Chapter Four: Timey Wimey

When Cana's vision cleared the first thing she did was look for Mirajane. Obviously, nothing was ever easy for her. Mirajane was nowhere insight, gone without a trace. But, that's not even the worse part: Cana had no fucking clue where the hell she was. All she could see were trees, and then more trees, and maybe a couple shrubs. Oh, and did she mention trees?

It took her a couple seconds, but she soon figured out that she was floating. Legitimately hovering a couple inches off the ground. The sudden feeling of weightlessness practically slapped her in the face.

Not only was she hopelessly lost, and had no idea where the hell Mirajane had ended up; but she was fucking floating now. Could her life get any weirder?

The answer is obviously yes. She'd be stupid to think otherwise.

Feeling a little jolted and out of place she was hesitant to move forward-even a step. What if something weird happened and she wouldn't be able to go back? She didn't know what she was looking for or what she was supposed to be doing. She didn't even know how to move, or if she could. Hell, she wasn't even sure if she wanted to move. This place seemed pretty vast and where there was vast there was dangerous. She didn't want dangerous. She didn't like dangerous.

Where the hell was Mirajane when you need her?

No, scratch that, where the fuck was Agatha. This was her magic after all. She should be here, helping Cana figure out how to function again. It's hard walking around—off the ground—with little to no body mass. Cana swore that if she floated away, Agatha would have hell to pay, because this was ridiculously difficult and her legs were wobbly, even though they shouldn't be because she wasn't really there—

"Having issues, Cana?"

Her frustration boiled over and before she new it, Cana was whirling to face Agatha. The Fortuneteller was sitting cross-legged a good two feet over the ground. Turns out that the only place that Cana didn't look was behind her, because that was where Agatha seemed to have been the whole time. Literally a foot away.

Ohhhh, she wanted to beat that smirk right off the girl's face. She looked so smug and Cana didn't like it when people made her feel inferior, and if she was being honest, then she felt down right stupid right now.

"Thanks for finally showing up," Cana remarked snidely "It would be nice if you helped me find Mirajane now. Times-a-wasting."

Agatha didn't say anything. Motioning with the hand not holding her crystal ball and Natsu's scarf, the fortune teller beckoned Cana to follow her into the forest. Hesitating only a second, she followed. Albeit still wobbly and unsteady.

The forest was dense. So dense that if Cana's body was solid she'd have issues getting through efficiently. The trees were so big and grew so close together that even a speck of light couldn't make it to the ground.

Suddenly, she was a little thankful for her transparency. Otherwise she'd probably be all scratched up by now. She didn't even want to know how many times she would have gotten caught up in between two trees if her body was solid.

Just as quickly as the forest thickened it started to thin out into a worn path. It was rather wide, like something big came through here often. Looking at the ground for tracks, Cana was only able to pick out the foot prints of smaller creatures like deer, squirrels and rabbits.

"Pay close attention, we're getting close." Agatha whispered. "I can only show you this once."

Emerging into a small clearing the first thing Cana noticed was that the ground was covered in ash and charred wood. The second thing she noticed was Mirajane wobbling towards her so quickly that Cana was a little impressed.

"Where have you been?" Mirajane hissed in a motherly tone, "I was so worried!"

Shrugging Cana looked around. Behind her was the path she'd just been on, Agatha standing off to the side of it. Beyond her was a cave so large that if a flying vehicle passed over head they'd think it was a mountain.

"Hell if I know." Wiping her hand on her half pants, she eyed the cave suspiciously. A foreboding shiver ran up her spine. She didn't want to meet whatever lived in there. "But at least we're here now."

Mirajane didn't respond, instead she followed Cana's gaze back to the cave. "Impressive isn't it?"

"Not the word I'd use to describe it." Using her hand to shade her eyes Cana had to crane her neck to see the top of the cave. There were trees and stuff growing on it. "It looks like someone…or something made this into a cave. I think it was originally a mountain. I can't help but feel like we aren't supposed to be here."

Mirajane frowned. "But—"

"IGNEEL HELP ME!"

