Of the four of us, Zeref seemed to be the slowest. At some point he gave up on keeping pace and let himself fall back, teleporting to a nearby location whenever we got too far ahead. Rogue would shiver if the black mage got too close, which I found most concerning. It was only on Rogue's word that we were trusting Zeref. If Rogue was trying to hide that something about Zeref frightened him…

No. Whatever the reason, it didn't matter. No matter who was vouching for him, there was nothing right about having the Black Mage Zeref trailing behind us. As long as he kept his distance you could pretend he wasn't there, but he was. The man responsible for the deaths of Gray's parents and master was behind us. The man who inspired mine and Jellal's torture was behind us. Thinking about it should have made me sick.

But it was also weird to feel uncomfortable with this boy. Undoubtedly, his magic gave of an unsettling aura, but his demeanor had been courteous so far, and I did appreciate that he never came so close as to really unnerve me. Or kill me. I couldn't think of anything Zeref had personally done to me, for that matter. The cult hadn't been his own, though I could blame him for inspiring those men. I could be mad at him for Gray, but I was still going through people to feel I had reason to be mad. Jellal's first possession had definitely hurt me personally, but that had been Ultear and-

I dug my heals into the ground, coming to a halt just as Zeref warped forward. His magic aura made me cringe in the moment before he warped back again.

"What is it?" Zeref called out.

Merudy and Rogue looked back at me.

"L-Lucy…" I told them. "If Sting's still weak from his near death, it will just be Lucy and Natsu's ghost against anyone who might come back for revenge. I need to go back."

Rogue and Merudy exchanged glances, then the latter nodded. "If Natsu were at full power as a ghost it wouldn't be an issue, but leaving her behind might have put her at risk. You go back."

I nodded and took off in the other direction-something made more pleasant by Zeref warping well out of my way. What an accommodating young man. Or... wait. How old was he? I'd have to ask later. I had more important matters to take care of just then.

In truth, I was counting on Lucy and Natsu to fend for themselves. I wouldn't even run back past them, were that direction not the most likely way Jellal had gone. If Sting was alive and freed of Grisia, then that meant we could repeat the results on Jellal.

I could hear the seashore again when I spotted two blond heads bobbing towards me in sync. In sync? Why were Sting and Lucy moving in sync?

I slowed to acknowledge them. Merudy and Rogue had both put Ecilan above rescuing Jellal, and I couldn't call myself a good leader if I didn't at least make sure my friends were alright before ignoring their decision. Not that I wouldn't have wanted to anyway, but the longer I took the further away Jellal would get.

At least I wasn't so focused on Jellal that I didn't also notice Gray running behind Sting, who was carrying Lucy bridal style.

"Make him put me down!" Lucy cried as she saw me.

"Sting…"

"I'm fine," he said automatically. "She was going too slow, and now that I'm not a target I want to get a shot at those demons before they're out of reach. You coming were this way Are we going the wrong direction?"

"No." I pointed the way I'd came. "Merudy and Rogue are up that way. They're running a little slower for Zeref's sake, so you should be able to catch up to them."

"You're not going with the,?" Gray asked.

I considered lying again, but neither Gray nor Sting had been part of the decision to go after Ecilan first, and Lucy was too preoccupied with whining and squirming in Stng's inattentive grasp to likely notice. "I'm going back for Jellal. If we could suffocate Grisia out of Sting-"

"Then we might be able to free Jellal that way," Gray realized.

"But the other lord demons-" Lucy started,

"Are going to be dealing with Zeref," I said. Not that Zeref had helped against the demons last time, but if he didn't get distracted by the Genesis members then maybe...

Gray nodded. "Lucy, I don't think we can get Erza to deal with Elmairy and Ecilan while we have a reasonable chance of saving Jellal. I'll stay with her. You and Sting go ahead. This gives me a way to help without getting close to Elmairy anyway."

My eyes dropped down to the markings on Gray's stomach. So Grisia had gotten him that close. But what mattered was that he wasn't possessed.

Lucy stuttered, then threw her hands up in the air in surrender. She managed to accidentally smack Sting in the face, which made him finally drop her.

"Ow… watch it," she grumbled, rubbing her butt.

"You watch it," Sting snapped, rubbing his nose at the same time. "You two are going to suffocate your friend?"

"It worked on you," I retorted. How dare he take that tone with me! Did he think I wanted to hurt Jellal?

"Yeah. Suffocation's something I'm a bit used to," Sting muttered. "Lucy, you and Natsu go on with the others. I can't help you run, so you'll have to take those heels of yours off to catch up to them." Lucy made a rude gesture with one of her fingers, but followed Sting's advice and pulled off her shoes. Our feet weren't the same size, but I summoned a pair of sandals for her to run in so she wouldn't hurt her feet on and stones or twigs. "I'll go with Erza too," Sting added. "I had to learn CPR for when I get… careless near the water, so if they're going to choke someone it would be good if I went along. You and your companion should go guard Rogue like you're supposed to."

Lucy's face turned red, and for a moment she could only stutter. Then she hmphed and started walking off towards Merudy and Rogue, then she broke into a run.

"Let's not waste any more time," I told them. "The longer we dally here, the further away Jellal gets."

"I'm a little tired from carrying princess-"

I slung Sting over my shoulder and grabbed Gray's arm, pulling both of them in the direction that led to Jellal. Gray managed to match my pace on his own, so I released him, but if his highness felt tired, then there was no reason to have him run on his own and slow us down.

-x-

STA: I'm terribly sorry for the severe suckage of this chapter. 90% of what was planned to happen in it got moved to other chapters. The good news is that the actual writing of this story is now back to matching what I have on my outline, so hopefully I won't have to hassle with that again.

Ten chapters to go. I was hoping to have them all done some time back, but it turns out 39 alone took me two months. I. Hate. Thirty. Nine.

Next chapter: Rogue is having a bad day