➵

In Earthland, it was still raining. The dark clouds reached even all the way to the outskirts of Magnolia, where the Reverse Anima decided was the best place to dump the mages returning from Edolas. In a less than graceful landing, everyone wound up in a dog pile. Poor Wendy was stuck, squished in the middle with Dealana.

"Whoever landed on top better get off before I electrocute everyone here!" Dealana threatened. Erza and Gajeel were quick to hop to their feet with Wendy and Dealana following while Natsu, who had been the unfortunate soul at the bottom, threw his arms in the air cheering victoriously.

"We're back, everybody!" He shouted happily. Dealana smiled and took a deep breath, enjoying the feeling of ethernano in the air. She was quick to make sure Mystogan's staff was still secured to her back and didn't break when Erza or Gajeel fell on top of them while also adding the triple bracelet from Lorna and the others next to the one for Mystogan and the Thunder Legion.

"Did you really take Mystogan's staff?" Erza asked the sky-blunette, a glimmer of amusement evident in her eyes.

"He's not going to use it anytime soon, right?" Dealana shrugged. "Plus, he has more of them. It's something to remember him by and it makes a great souvenir."

"I suppose that's one way of looking at it," Erza nodded. The smile she wore quickly vanished when they realized that if they were back in their world, Earthland, that Magnolia should be back too if what Mystogan said was true about the lacrima from the floating island disappearing.

The mages were quick to scramble further towards where the town of Magnolia should be. Sure enough, the town was back to normal and they could even hear the distant sound of the bell tolling.

"Ha ha! Everything's back to normal!" Natsu exclaimed with an excited grin on his face.

"There's Magnolia!" Lucy added. Dealana sighed in relief, stealing the cloak Gajeel had worn when they were acting as villains and offered it to Erza, who seemed to have lost a lot of her armor when battling her counterpart.

"We did it!" Happy cheered.

"Wait," Erza cut them off while pulling on the cloak, "let's not get ahead of ourselves. We shouldn't celebrate until we know everyone is okay." She reasoned.

A new voice spoke up saying, "They're just fine." Turning to meet the unfamiliar face, the mages of Fairy Tail were met with the sight of countless Exceeds flying in the sky. "We got here a while ago so we went and checked on them for ya."

"We decided to fly through town real quick," Another Exceed said. Dealana tilted her head when she noticed the second Exceed happened to be flying upside down. There were a lot of Exceeds flying in the sky.

"Your friends and everyone in town are doing great!" A third Exceed explained with a bright smile.

"When we talked to them, they didn't even know they'd been turned into a lacrima," A pink Exceed revealed.

"Earthland is totally awesome, you guys!" The Exceed next to the pink one said, completely missing the slack jaws and gaping expressions of the Earthland mages as they looked at all the Exceeds. "It's got tons of magic power!"

"What are they doing here?" Carla demanded to know. The white cat's fur would've appeared more bristled had it not been for the rain, but Dealana easily noted Carla's defensive posture. "It's not right! The Exceeds don't belong in Earthland."

Dealana grew confused by this statement. She wasn't sure of what went down with Happy and Carla when they'd been taken to Extalia and Wendy didn't get the chance to tell her what happened after she and Carla had gone to warn the Exceeds of the Dragon Chain Cannon. Something must've happened for Carla to want to protect her homeland but not want her own kind to dwell in Earthland.

"We cannot allow them to stay here!" Carla insisted, pointing what Dealana was going to consider a finger at the Exceeds. "They're far too dangerous. They should return to Edolas."

Wendy crouched beside her Exceed companion while Happy held his paws out, trying to calm her down saying, "Be nice." He tried to reason.

"Their homeland's gone, so they have no where to go," Wendy continued. "I think that we should forgive them."

"Never," Carla immediately denied. Dealana played with the tattered ends of her cloak while listening to the apologies coming from a few of the younger Exceeds. "This has nothing to do with you kits! It's her! I'm angry because Extalia's queen and her lackeys sent me to Earthland on a mission to kill the dragon slayers!"

This revelation got Dealana's attention. Her eyes widened in shock. She hadn't heard of this development, however, her thoughts were drawn away by an older male Exceed.

