"And just like that, Fairy Tail gained three new family members." Lucy wrote into her on-going novel as Mami slept. "It's weird. It was all so sudden like Michelle. They're like three little sisters we've never had. It feels great. Fairy Tail hasn't gained as many new members as it did in the past, and it's wonderful to see our guild growing again. But there's something about those three that I can't put my finger on. Homura especially. I don't know why, but I feel that there's something much more to those girls than meets the eye. I can't help but feel that there's something that they're not telling us, especially after we found out how their world worked." She sighed as she wrote that part. She felt like that when Erza's group returned from their mission and heard of Homura's incredible achievement a week ago. She continued writing. "But I don't think I should worry about it too much. I'm sure she'll be fine the more she stays here an-"

"Lucy-san? What are you doing?"

"KYAAA! Mami-san, don't sneak up on me like that!" Lucy cried, quickly covering up her papers. "I-I was just working on something that's all! I'll go make breakfast!" Lucy quickly left the room as Mami watched her with a confused look before she smiled.

"Oh, that's all right. I already made it." Mami replied as Lucy remained awestruck at the table in front of her. Pancakes, eggs, bacon, it was all there, and as much as Lucy didn't like to admit it, it looked ten times better than anything she could have made.

"Mami-san, this looks amazing, but you really didn't have to trouble yourself like this!"

"Oh, it wasn't any problem at all! But it's been ready for a while, so I think we should eat it now before it gets cold."

"When and how did I suddenly turn into the guest here?" Lucy thought as she sat down and started eating. Almost instantly her mouth was filled with an incredible flavour and taste. If Mami made something like this at the guild, she thought Erza would be begging Mami for more. At that thought, she remembered that Homura was staying with Erza. This brought her back to what she was thinking before breakfast. "Mami-san, if you don't mind me asking, how long have you known Homura?" Mami immediately stopped eating.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, ever since she came back from the mission with Erza and Wendy, I've felt this really weird aura around her. No wait, I felt the same thing when she explained how your world works with magic. Her eyes looked so cold…as if they were hiding something so distant and sad. I thought that, well since you three were friends-"

"We're not exactly the best of friends." Mami interrupted. Lucy stopped eating as well to listen to her. "We're more or less friendly acquaintances who help each other on missions from time to time. I've only known Homura for about a month. When it comes to Kyoko, well…our story is complicated. But Homura, she's an enigma even to us."

"An enigma?" Lucy replied, interested.

"Yes, she refuses to say anything about who she is, or what her wish was. But there was that one time…when a friend of mine disappeared." Mami looked down sadly. Lucy remained silent as Mami continued her story. "Her name was Sayaka, and she wanted to become a Magical Girl alongside me. Her wish was to help out a friend of hers so she could earn his love in return, but when she realized what being a Magical Girl truly meant, she realized she could never have what she truly wished for. After that, she began to fall into despair. We tried to talk to her..." Mami found herself struggling to contain her composure and clenched her fist. "But she wouldn't accept the grief cubes we offered her, and when the next demon attacked…" She paused. "She used up all her magic, and met the fate that all Magical Girls meet."

"I-I'm so sorry for what happened to your friend." Lucy solemnly replied. "But…what does that have to do with Homura?"

"When she disappeared, Homura sadly muttered a name. I think it was; Madoka. When we asked her who she was, she wouldn't say anything."

"Do you think that this person could be-"

"It's certainly possible. This Madoka person may have been another Magical Girl friend of hers that met the same fate as Sayaka, but something's still off about it." She looked up and out the window in wonder.

"What do you mean?" Lucy replied, becoming more and more interested in her story.

"The strange thing is that the name "Madoka" has a strange nostalgic feeling to me. I can't really explain, but for some reason, hearing her name makes me feel happy and sad at the same time. It really is a mysterious feeling." She turned her head towards Lucy again. "But it's not something we focus on too much."

Lucy could only stare at her in response. Just how bad have these girls had it back in their world? Not knowing a lot about one of their own members made it feel like Mystogan had returned to the guild. But unlike him, she would show her face and answer any question asked of her. Yet despite that, there always seemed to be something she wasn't telling them. Added the fact that Mami and Kyoko don't seem to know anything about her made it all the more mysterious. Regardless, she thought that the truth will reveal itself in due time and decided to continue eating. After all, it was not like it could affect the guild in any way.

