Basil fell onto his bed as though his very skin had never been graced by the gentle touch of his moth eaten sheets, his lumpy mattress, and half empty pillow. Still, he felt like he was on a cloud compared to the annoying cots, benches, and train seats.

"I want to die here." Basil said to his bed as he buried his face into the material.

"Basil you're back!"

Then Basil really did want to die.

He lifted his head to see Chase at the door with a bowl of soup in his hands and a spoon to his lips.

Basil wheeled around, sitting up and off his bed to jab a finger towards Chase.

"No! I kicked you out! You can't live here anymore!" Basil hissed.

"I know, and I was away for awhile." Chase scratched his head, "so then I moved in with Col and Sabrina, after a week I got kicked out. So I went to Rosemary and Caesar's place. Then Caesar kicked me out, and since you weren't back yet, I just came here. But now you're here. Hurray!"

"Get out."

"Aw! Come on! I don't have anywhere else to--"

"I don't care. Get an apartment." Basil stood up off the bed. "I'm tired, it's late, and nothing you say will make me okay with you being here--"

"Oh, Sabrina and Col want you to meet Atticus." Chase took a long sip from the soup in his spoon. "Soon s'ya get back they said."

"Really?" Basil scratched his head and whipped his wrist into view, looking at his watch. "But it's past 10."

"They'll still be up, head on down."

Basil excitedly reached for his jacket, shuffling his arms to get it on. "Alright, be gone by the time I'm back."

"Where do I go?"

Basil reached for his keys and combed his fingers through his hair. "I dunno, check that old barn out, Tobias lived there for years when we were kids."

"But that guy was super creepy." Chase snarled. "If I go there I'll probably find some corpse under his pillow or something."

"Well if you're here when I'm back you'll be a corpse."

"What about your vows?"

"Shut up about my vows I'll metaphorically kill you."

Basil ran to the small house Sabrina and Coladome had settled in. Though Sabrina was the town's Doctor, the job didn't pay as well as one would hope.

He knocked lightly on the door, trying not to disturb them if they by chance had been sleeping.

The door opened quickly, and Sabrina rushed from the entry to embrace Basil.

"Basil!" She spat in a quirky laugh. "Col! He's back!"

Sabrina began to drag Basil into their home, and he was surprised to find it in such order given how messy he knew the couple could be. There was a faint crash, and the sound of an infant crying.

"Hon...I'm a bit preoccupied..." Coladome's voice was muffled, as he seemed to be in the other room.

Sabrina groaned lowly as she walked to the bedroom door, opening it and allowing the sound of crying to flood the entire house. Basil hadn't realized until then, but Sabrina did look rather exhausted. Why wouldn't she? She'd just given birth, and now the two of them had a new born infant in their grasp.

"Atticus...shh," She hummed. Basil walked towards the room, sticking his head in bast the open door, watching Sabrina cradle the infant as Coladome took a moment to shut his eyes.

The baby's cry weakened, but refused to die down entirely.

"You seem to be having fun." Basil chuckled as she stepped into the room, and looked to his god-child. He was a perfect mesh of the two, he had Sabrina's hair, thin lips, and Coladome's eyes, which at that moment were filled with tears.

"I think we've had about 8 hours of sleep this past week." Coladome chuckled, lifting his head up to meet Basil's vision. "But it's good to see you."

"Wanna hold him?" Sabrina's lips pressed into a tight grin, as her arms lifted Atticus up towards Basil. He hesitantly reached for the child, and carefully cradled him in his arms. The child began to grow quiet, and he could hear the joy boiling in Sabrina and Col.

Silence, the each could fall down asleep that very moment.

"Oh my gosh, thank you so much..." Sabrina pressed her hands together and bowed her head from both adoration and exhaustion.

"You guys really need some sleep." Basil chuckled, rocking the kid lightly as his finger poked at his chubby cheek. "This little guy I'm sure."

"Yeah, my maternity leave ends soon, and if I can't get Atticus--and myself--on a normal sleep schedule then I'm screwed." Sabrina grunted. "I mean...I'm in trouble."

"Censorship, gotcha." Basil chuckled as he watched the infant in his arms shut his eyes. "You guys sure are good at making cute kids. This guy's amazing."

Sabrina chuckled as she sat down beside Col. "I know, his ravishing good looks obviously comes from me, his charming personality comes from Col."

"Gee, I can tell." Basil scoffed to the boastful remark. "Gee, I need to convince some chick to marry me so I can get one of these. I hear they don't hand babies out to just anyone."

"You'd be surprised." Sabrina hummed quietly, resting her head on Coladome's shoulder.

"Yeah, guess so." He sighed. "Hey didn't some girl in Pride get pregnant at 14 or 15? I feel like there was some sort of teen pregnancy when we were younger."

He turned his head to Sabrina and Coladome, and finds them sitting against the wall, each asleep on one another.

As he looked down to Atticus, he held in a laugh and walked to the crib with quiet steps.

He set Atticus inside, who cooed as he touched the gentle and soft blankets.

"Don't kill your parents." He warned the small child with the shake of his fingers. His hands drew to the cotton blanket draped over the walls of the crib. His gruff and worn hands unfolded the blanket, and set it on the lap of his married friends.

Sabrina hummed quietly and smiled in a sleepy manner, "thanks Basil, I'm glad you're back."

"Hurry it up Jude, no time for dilly dallying!" Nashi gruffly called to her younger brother with the clap of her hands.

They'd been hiking all day, and the evening was approaching. Jude heaved as they walked, and his incapability to travel just up the mountain was nerve wrecking.

"Nashi..." Jude huffed and puffed to spill the words past his lips. "This is a terrible idea."

It was seemingly a remarkably terrible idea to have Jude participate in the Grand Magic Games.

He hadn't been in a job in quite some time after Laxus banned his team. He was the youngest on the team, and most definitely didn't possess some strong capability for his age.

He was no shining star.

He was a dwarf planet in astronomy terms.

But Nashi suggested him, and that's why he was hiking up that mountain.

"Jude, do you seriously not have any clue where we are?"

Jude huffed as he dropped his head forward, his hands collapsing into his shaking knees for a fatal form of support.

Nashi grumbled to herself and she took a few steps down to meet Jude at his level, then flung the boy over her shoulder with ease.

Jude let out a yelp, hissing to his safer for release as she carried him up the mountain. As they reached the top, Jude was dropped onto the ground.

He stumbled onto his feet, trying to regain his balance on the bristle and crumbling earth as the wind blew gently against his already bewildered hair.

"Look," Nashi drew her hand out, in the opposing direction from in which they'd arrived.

The young boy groaned in annoyance as he pulled his head up, feeling as though the entire hike was just a waste.

As the wind blew the messy blonde locks out of his eyes, a small and crippled town was revealed in the valley below.

Pride.

"Wha--" Jude grunted as he flung his attention up to Nashi. "Why are we training in a place like this?" He had more than a few bad memories here.

"This is where all of us have gone training." Nashi didn't hesitate to begin traveling, making her way towards a shattered tree with disembodied bark crawling up its trunk. "You see, after the War, this entire mountain became disorientated. The nature above the mountain is one thing, but...the inside is another story."

"Inside the mountain?" Jude watched as Nashi gruffly pulled off a strip of bark as tall as herself off the trunk, then began to repeat the action. "You mean the old facility?"

"Yup, Spriggan." Nashi hummed as she dropped the two strips onto the ground. "That's where we're training."

