{No Key this chapter}

"Rise and shine!" Erza announced loudly, immediately waking everyone up.

Juvia heard Cana grumble from beside her, causing her to giggle. She had fallen asleep next to the woman almost instantly, and Juvia hadn't made any protest to move out of her tight hug in the night. After everything that had happened the day before, the comforting touch was welcomed.

"Erza," Natsu complained, "it isn't even daylight yet!"

"We need to get moving," Jellal told him. "I'm sure more of Etherios's men are already on their way, and I for one don't want to be here when they arrive."

"Me either," Michelle immediately said, standing up.

After everyone was up, Jellal and Erza led them to the SUV. Jellal barely gave them all time to pack into the car before he was speeding back towards the main roads. "As soon as we reach the jet, we'll go in the usual order to get to it, putting Michelle in the middle with Lucy. Levy, if you could get Baghira to circle the perimeter once we get closer, that will help as well. It's too quiet this morning, and I don't like it," Jellal instructed, frowning.

Erza placed a gentle arm on his shoulder. "You do'na need ta frighten them, love," she murmured.

"Etherios's men will do more than frighten them if they get the chance," he said, solemnly, making Juvia think there was a little more to his connection with Etherios than just working with Lily.

"You doing alright this morning?" Cana asked Juvia, quietly so only she could hear.

She nodded, smiling. "Juvia is much better now that everyone's families are safe."

"No need to worry about them if they're with the Alberona-Clives!" Cana grinned.

"Alright," Jellal said, parking the SUV, "everyone remember their order?" Without waiting for answers, he got out and made his way towards the jet. Like before, Juvia could see the glimmer of Baghira as he circled the area, being their extra set of eyes. Cana grabbed her hand when it was their turn to go, holding onto it until they were inside the jet and waiting for Gajeel and Erza.

"Once those two are inside, buckle up and get ready to fly," Jellal said, heading towards the flight cabin. No sooner than the words were out of his mouth, Gajeel let out a loud curse, one which Erza also snapped.

Juvia looked out the doors just in time to see something black and gooey wrap around Gajeel, pulling him into what looked like a puddle on the ground.

"GAJEEL!!" Wendy screamed, trying to run to him, but Lucy caught her arm and held her back.

"Damn it!" Jellal ran out of the jet, joining Erza beside the puddle.

Juvia watched in shock as he threw what looked like a small metal ball into the pool. It disappeared immediately, sinking down to wherever the goo had taken Gajeel as well.

"What are you doing?!" Natsu shouted, running out to them. "We have to get Gajeel out of there! He'll suffocate in that stuff he stays in there any longer!" He made a move as if to dive in it after his cousin, but Erza planted a firm hand down on his shoulder and shook her head.

"Calm down. Jellal is workin' on freein' him," she said. "Just watch."

As she spoke, Jellal raised his hands towards the goo, a frown of concentration on his face. Suddenly, a loud buzzing sound erupted from the goo, followed by what looked like electricity. At the touch of the electric currents, the goo began to lose its elasticity, turning into more of a black liquid. Up from the ground, it seemed, the puddle spit Gajeel out and dispersed entirely. Jellal and Natsu grabbed him, taking him to the jet while Erza followed behind, her gun raised and her eyes sharp. Once inside the jet, Jellal went to the flight cabin and Erza closed the cabin doors, focusing next on Gajeel.

"Is he alright?" Levy asked, kneeling down beside Gajeel, who was laying very still on the cabin floor.

Erza balled her hand into a fist and slammed it down onto Gajeel's chest, swift and hard, and he jolted up, coughing up the black goo and gasping for air. Juvia watched in shock, still not sure entirely what had just happened. That goo had moved on its own, and had swallowed Gajeel into the ground. Are there people who can control things like that? She guessed it shouldn't have surprised her. She had just watched Jellal control some sort of electricity ball to defeat that strange goo, and Erza had told her she was an actual real-life dragon, so anything was possible in the world she had now found herself in.

"What the hell was that?" Gajeel growled once his breathing was semi-normal again.

"I'm so glad you're ok!" Wendy cried, wrapping her arms around him. "You weren't breathing, and I got so scared!"

"Sorry," he told her, giving her a tight squeeze before turning to Erza for an answer.

"Like we explained before, Etherios has recruited people with an array of abilities. That was just one of them. I assume the controller of the goo was'na far off, so that's why we had ta rush you back onto the jet before making sure you were breathing," Erza explained.

"What about the goo on the plane?" Levy asked, looking at the black goo Gajeel had coughed out.

"Gifts like that have a distance limit," Jellal said, reentering the cabin. "We're far enough away that it isn't a threat to us now." To Gajeel, he asked, "how are you feeling?"

