A/N: Here it is, the third installment of Wandering Fairies! A bit of Happy, a bit of Erza, and more Zeref and Kiba than I expected!

Originally it was gonna be Zeref stuck in Itachi's body, and I had a whole dialogue planned, and Zeref and Itachi would be able to trade control because of Sharingan shenanigans, but AllHailProHeroThirteen04102016 mentioned in a review having Zeref possessing Kiba and now I can't NOT have Zeref possessing Kiba because it just fits so well-! So credit to them for this!

There might be a standalone one-shot of my original Zeref-in-Itachi idea, because I AM still fond if it, but this just worked too well…

"I'm sorry- how long did you say he's been unconscious? And you didn't take him to the hopsital?"

"I know how it looks, Yamanaka-sama, but… when he first passed out, I tried to catch him so he didn't hurt himself falling, and his chakra lashed out. It burnt my hand a little, and that shouldn't be possible for anyone exc- except the Kyuubi jinchurikki… I had Hinata-chan keep an eye on his chakra with her byakugan, it… felt safer than trying to move him."

"And it was only an hour ago that he showed any unusual behavior? Nothing from the past five hours?"

"No."

"A-ah! I-I'm s-sorry, but sensei… Akamaru-kun…"

"That's true. About five hours ago, something seemed a little off about Akamaru, he was unusually poorly coordinated, but Kiba calmed him down and then he was back to normal…"

A dog whines, somewhere off to the right.

"What's happened to my student, Yamanaka-sama?"

The so-named Yamanaka sighs. "You aren't going to like it, Kurenai-san." A slight pause, before he continues, "There seems to have been… an unprecedented jutsu backlash. A group of people from the outer continent attempted to combine their chakra for a defensive jutsu, that seems to have thrown their souls not only out of their bodies, but half-way around the world. A few other people have shown signs of possession, including my own daughter… there should be no more than twenty-three, the Hokage is trying to gather a census - see how many are in the village, how many might have ended up in other villages… but so far, all the cases happened at the same time. That Kiba-kun would only show odd behavior now… it makes him an outlier to the pattern."

He's pretty sure someone's confused here, and it's not him.

They didn't get thrown to the other side of the planet, he knows inter-dimensional magic better than his own body, these days.

But, judging by those words…

If they think the only ones who got pulled through are the ones who cast Fairy Sphere, then… they don't know…

His thoughts escape him as a dog whines, much closer this time, nudging his hand. He flinches, desperately pulling all his essence tight, pulling away, I don't want to hurt you-!

Suddenly, he's hunching over himself, arms tightly wrapped around his own torso, in the middle of what appears to be a house.

"Dude, are you seriously scared of dogs?" He jerks his head up, already backing away, and takes in the sight of the twelve-year-old boy sprawled across a rug, grinning wildly.

He takes a deep breath, uncurling to face the child head-on. "You are…?"

"Inuzuka Kiba! So, you gotta tell me, what sort of kick-ass enemy were you fightin, pretty-boy, that got you thrown all the way over here!"

He blinks, taken aback.

No one really comments on his appearance, anymore…

A hundred long, lonely years, a company of ghosts, and he's not sure whether it hurt more to have them there than it would to have nothing…

"A… dragon?" He answers more as a question, because he wasn't in the fight, and he's still not sure why the magic took him too, but he knows it was Acnologia's power that struck out at Fairy Tail and started this unusual mess.

The boy chokes on his own saliva, scrambling to his feet.

"Wait-wait-wait-wait-WAIT! A Primordial? You're kidding?! That's insane!"

The boy, Kiba, points, mouth gaped, completely awed and perhaps somewhat terrified.

That, at least, is a more familiar emotion. He shrugs.

"Killing him is beyond my power, but surviving his attacks is only ever more inconvenient than anything…" He has no idea what kind of world this is, what 'Primordials' are and why a dragon such as Acnologia was mistaken for one, but… The longer he spends in the boy's (Kiba's) mind, the more he begins to realize that something is wrong with his magic.

No.

Not wrong.

Missing.

As the bo- Kiba splutters in disbelieving awe behind him, he turns away and focuses, following the threads of power, magic unrestrained and flowing between the crevasses of this mind.

The boy has long-since stopped freaking out, and has been trying to ineffectually get his attention for quite a while, by the time he realizes -

He's lived so long with this mad curse on his soul -

He'd forgotten what his magic felt like without it.

He-

How-

Wha-

Mavis-?

Is this… your doing?

Bright, childish laughter, and the boy lets go of him, spinning around to look for the source - he was touching me, he was touching me-!, but Zeref pulls himself deeper, away, because this-

There was a dog-?

No-

This-

He needs- just a moment. He can't-

Not yet-

He grabs at threads of energy, his own magic and something distinctly wild, not in the way of uncontrollable curses but more in the way of nature, of life and beast and the strength of survival, and pushes the boy to the forefront, because-

He needs… a moment. Or two. Or ten.

