xvi.
After quickly assessing the damage and making sure no one was seriously injured, Jellal practically dragged Erik with him to find Meredy.
Sorano looked torn on the idea of joining them. Before she could speak her mind, Macbeth calmly stated he would help, mildly surprising the rest of them. Was he actually concerned about the two of them, or did he feel he needed to prove himself after being hopelessly outmatched by a toddler? He always did feel the need to be seen as powerful, although no one blamed him for that.
"He's gotten too attached." Sawyer shifted his long legs, rubbing his hand over his face where bruises were starting to sprout up. "All that dad crap Erik told us about went to his head. There's no reason to be so concerned about someone like that, 'specially not if they can do what she just did."
"What's gotten into you, Sawyer? You were never the friendliest with her but lately, you've been so passive about it I almost forgot. Why did you feel the need to provoke her like that? What changed?"
"...Nothing." Sawyer's voice grew quiet. "Nothing's changed. I still hate that pipsqueak just as much as the first day we met her. It's you all that's changed."
"Now Sawyer–"
"Can it Richard," he spat. "Damnit, now things really have all gone to hell. Why couldn't you have taken my side?"
Sorano snorted. "When you say it like that, it almost makes me believe you had a plan for all this."
Silence.
Sorano stood and stared down the man sitting cross-legged on the dirt, half-covered by it. Her petite form nonetheless exuding the sheer venom contained in her voice. "Sawyer, I'll only ask this once. What was the point of all this?"
He responded immediately. "She shouldn't be here Sorano. I needed everyone to see things my way for once."
The three made their way through the woods in total silence. Normally not the chatty type, even Macbeth found the quiet painfully awkward. Not that he was going to do anything about it though.
The woods weren't particularly dense, but with the snow, the cloudy sky making it dark, and the occasionally difficult terrain, it was ultimately slow going. Erik led the way, not saying a word as they traversed onwards.
As the minutes went on, things grew tenser and tenser, until, finally, Jellal spoke.
"How are we not caught up to them by now?"
"Calm yourself. They're still in the woods."
"...Forgive me if I'm not entirely certain we haven't been going in circles. I'm still not clear where you stand on all this."
Erik whirled around at the accusation. "Don't you dare start on all that. You know damn well where I stand."
"Do I? Because it seems to me you've been keeping more than a few things from me in the meantime. I'm not a mind reader, Erik."
The dragonslayer's fine canines barred at the jab. "Well, perhaps if you were you would have seen the danger ahead of time and avoided all of this."
"So you did know!"
"Of course I did!" The snarl caused even Jellal to flinch at its ferocity. "Only an idiot wouldn't be able to tell how ridiculous and dangerous a child that isn't a child is."
"I'd like to think you could enlighten us in a less hostile way."
"What can I say, I learned from the most ruthless."
"Excuse me, pardon me."
Shoving aside Jellal, who was directly in front of him, before moving ahead of Erik, Macbeth made his way to the front. The two men looked bewildered at him. The third man didn't look back as he continued in the same direction they'd been heading.
"If you want to tear each other to shreds over all this, then be my guest. I'll probably find them even quicker than either of you just by virtue of not eating my own tail at the same time."
"...Going soft on us now?"
"Don't mistake me," Macbeth replied. "The longer they're out there the more chances they have of getting hurt again. Do we really want to deal with that on top of everything else already?" Jellal blinked. Where had this wise statement come from? "And, not to stir the pot, but it's really not that complicated Jellal."
"What?"
Macbeth gave a sly grin. "The only reason I can think that Erik wouldn't tell you; it's because he was scared to."
"You stupid, selfish asshole!"
"I'm not the one you should be angry with right now! It's all her, why don't you understand that?!"
In the middle of the destroyed camp, the two stared daggers at each other, hurling insults dripping with reproach. Richard, sensing the immediate fight, moved to put himself in between the two. Sawyer dashed around him so he could continue glaring at Sorano. "I thought maybe you'd listen when you saw how bad she could get, but you're still defending her! Even over me!"