"I know!" He shouted. "The queen ordered us to give up all our eggs! How could she be so heartless? Gah!"

"Calm down, dear," A blue Exceed told him gently.

"Hey there, mister!" Happy waved, clearly familiar with the Exceed couple. Dealana quirked an eyebrow when she noticed how similar Happy was to them. No, that couldn't be right, could it? The sky-blunette scoffed quietly to herself, shaking her head in denial.

"Yeah, no joke!" Another Exceed, who wore a musketeer-like hat agreed, "She never even told us why, did she?"

Dealana glanced at Extalia's queen. The white Exceed was standing in the middle of her four advisors looking at the ground, unable to bring herself to meet Carla's fierce gaze. The first of the four elder Exceeds spoke up saying, "I can assure you, she had a most honorable reason to do so."

"I remember the moment vividly, it was six years ago," A second elder Exceed continued.

And so, Dealana listened to the explanation of how Queen Shagotte had the ability to see the future and caught a glimpse of the Reverse Anima. The Exceeds didn't realize at first that Extalia would fall through natural means due to the loss of magic in Edolas, but rather assumed that the humans were going to be responsible. It led Queen Shagotte to make the decision to save the children.

What the-? Wait a minute," Happy realized. "That's a way different story than the one we were told. You aren't lying to us, are ya?"

"No, young man," one of the Exceed elders replied. "To prevent panic among the Extalians, we carried out our plan without their knowledge."

"The queen then issued a false proclamation," Another elder explained. "It was merely a cover-up for our plan. We felt horrible about making the queen lie to you like that."

"Yes, but we had no choice. We simply could not go public with the knowledge that our beloved Extalia might come crashing to the ground."

"Despite what you've heard, I can assure you that we have no ill-will towards the dragon slayers whatsoever."

"Don't worry, we know," Wendy told them kindly. "You just needed something to go along with the story you told."

"You knew everyone would panic if the truth got out, so you had to make up something else to tell them," Lucy, who had somehow acquired Natsu's cloak to drape over her shoulders, realized.

"We get it," Gray added in understanding. Dealana noticed that Carla seemed to be in a state of processing all the information. It made the storm dragon slayer wonder how the white exceed would finally choose to react.

"We made use of the humans' Anima to successfully carry out our operation." Queen Shagotte then began to explain. "However, something completely unexpected happened with one of the eggs. We had no idea that you, Carla, possessed an incredible power."

"Me?" Carla asked, confusion evident in her voice.

"Yes," Queen Shagotte confirmed, lifting her head to meet Carla's gaze. "as it turns out, you possess the same prophetic power that I do. Unfortunately, you didn't have conscious control over it. As a result, it clouded and confused your memory. Of the one-hundred Exceeds that we sent away, only you had this gift."

Carla was in a state of shock and Dealana couldn't help but feel sad for the white Exceed. She'd been so focused and serious about her supposed mission, and now, now she was being told it was all a lie. From the moment she came into the world, the so called "mission" ingrained in her mind was nothing more the lack of control over her abilities.

"I suspect that you began to see scattered fragments of Edolas' future," Queen Shagotte continued, "Your gift caused you to mistake that information as your personal mission."

"I was wrong," Carla said softly, finally finding her voice.

"Wait! Does that mean...?" Happy started to ask.

"The two of you were never given a mission," Queen Shagotte answered, having correctly assumed what Happy was planning to ask. She turned once again to Carla, who had fallen silent out of shock yet again. "It was just your way of trying to make sense of all the strange thoughts and images in your head. You were sent here because we wanted to protect the next generation. Nothing more."

"So those were all... prophecies?" Carla asked, her mind still processing everything.

"For whatever reason, we thought you'd be better off if we hid your prophetic powers from you," Nadi admitted, his strange habit of incessantly waving his paw was still going strong. "Therefore, we had no choice but to make it seem as though we were controlling you. We beg your forgiveness." He pleaded with Carla.

Dealana stiffened, wondering how Carla would react, but also because she noticed the Exceed standing next to Nadi. It was an Exceed version of Ichiya. 'If Erza had it bad before, this Ichiya can fly.' Subconsciously, Dealana shuffled closer to the group of mages, her body now freshly alert in case the Exceed Ichiya tried anything.

