Shoot and Run || Gruvia, Jerza and Gale, minor Nalu || Wattys 2017

.Chaos.

Now Playing~ Bellyache, Bille Eilish

"I lost my mind, I don't mind"

- - -

"What do you mean she won't talk? Getting her to talk were our orders!"

Erza was exasperated. The redhead had spent the past ten minutes arguing with a senior - Commander Laxus at that. The two brunettes behind were doing nothing to help either, one was just staring apologetically at the commander and the other was peering into the office they should have been inside by now with slowly diminishing interest.

"I'm sorry Miss Scarlet, but we've tried to get things out of Mira- I mean Officer Strauss, she hasn't replied, we've tried our best but-"

"I'm not falling for it."

Everyone turned back to face Gajeel. Erza quirked an eyebrow, the brunette had been doing nothing but staring into Mirajane Strauss's office for the past ten minutes - while she'd been struggling to get the job done.

To get the job started, for that matter.

"Tell us the truth commander," Gajeel continued, "you don't want us to see Mirajane Strauss do you?"

Erza spun around, her quirked eyebrow now aimed at the commander, even Gray dropped his apologetic expression, replacing it with one of confusion. The  blonde froze in place. 

"Commander Dreyar," The redhead spoke cautiously, it was her first day on the job, she highly doubted anyone would try to sabotage them that quickly, "Is that true?"

"No."

It was now Gajeel's turn to lift an eyebrow, both him and the redhead turned to Gray. The recent graduate was experienced in psychology, one of the reason he was asked to go with them to Mirajane's interrogation. He could always figure out whether someone's intentions were good or bad, whether someone was lying or telling the truth.

"He's not lying.

Gray's dark eyes roamed around the blonde, the commanders body was slowly relaxing, but Gray was itching to know why he'd frozen in the first place. He knotted his eyebrows and stared forward. 

"But before he didn't tell the truth."

Gajeel chuckled, it sounded like a deranged child trying to sound like twenty year old, "So, mind revealing the truth, Commander?" 

Laxus sighed. He wasn't getting out of this and he knew it. The truth was something he himself didn't understand - Mirajane, he didn't understand Mirajane, he didn't understand his lover, his fiancee. His Mirajane. Although you could barely say she was Mirajane anymore, "Why don't you see for yourselves, follow me."

With those words the blonde man turned around and led his juniors to (now ex) Officer Strauss's office. The red head eyed him warily, she kicked her brown dress shoes against the floor roughly, too roughly. On purpose. For the first time in forever Erza had absolutely no idea what to expect, she didn't really know how to feel either.

They walked into the office. It was pitch black, completely dark, and it was so silent you'd think it was empty. Then a airy, sing song voice cut through the silence like a thunderclap.

"I told you not to let them in."

The voice giggled, it made Gajeel uncomfortable, but he chose to ignore it, he wasn't used to being uncomfortable, usually he was the one who caused that emotion. Laxus froze mid-step, the pierced brunette was the first to catch it. Ignoring Mira's presence, he continued talking, "Well, what's this, Commander?" Laxus let out a shaky breath, "Just-Just talk to her."

Erza flicked on the lights revealing a crisply clean and almost totally white room, although the additional flaking paint and fading colors were strangely prominent. Although the room was starkly clean it was fading, wearing out, nothing like Officer Zeref's equally white but far more extravagant office. The room was empty aside from a fading wooden table with moth-holes and peeling white paint, four chairs framed the table in similar condition.

In the corner a mass of white hair and black cloth was curled into a ball. She slowly unwound herself and stood up, her back facing the four detectives. She slowly turned around, she looked nothing like the Mirajane they'd been shown.

There were traces of the beauty she'd once had. The same fair skin and snow white hair were present, although the lustrous snowy locks were thin, worn out and messy, they had lost their glow.

Dark circles shadowed her eyes and she was much skinnier than they'd have though, almost scarily so. She was thin and bony, and her skinny shape met with her overall paleness made her seem like a skeleton.

The only thing that kept her from blending into the walls were her fully black clothes. Her full sleeved black t-shirt clung to her skin, as did her black jeans, she was barefoot, showcasing both broken and overgrown toenails.

Spookily, the woman reminded Gray of a particular blue haired girl he'd met in an elevator.

The eyes were what - for Gray - made the distinction between Juvia Lockser and Mirajane Strauss. Juvia's eyes, although blank and emotionless, were stable. Almost too stable. Mirajane's eyes were the opposite; Mirajane's eyes were chaotic. Every emotion you could imagine were pushed and squeezed into her irises, dancing haphazardly like electrons around a proton. They were terrifying. Gray decided he liked Juvia's better. 

Erza gulped, "Commander Mirajane?"

The platinum blonde sighed and dragged her feet forward, throwing herself into a chair. She gestured for the three to sit. Gray, Gajeel and Erza settled down, "I'll just get another chair," Laxus said. "That won't be necessary," Mirajane said. Erza stared down the blonde as he glanced at the three young detectives and sped out of the office. 

Silence fell in the room, the three detectives didn't dare to speak. Finally Gajeel broke the silence, his raspy voice left an unmistakable sting in the air, "So, Officer Strauss."

"They assembled a new team already?"

Her voice was airy, dreamlike almost, her words came out like the mangled version of the most comforting voice on the planet, but this was anything but comforting. Her eyes stayed glued onto the three younger ones, her lips curling into a less than happy smile. "I've heard of you... six? I think."

Her wild eyes racked through the three young detectives, they squirmed and fidgeted under her stare, somehow in the process of trying to interrogate the woman, they'd been the ones to ultimately get "questioned".

"I knew your mother, Ms. Scarlet. "

Erza wasn't used to being surprised, she didn't like, and she wanted no more part of it. She forced herself to take a deep breath and turned to the woman, determination washed over her, she cleared her throat, "Um, yes. But let's get back to our current situa-"

"I wasn't done Ms. Scarlet.

I started talking about your mother, and I'm not going to stop until I'm done. If you did a background check on me you would no I stop at nothing to get my way," She giggled, her smile growing wider with every word, "Quite like yourself, Ms. Scarlet."

"Or should I say Ms. Belserion." 

- - -

Name: Irene Belserion

Occupation: Ex-Agent (manipulator, gunman)

Family: Unknown 

Age: Unkown

Hieght: 5 ft, 10 inches

Eye Color: Brown

Hair Color: Red

Location: Unkown since 2020

- - -

"Pssst! Natsu.... wake up!"