"She is a child who doesn't know any better! That...that was a fluke. She's never done anything like that before."
"Then who's to say she won't do it again?" Sorano bit her lip. "Come on Sorano, I know you don't believe that. She's not a normal brat, never has been, never will be."
"Even if she was though, you'd still be this cruel? Now that I can believe."
Richard finally managed to catch Sawyer's arm, who squirmed under his grip. The thinner man looked at Richard in pain. "Let go! I'm not fighting both of you so just let go!"
"...I actually don't entirely disagree with you, oh yeah."
Sawyer's eyes bugged out at Richard's quiet statement. Sorano gasped in shock. "What? You–you hate her too Richard?"
"No," he said, turning to look at Sorano while still holding onto Sawyer. "I don't hate her...or perhaps it's simply that I don't want to hate her. I would be lying though if I said that this situation ever sat right with me. Even without what Ultear just demonstrated, she is still a child, and I have always thought that a child has no place here."
His words were spoken in his normally calm demeanor, but devoid of any of the cheeriness Sorano and the others had come to expect from Richard now. The seriousness in his voice sent a chill down the angel mage's side.
"However," he continued, this time turning to look at Sawyer, "I cannot condone your actions, Sawyer. It is not us who you should be striving to convince of this, after all. Oh, yeah." The blonde man looked away, unable to meet his gaze. Then Richard did something equally unexpected.
"Liquid Ground."
Just ahead of them, the ground convulsed, shifting to grow soft and violently move aside the trees and other landscape. Yelps of surprise were heard, and a figure burst out of the woods just outside of their former camp clearing.
"Ah, geez, of course I happen to run into the ground guy. My lucky day."
"If you feel unlucky I suggest you leave. We have no desire to fight you at this time."
"Really now?" The man dusted off his clothes and arched his back in a stretch. "Well, that's just too bad. Even though it's a pain in the ass, I'm supposed to be finding something out here." He gave a wry grin, which was full of blackened teeth. "You could help me by giving me any info you know about that weird little girl you keep around."
Macbeth's words sunk into Erik like a stone. He could never get a good read on him, even now, and it certainly pissed him off to no end. But not nearly as much as what he just said.
"Judging by the face you're making, I'm almost definitely right." Macbeth himself hardly seemed concerned by what he just said. Instead merely shrugging his shoulders and moving onwards. Jellal didn't even call him back, simply staring at Erik with the same pensiveness he had before. Erik felt something snap inside him.
"You're only doing this because you get self-satisfaction by helping her."
The reflector mage paused at this. He didn't turn around. Erik continued. "You deflect it with apathy, but you really do feel fatherly towards her. Don't try and deny it, I know what I'm listening to. It must make you feel pretty good to actually be considered halfway decent at a good act.
"But it's all a sham. That's not a real kid. No real one would get so attached to any of us that way." Only when the words left his mouth did he realize that perhaps they weren't what needed to be said. That, and the chunk of tree that hurdled straight towards him.
He barely managed to dodge. Jellal as well. Macbeth grit his teeth and turned back again to march on, just a bit faster this time. Erik wasn't going to let him go so easily though, rushing him from behind. The reflector mage only had to raise a hand to send the air around them to cut Erik. The dragonslayer bit his lip at the cuts from it but still managed to ram his body into his comrade. Both men began desperately trying to either escape or keep hold of the other.
"Stop it, both of you! We'll never catch up to them at this rate."
"I'm making sure Macbeth understands something first, don't worry, you'll be next." Erik hissed. Macbeth dodged out of his grip and the two glared daggers at the other. "What, clammed up now that I'm talking crap about you?"
"No, I just know when to keep my mouth shut."
"Oh? Could have fooled me."
"Actually, I think both of you are pretty loud."
The two men froze. Jellal gaped at the sight. Right in the middle of the two stood a third man, one that hadn't been there a moment ago. He stood so nonchalantly despite the fact that he was sandwiched in between two formidable fighters. His hands crossed behind his back, the short man gave a small smile. A strange feeling of familiarity washed over Jellal, although he couldn't quite place where it was coming from.
