Erza couldn't shake the feeling that someone had been watching them earlier, but she couldn't see anyone nearby or sense anyone for that matter. She didn't tell anyone as it was possible she was just feeling nervous about breaking into a country illegally and didn't want to worry everyone unnecessarily. As they made the long trek to Kadessa that feeling slowly went away and she felt calmer, but she was still wondering if someone had seen them and recognized them as illegal guests. Finally she decided there was no point in worrying about this for now, besides they were already close to the capital city and they needed to meet up with the other groups. Jura had shown her some mercy by not putting her in a group with Bacchus or Ichiya, but he ended up putting her with Natsu, Sting, and Gajeel and it was tough trying to get them all to shut up and keep walking. Chelia, Ren, and Kagura were the other members and Kagura was sick of the three dragon slayers' bickering and finally threatened to cut their heads off if they wouldn't shut up soon, the look on her face showed that she was serious and all of them hastily gave out an apology before keeping quiet.
"Thanks a lot for that Kagura" Erza said
"No problem, one of us was going to have to do that eventually I just happened to get sick of them first" Kagura replied
"The look on their faces was priceless though, I'm sure they thought you would actually kill them" Erza laughed
"I would have" Kagura said bluntly
"Really?" Erza asked
"That was a joke" Kagura said cracking a small smile
Erza gave an unsure laugh wondering if Kagura was actually joking earlier, but she also realized that this was the first time she had actually seen Kagura smile. Erza was happy that Kagura was a bit more willing to show some emotion rather than maintain her calm demeanor all the time. They finally saw a large gate that led to the capital city of Kadessa; it was a simple wooden gate with iron supports, there were guards lined up on the wall and most seemed to be drinking instead of actually watching the people go in and out of the city. They soon found out why though, as they entered the city they were met with the sight of thousands of people busily going through the city.
"Guess Jura wasn't lying when he said we could hide in the crowd" Ren said
"No kidding, but how are we supposed to find everyone there's no way we could just spot them in this crowd?" Sting asked
"We'll find them with love! As long as you have love you'll always be able to find each other" Chelia said happily
"You've been listening to Sherry too much" Ren sighed
"You should too, after all you two are engaged" Chelia replied
"We're not engaged, just resigned to being with each other forever" he muttered
"So engaged" Kagura summed up
"He'll never admit it though" Chelia said to Ren's ire
"Don't we have more important things to do, like I don't know find the rest of our team!" he exclaimed
"We'll figure out a way" Happy said
"Natsu, can you smell anyone?" Erza asked trying to get them back on topic
"I wish, there are too many different odors and they're all mixing up together in my nose there's no way I can find everyone else from here" Natsu said
"Salamander's right, we can't sit here and hope they come to us we need to search for them" Gajeel said
"Didn't Jura say we should all meet up in the Central Square?" Pantherlily asked
"He did, but where's the center of this place…it's huge!" Lector asked
"How about if one of us searches from above?" Happy asked
"The last thing we need to do is draw attention to ourselves, we'll have to do this by foot" Erza said
"We should stick together, no sense in splitting up again especially with no way to contact each other" Kagura said which everyone agreed with and they all moved into the crowd which had its own flow often times sending them to places they didn't want to go
"Maybe we should ask for directions?" Sting asked after they all managed to take refuge in an alleyway to escape the crowd
"Wouldn't that just make us look like outsiders?" Gajeel asked
"Not really, we can just say we came from the countryside or something like that and I'm sure they'd sympathize with us" Erza replied
"I don't think we have that country look though" Sting said as he examined the different styles of clothing everyone wore including Erza's armor