Both women spun around in surprise. Seeing a little Natsu running towards them, eyes wide with tears running down his face only served to further their confusion.

Not to mention he was only wearing a loincloth.

"IGNEEL!" He continued to scream. He looked over his shoulder in fear as a large creature lumbered into the clearing. It looked like a panther, except for the teal-tinted long fur and large fangs hanging from its mouth. The thing hissed and stood on it's hunches like an angry bear would do.

"What the hell is that?" Cana asked in bewilderment. She'd never seen anything like that in her life.

"I don't know, but Natsu just fell down!" Panic filled Mirajane's voice. Before Cana could stop her Mirajane was running to little Natsu's side. Her eyes widen when she reached out to him and her hand fell right through his shoulder. "What?" She whispered in awe.

"IGNEEL! IT'S GONNA EAT ME!" The tears running down his face doubled, "I'M GONNA DIE!"

Just as little Natsu said this, the panther thing launched itself at him, claws bared and teeth ready to pierce skin. Mirajane stepped in front of the small boy on the ground, arms out stretched and mouth set in a determined frown.

Cana rolled her eyes. Mirajane could be such a drama queen. It was obvious she couldn't stop the panther thing, so why try. This was clearly Natsu's past so there was no use fretting. He was alive and well, back at the guild anyway.

Just as Cana predicted, the panther thing jumped right through Mirajane and pinned little Natsu onto the ground. The boy screamed and kicked frantically, but when he figured out he couldn't move, as the panther thing had one heavy paw on his chest, little Natsu winced and turned his face to one side. He squeezed his eyes shut and awaited the blow that was surely to come.

No one, not Mirajane, little Natsu, or even Cana herself foresaw the burst of red flame that engulfed the little boy and panther thing (consequently, swallowing up Mirajane too because she was hovering mere feet away from the two). A moment or two passed before the fire cleared out, revealing the panther thing sprawled out on top of the shaken boy.

Mirajane just looked oh so very confused.

One second of silence.

Two seconds of silence.

Three second of—

"…Owww." Little Natsu roughly shoved the charred body of the panther thing away from him, glaring at it hotly. He craned his neck around, and just like Cana, noticed the large Dragon sitting by the entrance of the cave.

Cana shook her head and rubbed her eyes with the fatty part of her palms. How the hell did she miss that thing's arrival?

Said thing was huge. Probably about as big as the first floor of the guild, the dragon could stand on its hind legs and probably see over the trees. Its scales were a burgundy color, almost rusty looking, the underside of his belly and wings were a smoky beige color, the same color of his intense eyes.

If she didn't know that her body was not solid, Cana would be concerned for her health.

"Natsu." The dragon rumbled. Despite the gruff voice the tone held traces of tenderness. This was odd coming from a dragon, especially one as scary looking as this one.

"IGNEEL!" Little Natsu got up and rushed the dragon, practically throwing himself onto his snout. "You saved me!" He giggled, nuzzling his face on the scales located at the top of Igneel's nose.

"Of course I saved you. I couldn't let any son of mine be done in by a cat, could I?" The dragon exhaled deeply.

"That wasn't a cat!" Little Natsu scoffed irritably, "When I decided to pick a fight with it, it was just a little…thing. Then when I used Dragon Roar on it, the thing completely freaked out and did this transforming trick." Scooting off of Igneel's nose he returned to the ground so he could demonstrate the 'trick'. His arms thrashed and whirled around his hand as he spun and made whooshing noises.

"It was AWESOME!" He finished, breathing heavily. The grin that stretched across his face was so Natsu-like that Cana had to pinch herself to remind her that she was in an alternate universe. It was like seeing him growing up all over again. Except in a loin cloth this time.

"Well, awesome until it tore up my clothes and attacked me."

Igneel didn't answer. His eyes zeroed in on the fallen cat. "Transformed, huh?" He mused to himself.

"Don't look now Natsu, but there's a really cute girl over there." The dragon teased smoothly. Cana found this weird because, well, he was a freakin' dragon. And dragons were supposed to be fierce and scary. Not humorous.

