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Disclaimer I do not own Fairy Tail. Why would I be writing fanfiction if I owned something like that?

Beta Reader: volfwildman

(Cana's POV)

I stared down Bishop as I asked the question. For most people, there would be no difference between the before and after the question. But for someone like me who had lived with him for years, I noticed that his natural face setting gained a more nervous element to it.

After a few seconds, he spoke up, "I don't know-"

"Stop," I interrupted him, "I… felt it. When I was in your body, I just felt sick. At first, I thought it was just a side effect of being in someone else's body but I noticed a pattern. Every time I felt a strong emotion, like anger or sadness, I just felt so sick."

I paused for a second as I gathered myself. I didn't even look at Bishop, preferring to look to the side as I couldn't bring myself to look at him right now. "I... we all knew you had some problems with your emotions Bish. Me, Erza, Gray, Natsu and Mom all know you have some trouble but...I... just thought that you were socially awkward or something. But the way your body reacted...Bishop...please just tell me what's wrong."

We both just stood there once I asked the question. I couldn't bring myself to look at my brother while he said nothing. After what I think was almost two minutes, I gathered the courage and looked.

Bishop still had his commonplace neutral look on his face but there were little things telling me that it didn't portray his true feelings on the situation. His jaw was moving slightly from what I guess was his teeth grinding into each other and there was a slight twitch on the left side of his forehead. Eventually, after looking at him for a few seconds he turned his head to the side and let out a sigh before looking towards be once more and speaking.

"I... I really don't know to tell you Cana. I've been like this since the day I was born."

I was startled by his words and swiftly spoke my next question. "You mean you haven't ever felt emotions since the day you were born!"

Bishop's eyes widened at my words before he quickly shook his head before speaking. "No! It more like...everything is toned down. Anger turns to annoyance, sadness turns to disappointment, that type of thing."

A let out a relieved breath knowing that my Big Brother wasn't completely devoid of emotion. After a few seconds of gathering myself, I spoke my next question. "So, you've never fully felt anything before?"

Bishop paused for a moment as a thoughtful expression found its way onto his face before it swiftly disappeared and he spoke again. "Over the years I've...unlocked I guess would be the best word some other emotions. Stuff like guilt and fear. The most recent was when you become an S-class mage, It was the first time I truly felt unbridled happiness."

"Really?" I asked a bit in shock that I would have helped him feel what I would consider a simple emotion. He gave me a slight smile as he started to talk.

"Ya...Just seeing you celebrate along with Natsu and the other...it made me feel happy. It was a warm and comfortable feeling in my chest that spread through most of my body. It was...nice."

After he was done talking, we just stood there for about a minute as I absorbed what he had said and he waited patiently for me to speak.

"...Why didn't you tell anyone this? Hell does Mom even know?"

"No, I never told Mom but I'm almost certain that she knows something is wrong. And as for why I never told...I guess I didn't consider it important."

"You never considered it important!" I shouted out in near anger, "Bish you're my brother! Me and every single one of your little siblings look up and care about you! If something was wrong then you should have told us and Mom!"

Bishop seemed taken aback by my outburst. He seemed to think it over for a few seconds before letting out another sigh, "Cana...I've lived with this problem for all my life. I got used to it and don't really care about it much. I would rather none of you worry about something that I've gotten over."

I bit my lower lip for a few seconds before speaking, "Maybe but I still would have liked to have known. At least tell the rest of your family about-"

"No."

I was taken aback by not just what he said by the resolute tone he gave while saying it. "Bish what do-"

I said no Cana. Like I said it's not a problem. I would rather no one worry about me." He gave me a hard look while talking. He really didn't want anyone else to know, didn't he?

I clenched my teeth as I looked at him. Just from his face along I knew he wouldn't budge on this issue. It was the same face when he had to be a responsible brother and not let me do something stupid.

"...Fine. If you want to keep it a secret for now then I won't say anything. But if anything comes up, as a result, you are not just going to tell me about it but all of your family got it!?"

Bishop once more paused before letting out a third sigh and nodding his head. Once he had done that I stepped forward and gave him a hug. He seemed to stall out at the gesture before returning.