"Also it would be difficult trying to explain our presence in particular, I doubt anyone here knows what an Exceed is and seeing three of them might scare some away" Pantherlily pointed out
"You know at this point I feel like we're over thinking things" Natsu said
"Or maybe we're just not trying to get caught, meanwhile you're not able to think of anything because you're an idiot Salamander" Gajeel replied with a smirk on his face
"What was that?" Natsu asked as he and Gajeel butted heads
"You realize Kagura is about to cut both your heads off right?" Sting asked pointing to Kagura who had already assumed a fighting stance causing Natsu and Gajeel to back off immediately, they heard laughing and turned to see Lucy, Mirajane, and Orga who was barely keeping his laughter inside
"Do you guys have any idea of how silly you're acting right now?" Lucy asked with a disappointed look
"How long have you been watching?" Natsu asked
"Long enough" Lucy answered
"So what are you three doing here then?" Erza asked
"Jura asked us to look for you guys and bring you to where the rest of the group was" Mirajane answered
"He couldn't have waited for a few more minutes?" Kagura asked
"Well he said that twenty minutes of waiting was long enough, and with how you guys were acting just a few seconds ago I think he was right" Lucy answered
"He also wanted us to pass a message to you Erza" Mirajane remembered
"What did he say?" Erza asked curiously wondering why he didn't wait until they had all joined up
"He said that he's disappointed that you weren't able to get your group to where everyone else was, and that Laxus won't stop making fun of him for trusting you" Mirajane answered with bright look
"That man…if he and Laxus weren't so strong I'd rip their heads off" Erza seethed
"Sting, you clearly have a long way to go before you can become the master of any guild" Orga said knowingly
"Are you supposed to be my mentor now?" Sting asked
"I'd like to think so" Orga said with a large grin on his face
"I'm just surprised that Lucy had to save us, normally it's the other way around" Happy noted
"What did you say?" Lucy asked angrily charging at Happy
"Calm down Lucy" Natsu said quickly getting in the way, but Lucy threw him aside easily and was held back by Gajeel and Ren before getting to Happy
"Lucy's scary when she gets angry" Happy said hiding behind Pantherlily
"Come on just take us to where everyone else is already" Erza sighed as she was tired of dealing with her group
"Of course, right this way" Mirajane said
They waited a few moments for Lucy to calm down so Ren and Gajeel wouldn't be needed to keep her in check, then Mirajane led the group back into the flow of the crowd. They moved with the crowd at an easy pace: Orga was still teasing Sting and Lector, Ren was doing his tsundere style flirting with Lucy while Chelia lectured him for "cheating" on her cousin, while Erza and Kagura were both observing the city as they walked on. The buildings shared very few similarities with each other, like they were all designed by different people; the different architectural styles and colors gave a sense of individuality to the city which was impressive considering the size of Kadessa. It seemed almost as big as Crocus, while it didn't have as many flowers as Crocus the city made did make an effort to preserve nature evidenced by the amount of gardens, flowers, and trees that were in the city. The city and its inhabitants didn't look or act strange by any means which made Erza a bit confused as to why Ishval was very keen on limiting outside contact.
"Maybe all of this is a façade, and the city is darker than it shows? That's the only reason I can think of for explaining their border policy" she thought to herself
Finally they got to the Central Square after some walking, there was some grumbling from the others mainly asking why Jura would think this would be easy to find. They also noted that the crowd didn't have as many people as it started with which gave a sense of privacy and respect to those who were relaxing in the square. There was a large fountain in the middle that every few seconds shot off different colored spurts of water; children were playing all around the area but stopped to see a mage perform various tricks with fire much to their delight. Mirajane pointed to where Jura and everyone else were located although neither Kat nor Mavis was with them and took them to him.
