Chapter 26

Beluno shook his head "We haven't heard anything about Jellal. You must be a very dedicated girlfriend in fight your way through security to ask about him, though" Erza could come up with no dignified reply to this. When she didn't speak Beluno continued "When Siegrain returns I'll ask him, if it makes you feel better"

"Ah-where is he now?" Erza asked

"Well when he vanished our first thought was 'Wonderful. He ran off again.', but it turns out he went with Ultear when we sent her to monitor some suspicious activity near Kaelum."

"So he's nearby? You spoke with him? Could you contact him now?" Erza asked. Jellal couldn't worm out of talking to her with two members of the council as witness.

"Only Ultear can contact Jellal when he's gone and vice-versa. If one of them sent us a message then so be it, but…"

"Sao you can't reach either of them?" Erza's shoulders sagged

"Here" Beluno handed her a slip of paper "This is the address for the hotel we rented a room at for Ultear. Sieg will probably be there with her. If you'd like to go see them in person I'm sure you're capable of that"

"That's very generous" Erza said, taking the paper "How could I thank you?"

"By getting out of my office. I can't call on security to drag you out"

Erza blushed "Right away"

XXXXX

"This is the place?" Lucy stared at the hotel in awe. It was almost as nice as her father's house "The council must have a lot of money to be able to send its members here during investigations."

"It's the council" Gray said, like that was the answer to everything.

"So this is where Jellal is?" Natsu asked

"This is where we can find 'Siegrain'. And where we can find where Jellal is" Erza corrected.

"To bad you can't use truth serums and break his arm to make sure he's honest" Lucy said dryly before heading in.

"Hey, didn't Jellal have a broken arm when we first met him?" Gray asked.

"It's nothing." Erza hissed then followed after Lucy.

Gray looked at Natsu who shrugged and the two of them went in also. Simon sighed and entered last.

"Hello" The lady at the check in counter smiled at them "Do you have a reservation?"

"No. We're here to see somebody" Lucy told them "The woman staying in room A314."

"A314…" the lady checked a few files "Hm… that room was book by the council, but nobody ever showed up there"

"What?" Lucy gasped

"Well, that's not our problem. You pay in advance to stay here anyway. There loss. Would you like to use that room?"

"No." Erza said very coolly, shoving Lucy aside "Is there any chance that you could find where she is staying then?"

"If a member of council came in to town, no matter how stealthy they were, whoever gave them the key to the room of wherever they stayed would have seen to it that the whole town knew within the hour. Whoever you're looking for didn't show"

"Then where could they be…?" Lucy asked no one in particular.

XXXXX

"Wow. You're here? That's a first." Jellal told Ultear.

"No one here thinks it's weird that their leader is having a baby?"

"Oddly enough, most of them don't." Jellal said, pushing himself up "Now get out. How'd you get in?"

"Well, I can leave or I could tell you"

"Tell me, then leave" Jellal ordered. The less he had to see of Ultear the better.

"It's a psychic projection, like the ones you use for the council. I came up with an excuse for our friend 'Sieg', by the way. Supposedly I'm with him investigation suspicious activity in Kaelum. Near Kaelum. Whatever. I already know all about it."

"Wonderful, now get out."

"How's the little tyke doing" Ultear teased, pointing to Jellal's stomach and ignoring his orders "He's going to be a big boy. Have you figured out how he'll get out?"

"Ultear, seriously, the less I have to deal with you the better"

"The less you have to deal with anyone the better, it would seem. It isn't healthy to lock yourself up like this"

"Ultear if you don't get out I'll-" Jellal started to push himself up, but a sharp pain in his stomach made him sit back down.

"You'll what?" No answer "So when are we moving forward with the plan. Now that I've been sent here I can report the tower whenever. We can fire the etherion and then we're all ready to go. We just need to bring in the sacrifice of your choice."

"If you keep bugging me I'll chose you" Jellal told her flatly. This was a problem, though. Ultear could force the tower into activation if he wasn't careful. He searched for an excuse "I can't run the R-system in this condition. I've got about two more months to go before I can really do anything. Tell the council you couldn't find any sort of solid evidence but the area is still suspicious."

Ultear nodded "Fine."

Jellal glanced at the picture near his bed "Ultear, one last thing."

"What?"

He slammed his fist into the glass, breaking it into several large shards. Before Ultear could really react he grabbed a piece and threw it at her. It made its way into her arm "Don't forget, I still have to get back at you for the letter."

She glared at him "Well I wish you the best of luck with that"

Then she vanished.