The time that followed passed slowly, filled with Natsu's volatile mix of excitement, fear, anticipation, and apprehension as he stared at the tent.
Fortunately, not long after, Mirajane woke up due to her internal biological clock.
Seeing Natsu's face cycling through a hilarious series of expressions, Mirajane, now refreshed, began to tease him with a mischievous smile, enjoying his obvious confusion and fear.
As Mirajane continued to play with the flustered Natsu and Happy, the expressions on their faces changed even more rapidly, much to her amusement.
The sun overhead slowly rose, eventually passing its zenith.
At this moment, there was finally some movement from Statiw and Elfman's tent. Soon, both of them emerged, stretching and yawning widely.
Seeing that Statiw was already awake, Mirajane stopped teasing Natsu and Happy. In a few quick steps, she came before him and asked, "Statiw, have you recovered your magic power?"
"Ah," Statiw nodded, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "I'll start treating them both right away."
Saying that, he brought out his easel again, positioning it to face the tent where the two Lisannas lay side by side, and began to paint while observing them.
When drawing a character for his Pict Magic, Statiw needed to capture them in extreme detail, while also channeling his understanding of their essence into the painting. Most importantly, his mind had to be completely focused, free from any distracting thoughts; otherwise, the magic would fail.
Because of this intense requirement for concentration, Statiw always preferred to draw his detailed portraits at home when he was guaranteed no interruptions.
Moreover, the difficulty of this particular drawing was very high. He knew almost nothing about the Lisanna from Edolas. His solution was to first materialize his mental-projection construct—the one with mind-affecting abilities. He then directed this construct to gently, carefully intrude into the injured girl's mind to read some of her scattered, surface memories, using them as a reference to base his drawing on. He was extremely careful to avoid causing any harm, taking only fleeting impressions.
Time passed minute by minute. Natsu and Happy, who had been sternly warned beforehand, were squatting on the ground a safe distance away, listlessly poking at the dirt.
However, Statiw had forgotten one crucial thing: the attention span and memory of these two were notoriously short.
Just as Statiw was about to put the final touches on the drawing, Natsu's voice suddenly erupted right next to his ear: "Wow! The drawing is so lifelike! It's exactly the same! Happy, come and see...!"
The sudden sound instantly shattered Statiw's concentration, startling him badly. With a twitching mouth, he could only watch in frustration as the magical connection faltered and the unfinished image of the second Lisanna faded from the drawing paper.
"Huh? Statiw, why did you erase one of the Lisannas?" Natsu, who had completely forgotten the initial warning, asked in genuine confusion, seeing the half-drawn figure vanish.
"Na...Natsu..." Natsu was confused by Statiw's furious glare, while Happy, standing not far behind him, stared intently at his back, trembling all over, trying to warn him silently.
"What is it, Happy?" Natsu heard the tremor in Happy's voice and turned to look. Cold sweat was already beading on Happy's blue fur, dripping onto the ground.
Still not grasping the situation, Natsu asked him, "What's wrong with you? You look scared."
"Natsu," Happy said, raising a trembling paw. "I don't think this is the time for you to worry about me, because..."
Before Happy could finish his sentence, and while Natsu was still utterly bewildered, Mirajane and Elfman had already arrived behind him. The air around them grew cold, and their eyes seemed to glow with a dangerous red light. "Because," Mirajane said, her voice sweet but deadly, "what you should be concerned about right now... is yourself."
Immediately after, Mirajane and Elfman each grabbed one of Natsu's arms and dragged the protesting fire mage into the nearby mountain forest. Not long after, Natsu's distant wails of pain could be heard echoing through the trees.
"Aye~," Happy sighed, the unprincipled cat no longer trembling now that the focus was off him. He even had the mood to tease his partner. "Natsu has been beaten by Erza so many times for similar blunders. Why doesn't he ever learn?"
Listening to Natsu's wails and Happy's commentary, Statiw calmly changed the drawing paper. He glanced at the Exceed and said dryly, "You're not much better than him. Think about how many fish you've missed out on because of 'blunders' like this."
"Fish." As soon as Happy heard that word, he immediately fell to his knees on the ground, striking a pose of deep, heartfelt reflection. The mere thought of lost fish was a punishment worse than any beating.
Listening to the fading wails from the forest and ignoring the theatrically repentant Happy, Statiw adjusted his mood. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and replayed the scattered memories he'd gleaned from the Edolas Lisanna's mind. Then, he fully concentrated his spirit. His eyes locked onto the girl lying in the tent, and the paintbrush in his hand began to fly across the paper with purpose and magic.
Finally, working in perfect, undisturbed silence, he completed the portrait of the second Lisanna.
When Statiw finally put down his paintbrush, his focus dissipating, what he saw was a bruised and swollen Natsu, tightly bound with ropes and with a (hopefully clean) cloth stuffed in his mouth. Next to him, Happy was receiving the same treatment, trussed up like a blue-feathered turkey. Clearly, Mirajane and Elfman had not forgotten the stupid cat, who was arguably just as foolish as his partner.
"How is it? Any problems?" Mirajane asked immediately, seeing he had finished.
"Don't worry, no problems," Statiw smiled reassuringly. He immediately channeled his magic into the two finished portraits, using them as a conduit to meticulously erase the remaining injuries from both girls, one by one.
By the time it was completely dark again, the injuries on both Lisannas had vanished completely. As the healing magic took full effect, they began to stir and woke from their unconscious state.
"Mira-nee."
"Mira-nee?"
The two girls, upon opening their eyes, made the exact same sound when they saw Mirajane.
However, one had a sweet, familiar smile on her face and used an affirmative, loving tone.
The other was full of doubt and confusion, her tone laced with questions. In her impression, her 'Mira-nee' was a gentle and kind person. Although the woman in front of her looked exactly the same, her clothing and, more importantly, her powerful and confident demeanor were vastly different—almost completely opposite.
Mirajane, who still didn't know the saved girl was from another world, was stunned for a moment hearing both of them call her 'Mira-nee'. But the moment passed quickly. The next instant, she enveloped both Lisannas in a tight, fierce hug, holding them close.
She kept muttering, her voice thick with emotion, "This is great, this is so great. You're both alright. You're both safe."
As Mirajane embraced the two Lisannas, Statiw looked at her back with a faint, relieved smile on his face. Elfman stood not far behind her, looking at the two fully recovered girls with tears of joy welling in his eyes, unable to speak.
The only sounds breaking the heartfelt scene were the incomprehensible "Mmmph! Mmmph!" noises coming from the bruised and swollen Natsu and Happy, who were still tightly bound and gagged on the ground, their eyes wide as they stared at the two identical, perfectly healthy Lisannas.