Ezzie sat on the edge of the bed, gripping the fabric of her pants as Elwin wrapped her head with gauze. "This is the gauze rap, a rap about gauze━" 

"Elwin." 

"Right, sorry," Elwin, as he continued to wrap Ezzie's wound, continued to sing his rap under his breath. "First you take the gauze, you wrap around the head, you wrap around til the patients dead."

"Elwin, as much as I love songs from Yodanna and the Cat's rap album, I'm not really in the mood." 

"Right━okay," Elwin nodded, but couldn't help but hum the song anyway. 

Ezzie didn't exactly want Elwin to be the one treating her wound, but Wendy was with Jude. The two were in separate rooms, and she had no idea how Jude was doing. The last thing she remembered was being dragged away from Jude as she finally began to snap out of her trance. 

Elwin was the one to offer to properly treat Ezzie's wound, which was nothing more than a cut on the forehead. It was deep enough to scar, but Ezzie wasn't thinking about that. 

"It's okay, Ezzie," Elwin assured her, tucking the gauze into its previous fold, "he'll be okay. Everyone knows you would never hurt him for real." 

"But I did hurt him," Ezzie sighed, shaking her head, "I promised him I'd keep him safe and I was the danger━"

"Hey━hey," Elwin squatted down to meet Ezzie's gaze, "no thinking that stuff in here, Liz is the one who did that, okay? And when I get my hands on her, I'm gonna turn into a really big dog and sit on her." 

Ezzie's expression twisted, "What?" 

"Remember when I did that when we were kids?" Elwin said, "It was the first animal I could do take over for, and I just sat on Liz all the time and everyone would lay on top of me and it got to the point where whenever Liz sat down somewhere, someone would run over and sit on her so she would just stand around the guildhall. Oh━and we started to call her Chair because she was always getting sat on━why did we ever stop doing that?"

"I don't remember any of that." 

Elwin shrugged, "Well, it happened." 

Sitting on the bed across from Ezzie, Elwin stared intently, unsure of what to do to calm her nerves. He fiddled with his thumbs as she sat in silence, waiting for her to say something.

"How bad was it?" 

"Bad? It was hardly anything! He'll be fine." 

"Can you check?"

Elwin was silent, remembering the specific order he was given not to leave the room. Of course, he also wanted to lift Ezzie's spirit, letting her know that he was specifically asked to guard her would only make her feel worse.

"Sure," Elwin said impulsively. "I just need to...stick my head out the door, while keeping the rest of my body in the room for completely normal reasons." Elwin did just this, cracking the door slightly to stick his head out. "Oh hey, there he is━hey Jude, oh, look at you doing all great and walking around and stuff━" 

"Elwin," Ezzie sighed, "are you not allowed to leave me alone?" 

Crossing his arms, Elwin avoided eye contact with Ezzie as he hummed out a doubtful, "No..."

Ezzie sighed, pulling her legs onto the bed as she laid down. "Just tell me when we can go back to the inn, okay?" 

In spite of Elwin being terribly unqualified to watch over Ezzie, he felt some kind of responsibility to make her feel better. So Elwin sat on the edge of Ezzie's bed and started to talk. "Did I ever tell you about that time I ran out of money while on the road? And I ended up almost selling my teeth to an owl?" 

Ezzie sat up a little. "What?" 

Just in the room two doors down, Jude found himself surrounded by what felt like half the guild. His parents were there, of course, wrapping their arms around him as they sobbed. His younger siblings there too, all at the foot of the bed not fully aware of what was happening. 

Even Master Laxus and Mirajane, though Mira's presence was no surprise. 

"Natsu..." Wendy said, "if you could move your arm? I can't reach Jude's head." 

"No━no, I'm never lettin' my baby boy go!" 

"This is getting really uncomfortable," Jude muttered, his speech slightly distorted by his parents pressing into his face. 

To be clear, Jude was okay. He had been scratched up and given perhaps the scare of his life, but Jude was physically well enough to continue. In fact, he'd already decided in his head he wanted to stay in the games, of course, he wasn't sure if he could convince his parents that was a good idea. 

"Natsu, I'm just gonna..." Wendy forced her hand under Natsu's arm, pushing it up a second so she could look at Jude's head. There was a little scratch there above his eyebrow, that she quickly laid her hands on and cast a spell of healing. "There we go, see Jude, it won't even leave a scar. You're going to be alright." 

"I know," Jude did know, but there was still a feeling in the pit of his stomach he couldn't shake yet. "I know." 

"Hey, Jude," Mira said, leaning into the bed, "we thought you might be hungry so we got you dinner." 

"Oh...I'm not in the mood for nachos and hot dogs..." Jude shook his head.

"We thought so, since you've been eating at the arena all week we decided to get some take-out."

"We went all out, Jude, you and your family can eat here tonight," Laxus said, crossing his arms, running the numbers in his head for how much Mira spent on their dinner. 

"So we went and got a whole buffet for you guys," Mira said, opening the door to reveal Nashi coming in with a long cart of food. 

"Wow, Jude," Lucy said, squeezing his arm, "look at that!" 

"Thank you, Miss Mira, Master Laxus," Jude sniffed before wiping his nose. "I'm really thankful." 

"Me and Happy picked out all the food," Nashi explained, "we got pasta, steak, lots of bread, some deserts, oh, we got seafood too!" Nashi began to pull off the plate covers. "We got some crab, some fish, some lobster━"

"AHH!" Jude cried. 

"Keep that hellish shellfish away from my son!" Natsu cried, tightening his arm around Jude. 

"Gone," Nashi said, picking the lobster right off the plate and out the door, unknowingly hitting a passerby. "So, while I was getting the food. I ran into Molly, she said she was really worried about you. Do you think she could come see you?" 

Jude's expression dwarfed, "I'm...I don't..." with a sigh, he shook his head. "I'm not sure I want her to see me like this." 

"Yeah, she thought you'd say that," Nashi said, patting his hand, "that's why she snuck in under the buffet cart." 

Nashi quickly sidestepped towards the buffet cart and pulled the tablecloth up to reveal Molly sitting in the fetal position on her back. She quickly rolled out, dropping a bit as she fell from the cart but quickly picking herself back up to meet Jude face to face. "Jude! I was so worried!"

"Ahh━Nashi! Come on! I just said!" 

Molly grabbed onto Jude's hand, leaning in, "I'm sorry for our buffet table deceit, Jude, but I wanted to see you before you guys started talking about the games. 

Jude's face folded, "The games?" 

"Whether or not you're gonna stay in them," Molly explained. 

Wendy, who was washing her hands, suddenly spoke up, "Medically speaking, Jude is just fine and should be able to rejoin the games no problem tomorrow. After all, tomorrow is the last event and everyone is to be involved, yes?" 

"Right," Laxus said, crossing his arms. "I did want to talk to you about it Jude, Elwin was our stand-in, and he's already on the team, but I'm currently sending Layla, the other stand-in, on a mission. So if you pull out, we'll have to do someone else." 

Jude sighed, looking down at his hands, "I want to do it...really...it's just..."

"It's okay, Jude," Nashi said, sitting down beside him, "you're not any less for pulling out. You gave it your best shot and we're proud of you. Whatever you decide, okay?" 

In spite of all the kind words, Jude still felt like he was failing. "I guess...have someone fill in for me." 

"Okay Jude," Laxus nodded, "now it's only a matter of who." 

"What about Liddan━wait!" Jude's eyes widened as he suddenly remembered, "Did you guys find him? Is he in danger?" 

Everyone looked around the room, all those who had witnessed that morning's mess weren't sure how to explain what had happened. 

"Wait," Nashi pulled her head up, "Did something happen to Liddan?"

"That doesn't matter," Natsu said, "he's fine, he just needs to cool off." Standing up, Natsu said, "Jude, I'll fill in for you, okay?" 

"What!? Natsu!" Lucy snapped, "Look, I know you've got a hot bod for an old guy, but you're still an old guy!" 

"What do you mean for an old guy! I've got a hot bod━period! And I'm not an old guy! I'm only 45!"

"Only 45, mmm, sure," Nashi muttered.

"Hey, I was winning these games before you were even born." 

Nashi returned this with a terribly impolite, "Which makes you ooooooold!"

"Stop it!" Lucy interjected, "Look, Natsu, you're completely unprepared for this, I know you're strong as it is, but seriously, you could pull your back suddenly throwing yourself into a big ambitious competition. I don't see this ending well at all." 

"Well, maybe Jude can't rest up tomorrow," Wendy said, "don't the games usually have a rest day after day 4?" 

"They used to," Laxus grumbled, "but then they decided to have an orgy ONE TIME━"

"Children are present," Mira whispered, tightly gripping Laxus' arm. 

"Agh, I've got an entire guild of fully capable adult wizards who aren't as old as dirt━"

Natsu frowned, "You're older than me!" 

"Can you people think of anyone at all!?" Laxus swung his arms up, looking around the room to see if anyone came up with an answer. 

"I can do it." 

Everyone turned to the small voice in the corner of the room, and everyone gasped in shock to see Melody standing there with her arm up.

"Melody! How did you━when did you get here!?" 

"I've been here the entire time," Melody muttered, "you let me into the room, Master Laxus. I mean, you called me Melony and asked me if I could get you a coffee so I don't think you realized who I was exactly, but if it could help Jude, I'd be happy to take his place." 

"Oh my gosh," Nashi whispered to her parents, "I completely forgot about Melody, wait, does she know what's going on with Liddan? She has a huge thing for him." 

"You're right, this could be weird," Lucy sighed, "I can't believe my son grew a harem overnight. Remember when he used to run around the house trying to wear his pants as a shirt? Do you think if I just sent all the women he's breaking the hearts of pictures of that things would finally calm down?" 

"I remember those days," Natsu sighed, "Liddan...running around with no bottoms cuz his bottoms were his tops. Him...hiding his sewing projects from me cuz he didn't think I'd respect him but I always respected his sewing, fashion is a part of being a Dragneel. I mean, look at me!" 

"Natsu, I have been married to you for twenty years, I know you found those shoes in an alleyway. I'm actually pretty sure you stole them from a homeless person which means you are literally the worst." 