Looking over his shoulder, Little Natsu flushed a color pink that put his hair to shame. Instead of a cat lying on the ground there was a girl with pale blonde hair, so pale that it could be mistaken for white if it was looked at in direct light. She was wearing a battered teal colored jumpsuit, rips and tears littering the worn fabric.

"Igneel, that's not funny, that cat got away!"

As Igneel explained Take-Over Magic, Cana walked over to get a better look at the girl. She was young, maybe early twenties. Her hair was short, just barely touching the tips of her shoulders.

"So what should we do with her?" Little Natsu scuttled towards her sheepishly, "We can't let her see you or else…."

"I'll fly her to another field. Close enough to here that she won't be suspicious when she wakes up." Igneel nodded to himself in confirmation. "Go wait in the cave. And put some clothes on."

But Little Natsu didn't move towards the cave until Igneel was out of sight. Dejectedly he slowly moved towards the gaping opening, looking at it miserably.

"Why does she get to ride Igneel? If she can, why can't I?" He kicked at the ground childishly and grunted. "It's just not FAIR!"

XxXxX

Cana and Mirajane sat along the wall of the cave. It was roomy inside; the only thing breaking up the grayness of the walls was the golden straw that was used for a bed. In a corner there was a pile of various foods. Meats, fruits, vegetables.

Little Natsu was still mumbling to himself when Igneel returned. The pink haired child pulled on a pair of half pants much like the one he wore in the present. Except much smaller.

He didn't greet Igneel when he returned or anything. Just plopped down on the hay and pouted.

Cana watched as the Fire Dragon moved to curl around Little Natsu. "Frowning like that will get you nowhere. You know you can't ride me. Remember what happened last time? Do you want that to happen again?"

"But that was a YEAR ago!" Little Natsu was clearly outraged.

"It doesn't matter, motion sickness doesn't just go away, son. I don't need you puking on me again. That was degrading for the both of us." Igneel sniggered, "Especially for the town below us at the time. Poor people didn't know what hit'em."

Little Natsu huffed and crossed his arms. "We were too high up. It didn't even touch them." He countered grumpily.

"How do you know? We weren't that high up."

"Igneel!"

"Alright, Alright!" The Dragon said in a lazy manner, "I have something better for you anyway. I made this for you when I first brought you here and identified you as…male."

"What's that suppose to mean? I think I look pretty manly to me."

Shifting to the side, Igneel reached around with his tail to the opposite side of the wall.

Straight at Cana and Mirajane. Cana chortled when Mirajane dove to the side, avoiding the tail as it merely passed right through Cana.

"You had long, pink hair and no muscles. Excuse me for having a little bit of trouble figuring out your gender."

"Well I was—"

"This, right here is very special. Forged from my fire and the scales that I've shed." Igneel interrupted Little Natsu before another debate could start up. It seemed that even back then Natsu was argumentative with other guys. Even if they were huge ass dragons that breath fire. Maybe fighting with Gray was actually a natural reaction.

On the tip of his tail was a neatly folded scarf. Cana looked to the small hole in the wall where the scarf was kept. A bit of gold tumbled out with the scarf and Cana sighed. So the old wise tale that a dragon holds gold close to its heart was indeed true.

"This scarf is immune to my fire and therefore yours. It's very important, as whom ever is wearing it will be wholly protected from your flames. So don't let it out of your sight, as it could end badly if it ends up in the wrong hands."

Natsu nodded eagerly and grabbed at the scarf. Quickly he wrapped it around his neck. "It's so soft…and warm. Really warm."

"Mmmm, It will stay like that as long as I am alive. A dragon's scale, although I shed them, never actually dies. The heat that courses through that scarf is the same heat that courses through me, and now you, son. That heat signifies the magic that runs in our veins."

"Dragon Slayer Magic."

"Right. But, you have to promise me something."

Little Natsu narrowed his eyes in perplexity. "What?"

"That when you find someone to give that scarf to, I want to meet her."