"Really, I had thought everyone here was the brooding, silent loner type, but I guess even those guys have their outbursts sometimes."
"Who are you?"
"Oh, you probably don't know anything about me, which is fine." He clicked his tongue in agreement. "Boss told me to check the woods in case anyone was just wandering around by their lonesome. This is a bit too much though, I figure I only have a fair chance if it was one-on-one. Although, even then, you guys look like a lot."
Jellal gasped. Of course! "You're part of that dark guild we spotted all that time back!"
"Hey, this guy remembers me! That's pretty cool, to be known by the famous independent guild." He then scratched his head, embarrassed. "Not that it matters, really. We're only here for the kid after all."
The three stiffened. "Why do you want her?"
"Oh? Can't you read my mind or something? I thought you'd already know the answer to that."
At this, Erik hissed in annoyance. The other man only shrugged.
"No one's perfect, I get it. I'm always getting yelled at for something or another. Oh! Where are my manners though!" He gave a bow, "You can call me Winky. Blinky hates the nicknames but I like 'em. I'm part of the Avatar guild, you might have heard of them. Anyway, gotta bounce. Bye!" With that, he closed one eye and disappeared.
Meredy huffed, legs pounding down the unsteady terrain. More than once she'd tripped and her legs were now covered in dirt and bruised. Still, she kept running.
She had to get to Ultear.
Panting, she rested a hand against a tree. The fact that a toddler was outpacing her greatly concerned her. No, maybe she was simply hiding and Meredy had been running farther away from her. Either way, she'd called and yelled so much that it was strange she hadn't seen her yet. She sucked in a breath and then yelled again.
"Ulllteeeear!"
Nothing but the cries of nature echoed back at her. She pounded a hand against a tree, considering crying herself. It just wasn't fair. All of this effort, all of her work to make her feel accepted, safe, loved. Would it really end like this? And for such an easily avoidable situation.
Meredy slapped her cheeks together and drew in deep breaths. Despite her panicking, she wouldn't quit. She forced her legs to keep carrying her onwards.
Several dozen yards later, she finally reached where Ultear was. The only problem was...
...she wasn't alone.
"Aha, you're the one I was told about."
A large, round man, dressed in bulky winter gear that made him appear even bigger. On his neck, a dark purple tattoo rested. The same man who threatened them back in the south all that time ago. The same man, facing down a frozen Ultear.
All of Meredy's motherly instincts screamed to rush in and claw out that man's eyeballs, but despite her adrenaline, her shaking legs could barely take the few tumbling steps to get in view of the man. Seeing her stumble forward, the toad-like man gave a cold-eyed smile.
"My lucky day, I get to capture the girl and the one I saw all that time back."
"You...stay away...from her...you...freak."
He frowned. "I find that quite the offense you know." His neck once again bubbled like a frog's as it croaked. "I'm quite the handsome creature, many people have said so, even to my face."
"I...don't care..."
"Suppose it doesn't matter much either way. We're going to take you all out after all. Then once our guild sees that a group like us can take down a guild-eater like yours..." He gave a far too wide smile. "Then, they'll have to recognize our value within the guild. High ranking members at last!"
"You'll never get everyone! We'd never lose to dark guild members like you!"
"You've got a lot of faith in them girlie. Makes sense, given their pedigree. But traitors like you who go against dark guild principles all have one thing in common..." His neck bulged and in the next instant acid spewed out. Right towards Ultear.
Without even thinking, Meredy lept and shoved Ultear out of the way, in the process having a portion of the acid splashed onto her. She screamed in pain, the acid catching her in the already aching legs.
The frog man grinned. "You're all soft as hell." His neck bulged again as he readied even more acid for the two of them. Meredy grit her teeth. It would be tough, but she couldn't–wouldn't–let him win this. She readied herself for the next attack, clutching Ultear close to her.