Disclaimer: I am not the owner of Fairy Tail

Mavis found that she alternated between planning and reminiscing about the past while she was in her cell. Planning typically involved waiting for someone to release her from this cell. Her connections within Alvarez were wide enough to ensure she'd be free long before Jellal thought she'd be, that was certain. However, she didn't have enough ideas on how the Earthland Wizards returned to plan much beyond that. She knew they had theories about the Legions, which meant she'd require one, but she knew little beyond that. Perhaps she could determine the answer herself, after studying information on the creature in the library.

With planning so delayed, it often led her thoughts to stray towards the purpose of her plans in the first place. They varied, who she'd think about, but it was always the same. Today, it seemed to be a day to focus on Zera. They'd grown up together as children, living outside of the Royal City. Zera's parents had died before she could remember them, and so Zera grew up in an orphanage. Mavis had been a little older when she lost her own family to an accident, and that was what led to them being together, growing up like sisters.

Arriving at that place had been a bit intimidating for Mavis. She'd walked into a large building, with a stranger holding her hand and guiding her towards different rooms, explaining where she was and what the rooms were available for. She saw different children in the house too, though Mavis didn't know them that well. Before long, she'd been left alone, the tour done with though Mavis had not really listened to the details.

"Hello, I'm Mavis!" She approached one boy with a smile. However, he just pulled his toy car closer, turning away from her.

Frowning, Mavis had moved on. She tried greeting other children as she wandered the house, until she finally found Zera. The girl was in her room, and at the time, Mavis wasn't really polite enough to knock on doors before entering. "Hey! What are you doing just barging in here?"

Mavis had jumped, letting out a slight squeak as the girl yelled. "I'm sorry! I just wanted to say hi to everyone here. I'm…I just got here. My name is Mavis."

The brunette had frowned at her, before sighing and holding out a hand. "Zera. Now, can you please get out of my room and leave me alone? I'll play with you some other time."

"You'll…play with me?"

"Didn't I just say that? I'm trying to sleep before they force me to head down for breakfast!"

Mavis had smiled, nodding and practically skipping away towards her room. She played with Zera almost every day after that. As they grew older, their chances of being adopted decreased, but they were happy with it. That meant they could stay together, like sisters.

Now, she was gone. Mavis' eyes were closed, and the aching loneliness kept pressing down over her. She'd been alone for so long now…but she was so close to her goals. She could see the end already, now that those wizards had come to this world again. True, she'd known something had happened before with wizards from another world…most people had heard the rumors at least. However, the anima had been responsible for everything transporting them back then. It wasn't possible to influence things herself, or so she had believed.

She was still lost in thought when footsteps echo from down the hall. They stopped for a moment, and Mavis paused, sitting up. Outside of her cell, there were two guards standing watch. Mavis watched one rub his neck, before collapsing to the ground. The other did the same right after, and Mavis slowly began to smile. She rose to her feet, moving towards the bars. How long had she been here? She wasn't certain. There weren't windows within the cells of the Royal City, and they weren't exactly kind enough to provide her with the time. She was fairly certain it'd been at least a month, though. Certain…bodily functions made it easy enough to tell that much.

A familiar grin greeted her moments after the collapse of the guards. "Hey, Mavis." Keys dangled from Sting's hand, and he jangled them in front of her. "I heard you were in a tight spot. Since your latest plan already kinda killed my cover, I figured there was no point in wasting someone else on the rescue."

She nodded, watching him unlock the door. "You aren't wrong. You and Invel would have been my first choice for this task, because of the exposure risk." Sting pulled the door open, and Mavis stepped out, standing by his side. "To be honest, I expected you to come as a messenger first, not as my general. After all, that was the role you claimed to have, wasn't it?"

"Yeah…they bought it entirely too. You were right that I could convince them I wasn't…well, who I am." Sting grinned, before walking down the hall. "Anyway, we can go into the details of my great deception later. For now…well, I think it'd be best if we get going."

Mavis nodded, following after him. Sting moved quickly, pausing at an intersection of hallways. He glanced around, checking for guards, before continuing forward. Keeping silent, Mavis stayed close to him, aware that they would be easily caught. Yet, things were going oddly smooth for a prison break. It was strange, how few guards there were leading out. Sure, they'd passed a handful that Sting had knocked out using a dart gun and tranquilizers…but it wasn't nearly as many as she'd expected.