The dread inside her only grew when the Ichiya Exceed spoke and sounded exactly like the other one. "At the time, we honestly thought that was the only we could embellish the Queen's illustriousness. However, now, we deeply regret it."

Queen Shagotte continued her explanation and admitted to being the cause of grief and anguish to Carla and all the families she took eggs from six years ago. Carla had yet to say a word, her eyes locked on the ground as the Exceed queen took full responsibility for everything that happened.

Dealana jumped in surprise when the Ichiya Exceed burst into tears as he and Nadi tried to amend the Queen's words, saying that the queen shouldn't be held responsible for everything. Some of the other Exceeds joined in, assuring the Queen that they were also to be held accountable and that they were going to make things right in their new home in Earthland.

The mages of Fairy Tail watched in awe as the Exceeds sprouted their wings and took to the skies, excited about their new purpose. They were going to search and find all the Exceed children sent to Earthland six years prior.

Natsu laughed at all the cheerful flying cats saying, "They're optimistic, aren't they?"

Soon enough, it was only Queen Shagotte, her advisors, and few choice Exceeds left, the white queen of the Exceeds had tears in her eyes. She sniffled and said, "Thank you, everyone."

"Well, okay," Carla finally spoke again, her arms crossed in front of her. "In that case, I forgive you." She stated simply. The Queen seemed so happy by this, before Carla decided to speak up again, "But tell me, how did I end up possessing the same prophetic power that you do?"

Dealana watched as almost immediately, Queen Shagotte and her advisors looked everywhere but at Carla. "Well, I don't really know what to say..." Shagotte trailed off, leaving Dealana to quirk an eyebrow at their blatant lying.

"Why are you avoiding my question?" Carla sweatdropped.

Meanwhile, Happy and the older white, grumpy Exceed from before began talking. "Can I ask you something?" Happy questioned.

"Yeah?" The Exceed replied. Happy brought one arm to his side while holding the other in the air as if to explain something.

"Is it just me, or do Queen Shagotte and Carla look a lot alike?" Happy voiced his curiosity.

"You think so?" The Exceed replied, matching Happy's pose.

"Aye, sir!" Happy answered, switching poses yet again. "Also, they act the same."

The Exceed once again, subconsciously matched Happy's pose while saying, "They do?"

Dealana felt herself smile as she watched the interaction while Natsu was crouched next to Nadi, where he somehow picked up the Exceed's habit of waving his arm constantly.

"It all worked out, huh? I'm glad everything ended up okay." The fire dragon slayer said with a smile.

"Yes," Nadi agreed as Gray, who as next to them also picked up on the arm thing. The ice mage was unaware of what happened and said, "That's funny, you totally caught his weird arm waving"

"So have you, Gray," Lucy pointed out, sweatdropping at the two wizards. Moments later, Erza had the expected horrific encounter with the Exceed version of Ichiya. Dealana laughed when the redheaded mage punched Ichiya's apparent counterpart before she apologized from a distance, having realized that it wasn't the same Ichiya.

After Carla and Happy said their farewells to the Exceeds that they met in Edolas, the flock of flying cats were off to find a place to take up residence. Dealana mentioned to Nadi that the old village area where Cait Shelter used to be could serve as a base camp until they found something else.

The mages shouted their own goodbyes to all the Exceeds, Dealana opting to simply wave and watch their retreating forms.

"Alrighty! What do you say we head back to the guild?" Natsu asked everyone. He was still waving his arm incessantly, as was Gray, but now, Lucy and Erza had picked it up as well. Dealana groaned when she looked at her own hand to find that she had somehow managed to catch the contagious habit.

"Sounds good, but what are we gonna tell everyone?" Lucy wondered.

"Nothing," Gray answered, "Since they got no clue that anything happened, why bother telling 'em?"

"We're gonna have to tell them about Mystogan though, and I'm sure Gramps is gonna wanna know why we're dressed the way we are." Dealana pitched in her own two cents.

"I agree with Dealana. I think we should tell them about Mystogan." Erza said before Wendy looked over at them concerned.