Because the curse is gone and he just… needs to process.

The boy yelps, but Zeref doesn't care, pulling himself deeper, until he knows his thoughts and feelings are far enough away-

And he breathes.

Who knew getting shoved into control of your own body could hurt so much?

Kiba groans, and finds both Akamaru and Hinata on him in an instant.

"I'm okay guys, promise. The creepy pale kid ran off and hid in some corner of my head or something after some creepy girl voice started laughing, like I'm not kidding, it's classic horror story material in there!"

He pushes himself into a sitting position with one arm, the other coming around to cradle Akamaru.

Yamanaka Inoichi gently but urgently pushes Hinata to the side, looking at him intensely.

"Wait. You mean to say that- by some manner, he was able to give you control back?"

"Yeah? I can still feel him, a little, but he feels like he's trying really hard not to touch me… I dunno, he's sorta weird? But totally harmless, all he did was like, brag a bit and then hide, really."

If Inoichi were anything less than a clan head and master shinobi, Kiba gets the feeling he'd be gaping.

"I have personally mind-walked everyone we've found to be possessed… all of them have been forcibly trapped in their own minds, unable to take control even when the possessing spirit wanted them to. Why- you didn't react until later, after all the others as well… something is different about you, Kiba-kun. About what happened to you, compared to the others. Perhaps if we figured out what was different, we could reverse this-"

Inoichi keeps speaking, but Kiba loses track, as pretty-boy's voice starts thinking at him. Or speaking to him? But it just sounds like him thinking, except in pretty-boy's voice so-

It won't work.

"Wha?"

It is not so much that I am an outlier as it is that I was just more capable of fighting the power that tried to throw us here. I… fought for longer against the spell, and so my soul took longer to arrive. I was aware of the power influencing my spirit, the others… heh. Not many were likely even capable of sensing what was happening to them.

"-ba-kun! Kiba-kun, are you listening to me?"

Pretty boy's voice and even presence fade, slipping away back to some far corner of his mind, and ugh why did Kiba have to get stuck with some sort of Sasuke-esque genius lurking in the back of his mind? Only geniuses speak of 'influencing spirits' and 'outliers'.

Inoichi calls him again, and Kiba shakes off the thoughts. "Yeah yeah, I'm listenin'. Pretty boy had some stuff to say about your idea, mostly that it was crap, but he's gone again. Or like. Mostly gone I guess. Since clearly he can hear us. Ugh, and here I thought my mom didn't give me enough privacy." Kiba flops back into the grass, groaning.

"What exactly did he say, Kiba-kun?" Inoichi asks, voice measured but not quite hiding the undertones of anticipation. Kiba makes a half-hearted attempt at a shrug.

"Something about how he's not an outlier, just stronger than the others, cause he managed to fight the… I dunno, he used the word 'magic' like from the old clan stories, but maybe he just meant chakra or energy… He just said it took longer for him to show up cause he fought for longer, and he made it sound like that was why we're like this instead of having me trapped like you said the others were…"

"I… see… if the two of you are fine for now, I'd like to finish up with the census, and see how many others are here in Konoha… then perhaps I will return to mindwalk and speak with both of you together?"

Kiba flops a hand at him. "Sure thing! Like I said, he feels totally harmless, we'll be good for a while, I got Akamaru with me!"

Akamaru yips brightly, pouncing on Kiba's chest, and in the back of his mind, he feels Pretty Boy pull even further away.

Sheesh, what is up with that guy? Akamaru's the best!

Happy… really has no idea what happened. One minute, they were all standing together, trying to save themselves from that dragon's attack, and the next…

I'm a dog!

He's still not quite over it.

He and… Akamaru… managed to come to an agreement, he could have his body back at least until Happy found his friends… and then Akamaru would let him talk to them, but…

He doesn't smell any second scent on Akamaru's partner.

Kiba smells like Kiba, is all Akamaru has to say about it, but clearly someone is in there, only he doesn't know who…

Akamaru's partner called him Pretty Boy, so maybe Freed…?

Is Gajeel pretty? He has lots of fur… Elfman has pretty sisters, but no one says he's pretty, right? Ayeeeeeeeee….

Happy is a talking cat, but he's never quite managed to fully understand human definitions of pretty, so he really has no clue which boy Kiba means!

He knows it can't be Natsu though, because Happy's pretty sure that if Natsu were actually able to fight the spell that dragged them there, he'd have successfully broken it. It's just the kinda guy Natsu is, really. Happy knows that if his partner fights something, especially something that isn't even alive, like a spell effect, that it never really manages to hold out…

He can practically feel the sweat-drops at the thought.

Well. Really, all he has to do is stick with Kiba and the person with Kiba, and he'll find Natsu soon enough.

Which is a good thing, because he gets the feeling he'd have to fight Akamaru to do anything else…

The sand cuts like a hundred thousand shards of glass, slicing flesh to ribbons indiscriminately. There's no armor here, in this strange half-world, and the lack of it almost makes Erza feel more naked than the lack of clothes (though she lacks those too, torn apart by the merciless storm). Even though the armor isn't there, the magic is, and she holds it before herself, calling up every dredge as a shield against the raging storm around her.