Indignation lit Little Natsu's eyes up. "Why would I give this to anyone? Above all a girl!"

"One day, son, you will meet someone that will mean the world to you, will hold a chunk of your heart in her palms. Someone that you can't imagine living without. And when you find that person you will want to be with them every waking moment. Experience everything worth experiencing with them. You'll want to get married, have kids, watch—"

"Hey Igneel?" Little Natsu scratched the back of his neck nervously, "Where do babies even come from? How do you 'have kids'?"

Igneel paused and stared the young Natsu with merit. "Well, First off, which ever lucky lady ends up catching your eye must be wearing this scarf," he tugged on end of the soft material around Little Natsu's neck for emphasis, "as things will defiantly get very…heated…when the process of 'baby making' begins."

Little Natsu blinked. "Oh. And what happens during this process?"

"Well, everything starts with attraction, that's the first step to what us dragons call mating. And then…."

The sound of Igneel's voice started getting farther and farther away until not only the sound was drifting away, but the actual scene itself was distorting and disappearing. It was like the clean white color was literally erasing the warm cave. Cana gripped Mirajane's wrist tightly as the now completely white room started spinning. Agatha appeared in front of them briefly, her legs crossed and one hand wrapped around Natsu's scarf while the other one held her crystal ball to her chest.

"This passage has been completed, the future beckons us." Then she began to sing a song in some language Cana wasn't familiar with, and by the looks of it, neither was Mirajane.

Slowly the bright white gave way to black, and soon Cana found herself emerged in a soothing darkness. Her grip on Mirajane tightened as she felt the air around her shift, moving the two girls presumably forward. Forward in time.

The early morning light barely lit the small dirt road that Cana and Mirajane just appeared on. The road was so long that Cana couldn't see its' end in the distance. Looking down, the gravely ground was about a foot below her, just like in the other vision. The only difference being that the details (when each grain of sand ended and another started) were fuzzy, like an aging film.

"Hmm, this road looks a little familiar to me," Mirajane put a thumb to her chin as her brow furrowed in thought. She looked behind her and nearly jumped when she saw Agatha sitting there.

She looked just as sage-like as she did in the first vision. Her chin was held high in a 'better than thou' manor. "It appears that my magic works best when the subjects are connected physically through touch. I suggest taking note of this for future references." Her tone held a professional vibe.

"Thank you, we will," Just barely concealing the sarcastic edge to her words, Cana redirected the conversation to Mirajane. The white haired woman was still looking around; she paused when she saw a tall plant with a bunch of little stems coming off of the main stalk. Tiny yellow flowers lined all the stems to the tip, "So, Mira, have you figured out where we are yet?"

Mirajane didn't reply instantly, she looked beyond the road and the white picket fence that marked the end of each side of it. It looked like it could have used a touch-up because the paint was chipping.

"Do you know what this flower is?" Mirajane moved to stand next to the flower she'd been looking at earlier and cradled a stem in the palm of her hand. The edges of her fingers melded with the tips of the yellow flowers creating a blurry yellow color. How very curious.

"Nope, no idea."

"It's Goldenrod," Mirajane smiled down on the plant in admiration, "When Lisanna, Elfman, and I were young we used to play in a field of it. Elfman was allergic to it, but he still insisted we go," She chuckled to herself, "I remember one time he brought a tissue box with him and—"

"Get to the point, Mira."

She just frowned in disapproval, not voicing her obvious annoyance at Cana's rudeness out loud but the look in her eyes spoke volumes. "The point was that we used to walk this road to get to the golden road patch almost every Sunday. Those were the days before we came to the guild. When our parents were still around." She finished sadly.

Cana never knew what happened to Mirajane's parents, and honestly she was never going to ask. That wasn't any of her business and if Mirajane wanted to tell her, then she would. That was one of the reasons why she got along well with Mirajane. Sure, she butted into people's personal lives all the time. But she never, ever, asked anyone about their past unless they brought it up first.

So, Cana decided that it would be best to ignore the last bit of Mirajane's 'point' and inquire about the goldenrod patch. "Alright, Agatha, is that where we're heading next?"