"Did you give her my message?" Jura asked
"Oh yeah I heard it" Erza said barely concealing her annoyance at Jura
"Good, hopefully next time you won't disappoint me" he said with a half serious expression before he and Laxus started laughing
"Wait, you weren't serious?" Erza asked
"Of course not, I left you in charge of three idiots, a klutzy girl, and a guy who won't admit to liking anything…I'm surprised that you or Kagura didn't kill anyone though" Jura said
"There were threats made, but nobody was stupid enough to try me" Kagura said with what seemed like a regretful tone
"That's good, well since we're all here why don't we begin discussing how we're going to go about learning about Tartaros?" Jura asked
"Can we really discus this stuff out in the open?" Laxus asked
"You see how everyone seems to keep to themselves or their close friends? If it doesn't involve them the folks here tend to leave you alone, there's a respect for privacy…well to some extent anyway as long as we're not loud" Jura replied
"What about Kat?" Natsu asked
"She said she works better alone when it comes to these types of things" Eve answered
"What a strange girl" Milliana remarked remembering the last time she saw Kat alone
"Well whatever she's up to she said she'll come back to the hotel lobby around night time" Eve explained
"Alright then, well to start things off Hibiki will act as the command center for us in his hotel room where he hopefully won't be disturbed" Jura started
"That works but what if you need to give us information, if I remember right there were loading bars over our heads when you'd do that" Gray said
"Don't worry it's not like I've been doing nothing these past seven years, I've worked hard on my craft. I've optimized it for stealth purposes, so you won't need to worry about loud notifications alerting the enemy…the downside being that it takes a bit longer for you to receive the information" Hibiki explained
"Well we're in no rush right now so that shouldn't be an issue" Eve pointed out
"Should we keep anyone near him just in case?" Wendy asked
"Don't worry Wendy I'm more than capable of defending myself regardless of what the Grand Magic Games showed of my overall power" Hibiki said confidently "But if you insist on keeping people around me, may I request either Mirajane or Lucy?"
"Aren't you going out with Jenny though?" Ren asked
"You're engaged to Sherry and have no trouble flirting with other women, besides things between Jenny and I aren't that serious we're in an open relationship" Hibiki answered
"Just like I taught him" Ichiya said admiringly
"Not going to happen" Lucy said bluntly
"You're not really my type" Mirajane said with a smile
"That hurts" he said trying to put on a cute expression to gain some sympathy
"Alright so we've got our command center, are we all just going to split up and look around then?" Erza asked ignoring Hibiki completely
"Pretty much, this place is so huge we could all spend hours asking around and still not run into each other, but Hibiki will make sure that we've covered every part of the city instead of going to places where others have already gone" Jura replied
"When and where should we meet up?" Lyon asked
"We'll meet up in the hotel lobby we checked in at earlier" Jura answered
"Oh and don't worry about your group Erza we already checked you guys in" Laxus said tossing the room keys for Erza to distribute
"So nobody wants to keep me company?" Hibiki asked getting tired of being ignored
"Don't worry buddy I'll keep you company! Yeah it'll be great, we can drink together and pick up ladies at the bar…well I can anyway you'll be hard at work" Bacchus volunteered
"Well I-"Hibiki started
"A wonderful idea Bacchus, I'll join you besides it'll be a good time to compare our notes on charming women" Ichiya said
"But sir, aren't you already the master at that?" Eve and Ren asked
"One can never stop learning the art of pleasing a woman; one must always learn more so they can stay on top of their game. Do you understand?" Ichiya explained
"Yes Sir!" they both responded enthusiastically
"A great idea, Ichiya and Bacchus can keep Hibiki safe and have fun while we explore" Erza said happy to get rid of those two
"Have fun you three!" everyone else said as they all went in search of information
"What did I do to deserve this?" Hibiki moaned as he was dragged into the hotel by Bacchus and Ichiya
Everyone split up into small groups or went individually to different parts of the city; they waited until Hibiki had established his command center and could record what everyone was doing. Any frustrations over being stuck with Ichiya and Bacchus left Hibiki immediately as he devoted all his concentration to keeping up with everyone. It was a tedious task coordinating all their efforts but he was skillfully guiding everyone along to make sure they covered as much of the city as possible; the fact that he was doing this while Bacchus and Ichiya were both drinking and having loads of fun next to him made it more impressive. As more information was being gathered he began seeing a pattern about how the people viewed Tartaros: it was like Tartaros was just another guild to the people, it didn't bother them that they were classified as a dark guild. People were proud to know Tartaros members, and mages from guilds in Ishval spoke pretty nicely about the mages of Tartaros they knew. He noticed how nobody had ever seen the so called elite members of Tartaros or their Master in person not even Tartaros mages. This wouldn't make it any easier to track them down, but he did start to come up with a way of being able to narrow their search down for these elite members whom he gave a high priority of finding.