"I love you, Bish...You the best big brother I could ever ask for. Please promise to tell me if something is wrong ok?"

After a second, I heard him mumble "I promise" causing me to smile and hug him even harder.

I just hope he truly isn't having a problem.

(Bishop's POV)

I couldn't help but stare at my door from the chair I was sitting in. After Cana had interrogated me, we had gone to the mansion where Mom told us it would be an hour before dinner was ready and I made my way to my room.

I immediately just sat in my room's reading chair and just stared at my closed door thinking about the conversation I had with Cana. It had taken me off guard her asking about my problem. I had hoped that she was just fine during the whole-body swapping incident and that things could just return to normal once everything was over. I guess that was just hopeful thinking.

While the conversation was over, I couldn't help the rather extreme feeling of guilt that was overcoming me. It's not like I had lied to her, I had long since come to terms with my little emotional problem and was fine with just ignoring it while I lived my life. It was the thing I hadn't told her that was getting to me.

The Whispers.

For a while, I had thought they had simply gone away or that the Keen incident was a one-off but that changed when I had laid eyes on the still at large Blade Mage. While I had been able to get ahold of them the fact that they were there was what concerned me.

Why mostly. Why were they there? Why did they appear!? I didn't have this problem in my previous life and I had lived for more than twenty years with that one. Did magic have something to do with it?

In the end, I had no idea and that legit scared me. After all, it isn't the dark that people are afraid of but rather the unknown things that lurked inside.

Should I have told Cana? Probably but I felt that the Whispers wouldn't be coming up soon, at least if I never saw the Blade Mage again. And even if they did, I could probably just control them like before. Cana and the rest of them had nothing to worry about.

Not with all the stuff that would be coming to face them.

"Dinner is ready." Mom's voice came over the inbuilt magical intercom system that the mansion had. Well, I said intercom system but, it was just a bunch of pipes that went all over the house with enchantments on them to be used as an intercom system.

After a view seconds of debating, I got up and made my way to the dining room hoping to have a nice meal with my family. All I had to do was give it some time and I would forget about today. I would forget about the body-swapping, I would forget about the conversation, and I would forget about my promise to Cana.

It was for the best.

I let out a sigh as my siblings talked around me...oh and Lucy was here too. It was about a week after the body changing incident and we all were currently coming back on the train from a small job. And by a small job, I really do mean small. It was D-ranked and the reward was only 500 jewels aka 5 dollars. It had been posted because a lighthouse worker saw something scary in his lighthouse and refused to head back into it.

Apparently, he left a lamp on after he left and it fell over and due to the furniture, it ended up creating a shadow that vaguely looked like a t-rex head. That was what he was scared of. And by the time we were done, it was too late to head home so were forced to stay in a nearby town.

Ten hours of my life just wasted.

Lucy also seemed to agree as well, "I told you guys that none of you needed to come with me. I could have done it myself." She sounded as annoyed as I felt.

"Oh, come one Lucy! It was a fun little thing for our team to do! Besides, you invited Gray so I thought we all were invited to." Lucy let out an annoyed grumble at Natsu's words but said little more, already knowing that arguing about this with Natsu was just a waste of time.

It wasn't too long before we returned to Magnolia station and all of us proceed out and made our way to the guildhall all the while the other made light conversation. I was just keeping silent and keeping an eye on our surroundings.

I had noticed something was off with the citizens in town. Many of them were looking at us and whispering but not in the usual way they did. They were giving us concerned looks like and they were legit trying to keep from being heard rather than their normal loud barely whisper. Apparently, I wasn't the only one to notice as Gray commented about it.

"Hey, guys have you noticed all the looks we're getting?" The others paused in their talks and looked around.

"Now that you mention it, Bro, something does seem to be up," Natsu stated as he scratched the back of his head.

"Ya Flame-brain is right. And the whispering is getting to me too what do you guys think." Erza was the one to talk next.

"It his strange. Maybe the guild can tell us what-" Erza abruptly stopped both talking and walking as she started ahead in shook. I and the others soon join her.

The guild building was a mess. Dozens of iron pillars had been shoved into the top and sides of the guild making the building almost look like a big porcupine.

We just stood there staring at the damaged guild building. The others were too shocked to speak while I was just taken in the scene and fighting off an annoyed sigh.

