When There's Nothing Left: Chapter 4

I'm back! I'm going on a camping trip in a little less than two weeks, so I'll try and post more often to make up for the lost time. Anyway, enjoy chapter four!

Hargeon

It was well after dark, and Seth quietly slipped through the front door of his waterfront house, trying not to wake his wife and children. He was quite sure his family had sent out search parties and contacted every police department in Fiore to try to find him. After all, he hadn't been home in two days and he'd never told anyone where he was going. No doubt they were all worried out their minds. He mentally prepared for the smack from a spatula his wife was sure to give him when she realized he was home. They had an agreement to always tell each other where they were going before they left, and he had failed to do that.

Shutting the door as silently as possible, Seth crept across the tiled floor to the rear of the house and into his small office. It wasn't much, just a desk, chair, and file cabinet. Using the key that always hung around his neck, he opened the locked bottom drawer of the cabinet, glancing over his shoulder just to make sure his wife wasn't standing behind him with her spatula. When he was positive he was alone, Seth lifted the fragile box inside the drawer as carefully as possible and set on the desk. Seth's wife had no idea the box even existed, and he intended to keep it that way. The last thing he needed was his family getting involved with his work.

The large-nosed man lifted the lid and pulled out the tissue-wrapped contents. The paper was brushed away to reveal a large, spherical lacrima crystal set inside a solid gold stand. A true beauty it was. Seth gently ran his hands over the lacrima, and it began to glow a light blue. Inky black clouds swirled around until they took the shape and color of a hooded man staring back at Seth.

"Seth! Are you back in Hargeon yet?" The man in the lacrima asked.

Seth nodded. "Yes, and keep your voice down. My wife and kids are sleeping."

He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Oh, sorry. So is it done?"

"I hope so. I did what I could, but there's no guarantee the results will be instantaneous. We'll probably have to wait a few days."

"That was expected. Nothing went wrong, I presume?"

"Everything went fine. What about you? Did you complete your task?"

The man in the lacrima grimaced. "No, I wasn't fast enough. I hope this doesn't hurt us too much."

"We'll have to work with it. You did what you could. Just not sure if 'you know who' is gonna be happy."

"Yeah, that's a bit of an issue. At least it's my ass on the chopping block and not yours."

"Don't worry, I'm sure we can talk to him." A noise from the second floor of the house alerted Seth. "Shit, I think someone's waking up. We'll talk later."

Seth waved his hands over the lacrima again and it went dark. Seconds later, it was back in the bottom drawer of the file cabinet just in time for his wife to enter the office. The spatula she carried seemed to glare down at him.

"Seth?" She whispered, "you're home?" Her shock quickly turned to anger. "Do you have any idea how worried I've been? Where on earth land were you for the past two days?"

Seth sighed, trying to act as calm as possible bit internally freaking out. Dealing with his wife when she was pissed was no easy task. What had he gotten himself into?

The Fairy Tail guild hall- infirmary

Meredy had been moved to the guild's infirmary, where she was currently resting. Wendy needed to make sure she wasn't injured, since it wasn't exactly normal to pass out in the doorway of the guildhall. Erza could hardly wait for her to wake up. She said she had a message, and it must be about Jellal, right? Anxiety had her pacing the room, thinking of all the different things Meredy might have to say.

Wendy entered the room and walked to Meredy's bedside. "You don't need to worry Erza, everything's going to be fine. She should be awake soon. It looks as if she ran all the way here, so she's just tired and a little dehydrated. There aren't any injuries other than a few scrapes here and there, so that's good."

Erza nodded and sat opposite Wendy. It wasn't Meredy she was worried about, though. Of course she cared about her well-being, but right now all Erza could think about was Jellal and what could have possibly caused Meredy to come rushing to Magnolia.

Gray and Juvia opened the door and came to sit with Erza and Wendy.

"Will Meredy be alright?" Juvia asked the young dragonslayer.

"Yeah, she's okay. Just tired is all."

The next person to come through the door, in her drunken stupor, was the one and only Cana. Natsu and Lucy trailed in behind her.

"Hey, look who I found hanging out in the wine cellar! I'm sure they were having fun down there!" Cana slurred between hiccups, winking at Lucy.

A blush made it's way across the celestial mage's face. "It's not like that! We got stuck down there!"

"Mmhm. You can't fool me! We all know what was really happening!"

Gray snickered, which of course led to a deadly verbal debate between him and Natsu. Erza stepped in when the fighting began to get physical.

"That's enough! You two could destroy the entire guild hall and end up hurting Meredy!"

The boys backed down, although reluctantly. Neither of them wanted to make Meredy worse than she already was, but they certainly lived to beat each other up.