"Are you kidding?!" Jude scoffed lightly at the suggestion. "It's just--that place was dedicated to destroying magic and now we're going back to learn how to further use magic."

"Yup." Nashi nodded her head diligently as she dragged the strip of bark to the edge of the hill top. "Hey, wanna race?"

"Wanna what?"

Nashi smirked as she drew her hands to her long messy strands of pink hair, then began to pull them back into a ponytail. "I bet I'll get to the bottom first."

She giggled like a child, dropping her body onto the bark as she slid it further to the edge.

"It's the only way down Jude, no walking for you." Nashi hummed as she lay the other strip of bark, nudging her head lightly to demand Jude take a seat.

He groaned audibly, purposefully in fact with he hopes Nashi would hear.

Jude stumbled onto the strip, and awkwardly braves himself on the edges of the bark. With his eyes looking straight out to the valley below him, he listened as Nashi began to count.

"Three, two, one--" Nashi flung her arm forward, and shoved Jude down the stiff slope. "GO!"

Jude let out a shriek as slid down the hill, the bark spinning as it tumbled down the slope. He gripped tightly to the edge, hoping to find a way to manage.

As the sound of laughter rung through his ears, he jerked his head around to the pursing Nashi. Jude ground his teeth to the jolly older sister and shouted to her, "you pushed me!!"

"I thought you'd chicken if I didn't!" She called over the pound hustle and bustle their faux sleds made. "Try this!"

She settled her hands on the ends of the bark, letting her legs stretch out on the strip. Suddenly, bursts of hot powerful blames shot from her hands, and she sped further down the hill and far past Jude.

He didn't like the idea of going faster, but Nashi did manage to use the flames as a steering device. So in an attempt to keep himself from dying, he bravely slid his hands down the ends of the sled, and shot of rugged strings of flames.

At first his hesitation led to a more discomforting ride, but as he swallowed his fear and let go, he was flying.

The bark bobbed on and off the earth like a boat on water, rising up and even off the waves. He glided down the mountain, tailing Nashi with a grin tugging at his lips.

Zooming down the hill, dust spilled up bast the shards of bark as it rammed against the ground again and again. Heat blazing from the ride, the two were ignorant to the streaks of ash they left behind as a trail.

Jude pushed forward, his body lowered as to not allow his own body to slow himself, he and his sled glided down the mountain, dodging trees, rocks, and the occasional animal.

The distance between the two two grew thin, and Jude found utter excitement in the thought of smiling back at Nashi with a toothy grin as he passed her.

He dove past her, swinging in front of her and taking the lead in the two person race. Nashi snarled as Jude stuck his tongue at her, making a childish face in response to his success. He ducked like a mad man when Nashi spat fire at him, shooting just above his head.

Jude ground his teeth as a scowl emerged on his face, watching Nashi repeat the expression he had made just a few moments ago.

"Jude!" Nashi's face sinking in concern. "Turn around you idiot!"

His head span around in a second, meeting a gush of wind and the edge of a cliff.

It was a mountain after all.

He opened his mouth to scream, and did for a quick moment until Nashi broke into action. She sprung off her own strip of bark, diving towards Jude and entangling him with in her two arms. Her hands fist his body, and as the bark met the edge of the solid surface, her legs kicked the two off into the cliff, spinning them onto their backs as they hung in the air for a seemingly endless moment.

The kick wasn't enough, and they were just a bit off the edge of the cliff as they began to fall. Nashi, who was facing the tangible view of death took in a deep breath. As the air around her filled her lungs, she released a ghastly roar shooting flames from her lips and sending herself and her brother further into the air and across the ledge.

They tumbled on the other side, Nashi still gripping onto Jude. They shouted curses and laughs as they rolled down the hill in chaos. Surely if not a deadly fall, a deadly tumble would ensnare the two in demise.

They surprisingly didn't die, and landed with Jude implanted between Nashi's two large breasts as she lay bruised on her back.

She looked up at the cruel blue sky and let out a long and tired breath, her arms still clinging to Jude.

"You okay?" She said with a smile.

"No..." He choked out, struggling for breath. If the fall and the tumble both failed to kill Jude, then surely Nashi's two unreasonably sized breasts would bring his end.

Nashi released Jude from her grip, and he swung his head up, taking a deep breath as though he'd just emerged from the water.

He rolled off of Nashi, and clung to the earth in desperation. Nashi sat up and got onto her feet, raising her hand to her face as she smiled happily.

"Oh, we're here!"

Jude looked up at the mountain, discovering he and Nashi had managed to tumble there way down to a large open entrance created involuntary over a year ago.

They were at Spriggan, where the former Brotherhood of Order members locked them up.

Jude couldn't help but feel a sudden rush of fear. "Why are we here...?" He'd spent time within those walls, so had Nashi. However, she'd spent a lot more time than he had since they left the prison.

Nashi scoffed, as though she were disappointed in Jude's ignorance. "Well, it's where we're training of course."

"What--" Jude shot up and off the ground, clenching his fists as he stood on his toes to reach Nashi. "Why would we train in a place like that?"

She didn't say anything. She just grabbed Jude's arm and pulled him into the opening of the prison. As they became engulfed in the dark, Nashi illuminated the halls with the snap of her fingers.

A small flame hovered over her palm, lighting the tunnels as Jude stuck close to her.

"Do you remember everything that happened that morning?" Nashi looked down to Jude, who furrowed his eyebrows to the bitter and nostalgic thought.

"Yeah, I remember lots, trust me." He most definitely remembered her, who Tobias had told her to remember.

Her name is Will. Remember that.

"Well something happened to the facility after all of that. Some kind of weird burst of magic that changed the whole place."

"How?"

"Magic, duh." Nashi retorted quickly. She looked around a hall with a big fat burn mark on the wall. "Oh, here we are!"

She leads Jude down the hall, and he finds it eerily familiar. They were headed towards the pit.

Jude and a massive number of guild members were all shoved into a hole in the ground rather than actual cells. The entire place was flooded, and there weren't enough individual cells to put the varied prisoners. So groups were bunched up into single cells by level of danger, and the others were all dropped into a pit.

With no magic, little food to go among the crowd, and little moral strength, the entire guild of enticing Fairy Tail members all fell to their demise in the pit, accepting their doom.

"Why are we here?"

"We're training here." Nashi explained quickly. The large machinery that opened and closed the pit was broken with the help of Jude, Molly, and Rowen. Now from the upper level above the pit, or simply looked like a big dark hole in the ground.

"Alright, in ya go!" Nashi hummed as she smacked Jude on the back, and he tumbled into the pit with a cry. She soon followed after him, landing on her feet while Jude landed on his face.

He groaned and groveled as he pulled himself onto his feet, rubbing his sore nose as he snarled at Nashi.

"Alright then, lemme get those lacrimas on." Nashi snapped her fingers and the room illuminated. The giant pit was filled with equipment, it's thick cement walls covered in burn marks and tracks of ash. Swords, spears, and dummies all piled across the room, and the floor was painted out in red marks drawn by the hard laboring feet.

"What the...you guys have been training here?!"

"Yup, all this time." Nashi nodded casually, immune to the wonder of the site.

"But why?!"

Nashi turned to Jude, and waved her hand lightly as though she were telling a bad joke. "Hey, you remember when me and the guys would be like 'well! We're gonna go train!' and then we'd leave for a week and come back incredibly strong and everybody is like 'whoa! They got that strong in a week?!'"

