Hiro had spent time with everyone she could find. And the smug satisfaction that coated her face whenever she saw someone wearing their new bracelets made several of them cackle.
"Looks like the cat got the cream and the canary!"
She, Maya, Zane, and Ren had given half of Magnolia's residents heart attacks with their games, and it was after lunch she had started feeling tired.
Hiro had stumbled away from the bar with a yawn, small fangs poking through her lips as she blindly hobbled over to the closest table. Said table happened to be inhabited by Wendy, who was casually conversing with some other guild members Hiro couldn't be bothered to focus on, because Gajeel was sitting across from Wendy with Natsu forced into the spot beside him, -meaning the others Wendy was talking to had to be Levy and Lucy- , and Hiro was going to have a nice nap even if she had to kill for it.
She clambered blindy onto the wooden bench, allowing her body to fall across the legs of the elder slayers, both letting out a confused noise. She snuffled, turning her head so that she could breathe easier, and settled.
No attention was paid to whatever plans the elder wizards may have had. For if Hiro wanted to use them as pillows, she would. Nothing could stop her.
Hiro was used to waking up in a different place than when she fell asleep. The people she sleeps on or near are accustomed to moving her if they need to. Sometimes she'll wake up in the middle of a mission, sometimes she's in her den, but rarely does she wake exactly where she fell asleep.
However, it's the first time she had woken up in an empty crater, with the sky swirling in blank darkness. She's lying on her back, no sign of Spook or Bud or anyone.
She shoots up into a sitting position, heart-pounding, mind racing. Alone alone alone-
She looks around the expanse of empty dirt, crackling under her feet. Dead, lifeless dirt.
"Where are we?" she mutters, moving to stand, "Where is everyone?"
"Where's all the magic?" she asks no one in particular, before another smell laces with the emptiness of the air. Gajeel.
Hiro takes off in a sprint, the silence ringing, echoing in her bones.
She's so used to hearing everything, the silence is unnerving. The magic in the air is gone, the humming sound of it has vanished, the static feeling of it is missing. The only thing she can hear is her own organs moving, her own footsteps, her own blood flowing through her veins. The mufflers don't help with not hearing her own body.
In the distance, she spies the long black hair. Spies another man with blue hair. She screams,
"STEEL-FACE!"
He whips around just in time for her to launch herself at him. Her arms wind around his neck and her ankles lock against his back. She buries her nose into his neck as he squawks, taking a step back to regain his balance. Metal and that-one-scented-shampoo she couldn't be bothered to remember.
Gajeel puts one arm under her, so that she won't fall, as she shakes like a leaf. Her grip is tight, and there is a low, quiet whine in the back of her throat. Her eyes glisten with unshed tears at all of it. Where's Bud? Spook?
Everyone?
Blue-Haired-Man is saying something, but Hiro can't hear him over the silence, over her shaking, over the blood pumping in her veins, over her organs and muscles expanding and contracting every second.