"Nah, I think that title still belongs to Liddan," Nashi laughed uncomfortably, "I actually don't know what he did yet, but it's Liddan so I'm assuming it was pretty bad. What'd he do, kill a bunch of people in an inhumane yet super cool way?"

Natsu and Lucy each shared a glance, then a sigh. "Liddan tried to force a kiss on Sylvie." 

"BASTARD!" Nashi shouted suddenly, Jude covering his ears as she shook the bed with her short moment of rage. She cleared her throat, seemingly calm now. Back at a whisper she leaned back into the family huddle, "Okay, I'm sorry, that horrid bastard. Sylvie and I aren't even friends but you don't disrespect my girl like that. That's just dirt-bag nonsense right there. Nothing secretly cool there at all."

"Okay, Nashi," Lucy sighed, "I need to ask this, when Liddan killed all those people in that whole Red Curse episode, you didn't think that was cool did you?" 

Nashi was quiet for a long time. "No." 

"I'm gonna ignore that, I can only fear for the morality of one child at a time." Lucy sighed, patting Jude's head before tightly embracing him. "At least Jude is perfect and can never disappoint me." 

"Oh yeah, keep that up, Lucy," Natsu sighed, "not like we've already traumatized our other children. I mean, we haven't done anything horrible to the triplets at least." 

Lucy made a face, "Wait, who's with the triplets right now?" 

Natsu was quiet for a long time. "I need to go do something unrelated to this conversation." With that, he dashed out of the room, leaving Lucy with her least messed up children (that she knew of). 

"Mom," Jude said suddenly, "I'm sorry I couldn't finish the games." 

"Jude━it's," Lucy was going to say it was alright, but from the look on Jude's face, she realized that wasn't the right answer. Pulling his face towards hers, Lucy said, "I know you are, Jude." 

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

"Her name's Marigold Pollen, you used to know her but you forgot. In fact, you didn't just know her, you were ridiculously in love with her." 

Liddan blinked, wiping his nose as he watched Isaiah's face, looking for some kind of tell. Was he lying? Tricking him? He couldn't tell. 

"You're telling me I forgot everything about a woman I was in love with━"

"That garden outside of your house, do you remember planting it? Or why you have a second room in your house you don't even use? Heck, your cottage was built by Laurie, you think he'd do that for you?" 

Liddan croaked, definitely not now. 

"You met her at Fitlyn Ports and you brought her back to Fairy Tail to join the guild. You eventually moved in together and eventually, boom. In love like crazy." 

"Then why did I forget her━did I choose to?" 

"Course not, I can't explain why, but everyone in this world forgot about Marigold after she died." 

"Wait," Liddan paused, "Marigold died?" 

Isaiah smiled, he had him hooked. "Yes and no," he answered, "you see, Marigold isn't exactly a normal person, not the personality you fell for, anyway. She's more like...a persona that existed within this stone. When her body here on Earthland died, she was nothing but the stone. But the thing is, she was the only person who knew what I needed to know." 

"That being...?" 

"That being none of your business, for now." Isaiah reached into his pocket to retrieve a cigarette to light. "So I took her back to Edolas and after some trial and error, figured out how to bond her to a person again. With the hopes of having a strong connection, I even went to the trouble of hunting down her Edolas counterpart. But the thing is, Marigold wasn't ready to give me the information I wanted, and she ran away to Earthland with the body, the stone, and the knowledge I needed."

"Ran away, huh? Were you holding her hostage?" 

"She was unstable," Isaiah said, "the girl had a body back, she probably thought she could get back to her regular life, but she's walking around with a stolen body. Look, Marigold━the real Marigold, from Edolas━deserves to keep her body, okay? I've been hunting her down ever since to return her home but your Marigold keeps running away." 

Liddan crossed his arms, "So what do you want me to do?" 

"I'm gonna cut you a deal," Isaiah stepped closer, placing the hand with a cigarette pinched between its fingers on Liddan's shoulder, "that piece of you that's missing, I can promise you that Marigold is it. All this time, you've been mourning her but can't even remember who she is. If you get Marigold to give me the information I want, I'll leave the leave you the stone. I'm sure you could find a way to save Marigold with that stone." Isaiah pulled his hand back to take a long drag from the cigarette, he blew it away from Liddan's face, looking around at the scenery surrounding them. "I mean, you've got magic to spare, right? I'm sure you'll think of something." 

Liddan paused, but it didn't take him long to decide. "So what do I do?" 

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

"Alright," Xavier sighed, "Unfortunately, due to a leg injury, I am unable to help with this mission."

"How exactly did you injure it?" 

Xavier made a strained expression at Basil, who asked the question. The group, now with Laxus off working with the rest of the guild, were still with the Rune Knights planning their mission. He moved over to be in clear view of everyone and painfully hiked his leg up onto a chair. As he pulled up his pant leg, the crew momentarily lost it. 

"He's the devil! Kill him!" Fawn shouted, throwing her crumpled-up dossier at him. 

"No━no! I just got attacked by the Deadly Sin's leader. Layla, if you would?" 

With a nod, Layla flicked on a lacrima, displaying a recording of the games. She pauses it as Wrath is in sight. "Recently we learned the identity of this man, alias being Wrath, but you might also know him as Achilles. His true name is Andrew Welch, and yes, that Welch. The...creepy rich guy." 

"Hold on," the Commander spoke up. "Look, I'm older then you all, so maybe you don't remember reading it in the news but all three of Welch kids died. Including...little Andrew. It was a murder case, it was all over the news when it happened."

"Well...from what we know, Andrew is dead, or he did die anyway. A member of our guild had a personal connection to the Welch's as a child so she explained some of the details to us," Layla said, scratching her head, "It was weird...like, she said that Aloke killed Achilles when they were Justin and Andrew and then...he got brought back to━nevermind it's weird and over complicated. I'm sorry."

"Hey, hey," Xavier whispered, "It's okay, you're doing great." 

"So, um," Basil spoke up, interrupting the two, "what exactly is our plan?" 

"Tomorrow is the Battle Royale challenge," Layla explained, "each team will have all five members actively participating in the games, so it's very important that we get to their HQ as soon as the game starts, as that's when all members must be present, including the leader. Tomorrow is likely the day they enact their plan and it could be in the games, tonight I'll notify the Fairy Tail Team that their priority is to take out Deadly Sins first and foremost to prevent them from moving on with any of their plans." 

"Crazy idea," Basil said, "Why don't we just arrest them right now?" 

"That was the plan," the Commander spoke up, "but when these two came forward with their investigation, all their evidence was circumstantial, not enough to arrest them, but enough to open an investigation." 

"We wish this could have been done sooner," Xavier said, "but we only learned yesterday about the identity of Wrath, and we still don't know what it is they're planning to do. We need to be as prepared as possible to take on this guild, because they've exhibited some real strength in and outside of the games."

"Except for Envy, he looks like a real pussy," Layla added.

"That...that too..." he turned and whispered, "Maybe don't use words like pussy in briefings from now on, okay?" 

"Now all of you have your dossiers, study up tonight and report back here at 400 hours, we have a long day ahead of us, be prepared." 

The Lily Squadron all began to stand up, Layla and Xavier packing up in the front. Basil approached the door when the Commander said. "Barracks are that way, son." 

He pointed in the opposite direction Basil was headed, who quickly said, "I had a hotel I was staying at before...I need to collect my things and pay for my room." 

"Fine," he crossed his arms, "be quick about it."

Basil gave a quick salute before rushing out the door. Layla and Xavier didn't pay this much mind however, as they were soon out the door as well. Xavier watched as Layla's face continued to wear a starch glare. 

"You did good in there." 

"I know, shut up, I mean━" she sighed, "thank you." 

"You seem agitated." 

"Well aren't you?" Layla turned to Xavier, "You saw the lacrima didn't you? Jude got brutalized by Ezzie and now I have to go back and do something━I mean, Jude is my little brother and I sorta love the little guy━"

"Sorta?" 

"━and Ezzie is my teammate and I really look up to her and all that but no matter what happens between them, one of them is going off the team. Probably Jude cuz the kid got torn to pieces━"

"This is your brother you're speaking of, right?"

"━but what reall urks me is that I'm the second stand-in for the team, but I'm busy doing this! So I can't just fill in but also━" Layla paused to breathe, "I can't stop feeling guilty towards Jude and Ezzie. Which is weird, cuz this isn't even my fault. But I still feel like I hsould have been there to stop it somehow..."

Xavier laughed, "Layla, that's not weird, it just means you care about your family." 

"But Ezzie isn't my family, is it weird I care about her?" 

"I'd say it's a bit weird if you didn't...given the time you've spent on a team with her." 

Layla made a face, pulling her hands over her cheeks as she mulled over this new found empathy inside her. She then groaned as if annoyed, "Oh gosh, this is awful." 

"Yeah, it's not fun when the people you care about get hurt," Xavier said, finding it odd to explain the basic parts of human empathy to Layla, "that's the cost of...feelings, I guess?" 

"Feelings are awful," Layla sighed as the two finally arrived back at the inn. She stopped in a chair, sitting down suddenly as she wore a thoughtful expression on her face. Xavier paused with her, not sure what she was up to. "So, okay," she began, "before we start preparing for tomorrow, I'm gonna go check up on Ezzie and Elwin. See if they're ago." 

"That sounds real nice of you," Xavier said, a smitten smile on his face. 

"Better yet," she stood up, "I'll bring them dinner! That's something people with human emotions do, right?" 

"So I've heard." 

"Well look at that!" Layla said, a sudden pep in her step, "I'm a normal feeling human being!" She walked up to the bar, preparing to order their dinners, "Meet me at the top suite in about half an hour, okay? We can eat with them."

"Okay," Xavier nodded, carrying the rest of their belongings off to his father's room. Before he left the lobby, he couldn't help but glance at Layla from a distance, a warm smile growing on his face. 

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

Liddan was unbearably anxious as he walked down the road. It was a bizarre feeling. The only way he could describe it was as though someone was taking him to a wonderful place he wanted to go while holding a knife to his throat. 

His hand wrapped around the door's handle, pulling it open. He heard the bell, and when he saw her face, he froze. 

"Oh━" she said, her face beaming with recognition, she looked over her shoulder to see if the owner was nearby, "I don't think you should be here." She spoke softly, as if she didn't even want Liddan to hear her. 

