeah. I think so." She turned to face Kira fully. "But let's leave that to Natsu and the others. We've had a longer break time than we needed.'

Kira smirked back. "I'm surprised you're not rushing to go and fight one of them," she said, though she got ready to attack again. "Although I suppose you're just waiting for later."

Erza smirked back. "Maybe. REQUIP!"

"Hail Storm! Ice Storm!" As much as Kira wanted to go and fight another wizard, she knew she had to stay put. It was nice to fight with allies, but it also meant she couldn't want to do everything on her own. In the end, she would just stay here and fight against the phantoms.

A/N:

Yeah, this chapter is pretty crappy, and the ending is even crappier.  Also, sorry about Brandon; I only remembered he couldn't be knocked out for the entire fight, so I brought him back in this chapter.

Next chapter: Gajeel Redfox, Step Forward!