"Everyone listen to me for a few second" Hibiki started
"What's wrong, are Bacchus and Ichiya distracting you?" Chelia asked
"No they went back to the bar about an hour ago, from the noises I'm still hearing they're still down there" Hibiki answered
"Then what is it?" Wendy asked
"Well from all the information I've gotten from you all, it's that Tartaros is actually viewed in the same way people view legal guilds in general meaning that challenging them outright would be ill advised. Next is that the elite members and Master of Tartaros have never been seen, or if they have been seen then they haven't been associated with the guild at all" he explained
"How's that?" Lyon asked
"They have a different identification on them so you associate them with some other guild rather than Tartaros" Hibiki answered
"They wear different markers, then what's the point of being in the same guild in the first place?" Natsu asked
"I don't know why they do it Natsu, but they must have their reasons and whatever they are they can't be good. However because nobody's ever seen them before we don't know what these markers actually look, also there's the fact that we don't know that the other guilds in this area are so we can't just interrogate everyone without the normal Tartaros mark. That's why I need you guys to collect information on all the other guilds in the area specifically their guild mark and how many mages are in that guild" Hibiki said
"That shouldn't be too hard, all we need to do is say that we want to become mages of a guild and are just looking around" Gray realized
"That's a good plan, that's all for now" Hibiki said
"Got it" they all said before continuing their search
"What's this?" Hibiki muttered to himself as he counted the trackers he had on his map "One's missing, it's Erza I think what happened to her?" he said before deciding to wait a few minutes before asking anyone else what happened
Erza thanked the storekeeper who had graciously answered her questions without questioning her at all and even gave her a discount on a few snacks. She left, opened the bag of chips, and popped one into her mouth; it was good and soon she had finished the bag before she got to the next store to ask about Tartaros. She had noticed the same trend Hibiki would later realiz, namely that whoever these elite members were they isolated themselves from the rest of the guild for some reason. Perhaps they were doing the high level stuff and would call on the rest of the guild when they needed more muscle to fulfill their goals. But nobody had any idea of whom they were, some even wondered if they were just myths designed to make Tartaros look more powerful than they really were, either way her search for them was fruitless so far. Suddenly from the corner of her eye she could see someone watch her and turned around to see who it was; she saw someone in a hood beckon her over, she could see blue hair sticking out from the hood and immediately knew who it was.
"That idiot, what's he doing?" she sighed
"Everything alright Erza?" Hibiki asked her
"That's right, he's recording everything I'm saying and hearing" she thought "Everything's fine" she said
"You sure?" he asked
"Don't worry Hibiki, just focus on keeping Natsu and Happy focused on what they're supposed to do" she reminded him
"Yeah yeah" he sighed
"Here's my chance" she thought severing the connection she had with Hibiki's command center so she could talk in private
She went towards where she last saw the hooded figure and he was sitting at a table waiting for her and pointed at the seat across from him for her to sit which she did.
