NEWS!

Mslead is going to be out of town for a week! As such, that means Kytrin will be updating in her place! She hasn't been feeling well at all for the past week and is only now starting to feel a little better :(. So that means for the next couple of updates you may not have much in the way of author's notes/review call outs just to make it a little easier on her. (she'll be updating golem and sandcastles here AND on tumblr, so I'm trying to make this as easy as possible for her.)

You'll still be getting your sneak peeks if you hit that magic mark, but we'll be making it as easy as possible for her!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE be patient if the updates are slow or late! Kytrin will be juggling this by herself!

Be good while I'm gone guys ;)

THIS FIC UPDATES ONCE EVERY THREE DAYS: Post, Break, Break, Post!


-ACT 2-

CHAPTER 18

Sphinx

The sphinx has had a long history of secrecy and intrigue, being viewed by many cultures as guardians of knowledge and as speaking in riddles.


Lucy carefully kept her grimace to herself as they crossed the gate and headed into town. This was one of the further outlying villages she knew about. The Rune Knights here numbered at a dozen at best, and most were local and at best of average magic power. Under any other circumstances that would've been fine since moderately powerful wizards could deal with most of the common problems a village like this might have.

Unfortunately, with the war going on the strain and stress were telling.

These people were the victims of regular raids, probably both of the bandit as well as the demonic variety, and it showed once you got close enough to look.

The wall was the sturdiest, and newest, looking thing, and even the better houses and town hall were looking a bit rough around the edges.

It made her feel bad to see. These people deserved none of the suffering that had been heaped on them for who knew how long, but unless they could end the war there was absolutely nothing she could do about it.

"You okay Lucy?" Natsu asked, noticing her small frown. Though he could guess what she was frowning about. It was clear to him what kind of attacks had caused this, and it made him want to go hunt the bastards down immediately.

But even if they knew where they were, which they didn't, he knew Lucy probably wouldn't let him. Though the look on her face was making him wonder a little about that.

"I'm fine." She replied automatically as they headed for the inn, "I'm just thinking."

"Does it hurt or something?" Natsu asked curiously, a sly smile twitching to the forefront when Lucy gave him an annoyed look.

"No Natsu, it doesn't hurt," She grumbled before tightening the arms crossed over her chest even more snugly than before.

She had been so excited when they first saw the town in the village. Gajeel had been grim and silent, but allowed them to race on ahead as he dragged up the rear.

"I never came across this town in my travels with the Knights, but I have seen this before," Lucy sighed, "This one is much closer to the capital, so I guess I was hoping it would have a little more strength to it."

"The protection the council offers Magnolia, at the very least that is real." Lucy's shoulders deflated.

Even if everything else was fake, Lucy knew the further the towns were from Magnolia, the worse shape they would be in. The capital provided security and protection, even if it came at the cost of certain liberties.

It was disheartening to see a town so close still in such a bad shape. Although Lucy supposed the demons and monsters had been trying to break through Magnolias protective walls for a great while.

They walked through the town, where they passed through dirty faced children just as skinny and underfed as the ones they saw in the slums of Magnolia.

"Maybe." Gajeel grunted, his eyes tracking the starving kids, "But the price is too high. There's reasons bandits are on the rise out here. The Knights here ain't enough, an' the council don't see fit to send more."

"It's one of the reasons many guilds have left Magnolia and the other major cities." Levy murmured, "They provide the support and reinforcement needed out here."

Lucy blinked a little, not having been aware of that, "They do?"

Gajeel nodded, "It's easier livin' out here for a guild. The locals don't care if you're a guild or a Knight as long as the job's done, an' the Knights out here can't afford to care." He glanced at her, "Fairy Tail thought about leavin' a time or two back when Master Makarov was still in charge, but we felt we did more good in the city than out of it."

Levy smiled a bit sadly, "Yeah we do." She grinned sheepishly, "But I'd be lying if I said I didn't wish we had more freedom so we could come and go."

Lucy smiled at her friend, "You just want to poke around more old ruins." She teased and shook her head, "I understand a lot better now what you mean. I say we make that a goal for when the war is over with."

She shrugged at their inquisitive looks, "Nothing significant will change until the one thing that allows the council to have control over everything is gone." She explained, "That's just politics. In a sick way the war almost benefits them as much as the demons, and they won't be eager to give up their power even a little."