He kept saying her name over and over again in his head, Marigold, Marigold, Marigold. A part of him was terrified he'd forget, slip up and call her Marlene or something. 

In the silence, he was reminded of what Isaiah had said to him.

Go find her, wherever she's hiding out, and tell her

"Marigold," he began, just like Isaiah had said, "I know it's you." 

She froze, her mouth hanging open. 

"I couldn't remember before."

"But something just hit and then...I remembered everything." 

"I know you're in danger right now, and I know why you couldn't tell me."

"But it's okay now, cuz I'm here, and I can help." Right on cue, Liddan opened his arms. She was frozen, a look mixed between terror and wonder in her eyes. Like Isaiah had suggested, Liddan said one more, "Marigold," and she melted. 

She ran around the counter, dropping what she'd been holding, and leaping into his arms. She sobbed, "I'm so sorry I didn't tell you, I just couldn't leave you again! I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry." 

"It's okay," Liddan muttered out, not sure why she was apologizing so much. "It's okay now, but, I need to know."

"It's very important that you tell me."

"Where's Lilly?" Liddan asked, his voice trying to keep as steady as possible. 

"Lilly?" Marigold made a face, "I don't know, why━did something happen? Is she in danger?"

"Uhh━" Liddan tried to remember. 

Lilly is her daughter━no, you don't have a daughter━she had Lilly before she even met you, you idiot! No no, her daughter's location is the information I need. Tell her

"She might be in danger," Liddan said, "we need to find her as soon as possible and bring her somewhere safe, okay?" 

"What━what are you talking about?" Marigold moved Liddan's arms off of her, "Lilly's body can't survive on its own..not yet anyway, we can't just carry her away━besides, I don't━" Marigold paused. "Why is Lilly in danger?" 

Say it's the demons, or something, mention Lucard. 

"It's...Lucard." 

"What? No━the angels are protecting her, he won't be able to touch her━Liddan! If she's in danger I need to know because━OW!" Her hands fell over her head, her eyes squinting. 

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" 

"Sorry, I'm fine━" Marigold shook her head, "I just have...this banging in my head." 

"Marigold," Liddan said again, "We have to be quick about this, I know your body isn't from here, I can take care of Lilly, you just have to let me help you. So just tell me where she is and I'll keep her safe." 

He put his hands against her arms, pulling her a bit closer to him. Marigold could feel the warmth against her sleeve and part of it made her blush. It was odd, something about his touch felt too foreign and different, burning in a way it never had before. 

As she pondered the feeling a bit more, she realized that what she was feeling wasn't the comfortable warmth she'd always embraced, it was a burning heat. 

She looked up at his face, and in his eyes was a kind of fear she did recognize. She'd forgotten what it was like to know someone so well. 

"Liddan," her hands lifted to his chest, "I'll tell you where she is, okay?" 

His breath hitched, she could feel his chest rise and fall at a quickened pace. 

"She's near the beach, remember the one we went to? With the little bungalow? Where we first kissed?" 

Liddan's eyes flickered with panic as he began to nod, "Yeah━I remember, but...which beach was it━"

"Oh my gosh," Marigold pushed Liddan away, "You're not real. You almost fooled me but whoever you are, you aren't Liddan. I know you aren't Isaiah because you don't smell like rubbing alcohol and cigarettes, but I'm sure he sent you━"

"Marigold━Marigold!" Liddan put his hands up in defense. "It really is me━I swear!" 

"Stay away from me!" Marigold said firmly, swiping her hand across her body to cast a line between him and her. "You're not him━if you were him, then it means that you're lying about remembering me just to manipulate me, and Liddan would never do that!" 

"You're right," Liddan sighed, his heart sinking in his chest. "He...he wouldn't. I'll just go."

Quickly, he turned towards the door and pushed through them, leaving Marigold frozen in her place. She watched his movement carefully, his nervous ticks, his mannerisms, and suddenly she realized.

"Liddan━wait!" 

He turned around, watching as Marigold chased after him. He paused, waiting for him to arrive before him with a brilliant sigh. "You are the real Liddan," she said, shaking her head, "that was about the most Liddan brooding I'd ever seen." 

Liddan paused, before saying, "I feel insulted." 

"Well you should," Marigold crossed her arms, "come back in, we need to talk, and I need you to be honest with me this time." 

Liddan looked down, a feeling of shame washing over him. However, Marigold wasn't having any of it, "Come on, step to it," she grabbed his shirt, dragging him back inside. "I haven't got all day, and I don't want to be doing this in the open." 

After Liddan was once again in the building, she looked around carefully to see if anyone was watching. She didn't see him, but a part of her knew he was there. Isaiah, lurking somewhere, waiting to snatch her away again. 

He was there, up on the roof of the building across the street, waiting for Liddan to come out again, and for Marigold to be off her guard. 

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

"Aaaand we're back," Elwin announced as he opened the door to the Team's room. They were once again at the inn, and Ezzie had been discretely escorted out of the arena before the other matches had ended. 

Ezzie was silent the entire way back, it seemed as though she had nothing left to say. Elwin would do anything to know what was going on in her mind. 

As she sat down on the bed and from her spot could see her reflection in the mirror by the wall. She still had the hood up on her jacket, the hood she'd been asked to wear to conceal her hair. It was an obvious tell that she was a Scarlet. 

She pulled the hood down and looked intently in the mirror. 

"You know, I always hated my hair," she said suddenly, "and I never had the nerve to say it." 

Elwin, who was at that moment unpacking all the snacks he'd prepared for his night-watch, didn't know how to handle this amount of emotion. He asked, "Huh?" 

"It was just so much pressure being their kid. I mean...I'm sure I'm not alone in that feeling, the exhaustion of having to live up to that potential. But...ever since I was a kid, they told me I looked just like my mom, with my hair and my face. I mean, people only call me Ezzie because it's quicker than Little Erza. I hate it, I hate feeling like my entire identity is dependent on someone else and I hate my hair." She twisted her finger around a lock of the dark red hair, watching it form a fabricated curl. "Did you know I straighten it? It's actually quite wavy, like my dad's hair. Everything about me is fake, I'm just...imitating my mom so no one sees the real monster I am." 

Standing across from her, Elwin decided now wasn't the time to open a bag of chips. He set his snack down and sat down closer to Ezzie. "Ezzie, have you talked to your mom about this...?"

"No," Ezzie shook her head, "I don't want her to be mad at me. Or...think I'm mad at her, because I'm not. I'm really mad at myself." 

"Well━don't be!" Elwin sat down on the bed beside her, getting right in her face. "Ezzie, you realize just how cool you are, right? I think you're super cool━everyone does, and you have a problem, but what you turn into, that isn't you!" 

"But━"

"Chicken butts━" Elwin grabbed Ezzie by the arms, pulling her towards him to force her to look at him as he spoke, "I mean, Ezzie, you aren't a monster at all. That isn't who you are!" 

Ezzie didn't realize it, but she'd begun to tear up. "Then who am I?" 

"You're━who are are you? Well━you're Ezzie!" Elwin began to scramble for words. "You're cool, and intense, and scary sometimes but like in a cool way! You're incredibly talented at everything you do and you're some I really look up to and━" 

That's when it happened.

The fourth most catastrophic event of that week, when Esmeralda Scarlet kissed Elwin Strauss on the lips. 

In spite of the lack of tongue, it was a wet kiss. A smooch really. And as she pulled back, staring face to face with Elwin with terror in her eyes, he said it.

"Did I mention you're a really good friend?" 

"Oh."

Except the "Oh" didn't come from Ezzie, it came from Layla, who was standing at the open doorway with two dinner plates. 

"Sorry for the intrusion!" she stammered out before shoving the plates onto the beds, unintentionally spilling their contents onto the sheets. 

There was silence for a long moment after Layla ran out the door, where both Elwin and Ezzie contemplated just how much they'd destroyed in one horrid kiss. Elwin was the first to break down.

He didn't so much as say anything, he just fell over and made a long shrill "eeeee" sound. 

Ezzie was next, standing up straight and saying, "That was a stupid idea and I am so sorry!" 

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee." 

"Oh my gosh━I can't believe I did that?! I don't know what came over me?! Do you think she'll tell anyway━I can not ruin my reputation with people finding out that I kissed Elwin." 

"I'm in love with her..."

"What?" 

"Layla...I'm in love with━wait a second! You literally put Jude on bed rest today and you're worried about how kissing me will hurt your reputation?"

"Step back a minute," Ezzie shouted, "You're in love with Layla?!" 

"Yeah! Thanks for ruinin' that by the way, I had a slow burn play I've been working on for almost two years and now it's ruined cuz she thinks I'm hooking up with you━who kisses someone all random like that, anyway!? Who are you, Liddan?"

"What━when did he do that?" 

"We found out during your match, it's a long story that  I don't fully understand but WHY DID YOU KISS ME?!" 

"I DON'T KNOW! I'M WORKING THROUGH A LOT OF EMOTIONS BUT I AM VERY SORRY IF I RUINED YOUR CHANCES WITH LAYLA IN ANY WAY OR FORM!" 

"I APPRECIATE THAT APOLOGY AND AM SORRY IF I LED YOU ON IN ANY WAY EITHER!!!" 

"TRUST ME, I'M NOT INTO YOU OR ANYTHING━WHY ARE WE STILL SHOUTING!!" 

"I DON'T KNOOOOW!!!" Elwin began to run around in circles, jumping onto the beds then off a moment later. "Okay, okay, this is fine, this is fine, I can salvage this." 

"Ughhh, I can't believe I kissed you, why couldn't it have been Xavier? I've already made that mistake once, if I did it again it'd be like 'Whoops, we know this doesn't work, so don't worry about it' but nope, you were there and I smooshed my mouth on yours. And it was horrible." Ezzie sighed, "Okay, we gotta deal with this now." 

"Right━yeah!" Elwin spoke frantically, "I'll go find Layla and tell her this isn't anything to be taken seriously!" 

"Yeah, and I'll climb out the window and run away! Alright━go!" Ezzie pat Elwin's arm then sprinted towards the window, throwing her body outside it. 

Elwin was nodding along, completely on board until he finally realized, "Wait! I'm supposed to be watching you!" 

Running towards the window himself, Elwin was once again interrupted by another sudden arrival at the doorway. 

