Mest's POV

Wendy and I made our way towards the east section of the sprawling desert city in front of us before beginning our climb to the palace. I felt more on edge than I had felt since the Eclipse Gate disaster. Every corner we turned I expected to see one of the killer princesses that Captain Beck had talked about and I hovered as close to Wendy's petite body as I thought was prudent.

Shararu glared at me several times throughout our trip through the city and I couldn't help but feel like she disliked me. I knew how close Wendy and Shararu were, and sometimes when the white exceed glared at me it was as if an older, protective sister was trying to silently warn me that I wasn't good enough for her little sis. Those thoughts were NOT helpful to my concentration though, so I pushed them to the side and continued shadowing Wendy as she weaved through the crowded streets.

Surprisingly, Wendy and I fit in pretty well with the Prektian people and no one even gave us a second look as we made our way towards the palace. The further towards the city center we got, I noticed that the houses began to get increasingly bigger. They were all still made out of a pale brown stone, but there was a little more space between the homes and the people seemed to have a healthier glow to their skin. Something odd that I noticed as we traveled through dozens of miniature open markets, was that at every market there was a stall selling a small fuzzy fruit with a pink flower on top. I was curious as to why that seemed to be so prominent, but I put it out of my mind for now as we began to close in on the palace's protective wall.

Wendy, Shararu, and I stopped outside the large white-stone wall and I glanced around me. The wall didn't appear to be wide enough for any guards to walk along the top of it, and I was surprised at the apparent lack of soldiers guarding the imposing palace beyond the wall. Wendy sniffed the air delicately and frowned, rubbing her arm in a nervous gesture.

"You're sure you want to go in there, Wendy?" I asked her kindly. I knew that Wendy was much more powerful than her small figure appeared, but even so, there had always been something inside me that wanted to protect her. She looked up and met my eyes with determination dancing in her brown eyes and nodded firmly.

"I want to find Phaedra-san," she said quietly. With a small smile, I nodded my understanding and looked all around us. When I was sure no one was looking, I used my magic to teleport us inside the palace wall.

It took a good amount of self-control not to yell when I materialized and found my foot stepping on a rather prickly plant that had pierced my thin sandal easily. I quickly jumped off the sharp plant and shook out my foot, grateful that I didn't feel any weird effects from getting stuck by the unknown plant. Wendy and Shararu climbed out of the decorative patch of strange bushes and pokey plants quietly, without suffering any similar damage. Keeping low and using my teleportation magic whenever we were too in the open, we made our way into the palace through an opening that looked like it was a window, but it had no glass pane in it.

Once we were inside, my senses sharpened even more as I did my best to sense any magical presences around me. Wendy sniffed at the air silently whenever we reached a divide in our path, but a small frown constantly played on her mouth. Part of me hoped that Phaedra wasn't in here so that Wendy would give up and go back to searching in other places where a crazy king who could take over your mind didn't live. But another part of me that hated seeing her upset wanted us to find Phaedra sooner than later, no matter where that was.

I lost track of time as we crept through the quiet palace halls, hiding every once in a while from patrols of soldiers dressed in loose clothing and blue hats. At one point, my body tingled as I felt more than heard a group of soldiers walking towards us. I quickly ducked behind a huge, decorative stone column lining the hall we were walking down and pulled Wendy against me to make sure that we were both hidden from view.

To my surprise, Wendy snuggled up close to me, resting her arms against my stomach and leaning her forehead against my chest. A memory of her tearful confession to me entered my mind and I could feel heat rising up my neck. How I had managed to stay calm during her little speech about needing to be honest because she never knew if I wouldn't come back from a mission one day, I didn't know. But after I had told her it would be best to wait until she was in a less emotional state, I had closed the infirmary door and slumped against it. I recalled how all of the strength had rushed out of my legs and my entire face had gone hot as I thought of how sad and determined she had looked. 

It was stupid of me, but honestly, I had never really seen Wendy as the kid sister she seemed to be for everyone else in Fairy Tail. When I had picked her for my partner back when I had sealed away my memories of being a Fairy Tail member as my alter ego Doranbolt, she had seemed like the perfect target to get incriminating information about Fairy Tail. But as I spent time with her and saw how caring and fierce she could be, I had realized how foolish I had been for singling her out because of her age. After fighting with the villains to protect Wendy on Tenrou, having Master Makarov restore my memories to try and fight Acnologia, and then waking up seven years later to find her small hand firmly clenched in mine; I had vowed that I would do everything I could to protect her and her innocence.

I had assumed that I was a big brother figure to her, but I never could define exactly what Wendy was to me. Some days I could convince myself that she was my adorable little sister, other days she was someone I wished I could be more like, and then some days she just took my breath away with her gentle goodness. After so long watching out for her on the sidelines though, to have her say she liked me had been something I had never expected in a million years.

Honestly,  the next day I fully expected her to tell me that she had been caught up in the moment and that she didn't actually see me in that way. That never came though. As Wendy pressed herself against me while we waited for the soldiers to walk by, I began to wonder what I would do if she actually didn't change her mind.

"They're gone now," Shararu whispered curtly.

I looked down at Shararu, realizing that my arms had slid around Wendy's back as we had hidden, and I quickly let her go. I was surprised when she didn't immediately pull away from me though. After a half-second pause, she slowly stepped back and looked up at me with a shy smile, her cheeks tinted a rosy pink color. Heat rose up my neck again and I was glad that I was wearing my shirt with a high fur collar. Hopefully, it would hide my strange blush.

After what must have been an hour, I began to feel a strange presence around me. It felt like I was being watched, but I couldn't pinpoint a magical presence to back up the strange feeling. I was just about ready to teleport Wendy and me to another hallway when she stopped so suddenly I almost ran into her.