"No, not really." To be honest, he'd never followed Nashi's activities, nor her spontaneous disappearances.

"Heh." Nashi huffed. "That was because we went here."

Jude crossed his arms, his eyes tracing the walls around him. "What's so special about this place?"

Nashi grew a wicked kind of grin, proud to announce the secret of success to her brother. "Jude, time itself is distorted in this entire facility." She knelt down, and in the dust and dirt covered floor began to map out the facility. "Look here, inside this room, time is sped up. Which means that an hour in here, is 5 minutes out there."

"Wait..."

"We've got a little over a week to get you trained for the games. But if we train here--in this room--what will be a week outside will be just barely 3 months."

"So you're saying..."

"For the next three months, you and I will be training in here. Nonstop, until I think you're ready for the games."

Jude stood in awe, blown away by the plan Nashi presented.

Three months. That was actually a long time.

What would be a week for everyone else would be three months for him and Nashi.

He wasn't sure what surprised him more, the splendor of the entire system, or the fact that Nashi was actually interacting with him.

Basil always woke with the sun, which was unfortunate as he wasn't even a morning person, the morning was just really into him.

Nonetheless, when he woke up, he could never get back to sleep. So he'd scramble into the kitchen and desperately pour a cup of coffee to shock him into consciousness.

"Coffee...coffee...come on sweet baby coffee..." He'd mumbled incoherently as he poured himself a cup.

"Well you sure know how to sweet talk a cup of joe."

The voice was familiar, and he wasn't sure where he'd heard it. Then he though why he was hearing the voice of a young woman in the comfort of his own home.

He jerked his head around in every direction, until his eyes fell onto the blue haired convict he'd met not too long before.

After the cry of a combination of the beginning and ending parts of two separate curses, he jabbed a finger at Florence and shouted, "don't you try anything--"

"I come in peace, love." She hummed, pulling a tea cup to her lips. "Daring, I don't think coffee will do anything for that stress of your's, why not try tea?"

"Get out of my house! Now!"

"I'm not in your house." She wasn't. Florence was right outside the open window beside his front door. "I was actually hoping to speak with you, but I assume you'd like a pair of pants first."

Basil was in his boxers, nothing more. He groaned as he dropped his face into the palm of his hand. "Okay, okay...can you gimme a sec?"

He rushed into his bedroom, pulling on a short and pair of slacks.

As he opened his bedroom door again, he found Florence at his kitchen table. "Didn't say you could come in."

"What?" Florence huffed. "You're saying you won't allow a demon into your home? Well my, that's racist sir!"

"I didn't mean that--"

"Shut up and sit down, I poured you some tea, don't touch that coffee stuff, it poisons the soul."

Basil looked to the cup of tea she'd poured for him, in her own cup she'd apparently brought in with her. It was odd, almost surreal. Basil considered the idea that he might still be dreaming.

He cautiously sat down across from the blue haired beauty, who sat with crossed legs and a fair stance. She looked like royalty in the sink wooden chair, but she sat like it was a throne.

"You're the sin of lust, right?" Basil asked.

"This isn't an interrogation, this is breakfast." Florence hissed. "Are you not going to drink your tea?"

"I don't trust you." Basil spat quickly. "I don't have a single reason too--"

Florence sighed as she took Basil's cup into her hands, taking a quick sip and swallowing in exaggerated gestures so Basil knew she took the tea down. She reset the cup in front of him, back in the paired saucer with a smirk. "It won't kill you darling. And if it does, at least we'll die together."

Basil stared down the liquid, still refusing to take a taste.

"Fine then." Florence huffed, leaning back into her seat. "I wouldn't spill anything until you take a drink. I know you're very ecstatic to find out about the sins, or the train, or the girl--"

"The girl--who are you--"

"Sh."

She brought a finger to her red lips, which curled quietly into a smile as she budged her head to the cup set before Basil. He sighed as he brought a hand down, scooping the cup with his fingers as he brought it to his lips. He tipped the cup over and let the unique minty flavor duck down his throat.

"Thank you." Florence grinned. "I hope you enjoyed it."

"It's nice." He brought the cup down, with a stoic expression. "Now about the girl."

"Who said I'd talk about her? I only said I'd talk." Florence smiled, but not in a sadistic or smug way. She seemed genuinely pleased by engaging in the conversation alone, which made Basil all the more frightened. "To start, I'd like to say I'm not with the sins any longer."

Basil furrowed his eyebrows. "Is there a reason?"

"Creative differences?" She chuckled, trying to pass off a joke. "However, I'm not settling down either. I, like the others, joined with a goal in mind. Not because we like each other's company."

"What about the girl you were with on the train?" He was referring to Eleanor.

Florence frowned. "She's different. We just happened to become friends. If you spend enough time with someone, surely you're bound to begin to like them."

Basil furrowed his eyebrows, watching her every move carefully.

"You're stripping me with those eyes of your's." Florence smiled, pressing the brim of her cup to her blood red lips. "Tell me what you can see?"

"What do you mean?"

"I think you're kinda clever." Florence commented, crossed her arms over the table edge. "What do you know about me just from looking?"

Basil took in a long and silent stare. He brought the cup to his lips, took a drink, then spoke.

"You have scream lines, they're faint but present. I don't think you were born a demon, much rather became on, but I assume you were young. You despise men, somewhat exclusively when you're not cranky enough to hate everyone altogether which really makes me afraid that you at one point in your life were being abused by a man. You were young, before you were a demon, when you were still much weaker." He looked at her red eyes, asked for permission to continue. She nodded her head. "You're a beautiful woman, obviously, and you obvious apply efforts to maintain an elegance. However, the way you dress, and most definitely the way you walk have this sort of...zing to it. You were probably taught--or shall I say brainwashed--into believing your physical appearance is your strongest trait, or maybe weapon."

"In conclusion...?"

Basil sighed. "You're not a virgin."

Florence nodded. "You, however, are."

"Don't have to rub it in." Basil huffed bashfully as he brought the cup to his lips, hiding his embarrassment.

"Do you have some weird crush on the Titania from Fairy Tail--"

"No--"

"Then why do you have a picture of her on your wall?"

Basil jerked his head around, seeing the torn off magazine cover he'd taped to his wall years ago. "Oh, that."

"So you have a crush on a woman old enough to be your mother."

"I don't have a crush--" Basil groaned, sighing in irritation as he pinched the tense area between his eyes. "When I was a kid, she was my hero, okay? Yes, maybe a had a few fantasies that she's come to Pride and adopt me or something...but can you blame me?"

"That's sweet. You almost misled me when you used the word 'fantasy' though."

"Ha."

Florence wrapped her fingers around the cup, her skin caressing the smooth and fragile surface of the china. "That's really cute."

She looked around the room, decorated with pictures and memories Florence just inhaled with each stare. She looked into a picture frame where she saw a younger version of Basil along side two other boys and a girl, smiling wildly. He looked like a different person than the man before her.

"Your name, it's Basil right?"

"And you're Florence."

She smiled against the rim of her cup. "How odd, we did the getting to know you before the names."

Basil's eyes traced Florence's movement. Florence was a beautiful name indeed, and it was far more than just suitable.

"What's your last name?" He asked.

"What's your's?"

"Mace."

"Bellini." She watched as Basil rose an eyebrow. "I'm from Stella, my first language is Italian."