"Like I'm breathing," he retorted.

Jellal smirked, "that's good enough."

"What was the device you threw into the puddle of goo?" Juvia asked, curious.

"An electromagnetic wave generator," Jellal answered. "That goo is made up of a lot of different substances, some of which are metals, making it susceptible to both magnetic charges and electricity. That ball acts like a sort of silent grenade, sending out waves of magnetic electricity once I detonate it."

"You can do that?" Natsu asked, incredulous.

He nodded. "Lily helped me develop them after I began working with him."

"Oh yeah," Cana said, "I've been meaning to ask you guys about that. You two don't seem much older than us—well, Jellal doesn't, but Erza's a dragon so what the hell do I know about their ages." She chuckled. "But I wanted to ask how you two got involved with Lily and his organization. It seems like you've been with him for a long time, and you know quite a lot about Etherios and his plans."

Erza and Jellal exchanged a brief glance that didn't go unnoticed by Juvia, and Jellal gave Erza a slight nod as if giving her the go-ahead to tell them whatever it was they seemed hesitant to share.

"Living as long as I have," Erza said, "one catches on ta things happening around them. Lily began bringing people like us together years before Etherios lost his grip on reality and started an uprising against those without gifts. I joined him as soon as he asked, glad ta have others ta talk to about things. There were even some other immortals, so that practically sealed the deal for me joining him. An' then once Etherios began recruiting others, I joined Lily's cause to help gather those with gifts Etherios deemed "unworthy" an' protectin' them. We also worked on gatherin' together those like you that Etherioswants on his side, and gettin' ya ta join ours. The second one I'm particularly good at," she smirked, looking at Jellal.

He chuckled, shaking his head at her.

"And what about you?" Lucy asked him.

He let out a slow sigh. "There's also a third route Lily and his followers take against Etherios," he began, "and that's taking those whom have already pledged their loyalty to Etherios, and turning them to Lily's side. I was one of those."

"What?" Juvia gasped before she could stop herself. Out of everything they had been told within the last few days, that was probably the most shocking. "You used to be loyal to Etherios?"

He nodded. "I was his second-in-command, actually. He recruited me when I was a young teenager, no older than Wendy; he found me when I hacked into a university's systems to enroll myself in classes. My abilities with technology were quite useful, giving him access to pretty much anything in the world he wanted: money, security footage, hacking into people's personal cameras to observe them and their powers...and countless other things he wanted done in order to forward his cause."

"How did you end up working with Lily, then?" Gajeel asked.

"Erza," he smiled. "A group of Lily's men attacked our safehouse one night, sending Etherios into hiding once more, abandoning those whom he said were "too weak" to escape the onslaught. I was one of the unlucky ones, getting taken in and held for interrogation. Since Etherios escaped, and I was his second-in-command, they thought I would know where he would go next, or what his next plans were.

"Unfortunately for me, or rather fortunately for me, Erza was my interrogator. She beat the living hell out of me before finally managing to knock some sense back into me. I had worked with Etherios for nearly ten years at that point, so you can imagine how far into his crazy schemes I had fallen. After I was brought back to my senses, I was slowly accepted into Lily's group, with Erza as my guard of course for nearly a year, until I could be fully trusted. Things just fell into place from there."

"That's kind of ridiculously romantic in a weird way," Cana snorted, causing everyone to laugh.

"Alright," Erza said when Wendy yawned. "Enough o' that. Everyone needs ta get some rest. It's still a long flight, and we'll have a lot ta do once we return ta Italy. I'm sure everyone's families are eagerly awaiting our return."

"I second that notion," Natsu nodded, rubbing at his bloodshot eyes. There were dark circles under them, a common appearance among the entire group that morning. Juvia gladly reclined her chair to try to get a little more sleep. She was eager to get back to Italy and see her parents. She was also excited and a bit anxious to meet everyone else's as well. She could only imagine what their parents were like, and was interested to see how they all reacted to the news that their children had joined an organization for people with special abilities.

And that they were fighting against a madman who wanted to take over the world and eliminate anyone without powers.

It's just like an X-Men movie, she chuckled to herself, having loved the American film since she was younger. In real life, though, things were a bit more scary than she would have liked. And the lives of everyone she loved were on the line. She knew that no matter what, even though she was terrified to fight someone like Etherios, she would do whatever it took to protect her family and new friends.

{WIFEY FINALLY UPDATED!! We all still love her though, you know how busy school can get. I will try to get my chapter up soon, it wont be as fast as my others. Working on a lot of different things at one. Working overnight doesnt really leave a lot of time for anything. But I'll get it soon hatchlings!}