Gray was not having a good morning. He mentally cursed himself for forgetting to buy food for his practically bone-dry fridge last night. Shopping in the morning was not exactly easy in Magnolia as the only store that was open 24 hours was halfway across the town from his house. Not wanting to take long way, he waited by another store that was scheduled to open in about ten minutes.

Gray had waited forty minutes. "Geez, what the hell is up with these store owners and their store hours! The owner better have a good reason for being this late." Coincidentally enough, as he said that, he saw a man in a uniform walking towards him. "It's about time you showed up! What the hell is the deal with you being so late! I was waiting out here for forty minutes!" Gray only got angrier as the man appeared to ignore him. In fact, he completely walked past him and the store.

"Must…go…" The man spoke. With an eerie voice that sent chills up Gray's spine, but he didn't show it.

"Uh, I know you work here! Are you drunk? What's wrong with you?" Gray yelled back. But the man continued to ignore Gray as he turned the corner. Gray had enough at that point and ran after him. That's when things got creepier. Another man came out of his house and walked along with the man in the same fashion. Then another one.

All anger tossed aside, Gray wondered what was going on. He tried calling out to them again as he followed them, but they continued to ignore him, and as he followed, more people joined them in the strange walk.

"The hell is up with everybody? Was there a party somewhere that I wasn't invited to or something?" Gray continued following them until they reached a church somewhere outside Magnolia. It looked like a church that was abandoned a long time ago, considering the wrecked inside of it. To Gray's shock, there were more people inside the building. Including one he knew well.

"Oi, Juvia!" He shouted, running up to her. "What the hell are you doing here with these weirdoes?" He got even more shocked when he saw the expression on her face.

Depressed and cold. It was a look Gray never saw her have before. In fact, when Gray turned around, everyone had the same depressed look on their faces.

"It's hopeless" She said. With a tone that Gray never thought she would hear from her. "None of us are worthy Gray-sama, worthy of the person whom we have desired the most."

"What are you talking about? What is all this?"

"Gray-sama, there is only one path one can take when they realize that their one true desire can never be fulfilled." She continued, and reached into a case that was next to her and pulled out a small bottle. Gray knew that he had seen enough when he read the label on it.

Potassium Cyanide.

Gray may not have been the smartest person in the guild, but he had read the news often enough to know what it did. It was usually used in poisoning murders. As soon as he realized what she was about to do, he snatched it out of her hands.

"JUVIA! Are you insane? What's wrong wi-" He couldn't finish his sentence as everyone in the building starting running towards him. They appeared to be desperate for death. He dodged an attempt made by Juvia to get the bottle back and ran.

"They gotta be possessed by some kind of magic" Gray thought to himself as he ran. "I could easily fight them off, but Juvia's with them! Dammit! I need time to think here!" He continued to run until he reached a door. The mobs of suicidal people were gaining on him. He opened the door and locked it just before they reached him.

"What the hell is going on here? What kind of magic are these people under?" Then something else happened. Noises started to fill the air, and it wasn't the sound of the people banging on the door.

What happened next was something that Gray would never forget.

If one were to see Homura's athletic talents, one couldn't guess that she would be a bookworm at heart. In the guild's archives, she was currently reading through information about Earthland and Fiore. As much as she hated to admit it, in order to find a way home, she needed to learn everything she could about this world. Thankfully, the process was made much easier thanks to a special pair of glasses she received from Levy, who was also a bookworm, but much more so than Homura.

She adjusted the Gale-Force reading glasses on her eyes. As easy as it made learning about this world, the red glasses brought back unpleasant memories of her former, useless, pathetic self. At least, that's how it was before she met Madoka. The memory of Madoka giving her hope only served to increase her determination to return home.

"Good morning Homura-chan!"

Homura sighed. And then there was Wendy. Ever since they came back from her first mission Wendy wanted to spend time with her. She couldn't blame her, as there seemed to be no one else in Fairy Tail around her age aside from that one boy she saw earlier until they arrived. But that didn't stop her from being annoyed on the inside. Every shred of kindness that these people offered her served no other purpose than trying to make her regret her decision, and Wendy certainly wasn't helping in that regard. She sighed as she came downstairs along with Carla.