"So we gotta take away the reason for them to have the power." Gajeel smirked, "I like it."

"I doubt it will be that easy." Lucy cautioned as they approached one of the better looking buildings that passed for an inn, "But it's a good place to start."

"Right..." Levy frowned and looked at where the unusually silent Natsu was standing, only to be greeted by an empty space.

"But in the meantime, we should probably find Natsu, shouldn't we?" She asked him, head tilting in curiosity.

Lucy let out a startled gasp and whipped around to locate her wayward demon. Natsu hadn't yet grown accustomed to how things ran on the outside of the walls. For people living out on the border, it was much easier for them to spot a demon from a human.

Sure enough, there was an alarmed scream that came from just around the corner they had passed. All three of them shared a look and raced back the way they came.

Natsu was standing there, looking alarmed and with his hands up in the air. A woman was clutching her little girl to her skirts, trembling in white faced fear. "Y-you stay away fro-from my little girl!"

"I didn't do anything to your girl," Natsu replied a touch snappily to the woman, "I just picked up her doll when she dropped it and handed it to her!"

"I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding." Lucy said as she walked up and laid a hand on Natsu's shoulder. Hopefully to keep him from doing something stupid.

"See?" She smiled, not liking the terrified look on the woman's face, or the crowd that was gathering, "No harm done. We'll just go. Sorry about the confusion."

She tried to tug a confused but still irritated looking Natsu back, but that proved to be one step too many as the woman backed away from them in horror, "Demon!" She screamed, "He's a demon! And you're consorting with him!"

"Shit." Gajeel rumbled under his breath as the curious crowd suddenly got a lot more hostile looking.

"No, no!" Lucy exclaimed, waving her hands peaceably, "He's not a demon! We're wizards! His magic just had that physical effect. We don't mean any harm to anyone here. We're just passing through."

She shoved a little at Natsu, "C'mon Natsu. Let's get going. I think we've overstayed our welcome with these nice people."

"He's a demon!" The woman insisted, pointing at Natsu, "He's got the marks!"

"That he does." Someone from the crowd said as they began moving closer, "An' the ears."

"This ain't good." Gajeel muttered tensely.

They were saved from the situation escalating any further when a portly man pushed through the crowd and raised his voice over the ruckus.

"Alright now that's enough!" He set his hands on his rounded belly, his voice booming out loud enough to attract the attention of all.

The atmosphere was heavy and charged, but obediently silent.

"We don't get near enough visitors to our town to be picking and choosing who we serve!" The man boomed out. His drawling voice was thick, but he held the air of someone in charge. Naturally the people around them began to relax.

Natsu growled quietly, but fell silent when Lucy squeezed his shoulder tightly. The silent command to keep quiet was clear enough.

"These nice folks are from Fairy Tail, so let's show them some hospitality and see past the funny lookin' one for now," The man continued peacefully.

Lucy could feel Natsu's anger boiling under the surface by the way his neck flexed against her fingers. But he thankfully got the message and held his tongue. A fight with the villagers at this point wouldn't work out in anyone's favor...

But damn it, not even that logic could tamp down on Lucy's tongue.

"Thank you sir," Lucy spoke with a bit of sharpness in her voice that skated just along the edge of politeness, "But like I said before, my friend can't help the way he looks, and there's nothing "funny" about it either."

Natsu blinked at Lucy, a silly smile lighting across his face, which she met with a quick flash.

"Of course ma'am, no disrespect meant," The man rolled easily with the correction.

Lucy nodded slightly, figuring this was about as good as they were going to get, "Thank you." She replied politely, if a shade frostily, "Now that that's cleared up," She managed, barely, to refrain from shooting the woman who started it a dirty look, "Please excuse us. We would like to retire peacefully for some rest before leaving in the morning."

Natsu's smile widened a bit at the faint growling he could hear in Lucy's tone. His mistress was not happy, at all, but for once he wasn't inclined to get in the middle of things.

In fact, he was rather enjoying watching her express her displeasure. It was fun when it wasn't directed at him.

"Of course!" The man replied jovially, and bowed slightly, "I am the Innkeeper. Please, allow me to escort you to my humble inn."

