Laxus was woken up by Mira in the middle of the night. After demonstrating his irritation, he understood that it was now his turn to keep watch. Waking up, he noticed that a blanket was covering him. Realising that it came from Mira, he took it off his shoulders and handed it to the young woman who seemed exhausted.

"You could've wake me up sooner" he plainly said.

"I'm fine. Anyways, you also have to sleep".

"Look at yourself" he commented, taking place around in front of the fire. "Just go to bed already."

As he himself did at the beginning of the night, Mira didn't insist and laid down, almost instantly falling asleep. This provoked a little smile on the young man's lips. She may be acting tough; this day was a rough one for her. The young woman even seemed totally inoffensive while she was sleeping. However, something wasn't right. He traits weren't as relaxed as they should be on a sleeping person. "She must be having a nightmare" he concluded. "Not surprising after today".

Then he realised how much he was hungry. Taking out his knife, he decided to look around in case a pray would wander closer to the basecamp when he saw the food the young woman had left for him earlier, wrapped in a small cloth. Obviously, she had let it there on purpose. That made him smile once more and this time he succumbed to the temptation, eating the improvised meal that was offered to him. Once his stomach full, he decided to do as planned anyways and went looking for more food.

***

When she woke up, Mira felt like she barely slept. Well, it wasn't too far from the truth after all. However, if she would have been told that she only slept a minute, she would have believed it... that was how tired she was. Fighting against her urge to fall back asleep, she focussed on a delicious smell filling her nostrils to force her eyes opened. Her curiosity caught, she turned to the direction where the smell seemed to come from, finding Laxus grilling what looked like a little mammal.

"Eat" he plainly said to her, handing her a piece of freshly cooked meat.

"You managed to catch something, I see" she said with a large smile.

"They are picking up their basecamp so we'll have to leave soon" he simply answered to her teasing.

"Thank you" she said, keeping her smile on, referring to the breakfast that was better tasting then expected.

"We're even".

To that, she shook her head in negation.

"We put our food supplies in common, didn't we? So we don't ow anything to one another".

"Tch. You're the only one that brought supplies..."

"And even so, we ate as much food from me than from you" she maintained in a light tone.

"As you wish..."

Despite the young woman's lack of sleep, Mira was glad she could keep her cool in his presence that morning. She even had the impression that he was a little less hostile to her. Maybe was it only because the day only had begun a couple of minutes ago? Whatever, she hoped it could stay that way.

Then they started walking again, mimicking the group formed by the soldiers. They didn't really talk during that journey but at least they weren't getting on each other's nerves either. They simply followed, hoping to soon get to destination. When the soldiers stopped for lunch, they had to do the same, themselves taking place in a safe distance. Everything seemed fine until a noise alerted both.

"Footsteps?" Said a surprised Mira.

"It's coming from behind us" confirmed Laxus. "And I don't think it's one of the soldiers".

"But no one lives this far from the villages" stated the young woman, the still fresh memory of the fallen in her head.

"Stay there" he whispered, taking out his knife.

"Laxus, wait..."

Laxus barely got to the sound's source before jumping on the silhouette he had spotted. No way they would get caught off guard like last time. The form was way smaller then the other fallen, but that must depend on the original size of the bearer.

He didn't waist any time and was about to aim at the head when he noticed large hazel eyes. "Shit" he thought. Such eyes had nothing to do with the fallen's menacing and orange ones they deled with the previous night. He suspended his movement noticing he was about to attack the, very human, girl in front of him. He however didn't got time to think of the reasons that could push someone to get this far into the forest. A second form, much more imposing this time, violently ran into him, propelling both of them away from the young woman.

If the first one seemed passive and inoffensive, that one was surely formidable, ready to attack him without restraint. The said guy had a murderous look, his irises as red as blood. But once more, they had nothing to do with the unnatural tint the fallen had. There was no doubts those two were human beings. They however didn't seem inoffensive and Laxus didn't hesitated before punching his adversary's nose. While blood should have flown from it, Laxus's fist seemed to have hit something way harder than skin. The one he just hit replied by punching Laxus' face, slightly opening the wound that covered his eye.

