{NO ONE'S POV}
"One Dream?" Silver read out the name of the dark guild. "A research guild?"

"They do research, yes." The ninth Fairy Tail guild master, Laxus Dreyar, agreed. He was the one who assigned Team Talica—consisting of Talica, Nashi, Silver, and Rose—to this job.

The four of them had been called back to the Fairy Tail guild master's office, where they could privately receive the more sensitive details of the job.

"Why do we need to beat up a bunch of scientists, when most of them aren't even mages?" Nashi asked.

Laxus frowned. "Because of the subject they're researching. One Dream is obsessed with finding the Magic of One—the original magic."

"Magic of One? Original magic?" Talica questioned. "I've never read anything about it before, and I've read a lot of magic theory."

"It's supposedly the eternal progenitor of every single type of magic in this world, from which every other magic is derived. If it really exists and those scientists get their hands on that much raw magic power... we don't even know what they want to use it for, which is the most concerning part of all."

"That... would be bad." Silver summed up what his entire team was thinking.

"Catastrophic. The guild leader is obsessed with trying to publish their work." Laxus shook his head. "If the unsavory research referenced in their papers is to be believed, One Dream could gain the power to unravel this universe by its threads."

Laxus shook his head, thinking: Hasn't our world already survived enough world-ending threats?

"So you're sending... kids?" Nashi scratched the back of her head. "Not to sell ourselves short, but isn't this like uber important? It feels like you adults should maybe take part in stopping it."

"It's precisely because you're young that I'm sending you to infiltrate." Laxus leaned forward intently. "This matter was brought to the magic guilds by the kingdom because One Dream is suspected of using magic for serial child kidnappings."

"Eh? I thought they were scientists." Silver linked his hands behind his head casually. "Aw man. It's gonna be another boring old job beating up villains. We deal with crap like this every day."

"Not quite. One Dream snatches young, talented mages from low-profile towns in rural Fiore and uses them for human experiments. Whatever experiment they're doing keeps failing, so they continue to hunt for fresh blood." Laxus grimaced. "Since magic is involved in the incidents, the case was finally brought before the New Magic Council."

Talica, Silver, and Nashi all gasped, their expressions oscillating between disgust and horror.

"Why haven't the kidnappings been stopped way sooner?!" Nashi demanded angrily. "What the fuck is wrong with the Rune Knights?!"

"It wasn't confirmed if the kidnappings were related or separate incidents. They happened in rural towns scattered around the kingdom, separate from most of society. As such, none of the disappearances held the national spotlight. But now—" Laxus winced, "—a dump site has been discovered."

"Dump site." Talica paled. "You mean..."

"The children were all discovered in one location, and their bodies are in the exact same condition, thereby linking the cases to one another. Furthermore, if we link them to the 'test subjects' referenced in the One Dream guild master's unpublished research papers, the scientists used the children's bodies to attempt to activate the Magic of One."

Talica looked sick, Nashi looked furious, and steam was coming out of Silver's ears. Laxus continued, looking quite disgusted himself.

"None of the kidnapped children were strong enough to withstand the stress of the activation. One Dream has gotten bolder as of late. They've been gradually upping the scale of their operation, searching for more and more talented youth."

"So we're bait." Talica sighed. "Understood. We'll scout out the situation and report back asap. If One Dream is behind the serial child kidnappings, they won't get away with it any longer."

"Remember, this is just a preliminary survey. Don't engage the enemy. Figure out what they're doing, collect as much evidence as you can in a week, and prioritize your own safety. I'm counting on you all."

"Yes, Master!" Talica, Silver, and Nashi shouted in unison. The four kids ran out of his office.

Laxus leaned back, wondering if he made the right decision by sending Team Talica on this request. Without a chaperone, no less. They had tremendous power and potential, but they were still kids.

It didn't help that Rose had been awfully quiet for the entire briefing. She was usually the one taking copious notes and spitballing questions.

Her mood today was rather dour compared to the others. It was almost like Rose didn't want to go on this particular job.

He'd ask Rose about it when she got back. It would take them a couple days to get to the location, and they would be there for a week.

For now, Laxis returned his attention to the mountain of paperwork and apology letters he had to write. Fairy Tail went overboard this week as usual.

*a week and a half later—in Azalea town*
The most recent victim of the serial kidnappings was from the rural town of Azalea. Since the little boy, Eiji, disappeared a few days ago, One Dream might still be in the immediate area.

A woman named Mimi offered to help the New Magic Council catch the kidnappers that traumatized her town and stop the human experiments.

To enter Azalea and investigate the town without drawing suspicion, Rose pretended to be Mimi's niece. Mimi's sister had a daughter the same age as her. Since the sister's family lived in Crocus and never visited, nobody knew that Rose was a fake.

The other three claimed to be Rose's best friends (not a lie), sightseeing with her during school vacation (lie). The story they propagated was that Rose's friends were curious about her hometown and tagged along. If they got caught snooping, they simply claimed that they'd gotten lost while exploring.

The people of Azalea welcomed them, although still mourning the disappearance of eight-year-old Eiji.

It was the perfect ploy. Except... One Dream didn't take the bait. The day came for Team Talica to return to Fairy Tail empty-handed. Talica, Nashi, and Silver packed their bags, disappointed that they wouldn't have anything new to report.

Mimi put her hand on Rose's shoulder. "Thanks for trying anyway, Rose-chan. Come on, let's go get your reward. Sorry it's not much."

"Why can't you bring it here?" Rose asked coldly. She rudely knocked Mimi's hand away.

Nashi's jaw dropped. "Rose, what the hell?"

Mimi flushed and twiddled her thumbs. "Geez, Rose-chan! Did I offend you somehow? It was fun for me to pretend to be your aunt for a week. I just thought that maybe we had a connection—"

"You were trying to separate me from my team so you could kidnap me and drag me back to your hideout." Rose deadpanned.

The kind smile dropped from Mimi's face.

Eyes widened and jaws fell. To the horror of the oblivious three, Mimi popped the top button of her shirt and revealed the One Dream guild mark.

She rolled her eyes and grumbled, "Ugh. Your memory's too good, Rosie girl. So many stars aligned when you were the mage who came here, but I could tell that you were avoiding me. Always making sure another member of your team was between us, you stupid perceptive brat! You're a pain in the ass, no matter how old you get!"

Mimi pulled out a device. It was a small metal box with a long antenna. She pressed several buttons. The machine began to glow as it pulled in magic power from the surrounding air.

"That's got a transport spell carved on it. It's how they get their victims out so fast." Rose warned, trying to knock the box out of Mimi's hands.

Unfortunately, the other three were too slow to react. Talica, Nashi, and Silver were still stunned by the unexpected turn of events and slightly hurt by the seemingly random betrayal of Mimi. It was a lot of process in mere seconds.

Rose succeeded in kicking the box out of Mimi's grasp. The transport device went flying and smashed against the wall, but it was too late.

The magic circle opened up a hole in the air. They could see a sterile white chemistry lab on the other side of the portal. Mimi jumped into the portal. Rose tried to jump in after her.

Nashi finally came to her senses. The portal was already closing, so there was no way they could all make it through in time.

She grabbed Rose's hair and yanked her back, preventing the latter from going in alone.