"Yes," The fortune teller spoke curtly, "Follow me." She moved forward, not even looking back to see if she and Mirajane were following her.

XxXxX

""Why is everything so…fuzzy?" Mirajane stared at the meadow of yellow flowers disappointedly, "It wasn't like this when I was younger."

"This is simply a vision of what is to come in the future. It is blurred because a person's future is never set and can be changed at anytime. Nothing is permanent."

"Ohh that's deep." Cana jived, her tone bored. So far this was a very boring vision. She hadn't seen anyone or anything worth seeing, not even Natsu was in it yet and this was a glimpse at his future. You'd think he'd show up for it.

The other girls ignored her and continued on with their conversation. "Oh, that makes sense," Mirajane said, "So, now that we're here, what do we do next?"

"We wait until what was meant to be seen here has been seen. Then we move to the present."

"That's stupid. Why do we have to wait so long, can't you just…I don't know, fast forward until what we came here to see starts or something?" She plopped down in the middle of the meadow. She was mildly surprised when the flowers didn't bend to her weight when she fell on them. Being weightless was sure weird.

By her side was a tall jar filled with some sort of sand. It looked heavy so Cana didn't bother it.

"I can't mess with the flow of time. I'm a fortune teller, not a time traveler. I may have a good foot down in regard to time and how it works, but that doesn't mean I can do anything fancy. I'm an amateur, and I'm not messing with something like that." Agatha spoke matter-of-factly and nodded to herself in finalization.

"Ok, then why don't you explain to me why it's so complicated? I don't see why you can't just touch your crystal ball and have us blast a couple hours into the future." Cana challenged. She wasn't going to sit around here and do nothing if she didn't have to, especially if it turned out that Agatha was just being lazy.

Agatha pinned Cana with a sharp look. It was almost like she was able to hear what Cana had been thinking, "People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint - it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff." She finished dully; looking a tad bit confused herself, "So it's really hard to pinpoint where to stop. I let the possession you supplied me with do the technical stuff. I use the things it's seen and pick out the important bits. The memories that are kept at the top of its exsistance."

"Actually, never mind that. I have no idea what you're going on about, all you did was confuse me more."

XxXxX

The sun was just able to peak over the horizon, offering its last remaining light to the group of three sitting in the meadow before it set. They'd been sitting around waiting for whatever to appear for what felt like hours. Cana was going stir crazy.

"Something better happen VERY soon or I swear to god I'm going to take my boredom out on the nearest living thing!" She practically growled. Beside her, Mirajane jumped and stared at her wide eyed. It'd been quiet for a while now, and Cana wasn't even a little sorry for breaking it. She was tired of the annoyingly faint ringing noise that literally nipped at her eardrums and she was sure everyone else was too.

"Patience, Cana. Good things come to those who wait." Agatha was looking all sagely again. The fortuneteller didn't even open her eyes to look at her as she spoke, she just continued on with her meditating like nothing important was going on at the moment.

Oh, wait! There was nothing going on.

"You know what, patience my ass." Cana stood up and looked to the sky. The clouds were a light pink color, they contrasted greatly with the dark background of the night sky, "I think I've been doing pretty good up until now. Considering I've been sitting here, doing nothing for god knows how long with no ALCOHOL to help me pass the time. I think I'm doing damn well, and you know what I'VE BEEN WAITING AND NOTHING GOOD HAS COME. So what does that say about the truth IN your stupid, stupid saying? Huh? What do you have to say to that ol' wise one? I bet you have nothing to—"

"Uh, Cana hun, you're ranting…." Mirajane interjected hesitantly, glancing at Cana from the side of her eye from her place on the ground. Cana squared her shoulders and brought her attention to Mirajane, who shrunk back from the look in the brown haired girl's eyes.

"And you! How can you stand for this…this TORTURE? We've been waiting for hours, and hours. And you've taken it without saying anything.