"You're an idiot you know that right?" she asked
"Why would you start a conversation this way?" he asked sullenly
"Because Jellal, you clearly don't understand the concept of stealth. There's no point in the hood if your very identifiable blue hair keeps poking out" Erza pointed out causing him to take off his hood
"Fine is it better if we just converse like this?" he asked
"No, because if Kagura sees you she might go berserk and kill you so keep it on…just don't move your head too much" she answered
"Don't move my head too much?" he muttered as he put the hood back on
"What are you doing here?" she asked
"Me and the gang snuck here after you guys to help out with the investigating, we're returning the favor for helping us back in Crocus." He answered
"So where's Ultear and Meldy?" she asked
"Keeping track of me to make sure I don't get in trouble, because apparently I'm the one who carries the most risk of causing an incident just by being present" he explained
"They are right" she said
"Hey, I'm trying to be a better guy" he said
"I know, but some won't forgive you easily" she said
"That's true, but that's not why I asked you to come here. I have some news about Tartaros since I know they're the guys you're after" he said
"What do you have to say?" she asked
"So you know how their elite members are unknown at the moment?" he asked
"You know how to find them?" she asked getting interested
"Nope, but I was able to find out that Tartaros has some major political power right now. There are a lot of powerful people who sympathize with them and don't like how the Council branded them a dark guild a while ago" he explained
"But they were branded a dark guild a long time ago, way before we were born" she pointed out
"Exactly, the sympathy for Tartaros has been existent for a long time and has only grown over the years as they're constantly portrayed in a positive light here which may be why Ishval is shall we say on bad terms with the Council right now. Be careful, we're in a foreign country trying to fight a guild that's popular with the people here if there's an attempt on them you'll only cause a war with Ishval" he explained
"Well this makes things a lot more fun" she sighed
"That's one way of looking at things, well that's all the info I have right now" he said while getting up
"What if we need to talk again?" she asked
"We're staying at a hotel that's a few blocks away from the one you guys are at, Ultear made sure that we would stay hidden for now. Anyway the hotel is some mix of purple and blue and the architecture is shall we say… postmodern so it's easy to spot" Jellal answered
"Take care" she said
"You too" he said before walking off
"Oh right, I'd better connect to Hibiki again otherwise he'll be worried, or worse send Bacchus and Ichiya to find me" she said shuddering at the idea before reestablishing the connection
"Erza there you are, what happened?" Hibiki asked with relief in his voice
"I talked to someone who didn't want to be recorded, I'm not that good at lying so I turned it off just in case" she lied noticing the irony in her statement
"Well it's getting late we're all meeting up in the lobby to discuss our findings" he said believing her lie
"I'll be there" she said before getting up and returning to the hotel that she had no idea of how to get to since she hadn't actually seen it before so she was really just wandering around to embarrassed to ask Hibiki, luckily she saw Kat who was in the middle of a rough interrogation it looked like however Mavis wasn't with her
"Nobody can save you, just tell me what I need to know and I won't shoot you in the face" Kat said with a bright smile
"I already told you, I don't know how to find them!" the unfortunate man exclaimed with tears coming out of his eyes
"Kat, be nice to the guy" Erza said walking up to the pair
"Why should I, he's been uncooperative the entire time trying to get me to pay him for stuff I already know. My master told me that the only way to deal with this type was a blade to the throat, and since all I have are guns I figured a gun to the head would serve the same purpose" she answered with the same smile
"Please help me" he begged Erza
"If you just tell her what she wants to know then we'll be on our way" Erza said
"See I told you nobody would save you" Kat said turning her attention back to the man
"I can't tell you!" he exclaimed
"You can't? Or won't?" Kat asked
"Same thing, if I tell you what I know I'll be killed!" he answered
"I knew you were lying earlier!" Kat said triumphantly
"Wait who'll kill you?" Erza asked
"They will!" he said after looking around
"Names I need names" Kat said
"If I say names they'll kill me, and then they'll kill you too! They own these streets, nobody knows it but they know everything that happens here" he said
"Tartaros?" Erza asked
"Among others yes" he replied fearfully
"Well if you won't give names, then how do they do it? Are we talking constant surveillance, info brokers, magic?" Kat asked still keeping her gun near his head
"Info brokers who know everything somehow, I'm just one of the underlings" he said
"Well how do we meet your employer?" Erza asked
"You don't, he meets you" he explained
"Who is he then?" Kat asked getting annoyed with the man's vague answers
"I don't know I've never met him like I said I'm not important enough to see him, all the information I get is passed down from the top to the bottom. I only know the guy who gives me my information, and that's it the organization is set on secrecy" he explained
"Now was that too hard for you to say?" Kat asked releasing the man from her grip and putting her gun back in its holster
"You're letting him go?" Erza asked
"That's all he'll tell us, besides no point in getting him killed since he could help us out later" Kat explained
"Well Hibiki wants us to meet up in the lobby" Erza said
"Alrighty" Kat said "You want me to take you there because you don't know where it is don't you?"