"Really?" Florence nodded with a grin. "Do you speak Italian?"

"Only when I curse these days." Florence snickered, letting the cup settle on the table. "Me and my father moved to Fiore when I was very young. However, I didn't learn your language until years after."

"Is your father also a demon."

"No."

"How 'bout your mom?"

"I don't have a mother."

An awkward silence quickly fell, Basil immediately realizing he'd picked at something he shouldn't have. The harsh and bristle expression Florence wore was foreign to Basil in the short time they'd been acquainted.

"Were you born a demon?" Basil didn't want to abandon the topic, just the previous subject.

Florence shook her head quickly, her long curled hair falling off her shoulder with the swift and loose movement. "No, I was not."

"Then how did--"

"Basil darling," Florence smiled, and Basil flinched to the sound of her slurring out his name in her smooth and silky voice. "It's only fair I get my own share of questions."

Basil croaked quietly, slowly failing to remain composed and in control of the conversation. "Fine, what do you want to know?"

Florence grinned. "Can you dance?"

Basil cringed, and bowed his head almost shamefully. "Um...well, yeah."

"What kind of dances?"

He gave Florence this look, the kind he'd only ever given to someone like Sabrina before. It looked as though "I'm about to hop this table and shank you" to a stranger, but between the two members of the conversation it was a gentler "you really do know me, don't you".

Which was the most interesting and most important part conversation. Though they chatted politely, sipping tea, their knowledge of one another came from the unique and over processed actions analyzed anxiously by each member of the breakfast.

"Waltz," Basil said, tapping his middle finger repeatedly against the surface of the cup. His eyebrows furrowed, but a smile tugged at his lips. "And also the foxtrot."

"Get out." She teased, leaving closer to the table with a hum. Florence crossed her legs and rested her wrists on the ring of the table. "How'd you learn?"

"This school teacher and my sister," Basil sighed. "What kind of question is that?"

Florence pressed her lips into a tight grin. "I just had a feeling. And I was right."

"Yeah, yeah, are ya happy?" She nodded her head politely, sucking on her lip to conceal a grin. "Okay, can I ask a question again?" She nodded quickly, and Basil cleared his throat. "So how'd you become a demon."

Florence's smile fell into a frown, in a way that sang she wasn't sure how to answer at all.

"Um," she began in an immature and out of character slur. "It wasn't a choice, or maybe it was. I'm not really sure."

She fidgeted as Basil waited patiently for some form of answer. Florence drew her arm onto the table, dropping her elbow onto the surface as her pale slim fingers dipped into her mouth and between her teeth for her to gnaw on. "You were right, about me being abused by men."

Basil flinched, he watched as the girl cut herself open in front of him, letting all that was inside spill out onto the table.

"I was kidnapped when I was young, and forced into human trafficking. I worked in this brothel on an island a small distance off the edge of Fiore. Of course, small for a large, vast, and very fast boat. Not for a young girl with a rowboat. Most definitely not for a girl with two legs and two arms for swimming." She dropped her hand from her lips.

"There were countless young girls, barely even teenagers. Then a share of older woman maxing out at 20. Then men would ride in and out and bask at the flesh and sacks of meat they were provided to drool over. I was very young. And very terrified." She sighed, shaking her head. "I also couldn't speak English."

Basil's eyes widened. He could imagine being kidnapped and forced into a brothel was a terrible thing, but all that happening while you were surrounded by people with a foreign tongue, that was its own prison set by language. 

"I couldn't exactly befriend anyone in the brothel. I mean, none of the other girls treated me badly, they could only look at me with those sympathetic eyes." She sighed, shrugging her shoulders. Florence wasn't exactly comfortable telling the story, however, there was this tender satisfaction as the words fell out of her mouth.

"Nonetheless, despite the vile and unmentionable things that happened to me there, I remember that the only admirable thing of the entire island was that below the brothel were the deep caverns filled with natural hot springs we'd be allowed to bathe it." 

She smiled fondly to the single kind memory the place left her with. "So many times I'd sneak into those springs. Breaking locks and my own back to get inside just to sink in the water. Usually the water was crowded with girls, your bare naked skin pushed up against some others as you battled for an inch in the water. So I'd go when no one else was, and just dip my head into the water. I'd stay below for so long. Training myself to stay for longer periods. I could stay there for minutes at a time. Eventually I could last up to 15 minutes with one breath. So when I'd crowd into the springs with the countless other girls, is just drop down bellow all the kicking feet and swim to the deeper depths of the spring and hide bellow them. My over use of the spring was eventually noticed. And they left me without water...and food...for what felt like a month. Who knows how long it really was? Then one night...I snapped."

She crossed her legs, leaning back into her seat. The chair creaked with her movement, interrupting the silence she'd created. "I swore I'd never be thirsty again."

Gillian entered the guild around noon. She saw Molly and Rowen at the counter chatting with Psycho sitting on the counter. Gillian strolled towards them, having no one else to really speak to.

"Hi guys."

They swing themselves around to greet the familiar voice, only to see her in a surprising state.

She was wearing a pair of bear ears, and had her face painted with rosy pink cheeks and whiskers.

"My mom and me...uh...dad," she said it with hesitance, not sure if it was okay to say yet, "took me to that amusement park at Akane Beach."

"They tried to break you!" Molly cursed, shaking her fist as Rowen fell into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.

Gillian just smiled in a small but meaningful way, taking off her faux ears as she sat beside Molly.

"So where's the other member of the dynamic dumbos?" Gillian crossed her arms over the counter, acknowledging Jude's absence.

"You didn't hear!" Molly's face lit up. "He's gonna be in the Grand Magic Games! He and Nashi left yesterday to go and train!"

Gillian chuckled. "That's funny, so where's he at?"

"Like she said, training." Rowen confirmed.

Gillian sat for a moment, then made a jaw dropping realization.

"Oh my gosh you're serious."

"Master Laxus announced in just the other day, everyone was shocked."

"Shocked is an understatement." Rowen chuckled, recalling the chaos that fell following the announcement.

"But--why?! I mean, I'd rather have Psycho represent Fairy Tail!"

"Dat ish insulting." The pearl colored cat retorted sternly, crossing her arms unpleasantly as she sat atop the counter.

Gillian shook her head, still struggling to grasp the situation she'd entered. "So, he choose Jude? But we've only got a week until the games even start! The others have been training for months now, and they're all adults!" 

"Well, no one knows how the training is actually happening...maybe they're doing this really intense training?" Molly shrugged, doubting even her own answer. She was honestly drastically terrified for Jude's sake. She'd never watched the games before, but Lillian had told her often of their danger and violence. She believed Jude was powerful, but she knew that he was still young and wasn't too naive to believe he would be the strongest to enter that arena at his current stage.

"It's impossible to train yourself to be ready to compete against Fiore's greatest mages in just a week! It'd take months for Jude to reach a level high enough to fight against any of the other guilds and actually stand a chance!" Rowen had his own opinion on the matter. He felt almost cheated. In truth, he was more experienced than Jude. He spent months with his father out of the country, learning to fight and become stronger. He couldn't help but wonder why Jude was chosen rather than him if they'd strike so low in age. "Jude's gonna get disintegrated." 

However, they didn't realize that Jude was already being disintegrated, but Nashi. 

His training had gone on for 30 hours in regular time. However halls of the former facility that held many mages captive over a year before. Time was moving differently. 

