It was clear to Kia that Doranbolt didn't trust her in the slightest now. She had expected that as soon as the words left her mouth, but this was not the time to go into the gritty details of her life.
"Do you have a way to get in contact with Crime Sorciere?"
He blinked at her question, "I could find a way."
Kia nodded as she crossed her arms over her chest, "You should contact him and let them know what you just told us. He brought it up to me last we spoke."
"We should also find a lacrima to call Grandpa and the guild," Verani sighed. "He'll be having a heartache the minute he hears what happened here and we haven't checked in."
Kia nodded, "We'll find one after we find a hotel for the night."
"You want to investigate the wreckage some more?" Amber asked.
"I don't need to. I doubt it will tell us anything we don't already know." Kia's eyes were trained on the disaster around them, but they weren't seeing it. Her mind was filling in the blanks of what had happened. Doranbolt wouldn't have to use his magic to show them, even if he had offered. Her forearms began to itch, her memory recalling the tingling sensation that would run through her limbs before Jackal's curse would detonate. She clenched her jaw as she released a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding.
"We need to figure out what they're after." Kia blinked a few times as she spoke, finally turning to face the others. "I hope you two don't mind skipping the trip home."
Amber shook her head as Verani shrugged, "I was expecting as much. Grandpa will understand."
"It can't be avoided," the Blood mage added, "Tartaros can't be allowed to run around unchecked."
"Wait a minute," Doranbolt pushed himself to his feet a little shakily. "You can't seriously be planning to go after them with just the three of you."
His turquoise iris landed on onyx ones. Kia's expression said enough.
"That's insane! You saw what one of them did to the entire Magic Council in a matter of seconds! This whole building was obliterated in the blink of an eye! It would be suicide!"
Amber sighed, "You're yelling at the wrong person." He turned his gaze toward her in confusion as she elaborated, "You're yelling at the person who shoulder-checked Acnologia on Tenrou."
Doranbolt's eyes widened, not fully comprehending what he was hearing. "You did what?!"
"He shouldn't have tried to attack my family," Kia shrugged as if sideswiping the Black Dragon of the Apocalypse was something she did everyday right after brushing her teeth in the morning. "Just because something is an overwhelming threat doesn't mean that I'll just run away. That just means there's even more reason to stand up and fight it. Tartaros is no different."
The Teleportation wizard remembered seeing the mysterious streaks of fire and lightning arriving on the island moments after he had first seen the legendary dragon. There had been speculation that it was the Mythics team arriving after they went missing with those that had been participating in the S-class trials, but he would have never imagined any of them going straight for the terrifying beast. Even seven years later, Doranbolt could see the devastating blast of its magic on the inside of his eyelids. His body remembered the feel of its shockwave as they followed Lahar's orders to retreat.
His eyes followed the pinkette as she looked out over the ruins one last time before turning back to her friends.
"Let's go."
||~x~||
It had been simple enough to find lodgings for the evening. Anyone not native to Era was trying to hurry through their business so they could leave the town. The fear was thick in the air, floating in a way that someone could almost try and bottle it.
"Hey guys!" Amber called from across the small pawn shop. "I found one!"
The other two stepped over, seeing the shopkeeper pull the melon-sized lacrima from the display case before gently placing it and its stand on the counter. To their surprise, it wasn't badly priced and was the perfect replacement for their last one that was lost when they took off to Tenrou Island after Acnologia.
"Have a good day!"
"You too." Amber smiled over her shoulder as the others waved, exiting the nice old man's shop.
"That took less time than I thought," Verani said, looking over at the satchel Kia had also purchased. "We might be able to call home before they hear what happened here."
Kia sighed, "I don't know if I'd go that far."
"Either way," The dark-haired mage said, "the news of what happened will be a surprise to everyone."
"Definitely," Kia nodded as they turned the last street corner, their hotel coming into view.
Verani stretched, before resting her hands behind her head as they walked, "I just hope Grandpa doesn't demand we come home right away. I'm beat."