"That would be nice" Erza said with relief "By the way do you know where Mavis is?"
"Not really, I told her to leave me alone while I ask around so she wandered off" Kat explained
"Why did she follow you?" Erza asked
"Apparently because my speech and behavior remind her of someone she used to know so she wanted to hang around me until she remembered who that person was. Don't worry about her though, she's a ghost what's the worst that can happen?" Kat explained
"I guess you're right" Erza said
Kat led Erza back to the hotel they were all staying at; it was getting late and she noted that the amount of people walking around decreased by a lot, the place was almost like a ghost town. She shrugged it off and continued to the hotel, it was a very colorful one filled with many different colors, and the style seemed like the painters just threw their cans of paint at it and called it art. They went inside and everyone was in a conference room they had rented for privacy and so they could fit everyone in one room including Ichiya and Bacchus who were still unconscious from their drinking yet there was still no Mavis. Jura had ordered some food for everyone since it was around dinner time for everyone, with Kat and Erza's arrival they began their meeting. Hibiki started by uploading all the info he had collated into one file so everyone would remember it as it was highly important, and then he asked if anyone had anything else to contribute looking at Erza who could take a hint.
"I talked to someone who explained that apparently there are powerful people in the kingdom who support Tartaros and this has been going on for generations, so we need to be careful about pursuing their elites" Erza explained
"So it's not just the people huh?" Gray asked
"Nope, he also said that Tartaros is actively portrayed in a positive light to keep up their appeal to the people" Erza continued
"That's what I got from my last visit too, Tartaros has friends in high places which certainly adds to the possibility of a takeover sometime soon" Jura said
"Do we know when they'd make a move?" Milliana asked
"Not really the people are happy with life as it is, no reason to support a coup" Jura said
"But if something were to happen to show the weakness of the current kingdom…" Laxus started
"Then they'd be welcomed as heroes" Lucy finished
"Anything else?" Hibiki asked after he made sure he had recorded everything said so far
"Yeah, I got a guy to tell me some pretty important stuff" Kat said
"You pretty much threatened it out of him" Erza sighed
"Does it matter how I got it though? Besides I didn't kill the guy" Kat responded
"What'd he say?" Sting asked
"Something about a group of people who're monitoring everything that's going on and selling that information to Tartaros" Kat explained
"Who?" Natsu asked
"The guy doesn't even know the leader just that if he's interested in us he'll meet us not the other way around. But he seemed pretty fearful of naming any names because he said he'd be killed by them so they have some way of knowing what's going on" Kat explained
"Hmm so Tartaros gets their information from another group?" Hibiki asked
"Which means we need to talk to whoever these guys are soon and see what's going on too" Gajeel said
"But how?" Sting asked
"Ah! I'm tired of all this sneaking around why can't we just go and interrogate one of the Emperor's men" Natsu asked getting frustrated
"Because we'd be killed before we could do anything useful" Kat answered bluntly
"She's right, Natsu just bare with the stealth for some more time. I'm sure there are fights on the way" Mirajane encouraged
"Well if that's all" Hibiki started
"Wait, wouldn't this be a good time for Jura to talk about the gods to us?" Lyon asked
"Yeah, if we could get their help then beating Tartaros would be easy" Chelia said
"I guess there's no better time. Well as you know the Gods of Ishval are deemed by the Council as the four most powerful mages on Earthland, they're far more powerful than I am it would be like a child fighting a lion if I challenged one of them" Jura started causing some startled whispers
"He's that afraid of them?" Sting asked
"Not afraid, but respectful" Orga said
"And I had enough trouble with him, could I challenge them?" Laxus thought
"Quiet everyone, Jura keep going" Ichiya said having recovered from his hangover
"Thank you Ichiya. However just because they are called Gods of Ishval doesn't mean they're from Ishval it's a title that the Council granted to Ishval a while ago. The only way to become a god is to find and kill an existing god or to get them to surrender to you willingly after a battle, this is of course rules that Ishval came up with that the Council begrudgingly agreed on." Jura said
