Hi Friends! I'm so sorry I've been gone for so long. I kind of just dropped off the map. But I'm back now! New chapter cocked and loaded!

Chapter 7:

Erza

"This is the armory. You have an hour to collect all your belonging and anything you might need." Sir Clive pushed the grand double door open to reveal a large warehouse type room with thousands of different weapons and types of armor lining the walls and stacked on shelves. "The stables are just on the other side of the armory. I will ready your steeds and meet you there when you are all prepared. If you can all be ready before the hour is up, that would be much appreciated."

"What about food? Shelter?" Lucy asked, running her fingers over a long scary scabbard.

"Everything you need will be waiting for you at the stables. I did not know what kind of weapons you preferred, so this is why I brought you here. I have packed enough rations to last you over a week. Hopefully, the mission won't even take you that long. If all goes according to plan, the prince will have returned and married the heir to Fiore before the week is out."

With that, Sir Clive turned around, his cape billowing behind him, and strode out of the back door. He had already explained the plan to all of us. We were aware of our mission, and the stakes of what would happen if we failed. If we were caught, we couldn't let Caelum tie us to the government because they might kill the prince and put our entire country void of a leader. I understood that we were basically giving our lives for the prince, whether we liked or not. And now, we had a soldier among our ranks who was going to keep up in line.

Speaking of said soldier, the Brogo captain turned around to face us and clasped his hands behind him.

"I know none of you have any real training in the military, so I do not blame you if you do not know which weapons will suit you best. That is why I will handle selecting the weapons and supplies for each of you. No need to worry, I will make sure you are all fit to take on any challengers, even though I've had no time to train you." He said firmly, nodding at each of us.

"Who made you the leader, soldier boy?" Natsu snapped, throwing a dangerous looking knife up in the air and catching it. The soldier reached out and snatched the knife away from him.

"Please don't play with the weapons. They are very dangerous. It's not a toy." He scolded. Natsu raised his eyebrows and tilted his head.

"You think I'm stupid?" He challenged. The soldier faced him and crossed his arms.

"Only the incompetent would play with weapons." He sneered. Natsu bared his teeth.

"I don't know what incompetent means, but I think that was an insult. You want to fight, punk?" Natsu fisted his hands and raised them up. The soldier laughed.

"I most certainly do not want to fight. I think you need to take it back a step and remember where you are." He said through barely restrained anger.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Way I see it, we're all in the same rank. I'm here, just like you, which means I'm just as strong as you. I don't need you to tell me how to fight." Natsu hissed. Gray rolled his eyes.

"You've never had military training. And I guarantee that you need it for this mission. So as much as you think you're important, you're not. I could do this whole thing by myself. I just need some extra bodies as extra protection and black knight fodder." He said arrogantly. Natsu was about to explode on him again when Lucy stepped in.

"Excuse me? Black knight fodder? You better watch your mouth, soldier boy. Just because you had the resources and the money to be able to join the army doesn't mean you can look down on people who don't have the same training or practice that you do." She hissed, sliding a long machete out of its scabbard. Gray turned to her and frowned.

"I don't even know why they allowed women to be on this mission. It's far too dangerous, and you'll just be in the way. I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but no matter how good you are with that sword, it won't matter against the black knights." He replied coolly, causing anger to flare through Lucy's eyes. She was about to spout acid back at him, but Natsu beat him to it.

"You know you should shut up right about now. There were hundreds of volunteers from the town and three of them made it through, two of them women. So that shows what you know about women and their strength. I'd like to see you take all three of us in hand to hand combat. We'd crush you." He growled. Lucy glanced at him for a split-second before looking back at Gray. Gray sighed and rolled his eyes.

"That won't be necessary. I know that no matter what I have to say about it, Sir Gildarts is convinced that you are needed for the mission. That's why I'll pick the weapons for you. Unless you'd rather I keep you from taking any weapons at all?" He smirked, causing Lucy to stomp her foot in indignation.

"You can't do that." She shot.

"Try me." Gray snapped.

The three of them then squared up as though they were going to start fighting right then and there. I couldn't believe what was happening. All I could think about was how much time we were wasting and how stupid this whole fight was. Why in the world were we even talking about this? Sure, Gray had said something completely sexist and ignorant, but it didn't matter because there was nothing he could do about it. And now the others were trying to fight him for it? How did any of that make sense?

"Stop it!" I cried, throwing my hands up.

The three of them paused and turned to look at me. I stepped in between them and shoved Gray backwards, causing him to stumble and bang into a rack of shields. Lucy sniggered and I rounded her, causing her to fall silent immediately. I took a threatening step toward Lucy and Natsu and they stumbled backwards in fear.

"You are all acting like absolute babies. We only have one damn hour to do this before we have to work together to accomplish this mission. So we can stop arguing and actually get something done?" I cried out, looking at all of them with wide eyes. Gray pushed himself up and straightened his back.

"My thoughts exactly. Now, if you would let me give you my take on the weapons I think you should all have—"

"No, you shut up. Nobody wants your opinion, so you can can it and sit in a corner." I snapped, holding up my hand. He raised his eyebrows in surprise and was about to talk back. I gave him a death glare and his mouth snapped shut. He trudged off and Natsu yelled after him.

"Yeah, you better run! Your tail looks good when it's between your legs!"

