Sorry, it's been two weeks. The reason is because I didn't think I had another chapter down...but I did; miscalculation on my part.

Disclaimer: Don't own anyone from FT.


Zero pulls on a latch and hauls himself in and Jellal follows with a look to the rest of his group. Erza follows and then Vidaldus. When Richard finally climbs up Zero drags himself forward saying "Come on, they feel the vibe of this place."

Jellal sighs and starts forward hunched his hand lighting up with a slight glow.

"Where are we?" Erza asks.

"It's a drill somebody left behind." is Zero's answer. "The machine is dead, but the power source ain't." He touches something and then there is a whirring sound before the light cut on. It's a large room dusty and dirty, the air is thick and heavy but it seems like it'll do. Zero looks out the door then closes it slowly.

"Wow, what a shithole." Vidaldus grumbles, "You live here?"

"Oh, no. No." Zero chuckled tauntingly and creepily, "This is my summer home. I winter in the Riviera. The schools are so much nicer there." He stands in Vidaldus' personal space, who stares at him with wide eyes, and looks him up and down. "And the men, ooh la la." He turns away and faces Jellal, "By the way, You're welcome."

Erza who is standing next to a stiff Kagura asks, "How have you survived?"

Zero leans over and wafts something to his nose, "Salvaging what I can, whenever I can, from what I can."

He pauses then turns back as though introducing them, "Oh, Zero, Kain, Oracion Seis." Jellal and Erza both look at Richard who is glaring at Zero. "They drop yall in too?" he chuckles.

"Yeah." Jellal nods with a sigh, no use lying, it's not like it'd do them any good.

He chuckles heartily but also patronizingly, "What a rush." and starts humming something.

Vidaldus picks up a piece of light armor studies it then bangs on it a few times. Zero turns sharply snapping, "Hey!" then turns to his left where no one is sitting, "Yea, yea, I'll tell him. Hey, Mr. Rock&Roll, you wanna put that down?" Erza stared at her not even trying to suppress her blatant look of confusion that read what's up with you weirdo?

"Certain people around here are particular about people messing with their shit." Vidaldus stared, looking around like really? Jellal bowed his head to suppress his chuckle. "Very important, though, disrupts the heat signature." he looks around and glares, "you motherfuckers."

"So you killed one?" Jellal asks cocking an eyebrow. Everyone else turns their heads to hear wondering how he caught that.

Zero shrugs nonchalantly, "I killed two maybe there. I can't remember. Anyways, there's two different types out there. They're similar but they're different, like the difference between the dragons. Iron dragon and Fire dragon, and Sky dragon. The likes. The ones that are running things out there, the larger ones, hunt the smaller ones. It's some kind of blood feud, I guess." he shrugs uncaring. "Been going on a long time."

"They do this just for sport?" Jellal asks eyes narrowed, unsettled. Erza sends Jellal a triumphant look that he pointedly ignores.

"Oh, yeah," Zero nods with narrowed eyes, "they bring in fresh meat season after season. I mean shit you wouldn't believe. Bring it in and hunt it and kill it in that order."

"How long you been here?" Vidaldus grunts.

"Seven seasons I think… What ten? Yeah, that's about right. Anyway, every once in awhile, one of us kills one of them." he gestures with his hands, "And let me tell you, that's when they get real interested. See they learn real quick," he snaps his fingers, "they adapt, they develop a whole new set of skills. They come back next season in threes, always in threes. Their armor might've changed, or their weapons have changed, or their tactics have changed. It's amazing." he nods.

"So it's like an evolution they're trying to make themselves into better killers," Richard summed up.

"Mmm-hmm."

"You said they come back?" Jellal asks thinking hard. "How?"

Zero looks up mildly surprised and somewhat impressed. "They got a ship."

"A ship?" He asks very interested now.

"30 yards from their camp." he chuckles and says to the "person" sitting next to him. "I told you they wouldn't see it, I told you they wouldn't see it."

Jellal shakes his head to himself thinking don't start.

Erza leans forward suddenly interested in a threatening sort of way, "You were there." she glares. He nods, "You could've helped us."