"Who'd try killing one of them?" Kagura asked
"Someone stupid that's who" Lucy said
"Or someone really strong" Natsu said
"All of the above actually. Well anyway I don't know too much about the current batch of Gods other than their names since I've never seen them fight and they're loathe to give away secrets. There's The Lawmaker Jaster known as Jazz, there's Zale who's one of the nobleman here, the Emperor's personal bodyguard Hayate Blackburn, and then there's the most recent addition to the batch…I don't know his name since he was keen on making sure nobody knew it for some reason so we just called him Nameless to annoy him" Jura explained
"How recent?" Kat asked
"One year ago, which was the last time I ever came here" Jura explained
"They sound like they have important positions, how would we talk to them?" Wendy asked
"It'd be very difficult seeing as we came here illegally, we'd have to deal with guards to talk to two of them and I don't know how to contact Zale or Nameless" Jura sighed
"Speaking of guards" Eve said pointing outside where a squadron of guards led by Riza Blackburn was talking to the receptionist
"What are they doing here?" Lucy asked fearfully
"Well if they're here to fight then I'm up for it!" Natsu said
"No you idiot, the last thing we need to do is fight the guards" Erza said
"What's that girl doing?" Kagura asked noticing how Riza was pulling a handle out from her jacket and pointing it at Natsu who she was eyeing with some suspicion
"Crap, I think they're onto us" Kat realized
"How, I thought we were unnoticed?" Milliana asked
"That handle is turning red, I think she's after you Natsu" Gray said
"Natsu there's a way out the back you can use, get out and find a place to hide" Jura ordered quickly
"But" Natsu started
"Natsu move now before that girl comes here with her squad" Erza said, Natsu nodded before he took Happy and went out the back as soon as he did everyone got up to form a human wall to prevent Riza and her squad from pursuing
"Out of the way good people, I think your friend snuck in here illegally and I'm going to arrest him and make him tell me who else came with him so I can arrest them. So if you wouldn't mind" Riza said as she tried to squeeze her way past everyone
"What are you talking about?" Kat asked playfully
"Please Ma'am this is official business so get out of the way otherwise we'll arrest you for obstruction of justice" Harvey said as he slowly pushed past everyone
"But what justice are we obstructing, the only proof you have is that your handle turned red which could mean anything" Mirajane said
"Look lady this handle has found more people than a bloodhound, it hasn't let me down before and it won't now" Riza explained as she finally pushed past everyone before sprinting out of the back door
The man didn't seem to be anywhere in sight, but his pink hair was sure to make him stick out in the night. Riza pointed the handle in different directions until it glowed that blazing red color and she followed the direction it was pointing. Meanwhile her squad had finally made it past that human barrier, but didn't see the culprit or their commander.
"Great, her brother's gonna kill us now" Harvey sighed
"Us? He's only going to kill you" one of the guards said
"All the more reason we need to find them" Harvey said as he ordered them to split up and find them at all costs
Happy could barely hold onto Natsu as he sprinted down the streets of Kadessa going to random streets to try and throw off his pursuer. Happy turned to see that Riza had somehow found them and was closing in on them quickly; Natsu noticed too and turned around to face her. He took a deep breath and fired a powerful roar of fire at her, but she stopped in her tracks and activated the handle she was holding. Natsu could hear a whirling sound and saw that the handle she was holding was glowing, and soon he saw a silver colored blade made of magical energy forming up and ended in what looked like a katana. The roar was about to hit Riza but she quickly stabbed the mass of flames with her blade, and to Natsu's shock the flames disappeared the moment they hit her blade. He smartly ran off before the roar had ended so by the time Riza had dealt with the roar Natsu had already made a hard left and was out of sight again. She smiled as the excitement over this hunt was getting to her and she sprinted off to find him; the game of cat and mouse continued for a while and repeated itself often: Riza would get close to Natsu who would use some version of a magical attack to distract her and he'd run off again.