Far above her head, a demon howls. Even the might of Lullaby is nothing to this monstrosity of sand and wind and madness, but Erza can see the glint of half-buried chains in the desert, and she knows this enemy is already half-defeated before her.

She just needs an opening.

It comes in a quieting of the wind, as the mad beast cackles, calling out to her in mocking tones.

Foolish creature.

Even without a blade, her raw power is something even Natsu can't shrug off so easily, and it slams into the demon before her, causing it to howl again, far more painfully. She lunges forward, desperately closes her fingers around lengths of buried chain, dragging them up from the sand, and pouring her remaining magic into them. Carefully, she envisions her power strengthening them, feels out the already-present enchantments and gives them her power.

The demon howls in fury, and claws tear down her spine, causing her to fall to her knees, but she doesn't let go of the chain, curling it between her fingers and providing every drop of power she can spare.

Slowly, the demon retreats. Pulled away forcibly by chains that slowly regain their form, no longer eroded away by raging desert winds, and then begin to glow… the sand lashes out at them, and Erza feels the demon's power scrape against her own, but… whatever has happened, to trap her here with this creature, she knows it will take longer for the demon to wear down the enchantment on the chains than it will for her power to recover, as long as she gets a chance to properly rest.

She can keep it trapped, at least until she finds out what happened to her swords, so that she might put an end to the beast.

Exhaustion clings to all her limbs as she stumbles to her feet, chain slipping out between her fingers to thud softly against the ground. The demon rages, but while she feels its power against her own, the chains do not break, and so she turns away, planning to explore this strange half-land.

A tiny child stands in front of her, and she steps back on instinct. He blinks up at her with pale green eyes, red hair a riot of spikes around his head that make her think of Natsu, just a bit. He glares, and speaks with a voice that is soft and dangerous.

"What have you done to mother?"

Erza blinks, half-turning to glance between the red-haired boy and the demon screaming insults and curses behind her.

"Your mother?" she can't help but ask, and the boy snarls at her.

"What have you done to mother?!"

Erza isn't really sure what possesses her to do it, between a demon and a child who can't be older than twelve- she steps forward, wrapping the boy in a hug, hiding his face from the monster behind them.

"I'm your mother now. That demon holds no sway over you."

The words come out near-unthinkingly, as she brings her hands up to cover the child's ears against the monster's profanities, holding him tight to her and just wanting to take him away from this place-

In the space between blinks, they move from the howling desert and the demon within, to a cake cafe that Erza knows almost better than the guild hall (if only because Natsu keeps blowing it up and making them remodel…), and she finds herself clothed in a casual outfit that she's pretty sure she's only worn once in her life, but… she's not sure what this half-world is, with its demons and interference with her Requip, so…

Shrugging off the confusion at her sudden outfit, she steps back slightly, hands framing the face of the boy in front of her. He stares, something Erza can't quite read in his eyes.

"Mother…?"

Erza curses every impulsive decision she's ever made that lead her to say that to him, but the boy looks so desperate, and, well… Better her than the demon, she thinks, shoving aside her doubts to nod resolutely.

"Of course," she scrambles for the boy's name, because this is a world that isn't, and if she can teleport from a desert to a cake house, she can know a boy's name, and it comes to her in a flash, as though it were just waiting for her to ask, "Gaara. I promise, I won't let that monster hurt you."

She'll have to experiment with her ability to move around this strange world, make sure she can get back to that desert easily to check on the chains, find out where her weapons are hiding or where she can get more if they're gone… and once she's killed that monster for good, once she knows this child is safe, she'll find her family.

It shouldn't take too long, really.

The demon may be powerful, but it's already bound by someone else's magic and doesn't seem to have half the tricks Zeref's can.

Get a sword, smash it to bits, and go back to her family.

Though, if the kid really doesn't have anyone other than a demon to look out for him…

She offers him a considering look, as he stares up at her with something so painfully close to adoration that she doesn't know quite what to do with it.

Ah well.

There are plenty of parents in the guild, and Wendy's about his age, right…?

It'll all work out somehow.

Distantly, she can hear shrieking echo through the walls.

First things first.

Spinning around, she strides toward the counter.

There's no shopkeep, but whatever strange world this is, cake is cake.

And she will beat that demon to death with her fists before she passes up on a slice of cake when it's right in front of her.

After a moment of hesitation, she grabs a second one, and holds it out to Gaara.

"Would you like some cake?"

She does her best to smile, because in a strange world like this, she gets the feeling he's never had any, and she can share, just this once…

Hiding the pain deep in her heart, she sets the cake before him and scrounges up some utensils to eat with.

He takes his first bite, eyes widening with surprise, and Erza's smile becomes something a bit more genuine.

Right up until he speaks.

"You're… sharing your memories with me?"