"And you!" I exclaimed, rounding on Natsu, who cringed in fear. "Stope picking fights with people. You're too easily angered and you need to cool it. Go pick out your damn weapons before I stuff them down your throat." Natsu yelped and scurried off. I was about to yell at Lucy as well, but she was already chasing after Natsu, yelling at him to not leave her with the scary lady.

I sighed and rubbed my temples, feeling the beginning of a headache. I had no idea why we were already fighting after the first day. It seemed surreal that these were the people I would have to work with. How could I work with them if they didn't work with each other? Would I have to become the mother of this group even though I most definitely wasn't the oldest?

I sighed and looked at the weapons on the wall. My own sword was still strapped to my waist, and I wasn't going to give up, no matter what swords I saw here. I'd forged the sword myself and I didn't trust anyone else to forge my swords. But maybe, I could take a few daggers. Finally, I decided on two wicked daggers that easily slipped into my boots and my sleeves if I needed a quick plan B if my sword was incapacitated.

With my weapons selected, I exited the armory and saw Gray and Sir Clive talking outside of a large wood building. There were four horse tied to a post drinking water, each of them supplied with a pack and a saddle on their backs. I made my way over to them and braced myself for any criticism. Gray noticed me and frowned, a pure look of disapproval passing over his face. I ignored him. Gildarts was smiling warmly.

"Erza! Have you made your selections?" He asked genuinely. I nodded and patted my belt.

"I should be prepared." I said. Gray scoffed and I glared at him, causing him to look away. Gildarts smiled and pointed to the horses.

"You have your pick of the lot. Except the white one on the end, that's Sir Fullbuster's. but any of the others, take your pick."

I walked over to the horse cautiously and eyed them, taking their features into account. There were two chestnut horses, one with a stripe down its nose, and other without any white. The third one was a smaller paint horse with black and cream patterns on its body. The white one on the end was tall and strong. A thoroughbred.

"These are our fastest and more resourceful steeds. The fully chestnut one is Prince Jellal's. We figured he would like to ride his own horse when he was rescued."

I narrowed my eyes at the fully chestnut thoroughbred and passed over it, feeling a sort of resentfulness toward it, just because the prince had ridden it before. I looked at the paint and the other chestnut and sighed. I didn't know which one to choose, since they both seemed fine. I walked up to them and stuck my hand out. Before either of the other horse had the chance to even notice what I'd done, the fully chestnut horse stepped forward and sniffed at my hand.

I jerked back, surprised, but then I left my hand out, allowing the horse to sniff at it and lick it, hoping for food. I smiled as it pressed its nose against my palm. Before I knew what was happening, it had stepped forward and pressed its face to my chest, causing me to scratch behind its ears. It let out a small nicker at my action and Sir Clive chuckled.

"She loves that." He said fondly. "The prince used to come out and just talk to her whenever he needed to talk to someone who wouldn't answer back. She's a good listener."

I smiled and nodded my head. Prince or not, this horse was special. It was the only one who'd taken interest in me, after all.

"What's her name?" I asked, stroking her neck.

"Heavenly." He replied. I smiled and nodded. It suited her.

I was just about to mount her, when Natsu and Lucy came into the view, bickering about something.

"You don't need seventeen sticks of dynamite. You already have like twenty in your belt. Where are you going to put the rest?" Lucy was saying.

"Look, you have your knives, and I have my explosives. We fight in different ways, okay? I like blowing things up. And what happens if I run out? So I have to take a whole bunch more."

"But where are going to put them?"

"In my pack! They're extras in case I run out. Listen, just worry about yourself and I'll worry about me, okay? I'm a big boy, I can do this myself."

"I still don't think you need that many explosives.

"That's your opinion."

"It's a good one."

I rolled my eyes as they approached. Gildarts stepped forward, catching their attention.

"Natsu and Lucy, it's good to see you as well. Please select a steed so the four of you can depart on your mission as soon as possible." He said, irritably. I smiled slightly, knowing that feeling well. It was an awful to watch them bicker, but at the same time, it was quite entertaining.

Lucy walked over to the horses and ignored the white one, without even being told she wasn't allowed to take it. She smiled as she stroked the other chestnut horse and picked up its bridle.

"I like this one." She said firmly.

"That's Loke. He's our most steadfast steed. He will be good for you." Gildarts said as Lucy mounted the horse.

I mounted Heavenly as Natsu cautiously poked the paint horse. It lulled its head toward him and snorted. Natsu stepped back slightly and then took its bridal.

"I guess this one's mine." He said, his voice shaking slightly. I pulled himself up and wobbled around unstably.

"That's Happy." Natsu stared at Gildarts as the horse moved a bit too much and he had to cling to its mane.

"The horse's name is Happy?" Natsu asked incredulously. Gildarts laughed as the paint hose stomped its foot, causing Natsu to whimper.

"Of course! He's the light of our army. He'll take good care of you." He promised. Natsu shook his head and gulped.

"Is this the first time you've ridden a horse?" I asked.

"No!" Natsu protested. "I just… haven't done it in a while."

"Fantastic…" Gray's sarcastic comment cause Natsu to snap his head in his direction as he smoothly mounted his thoroughbred. "Hopefully you can still keep up. I'm not going to wait for you."

Gildarts then told us the path we needed to take and reminded us of the amount of time we had for the mission. He reminded us that there could be nothing tying us to the military should we get caught, so Gray would have to change out of his armor before we reached Caelum. Then Gray turned around and guided his horse forward, nominating himself to take the lead. I nudged Heavenly forward and we were off, on the most important mission of which I'd ever been a part.

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