Amber agreed, "We've been up since starting the stakeout yesterday. We all need the sleep."
The pinkette couldn't deny that she was feeling a wave of drowsiness herself, but she wouldn't voice it. She also knew that she wouldn't be finding sleep easily. There was just too much rolling around in her head that she couldn't pin down, too many unanswered questions that kept expanding and becoming more complex.
The woman at the desk greeted them with a smile as they passed, not giving them a second thought as they walked down the hall for the room they would be sharing.
"You guys go ahead and clean up and head to bed." Kia set her satchel in the armchair by the window, carefully removing the communication lacrima and its stand. She placed it on top of the nearby upright dresser. "I can make the call."
"You sure?" Amber asked.
She received a nod in response as Verani grinned. "You don't have to tell me twice." The blonde quickly grabbed her own bag, "I call shower first!"
The other two could only shake their heads as the third girl vanished behind the bathroom door. For being the one who suggested the call in the first place, V didn't seem eager to be a part of it, but they both understood. She didn't want to listen to Master worrying over her, even if it would make him feel better to see her face. She wasn't going to act any different than usual that way he could tell that nothing was wrong.
Kia turned back to the lacrima, placing a hand over it as she gently pulsed some of her magic into it. Closing her eyes, she pictured the guild hall and the similar orb that was kept at the back of the bar. It pulsed a few times before she felt a connection. Removing her hand, there was only a few moments before she was greeted with a pair of familiar blue eyes.
"Kia!" Mirajane smiled. "Thank goodness you three are alright."
The Phoenix Slayer nodded, "From that reaction, I'm assuming you all heard about what happened in Era then?"
Mira nodded this time, "It's awful."
"Awful doesn't begin to cover it." A sigh escaped Kia, "But we wanted to check in and let you all know that we had still been in transit when the attack happened, so we're fine."
There was a moment where the only movement was the white-haired mage nodded her head in understanding. But she didn't waste much time to ask the question on her mind, "It really was Tartaros, wasn't it?"
Her onyx eyes slipped closed, "Yeah. Doranbolt was able to tell us some of what happened."
"Why do you think they're going after current and former council members?"
"We aren't sure, but we plan on trying to follow their trail after getting some rest."
"Wait, Mira," Amber walked over from where she had been pulling out a change of clothes for when Verani was done. "You said and former council members. What do you mean?"
Realizing her slip up, her blue eyes glanced away for a moment, before deciding it wouldn't help anymore if she kept the information from the trio. "Mr. Yajima was attacked."
"What?" Kia's eyes widened the same time Amber chimed in, "How is he?"
"It's not good." Mira paused and the two Mythics could tell that she was trying to find the right words. "Is Verani there?"
"She's in the shower." The pinkette's heart was starting to race, not at all happy with how the She-Devil was treading delicately with the situation. Something was wrong. "Mira, what's going on?"
Mira hadn't wanted to have them find out this way, but she knew it was better than them finding out when they came home. Or if things got worse. "The attacker used Bane Particles when he attacked. Porlyusica is here, but she said that he isn't out of the woods." She took in a breath, "But he wasn't alone when the attack happened. Laxus and the Thunder Legion were there too." Mira paused as she locked eyes with Kia. The Phoenix Slayer watched the complicated pools of emotion, feeling as though their owner was trying to pull her through the lacrima.
"I think it might be best if you three came home first."
||~x~||
Verani just wanted to fry something and sitting on this train wasn't helping her mind any. Her left leg was bouncing up and down as she chewed on the inside of her cheek. Luckily they hadn't had to wait more than twenty minute for the next train headed east, but she knew that they could travel much faster than this train ever could. Even knowing that, Verani hadn't argued with Kia. The Phoenix Slayer promised that they would ditch the train and head to the guild once the tracks turned for Hargeon because it would be too reckless to travel all the way to Magnolia from Era with no rest. Her friend's onyx eyes had locked with her hazel ones when she said, "We won't be any good to anyone exhausted. Laxus and the Thunder Legion are strong, but they need to focus on themselves, not worry about how shitty we look when we get there."
