The good sized group walked and talked like old friends, both parties blending well together. Even Gray was finding Juvia less annoying every day they were on the trip. Sure the boys liked to rough house when they were stopped for lunch or the night, but they all knew to listen when the girls told them to quit it, especially Erza. Both Natsu and Gajeel quickly learned not to cross the red head, each admitting to the other that she was scary.

Soon the castle of Edolas came into view, the group stopping at the top of a hill with a good view of it. "Should we stop on this part of our trip or on our return?" Lucy asked, though just like everyone she was waiting for Erza's decision since Jellal was there. "It wouldn't hurt to stop both times." Erza said simply, causing those closest to her to hide knowing grins behind hands and sleeves.

When they arrived at the castle, they were barred from entering at first, but Erza said "Go and tell Mystogan that Erza is here." One of the soldiers begrudgingly went to do so, but soon returned and led Erza and the others through the castle. When they arrived in the throne room, Mystogan asked everyone to leave but his personal bodyguard. The soldiers reluctantly did so and, after they left, Mystogan's guard cast a spell to keep them from being overheard.

Then Mystogan came and gave Erza a hug, or rather Jellal as Mystogan did. "It's good to see you Erza, to see all of you. I see we have some newcomers." Jellal said as he pulled back from the hug. Erza quickly explained what they were all up to and who the new people were, before asking "Are you having any luck with locating the would be assassin?" Jellal and Mystogan both shook their heads, an annoyed expression on both of their faces. "No, I'm beginning to wonder if they somehow caught onto our little ploy here. Even the Exceeds have been trying to help us, but to no avail."

"Maybe we could help. You could say we have a nose for such things." Natsu offered as he motioned at Gajeel and himself, earning confused looks from Mystogan and Jellal, the former of which asked "So you know how to find assassins?" "Well I wouldn't say assassins, but even if they have been here for a little while, their scent should still be somewhat different than those who have lived here all or most of their lives. Like when we walked in, I could smell instantly that Jellal was a decoy." Gajeel provided.

Jellal looked at them with concern and asked "Do you think that is why nothing has happened? That they know we are onto them and plan to catch them?" Natsu shook his head and said "Even if they could smell the difference on you two, which the chances of that are pretty low, he would have probably used that to his advantage and taken out Mystogan when he was less protected. I'm sure there have been times when you were alone since you started this, correct?" Mystogan nodded as he said "Yes, many times."

Natsu shrugged and said, "So unless they are waiting for you to totally give up and have no powerful mages around when they do it, the assassin hasn't struck yet for some other reason." "Maybe they want someone to blame it on? If they are a newcomer or at least relatively new, they stand a greater chance of being suspected, but if they were to wait until some travelers arrive and then do it, they would have more of a chance of being overlooked." Wendy suggested.

"So what you're saying is, they could have been waiting for a group like ours, right?" Levy asked the young dragon child, who nodded and said "Yes." "Then this is perfect!" Lucy exclaimed, gathering all eyes to her." "How so, Lucy?" asked Carla. "No one knows that we are mages or that we are from Fairy Tail. Erza telling them to let Mystogan know she was here just by name may provide us with just the situation we need. When we exit this room, Erza can make a thinly veiled treat at Mystogan, maybe make it sound like she is some visiting dignitary from Fiore." Lucy said.

"Ah and when the assassin either hears this or hears of it he'll think he has finally got the perfect scapegoat and he may tip his hand, right?" asked Lily. Lucy beamed at the black Exceed and said "Exactly! Then we can all help capture him. We'll just have to use magic to keep an eye on Jellal until he shows himself, he could try a covert way like feeding him poison or a straight up attack. Natsu, Gajeel, do you think you could sniff out a poison if it was in the food?"

Gajeel shrugged and said "Shouldn't be too hard." "Good, then you two and Jellal figure out a way to relay it's poisoned without giving it away but so Jellal can fake taking it." Lucy said. "What about if it's not poison?" asked Romeo. "Then that's where the rest of us come in, we'll all take turns staying in the rough vicinity of Jellal so we can be there at a moment's notice to aid him and Mystogan in a fight." Lucy answered. "Sounds like the perfect plan." Jellal said with a smile.

"Wait, if I'm supposed to threaten Jellal, how are we to eat with him?" Erza asked. "Jellal will ask you to reconsider and be gracious, offering you to stay the night and to dine with him. You'll begrudgingly say something like you'll think about it." Lucy provided. Everyone approved of this and praised Lucy for her plan, causing the blonde to blush. After Gajeel, Natsu and Jellal had figured out their code word, they got ready to put the plan into action.

The staff located around the doors were shocked when they flew open, Erza storming out before turning and saying "I can't believe you would say something like that to me! See if Fiore ever sends food for you again in a time of need. In fact, I hope the next time I come here I deal with someone besides you." "Please Erza, wait!" Jellal exclaimed, "I didn't mean it that way, please reconsider and give me a chance to make amends. It's late, and your companions look tired. Stay the night and dine with me, I promise I will make it up to you."

Erza scoffed, before gruffly saying, "We'll see." She looked at the gawking about servants and pointed at one and said "You there, show me and my companions to my room." The poor servant nodded swiftly before practically running down the hall, followed closely by Erza and her entourage, who pretended to send looks of apology in Jellal's direction. Lucy just hoped that this plan would draw out the would be assassin.

XXX

That evening, Erza and her group made their way into the dining hall where Jellal and Mystogan were already seated. "Thank you for giving me another chance Erza." Jellal said with a smile. "I'm not sure I am, but my group was hungry and I was outvoted." Erza said coolly, taking her seat. Jellal smiled, but said nothing as the first course of food was delivered to each person. Natsu, who was seated closest to Jellal out of the group, sniffed, but said nothing, so the meal continued as planned.

