Every flame in the building stopped moving.
For one breathless second, Phantom Lord's guildhall seemed trapped inside a painting made of gold and smoke. Fire clung to broken pillars, hovered above shattered floors, and curled along the ceiling without consuming anything further.
Yukari stood at the center of it all, rigid and silent.
Makarov had fallen.
That alone had been enough to push her toward the edge.
Now Gray's words had added another weight to the rage pressing against her chest, another name, another person Phantom Lord had dared to touch.
Lucy.
The golden fire around Yukari trembled.
Mirajane saw the moment control began to slip.
The temperature rose so suddenly that cracks spread through the stone beneath their feet. Windows burst outward, showering the street with glass, while the walls groaned under the pressure of Yukari's magic. The faint outline of enormous wings appeared behind her, stretching across the chamber in burning arcs.
Gray took a cautious step back.
"Yukari."
She did not answer.
Her gaze remained fixed on the upper floors, where Jose and Aria had disappeared.
"I can find them," she said quietly. "I can burn through every level until someone tells me where she is."
Mirajane moved in front of her.
Yukari's eyes sharpened.
"Move."
"No."
The answer came without hesitation.
Mirajane's silver hair lifted in the heat, yet she did not flinch. Her demonic transformation had faded, leaving her in her ordinary form, apparently fragile beneath the storm gathering around Yukari.
Nothing about her expression was fragile.
"We need to take Master back," Mirajane said. "Erza is already preparing the retreat."
"Lucy is here."
"We do not know that."
"Phantom Lord took her."
"We do not know where they brought her, and destroying the entire building will not help if she is inside it."
The flames surged at Yukari's feet.
"I can control my fire."
"You can control the flames," Mirajane replied softly. "I am not sure you can control yourself right now."
The words struck harder than an attack.
Yukari's jaw tightened.
Around them, Fairy Tail's remaining members were pulling the wounded toward the exit. Erza carried Makarov carefully, her face set in grim concentration. Cana watched Yukari from below the ruined staircase, concern slowly replacing the anger in her eyes.
No one else tried to approach.
They knew better.
Mirajane did not.
Or perhaps she knew Yukari well enough not to be afraid.
"You saw what they did to him," Yukari whispered.
"I did."
"They took his magic."
"I know."
"They attacked Levy, Jet, and Droy. They destroyed our home. Now Lucy is gone, and you want me to walk away?"
Mirajane stepped closer until the golden fire brushed against her clothes. It parted around her instinctively, refusing to cause harm.
"I want you to remember why we came here."
"To make them pay."
"To protect our family."
Yukari's flames faltered.
Mirajane lifted one hand and rested it against her cheek.
The touch was gentle, painfully familiar, and completely out of place amid the ruins.
"Look at me," Mirajane said.
Yukari resisted for only a moment before meeting her eyes.
There was anger in Mirajane's face too. Rage sat behind the softness, buried beneath years of learning how to smile despite grief. Yukari knew what Mirajane looked like when she wanted to become a monster.
This was not fear speaking.
It was love.
"If you bring this place down," Mirajane continued, "you could kill prisoners, civilians, or even members of our own guild who have not escaped yet. You could destroy the only clues we have about Lucy."
"I would not hurt her."
"I know you would never choose to."
The distinction cut through Yukari's fury.
Mirajane's thumb brushed beneath her eye.
"Come home with me."
Yukari closed her eyes.
The wings behind her flickered.
For several seconds, the guildhall remained caught beneath the crushing weight of her magic. Phantom Lord mages hiding in the corridors did not dare breathe. Golden light poured through every crack in the building, bright enough to turn the morning outside into false daylight.
Slowly, painfully, Yukari lowered her hands.
The flames withdrew.
They slid from the walls, vanished from the broken floors, and folded back into her body until only a few embers remained around her shoulders. The enormous wings disappeared last, dissolving into sparks that drifted through the chamber.
The building stopped shaking.
Gray released a breath he had clearly been holding.
Mirajane did not remove her hand.
"You are the only person alive who could get away with speaking to me like that," Yukari muttered.
A small smile touched Mirajane's lips.
"I know."
Erza's voice carried from the entrance.
"Fairy Tail, retreat! Our priority is the Master!"
No one argued.
The order passed through the guild in a wave. Members gathered the wounded and helped each other toward the doors, anger forced beneath discipline. They had not lost the war, but remaining here without Makarov would turn fury into recklessness.
Yukari glanced once toward the upper levels.
"This is not over."
Mirajane followed her gaze.
"No. It is not."
They turned and joined the others.
Neither of them noticed Natsu lingering near a collapsed corridor behind them.
He had heard something.
Two Phantom Lord mages were whispering from beneath the rubble, their voices low and frightened.
"The Heartfilia girl was taken upstairs."
"Shut up. Jose said nobody was supposed to know."
Natsu stopped walking.
Happy hovered beside him, ears lifting.
The anger in Natsu's face changed.
He reached into the rubble, grabbed one of the men by the collar, and dragged him into the open.
"Where is Lucy?"
The mage's eyes widened.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Flames burst around Natsu's fist.
"Wrong answer."
The man broke almost immediately.
He babbled about an upper chamber, about a guarded room, about orders from Jose. Natsu listened without blinking, memorizing every word.
Happy looked toward the retreating members of Fairy Tail.
"Should we tell Erza?"
Natsu glanced at Makarov's unconscious body, then at Yukari walking beside Mirajane.
If Yukari knew Lucy was still inside, no one would get her out of the building again.
Natsu understood that much.
He released the trembling mage and turned toward the staircase.
"No."
Happy swallowed.
"We're going alone?"
Natsu's fists ignited.
"We're bringing Lucy back."
Happy's wings snapped open.
"Aye, sir."
While Fairy Tail carried its master home, Natsu and Happy disappeared into the burning shadows of Phantom Lord without telling a single person.