The Phantom Lord arc was here.

"What the hell happened here!" It was Natsu who shouted as his fist was set ablaze.

Before any of us could say something, it seems like Natsu's shout was heard from within the damaged building and an annoyed Mira came out of it. She seemed relieved to see us has her annoyed expression lightened up a bit at seeing us.

"Oh good, you guys are safe. Come inside the guild master can help explain what happened. We're using the basement as a common area while the first and second floor is damaged."

Despite my sibling's brimming questions, they stayed silent and we all followed Mira inside. We swiftly made our way to some stairs by the bar and made our way into the guild's basement. It was usually just used for storage but it had been made into a makeshift common area with tables and chairs being placed all around along with a poorly made job board put into the corner.

A large number of guild members littered the basement and many of them looked towards us upon our entrance and visibly looked relieved to see us. Wither this is from the thought that we were not attackers or that we were well-known guild members I don't know.

The Guild Master was sitting with his eyes closed on some crates by a wall where a makeshift bar was made. He was drinking from a large mug and looked slightly drunk but that wasn't enough to make the subtle anger that laced his face.

"Guild Master the Vern family and Lucy are back." Upon hearing Mira's words Makarov open his eyes and looked relieved to see us.

"Ahh good, then that means everyone is ok."

Instantly Natsu was the first to speak up, "Gramps! What the hell happened here!"

Mira was the one to answer as Makarov was too busy drinking from his mug. "We got attacked obviously," She said annoyed before calming down and continuing, "It happened at night so luckily no one was harmed. We were worried for you all but it looks like were worried for nothing. As for who attacked us, a note was left and is had...Phantom Lord's guild symbol."

"Phantom Lord?" Asked Lucy slightly confused. It was Gray that explained it to her.

"They're another top guild like us. They were considered the number one guild for the longest time before we took the title from them although there is still a big debate going on if on which of our guilds is stronger. That said ever since we took the title, we've had a big rivalry going on. It's a big deal if they were the ones to do this.

"Then why are we just sitting around here instead of heading over there and paying them back!?" I decided to answer Natsu's question.

"Because conflict between the guilds is strictly forbidden. What Phantom Lord did here is just barely not crossing those lines. And that's if they really did it instead of someone just blaming them."

"No," Said Makarov as he finished his alcohol, "From all the damage and how it was done it has to be Gajeel Redfox. He's a Dragon Slayer just like you Natsu but an Iron Dragon one instead of Fire Dragon. He's the only one who could have done this and he's one of Phantom Lord's five S-class mages."

Natsu seemed to calm down a bit after hearing my words and hearing about another Dragon Slayer magic wielder but anger still hadn't left him completely. "But we can't just let them do this! They nearly destroyed our guild building!"

"Exactly Natsu," I said, "They destroyed our building. But no guild member was harm. I like this building to but it's still just a building. It can be repaired and we have plenty of jewels to do so. Besides, we've been working so hard to get back in the Magic Consul's good graces and a guild war would destroy all of that."

"It's just like your Big Brother says Natsu," Stated Makarov, "Not to mention that Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail are the two biggest guilds in Fiore. If we were small-time guilds then maybe the council wouldn't pay too much attention to a conflict but not between the two of us. One of the reasons that Fiore as been able to stay out of all the wars on Earthland is because of Fiore's strong guilds. A fight between the two biggest is going to attract some unwanted attention from the other kingdoms."

With all that said Natsu seemed to have finally gotten a good grasp on the situation, we were in. "Fine! I guess I understand why we're not doing anything but I don't like it."

Makarov nodded his head at Natsu's comment before speaking. "I don't like it either Lad but this is for the best. Now with all that said, I'm having all the guild members stay the night with other members for safety. I'd like to think that Phantom Lord wouldn't go so far as to attack one of us but better safe than sorry. I was hoping Lucy could stay with you all at your home."

It was Gray who near-instantly spoke, "That's fine. She's more than welcome to stay the night."

Everyone else voiced their agreement with the Ice-make mage while I just nodded my head. Eventually, the others dispersed leaving only me and the Guild Master. Mira came by to take his empty mug and give him a full one but before he took a drink from it, he looked towards me and spoke.