"Elwin━what's going on?" It was Xavier, in his well-composed self, standing there at the door casting his magnificent shadow, "I just saw Layla making a mad dash down the stairs━what were you and Ezzie doing━"

"NOTHING! WE WERE DOING NOTHING AND SHE IS TOTALLY STILL IN THE ROOM WITH ME!" 

It took only a moment of silence for Xavier to completely understand what had happened. In which he knew Elwin had somehow ruined everything. "What did you do?"

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

There in the diner, Marigold and Liddan sat a meter apart with an eerie silence hanging over them. It was bizarre, Marigold was trying to figure out what Liddan knew about her, but perhaps more importantly, how much she knew about him.

She had poured Liddan a cup of coffee, but he had hardly drunk it.

"So," Marigold said, her arms set firmly in her lap. She looked up at Liddan, more like glared.

She persisted, remaining silent as she just stared at him, Liddan repeated her, "So?" 

"Your apology?" Liddan still said nothing, "You never apologized." 

"For what? I hardly have any memory of you━if I did something to you that I don't remember I'm not━"

"Not that," Marigold's voice cracked, "for trying to manipulate me just now. Don't you think you should apologize?" Her stare returned, Liddan realized it wasn't a glare at all, it was pleading. 

"I'm sorry," he said. 

Marigold nodded, "I forgive you," she put her hands on the counter, her gaze falling onto her fingers. "So...you don't remember me." 

"No," Liddan found it strange how he didn't hesitate as he answered as if he were some machine churning out answers for her. He had this urge to speak when he was around Marigold, but his stomach was in knots nonetheless. 

"Nothing at all?"

"No," this time he answered slower, but the answer still burned. 

Marigold looked as though she might cry, but she swallowed whatever sadness she was feeling and quickly changed the topic. Looking back up at Liddan, she plainly asked, "What happened to you?" 

"I could ask you the same question," Liddan scoffed. 

"I've been trying to clean up Isaiah's mess, which you somehow fell into."

"No, I meant aren't you the reason for all this? If I had your memory then━" Liddan's statement was quickly cut short by a splash of water. He wiped his face quickly to see Marigold with a glass hanging in front of his face. 

She looked just as surprised as he was. 

"Oh━oh gosh," she shrunk back down, "I'm sorry, I lost my temper." However, as Marigold sat back in her seat, her expression suddenly began to boil again. She stood up, and grabbed the pitcher this time, then flung it towards Liddan dumping even more water on him. "No, I was right the first time, I'm mad at you!" 

"Hey━" Liddan said, shielding himself from the onslaught of water, "well make up your mind and stick with it! Or should I buy water wings while I'm at it?" 

"How dare you come here, having no clue who I am, try and trick me into revealing where my daughter is, and then...and then have the audacity to blame me for your poor character?" Marigold stood up for the second half of her monologue, her hands on her hips as she stared Liddan down. He felt terribly small, though Marigold wasn't too tall a woman. "Do you know why I did what I did? Why I gave up my own memory on Earthland━" Suddenly she stopped. Just the look on Liddan's face, she could feel this weight hanging over her. She knew everything, the truth of it all and she could tell him but then he'd have to carry that weight too. That didn't seem fair. "I'm sorry." She finally sat down. "I shouldn't have started shouting." 

Suddenly, the couple was interrupted by the arrival of Sue Ellen, who quickly dropped in with a fresh pitcher of water. "Sure are thirsty, hon," she winked at Marigold before whispering, "give it to him good, girl." 

She walked off, leaving Liddan drenched and even more annoyed, "The service here is terrible." 

"What happened to you?" Marigold sighed. "I know things have never come easy to you...and...I didn't expect things would be easy for you after I left but...I never expected you'd be like this." 

"Could you save it? Okay?" Liddan let out a groan, "I hate myself enough already so you don't have to remind me of how screwed up I━"

"Ohhh! You hate yourself enough already, huh!" Marigold was standing again, this time shouting even. "Well, my bad! I didn't realize you already had that covered! Now tell me Liddan, how are you best utilizing your self-hatred for, I don't know, self-improvement. News flash, knowing your trash doesn't make it okay to be trash, it just means you're aware of a problem but not fixing it. I used to hate myself so much that I'd sit on beaches and let wave after wave wash over me until I was sinking in the sand until I realized I wasn't helping anyone by sitting in the sand and hating myself. So you know what I did?" 

Liddan, out of curiosity, indulged her, "What?" 

"I started to change, and I maybe went a little too far. I started to be so nice to literally everyone to the point of my own suffering because I thought that if I became the best person possible and did everything nice and sweet then if other people hated me, then they just hated me for some vain, uncontrollable reason because I was perfect and sweet and it was so unhealthy and I would not recommend it but it's what I did and hold on I need a drink━"

"Gotcha, hon," Sue Ellen said, arriving promptly with a refill. She placed the pitcher down on the table as Marigold began to gulp down her glass of water. "I'll leave this one in case someone needs another rinse." 

With a sigh,  Marigold set her now empty glass down and watched as Sue Ellen left. "The service here really is incredible."

Liddan sat unsettled, watching for Marigold to make her next move. She stared at her empty glass, holding her breath before she spoke again, "I'm not sure if I ever stopped hating myself, or if I ever lost my people-pleasing habits...but...I could live knowing that my choices were ones with nothing but love in their intentions. And while...that's true still...I'm not entirely sure if they were the right choices." 

She sighed, wiping her brow as she poured herself another glass. Liddan flinched, resulting in Marigold telling him, "Relax, you're wet enough," she dug into her apron and pulled out a dishtowel, passing it to Liddan. "Dry your hair off, you might catch a cold." 

He took the towel in his hands and watched as Marigold's gaze suddenly felt distant. She looked so uncomfortable and terribly frightened. As he wiped his brow dry, he said, "Is it weird to say I get why I was into you." 

Marigold paused, she was mid-drink and as she locked eyes with Liddan, she found it difficult to swallow. Gulping, she said, "Um...I don't know━what does that mean?" 

"Well, I mean, sure looking at you I get it in a physical sense, you're really pretty and have a great butt━"

"Wait, my butt━it's been my butt this whole time? I thought you were a boob guy━"

"Is this really the conversation you want to be having with me?" 

"Yes━my whole world is shattered, it was my butt? My butt?" 

"Marigold, please focus━"

"I mean, it was the first part of me you ever touched━"

"Wait, what?" Liddan shook his head, "Okay, I don't know what that means but I'd like to hear that story...later...but, I like how you're just...brutally honest in the kindest way possible. Like...your words cut my heart in half but I feel like you'd readily sit with me and sew me back together if it's what needed to happen."

Marigold pursed her lips, feeling a thin smile creep onto her face. "Oh," was all she managed to say. She couldn't help but think, Is this the first real compliment I've been given since I came back to Earthland. 

"I feel my sewing metaphor was dumb, was it dumb?" Liddan scrunched up, scratching the back of his still-damp hair. "I mean, who cares, sewing is stupid." 

"Liddan, you love sewing━"

"Don't reveal my secret shame━" Liddan hissed.

"It's not a secret, everyone knows." 

"SHHH!" 

Marigold bit her lip, watching Liddan squirm in his seat from the embarrassment. Like a child, Marigold took a deep breath and with all the power in her voice shouted, "LIDDAN LOVES SEWING!" 

"SHHH!!!"

Liddan threw his arms over the table to try and cover Marigold's mouth, she just laughed, even going as far to throw her head back. 

"Don't be cute," Liddan said, "Aren't you mad at me?" 

"Right," Marigold nodded, scratching her head, "gosh, you always do this to me. You do something stupid and it's really cute so I just tease you instead of staying mad at you." She blushed a bit, covering her face with her hands in embarrassment. "You still did a crappy thing, Liddan, don't forget." 

He didn't feel as bothered by the reminder, but as Marigold hid her face he felt a bit calmer. "You're not what I thought you'd be like. Based off what Isaiah said...or what I thought my soul mate would be like."

"Liddan, I don't know what Isaiah told you, but you really can't trust a word that guy says." Marigold sighed, crossing her arms over the table. "He'll say anything he has to to get what he wants." 

"He said you ran off with the Edolas Marigold's body to live out your life again." 

"There's no way I'd do that," Marigold said quickly, "besides all the moral reasons that's terrible, like stealing the life of another woman, I also have to share a mind with her." 

Liddan paused, taken aback by the new information, "What?" 

"She's still in here, I can hear her voice in my head," Marigold said, tapping on her forehead, "and she isn't my biggest fan at the moment. So I'm trying to get her home as fast as possible, then get the heck out of her body." 

"How'd you get in there in the first place?" 

Marigold pulled her sleeve up slightly to reveal a tightly wound bandage. "The original everstone functioned as a necklace, a choker really, one with magical properties that bound me to the body. Of course...Isaiah wasn't working with any magical jewelry so he just jammed the thing inside of her and here we are. Maybe if I had the necklace things would work differently but as things are now, I'm basically captaining a stolen ship with the real captain off in the helm tied up shouting swears I haven't even heard before at me forever and ever." 

Liddan started to chuckle, "Weirdly...I completely understand what that feels like..." Marigold smiled too, and it was perhaps the first time the two had a geniune moment together. Liddan paused, and looking at the wound he asked, "So...you could put that in anybody and...you'd be in control of their bodies, but share a mind?" 

"I mean...yes, but I would never do it to anyone willingly. Edolas Marigold only allows it because...well...she sometimes just can't deal with this world and sorta dumps it on me━OW! OW! I hear you...I hear you!" Marigold began to tense up. "Sorry...trouble in paradise in here." 

"So, if you put the stone into me...you and I could essentially share a brain?" 

Marigold paused, her expression twisting as she watched the gears in Liddan's mind begin to turn. "Just what are you planning?" 

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

Ezzie was running, and she couldn't exactly say from what. She had plenty of reasons to run. Fairy Tail was holding her in lockdown until further notice, she had just made herself look like a violent uncontrollable beast live in front of Fiore, and she'd just made out with the worst possible kissing partner in all of Fairy Tail (or maybe Fiore). 

The only thing concealing her from the rest of the world was a hoodie, and she knew that wasn't going to cover it for very long. 