"Phaedra-san..." Wendy whispered, before she bolted forward. Panic raced through me as I ran after her, hoping that our footsteps weren't loud enough to be heard.

"Wendy, wait!" I hissed, reaching out to grab her arm when she slipped around a corner. As I turned the corner, I watched in horror as Wendy's body tilted and then crashed to the ground.

Instinctively, I activated my teleportation magic, but before I could move Wendy, Shararu, and I away from the hallway, pain slashed through my spine as I felt something ram me in the back. To my shock, my legs gave out and I fell onto the ground inches away from Wendy's body. I reached out, pulling her small body against mine as I searched for my magic to teleport us away... but it was gone. Something had blocked me from my magic.

"Mmmm, your magic zmellz very ztrong. Zort of minty," a smooth voice with a strange accent said from somewhere above me. I gripped Wendy tighter against me when Shararu suddenly dropped from the air, her body as limp as a rag doll and her eyes open wide with fear.

"If you hurt them, I swear..." I growled, trying to twist around to see my attacker as my legs lay uselessly against the ground. A flash of deep brown hair skimmed across my vision before I felt a swift, sharp jab to my neck and suddenly... everything went black.

Gray's POV

I hadn't needed to wear a headscarf since I blended in pretty well with the people walking through the city, but I had made fun of Laxus for having to wear a bright red one. Mirajane had positioned it so it actually looked pretty cool, kind of turban-like almost, but I wasn't going to tell him that. Laxus and I skirted the city and all its people as much as we could as we approached the massive palace from the west.

I had never envied Natsu's dragon slaying powers before. My Ice Make magic had been taught to me by Ur and it was a part of who I was, but as we crept silently through the eerily quiet palace I couldn't help but be jealous when Laxus sniffed the air. It would be pretty cool to have a nose as sharp as a dragon's. Although I was sure that sometimes it came in handy to not have that particular super sense.

As I followed behind Laxus, my mind constantly created images of Phaedra walking down these halls. I tried to picture her as a twelve-year-old girl, practicing her light speed magic by zipping through the silent halls. It was painful to imagine her when she had been under the King's control, but I couldn't help but wonder as we passed several open windows whether she had conjured the light beams that she had described out in the well-manicured, if somewhat dusty, courtyard below me.

Laxus hadn't picked up any sign of Phaedra's scent, but as we continued searching I began to feel a weird tingling down my spine. The feelings reminded me of Juvia's stalker vibes that I could sometimes sense and I felt my body tense up. I cautiously turned around, peering into the shadows that stretched along the hallway we were walking through.

Just when I was about to continue following Laxus, a strange, blurry shadow, swished across the floor, directly above my own shadow. I quickly looked up, bringing my hands into position to throw an ice lance at whatever it was, but before I could finish my spell something jetted towards me. I felt four quick hits up my left arm and down my right and I yelled in shock when they both flopped down to my side, hanging limply like someone had just flipped an off switch to them.

"What a ztrange zmelling magic. Pungent and zpicy like zinnamon. I hate zinnamon," a female voice whispered above me. I kicked upwards, trying to determine where it was coming from, but then I felt a sharp jab against my throat and my world went dark.

Laxus's POV

My eyes widened and I spun around in the empty hallway when I heard Gray's cry of alarm. I cursed myself an idiot as I quickly ran back the way I had come. All of my attention had gone into trying to distinguish Phaedra's scent and I hadn't even realized that Gray wasn't behind me anymore.

"Gray!" I hissed quietly, turning the corner just in time to see him fall to the ground, his eyes closed. "Sparks, Gray. Get up!" I whisper-yelled, running to his fallen body as I swiftly looked in every direction for where his attacker had gone. Bringing my fists up and allowing electricity to crackle up and down my body I stood protectively in front of Gray's body and waited for the attacker to show themselves.

"Now YOUR magic zmellz de-li-ciouz," a smooth female voice purred from behind me. Whirling around, I shot off a bolt of lightning just as something flew past my peripheral. I spun around again when something jabbed into the base of my spine. Immediately my legs went numb and I teetered forward crazily, catching myself with my hands before I bashed my face against the ground.

"You are messing with the wrong mage," I growled to my unseen attacker. I waited for my lightning to rip off of me like a wave, but confusion filled me when I didn't feel any response from my magic. "What did you do to me?" I growled, turning myself around to look above me.

My eyes widened as I saw a beautiful woman floating parallel above me in the air. She had dark brown hair, similar to Cana's. It flowed in luscious waves and framed her small face that looked like it had been carved out of a slab of toasted whole wheat bread.

She smiled down at me, showing off her pearly white teeth before her hands seemed to fly towards me, jabbing me in my shoulders. I cried out as my arms went numb as well and I fell back onto the ground, completely helpless, which was not a feeling I was accustomed to. The woman floated down so her hair spilled onto the floor next to me and her body was less than an inch away from my own. She leaned her face down towards my neck and took in a long, deep breath, letting it out in a warm gush across my skin that gave me goosebumps.

"Mmmmm. Zuch a manly zmell," she whispered, bringing one of her hands up and beginning to walk her fingers up my chest. An angry growl ripped from my chest as I glared at the strange mage and I wrinkled my nose in distaste when she shivered at the sound.

"If I wazn't already taken, I would just. Eat. You. Up," the woman said in a sultry voice, punctuating each word with a heavy suggestiveness.

"Too bad I don't eat take out," I growled as I willed my body to do something. ANYTHING.

"Pity," the woman purred, floating away from me and coming to look me directly in the eyes. "I might have delayed your execution if you did." My eyes widened but the woman lashed out, jabbing me in the throat and I felt myself slip into unconsciousness.

A/N Hmmmmm. Sorry to leave you on a cliffhanger like that :S But if I had continued with another POV I think the chapter would have been too long :(