Only once dessert was delivered did Natsu smell anything amiss. He turned to Lucy and asked "Is this pumpernickel?" Lucy turned to him with a confused expression as she asked "What do you mean Natsu? Pumpernickel is a type of bread? This is Angel Food Cake." "Right, I knew that, I better eat this fast before someone else takes it." Natsu pretended to look embarrassed before digging in. Lucy rolled her eyes as she muttered, "Since when did you ever eat anything slow?"

Jellal pretended to take a bite, before turning to Mystogan as if to ask him something. Suddenly Jellal just slumped over, Mystogan catching him as he called out "Sire!" While most of the room was focused on who they thought was Mystogan, Levy noticed one of the servants had a slight smirk on their face before replacing it to match the concerned look of the others in the room. She made a mental note of their face as Mystogan ordered "Quickly, let's take him to his chambers!"

The servants in the room jumped to follow his command, taking their fallen king to the room while one was sent for the royal doctor. While most of Erza' group moved to follow them, Levy grabbed Gajeel's arm and said "I think I saw who did it. Come on, let's follow her and see what she does next!" They followed the dark haired woman until she exited the castle walls. She went to a nearby bar, where she slid into a booth with a silver haired man. Levy and Gajeel quickly slipped into the one behind him without them noticing.

"I did it Keyes, there were some visiting dignitaries and they had a spat with the king so I thought it was the perfect time to strike. To make it even better, they're from Fiore!" the girl said. "Well done, Seilah, you will be rewarded well for this." The one called Keyes responded to her. "I'm going to stick around for a few more days, to avoid suspicion being place on me rather than them, but I'll soon quit since I couldn't stand to stay after the death of my poor king."

While the two were busy laughing, Levy and Gajeel slipped back out of their booth and went back to the castle. They made their way to Mystogan's chambers where the rest of their group was standing outside. The doctor came out and shook his head, "He has been poisoned. I think all those present should stay in the castle until this has been sorted out." "May we see him doctor? I want to offer my apologies… while there is still time." Erza questioned

The doctor had tested the poison and while it was fast acting in the sense of knocking its victim out, the victim would also be able to regain consciousness several times before death, something Natsu had heard and passed onto the group. The doctor nodded, having been filled in by Mystogan and Jellal in their parts to beat out the assassin. "Yes, but do not let him tax himself, we must make him as comfortable as possible in these final hours." With that the doctor bid them goodnight and left.

Once the group had entered the room and closed the door, Mystogan again cast the spell that blocked people from hearing what was said in it. "So did we find our assassin?" asked Jellal from his place in bed. "Yes, it's a servant called Seilah, or perhaps she doesn't use that name here and that is her real name. But Gajeel and I can point her out. She reported to someone called Keyes and said she would be leaving here in a few days." Levy answered.

"Keyes? Did he have silver hair?" asked Mystogan. "Yeah, why?" Gajeel questioned. "I could be wrong, but there is someone named Keyes who is the right hand man of King Mard Greer of Tartaros. If it is him, I don't know why he would be attempting to have me assassinated. We're not best buddies or anything, but our country isn't on bad terms either." "Hmm, right before we left my house to begin this journey, my dad mentioned that trading with Tartaros had become difficult lately. He thought there might be some sort of unrest there. I can't help but wonder if maybe Tartaros is a bigger threat than we originally thought." Lucy stated.

"It's possible, I suppose, but what could they hope to gain?" Mystogan questioned. "Well, you're willing to back up Fiore in our fight against the Alvarez Empire right? What if they don't want you to? Think about it, every time you are ready to throw in your support, something happens whether it's a famine or bad fires or this assassination problem. Now if they don't want you to join us, then that means they don't want an end to the war, at least not yet." Lucy pondered out loud.

"But why wouldn't they want the war to end?" Erza asked. "Well, while they are mighty, Tartaros is small in size. They could never take down Fiore or the Alvarez Empire by themselves and the only country near enough to assist them is yours, Mystogan, and Edolas is on good terms with Fiore and you really don't harbor any personal ill will against the Alvarez Empire. What if Tartaros is wanting more land?" Levy said, picking up on Lucy's train of thought. "What if this whole war was started by them in an attempt to take out other countries so they could rule more? The only reason you probably weren't drawn into this fight, is because you would team up with Fiore and not be so easily pitted against them." Wendy added.

"So what you three are saying is, the prince of the Alvarez Empire was kidnapped and Fiore implicated just because Tartaros is tired of being constrained in their military growth by lack of land?" Gray asked. Lucy nodded and said "Yes. I would give anything to know who told the king and queen of the Alvarez Empire that Fiore's king was behind the kidnapping, I bet it was one of Tartaros men." "It definitely seems like a high probability when you put it that way." Gajeel muttered.

Natsu exclaimed "Hey I just remember that thing my dad told me right before he disappeared! He said he had a plan to stop the war, but what it was exactly he didn't tell me." Everyone in Erza's group looked excited as Juvia asked "So if we find your father, we could finally be able to put a stop to this war!?" Natsu nodded and grinned while Romeo added "And with the way things are looking, if Tartaros is really behind all of the crappy stuff that's happened, Igneel probably got captured by them." "Looks like Gramps put us on the right track!" Natsu smirked, "I can't wait to head on to Tartaros now!"

Note, I humanized Keyes and since he was a skeleton I went with silver hair for him. *shrugs* XD also I love Seilah and so I just had to include her in this story XD

Answers to Reviews!

FireShifter: Thanks so much, I'm glad you enjoyed your Thanksgiving present :D Hope you enjoyed this chapter too!

FTAnt: lol yeah that annoys me, like I don't mind her being saved/rescued by people, but so many treat her like a complete air head and she really isn't. Which those last few episodes of Fairy Tail show XD And aww thanks!