"Gajeel!" Cried the blue haired young woman while he heard Mira calling out his own name.

Both turned to the girls, the anger they had against one another still obvious in their eyes.

"Gajeel! It's a misunderstanding" continued the young woman. "They are not..."

"A misunderstanding?" Barked the named Gajeel. "He almost stabbed you!"

"But he didn't" she maintained.

"We taught we were facing another fallen" specified Mira.

Gajeel glared at them as they were complete idiots.

"Are you blind or just plain dumb? How could you possibly think she is a fallen?" He barked.

"Gajeel" said the young woman, placing her hand on his arm. He stopped as soon as he noticed. "I'm fine".

As surprising as it could be, the contact seemed to appease him. That however didn't stop him from making sure he stayed between Laxus and the one that accompanied him.

"I'm Mirajane and his name's Laxus" presented the young woman. "Sorry, we... let's simply say we're both on edge those last few days".

The other girl shook her head, indicating that they were forgiven, at least, in her opinion, Gajeel still mistrustful by her side.

"My name's Levy and this is my boyfriend, Gajeel".

Nice to meet you" smiled Mira. "But, eum... what are you doing this far from the villages?"

"I'd ask the same for you two" retorted Gajeel.

"She asked first" growled Laxus.

The tension was suffocating, neither of the duos knowing if they could trust the other one.

"We don't have time for this" finally settled Laxus. "It's only a matter of time before they leave".

Following Laxus's look, Levy understood they were talking about the soldiers. She couldn't see them from this distance but she saw the group pass before her half an hour ago, leading her to that conclusion.

"Why are you following those soldiers? You're not with them, are you?"

Fear seemed to fill Levy at the idea of them being affiliated with the DFA. That only worried Mira a little more. Why this reaction? Had they also seen someone they care about enrolled? Levy however seemed more afraid then sad. Even Gajeel seemed affected by their possible affiliation with the anti-fallen organisation. Even though fear wasn't present on his face, Mira could see a certain darkness that seemed to be related to an obscure memory.

"The DFA had taken someone precious to Laxus and I. We left our village to get them back" said Mirajane.

He words seemed to appease Levy who let out a sigh.

"In that case, we can probably help you", she announced. "You're not the only ones the have them as their enemy".

"Enemy?" Repeated Mira that didn't expect such a severe term to designate the organisation.

"We can't talk about it here, but I can assure you we are on the same side. Please, you must trust us. We have plenty of useful information. It simply is too dangerous to tell you here".

"No way!" Grumbled Laxus who seemed to have, for the first time, the same opinion as Gajeel.

To that, the blond young man left. He soon had Mira at his heels.

"Laxus! Wait!"

"You're not really considering trusting them?"

"What if they have capital information for us?" She insisted. "You saw them, right? Something's wrong with the DFA".

"If your mind is already made up? What are you waiting to follow them?"

"Come with me" insisted Mira.

"Why wanting me to tag along? You allied yourself with me to have help, didn't you? You don't need me anymore!"

"But you still need help! No matter if you want it or not, you'll never get Evergreen back on your own. You need help and... I want us to go back home with our siblings... every one of us".

He looked in the direction of the soldier's group that started to walk away, then crossed Mira's look.

"Don't make me regret it" he let out, walking back to the others.

Openly showing his disagreement, he tuned to Gajeel, glaring at him.

"You better not make us waist our only lead for nothing" he threatened him.

"And you better not give me another reason to beat the crap out of you" Gajeel retorted in a same tone, looking at Levy. His allusion was clear; if Laxus dared thinking of hurting her in the slightest, he was dead meat.

After giving each other another glare, both of them started to walk, ignoring their mutual presence.

"So" Mira said, making conversation with Levy. "Where are we heading?"

"We're not the only ones who suffered because of the DFA".

This only had the effect of intriguing the white haired woman even more, but the suspense was short. Soon, they arrived at a campsite, obviously in place for a moment already.

"Let me present to you the group in which Gajeel and I are part of: Fairy Tail.

Hello !

Yes, I know, rather than giving answers, I created new questions :o I'm evil! ;)

Hope you liked it!

Lily xxx