"She just doesn't quit does she?" Natsu muttered after getting away for what seemed like the hundredth time
"She is persistent, but I don't know what we can do against that weird sword of hers" Happy said
"That's the problem, I can't attack her and she's faster than me so she'll always catch up. I don't know if we can fly away as we'd probably alert every single guard in the city and they'd shoot us down most likely" Natsu said "You got any ideas partner?" he asked
"None" Happy declared bluntly
"Well I guess we hope she tires out first, that or someone helps me out" Natsu sighed, he continued running until he heard someone call out to him
"Hey buddy you and your talking cat look like you're in some trouble" the voice said
"Who said that?" Natsu asked looking around
"I did" a man said who was leaning against a wall. He was around Laxus' height, had wild hair that was brown in color, yellow eyes, and was wearing a sleeveless black shirt with jeans
"What do you want, I'm kind of on the run right now?" Natsu asked
"I want to help you out, here put this on it'll make sure that Riza won't find you" he said tossing Natsu a cape
"Riza?" Natsu asked still staring at the cape
"The girl who's after you, one of Ishval's best trackers but with that cloak on she won't be able to see you that well" he explained
"But she has that handle to track me with" Natsu said
"Trust me it'll be too late by the time she figures that out" the man said
"I guess I don't have a choice" Natsu said putting on the cape
"Good, now follow me" the man said leading Natsu and Happy down the street at an easy pace
Just like he said Riza somehow didn't realize that Natsu was still in plain sight to her left, she cursed before continuing in her current direction. Natsu breathed a sigh of relief but was told by the man that they still needed to move quickly since she would return very soon.
"Where are you taking me?" Natsu asked
"To a man who can get you off the hook" the man said
"I see, what's your name?" Natsu asked
"Keji Stevenson, but just call me Keji" he said
"Okay, I'm Natsu"
"Nice to meet you" Keji said with a small smile
Natsu finally saw where Keji was taking him and Happy to hide out and he was shocked to see that it was a large mansion. It seemed normal compared to the other buildings he had seen, except that it dwarfed even the hotel they were staying at. There was a large gate that surrounded it, but Keji went up to it and after punching in a code it opened for them.
"Is it really okay if we hide here?" Natsu asked after getting over the building's size
"Of course it is" Keji said as he led Natsu inside the compound "Besides the dude who lives here wanted me to bring you here"
"What?" Natsu and Happy asked in surprise as Keji opened the door and beckoned them inside which they did
The mansion somehow seemed even bigger on the inside so much it made the one Lucy used to live in look like a small house. The mansion was well furnished and filled with many exotic things that Natsu had never seen before, but Keji took him to another part of the house before he could finish examining everything. It was a large living room filled with top of the line furniture that all looked custom made, Natsu noticed Mavis sitting on one of the couches which surprised him. She merely smiled and waved at him before pointing at a man who was sitting on a recliner and watching Natsu with some interest before standing up to greet Natsu. He was a few inches taller than Natsu, had ruby colored hair although there was some gray mixed in with the ruby that he kept very short, he had calm black eyes and his face was unblemished except for the wrinkles around the his eyes.
"Welcome to my house young one" the man said bowing to Natsu
"I should be bowing to you, you got that girl to leave me alone" Natsu said
"You won't need to worry about her anymore, I'll talk with her when she comes by and settle this whole thing out for you" he said
"Thank you very much" Happy said
"Wow, never thought I'd see an Exceed up close" the man said examining Happy
"You know what an Exceed is?" Natsu asked feeling somewhat suspicious of this man
"I know many things because I need to, otherwise I would have been killed a while ago. Kadessa is not a safe place for men of my ranking sadly" he said
"Your ranking?" Natsu asked
"He's one of the noblemen of the city" Keji explained
"But no need for titles or anything like that" the man said
"What should we call you then?" Natsu asked
"Just call me Zale"