Lucy raised a surprised eyebrow that the man who had diffused the potential mob situation was the innkeeper of all people, but she nodded with more politeness.

"Thank you." She said again as he led them off, not surprised that Natsu fell into step behind her in case things got ugly again, and made a mental note to have a clear talk with him about the kinds of things he'd done as END and why he had to be careful outside the city.

She'd been dancing around it for weeks, not really wanting to burden him with things he couldn't remember, but it seemed that strategy had bitten her in the ass.

He knew in a vague sense of the word, that he had done some kind of crime in the past. That there was something he didn't quite remember. But the depths of the horrors END had committed were written about in every history book she had ever known. And the price of the ink it had been written in was the blood of wizards and humans who had come before her.

So when all four of them filed into their room, Lucy insisted they all eat in their rooms. Natsu was confused by this course of action, but he didn't argue it.

He was still being given extremely unfriendly glares wherever they went, even if the situation had been diffused.

Once they were situated in their room, Natsu wandered over to the window where he saw a group of people milling around. His sharp ears could pick up angry voices from outside and he frowned a little.

"They're... afraid," Natsu frowned uncomprehendingly. He recognized that anger and knew the emotion it was stemming from. He had felt that haunting, hollow emotion of fear before.

He knew how easily the match of anger could be sparked when fear was the fuel.

The only question was why.

"Why are they so afraid of me?" Natsu mumbled.

Lucy sighed and looked down into her cup as if it would give her all the answers she was looking for, "For some, it's because you're a demon." She answered quietly, "These folk have been ravaged by demonic attacks for who knows how long. They know how to recognize what you are no matter what I say."

She steeled herself and looked up at him grimly, "I'm not sure if any of them recognize you as END, but it doesn't matter if they do or not. The fact that you're a demon automatically means you're evil to them."

Natsu's heart clenched at that, though it was tempered with a kind of acceptance. Lucy had said they were at war, and it was going badly for the humans.

He supposed it shouldn't be a surprise he would not be welcomed by her people.

"Lucy..." He hesitated for a moment and frowned, "Lucy, what have we, I, done to them to make it this bad?"

Lucy grimaced, "That's a broad question Natsu." She replied, "This is a war that's gone on for four hundred years. A lot of atrocities have been committed over the centuries, and every one leaves a bad taste in the mouth."

She shook her head, "My dad was killed when a demon named Deliora attacked the town he was visiting. He leveled the entire town in one night. Over twenty thousand people dead, and only a few survivors."

Natsu's throat felt like sandpaper at the news, "And that was one attack?" He managed.

Lucy nodded, "Deliora is one of the few powerful demons around, and attacks from them are rarer. No one knows why exactly, but some think it's because they're devoting their energy to searching for their creator, Zeref. Which is just as well considering what they're capable of."

Natsu swallowed thickly and sat down across from her, "Please Lucy." He pleaded, "Tell me everything. I need to know."

Lucy thought it was incredibly sad that the first time Natsu expressed a need, outside of his desire for fire, it was for this. However, she nodded.

"What I know from history is that Zeref created END, you, a little over four hundred years ago. No one knows why, but no one knows why he created demons at all." She shook her head, "Maybe he didn't even need a reason other than he was evil and could."

"Anyway, it was shortly after that everything went crazy. Zeref demanded the throne, but when the King refused he unleashed END and murdered the King on the spot." She shivered, "It became the bloodiest massacre in history. The palace was leveled, the royal army, mages and normal soldiers alike, were slaughtered in droves. The people killed or rounded up as slaves."

"It was after that Zeref declared war on humanity. If we did not surrender to him we would be killed. Some places did. Alvarez was the first to give in. But not Fiore. We've fought every step of the way."

"And Zeref was my Master, so I-" Natsu filled in the blanks. He looked a little pale under his skin as his eyes turned towards Lucy, looking horrified over what he was filling in the blanks.

END was turned loose on the human populace. Commanded to kill, burn, maim, torture, and who knew what else.

He looked down at his hands, clean of blood, but he imagined a time where they were drenched.

The thought of hurting so many people was horrible. But he knew if Lucy were to ever command him to do such a thing, he would without question. Natsu felt a chill run down his spine at the thought.

His creator, Zeref, had ordered him to kill without thought or pause.