To him, it had been almost a week of training. He was exhausted, and his body worn. He was about ready to drop dead and call it a life. 

He had gotten busy on dying, lying on the ground doing a minimal amount of breathing. 

"Get up looser. We've got an hour to eat." Nashi said, kicking Jude lightly to roll him onto his back. He groaned lightly as he fell onto his back.

"Nashi." Jude said lowly. "Why did Laxus choose me?" 

Nashi didn't answer immediately, and first pulled the sandwich she made from its bag and dropped it on Jude's chest. After doing that, she still didn't answer, and grabbed her own sandwich first and took a bite. "I asked him too." 

For a simple, bitter sweet answer, it had along wait.

"Figures..." Jude took the sandwich off his chest, then took a bite. With his mouth full, he said, "Course Laxus wouldn't think I had the skill or anything." 

"Well that sorta bites." Nashi groaned.

"Whadya mean?" Jude muttered, trying to swallow the disgusting sandwich. 

Nashi crossed her legs, resetting herself on the ground. "I mean, why can't my faith in your skill mean anything? I know I'm not the master, but I am your sister."

Jude sat up quickly. His body ached, with every move he felt like absolute crap. "You think I can do this?" 

Nashi just smiled, and answered quickly. "Of course I do, idiot." 

The idiot part wasn't ideal. But the heart was still there.

"Thanks Nashi." 

"So, tell about Edolas." Marigold was bored, her feet tired from her relentless walk. Her face was dirty, as were her feet. She just wanted to sit down and rest but was too scared too. The cut was sore, and stung as the stone shifted occasionally in her skin.

"It's very different than here." The Marigold inside said. "The people too."

"Where did you live? Were you with Fairy Tail?"

"Fairy Tail? How could I get with Fairy Tail?" She laughed at the very thought. "How could I even?"

"What? Is Fairy Tail a guild there?"

"Hardly." Edolas Marigold answered. "It's a guild of people directly under the King's control. The Prince actually leads it for the most part, so I've heard. But...I hear of all the people apart of it. Liddan--"

"You mean Isaiah."

"Yeah, yeah." She shook her head with a sigh. "Isaiah. What an odd name?"

"So," Marigold stepped over a slur of roots shrouding her path. Her bare foot pricked a sharp rock, and she thrust her foot upward in a hiss to escape impact. "Where did you live? What did you do?"

"I was a waitress." Marigold laughed, both. "I didn't have much, but I had a daughter."

"Wait--you have a Lilly?" Marigold chuckled. "I have a kid too. Of course, I didn't actually get to raise her...our circumstances were a bit...complex."

"Didn't get to raise her? That sounds impossible. I couldn't imagine her father taking on the job?"

"You've even got a Tobias huh?" Marigold sighed as she sat down on a stump, finally giving into her body's exhaustion. Correction, the other Marigold's body. Had it been her own, she surely would still be walking. But this body wasn't used to such activities. Walking. Absolutely everywhere. Something Marigold had gotten very good at over time.

"He was my boyfriend when I was a teenager." Her voice lit up, "don't tell me you dated him too!" 

"Not exactly." Marigold sighed. "But he did get me pregnant with Lilly. Who would've thought you'd given consent...were you only 15 when you had her?" 

"Afraid so." 

Marigold sighed. "Figures. I'm jealous, I didn't meet Lilly until last year...I thought was dead." 

Edolas Marigold didn't know what to say. A heavy load of guilt fled her body as she felt envy to Marigold. 

"Yeah." She said. "I'm really sorry." 

"Well, she wasn't fit for being raised. She wasn't a normal kid, and her body can't survive without almost constant aid thanks to a nasty beating I got right before I had her."

"So she's physically challenged?" 

"Not just that." Marigold drew her chest forward as her back arched it upwards. "Her mind...it's like a palace for every single thing that's ever happened. Her body is consumed with thought, with absolutely everything."

"Seems like an awful lot for a four year old."

"She's timeless practically. There's not a single thing I could teach her." 

"Well that really takes the fun out of being a mom." 

"Yeah." Marigold shut her lips tightly. "It really does." 

Marigold sighed, pulling her arm into her lap. Her arm brushed over her bandaged wound. "You wanna take over?" 

There was a silence in her mind, and she felt for a moment like the body was simply her own. 

"No thank you." 

"Lillian." Aloke chuckled as he reached his hand out to Lillian for the eighth time that hour. "Just let me carry you up this way." 

"No...can do..." She panted out, waving her hand lightly in frustration with her own disability. "These boots were made for hiking, and that's what they're gonna do...."

"Yeah, but you weren't made for hiking." Aloke protested. "So I insist you take a rest." 

"On your back?" 

"Precisely." 

Lillian rolled her head back with a loud groan, dissatisfied with her lack in will power. She was just so exhausted.

He turned around, his hands settling behind his back waiting for Lillian to come from behind him. 

Her hands hesitantly grasped his firm shoulders, and she pulled herself onto his broad back. Aloke pulled her legs up, settling her on his back.

"There we go." Aloke huffed as he began to walk again. 

"I'm not too much, am I?"

"Like carrying a backpack."

Lillian sat, hugging the neck of Aloke as he carried her up the path. She found it frighteningly familiar, remembering the last time the two traveled up the mountain vaguely. All that time was spotty, which made it all the more frustrating. 

"Penny for your thoughts?" 

"Why'd you come find me?" Lillian blurted out quickly, before the thought became too frightening to say. "Is it because you had no one else to go to, or was it because..."

"Because what?" 

Lillian pressed her lips tightly. 

"Was it because you liked me, or I was the only option."

Aloke hummed in response. 

"That's a good question." 

Lillian peaked her head over his shoulder. "Is there a good answer?"

He gave a sigh that slurred into a somewhat forced laugh. 

"I guess it's a bit of both, I mean...I'm sure I could've found someone else to come along, not anyone I know personally, but someone could've easily come along for the ride beside you. I could've hired someone, of course I'm too poor for that...and they might slit my throat and rob me of my nothings when I'm sleeping. But, I've known you a long time...and I really trust you."

Lillian waited a moment before speaking again. Feeling a chill rush down her voice crisply as the words sank in and new ones formed in awkward clumps inside of her. 

"You don't really know me." 

Aloke stopped walking. 

"What do you mean by that?" He croaked, like the words struck him in a hurtful way. 

"You hardly remember anything about the time we spent together as kids. In truth, you just remember knowing me. You don't really know me as a person. I mean, in our adult lives, we've only interacted a handful of times until you disappear or try to murder or kidnap me again--"

Aloke drops Lillian, allowing her to drop roughly on her butt. Releasing a loud "oof" followed by a groan, Aloke span around and crouched down to meet her eye level before another word could slip past her mouth.

"Lillian, you and I could walk up this mountain contemplating how little we know about each other, or we could start to actually get to know each other."

She bit onto her lip, leaning back a bit as Aloke sank in.

"I'm not really Justin...I mean, kinda." Aloke scratched his head. "I'm Aloke now, and I guess you don't know him too well, so I get why you don't trust him--"

"I trust you." 

"Good." Aloke said quickly. "Ya know, I wouldn't mind getting to know Lillian better."

Lillian watched Aloke smile gently, then crossed her arms.

"Well...I was a prostitute for awhile." 

"Well I'm sure that has loads of interesting stories with it." 