"Hey, what's with... your arms?" The dark blunette questioned.

"We got a problem," Gajeel suddenly said, bringing Dealana's attention to the iron dragon slayer.

"It ain't a problem!" Natsu exclaimed, assuming Gajeel meant the arm habit thing. "It's actually a lot of fun, you should try it!"

"Yeah, come on!" Wendy encouraged, having picked it up as well. "Do it!" Dealana told him.

"I'm not talking about your fist-pumping, ya morons!" Gajeel snapped. "Where in the heck is my cat?" He demanded. "Don't tell me those flying felines took Lily with 'em." Realization dawned on Dealana and she glanced around not seeing any sign of the burly panther Exceed.

"Who's Lily?" Gray asked.

"Remember that big brawny Exceed, who helped us?" Lucy described before a new voice entered the fray.

"Are you blind? I'm right here." The fist pumping stopped and everyone's attention turned to the newcomer, who happened to be a tiny, more adorable version of Pantherlily.

"So tiny!" Everyone exclaimed in disbelief.

"You look really cute that size though," Happy was quick to say before they offended Pantherlily.

"Unfortunately, it appears that my previous physique wasn't well-suited for Earthland." He explained.

Carla was quick to remark saying, "Obviously. And that doesn't bother you?"

"Well, normally it would, yes. But right now, I want to join the guild that took care of my prince." He revealed, pointing at Gajeel. "You promised me. You said you'd get me in, Gajeel. Can you?"

Dealana smirked at Gajeel's questioning expression to Erza, who nodded with a smile. Gajeel smirked before engulfing Pantherlily in a hug. "Consider it done, buddy, welcome to Fairy Tail!"

Lucy had to do a double take, "Woah! He's crying?"

➵

"Now, on an unrelated note," Pantherlily began to say once he and Dealana managed to convince Gajeel to let the poor Exceed breath, "I happened to come across a suspicious person." He revealed, tugging on the rope Dealana only just noticed held.

"What an over achiever," Gajeel pointed out with a hint of pride in his voice. "You're definitely my cat all right."

Pantherlily tugged once more on the rope saying, "Come here."

"Hold on!" The suspicious character said. "It's not what you think. Please, let me explain."

Dealana's heart seemed to skip a beat at the exact moment that Lisanna landed on her knees in a rain puddle. "Ow! That hurt." She complained.

In a similar state as Natsu, Dealana's eyes were wide and her body frozen in shock. There was no way. There was no way that Lisanna was alive, right? Dealana vividly remembered Mira's completely defeated and grief-stricken expression when she and Elfman came back from that quest without Lisanna. There was just no way.

"I'm not suspicious, I'm a member of Fairy Tail too." Lisanna told Pantherlily.

"It's Lisanna," Natsu breathed, finally able to find his voice.

"Don't be so rough with me, cat!" Lisanna scolded the panther Exceed, having not seen the rest of them yet. "Wait! Are you an Exceed?"

"The name is Pantherlily." He introduced himself before Gajeel came up back with support as he said, "If you've got a problem with my cat, you'll have to take it up with me, lady. Well?"

"Woah!" Gray said, finally snapping out of his own shock, "She looks just like––"

"Lisanna!" Erza finished, glancing briefly to Dealana, who was still frozen, slightly tucked behind the redhead. The storm dragon slayer had tears in her eyes, her mind clearly unable to process any of what was happening.

"Woah, no way," Happy whispered in disbelief.

"It can't be," Carla uttered, staring at Lisanna. "Perhaps, she's the one from Edolas?"

Hearing Carla's words, Lucy was quick to wonder, "How in the world did she end up here?"

"What should we do?" Wendy asked the blonde with worry in her eyes. Lisanna looked up to see a shell-shocked Natsu and only a moment passed before she tackled him into a hug, dragging Pantherlily behind her.

"Natsu!" Lisanna exclaimed happily, much to the surprise and disbelief of everyone else. "Natsu, it's you. I thought I'd never see you again." Lisanna's focus quickly shifted to Happy, whom she brought into a bone-crushing hug. "Oh, Happy! You're here too! I missed you so much!"