Chapter THIRTY SIX

Valkyrie darted through the crowd, glancing around in search of Meredy. She knew that it wouldn't be easy, as there were a lot of people. Valkyrie hid herself as much as she could in the shadows, hoping on finding the girl before she caught someone's attention.

Suddenly, a voice echoed in her thoughts.

'Jellal found her.'

Valkyrie paused in her steps

'He's talking to her at the moment.'

Valkyrie nodded absent mindedly to herself. Darque's voice faded away and she stood there, unsure of what to do. She quickly told Loke and Virgo the news through telepathy and wondered how she could contact the two Dragon Slayers. Thinking of Dragon Slayers, she wondered how Sting and Cobra were doing.

Without realizing, she drifted into the crowded streets. People who had been walking around immediately noticed Valkyrie di Daemon from the Grim Requiem and soon, people began crowding around.

Valkyrie snapped out of her thoughts when she heard familiar voices. She peeked out from underneath her hood and noticed Lyon and Chelia from Lamia Scale talking to Hibiki, Eve and Ren. Girls crowded around them, and the mages tried not to look annoyed as they pushed through the crowd.

The good thing was that they didn't seem to have noticed her. The bad thing was that they were headed right for her. She quickly tried to push through the crowd, to get away from them.

Obviously, her actions caused the people around her to make a fuss, and the five mages turned towards her.

Valkyrie stiffened, and jumped into the crowd. She heard Lyon yelling behind her and didn't dare to look back as she pushed through the crowd.

She finally managed to escape the sea of people. She was already panting and she cursed herself. Thanks to her spirits and her Black hole magic, she hadn't found the need to run around during battles. She was blaming her lack of stamina on that.

She heard two sets of footsteps, rapidly drawing closer. Suddenly, Hibiki, Ren and Eve darted around the corner in front of her. Valkyrie whipped around to find Lyon and Chelia blocking the other path.

Valkyrie quickly created a black hole close to her mouth. These people actually knew her, and she didn't want them recognizing her voice. "Can I help you?"

Lyon was the first to speak. "You're the one from Grim Requiem, right?" Valkyrie nodded.

Lyon glanced at her up and down, gaze laced with suspicion. "Why did you run?"

"Because you chased me?" Valkyrie asked.

Hibiki stepped up, his normally smiling face marred with a frown. "Why don't you take your hood off?"

Valkyrie promptly turned her head. Suddenly, a burst of wind nearly uncovered her face. She turned to glare menacingly at Chelia. Well, she couldn't exactly glare, as the hood was in the way of her eyes, but she must have been letting out a dangerous aura, because Chelia flinched and Lyon stepped up in front of his guild mate.

Valkyrie muttered a curse, then threateningly raised her hand. A sphere of pure darkness appeared on her palm.

Lyon instinctively raised his own hands in the Ice-make pose. On the hooded girl's other side, he saw the three Blue Pegasus mages took a stance as well.

"Move." Valkyrie snarled.

Suddenly, Lyon felt a gust of wind, and he raised his arms to his face. When he looked up again, the girl was nowhere to be seen.

"Up there!" Chelia cried. He glanced at where Chelia was pointing.

An exceed wearing a pink frog suit hovered in the air, supporting Valkyrie. Lyon recognized the exceed to be Frosch, belonging to the Shadow Dragon Slayer of Grim Requiem.

Frosch flew towards the top of one of the buildings and sure enough, Rogue stood on the roof. Frosch and Valkyrie landed beside him and his hands shot out to support her.

Valkyrie said something, and the two mages glanced down at them, before a black hole appeared behind them and the two mages, along with the exceed, stepped through, and vanished.

Sting and Cobra came back later that day, covered in sweat. They didn't have enough money, but they had been let off by washing a few dishes. It had helped that the restaurant manager was a fan-girl. They glared at everyone and didn't speak to anyone for a while.

Jellal and Meredy didn't come back for a while. By the time they did, it was way past dinner. Luckily, Lucy and Rogue had found Wendy and Carla, and they had eaten dinner in the city.

"We've eaten as well." Jellal said.

Meredy nodded. She still seemed pretty uncomfortable around the group, but she didn't complain. Jellal had told her everything, and she had agreed to help. Lucy had asked Darque, and the spirit had agreed to perform the bonding ceremony soon.

Trying to lighten the mood, Lucy and Wendy took turns telling the girl about the restaurant, Sting and Cobra. By the end of it, Meredy was laughing along with them and she seemed much more at ease.

Lucy ordered everyone to go to sleep, as the games were still on tomorrow. Each room had two beds, and Wendy agreed to share her room with Meredy. Sting and Rogue shared a room, and Midnight and Cobra shared another. Since Jellal had been alone, he hadf invited Lucy to his. Lucy moved out of the room she had been sharing with Wendy so that Meredy could move in.

Lucy woke to the sound of scuffling. She slowly opened her eyes and glanced out of the window. It was still dark outside. She slowly turned around and came face to face with...a mob of blue hair?

It took her a second for everything to register, before she let out a scream.

HERRO PEOPLE!

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