"Yeah, wanna here about the time I locked a client in a port-o-potty during a county fair?"

"Oh boy, this will really kill the time." 

Felicity sat on her bed, her headphones clung loosely to her skull. The door slung open, Zailo appearing as he popped his head through it with a bright smile.

"Hey, are you packed yet?" 

She pulled the headphones off her ears slowly, not heavily interested in what it was Zailo was talking about. "Packing for what exactly?" 

"The Grand Magic Games?!"

With a quizzical expression, Felicity paused her music buzzing from her Walkman. "Uh, Zailo, that's in a week, right?" 

"Yeah." 

"So...why would I be packed already?" 

"So we can go early and get a hotel close to the arena! Sometimes really surprising stuff happens at random hours--even when the games aren't officially going. Like a random fight, or explosion, or dragon attack--"

"Zailo, the hotel is being handled by Fairy Tail. They rented this entire resort out for the whole week. They passed around sign up sheets from the room this morning. We don't have to worry--better yet, pay--for the hotel."

"Oh, right..." 

"So, in truth, you're just really overly excited."

"I am not an ovary!" 

"I'd hope not, as you are male." Felicity sat up, rolling off her stomach and sitting criss-cross atop her bed. She pat the sheets to signal for Zailo to come and sit beside her. "Come hither, my young idiot." 

"Felicity, seriously?" 

"Shut up and sit yourself down fool." 

Zailo sat down beside Felicity, without any awkward tension between the two, as there always seemed to be before. 

"You seem excited." Felicity nodded.

"Yeah, you already said that." 

"I know, but we're not leaving for a week and everything in your closet is in a suitcase in our living room. I've done the laundry, you've got 3 pairs of underwear, and I didn't see any left in your drawer. I'm frightened about your plans for undergarments this coming week."

"Why were you in my drawers..."

"That isn't important now." Felicity pat his shoulder. "I just think it's time for this...fanatic behavior to die down."

"By that...you mean?" 

"You're in Fairy Tail Zailo, you did, yay! You don't need to freak out over everything that rhymes with dairy and ends with something like mail."

"Dairy...mail?" 

"Zailo, you aren't a stable person, and you're way to excited about absolutely everything." Felicity was blatant, leaving Zailo with a few daggers hanging awkwardly out of his chest. "And I think that's because you're not used to a stable continuous thing." 

Zailo pressed his lips tightly together, unable to deny what she said. 

"Now especially, I mean, Fairy Tail is a dream of your's, you must be terrified that somethings gonna go wrong, and things are going to change like that." She snapped her fingers together, shaking her head quickly. "I promise they won't though. You're in a stable state. For the first time...in a long time...things are going to stay the same. We're going to live in this house together, and go on jobs, and have fun, and make friends with all these weird people for some time now. The only person that has any chance of changing that is yourself."

Felicity reached out slowly, taking Zailo's hand for a reason he couldn't define right then and there. Felicity worried so much about him, and couldn't help it. She couldn't even understand it herself. It wasn't fully in her nature.

"You wanna stay with me?" He croaked out, like a fool. 

"Of course, haven't got much else going on--" The conversation was interrupted by a buzzing noise, and Felicity turned to look at her nightstand to see the small lacrima that Basil had gifted her. She reached over to grab it, silencing Zailo and herself.

"Hey looser." She said as she answered.

"Ha, you're funny aren't you." Basil said through the lacrima.

Felicity resettled in her seat, and failed to notice the face thrust into frustration that Zailo wore just to her right. "So what's up? Something wrong? You only seem to call me when weird crap happens." 

"This is true..." Basil croaked on the other end. "Um...not sure if this is bad or not...but ya know the girl--the one from the Deadly Sins?"

Felicity's delightful attitude and voice dropped like a brick. "Which one..." 

"Florence, the sin of lust."

"Crap--that's the freakiest one!" 

"Well that's a little rude." The voice didn't belong to Basil, it belonged to a woman, one who was clearly in the room with him.

"She's at my house. Right now." 

Felicity screamed so loud over the lacrima that Basil nearly dropped it altogether. He scrambled to stop it from shattering on the hard ground, and grabbed it in his hands just before it hit the ground. 

"You can't be serious!! Are you okay!? Basil! Did she tie you up or something?!?"

"No, we had breakfast and she helped me buy some groceries." Basil replied quickly. "She left the Deadly Sins, I'm not in danger or anything, I trust her."

"Are you high or something?! She almost killed Zailo when I first met her! She's bat **** crazy!!"

"She seems sweet." Florence hummed as the preposterously loud yelling of Felicity rang through the entire house.

"Can't argue with that..." Basil had to agree, Florence as a person was simply off. She didn't seem sound in mind, like some screw was loose. Loose in a way that if it fell out, the whole machine would crash. "But I think she's okay. I can trust her. So trust that I can trust her, okay?"

"Fine ya moron, but why the hash browns did you call me in the first place?! Did you just want to freak me out?!" 

Basil sat down across from Florence. "Of course not. I just wanted to tell some one. I can't tell anyone in my team, or they'll be running over hear spear in hand to shank the poor girl. I know you'll keep this between us...and your fun lil' roomie who's probably listening right now." 

"I told you your breathing was too loud Zailo! Now let me out of your lap--" Basil sits alarmed as he hears the creaks of beds and murmurs of voices. "Fine, I won't tell anyone."

"Not even Liddan, okay?" Basil said firmly. "I most definitely don't trust him." 

"What? Why? He's adorable and funny and sweet and handsome and smells like love."

"Oh dear..." Basil groaned. He ran his thumb and index finger over his forehead, ignoring the chuckle Florence made across the table. 

"Okay, I promise not to tell anyone. But are you sure you're okay?" 

Basil looked Florence in the eye, she just smiled in a small way as he sat there in silence. "Not completely." 

"Call me the moment things get rough, and I'll get you help." Felicity swore. "Oh, and be careful? I don't want to wake up tomorrow and read about the idiot who got killed by some sexy demon."

"I can see the headlines now..." Florence chuckled. 

"Alright, talk to you later. And see you in Crocus." 

"You're gonna be at the games?" She sounded surprised.

"Of course." Basil nodded. "She asked me to go." 

"This literal demon comes to your house, a demon who had previously attempted to murder you, she shows up and is like 'I'm not evil anymore!' and not only do you believe her but you do what she asks you to do without question!!"

Basil shrugged his shoulders, drawing his arm back to prop it up on the back of his seat.

"How long have we known each other?" 

There was a short pause before she replied. "Two weeks at max...I think."

"I met you on a train headed to practically nowhere the same time I met Florence. You were a huge pain and refused to acknowledge my authority. You gave me the finger after about 90 seconds of conversation and ignored me even after I pulled my badge out. I gave you that lacrima so I could check up on you when your team headed out into the woods to hunt the Deadly Sins down, and you even pegged me with the responsibility of getting all your things from your old landlord. I didn't have to, but I did it. Why? Because I trusted you, and I honestly believed you needed my help. I don't know why I trust you, maybe it's something about your eyes, maybe it's because you remind me so much of Sabrina when she was younger. I sure in heck don't want to at one point get in your pants. I've seen you naked, and I don't want to see the real thing--"

"Those paintings fail to capture my true essence. I'm a total babe when I'm naked!"