"Are you going to do that the whole way there?"
The blonde peered at the dark-haired girl who was sitting across from her. Amber was leaning against the window, her legs tucked up beside her. Though she had spoken to her friend, her chocolate brown irises were still watching the scenery flying by the window.
Verani growled, sitting up straighter, "I can't help it."
"I know," Amber sighed. "It's okay to worry, but you're either going to rub a hole in the floor or bite one into your cheek."
V ran a hand through her wild hair, "I feel like it's always Fairy Tail getting caught up in everything."
"Well you know why some of that is."
"I wasn't talking about us. I was talking about the guild." Verani leaned her head back against the top of her seat. "I understood what I was getting into when Kia explained everything before; I don't have a problem with that. But the others could be left alone."
Amber closed her eyes, "We all wish things were that simple."
"Speaking of Kia," the blonde stretched, looking around, "Where did she run off to?"
"Probably getting some air to help clear her head." Her eyes slowly opened, seeing her reflection in the glass more than the world outside. "I can only imagine what is running through her head knowing that they're on the move."
A silence fell over the two. Neither needed to elaborate on those words. They both were painfully aware of the past between Tartaros and their best friend. If they were honest, they both wanted to hide her away somewhere until this whole thing was over, but knew there was no way that the Phoenix Slayer would agree to that. Kia would step right up to the frontlines with her hard-headed brother and deal with the consequences later.
"She's going to do something stupid, isn't she?"
Amber sighed, "Knowing her, most likely." She shifted in her seat so that her back was resting on the wall more than her shoulder, "But I'll worry about keeping an eye on her. You need to be with your brother and Gramps right now."
Verani pulled one of her legs up, settling her arm over her knee, "You don't have to do that, Amber. I'm not just going to bail on the two of you."
"I know you won't and so does Kia, but I also know that you're just trying to use that as an excuse to not have to see Laxus like that."
The blonde closed her eyes as she swallowed the lump in her throat. She and Amber had known each other since the dark-haired girl joined the guild once her family moved to Magnolia when she was only six. At that point, the only other kid in the guild besides her and her brother was Cana. V knew there was no point in trying to argue, the Blood mage could see right through her.
"Your brother's strong. And he's a Dreyar."
Verani opened her eyes, raising a brow at her friend, "What's that supposed to mean?"
Amber couldn't help the smirk that crossed her lips, "He's stubborn as hell like you."
||~x~||
By some stroke of luck, none of the conductors had spotted her or her legs dangling over the back end of the traincar. Kia could faintly hear her friends' muffled voices below her, but she wasn't able to make out anything they were saying. Verani was probably going stir crazy, waiting for her to give them the okay to ditch the public transportation.
A sigh left her lips. Even though the weather was turning in favor of autumn, the metal against her back and head was warm. A comfortable sensation that she had been looking for right now. Kia closed her eyes, letting her mind pull her back into her memories. The warmth became familiar red scales, the wind whipping by was just the normal currents that would wrap around the mountaintops as they all napped together. She could almost hear the low rumble that came from the base of Igneel's throat and Natsu's baby snores.
The horn of the train cut through the air. Against her will, Kia slowly blinked.
"You are stronger than anything that has ever happened to you, because you're still here." That soothing deep voice echoed through her mind. "Now stand up and keep going. Moping won't get you anywhere."
Kia nodded as she pushed herself into a sitting position. The sun was just beginning its descent toward the horizon. The faintest silhouette of a town was beginning to appear in the distance.
"That's enough sitting around." The Phoenix Slayer rolled her shoulders before slipping down to the platform on the back of the traincar. She didn't even pause, walking straight to the others. Throwing her bag over her shoulder, she locked eyes with her friends, "Let's move."