Faint voices came from a distance, and Sting readied his tranquilizers again. He approached the next corner, crouching and taking aim again. With practiced precision, he shot at the guards. In just moments, they collapsed as well, leaving the path clear for them to leave. Mavis walked by him, pausing to glance at the collapsed men. Even now, she was preserving lives rather than recklessly claiming them in her new pursuit. She really was changing, if she thought that was a good thing.

Shaking her head, she began moving. However, that was when the alarm started screeching, making her wince and glance above them. Red lights started to flash, lighting up the halls on occasion. "Damn…seems like they've noticed you're gone already. We're going to need to start moving fast, now." Mavis nodded, picking up the pace. "So, have you been having fun in prison?" He cracked a grin, joking as they ran.

Mavis narrowed her eyes at him. "Maybe they know I am missing, but they don't know my location. Silence is still helpful, Sting."

"As you wish, Miss Spriggan." She rolled her eyes at the nickname, which had started when Fairy Tail began their hunt for Alvarez on behalf of King Jellal. It was fitting to the Twelve Shields, with them being her enemies, to label her as a dark fairy of some kind. Yet, rather than commenting, she rounded another corner. Guards spotted them this time, and were already readying weapons for a fight. Seeing them, Mavis glanced over at Sting, who held his tranq gun ready. He shot two times, knocking out two of the guards. The third came close, slashing out with a sword. Sting ducked underneath it, spinning around behind the man. Another dart put him to sleep as well, and they were on their way.

"Do you happen to have a weapon for me too on you?"

"Sorry, I packed light for the job. Figured speed and stealth would be more important." She nodded, frowning. After a moment's pause, she knelt down by an unconscious guard, claiming his sword as her own. With that, she continued her run, prepared to fight if necessary against guards further along the trail.

"We need to get out and lose them before they start launching a chase on mounts of any form." That meant they hadn't brought horses or other resources themselves. They neared a set of stairs, and Sting paused. "I'm not going to be able to check the top of these like I've done with the halls. You ready for whoever is up there?"

She nodded, and they began to walk up. She held the sword ready to fight, while Sting paused to make sure his tranq gun was loaded with another dart. From what she had seen of the case he'd pulled out…he was running low on supplies. She didn't comment however, and instead focused on their goal. They'd break free of this place, and her mission would resume. August would not be implicated in the crime, and Alvarez's goals would continue to move forward.

At the top of the stairs, two guards stood just outside of the upper door. They heard Sting and Mavis coming, spinning with swords in hand. Sting had foreseen an attack here, however, and was quick to duck. Mavis had moved a bit slower, and was still on the stairs when the attack came. As the two guards split their focus, dividing with one on Sting and the other facing her, Mavis smiled. "I may have just been an advisor to King Jellal, but that doesn't mean I never learned to fight for myself." The man started swinging his weapon towards her. Mavis blocked, pushing back harshly. He took a few steps back, leaving Mavis enough room to take the last two steps upward. The room they were in was open, which was not good for being discrete. However, she had to stay focused on her assailant.

The guard swung towards her legs, looking to incapacitate her. She sidestepped the blow, leaping forward to try and slam into his arm with the flat side of her blade. Hopefully, she'd weaken his sword arm and make an opening for herself. Yet, he saw her actions and quickly lifted his sword to block. Mavis pulled her blade back close to herself, staying ready to defend or attack as necessary. Before she could make an opening again, however, he collapsed suddenly, revealing Sting cheerfully waving over his fallen form. "You take too long, Miss Spriggan. Do you need more practice or something?"

"Shut up, Sting." The man laughed, and Mavis quickly followed after him. He knew where the exit was, since he had broken into the prison. She just hoped the alarm didn't lock down the exits.

"Wall is already working on disarming security, if you were worried." She blinked in surprise. Wall was typically relied on for hacking into any of the new technology that was created to replace magic. He was skilled in such things himself, and a crazy inventor that made strange weapons for them to use, though they were useful and unexpected at times. As such, he was rarely used on missions that would involve actual combat. He couldn't fight himself, despite knowing how to make all sorts of destructive tools and how to bypass the new locks that would latch automatically.

