Dealana knew Natsu was stupid sometimes. Dealana knew that she was stupid sometimes, but she never thought Natsu and Happy would actually do something this stupid. The sky-bluenette had been having a drink of water at the guild, sitting next to Gray. She had just taken a sip when Mira descended the stairs that lead up to the second floor.

"Master! I don't know how it happened, but one of the S-Class quests is missing!"

That was all it took for Dealana to choke and spit out the water. Thankfully, it missed Gray, and Dealana wasn't the only one to have this reaction as Master Makarov did the same thing with his tea.

"Say what? One of the jobs from the second floor is missing?" Wakaba asked.

"But the jobs up there are S-Class Quests. Anyone know who took off with it?" Macao questioned.

"Well, it's either someone really strong or really stupid." Laki supposed.

"I know." Laxus smirked, "A little blue cat flew up here and ripped it off the board." He recalled smugly. Dealana's eyes widened, there was no way Happy would really do that, right?

"It was Happy?" Mira asked. Silent chaos and muttering to one another began to fill the guild hall.

"He must have stolen it for Natsu and Lucy." Wakaba realized as neither one of them had come into the guild yet this morning.

"That's crazy. What are they thinking?" Macao wondered.

"They've got some nerve taking on an S-Class Quest." Alzack commented.

"I don't know if I'd call it nerve, but it's definitely dumb." Bisca replied.

"That's a serious breach of the rules." Laxus stated opening his eyes, "Hey, gramps, a stunt like that'll get you kicked outta the guild, am I right? Not that it matters. It's not like those three losers are gonna make it back alive from an S-Class Quest."

"Laxus, if you knew, why didn't you stop 'em?" Mira demanded coming up the stairs and towards the lightning mage with an angry expression.

"Oh, lighten up. All I saw was a blue cat flying off with a piece of paper in its mouth, trying to act all sneaky. I had no idea it was Happy. Besides, Natsu's not cleared for S-Class. I never dreamed he'd break the rules." Laxus opened his eyes an took in Mira's dark look. "Ha. You haven't given me that look in a while." He remarked.

"You know damn well that a flying blue cat in this guild means Happy!" Dealana snapped. For a moment, it looked as though Laxus was going to reply, but the lightning mage knew Dealana better than most. He knew that ignoring her, would cause her to grow even more angry, so that's what he did. The others watched as Dealana bristled in a silent rage. After a few moments, they thought she would snap, however she stood from her seat and stormed out before she did something she would regret. "One day, Laxus...one day you're going to be knocked off that little high horse and I'm just going to watch you fall." She muttered as she walked along the streets.

➵

Dealana's wanderings lead her to the East Forest. It was a place she could always come to in times like these, where she could no longer stay at the guild hall. Contrary to popular belief, Dealana didn't live at Fairy Hills. Most of the other guild members assumed she had an apartment or something in town, but she didn't. At first, she stayed with Erza and sometimes Laxus, but now, Dealana had since renovated the cave she temporarily stayed in while looking for Arashi.

What had once been a damp, dark interior with iridescent crystals was now cleaned up and homey. Dealana had set up her bed, made up of purely blankets and pillows, on a rocky overhang that served as a sort of shelf in the far corner. More shelves were carved into the walls and they were filled with books, trinkets, or supplies that she might need. A kitchen set up was near the entrance to the cave. Across from the kitchen sat a collection of refurbished furniture to make a living room. The crystals that protruded from the ground and ceiling gave off light so, Dealana didn't waste any time or money on lacrima lighting. No one really knew where she lived, except for Makarov, and Dealana liked it that way.

Dealana walked passed all of it and made her way to where a banner was hung on the wall. It was red with yellow-gold accents, in the center was a black Fairy Tail emblem. Smiling softly at the sight, Dealana pulled back the banner, revealing a cave tunnel leading downward. Upon reaching the bottom, The scar-nosed girl found herself in a large cavernous expanse that served as a training ground.

Dealana learned from Arashi that she could manipulate the weather with her magic, but she couldn't create a storm indoors or without the sky. At least, not yet. She still couldn't do it, but Dealana still practiced and practiced, switching to different training methods as she slowly released the stormy anger that had built up after the whole thing with Natsu, Lucy, Happy, and Laxus' refusal to help.