Zero stares at her unsettlingly, just staring not even blinking, and Jellal thinks to himself, just when we started to get on better terms.

"How do we kill them?" Jellal interrupts whatever silent argument they're having.

Zero is still staring at Erza in an alarming way when he answers, "However you can."

"They must have a weakness." Erza says breaking eye contact to stare, instead, at Jellal to gauge his next move.

Kagura nods silently eyes also narrowly fixed on Jellal, "Not many." Zero says staring at the ground. "You want to survive? You dig in deep. You stay hid."

"Yeah well we're gonna go with door number two." Vidaldus snaps, "how do we get out of this valley?"

Zero chuckles to himself almost disbelievingly, "Ten seasons." he shakes his head, "First two seasons, no, three seasons, I was here, I was walking in the same direction, trying to reach the edge of the preserve." He chuckles maniacally, "let me tell you something there ain't' no edge of the preserve." he snaps.

"Maybe you and your friend wanna tell me about that ship?" Jellal asks, much to everyone's interest. Everyone stares in surprise with a hint of hope, that was an interesting thought.

Zero stares at him a moment before muttering, "Let's see…" he puts a hand to his chin thinking then wags a finger at the young man, "That's a brilliant idea. Brilliant. The whole time I've been here, it never occurred to me to commandeer the alien spacecraft. But I," he shrugs, "I wouldn't know how to fly it." he turns to his "friend" and gestures at Jellal, "He would. Of course, you know how to fly." He turns back to Jellal.

Jellal raises his eyes to Erza's who is watching him with narrowed slits, and he shrugs almost embarrassed, "I'll give it a shot." Zero lets out another hearty chuckle then stops suddenly and leans forward causing Jellal to take his eyes off of Erza,

"I'm gonna get some sleep." he whispers eerily. "No noise, they're out there. They're always out there. The waters in there." he points never breaking eye contact with Jellal who is staring at him, very unsettled. "Help yourself. All of you." They stare at him as he hops over a small ledge and just lies down.

Everyone stares at each other awkwardly unsure of what to do.


Vidaldus, Ultear, and Richard are sitting near each other. Richard and Ultear sitting at a table and Vidaldus on the floor legs outstretched. He sees Richard eyeing a picture, "Who's that?" he asks softly.

Richard's face lights up, "My brother and I." He shows him the picture of two boys, one large and the other thin, he points to the thin one, "He's Wally." and he points to the large one, "that's me. We used to grow potatoes together." and indeed, they are standing in a field with Wally holding a hoe.

Ultear grins, seemingly happy for him, and reaches her arm out to see the picture. Richard's grin gets even wider as he hands it to her.

She stares at it and chuckles lovingly at him. Vidaldus, not wanting to be left out of the nice moment he created begins tugging on his vest saying, "Uh this is uh, Ikaruga," there is a black tattoo of a pretty, naked woman, with long hair, half up and half down, wielding a komodo. He pinches his skin together causing the illusion of her sword moving, "skill like howitzers."

They stare for a moment before Richard and Ultear just chuckle softly growing fond of the man, "Is that your girlfriend?" Ultear asks with a small grin,

Vidaldus cocks his head at her, "my sister."

Ultear and Richard stop laughing and resist the urge to roll their eyes, that's so typical of him.

Ultear wanders over to where Kagura has found a new katana. She unsheathes it, it's bright and shiny, "this is old. Very old. They've been doing this a long time." she mumbles.

Ultear was dumbfounded, "You speak?"

She nods coolly,"Yes."

"Why don't you say more?"

She eyes Jellal who is talking to Erza, "because then, he'll be on to me." Ultear turns to look,

"Are you..gonna?" she slides a finger across her throat and Kagura nods,

"He will pay for what he did to my brother." she growls, "but for now…" she dips his head, "he has my loyalty if not only because he can lead me off the wretched planet. After that? His soul is mine." she hisses quietly.

Ultear swallows and nods and walks in a different direction as Kagura lays against the pile of swords, everyone here is fucking crazy!

Jellal wanders over to Erza who has curled into herself on a pile of nets and gives her a glass of water, she reaches out to take it with surprised eyes. A light blush colors her cheeks as she mumbles, "Thanks." and sips.