"Good morning Wendy. Do you know where Erza is?" To tell the truth, despite not knowing her goal, Erza had been very helpful in showing Homura around and where everything was. She also assisted her in learning more about Fiore. Out of everyone in the guild, she appeared to be the most reliable.

"She's upstairs, and someone spilled her strawberry cake, so she's not in the best mood. But you spend all your time down here!"

"I need to learn everything I can about your world so I can adapt to it." Homura replied, ignoring the absurd fact that one would have cake early in the morning, breezing through another book.

"But that doesn't mean you have to learn everything at once!" Carla nodded.

"She's right; it's not good for your brain to force yourself to learn everything at once."

"I'm certain I can manage. I was a good student in my school back on my world."

"But still! You should still at least come upstairs and be with everyone else once in a while!" As if on cue, as soon as Wendy said that, the ceiling shook and it sounded like things were being thrown around upstairs along with the horrendous singing of "SHOO-BEE-DOO-BA!"

"Yes, that sounds like a wonderful idea." She replied sarcastically.

"I know they can seem kind of…strange at first, but our guild is really fun once you get to know it better! So can you please come upstairs with us?" Wendy pleaded as she gave Homura a pleading look that no one could resist. Not even her. Homura sighed. She knew she was going to regret this.

"All right, you win. I'll come upstairs." The smile Wendy gave after Homura said that would have melted a man's heart. She grabbed Homura's hand and started to walk upstairs. When they opened the door, chaos is what greeted them.

Most of the lights were out, and Gajeel was up on the stage, wearing a white suit and shades. The song he was singing had horrible lyrics and his singing voice didn't help. It was no wonder the people in the guild were booing and throwing things at him, with Kyoko laughing so hard at the whole deal.

"I can't believe you actually went and sung it! You sir, are bold!" Kyoko laughed at everyone booing Gajeel, some people even covering their ears in a futile attempt to escape the horrible lyrics and singing voice.

"I'm starting to think he sings that song just to make everybody here angry." Levy stated with a half-smile.

"Wouldn't surprise me." Kyoko responded, eating a chocolate bar and turning to notice Homura. "Well look who crawled out of the study school! We're in a guild where you get paid to beat up thieves Homura; your homework doesn't have a due date anymore."

"Until I feel that I know enough about this world, I'll continue to study down there." Homura replied, earning a confused look from Kyoko before she chuckled.

"What, you got a test coming up? C'mon, have some fun like I do!"

"I'd have to agree with her." Said Erza, walking up to them. "It's never a good idea to overwork yourself. Even for someone as strong as me."

"She's right you know!" Levy added. "Adaptation should be a slow, natural process. Taking in everything at once would be unhealthy."

Homura inwardly sighed. She would have to make her decision sooner than expected. These people seemed to genuinely care about her and the others. If they found out she was planning on leaving once she amassed enough knowledge and money, they would obviously try to stop her. Worst case scenario could end up with her fighting them to get out of the guild, she thought to herself.

"Homura-chan, are you all right?" Wendy asked. Homura turned to her and smiled at her while inwardly sighing again.

"Yes, I'm fine." She was anything but fine. If Madoka were here, she would have definitely stayed here in the guild with them. She looked around at everyone in the guild. Now that she had been here for a week, she gained a new appreciation for it. Everyone was having fun, and they had nothing to worry about. No demons to hunt, no wishes or contracts to make, just good friends to meet and nothing else to worry about. At first, all she could think about was going home, but seeing everyone have fun in the guild was a sight that warmed her heart a bit. But still, she knew she couldn`t let herself hesitate because of it. She would have to leave as soon as possible before she started to regret the decision she would make even more.

"Look, I appreciate the concern everyone has over me, however I feel that it is best that I-"

"Everyone! Come quickly!" The pandemonium in the guild immediately stopped as everyone turned their heads towards the door to see who shouted like that.

They saw a shocked Lucy and Mami, and a teary-eyed Juvia, who was holding a battered and beaten Gray in her arms.

Apologies for the long wait. I kinda got distracted from this story due to me watching Gurren Lagann for the first time. But here it is folks!

Poor Gray, dude always manages to get his ass handed to him a lot.

Next Chapter: The Light that Belongs to Me!

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING!