Chaos ensued within the great hall of the guild. All of the non-Fairy Tail members stormed towards the exit as fast as they could. Once the final person had scurried their way outside, did they assessed the situation. One minute they were all watching Lucy's performance and then the next Evergreen comes out of nowhere and petrifies the blonde girl. If that didn't put them on the edge, Laxus' presence sure did.

Gray's heart fell when the Lightning Mage revealed all the girls backstage. Every one of them was turned into stone; just like Lucy. But that sorrow quickly turned to rage as his eyes locked onto Laxus.

The majority of the guild was cautious as Laxus was joined by the rest of his team. It was a rarity to have the Raijin Squad all together in the guild. The last time that had happened was years ago, during the last S-Class assessment test.

But this reunion wasn't a sweet one.

Laxus had gathered everyone's attention by shooting off a cloud of lighting over Lucy's statue. Once he proved that he meant business, he started to state his reason for his sudden appearance: hosting a battle royal.

The words battle royal got Natsu excited like a little kid on his birthday.

Gray and everyone else looked at him crazy. Only the fire idiot would agree wholeheartedly to a battle against Laxus. But this was no ordinary battle. This was more of a hostage situation. If they weren't careful the girls could die.

And that's something Gray wasn't going to let the fire idiot foolishly fuck up.

But of course, Natsu had no such sensitivity to the finer details. He automatically rushed forward and attacked Laxus with his fire fists. Laxus, on the other hand, was calm and easily struck lighting on the dragon slayer. It didn't take long before Natsu dropped to the ground, fried and out cold.

Gray felt no sympathy as Natsu was unconscious. It was the idiot's fault in the first place. Better he stayed out of the fight, as he knew any more of his 'bright ideas' could get Talise or any of the other girls killed.

After the rules were laid out by Evergreen, Master Makarov used his titan magic and gave the Raijin Squad one last chance at returning the girls to normal.

Laxus wasn't intimidated. He only scoffed at his grandfather's outburst and started generating lightning off of his body. There was so much light that he blinded everyone in the room.

When the light faded, Laxus and his group were gone.

Gray barred his teeth. The coward–he would like to see how Talise would defend the bastard's actions this time around. At the thought of Talise, his eyes went to her statue form. His chest tightened as he saw her in such a terrifying state. She was also the only one who had her body turned and not facing forward. It was apparent she was trying to escape before being petrified.

He quickly tore his gaze away.

There wasn't a bone in his body that didn't want to severely kill Laxus. The Ice Mage let out an icy cold mist from his mouth before opening his eyes and took another look back at the stone cook. He promised he would save her this time. There was no way in hell he was going to let what happened with Phantom Lord repeat.

Without another thought, Gray took off running after the large crowd of Fairy Tail members leaving the guild. But he was barely out of the threshold of the front entrance when he heard a loud GAAAH!

He doubled back and was left stunned. The master's wrinkled face was smushed as he was left in mid-air. It was like there was an invisible wall between him and the outside world.

Gray tried pulling the master multiple times from the invisible barrier. But each time he pulled a large amount of force kept pulling the Master back into the guild. When he let go, Gray noticed a bunch of purple glyphs moving above the entrance.

He bared his teeth once more and lowly growled, "Freed."

After the Master had assessed the writing of the ruins, Gray demanded the old man to break the Ruin Magic. But unfortunately, the master wasn't skilled in that area. He was bound to Freed's ruins.

Gray only grew frustrated. Not only was the master out of the battle, but he was also probably one of the few people that could knock some sense into his grandson. The other being Erza, but she was already a statue that couldn't move or leave the guild because of Freed's magic.

The Ice Mage grew colder as he tried to figure out what he could do now. After he had a plan, he turned his back to the Master and coldly stated. "I don't give a damn if he's your grandson. I'll kill the bastard if I need to."

The master was left with a shuttered as he felt anger and rage roll off the young mage.

Back in the guild, a large body was behind the bar; hunched over as their hands grabbed onto a metal tray and ripped it to shreds with his teeth. Gajeel wasn't happy with his decision, but it was an emergency and one he hoped Talise could forgive him for.

He wasn't sure what the drama was between the guild and the lighting bastard. Nor did he care. The only thing he was concerned with was saving Talise and Juvia. Seeing the two pose defenseless in stone got him pissed.

Gajeel didn't need any details with the so-called Guild Battle. All he needed to do was kick the lighting guy's ass and the girls would be saved––easy.

When the dumbass fire dragon slayer started attacking Laxus, Gajeel headed straight to the bar and started munching on anything and everything metal. To his dismay, it wasn't much. He had a faint idea it was the other waitress who decided to change all their metal dishware to wood and ceramic.

Talise wasn't as anal with him, like the other waitress, whenever he nibbled on the silverware absentmindedly.

But he had to get some credit; he was trying his best to stop the habit. He didn't want Talise to think he couldn't. A small part of him wanted her to be proud of him.