"But you trust me too. You trusted me to handle all your crap in Oshibana, and now, you're showing concern for my well-being. We aren't obligated to worry about each other like me and my team, nor have we known each other years like all my actual friends. We're just two strangers who met, stopped being strangers, and have actually interacted in person about 3 times. But here we are, talking and exchanging concern for each other when we don't even known much about each other. I don't even know your last name, and you probably can't even say how old I am. We don't know each other, but we still trust each other. Now why can't I trust Florence, with whom I've known for the exact same amount of time as you, when she asks me for help."

"Because she tried to kill both of us." 

"Good point! But I'm trusting her anyway!" Basil dropped the lacrima onto the table, ending the call, Florence sat across him with her arms crossed. 

"You've seen her naked?" 

Basil furrowed his eyebrows, recalling the long list of things he'd just said about Felicity. "Uh...it was a painting. Her roommate found a bunch of nudes people painted of her when she posed for a class."

"She's the little one." Her hand waves to a short level, signifying her height. "White hair, no chest?" 

"Wow, rub it in."

"There isn't a single thing wrong with her body. The size of a woman's chest doesn't demonstrate real beauty." 

"I know." Basil shrugged. "You were the one who pointed out the absence of chest." 

"I didn't mean it in an offensive manner." Florence shrugged. "So you haven't known this girl very long?" 

"Yeah." Basil crossed his arms, dropping them onto the table top. "That's kinda what the whole speech was about." 

Basil tried to keep himself from becoming startled as Florence stood up from her seat. "That's sweet, you know?" 

"Don't tease me." 

He tried even harder not to be startled when she sat down in his lap, her arms draping over each shoulder. However, his face still leaked with surprise. "You seem to have gotten to know her pretty well, but we've known one another the same amount of time."

"What are you doing--" 

"We ought to make up for lost time." 

"Oh crap, uh--I'm not really interested--"

"Shut up for a minute. I promise you'll enjoy yourself." 

By the time Aloke and Lillian had reached Heaven, the two were in a buzz of conversation, sharing story after story about what they'd seen and done. 

The gates of Heaven hadn't changed, and the quiet and pleasant sensation that fell onto you as you approached the walls was still there.

Lillian had perhaps forgotten her first journey to Heaven, and felt just fine standing side by side with Aloke as they waited outside the gates. 

"Hey! Anyone up there?!" Aloke cupped his hands around his mouth, waiting for some sort of response. 

After a moment, he glanced at Lillian with the shrug of shoulders. Suddenly, Maria dropped onto him from above, making his crash against the ground face first. 

Lillian yelped, watching Maria put Aloke in some sort of death hold.

"Who goes there!?!" She bellowed, her arms holding Aloke's behind his back. 

Aloke, croaked out an answer, short of breath as his ribs were crushed by the earth and Maria's body atop him. "It's me Maria! Gosh darn--it's Aloke!!" 

Maria laughed, pulling Aloke up, then proceeding to whack him on the back. "Please! It was a rhetorical question! I was just messing with you!!" She bellowed as Aloke collapsed forward, his arms trying to rub the sore and perhaps broken part of his back.

Lillian stepped forward, quickly performing a terrified bow to Maria. 

"Pleased to meet you! I'm Lillian--"

"Oh, we've already met." Maria reminded Lillian, shaking her head. 

Lillian blinked for a moment, then smacked her head against her forehead. "Right! I remember you attacking Justin from the first time!" 

"Really--" Aloke grunted, still in pain. "That's what you remember?"

"Well then, where's Achilles?" Maria dropped her hands onto her hips, looking down at Aloke, disappointed that he was still recovering. "He was with you the last time you came to visit."

"Uh...about that--"

"Speaking of which--!" Maria growled, and her hand clasped around the collar of Aloke's jacket. "Why is it you never visit anymore!?!"

"Uh--Maria! You see, Achilles--"

"I mean I practically raised you two! Granted...you were only actually in Heaven for a month or so...until you ran away. And then Achilles was 'cursed' but not really, but I'm still kinda totally your mom!" 

"Maria! It's Achilles--"

"I mean, I would sing you to sleep, hold you when you had nightmares, chew up your food and spit in your mouth!" 

The three all went remarkably silent, Lillian gagging lightly in disgust as Aloke shook his head, mouthing, "it was against my will". 

"Anyway! I'm entitled to at least having Christmas with you guys!"

"Maria! Achilles is missing!"  

Maria finally shut up, her eyes growing wide as she looked to Aloke in complete shock.

"How long?" 

"He disappeared the morning after we left here." Aloke sighed. "I've been searching for almost a year by myself, I figured doing it alone wasn't helping me so I brought Lillian to help me." 

Maria grabbed Aloke's wrist, dragging him to the gates with Lillian only able to try and follow behind. She kicked at the gate, shouting profusely for those inside to open it.

It swung open, and the three were inside in moments.

"Okay, I need to know everywhere you've looked." Maria spat out quickly. As she walked, she gestured to the angels around the open landscape. Lillian looked around as memories continued to flood. It was much more barren. There were not so many children as before.

"I need Ellabentra here!" Maria called to an angel. They nodded quickly, and sped away. Aloke was surprised that she went into a building rather than up in the sky, as Ellabentra had previous lived up above Heaven.

"Wait, why isn't Ellabentra up in her usual den?" Aloke had plenty of questions and concerns. The Heaven he had spent his youth it seemed so foreign to the place he stood in now. 

His question was never answered, as the great winged Ellabentra came rushing towards Aloke before anyone could speak.

"Aloke!" She spat out quickly. "I heard about--OH DEAR MOON ABOVE! IT'S LILLIAN!!" 

Lillian waved awkwardly as Ellabentra panicked. 

Pulling her skirt up, she pulled it over Aloke's head, yanking his upper body down roughly. "Quick! Hide yourself before she remembers you!!" 

"She already does--" Aloke freed himself from the fabric of Ellabentra's skirt, raising his hands protectively as if he were afraid she'd strike again. "I brought her with me! She's had her memories of me back for over a year now--"

He blinked once or twice for a moment. "Wait...why didn't you know this?" 

Ellabentra croaked, her hands shooting up as a shield. "Oh! It slipped my mind--"

"What about that Divine Sight crap?! You remember everything--"

Maria smacked Aloke on the back of the head, silencing him in a quick crash against his skull. He got the message quickly, that something was up, and it was rather sensitive. 

Ellabentra did her best to ignore the sensitivity in the matter, and shrugged her shoulders. "Since the War of Pride ended...I haven't been capable of using Divine Sight." 

"Sabrina, is now the best time to go and visit Basil? He just got back." Coladome rocked Atticus in his arms as the couple and their infant child walked along side their life long friend Chase.

Sabrina shook her head, clicking her tongue. "That's slacker is probably still in bed, I'd bet my house on it." 

"Yeah, he was out pretty late last night." Chase nodded. "He got back super late...when he kicked me out."

"My goodness Chase." Sabrina sighed. "When are you going to stop freeloading and get your own place?" 

He just shrugged. "How should I know?"

Coladome groaned lightly. "Come on man, you've gotta get a job already." 

"Where!?" Chase threw his arms up, loosing his cool. "There isn't a single opening in this whole town! I'd have to wait for someone to die before I could get work!" 

Coladome opened his mouth to speak, but quickly shut it as he realized Chase was right. In the microscopic town of Pride, there were only a limited number of spots open for work. And the stubborn Seniors of the town would work until the day of their funeral. Chase couldn't compete with the elderly work force. They were far too...experience...compared to him.