He takes a seat next to her picking at his food and his cloak is off which gives her a full display of his muscles due to the lack of sleeves on his muscle shirt.

They sit in silence for a moment or so before Erza breaks it, "Do you know what I did when I left the tower?" he doesn't answer and she continues, "I kept going. I didn't turn my head to help anyone, I didn't tell anyone what was happening, I was terrified they were going to find me and bring me back that I turned a blind eye to all those enslaved in there, for myself."

He has no room to judge and instead settles for saying, "You do what we have to to survive."

"You said we were chosen. I asked for what."

He puts his food down to answer, he still didn't have one so he had to think long and hard about it.

"I should have asked why." he pauses, "It's because we're predators." she answers. "Just like them. We're the monsters in our own world."

Jellal is frozen gazing in a different direction, thinking long and hard about his life and about the devilish deeds he'd done, Erza studies the side of his face.

"It's probably better that we're never going back." she bites.

"I am going back." Jellal tells her the tone in his voice leaving no room for argument. He still has to atone for all the people he's hurt. Starting with her. She picks her head up and stares at him confused and surprised and he turns to face her. He leans forward, pressing their lips together. She blinks but doesn't pull away and even leans forward more into it.

He finally pulls away and says softly, "I'm going after that ship." and a small smile graces her lips as she realizes what's happening.

He's trusting me.

"You learn how to fly it in the last hour and not tell me?" she asks teasingly.

"No," he shakes his head a hint of a smile at his lips, "That thing strung up at the camp might know." her smile drops as she stares in slight horror, "my guess is, it'd do just about anything to get free. Enemy of my enemy."

She shakes her head slowly, leaning forward as he looks away to grab his plate again, "doesn't make it a friend." she murmurs.

He doesn't dignify that with a response just a small smirk before scooping food into his mouth.

She works up the courage to ask the question breathing in deeply, "So what do I call you?" she asks softly.

He stops moving and cocks his head at her. He opens his mouth to answer when something catches his attention, causing him to frown and he sniffs the air.

He sees smoke in the air and turns to her sharply as she sits up confused at his change in demeanor, "Smoke." he says and gets up quickly.

"Hey, smoke!" he shouts at his people. Everyone gets up surprised,

"Where's Zero?!" Ultear shouts, he's gone and it dawns on her as she looks around, "He's a scavenger!" she shouts, "He wants what we have!"

Concealed behind metal bars Zero is pushing smoke into the room with them a fire resting at his feet and a piece of cloth over his mouth.

Richard tries the door, Vidaldus tries a latch, and Ultear tries the giant steering wheel but all are locked and none will budge.

"Come on!" Erza shouts running around, "there must be a way out!"

Ultear hunched over coughing, then pukes.

"Dammit!" Jellal hisses.

"Do it!" he hears Erza order.

Somewhere behind him, he hears a voice hissing, "See the shit you've gotten us into man?! I told you that, you never listen to me! Six more. Six more fucking mouths to feed." He turns and sees Zero's outline, the fire by his feet and his eyes narrow, angrily. "I can barely stand living with you! How am I gonna live with them too?!" around him, his troupes are coughing, and spluttering, and sharing cloths, trying not to inhale smoke.

Jellal draws something into the air making eye contact with Zero who sneers at him, "What?"

He raises his shirt over his mouth hissing, "Say goodbye to your little friend!"

"You're in my house motherfucker!" Zero shouts and takes off, Jellal's jaw jumps and he turns to his people saying, "Get down!" they do and he releases abyss break.

Vidaldus gets up and glares at him, "Yeah that didn't open up shit!" he shouts.

"Wasn't meant to, asshole." Jellal grumbles. "I'm calling in the cavalry."

A hundred yards or so away from the temporary home the group a Predator picks up his head and stares at the metal structure staring at it and analyzing it. He sees the heat waves and clicks his tongue.


Sorry, this is a week late. I thought for some reason. I'd already posted this...but I didn't...but it's all good. School is a bish. AP Lang will be the death of me. I don't know how to "manipulate" word and annotate to "see the deeper meaning". So, review favorite please, I'm working on some other Jerza stuff so you can check those out.