They encountered four more guards on their way to the exit. At the moment, Mavis didn't know if they had yet to find her, or if they were trying to follow the trail of unconscious men to determine where she was at. However, she wasn't going to question things just yet. They pushed the exit open, walking outside. There, she saw Wall with some strange device in hand, tapping away quickly at it. When he saw them, he stopped and placed it into his bag. The man smiled, and he brushed his dark hair from his face. "Great, seems like you made it. We're running now, I'm guessing?"

"Yeah, we are."

Wall sighed, shaking his head. "Why must you drag me along on missions that involve athletics? You should know by now that I have absolutely no skill in such things."

"I know, but we had no other options to get around security here. They've got the most up to date tech, given the fact that this is the Royal City…where they keep only the most dangerous of criminals."

Wall nodded, glancing over at Mavis and giving her a slight nod. "Welcome back, Miss." She nodded at him, and saw him begin to move. "Sadly, I cannot properly welcome you…but we shall celebrate once we've left the city, I suppose."

"That will be good enough for me, Wall." The man smiled, and they were off. As they entered the city streets, Mavis glanced back and saw guards on Legions starting to follow after them. The flying creatures gave them an advantage, but Wall was already pulling them aside into an alley. He held out what seemed like a wad of brown fuzz to Mavis, and similar one to Sting before placing a black one on his head. After seeing it on him…she realized the tangled wad of fuzz was a wig of some kind. "If they are searching from above, we need to look different from above." Nodding, Mavis did her best to quickly hide her blond hair underneath the brown strands. Sting had it easier than her, just like Wall did. Yet, she still managed to get most of it hidden away, before moving once more.

The thing on her head felt somewhat heavy and awkward, and kept sliding around slightly. She hoped its constant shifting wasn't noticeable from above, where the Legions were flying. "We should slow our pace. Running makes us look suspicious," Mavis said. The two shared a look, before nodding and slowing to a walk. "If we run into any soldiers on foot, that is when we can run again. For now, we are avoiding arial observers, and as Wall suggested, it is best to try and blend in as a result."

With that, they began walking through town. To stay hidden, it meant walking through public areas, rather than side streets like Sting had mapped out ahead of time. Mavis took them through the market district of town, where crowds gathered and were walking to various stores throughout.

The stores soon dissipated into a small collection of specialty restaurants, which were quickly ignored as they sought out the exit to town. Taking the main road had its risks, but the nature of the search party after them made it necessary. "They could have guards posted at the exit, Mavis. Are you sure this is the right path to take?"

Glancing at Wall, Mavis nodded. "If we take another path, we will be stopped by those above us."

"Damn Legions. Those things make it almost impossible to outrun the Royal Army, just like before." Sting scowled, shaking his head. "I guess there's nothing to do about it now."

The exit was there, and they paused. There were watchmen, standing guard within the walls of the city and observing those that were coming and going. Mavis watched the path for a moment, focusing on the guard's observations. Wagons were pulled inside, unchecked. Most that were leaving, however, were being searched. She stared at the wall, before the dark haired man by her side scowled and shook his head. "I have to take care of everything around here, don't I?" He reached into his bag, digging around for a moment. Then, he pulled what looked like a gun out, handing it to Mavis. A similar object was removed, and given to Sting, before Wall took one for himself. "Come on, head towards the wall, away from the exit. Quickly, before Legions are above us again."

She nodded, following after him. She watched as Wall took aim for the top of the wall, and sent a string of rope with a hook at the end launching for the thing. It…was a grappling hook, though launched by some mechanical device. She grinned, quickly mimicking him and preparing to drag herself up over the wall, with Sting by her side. Before long, they were all standing on top of it, gazing back down over the other side.

"Hold the trigger to release gradually, rather than instantly." With those brief instructions, Wall latched the end of his hook onto the other side of the wall, and hopped over to lower himself to the ground. Joining him, Mavis and Sting followed suit.

Her feet touched the grass, and she began moving again. After ensuring they were a safe distance away, she moved back towards the road, though there was no point. Their pursuers were still staying within the city, not aware that she had left yet. Letting out a triumphant laugh, Mavis began running again. She was free, and she was going to succeed in her plans. Alvarez would not let her down, not now, and not in the future either.

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