"You got a question for me lad?"

I wait for a few seconds as I considered my next words. "What if one of us gets attacked?"

The Guild Master paused at my words before looking at me once more with a raised eyebrow. "You really got to ask that Lab? You've been here long enough to know the answer."

"You know the consul won't have it," I stated, "Even if Phantom Lord deals the first blow, they are still going to force the war to end and punish both sides."

"That may be Lab," Makarov paused in sentence and looked right into my eyes before continuing, "But could you truly tell me you wouldn't do something if Cana, Gray or the rest of them were attacked and hurt?"

I didn't say anything and after about a minute just walked away. He was right if something were to happen to my family I wouldn't care about any rules of laws.

Someone was going to be broken.

I guess this just meant I had to make sure nothing happened then.

Simple enough.

I made sure to wait by the stairs leading up to the first floor. I had been there for hours and as people started to leave, I made sure to place a "Vanish" centered on a single person in each group who was heading home. I put in enough magic to make it last an hour which should be plenty of time for them to get home. Sure, it took a good chuck out of my Magic Core but if it prevents a war then it was more than worth it.

"Hey Bish," Said Cana as she and the rest walked to the stairs, "Were heading home. You are coming?"

I shook my head before absentmindedly speaking, "No go ahead. I'll just put a Vanish over me or something before I leave."

They seemed a bit concerned at my choice but trusted me enough to make my own choices and left. I made sure to put a "Vanish" on Cana, I even put enough it to make it last for two rather than just one hour.

It was only an hour or two after that when Levy and her group were the last ones to leave. Has they said goodbye to me I placed a "Vanish" on Levy and let out a sigh once they were gone. Just as I myself was just about to leave I was abruptly interrupted by Makarov who appeared out of nowhere.

"Staying rather late Lad. Anything you want to tell?" Despite the question, the knowing smile on his face told me that he very much knew what I had been doing.

"Just didn't really feel like heading home. Though I guess I'll be heading out now though. Be safe Guild Master." With that said, I started making my way out.

"Thanks, lad. Good to see how much you've changed since joining." I paused at his words before shaking my head and making my way out. I'd like to say that I was only doing this because I didn't want to get involved in some stupid guild war.

But that would be a lie.

How things have changed…

Either way, I once more started making my way out of the building. Soon I was slowly walking along the path home while enjoying the rather nice-looking night. The sky had no clouds in it and gave a perfect view of the sea of stars that existed beyond the confines of this planet. Light pollution wasn't that big of a thing now and as a result, the sky was still rather clear at night.

Just simply another difference between this world and my old one. After nearly 23 years in this world, I had simply gotten used to the fact that I would never see my old world. Not that I had a lot of connections to it. Near no friends, parents that were too into work to remember they had a kid half the time, and working on a degree I had no idea what to use for.

Ya I didn't have much to miss, did I?

Matters little now though. No use crying over spilled milk.

I stopped paying attention to the stars and continued along my way home. I was a little over halfway there when I heard something.

"Iron Dragon's Club"

I had a second before I felt an immense amount of pain on my right side and for that single second the only thing I could think was 'I forgot to use Vanish on myself, did I?'

The iron club collided with my body on the right side and rammed me into the stone wall on my left that covered a wall of dirt that stopped my accelerations. My right and to a bit of a lesser extent my left hurt like hell, pain-filled my head as I rolled off my stomach and onto my back but before I could do much more I as struck again.

"Iron Dragon's Stomp"

Another creation of iron impacted me, this time my stomach but that wasn't all. It hit me again and again, each time giving me barely a second to respond before failing and being hit again. After about a dozen hits it hit once more and stop.

I finally had time to do something besides trying to not yell in pain. With the break, I let out a harsh cough, which I felt blood come out as well, and pried my eyes open to look at the person with their foot still on my stomach.

Gajeel Redfox stood there in all his glory. His extremely long hair blowing in a light breeze and his light punk rock outfit shone in the moonlight. His face was etched into a wide grin as he looked down on me.

"About time I found a Fairy to have some fun with and the Fairies' Gatekeeper on top of that. Aren't I lucky." While saying this he raised a fist and cocked his arm back before speaking out a spell.