"CANA," Agatha was clenching her teeth in aggravation, eyes still closed, but her fists were now balled tightly, "It's only been a little over ten minutes. And half of that time you spend having a childish temper tantrum."

"I am not being childish!"

"Cana, you kind of are, just look at yourself."

"Mirajane! Whose side are you on?"

"Come-on you slowpoke, almost there."

Cana shrieked at the new voice, the owner of it walking right through her. Her eyes darted over to Mirajane who watched the new comer pass, a smug smile on her face. Cana was sure that once this was over, she'd never hear the end of that one. That was the first time she had screamed like that in years.

"You're not the one carrying around and extra person in your stomach. Give me some credit where credit is due. This is hard work!"

Both new voices were hazy, like they were being filtered through one of those crappy voice changers that you buy at prank stores. The ones that don't change the voice completely, and leave the telltale signs of the user's voice unaffected.

The first, male voice was distinctly Natsu. Only one person could sound so happily hyper, even while being annoyed. Cana was pretty sure that she had established that he was insane during the drinking game. This was just further proof.

His appearance was black and white, the edges of his frame fraying and graying at the edges. He looked like an old photograph crumpling at the edges.

He was also older too. His chin jaw line was more defined and his wide eyes not nearly as innocent as what Cana remembered them to be. He was a couple inches taller, probably around six foot three. He wore the same outfit he'd always worn.

The girl on the other hand was harder to figure out. Her voice was unfamiliar to Cana, she couldn't tell who it was from the exasperated tone of voice because everyone usually took to that tone while conversing with Natsu.

And when the girl stumbled into view Cana couldn't help the aggravated grunt of disapproval. Mirajane had made a similar noise all because the girl was shaded in and unrecognizable. The only thing that could be taken from her appearance was the round belly signifying that she was heavily pregnant.

"Why are you taking me here Natsu? This is so far away from the guild. What if the baby decided that now was the time? I don't want to have him—"

"Her!"

"Whatever! I don't want to have our baby in the middle of a freakin' field."

"Alright, alright, I'll make this quick then. But when you look back on this you can't blame me for it not being romantic enough, alright?" Natsu walked up to the woman and wrapped and arm around her shoulders and urged her to go quicker, they were almost at the end of the field now. A couple more yards and they'd be walking into the woods, "Stand right here, yep, just right." He turned the woman to face the woods.

"Now count down from twenty."

"Is that really necessary? Can't you just show me what you wanted to show me? I'm hungry, and tired. My feet hurt so much too…"

"Yes, is necessary and, yes, I'll show you when you count down to twenty." The pink haired mage crossed his arms stubbornly.

"Fine, 20, 19, 18—"

Older Natsu heaved a sigh of relief and whispered a 'finally' under his breath. He eyed the setting sun, which was pretty much gone anyway. The girl hit '15' and he bent down to pick up a... wick?

Cana drew closer and leaned over Natsu's shoulder. Yep, that was a wick, he was going to light something on fire, and it was going to happen very soon. The urge to 'hit the deck' was nearly overpowering. This was silly because she was an apparition. Nothing could hurt her. But she supposed that old habits die hard, and frankly, she didn't really want this particular practice to die. One day it could save her hair, literally.

Older Natsu heaved a controlled breath of fire. The flames licked at the thick part of the fuse briefly before the fire took and set off a chain-reaction into the meadow. Cana was just able to make out the light of the traveling flame through the tall plants. It was a wonder they didn't catch fire.

One by one, jars lit up the field. The same type of jars that Cana had found when she sat down. They were long and oddly shaped. Now, with the jars light up, Cana decided that they were actually lava lamps, or something of the sort. The lamps glowed a purple hue of light.

Hundreds, maybe even thousands of lamps lit up, forming the word 'Will'. Then, the color changed to an off red, pinkish color. Not quite the color of his hair, but pretty close. These colors made the word 'You'.

"10, 9, 8, 7—"

The last color was a bright blue color, something of kin to the color of a clear blue sky. The lamps of this color formed to words, 'Marry Me'.