Gajeel stopped his chewing and blinked his red eyes rapidly. Where did that come from?

He looked down and stared at the balled-up forks in his hand. It must be the metal, he concluded. It did taste different and it wasn't Talise's metallic cooking. Gajeel chewed as he thought back to her cooking.

He sighed loudly.

That woman was ruining the taste of metal for him.

Talise felt cold and heavy. Her body was lifeless drifting in the dark. Time was a meaningless entity in the void. Talise was left drifting… until something surged life back into her.

The cook gasped as she woke up with a start. She was a mess. What happened? Where was she? Many questions had entered her mind but she had no answers to them. The more questions Talise had the more her body got warm. The temperature soon was soothing her to sleep.

'Don't fall asleep.'

The words kept her from closing her eyes. Why shouldn't she sleep? She was starting to get tried.

'Don't fall asleep!'

That jolted Talise awake. She didn't know what it was but she trusted the words ringing in her heart.

'Remember…'

Talise held her head. She couldn't for the life of her remember what happened. Was she with family? With friends? A loved one? Her whole body started to ache. Talise soon couldn't move her hands. She started to freak out when she could no longer move. It was as if she was…

'In stone.'

Talise gasped as she became restless. The numbness of her body was abnormal.

She then started to hyperventilate. This wasn't right. She needed to be free. What was happening to her!?

'Calm down.'

That was easier said than done. Tears spilled from her eyes. She didn't want to be frozen in the middle of nothing. Was she going to die like this?

'Calm down, girl.'

With those words, Talise was able to calm down. She didn't know why. Talise sniffed and her lips trembled but she calmed as she could be. She blinked the tears away and waited for directions on what to do next. For an unexplained reason, she felt the words needed to direct her actions. She couldn't do it by herself right now.

'Remember.'

Talise closed her eyes. Remember what?

Her mind was empty. There wasn't anything she could recall.

'Remember.'

Talise shut her eyes tighter and tried to remember the last place she was.

Her mind raced with an infinite amount of answers to her question but all of them seemed wrong. It took time but she then thought of a building. No her guild. Talise opened her eyes and was overjoyed when that felt like the right answer.

It then all came to her: making preparations for the festival, the contest, performing, and Evergreen petrifying her and the girls. Talise vibrated with color as she remembered everything.

She was happy that she remembered but she was still stuck.

Talise tsked. She didn't think Evergreen's magic was this powerful. She now needed to figure out how to escape.

She sighed.

Unless a miracle happened, there was no way she could do this on her own.

'Be careful, my girl.'

Before Talise could convey what was said to her, whispers fluttered into her ear. Talise winced when one of those whispers let out a sharp cry. The scream was then followed with a volley of different voices, all talking over each other. Talise grimaced. She couldn't tell who was talking. There were too many voices.

It was then silent.

And with a blink of an eye, Talise was blasted from the darkness back to the colorful guild.

Everything was still until Talise took a step and missed.

The cook heard her name being yelled as she rubbed her legs. She didn't like feeling pain again. Her chest then felt tight as soft blue fur replaced Talise's vision. Happy cried with happiness as he rubbed his head against her chest.

Talise smiled weakly. "Don't cry Happy," she said, trying to soothe the cat down.

Her eyes then were set on Natsu, Gajeel, the Master, and Erza. All of them looked beyond surprised. Talise didn't get it until she saw the statues of girls next to her. She too was then surprised. She didn't think she'd got out faster than them.

"H-How?" asked Master Makarov.

"I-I'm… not sure, Master." Talise said hesitantly.

Natsu then went up to cook real close, to the point at their noses were touching. "You're not hiding some super-secret magic from us, are ya Tali?"

She rolled her eyes at the accusation. "You know what magic I can do. I'm just as surprised as you are." She said as she got up and detached herself from his cat.

"Regardless of what magic made this possible, our body count is at five now," commented Erza. "And we have one less hostage."

Talise looked even more confused. She took a glance around and saw the guild was empty save for them. However, at the very front were a series of glyphs hovering in the air. Without thinking she stepped closer and saw what it was: Freed's Ruin Magic.

She ignored Erza's sudden leave and began reading what she was taught from the Ruin Mage. Her eyes went big as she got a summary of several fights, each one ending in an absolute winner by total knockout. She hated that Laxus and Freed had forced everyone to fight one another. The one fight that made her freeze was Gray vs. Bixlow.

Talise turned away not wanting to read anymore.

She then felt a small pat on her bare arm. Her master gave her what little comfort he could. She sighed and took a seat on the nearest chair. There wasn't much she could do, especially since she wasn't a fighter.

From the corner of his eyes, Gajeel watched as Talise undid her high bun and let her black lock waterfall down past her bare shoulders. He didn't even notice that he had given her his undivided attention. His stomach churned as he saw how hopeless she looked.