"My only option would be to move out of town, and you know that I don't wanna do that." Chase sighed. "Believe me, I don't like living off of Basil, but I can't find a work. He was lucky, he scooped up that job with the council, Sabrina got lucky cuz the town's doctor kicked the bucket right when she turned 18, and your parents are farmers, so you just work with them and keep the business running." 

"Well then..." Sabrina gulped, frightened of what might come to the suggestion. "You could always start your own business...?" 

Coladome winced, shooting a glare at Sabrina. She shrugged innocently as Chase contemplated the idea. 

"You know...that's not that bad an idea." Chase smiled with a nod. "I mean, this town is always having to go out of town to buy certain things or get weird services. I could bring something into Pride! I'd get tons of business!"

Coladome's fear faded, and he even nodded to the suggestion Sabrina made. "Actually, you've got a point. People are always yapping on about not having this or that in town. Just find out what the most demanded, foreign product is and reel 'er in." 

The three, accompanied by the small infant, approached the quaint home Basil lived in. The door was cracked open, so they all crept into the house and found the main area empty.

"See," Sabrina nodded. "Still in bed." 

"MY GOODNESS WOMAN! GET OFF ME!!" 

There was then a silence, other than the bickering and crashing that occurred in the bedroom.

"Col." Sabrina continued to wear the stoic expression on her face. "You know that revolver you told me to stop carrying around with me?"

He held their child a bit tighter. "Yeah...?" 

"I didn't listen to you." She pulled the small pistol from her back pocket, cocking the gun as she slammed open the door to Basil's bedroom. 

She looked to see Basil tied up on his own bed, each wrist firmly held at the frame of the bed. His abs were showing, and an unfamiliar blue haired beauty was straddling him, just about to unzip her dress before Sabrina interrupted.

Sabrina sighed, dropping the pistol for a short moment.

"Gosh darn it." She cursed her brother. "I had ONE rule Basil! Why'd you have to be so kinky?!" 

"Sweet mother of all things holy! Sabrina! Just get this woman off of me!" 

Florence sighed in a crisp groan, dropping her head down. "I was right...he's gay." 

"Stop assuming that!" Basil hissed. "Good grief--I'm straight--"

"Of course, the first time I'm interested in someone--I mean actually attracted--I turn out to be the wrong gender--"

"No! No!" Basil cursed under his breath, then flung his body up, breaking the restraints, which were two ties knotted around his wrist and backboard, and grasped Florence by the shoulders. 

"You are a very attractive woman. And I were Chase, then we'd both be naked right now." 

"Really." Coladome huffed. "With me, my wife, our friend, and our infant child in your room? You'd still be naked?"

Basil rolled his eyes. "Col, please, this is Chase we're talking about."

All turn their heads to look at Chase, who stood there with his arms crossed and a nodding head. "Yes, we would still be naked in this very scenario." 

"Who is this man, and why are you continuing to allow him to breathe?" Florence hissed, a scowl directed to Chase as she sat on the bed, beginning to cover herself as to now provide him with a good view. 

"If we didn't love him, we'd hate him." Sabrina groaned, shoving her pistol roughly into her back pocket. 

"Anyway," Basil sighed, "I just have a moral code that I strictly follow." 

Florence rose an eyebrow, somewhat alarmed, but mostly intrigued by the introduction of this moral code. Basil sighed, knowing she fully expected him to share his principles then and there. Why not? He needed an excuse to get out of all this.

"I made a vow a couple years ago. Something really terrible happened to me and decided to be a good person from then on. I made a vow to never kill another man or woman." 

"That's a good vow. I could never do that." 

"While I was making promises, I decided not to drink alcohol, not to smoke, or ever make love to a woman until I knew I loved her." 

"Cazzo!!" She growled, rolling off of Basil, then landing perfectly on her feet. As her bare feet hit the floor's surface, she sighed, picking up her shoes as she mumbled to herself. "Ho finalmente trovato un uomo che voglio cazzo e lui è vergine!"

She mumbled out her sorrows in a foreign tongue, as she slipped her shoes back onto her feet. "Forse è per il meglio. Non dovrei avere un amante dopotutto. Se solo non fosse così bello." She sighed, sweeping her hair onto one shoulder as she swung her body around to turn back to Basil, who still sat atop the bed. "Fine then, I understand. In fact, I applaud and respect the power of your will."

She sighed, smirking gently as she leaned forward. "However..." She kissed him on the cheek, whispering maliciously. "Ho appena voglio dentro di me."

Florence pulled away, then slipped past the three at the door.

"You're child's a gem." She smiled, puckering her lips lightly towards Coladome. "He's a nice blend of the two of you. Good eyes, and a good face. The ladies stand no chance in the years to come." 

Coladome made a bitter expression, concealing his child further from the threatening woman. She was near the front door when Basil shot up from the bed, diving towards the door of his bedroom. He had even pushed Sabrina and Chase out of his way in his desperate motion. His hands gripped onto the archway of the door, his breath hitched as the words tumbled out of his mouth.

"Uh...what did you say back there?" 

She turned back, looking at his slightly red face. Had he understood?

"Parli italiano?"

He croaked, and rolled his head lightly to the side. His already messy bangs fell further in front of his blue eyes. "Sì," he responded slowly, "un poco."

Her eyes lit up, and a smile tugged at her generous red lips. As her hand braced itself on the doorknob, she said, "Una sola lingua non è mai abbastanza." 

Then with a gentle salute, she sang a polite "Ciao!" then left the home.

The four adults and single child all stood there motionless in the house. No one was sure what to say, as no one was sure what had just happened. Perhaps it was an incident of assault, one that left their good friend Basil without his shirt and a few bruises on his wrists. Perhaps it left some of them culturally educated, as they discovered new interesting words to use when they're angry. 

Finally, Sabrina growled lowly. "That woman scares me." 

Basil just sighed, running his fingers through his hair with an anxious breath. "What did I get myself into?"

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hi guys, this chapter took so long to come out!!

So I feel like this chapter is a bit of a let down, given the build up for the next arc, which if you haven't been keeping up with in the facts book and etc, is going to be in the Grand Magic Games. I took in a lot of OC's from some awesome Wattpad-er's, and now I've been doing a LOT of art for this next chapter. 

I've mapped out the next few chapters via prewriting, which is something I hardly ever do. 

I only prewrite for dire events. One of these events being the ending of the last volume.

I've gotten pretty far into the prewriting, so getting into the chapter won't be as difficult, as I don't have to worry about getting writer's block so much. That's actually the main reason I don't get chapters out. Since my chapters are somewhat episodic, they have multiple conflicts being carried out per chapter, so I have to touch up on multiple settings all in a single chapter. They get progressively longer and complex, with so much happening all at once. However, abandoning this style randomly to make me only cover a single conflict per chapter would in either 

a) Me being able to cover less conflicts altogether

b) Me having a large sum of very short chapters coming out

c) A single conflict being entirely covered after one chapter, which would ruin the chronological nature of the story, because there ain't no way in heck I'm letting go of all the plots and conflicts following all the different characters that happen fall at the same time.

I could always do the short chapter thing, as they'd likely all come out a lot faster, but I'm really committed to my 25 chapters per volume thing I got going. SO...nope.

Alright. Katie out. I'm gonna get to work on the next chapter or something. 

Bye.

-Katie The Terrble

PS Anyone here know italian? I hope not.