Juvia, who was watching the sleeping mage, suddenly gasped. "Her eyelids just flickered! She's waking up!"

All if the present mages instantly became silent and turned their attention to the slumbering girl. Sure enough, Meredy slowly opened her eyes and looked at all of the Fairy Tail members staring at her. "Wha-what happened?" she groaned groggily.

"You're in the Fairy Tail infirmary. You passed out when you came running into the guild hall." Lucy told her.

Recognition passed over her face. "Oh yeah! I remember now!" More awake, Meredy sat up. "I came here to deliver a message. If all of you don't mind, I'd like to speak to Erza in private."

The others nodded and left the two women alone in the hospital room. They all suspected Meredy had news of Jellal, and Erza should be the first to hear it.

Meredy looked grave. "You're not going to like this, Erza. A few days ago, Jellal and I were camping in this little cave, evading the council. Jellal was asleep, and I went out to go look for more wood since our fire was running a little low. I was just about to go back to the cave when I heard these weird noises. I hid behind a tree just as three guys walked right into the cave and beat Jellal up before he was even awake. I wanted to help, but I figured it would be better to follow them instead, then go get help from Fairy Tail. I never got a good look at their faces, but I know they weren't from the council. Anyway, once he was unconscious, the men took him out of the cave and started walking through the woods. I trailed behind the whole time, using the trees for cover. We walked for about a good hour until we reached this weird building, and the men hauled him inside. That's the last I saw of them. Although, I did catch a snippet of their conversation on the way there. They said something about 'as long as no one finds the control room, it'll be fine.' I'm not sure what that means, but I think it could be a potential weakness."

Erza thought long and hard about what Meredy had just told her. So Jellal had been taken captive. Maybe these men somehow brought back the Jellal from the tower of heaven and that's why he was ordering attacks?

Meredy continued. "So I ran all the way here. But someone was chasing me the whole time. I originally thought it was someone from the council, but thinking about it now, it was probably one of the three men who realized Jellal had someone with him, and came after me, too. I'm not totally sure."

"So these guys kidnapped Jellal and now they're after you?

"I think so."

"And this control room is a potential weakness."

"Yeah."

Erza sighed. This must be connected to the attacks, but she wasn't sure how.

"Do you remember where this building is exactly?"

"Well I know where the cave is, and I know what direction they went. I could find it if I tried. Do you want me to take you there?"

"Not now, maybe later though. I need to think on this a bit, and it would be foolish to charge in there with just the two of us. There's no telling how much backup those men have inside there." Erza smiled at Meredy. "Why don't you come downstairs? Mira can get you something to eat."

Meredy nodded. "I'd like that. Thank you, Erza."

"No problem."

She was still a little bit weak from running so much, but with Erza's help, Meredy was able to get out of the hospital bed and slowly and carefully walk to the main part of the guild hall once she was feeling up to it. Mira's cooking was quite fabulous, and Meredy was most definitely famished.

As soon as Erza and Meredy set foot into the main hall, they were greeted by a crowed of excited and concerned mages, relived to see the pink-haired mage up and walking.

"Meredy!" Juvia said after giving her a hug, "how are you feeling?"

"Much better now, thank you for asking."

Gray patted her on the head. "Good to see you back on your feet!"

"I was just really exhausted, it's not that big of a deal you guys. I appreciate your concern, though."

Erza guided Meredy to the bar after the Fairy Tail mages finished bombarding her, where they both took a seat. Even though she had been resting for quite a while in the infirmary, Meredy was greatful for a place to sit and rest her legs, which were still very sore.

Mira saw the two women sitting at the bar and scurried over to them. "Can I get you something to eat or drink?"

"Lemonade and some hot soup, please," Meredy requested.

"Of course! Anything for you, Erza? Some strawberry cake, perhaps?"

Well since she offered… "Sure. One slice couldn't hurt."

Mira disappeared to fulfill their orders, leaving Meredy and Erza a few minutes to chat.

"So Erza, if you decide to infiltrate the weird building those guys took Jellal into, who would go with you? You did say it would be bad for just us to go in."

"I don't know yet. I suppose I'll just take whoever is willing and knows their way around the battlefield."

"That's pretty much your entire guild. As soon as they know what happened to Jellal, they'll all want to go help. That's just the way Fairy Tail is, and it's what I most admire about all of you. Everyone will drop everything to lend a helping hand."

Erza grinned. "Indeed. I'll take an elite team with me, so we can finish the job as soon as possible. We'll leave in two days. That should be enough time for me to gather a team and have everyone prepare. Don't worry Meredy, we're going to save Jellal, one way or another."

And there's chapter four! Don't forget to favorite, follow, and review!