He wished he was bold enough to give her pat of comfort, just like the Master. Gajeel felt a bit of heat rush to his cheeks. He didn't know what he was thinking. He turned away from her and his thoughts as fast as he could. Gajeel didn't know if anyone was watching him. But he prayed they weren't.

Time couldn't go faster as they waited for Erza to undo Evergreen's hold on the girls.

Soon the purple ruins started twitching with new words.

Talise stood up as soon as she saw Erza's name as the winner of her fight against Evergreen. Soon enough, all the girls on stage were broken free of Evergreen's petrifaction. Master Makarov and Happy were in cheers as they saw the girls; all dazed and confused.

But before anyone was able to take a breather, Freed's ruins started to break apart. The purple letters quickly turned red and started forming a large shape. Everyone was on guard, Master and Natsu were in front of the girls, while Gajeel was with Talise.

It didn't take long before the ruins had made a giant red skull in the middle of the hall. Laxus' voice then boomed from the ominous skull.

"Can you hear me old man?" he announced. "It appears that one of our rules is no longer valid. I think it's appropriate that we instate a new one!"

Talise's heart sunk as she heard his meanings tone.

"For the Battle of Fairy Tail to continue, I'm activating the Hall of Thunder!" he exclaimed. "You have one hour and ten minutes left. Do you have what it take to defeat me? Or will you give up and retire, Master." taunted Laxus.

Gajeel tensed up as the skull disappeared and echoed the lightning bastard's laughter throughout the hall. However, that wasn't the reason why he tensed up.

It was the hand that clutched the back of his shirt.

The dragon slayer couldn't see Talise as her hair curtain around her face. Whatever feelings she was having it must have been intense as she quickly let go of him and turned around.

But it was short as everyone in the room started crying the Master's name in fear. They were filled with worry as they saw Master Makarov on the floor, clutching his chest in pain. Talise quickly rushed to the master's aid as everyone surrounded him.

She was the only one to place the old man's head on her knees and started assessing his condition.

"Everyone, look outside!"

Talise ignored Mirajane's words and instead yelled out, "Mira! His medicine!"

The older woman yipped, as she clumsily came to the chef with a cup and a large white container. Mirajane left the stuff with Talise as she went to the bar and came back with a pitcher of water. By then Talise already had the cup half full of white powder.

Mira carefully poured enough water for the powder to dissolve. After several stirs the medicine was ready. They slowly administered it to their sickly master. Once they had successfully given the old man his medicine, Mirajane carefully took him and headed to the guild's sickbay.

It was barely a minute before Talise heard a loud screech. The yell sent a chill down Talise's spine. She ran up the second floor and out the balcony where everyone else was located. Talise gasped as she saw Bisca on the floor unconscious. Her skin and clothes were charred with bits of smoke coming from the singed ends.

"Wh-Wha, What happened!?" she yelled with worry. Everyone started recounting what happened all at once, which didn't explain things clearly to Talise. She was regretting asking. "Never mind!" she yelled. "We need to get her to the medic room."

With the help of Natsu and Gajeel, Bisca was able to be in a bed next to the master. Seeing the cowgirl's condition gave Mirajane quite a scare. As she asked what had happened, Talise started administering basic first-aid to her friend.

Once she was done applying the last of the needed gauze; Talise gently covered Bisca with a thin white sheet.

Her eyes drifted to the Master, who was panting in pain. She went over to him and gently wiped the sweat collecting on his forehead. Everything was starting to feel hopeless. She didn't like the situation Laxus had put them in.

She was slowly starting to get tired of his actions.

As Talise wandered back into the hall, she noticed the number of people had gone down to four.

Mira was nervously watching Natsu getting angry, banging his fist against the barrier that wasn't allowing him to help while Gajeel was awkwardly squatting next to Levi, who was surrounded by a mountain of books as she studiously wrote on a piece of paper on the ground.

Gajeel looked away from the little Mage as soon as he felt her presence behind him.

"Where's everyone else?" she asked.

"They all went to fight against the lightning bastard and the rest of his team," answered Gajeel. He then nodded towards Levi as she paged through two books at a time. "The shrimp says she might be able to destroy the ruin's keeping me and the fire idiot in here."

Talise blinked several times before she too watched Levi concentrated on writing out various symbols and letters on her paper. Her attention then went to Natsu, who was still angrily trying to force he way outside.

It was there that Talise knew what she needed to do.

Gajeel watched at Talise put her long hair back into a high bun. She then turned around and took off her white gloves as she walked to the kitchen.

He didn't know what the cook was up to. A small part of him wanted to check up on her, but something in him told him he shouldn't bother her. Whatever it was she was doing, she probably didn't need him hovering around her.

The dragon slayer let out a small sigh and resumed his watch on the small mage writing away.

His eyes; however, couldn't stop flickering to the doorless kitchen every so often.