Beside her, Mirajane gasped. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the white haired mage's hands fly up to her mouth. Her hands molded with the color of her face, as if her skin was melting together. Cana looked down and noticed that her skin was also melting a little bit. She furrowed her brow in worrisome. Was this supposed to happen?

"So, what do you say? I've known you for eight years and we've dated for four of the eight. I love you, and the baby we've made together, will you marry me?" Older Natsu unraveled his scarf from around his neck and offered it to the shaded girl.

She accepted it with a girlish sob, she was crying. "Yes, a thousand times yes!"

The scene bubbled and wavered, like a picture burning. The last thing Cana saw was the two embracing, the lamp's words glaring back at her in the background. Fire flies flew above them, shining their light over the newly engaged pair.

"The future is an indefinite occurrence; just the slightest touch or word can change it. Now we go to the present and the final vision I will show you. What you are about to see is a peek into the current life of Natsu Dragneel. And when I say current, I mean a couple days in the past or a couple days to come. Give or take a few, of course. Showing his actual activities at this very moment is impossible, as the present is an abstract form. Nothing but a word."

The picture was fading and once again Cana was tossed into blackness. Even though her hand was tightly wrapped around Mirajane's upper arm, the feeling in her stomach was just as raw and unnerving as it was the couple other times she experienced time travel…or whatever she was doing, because Agatha's explanation of 'time' confused her more than she'd like to admit.

Stupid Agatha and her stupidness.

The Guild was decked out with balloons, streamers, glitter (tons and tons and tons of glitter), and banners. All the Fairy Tail members were doing something, be it spreading table clothes onto tables, cooking in the back, or prancing around throwing glitter everywhere (Cana could help but gape at Elfman. He was just way to enthusiast about it). All of them were working diligently. Probably because of Erza; the redhead would glare at anyone who stopped working for even a second.

"NO! Go to another present event QUICK!" Mirajane jumped in front of Cana and cupped her hands over her eyes. Cana swatted the white haired mage's hands away from her face and grimaced at her. Mirajane of all people should know that Cana hated her face being touched. It was a big issue when they were younger; Mirajane loved pinching her cheeks back then after all.

"Quit it, you know how I feel about—"

For the first time, Cana read the banners. Each one of them said, 'Happy Birthday' in large bold cursive lettering. The table clothes were decorated in the same manor. The balloons, all her favorite shade of orange, had the words 'Happy 30th Birthday' scrawled on them with thick lettering.

She was turning thirty in a couple days. Her favorite colors were everywhere, practically painting the room. Something seemed really fishy about this, and Cana didn't like it.

She mentally prayed that this wasn't what she thought it was because if it was she had someone to kill. She also had a really good idea about who that may be too. The white haired mage beside her was fidgeting and looking nervously up at Cana, the hopeful expression on her face was timid.

"Mira…" Cana warned, "Please, please, tell me that you didn't."

"Uhh…surprise?"

Cana wiped at her brow and ran her hand down the side of her face. Her fingers pulled her skin with them. Heaving a distraught sigh Cana eyed one of the banners with an evil eye. She had specifically told Mirajane not to make a big deal out of her 30th Birthday. Why does she even bother talking to people when they don't take the time to listen to her? "How long have you known me for Mira? Even as a teenager I didn't like parties. Especially surprise parties! There are better things to waste time doing!"

"Like drinking?" Mirajane's voice was dull and un-amused.

Cana ignored this, and beamed. "Exactly! Now you're getting the idea!"

"You do realize that parties usually include drinking, right?"

"That is not the point!"

"Then what is the point, Cana? Why is throwing you a party such a huge deal with you?"

"It just is!"

Behind them a loud crash reverberated throughout the guild. Cana hadn't noticed how uncharacteristically quiet the usual bustling building was until the loud noise made it obvious. On a normal day a noise like that wouldn't even be gaffed at, but now every eye in the guild was focused on the doors behind her and Mirajane.

Cana wasn't surprised to see Natsu standing in the doorway, but she was surprised to see the angry look and downcast frown. The Dragon Slayer, even when upset, usually brightened up when he walked into the guild. Either that or he made a beeline towards the bar and ordered a bottle of Fire Whisky. But he was just standing there, looking angry.