She avoided every busy street, keeping a light pace as she walked through the streets, hoping no one would notice her. As Ezzie kept her head down, she gasped as someone called out, "Esmeralda?" 

She panicked, not bothering to turn and see who was calling to her, and just started running. Fast as her legs could carry her, which was rather fast, but the person kept chasing her. 

She ran and ran and ran until she heard a breathy, "WAIT!" Then a smack. 

Whipping her head around, she looked to see a man with ashen hair face down on the ground, his chest heaving from exhaustion with one hand reaching out desperately towards her. "Wait...Esmeralda, I can not run any further." 

Within a moment, she could tell that this was by no means Elwin or any other Strauss for that matter. She knelt down, listening to the strained sounds the man was making (he sounded like a dying animal). Tugging on the back of his shirt, she called out, "Othello?" 

It was him, and she saw for the first time the most expression she'd ever seen on his face. He was so out of breath he looked as though he were in pain. "Esmeralda..." he repeated, "it's very nice to see you." 

Dragging poor Othello off the road, Esmeralda sat him down and provided him with some water to drink where no one else would bother them. They were in a park, coincidentally the same one they'd run into each other before. The sun was beginning to set and Othello had finally caught his breath.

"How can a man like you make it into the games but lose his breath so quickly after a jog," Ezzie asked. 

"I'm...not confident that could so easily be called a jog," Othello said, "but I'm thankful you stopped for me." 

Once again, his voice returned to its monotone quality. The expression was absent from his face, and he moved so slowly. Maybe it was wrong of Ezzie to be so surprised that Othello would be so slow, there always something slow-moving about him. 

"Are you alright?" She asked plainly. 

"The water you gave me was helpful so━"

"No...um, you're..." Ezzie didn't know how to ask him this, "since I've met you you've always seemed...absent." 

Othello paused, "That's a new word for it, I suppose." He turned away, "I wasn't like this when I met you though, do you not remember?" 

"Remember what?" 

"When we first met," Othello explained, "we were kids, do you not remember? On Valentine's Day." 

Esmeralda's heart stopped for a moment, and in an instant, she was in attack mode. She summoned a sword, putting it right at his neck asking, "What do you know?" 

Othello didn't seem bothered by the sudden tense mood. He simply asked, "I've always wondered, given your condition, why did you continue to use swords after you discovered who you really were?" 

"What do you mean who I really was? This is who I am, now, I am not that monster or whatever it is you think you saw." 

Then Othello said something no one had ever said to Ezzie before. "Can't you be both?" 

Esmeralda paused, her throat hitching as she took a step back, the blade of her sword slowly moving away from Othello. She dropped her weapon and sat back down on the bench. 

"In reality, I'm not sure which I am..." Esmeralda said, "The person I am now or...the person I become when I see red. But no one has ever suggested to me that I could be both." 

Othello turned to watch Esmeralda, waiting for the right time to speak. "Esmeralda, do you know why I sleep in trees?" 

"Oh my gosh," she sighed, rolling her head back, "I don't know what this is about but if you've secretly been peeping on━"

"I like to watch the stars," Othello said plainly, "So I sit in parks and watch them because that's one of the few things that makes me feel something." 

Feel something? Esmeralda turned back to Othello, looking at his empty gaze yet again. 

"If I know anything, it's that we too easily discard the parts of ourselves we don't like and try to claim that they're not the real us. You say that this scarlet version of yourself isn't the real you, but it's still something that comes from you, is it not? Then what is it? A curse?"

"No, that's Liddan's excuse," Ezzie said under her breath. "I don't think we've ever given mine an excuse, or so much as a name. I just say 'I wasn't myself at the time' and we all just sweep it under the rug because that's easier than confronting it." 

Othello watched carefully, taking note of every movement or change of expression on Esmeralda's face. "I think the only time we're not ourselves is when we're suppressing something apart of us." 

"What do you mean by that?" 

Othello turned his head away for the first time, as if he were a bit embarrassed to answer. "What does it feel like, if you don't mind me asking?" 

"What does what feel like?" 

"When you become...scarlet." 

Esmeralda pursed her lips, she wasn't very fond of the nickname but it seems to have stuck with Othello. "I feel like my heart is swelling...but in a painfulway. Like it is so full of emotions and anger that it expands outside of my body...but...I suppose in that same way it feels as though I'm being lifted up. But after that, I━"

"Explode?" 

"Yes," Ezzie nodded, "like...I become something bigger than myself...something I can't control. It's just such...powerful emotions that I could never face with a sane mind━" Ezzie took a sharp breath, realizing she'd been talking for quite some time. Quickly, she wiped her eyes and apologized. "I'm sorry, you don't know me and that was too much to say at once." 

She turned her head, waiting for him to say something, she didn't know what just something. But he said nothing, and instead, he had this look on his face that she'd never seen before. It wasn't exactly expressive, he didn't seem capable of it, but he looked like he was in some kind of pain, that he might cry at any moment. 

"Are you okay?" Ezzie asked, leaning towards him. 

"Yes, I'm okay," he nodded, the expression fading with time, "I am, really, I just didn't expect you to say that. It was just...really on the nose and I feel a little hot now." 

"You don't...look...you look fine," Ezzie insisted. "Apologises, but I did just expose a part of myself to you and all, so what exactly was so shocking about that?" 

Othello crossed his arms, the vacant look in his eyes returning as he pulled his head up and looked at the sky, now brimming with orange, pink, and purple. "The stars will be out soon."

"Yes, that seems to be a common thing when night comes and all," Ezzie said.

"I didn't get the chance to explain this morning, I said I was interested in how a star died." 

"Yes, that was...I remember that," Ezzie nodded along, very confused and uncomfortable. "What does that have to do with it━"

"Do you know how a star dies?" 

Ezzie wasn't expected to be quizzed. She barely knew anything about astronomy, but she knew enough to say, "As I recall, there is a supernova, then it becomes a black hole." 

"True, but only massive stars do that, average stars become something different." He quickly turned back to Ezzie, raising his hands as if holding a star in them. "For an average star, something like our sun, it's different. When a star gets older, it slowly begins to expand, beginning a bright red. This is called a red giant, it's much bigger, and when our sun eventually becomes one, surely, it'll eat up earthland with it."

"Oh my gosh━when! How much time do we have left?" 

"No, no, we have a few billion years, calm down." 

"Don't scare me like that!" 

"Yes, sorry," he pat Ezzie's arm, as she seemed quite shaken by the news. "Of course, the sun will get so big that earthland will become inhabitable long before then━"

"We have to warn them!"

"No, no, that's also several hundred million years away. So there's no need to warn them...whoever them is." 

Esmeralda seemed to calm a bit, joining Othello as he stared up at the sky. "So what happens after the red giant?" 

"A planetary nebula, where all the energy and gas of the star inplode into a kind of celestial beauty that astronomers mistook it for a planet when they first discovered it. Some say looking into a planetary nebula is like looking into the eyes of God."

"And then what happens?" 

"And then that beauty fades into the white dwarf. A small, insignificant piece of the universe with nothing to give but a dim white light. So tightly wound and dense with mass it...feels nothing anymore. And slowly over time it becomes nothing until it fades out of the starry sky and becomes nothing but a black dwarf, just a smudge in the sky." 

Something about Othello's words were frightening, as if it weren't just a far off distant thing niether Esmeralda and himself would ever expierence. Rather, it felt like he was describing something he was experiencing right then. 

"So what is it then?" Esmeralda asked, "There's something between all or nothing, is that it?"

"I suppose...in theory there is," Othello said, his voice suddenly softer. "But I'd rather be all than nothing." 

Pulling her head back, she looked at the sparce glimmer of stars viewable in the setting sky. Esmeralda could feel something swelling up inside her, like the red giant he spoke about. She looked over at him, he was watching the same sky. 

"Is that how you feel? Like a white dwarf? Weighed down, deceased...nothing?" 

"I suppose," Othello said, "I came up with the metaphor so long ago, I could never hold someone captive enough to explain it. Maybe it isn't as clever as I thought it was."

"But a white dwarf isn't nothing, right? It isn't completely dead if it's still got a light." 

Othello glanced over at Esmeralda, then back at the sky. "Maybe." 

"Could it be brought back? Does it have to be dead forever?" 

There was a pause before he answered, as though he wasn't sure if he could trust Esmeralda with this knowledge. "I read about it once, a white dwarf that was revived...thanks to a donar star." 

"Really?" 

"It was a red giant...it brought it back to life. Shared some of its energy and then it was revived." 

Esmeralda turned her head, still leaning her back against the bench. The two of them, with their heads pulled back to see the sky, but all they could see were each other. "What about you then? Do you think you could be revived?" 

Othello said nothing, rather he just stared at Esmeralda, particularly her lips. He almost seemed frightened, or as frightened as he was capable of being. 

She leaned forward, only an inch between the two.

"Wait," he said, feeling her breath on his face, "are you kissing me because you're sad or because you feel sorry for me?"

Esmeralda froze in her spot, taking the question in and thinking carefully over the answer. "Does it really matter?" 

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

"Any sight of her?" Xavier asked watching Elwin peel over from exhaustion. He dropped his hands onto his knees, heathing breath after breath as he held a finger up to Xavier as if to say, One moment please. 

"No," he finally said. 

"Figures," Xavier scoffed, walking off a bit to peer down the very road Elwin had come down, as if untrusting of his search. 

"Any sight of Layla?" 

"I have no idea where she went," Xavier shook her head, "but she isn't the one we should be worried about. She's not the vulnerable one at the moment." 

"But...she just looked really upset when she saw me and Ezzie..." Elwin grumbled scratching his head. "I mean...do you think that meant something? Like maybe she was jealous or something?" 

"I wouldn't read into it," Xavier said quickly, "she wouldn't get worked up over something like that." 

Elwin's expression twisted, "You think so?" 

"I'm sure Layla was only surprised that you and Ezzie were getting frisky, not because of jealousy or anything. I mean, you're both her teammates, I was shocked really. I didn't know you were into Ezzie." 

"I'm not━"

"Then is she━"

"No━she was just freaked out about the games and made an impulse move. She wasn't doing it cuz she was really into me...I think she just wanted to feel comforted." 

Xavier didn't answer for awhile, before finally delivering a passive, "Huh." 

