xv

Things were awkward for Sawyer right now.

Mere moments ago he was at his guild mate's throats after trying (and failing) to make them see things his way. Now he was being both agreed with and rebuked by Richard, a notion that still made his head spin. And, need he forget, they were being attacked by a dark guild member.

Richard spoke uncharacteristically coolly. "It's still not too late. You can surrender now or leave and go back home. Fighting will only bring yourself disgrace, oh yeah."

"Unfortunately, neither of those are on the agenda for today." The man with terrible teeth whistled, and suddenly more men appeared from behind him in the woods. Some of them were holding their heads or limping, likely caught in Richard's surprise attack from before. "My Boss'll chew me up and spit me out if I don't get some info. I don't quite like him that much, but I do respect a man with guts. And he's got a very large gut."

"You tell 'em Blinky!" One of the men called out. The aforementioned 'Blinky' practically growled.

"Although he loses points for giving me such an asinine nickname. Never could get anyone to stop using it."

Sorano piped up. "That little girl...you haven't already captured her, have you?"

"Cool your jets. We haven't even seen her yet. Not that I think that should really be your first concern right now."

The other men stepped forward. Sorano clicked her tongue. Just a bunch of third-rate thugs from the looks of them; they would know since they employed many just like them back in the day.

"This is getting old. We told you to get out so GO." Sorano raised a hand as small white angel creatures manifested out of thin air and shot towards the men. Some of them tried to fire at them with magic or block with their meager protective gear. Most of them just screamed and fell to her attack.

Richard let go of Sawyer as he raised a hand towards the group. The ground melted beneath half of them and twisted around the other half, trapping them. The leader of the group narrowly avoided being consumed by the ground through nimble footwork. Soon, only a handful of the already small crew remained. The leader sighed.

"I know I wasn't supposed to underestimate you, but man, what an annoyance already."

"Then you should surrender while we still feel charitable."

The stranger only shook his head again. Seeing his chance to contribute, Sawyer raced up to him, slamming him into the ground before he had a chance to react and holding an arm behind his back. The man hardly flinched even as he was thrown to the ground and looked up at Sawyer impassively.

"You're the fast one then? Well, this should be interesting."

"Oh, no it won't. I've already been humiliated enough today. I'm not having low-ranking dark guild members trample all over me too."

"That so? I might not be the best opponent for that then. A question for you then, since you're all about speed, do you happen to know the fastest thing in the universe?"

Sawyer hesitated. Richard yelled, "No, get back!"

Blinky grinned. "It's light." With that, a bright light suddenly burst from inside him, right in front of Sawyer's face. He didn't so much explode as simply transform into a living ball of light. Sawyer cried in pain and let go, falling to the ground. All he seemed to do today was fail.

With that, the man winked out of view.

"Follow him!" Jellal yelled, already running, although no one could tell where he'd gone. "We can't let them get to Ultear!"

Macbeth took off after him, scanning the area carefully, poised to deliver a reflector spell if necessary.

Erik growled. Is that really the first thing we're thinking about right now? Regardless, he strained his "ears" to hear.

He guessed the dark guild mage must have some sort of teleportation magic, given that he disappeared with nary a sound. Speed mages could still be heard if not seen, but teleportation ones were a different breed. For brief seconds, they genuinely seemed to not even exist in the same plane as the rest of them. For this reason, Erik's hearing magic flickered in and out based on if they were "there" or not. It left him feeling as if those kinds of mages were specifically meant to deter him in particular.

He attuned his hearing to pick up any stray thoughts in the area. He picked up nothing for seconds on end. Erik almost prayed they hadn't run into a long-range teleporter. Even if he did pick up him, it could be miles and miles away. Hardly convenient for finding again quickly.

Finally, he heard something, a blip of motion that wasn't any of them. He didn't even yell to tell the others, merely taking off in a split direction. The other two halted and turned to run after him. Luckily, it hadn't been as far away as he'd feared, even though the direction was different than they'd assumed.

The man stood beside some trees, his posture just as nonchalant as it was moments ago. He looked behind him in surprise. "Oh, I probably should have gotten a bit further." Just as Erik reached him he closed his other eye and vanished. With a roar, Erik charged ahead, making sure to focus on any particulars about the man. About the same amount of time lapsed before Erik could hear him again, this time in the opposite direction they'd been going before. He switched and took off to where he could hear him, the other two wordlessly trailing behind him.

This time the man appeared to be expecting them. "Alright, this is nice and all, but seriously. You don't have to follow me. Once we get the kid we'll be gone and you won't have to deal with her anymore."

Erik swung at him, which he evaded with another wink. This time, he popped up just a few yards ahead of them.

"Although, if you were to all come running after me, I suppose it would give the others time to actually find her. I'm pretty sure no one is counting on me to get her. Not that I mind, tracking isn't really my thing, you know? It's no good when they slot you into roles that obviously don't suit you."

"Shut up!" Erik bellowed. Zeref, this man was grating. Another thing all teleportation mages shared.

Macbeth raised his hand, "Spiral Pain!" A maelstrom of air cut around the center of where the man stood. Past tense. He once again winked out of the way of the attack. Not quite quickly enough to completely avoid it, shredding the sleeves of his outfit and causing him to wince at the cuts forming on his arm.

"Aw man, and this was my favorite shirt."

"You are frighteningly casual," Jellal spoke, frowning.

"Really, it's you guys that seem too uptight. Shouldn't you be the ones way more laid-back? You are way more powerful than me."

"We have no choice to be serious if you fail to be."

The dark guild member smiled. "I heard about you a lot, but I gotta say, reality is often more sobering than I want." He cracked his neck. "Can't have all you serious guys in the same spot though, that'd cause trouble."

Before any of them could react, he winked, only to appear behind Macbeth. He put a hand to his shoulder. "We'll be going on a little trip. Follow me if you'd like, or try and find where everyone else is. Your choice." And with that, he winked away, this time with Macbeth in tow.