This could end disastrously.

"…Natsu?"

Cana looked to the person who'd spoken and blinked. Then blinked again. What the hell?

Standing by the bar was Mirajane. But not the Mirajane that was accompanying her on this…time travel journey thingy. This was a vision of Mirajane.

Oh gosh, Cana wasn't sure if she could handle two of them. That may just do her in for good.

"What?" Natsu snapped crossly, he menacingly glowered at the other Mirajane from under his bangs. Cana suppressed a shiver. Natsu had never looked that angry before, not even with Gray.

"N-Natsu! Is Everything alright?" Other Mirajane stopped with her cleaning and stared at Natsu. Mirajane's expression mirrored the other, mortification.

"Is everything alright?" Natsu mumbled under his breath. The look on his face was challenging. Like he was trying to convey 'Do I look like I'm ok to you?' without actually saying the words. His fists balled at his side as he stomped over to a table, roughly pulled a chair out, and sat in it. "Is everything alright!" He threw his arms in the air in out rage. Fire shot from his tightly closed fists. "NO! Everything is wrong! Wrong! Wrong! WRONG!" He roared.

"Calm down Natsu, or you're going to burn—"

Natsu didn't let other Mirajane finish her sentence, and turned on her. His eyes were wild. "I'm not going to calm down Mirajane! I can't calm down! Not after what I just saw!"

He let out another stream of fire. Unfortunately for him, the flame caught one of the streamers. It didn't take long for the fire to spread and soon the entire strings of streamers were on fire.

The poor bastard didn't even see Erza's foot coming until it was in his face. Cana couldn't help but snigger as the Dragon Slayer twitched on the ground. His frightened eyes focused on Erza. She was looming over him threateningly.

"You better have a good excuse ready or I'm gonna make you re-do every inch of streamer hung in the guild, regardless if it was burnt or not. Remember that Cana will be here in 45 minutes too." Erza said flatly. Cana wanted to learn how to sound so intimidating even while acting so calm. It was defiantly a talent that only Erza could perfect.

Natsu moved into a sitting position and rubbed his nose tentatively. There was blood streaming down onto his lip. "I just saw her, the only girl in the whole fucking world that I could have feelings for, cuddling up to some random guy at the bridge. If there was a better excuse to burn something I don't know what it would be!" Natsu frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. He ran a hand over his scarf. "Man, Igneel's going to be so disappointed in me." He whispered so lowly that Cana almost didn't catch it.

Erza's posture slackened and the red head offered a hand to the dejected Dragon Slayer. "Stand up and get a tissue before you get blood on the floor. You wouldn't want to mop the whole floor up too, now would you?" Cana wasn't sure if Erza was trying to be funny.

The picture was fading, just like the other visions. Agatha was suddenly before them with her crystal in hand. The ball was glowing and so was the scarf that was wrapped around it.

"Wait! This was so short!" Cana exclaimed.

"It is all I can show you," Agatha started, " the big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff is being difficult." She finished lamely.

Cana shrugged and took one last look around the decorated guild before everything went dark again.

The first thing she noticed was that Lucy was nowhere in sight.

What the hell was she suppose to make of this anyway? It wasn't like any of those visions really helped her figure out how she was to get Lucy and Natsu together. All they did was make things a little bit more complicated.

And scarier, man they needed to get Natsu's scarf back around his neck. Otherwise he's going to tear the guild apart looking for it.

The second thing she noticed before everything went dark was that Lisanna wasn't at the guild either.

AN:

First off; I'd like to thank Ambitious Rookie for being my beta reader. She is the best XD.

Second off; there is a bit of dialogue said by Agatha that I stole from one of the epicest shows on Earth. And it's a British show. SO everyone talks all Britishy and it makes me smile. XD

Oh and the golden rod field was inspired by a real life experience. When I was writing that scene I was home sick because of the stupid little flower. Damn you allergies; you make life suck!