"Is that kind of thing going to happen every time Laxus is at the guild hall now?" Dealana questioned, "If that's the case, I'm not sure I even want to go back unless I'm taking a job." The sky-blunette laid on the ground breathing heavily, exhausted from training for who knows how long, "Maybe I could be like Mystogan and only come by when I'm on a job, of course, I won't put people to sleep every time." Dealana fell silent and looked up at the glittering crystals above her before she fell asleep and took a nap.

➵

Over the next three days, Dealana strayed from the guild hall as much as possible. Despite Laxus not being there anymore, Dealana continued in a slight downward spiral, unable to get a grip on all her worries. In that time, Erza and Gray had returned with Lucy, Natsu, and Happy from Galuna Island. It had been quite a shock for Dealana to enter the guild hall, only to find everyone running around like headless chickens.

They had all switched bodies.

Dealana at the time, merely laughed and sauntered behind the bar to the kitchens and made a sandwich for herself. Leaving jewel to cover it on the counter, she headed back to her cave, leaving poor Levy to deal with the craziness of returning everyone to normal.

"So this is where you live," at that statement, Dealana was so startled that she let out an involuntary shriek and nearly dropped her half-eaten sandwich. The eleven year-old whirled around and finally noticed Gray standing behind her, leaning casually agains the cave walls.

Dealana bristled in rage, noticing the ever present smirk the ice-mage wore on his face. No doubt from her cry of surprise. "What the heck are you doing here!?" she yelled.

"You just came and went from the guildhall. I heard from Master...er, Mira that you've been avoiding it unless you're hungry," Gray explained as if it was obvious, "I wanted to make sure you were alright,"

"I should be saying that to you," Dealana retorted taking a bite of her sandwich.

"I'm fine, Dealana,"

"You tried to use a spell that would've turned you into a giant thing of ice," Dealana countered with what she'd heard from Mira before she switched bodies, "Twice."

"Dealana..."

The heterochromiac girl set her sandwich on the counter and moved to the banner in the back of the cave. The many wisps of hair that escaped her ill-managed braids hid her eyes and Gray couldn't tell what she was thinking until her saw tears pouring silently down her face.

"Dealana?" Gray asked pushing off the wall and moving a step closer. Dealana hurled herself at Gray breaking down as the many emotions and worries that she'd bottled up finally came to the surface, "Dealana!" he exclaimed in alarm.

"I–I can't..." Dealana sobbed, "I can't lose you too! I–I feel like I'm on the verge of losing...of losing everything!" Gray slowly knelt down and cradled the young girl in his arms, comforting her the best he could. It was a known fact that the ice mage didn't do well with crying girls, but in that moment, he somehow managed to console the girl he viewed as a little sister.

Her small body shook as she let everything out before she passed out, falling asleep with a tear stained face. Gray looked at her with numerous emotions swimming in his eyes before he scooped her up and moved her to the blanket nest. He laughed softly at the familiar sight of her blanket nest. It was a habit she couldn't break, wanting to be wrapped in a cocoon of blankets, something about it comforted her.

Gray stayed with Dealana in her cave for the rest of the day, wanting to be there for her again, when she woke up.

➵

I'm conflicted about how this chapter turned out. Since, I'm in no mood to celebrate Christmas this year, I've been given the wonderful opportunity to write instead of being with my step-family. Dealana is eleven nearing twelve in this part of the story and I didn't want to just skip straight to the next arc without some sort of in between.

Also, in preparation for the next arc, Dealana's feelings and emotions needed to be addressed. I have a hard time writing Dealana, seeing as she tends to be a bit bolder and more stubborn than I'm used to, but like me, she bottles things up. With Phantom Lord coming to Magnolia soon, I figured now would be a good time for Dealana's magic to once again come to light and actually used. To do so, she needs to be emotionally unstable.

I hope I did okay in exposing all the feels this little gal had bottled up. From the whole Laxus ordeal to spending days in solitude with some pretty bad thoughts swirling around and then hearing that someone you care for almost didn't come back paired with the Lisanna flashbacks, I figured that was enough for an eleven year old t breakdown over.

Alright, enough rambling! Sorry for such a long wait in between updates. I estimate more slow updates to come, but I'm not going to abandon this story.

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