Hiya! So here's another chapter for some very lovely readers! Thanks for those who reviewed, favorite, and followed! Please leave a review and favorite! Farewell and Enjoy!

-Let there be midnight

ME NO OWN FAIRY TAIL

Arising Suspicions

Lucy scratched her cheek nervously as she looked away. "Um…" she started catching the attention of Hiroi, Umi, and the Yui twins. "We were just told to… Well, find you because we are looking for the same thing… but the thing is… we don't know what we're looking for…" Lucy trailed off, laughing a little nervously. Kerii and Gerii turned to each other and blinked, then turned to look back at Lucy.

"You guys are idiots if you don't know what you're looking for." they said in unison.

"I mean—" stared Kerii.

"How can you not—" Gerii

"Know what you're—" Kerii

"Looking for?" Gerii finished, both of them placing a hand on their hips. Hiroi nodded, looking at the three in front of her weirdly.

"Yeah, I have to agree with Kerii and Gerii on this. How can you not know?" she asked as Umi silenced both her and the twins with a wave of her hand and a soft sigh of annoyance. She pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes.

"One: don't ever do that again Kerii and Gerii, it gives me a headache. Two: I don't really care if you don't know what you're looking for, just as long as you aren't trying to stop us." she said heavily. "Alright, better tell you know before the twins start acting up again." At this, both of them sent her harsh glares which she ignored. "We're searching for a gem called 'Summer's Eye'. It is rumored to be in these woods, where in these woods? Don't ask me because I don't know and I'll make sure I'll kick you into next week for asking a stupid question because we wouldn't need your help if I knew where it is, now would I? Why are we searching for it? Good question. We're searching for 'Summer's Eye' because the land we come from is covered in everlasting snow. It has been snowing for years now, making it impossible to live above land so we were forced underground, but if this continues on any longer the rooms we have made will collapse under the snow and kill thousands of people. So when our 'ruler'—you could say—figured out about the 'Summer's Eye', he learned that if we use the gem's power the everlasting winter our land has been forsaken to will come to an end and spring will bloom across our land. That is why he sent us to find the gem, so if you try to stop us I will personally kill you in your sleep!" she explained ending with a sickly sweet smile that sent a shiver down everyone's spine.

"Personally, we don't care why you're sent out to retrieve the gem because you didn't even know what you were looking for, so please don't explain." Hiroi said casually. Gray nodded his head, smiling politely at the girls in front of him.

"Don't worry, weren't planning too!" he replied just as casually. Hiroi smiled as she and the twins began walking off ahead. Umi stayed behind and eyed the strangers before she flashed them a bright smile.

"Come on! We have to find a camping site before it gets too dark out!" she said cheerfully, bounding up ahead with a light laugh. Lucy and Erza exchanged a quick glance that only Gray saw, all three of them thinking the same thing as they followed Umi and the others who were now in an argument about something.

It was around midnight and Umi and Gray were the only ones who were awake. Everyone else slept around the still blazing fire; the twins hugging each other in their sleep like small siblings would do to a parent.

The only sounds coming around their small camp site were the normal sounds the forest made at night—crickets chirping and cicadas singing their annoying song—along with the crackle of the fire as a log cracked in two, sending sparks in the air.

Umi sat against a tree, tapping a twig against her leg and staring up into the night sky calmly while Gray was reading a book he had obtained while he was in town earlier that day. Nether said a word to the other, lost in their own worlds until Umi finally spoke, breaking the peaceful silence that accompanied them for a few hours.

"Something's strange about you," Umi murmured, still looking up at the sky. Gray looked up from his book slightly. "you and your friends." she added as she looked down, staring blankly into Gray's eyes. They stayed like that for a few moments before Umi drew her right knee up to her chest and rested her forearm on it as a sly smile adorned her face. "It's almost like—like you three aren't from this world, even that cat. I know the difference between dye and natural hair color." she said. Gray stayed silent as her eyes went half lidded, still staring at Gray with that sly smile. "You're hiding something from us, me pacifically, but something is stopping you from telling me. I wonder, what is it?" she said playfully, a finger tapping against her chin lightly. "It must be something very important though because I can see you are surprised even though you try to hide it. I'm brighter than what people usually think I am. I started to notice things were slightly off when you first came with those girls." She made a noise in her throat that was somewhat akin to a laugh. "When people meet someone they don't know, they get this glint in their eyes as they study them. A saw that glint in all your eyes when you looked at Hiroi-chan, Gerii-chan, and Kerii-chan, but when you guys looked at me, there was no glint. I expected no glint from you since you saw me before, but the others haven't and they still didn't have that glint." There was a short pregnant pause before she went on. "Then there were these hidden glares you sent to the other you thought when we wouldn't notice, but I'm much more observant than that. It was like you were trying to keep up an act and getting silently mad at the others, which imposes a question to me. Why are you acting? There is no reason to."

"What are you getting at?" Gray asked, trying to keep his actual emotions from getting in the sentence so Umi won't grow even more suspicious. Her sly grin grew.

"Usually when someone is told to find something, the human mind grows curious and they must ask what they're trying to find. They don't want to try to risk their life for something so dangerous when they're not going to use it, so they must know. And you would tell us your employer who would give you such a mission to inform us who really wants it, but all you said is you were sent to retrieve the gem through our help. Which makes me wonder even more. If you do have an employer, who are they? And if you don't, then what is your real objective in coming with us?" she asked, her voice growing harsher but the smile never left. They were left in silence for a few moments before the sly grin on Umi's face turned to cheerfulness and she waved, her personality changing quickly. "Well whatever it is, I'll surely find out! Goodnight!" she said as she layed down and turned over, silent snores instantly coming from her.

Gray closed his eyes, feeling the moment of panic flood away from him as he breathed calmly and closed his book.

They'd have to be more careful if they want to win this game.