"Iron Dragon's Stamp"

His right arm from his elbow to his fist turned once more into an iron pillar with the Phantom Lord's symbol on the very end. The same end that was aiming right for my chest.

I attempted to do something, either move or cast an illusion but before I could do either he reached down with his left arm and grabbed my shirt's collar before roughly pulling back. My suit vest was forced apart at the buttons were pulled off and a large chunk of my shirt was ripped out, revealing my bare chest.

Not even a second later I let out a pained yell as an iron pillar end impacted my chest and pull back. I could already see blood coming out of the now engraved Phantom Lord symbol on my chest. Gajeel let out a laugh.

"Hahahahaha now that's done I can mess around with you a bit more before putting you somewhere on display. I was thinking that tree in the center of town. Looks like a good place-"

That was all he was able to say as he had finally given me enough time to truly react. To cast an illusion.

"Shattering Light" I flung my left arm forward and a blinding light and deafening sound emitted from it. It was enough to get Gajeel's foot off me as he held his arms to his ears and slammed close his eyes.

"Vanish" I completely disappeared and after a few seconds of thinking cast another Illusion.

"Mirror Image" Gajeel finally opened his eyes in time to see a false me running away.

"HEY! Come back here you little Fairy!" and just like that he was off following a fake me. After a few seconds, I let out a breath of relief only to wince in pain at said breath. My entire torso hurt. Both my right and left sides ached, my chest was still very much in pain and my stomach felt like it was on fire. Even breath I took was causing me light pain.

Despite all of this I forced myself up. I couldn't just stay down. After another thought, I used my Requip magic and pulled out a red potion from my hammerspace and quickly down it. A light feeling of relief filled my body before quickly disappearing and pain fill it once more but not as much as before as my large magic supply help the potion work.

I thought about pulling out some Stone Flesh as well but most of the damage was done bluntly and I needed my movement right now. I found my vision flashing black as I forced myself forward, down the path I had been taking before.

I needed to find help but it wasn't too long before I realized that I wouldn't make it home. I had always been a bit frailer than my guildmates and family, it was the reason why I avoided taking damage and hid behind illusions whenever I could. I could still take a good few hits but Gajeel had given me more than a good few and then some.

Just as I was debating where to go, I noticed a house around the corner that I recognized.

Macao's house.

I pushed myself forward toward the house, hearing voices from inside as I got closer. Eventually, I got to the front door and gave it two decently loud knocks. I had wanted to give it a third knock but found most of my strength leave me as I grabbed onto the wall to the side of the door in order to keep myself up, my vision rapidly fading in and out at this point.

I heard the talking stop and after a few seconds, I heard footsteps get louder as they come towards the door. The door opened to reveal a smiling Romeo.

"Hello! How can I help-" He stopped as he seemed to finally take in what was in front of him? Inside I could see Macao and Wakaba sitting at a table in the somewhat visible living room. Besides them was Macao's wife Alexis, who was a somewhat short pale woman with long light blond hair and was currently in a casual blue dress. All three of them were also looking my way and went pale at my current condition.

I made to speak but at that moment the rest of my strength left me and I fell forward to the right of Romeo. The last thing I saw before my vision went to black was Romeo's rapidly paling face and Macao running towards the door.

Both had a horrified expression on their faces.

AN: And so it begins. Simply a little heart to heart between Bishop and Cana while establishing his problem to her and the beginning of the Phantom Lord Arc. For the record, in an actual fight between Gajeel and Bishop, I feel like Bishop could win but it would be a decently close fight. That said what happens in this chapter wasn't a fight, it was Gajeel ambushing Bishop and literally stomping him into the ground before he could really react.

Thanks once again to volfwildman for being a Beta. This week's shoutout goes to Le055Lion for his review, thanks man for the compliment.

Do you know what's worst then airplane food? My crippling depression as I lay awake in bed at night wondering what I'm doing with my life, why am I writing some dumb fanfiction, why am I trying to get a career I'm probably going to hate, why am I just wasting away my life doing nothing and will ultimately die and be forgotten...OH ummmmmmm...leave a review why don't cha (jazz hands) :).

Have a great day.

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