He walked towards Elwin, who had settled onto a bench off the street, watching intently as the streetlights all began to flicker on. "What are we gonna do if we don't find her before nightfall?" 

"We get flashlights," Xavier answered. He watched Elwin in his silence, seeing the distress visible on his face. "You should stop worrying about Layla." 

"But what if━" Elwin started, but from Xavier's sharp expression, he realized that maybe he wasn't the person to be telling this. He pulled back, crossing his arms tightly as he tapped his foot rapidly. "You don't get it." 

"What? If it's worrying you that much, then just tell her you and Ezzie aren't a thing when you see her. It's simple as that━"

"It's not though! I had a plan!" 

Xavier paused, deciding to take the bait Elwin was leaving and ask, "A plan?" 

"Yes..." he groaned, burring his face into his hands, "Gosh, plan is a pretty formal word, I've just been...trying to convince Layla I'm not...that I'm..." groveling for a bit, he finally found his words, "I was gonna tell her I loved her tomorrow night." 

Xavier's eyes widened, he didn't know how to respond. "What?" 

"It's just━I got her this necklace and after the games finished and we were all at that party, I was gonna give it to her and tell her I loved her and ask her if...I don't know, she could try and feel the same way about me maybe...or at least let me take her on a date or something."

"How long have you been planning this?" 

"Like a year?" 

Xavier paused, "And that's the best you could come up with? A necklace and a party?" 

"I'm not good at this! Okay?" Elwin shook his fists in the air, growling behind clenched teeth before dropping his head in defeat. "But now the mood is gonna be weird cuz she thinks I'm trying to hook up with Ezzie. And even if I did explain the whole thing is thrown off and I couldn't possibly just show up and be like 'No, I actually like you' because no matter what things will be awkward now." 

"Hey, man," Xavier pat Elwin on the back, "it's okay, really. Heck...it might be for the best." 

Elwin turned his head, "You think it's for the best?" 

"I mean, Elwin...you know I love you but...I don't think you would be the guy Layla needs. I mean...she's got really high expectations for romance...it'd be a big role to fill. She needs someone more stable and mature...and I don't hink she'd be good for you either." 

A sudden sadness weighed down on Elwin as he listened ernestly to his cousins's words. Maybe he was right, maybe they weren't right for each other. Maybe he was just making a mistake that would lead to heartbreak for the both of them. "You really think so?" 

"You're a good guy, Elwin, you'll find someone right for you, but you and Layla would just clash. She'd be better off with someone different." 

Elwin paused in his downward spiral, looking back up to Xavier and the distant expression on his face. "Different how?" he asked. 

"Well...someone...a little more mature, like I said. Who can balance Layla out rather than just add to the chaos. I mean, you know how Layla can be, she needs someone who can keep her steady. She's wickedly talented, so she needs someone who can help keep her grounded. So she'd need someone like━"

"Someone like you?" 

Xavier pursed his lips, shutting his eyes as he quickly shook his head, "I didn't say that." 

"But that's what you're thinking right, I'm not good enough for her, but you are, huh?" 

"I didn't say that," he repeated himself. 

"I'd say she should be with someone who can at least admit he's in love with her━"

"Hey!" Xavier snapped his head towards Elwin, "Watch it." 

"Did I hit a nerve? Sorry, my bad. I didn't realize you were kicking me while I was down just to keep Layla open as an option for yourself, not like you'd make a move cuz you're too embarassed to admit you're even interested in her━

"I'm not embarassed━"

"So you admit you have feelings for her?" Elwin spoke in a way that was so sharp it felt like a cut. Xavier hadn't seen him look so serious before. It was almost frightening. 

"Fine," he gave in, "I may have some...other motivations in what I said. But you know it's true, you would only bring out the worst in Layla, at least I could help balance her out, guide her."

"Guide her? I'm not gonna adopt her I wanted to date her! At least I can respect her and see her as an adult. Come on, you were her teacher, that dynamic isn't gonna shake off if you started dating her. At least with me she doesn't have to look up at me except literally cuz the girl is so tiny." 

"I know..." Xavier sighed, "she's itty bitty, you can hold her with one arm it's great." 

"Shut up!" Elwin shouted, "I know that! I don't like that you know that!" 

"What? I can't notice the fact that she looks like a miniature giraffe━"

"That's what it is!" Elwin snapped his fingers, "She's tiny but her neck is...and the hair━screw you Xavier! Trying to make me feel like I was stupid to have feelings for her. I have the right to want to be with her just as much as you! And I think we'd be a great pair and I think that we bring the best out of each other. I at least know she brings the best out of me, because it's...easy to love myself when I'm with her, and I don't feel that around anyone else." 

At this point, the two were standing and causing qutie the scene. People had started to notice the disagreement and watched intently as it formed into more of a fight. And as Elwin delivered his touching speech, Xavier scoffed. "Don't use Layla as some bandage for you empty self-esteem. The thing is, whether I'm interested in Layla or not, I know one thing. You'd hold Layla back from her potential, I know I wouldn't━" 

Elwin shoved Xavier, "Go to hell, Xavier━" Xavier returned the shove with a punch, and the fight began. 

It was rough and unpleasant to watch, which is why a crowd quickly formed around them. It wasn't before long when another Strauss arrived in earshot of the argument.

Immediately recognizing the voices, Liz swiftly pushed through the crowds and spotted her cousins causing the scene. With a sigh, she dove into the fight and pushed the two apart. "Okay, knock it off! KNOCK IT OFF!" 

She grabbed each of them by their shirt, shoving them as far as her thin arms could push them. They continued to try and throw a punch in here and there, but Liz quickly smacked some sense into them. "Seriously! You all behaved better than this when you were little boys. What's gotten into you?" 

"He started it!" Xavier shouted, in an immature moment out of character. 

"No I didn't━you started this!" Elwin interjected, "Liz, I swear! He started it━"

"I don't care!" Liz shouted, throwing her hands up into the air as she shook them wildly. "Could one of you find your sanity and explain what this is about?" 

Xavier and Elwin, each with a defeated look on their faces, decided to call a truce. The three Strauss's all walked off, trying to make sense of the sudden loss of common sense between the two cousins. 

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

Earlier that evening, Layla found herself in a moment of panic. She ran down the halls, a sick feeling in her stomach and a heat rising on her face. With a single stroke of luck that evening, she ran into one of the few people she actually felt comfortable being emotional in front of, Felicity. 

"Felicity!" she squeaked out, "Hide me!" 

"Huh?" Felicity was in the middle of taking food to their shared room. "Well...I'm headed to the room━"

"No! That's the first place they'll look, hurry!" 

Layla grabbed Felicity, takeout box and all, and dragged her into the nearest closet. Unfortunately for Felicity it was the same closet she'd down unspeakable things with Layla's brother. It was an uncomfortable feeling, but she tried not to fester in it as Layla seemed to be in a much more dire situation. 

"What happened?" She whispered. "Why are we hiding, and from who?" 

"It's just...it's..." she didn't know how to explain it, so she just started to rant, "I hate when people are so secretive about who they like. I mean, why keep it all a secret? Just let us know so we aren't going to have to find out by walking in on you making out in your shared space! Like, come on! What's that about?" 

Felicity croaked, slowly letting her takeout box rest on a tower of upside-down buckets. "Layla...I am so sorry I didn't tell you before...I just didn't know how to tell you and if it makes you feel any better no one else knows so━"

"What? What are you talking about?" 

Felicity immediately realized her mistake, and quickly said, "Nothing...I'm just...I'm on the same boat. People should be honest, who did you catch having sex in a broom closet?" 

Layla's face scrunched up in disgust, "What? Ew━who would do it in a closet? No, I saw..." she sighed, still in some disbelief, "I saw Elwin and Ezzie kissing and I sorta...ran away in terror." 

"That's...wow, Elwin and Ezzie, let me imagine that for a second?" She closed her eyes and winced, "Yeah, that doesn't work in my head...at all." 

"I know! Ezzie can  do way better!" Layla said, "and...I didn't think Elwin was...interested in her. I mean...it makes sense. She is...Ezzie after all." 

"Those words mean so little to me, not just because I don't know her very well, but also because she sorta mauled your brother earlier today." 

"Yeah...it's been..." Layla sighed, "it's been a day...I think I need a minute to...chill." She sat down on the floor, folding in her legs as she held them tightly. "I'm sorry for dragging you in here, you can go eat your dinner if you want...I'm just gonna...catch my breath." 

Felicity looked down, and partly from guilt and partly from sincere attachment to Layla, she squatted down beside her and made a place for herself with Layla. "I can eat here, we'll just...hang out until you feel better, okay?" 

"Really?" 

"Yeah," Felicity nodded, looking Layla right in the eyes, "you're gonna be alright, Layla." 

Felicity opened up her takeout box, beginning to eat in front of Layla. Oddly enough, Layla just quietly watched, wondering why her words suddenly put her at ease. Something about them compelled her to believe they were true. 

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

In the city, after the sun had set, Gideon sat silently in solitude, watching people pass by as he sat quietly by himself. He had his hands in his lap, and the way he looked at the passerbys was like a kid looking out for their parent who promised to pick them up. 

"Gideon," he turned, shocked by the sudden sound of a familiar voice. He almost looked a bit disappointed at who it belonged to. 

"Simie," he greeted her politely, "hey, how are you?" 

"Were you hoping for someone else?" He made a face, "You just seemed a bit disappointed." 

"Oh━sorry," Gideon shook his head, "I'm not, I've just had a really hard day, that's all." 

"Oh, okay." She sat down on the bench beside him, in her hands was something that seemed to shock Gideon. "Then, how about I make it worse and hold you to a promise you made."

"Huh?" 

"You said if I got you an instrument...you'd show me your song." 

"Well, okay...did I say instrument or did I say guitar...cuz..." he gestured towards the instrument in her hand, "that's a recorder." 

"Same difference." 

"No, no, not the same, really. I don't know how to play a recorder and I definitely can't sing and paly the recorder." 

"I'll play, you sing."

"You don't know the song━I mean...I don't know━"

"Gideon," Simie said, putting her hand on his shoulder, "please, I'd like to hear something nice. Just...give me the notes and I'll make something up as I go. I'm pretty good on the recorder. I'm actually pretty great on a lot of things, special skill." 

