Revelations of Origin

Unexpected Alliance
The sound of flickering flame in a dark building. On a couch rested the figure of Iris Lavra, alive but unconcious, covered by a sheet. However, she was quickly stirring, and sat up, shoving the blanket off herself to look around.

"Ahh...so good to see you're awake." Mr. E, having discarded his cloak now, stepped out of the shadows. "Welcome back to the World of the Living, Iris Lavra."

Iris' ears perked up as she jumped; surprised to see this hat-and-clogs-man. "...Who is this? And why am I here?" Naturally, these were the first words that any sane person would speak in such a situation.

"Oh, that's right." He nearly forgot, placing a hand to his chin. "You were dying the last time I had abandoned my cloak. I'm Mr. E. It's nice to finally meet you face-to-face, Iris."

Iris didn't trust his words. Naturally, one could trust E as far as they could throw him. "...Oh." She remained wary of his actions; showing that despite her usual...Iris-ness, she was indeed very suspicious. "...Guess so. But what was the point of the cloak, anyway?"

"What purpose did a cloak serve, Iris?" Mr. E waved this off. "It was for the obvious; to hide the identity of a man still fresh in the minds of the world, even after three decades." He sat down to stir a pot of stew that was cooking over the fire. "However, wouldn't a more fitting question be was to why I brought you here, not my particular choice of fashion?"

Iris nodded. "True, true. You do raise a good point. But why on earth did you bring me here?" She was most curious- her eyes widened like a puppy's.

"I'm going to help you." Mr. E replied simply, and he looked up at Iris, the shadow his hat cast over his eyes creating a strange contrast. "I will lend you my assistance in saving Vivian."

Iris nodded excitedly like a kid in a candy store. "Ohboyohboyohboy! Why though?" It seemed that she was warming to E already.

"Because..." Mr. E stood up, striding across the room towards Iris. He stopped speaking for a moment, looking down at Iris. It was almost as if Mr. E was actually chewing over the words he was about to say. "Vivian is my daughter."

Iris' eyes just went blank. It was like Iris herself had just left the building, and nobody was inside that small brain of hers.

"We don't have time for a reaction like this, Iris." Mr. E sighed, actually having expected as much. "I assume you have quite a few questions circling inside that head of yours..."

As E was talking, Iris just plopped to the ground once more, fainting abruptly. The shock of such a reveal was too much to bear.

Mr. E sighed, and decided to let her sleep until the information had time to settle. She had things to do when she woke up.

"I assume we're all prepared." Wendy punched her fist into her open palm. "Now! Let's go find Jason!"

Erza declared, "To the tracking-mobile!" On one hand, she really wished Iris was with them; at least she could track Jason with no problem. But Wendy was there, so she could use her Dragon-Slayer nose to find Jason as well. "Now, blue, you know what to do!" It seemed that everyone was going to refer to Wendy as "blue" for a long time.

"Stop calling me 'blue', red." Wendy snapped.

"Wendy, can you even find the Guild Master?" Mamoko asked curiously. "I mean, you don't seem like a sensor-type at all."

Wendy grinned. "Jason and I are just like that!" She pressed a hand to her stomach. "You see, I'm a clone as well. I was created through a machine and the use of Lacrima. My entire body is Lacrima-made-flesh. And Jason himself has a special Lacrima embedded in his body. When he found me, our Lacrima resonated, and we can find each other through this link." She started to stare off into space, her eyes glistening. She obviously loved being linked to Jason in this manner.

Giselle raised her eyebrow, slightly interested now. "...Oho? Then, if you're a clone, who created you? You seem like the work of the council, I can tell by your attitude." That last part was complete and utter baloney.

"I'm not the 'work' of anyone." Wendy seemed like she was going to snarl but thought better of it. "Though my 'father', I suppose that's the term, 'creator' sounds too artificial, was a strange man...I never learned his name, but I remember he had leopard spots on his skin, and glasses. Jason killed him though. The last I remember was his head rolling."

Giselle paused momentarily. "Oh. I see. Well, that sounds like some jerkoff I once knew. Friggin' pathetic he was. Anyway, I'm sure that you don't like talking about it. I ain't gonna go prying into any more details since that's a cross for you to bear, and having known each other for like an hour, I ain't gonna support you in holding it up."

"I'm not sure if I should say thanks or not." Wendy looked at Giselle with something resembling confusion. She shrugged it off, and closed her eyes for a moment. "Just give me a second..." Focusing, she saw nothing but darkness and let her senses focus on it to give it shape, and, as it felt like she was freeing herself, searched across the land to find the lacrima so familiar to her. It didn't take long. "I've gotten it!"

Erza herself was still amazed by the fact that in one hour only they had travelled back in time as well as obtained two new allies. It was a new record. Great success; so to speak. "...So, you're actually useful? Well, colour me surprised."

Giselle was the one to smack Erza in the back of the head this time. "Don't be rude to life which is created. They were conceptualized to be a super-race; and you should damn well respect that." At this time, she sounded like a supremacist.

Wendy smiled, if only a bit. "Thank you, Giselle." She turned her head towards the east. "Alright everyone, follow me! I'll be able to lead us right to Jason!" With that, she started running, and everyone decided it was best to simply follow suit.