With a grumble, Gideon pulled out his notebook and flipped it open, "Can you make something from that?" Looking down at the page, Simie could see Gideon had roughly scribbled down chords to go with the words. "That'll work," she announced confidently. She played through a line quite smoothly, before pulling her head back up and asking, "How's that?" 

"Good, but a little slower, softer too." 

She played it again this time softer, and then Gideon in a soft, shy voice, sang his song.

And before you win the race

you stick by

standing there at the finish line.

When I come crashing in

feet sore and winded

you'll carry me to the other side.

As he finished his song, Simie kept her lips on the recorder, she remained in that moment for a short time before saying, "That would have sounded way better with a guitar..."

"I doubt it, I'm not really much of a musician or anything. I just had this thought and went with it lyrically."

Simie set the recorder in her lap, watching Gideon intently in hopes he'd reveal something. She pressed on, "What do you mean, about the race?" 

"It's just a thought, like I said." Gideon said with a shrug, "I thought of Nashi...my fiancée━"

"Of course," Simie nodded.

"She's just...I feel like she's ahead of me in a lot of ways, and I can feel her holding herself back for me."

"Oh," Simie said, a bit shocked, "that's a...tough feeling. Have you told her you feel this way?"

"I mean..." Gideon scratched his head, "I don't like to talk about these things. It feels weird and━"

"Intimate?" Simie chuckled, "I mean, you're gonna get married, shouldn't you be talking about these things?" Gideon was silent, an avoidant expression on his face. "But you can share this with me? Have you ever shared a song with anyone before?" 

"Well, not really━"

"Okay, but what makes me special?"

Gideon let out an uncomfortable laugh, "I don't know? You won't leave me if you're grossed out by my feelings." 

"Who's gonna be grossed out?!" Simie laughed, "What is wrong with you? You can't just burry your feelings." 

"What am I gonna do, sing her my song? Play her the recorder? No way, that's too lame," Gideon grumbled, "I'm not the one who...can share their feelings so well. That was always Sylvie's department. She was the emotional one. I was supposed to be stable. And..." 

"And what?" 

Gideon pulled his head up, glancing over at Simie with uncertainty. "No, it's nothing." 

Simie sighed, patting Gideon's arm, remorsefully she passed him the recorder. "You don't have to sing it or anything, but...you have to tell her some how what's in your head. Or your heart, you decide." 

Hesitantly, Gideon rose from his seat. He held the notebook and recorder in his hand and looked back at Simie. "I should...go."

"Yeah, I bet," Simie released a breathy laugh as she watched Gideon take his first steps away from her.

Suddenly, he stopped and turned towards her, and to her surprise something swelled up inside her chest. "Hey," Gideon said, "thanks for...everything you've done this week. I really wish I'd befriended you while you were still in Fairy Tail...but it's nice that I finally met you now." 

Simie didn't know what to say, so she decided to brush it off, "Ew...feelings." 

"Oh shut up," he scoffed, turning away as he hollered back, "See ya, Simie." 

Simie waved back, inspite of the fact he had his back to her. As she pulled her arm in, wrapping her hands tightly together, Simie took a deep breath and started to panic. Oh no, she thought, I've gone and did it again.

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

In another part of the city, three Strauss's stood together on a bridge, a festering hatred tinted with familiar love scattered between them.

The three of them stood side by side, Liz acting as a barrier as she stood between Elwin and Xavier, who were still rather pissed with one another.

They both had bruises on their faces, Elwin more than Xavier. However, Liz thought they both looked stupid. 

"I can't believe Layla Dragneel caused all this between you two," Liz shook her head, "I mean, you two could find anything to fight about when we were kids, so I'm not that surprised, but Layla? Layla Dragneel?" 

"You don't know how she is now," Xavier interjected, "she's really grown and...I don't know I just fell for her. Really hard." 

"Well, I loved her first!" Elwin spat out, trying to lean over Liz to get in Xavier's face only for her to push him back into his place.

"No, no, that's not how love works. You don't get to call dibs," Liz insisted, "you just have to be honest with Layla and tell her straight up what you want, and then leave it up to her." 

"How are we supposed to do that?" Elwin asked, "I mean, she thinks I'm hooking up with Ezzie, I have this huge misunderstanding to clear up and how can I just go 'I love you!' after all that's happened tonight?" 

Liz sighed, shaking her head, "That's true, Xavier has a huge advantage." Xavier glanced at Liz, suddenly perking up. "I mean, if Layla is still the Layla I know, then I'm sure she'd be more than happy to receive a confession of love from Xavier. I mean, she had a crush on you since she was a little kid. With her thinking Elwin isn't available, your confession might be answered with a bold 'Oh, I always knew you were the one' or something. I don't know, I'm not good at girls, I just got lucky with━" Liz paused, turning her head to see Xavier was no longer there. "Oh...whoops." 

Elwin finally turned himself, looking to see that Xavier was already far down the road. "That son of━my Aunt!" Elwin himself began to run, he himself shouting, "I'll kill him!" 

Liz was left alone on the bridge, watching her two cousins run off after a girl. She sighed, rolling her eyes. "At least I know I was right..." Liz looked down into the water below, crossing her arms. "I don't want to go back."

The chase was brutal, and despite having the lead, Elwin quickly caught up to Xavier. His leg was damaged, after all. 

"You shouldn't be running like this!" Elwin shouted, grabbing onto Xavier's shirt and unknowingly pulling it up above Xavier's head. The two struggled as Elwin found Xavier's sudden grasp of him prevented him from moving any further. 

"Well you should shut up! I'm telling her how I feel and that's it!"

With a sharp yank, Elwin fell flat on his face, letting Xavier run forward. 

Elwin, pushing himself up, quickly realized that even if he was faster than Xavier, he was not nearly as strong. With a quick poof, Elwin ran off now in the form of a white rat. 

Xavier didn't notice the little rodent run past him at first, but he quickly realized and began to chase it, yanking it off the street and holding it up to his face by the tail.

"Elwin, really? A rat?" 

"Just let me explain to her! I won't confess, please!" Elwin begged, is tiny rat paws coming together as he begged. 

"Elwin, I'm sorry, but I have to do this." With one hand, he pulled Elwin back, and flung the little white rat across the street as far as he could. Elwin went flying, screaming in tiny terror as he maintained his rat form. 

Now with the leading advantage, Xavier made his way into the inn. Arriving in the dining hall, he looked around at all the tables to see far off in the corner, Layla was eating with Felicity. He bolted towards her, unaware that Elwin, still a rat, had finally caught up. 

"Layla!" Xavier called out, limping towards her with his iffy leg still sore. "There you are!" 

"Xavier?" She spoke timidly, like she was trying to hide there in the dining hall. Felicty shot her a look unsure of what to do. Layla gave her a nod. "Is something wrong? You look like you ran here." 

"Yeah, everything is fine, I just needed to talk to you...uh..." he looked around at the very public space they occupied, realizing he didn't want anyone else to hear them. "Uh, can I speak to you in private real quick." 

"Oh, yeah, okay," she stood up, Felicity giving her a nod and saying she'll be waiting for her.

Layla and Xavier walked off into the hallway, which was mostly empty as everyone was either eating dinner or in their rooms. She looked unsure, not knowing if this was business related or personal. She was never good at reading the room but Xavier was giving off such an odd vibe it worried her. "Is something the matter?" 

"Layla, there's something I need to tell you right now." Xavier found his breath, just as the rat Elwin finally found Layla and Xavier. "It's...it's about us." 

"Us?" Layla didn't quite pick up on what he meant, "Did something happen with the mission, are you not continuing on━"

"No, no, it's not about the mission, it's about you and me...the thing is..." he took a breath, "I'm in love with you." 

"Oh," her eyes widened, "wow...wow..." Elwin watched intently, her cheeks went red, her eyes were glossy, she looked as though she might cry. 

Feeling defeated, Elwin fled the hallway, leaving Xavier and Layla alone. 

"That's...that's really surprising," Layla covered her mouth with her hand, shaking her head slowly. "I mean, that...wow."

"So...what do you say?" Xavier asked, "How do you feel?" 

Layla pulled her hand away, revealing her rather twisted expression, it was far less rosy than when he first spoke, rather a bit benign. "Honestly? A bit meh."

"Huh?"

"It's just that..." Layla sighed, "I used to have a really big crush on you." 

"Oh, yeah," Xavier nodded, as he already knew she had a crush on him, but he didn't know she was over it, "Used to?" 

"Well, yeah, you were like my teacher, so I really admired you and looked up to you. I felt like you could take care of me in a way my family couldn't so I really liked you," Layla took a breath, "but...how do I say this nicely...I think I sorta outgrew you?" 

"Oh..." Xavier crossed his arms tightly, "how do you mean...?"

"It's just that...I don't think I want that anymore from a partner. I know how to take care of myself now, and I want to feel like I'm on the same footing as the person I love, not like I'm beneanth him." 

"Oh..." Xavier suddenly felt a little less rejected, and more enlightened. He was wrong, maybe he wasn't the right one for Layla. "Wow...I guess I was wrong." He rubbed the back of his neck, giving a sigh. "I'm sorry for springing this on you." 

"I mean...I wouldn't say it's the best timing given...all that's happened today," Layla sighed, "but it's...it's really an honor to be someone you love, Xavier. Because I do love you, really, just...not in that way anymore." 

"Well," he crossed his arms and smiled, "I guess that makes me feel a bit better, huh?" 

"Good," Layla bit her lip, looking around to see if anyone was around, "can...can I give you a hug? Or would that be weird?" 

"Nothing you can do wouldn't be weird at this time," Xavier said with a sigh, "but I'm fine with a hug." 

She got onto the tips of her toes and wrapped her arms around Xavier, giving him a tight hug. "I'm sorry for breaking your heart. Can we still be friends?" 

"Give me a minute," Xavier sighed, "but we'll always be friends, don't worry." As the two pulled apart, he looked down with a sollemn expression. "You should really go see Elwin...don't tell him I sent you to him...but...he's probably got something important to say to you."

"Okay..." Layla nodded slowly, feeling the heat on her face again as she blushed. "Thank you, Xavier, for everything." 

"Yeah, I know," he sighed, "I'm the best." 

As he walked out of the hall and back int othe dining hall, he wasn't surprised to find Felicity scrunched up against the wall, easedropping on the entire conversation. "Hey," he said, with little interest in her knowing what just happened. 

"Sup," Felicity muttered in a slightly deeper voice. She watched him walk off before running into the hall to meet with Layla. "Okay, so I heard everything━are you okay?" 

"What━you were listening in the whole time?" 

Felicity paused, "No..."

"Oh my gosh," Layla sighed, pulling her hands over her face, "Whatever...it happened, and it's over."

"So...Elwin?" Felicity asked cautiously. 

"What━" Layla snapped, "Shut up!" 

"I didn't say anything."

"You were gonna!" Layla bit her lip, letting out an embarassed groan. "That's it...I need to find Elwin...I have a few things to get off my chest." 

"Yeah, let's do that," Felicity nodded, awkwardly patting Layla on the back, "Let it out girl."

The two walked down the hallway and headed to their room. Upon entering their shared room, they quickly realized it was empty, not even Zailo was there (which was rather odd, as where else would he be). "He's not here," Felicity said cautiously, "you don't think..."

"Maybe we should check the top floor..." Layla crossed her arms, her expression becoming pale. "I mean...that is where I saw him last." She bit her lip, remaining stationary for a moment longer. Suddenly, she blurted out, "Could you come with me? I don't know...if I find what I'm afraid of seeing...I'd like someone else to be there to gag in disgust."

"It's no problem," Felicity smiled, reaching out and taking Layla's hand while she moved up onto the same step as her, "it's what us friends are good for, right?"

They continued to hold hands up until they reached the next floor, where the competing team was staying. Walking down the hall, they approached the suite at the end. Arriving at the door, Layla let go of Felicity's hand.

"Okay, let's go," she was about to knock on the door, until, out of nowhere, she heard a moan.

Felicity grabbed her hand, whispering, "Stop! Did you hear that?"

Layla made a twisted expression, "Oh no━I can't do this━"

Layla began to turn away but was stopped by Felicity. "Layla, no!" she said, a sudden power within her, "He's been chasing you around like a lost puppy the entire time I've known you two...which may not be very long but it's clear he was interested! And now he just hops on the first vulnerable girl he meets? Nope━I'm not having it!"

Suddenly, Felicity lifted her foot up.

"Felicity! WAIT!"

BANG! The door flung open with one powerful kick and the

"Alright! The jig is up! Get out of their Elwin!!"

Felicity, who had instinctively ducked behind the swung open door, peeked past her friend as a pair of red and white heads popped out from under the sheets.

It was Ezzie alright. Her cheeks as red as her hair, she clutched a blanket nervously over her naked chest.

Of course, it only took a moment for the two of them to realize that the white-haired man wasn't Elwin.

"Who the heck are you?" Layla asked with a bizarre expression.

"Othello?"

The man, Othello, turned towards her, "Ah, Felicity, it's good to see you." 

Esmeralda and Layla glanced over at Felicity, who was in the moment working very hard to become invisible. Ezzie was first to ask it, "You two know each other?"

"Ah, well━" Felicity began, a nervous smile on her face.

"I'm her brother, actually," Othello answered with little excitement

"Half!" Felicity blurted out, immediately regretting, as she had confirmed a relationship.

Layla's mouth hung open in shock, "You have a brother━and he's the creepy guy from Howl Caedo━why didn't you tell us?!" 

"Never mind that!" Felicity shouted, trying to change the subject. "The real question is what is Ezzie doing in bed with some creepy guy from Howl Caedo." 

"We were having three-fourths of what might be considered intercourse," Othello asnwered.

"Shut up Othello!" Felicity snapped, the man quickly sealed his lips. 

"Well, okay," Ezzie said quickly, "I was feeling really bad about all that had happened to day and I ran into Othello again...and he was being really nice and he's really handsome under the nightsky so we started to kiss and I have needs guys! I'm sorry!" 

"Oh my gosh," Felicity grumbled. 

"So you brought him here? Into Fairy Tail's quarter's for a hook up?" Layla's face twisted with disgust, "Ezzie, come on." 

"Don't slut shame me!" She snapped, throwing her finger at Layla. "Things got out of hand, we didn't even go all the way, Othello is having some issues..." Leaning in she whispered, "It's basically just been all oral for the past half hour, and he's goin' down━"

"No, NO!" Felicity covered her ears, shaking her head, "I don't wanna hear this, Othello! What do you have to say for yourself?!" 

Othello remained silent, looking around with a rather dull expression.

"You can speak!" Felicity groaned. 

"Well," he began, "I think Esmeralda is a wonderful person, and while I didn't gain much pleasure from the time we spent together here in this bed, I do think I nearly enjoyed her company this evening, as much as I am capable of. So I feel no guilt for having spent it with her." 

"Oh my gosh," Felicity gagged, "get out of here Othello!" He immeidately stood up from the bed, revealing himself to be bucknacked. "Put your clothes on first!" 

He grabbed his clothes, dressing himself as he quickly said his goodbyes to Esmeralda. "I'm sorry to leave so abruptly, but I hope to see you again soon, Esmeralda." 

"Othellow, wait," she grabbed onto his arm as he began to walk towards the window, but it didn't little to stop his exit. 

"I'm sorry, I have no choice but to leave," he said softly before opening the window and dropping outside."

"Oh my gosh━" Layla gasped, running towards the window, "Is he alright?" 

"Yeah," Ezzie sighed, "I made the same jump earlier." 

Layla clenched her fists, whipping her head around to face Ezzie and Layla. "Okay, both of you, time for some honesty. You both are coming with me and we're gonna have a chat with Laxus about your realtionship with Othello, because this is getting out of hand, got it?!" 

Felicity and Ezzie exchanged a defeated look. "Got it..." they each mumbled.

Layla crossed her arms, feeling a stress headache form as she waited for Ezzie to dress herself. She thought of Elwin and how he might fit into all of this, or if he knew about any of it at all. She shook her head, shaking off the feeling and moving forward, there was business to attend to. 

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

"Are you ready?" 

"No, of course not." 

Marigold shook her head, taking a deep breath. "I don't think this is a good idea...I mean, what if I'm allowed to be in Marigold's or something? We don't know what will happen? I could kill you━"

"Marigold, hold on," Liddan said, "you're not gonna kill me."

"How do you know that?" 

"I just know it, you're not capable of it," Marigold made a face, recalling the time that as the Syramin she did in fact sort of kill him. Of course, telling him that now would help no one so she kept quiet. "Marigold...I don't trust myself right now, but sometime tells me that I can trust you, okay? So I give you my body until further notice, okay?" 

Marigold stood across from him, her body stiff with anxiety. They were in her small bedroom above the restuarant. It felt odd, like she was getting naked in front of him. This was a kind of intimacy she and Liddan had never shared. It was bigger than hugs, kisses, sex, or talking until the sun came up. It was sharing a body, that was insane, invasive, and perhaps something they couldn't recover from even if they had a future together.

"Are you sure?" 

"I am," he answered plainly, "now on with it." 

Marigold sat down on the bed beside Liddan, pulling up her sleeve to reveal the bandaged wound on her arm. As she unraveled it, she cringed at the sight of the open wound and the stone shard sticking out of it. It was a horrible sight to see. "Okay," she said aloud, nodding her head. "I've got this." 

"Yeah, you do," Liddan said, "now come on, we haven't got all day." 

With a sharp breath, she grasped the little shard and yanked it out with one motion. Suddenly, Marigold was gone and it came her true self.

"Oh my gosh!" Edo Marigold said, standing up suddenly in a panic.

"Hey, calm down, give me the stone," Liddan said quickly, stretching his hand out.

"Wait," Edo Marigold said, holding the stone tightly in her hands. "You don't know what you're getting yourself into...it's insane...it's like being trapped in your own mind with no control." 

"Yeah," Liddan sighed, "I think I might already know the feeling. But that's my problem, not yours." He held his hand out insistently and finally she gave in, dropping the shard into his hand. He pulled out his own arm, preparing a small sharp knife. He created a small cut, then came the painful part. 

With one hand, he jabbed the stone into his arm, and suddenly he could feel it overwhelm him. It was her. 

He collapsed onto the bed, unable to move for a moment of time. Edo Marigold moved towards him, watching carefully to see if he was even alive.

"Hello..." she called out, "Are you dead?" 

Suddenly he jolted up. But it wasn't him.

"Liddan?" Marigold, true and honest Marigold, called out.

I'm okay. He said, a bit uncertain of his own words. I think so, anyway.

"Okay, good," Marigold, now in the body of Liddan, stood up, looking Edo Marigold in the eyes, "you stay here and keep working at the diner. Okay? We'll deal with Isaiah." 

"This is crazy? How are you gonna stop him and get me home?" 

"I'm not sure exactly," Marigold admitted, "but whether we have a plan or not, we're nearing the end...and we have to finish things now."

Author's Note

Well yo ho everybody. That took awhile to finish.

As always, thanks to my awesome readers (and Patrons *wink*) for sticking with me through the story. It's been tough to write given how convoluded everything is getting in the story but it's gonna be okay! I have a plan!

So that aside, a few announcements. The next chapter will be the last chapter of this volume (ahhh) but there will be a volume V. I've stated this before but I get asked this a lot so I thought I'd just officially be like "yo, I ain't done yet!"

 Other than that, I wanted to announce that I'll be doing another "The Answers" special chapter that I'll publish after the final chapter is posted which is hopefully not terribly far from now. The last final chapter of a volume was about 30k words...which is basically a novel so that doesn't bode well for me but I'm pretty sure I've got a clear path for how I'm closing this chapter out. It's gonna be okay. Come on, please tell me it's gonna be okay. 

I need someone to tell me it's gonna be okay.

So that in mind, I'll be posting a chapter for people to share their questions in my "Terrible Updates" book (which is where I share most FTNG releated updates now so add the book to your library if you wanna see what's the haps about random things). You can share your questions there in that book and I'll accept as many questions as possible. Leave as many questions as you'd like and hopefully I'll get to them all.

I love writing the Answer chatpers because it's fun to see the characters sorta interact with my readers, that's nerdy but whatever. It's cute.

All that being said, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and will stick with me for the next one. I'll see you guys soon and hope you've having a great summer. 

Thank you!

-Katie the Terrible.