Natsu had no problem with attacking anyone who would hurt his Mistress. Protecting Lucy was second nature to him. And eliminating any threat to her made sense in a way that appealed to his demonic nature.

But to kill and kill and kill...

Just because they wouldn't accept his Master as their King?

They were right to be afraid.

"What else is there?" Natsu asked Lucy, hoping that was the worst of his already terrible crimes.

But at the look on Lucy's face, he knew there were heaps more. More than she could probably even say.

She approached him like she would a wounded animal, and pressed her palms against his cheeks to steady him. Natsu hadn't even realized he had been swaying.

"Natsu, don't torture yourself like this," She commanded him gently, "There are history books full of information, but no one will really know what the truth was like."

"No one is alive now that witnessed what happened then, and you don't remember," She patted his cheeks, "What's important now, is that we fix it. We take back what Zeref stole. From all of us."

Natsu stared at her skeptically for a moment before slowly sighing and nodding. She was right of course. He knew that. But that didn't stop him from feeling the taste of bile rising up in his throat.

"Is that why you didn't like me at first?" He whispered, a sense of desolation matching the faint nausea. He knew Lucy had taken time to warm up to him, and if what she was saying was true... he couldn't blame her.

"In part." Lucy replied with the same honesty she always used and he couldn't help smiling faintly, "In the beginning you had no spark of life, and I thought you were nothing more than the demon I'd heard stories about as a child."

She shrugged slightly and ran her fingers through her hair, "I won't lie Natsu. Until you woke up I didn't like the idea of what the council wanted to do to you, but I didn't hate it either. You were a weapon."

She met his eyes firmly, "But then you woke up, and showed me that there was a person inside after all. One who is bright and cheerful and I'm proud to call friend." She pressed her hand against his heart, "That person is not responsible for what Zeref did. For what Zeref made END do. Do you know why?"

He shook his head, caught up in what she was saying, and she smiled.

"Because END was a blank faced golem that could no more control what happened than I can stop a storm. You have a mind and a personality. Therefore you are not END, and what END did was not your fault."

Lucy's words comforted him, but there was a strange flicker of unease in his chest that Natsu couldn't entirely crush. It was almost as if there were a ring of truth to her words, but it was just slightly off.

He couldn't put his finger on it exactly, but he covered Lucy's hand with his own.

There was still a burning curiosity in him to uncover the truth of his past. He knew nothing he would remember would be good for him, but at some point he knew he was going to have to face what END had done.

Lucy ordered him not to torture himself with the knowledge of what he had done, but not to seek it out.

"Alright Lucy," He flashed her a smile, even if the ache in his chest beat hollowly. He felt like it was still there, twisting around the knowledge that he had done something to make Lucy ever dislike him in some way.

Demons, were they all evil by definition?

Until he figured out the truth, he would be careful. Making sure people didn't recognize him for what he was would be more important than ever. Which he supposed meant covering up his markings and tucking his hair over his ears.

"I guess I'll play myself off as whatever... Gajeel is for now," Natsu frowned as he fought for the memory of what it was.

"A dragonslayer," Lucy filled in the blank and Natsu nodded.

"Yeah that thing, although anyone with a sense of smell will be able to tell Gajeel and I aren't human," Natsu yawned.

Lucy blinked, suddenly thrown off by Natsu's rather flippant statement as the demon shucked off his vest to a far corner of the room, discarding the ties of his pants as he moved.

"Wait what?" Lucy blinked at Natsu, following him quickly to the bed, "Gajeel isn't human?"

Natsu, however, ignored her question as he flopped over on the bed and instantly became one with it.

"Natsu!" Lucy whined in frustration as he started to snore loudly and obnoxiously. But she knew from experience that he really was as asleep as he looked, and nothing short of an emergency or food would wake him up.

She sighed and decided she was probably better off just getting ready for bed herself. At least he was sleeping after what she'd revealed to him. She'd been a bit worried that would be a problem, but it seemed he'd taken her order to heart.

She walked back over to where Levy was giggling and rolled her eyes as she began rummaging through her pack, "Aggravating demon." She muttered, "I think he does that on purpose."

Levy grinned, "Well, to be fair, Gajeel may not smell entirely human."

Lucy glanced at her curiously and Levy cocked her head, "You mean you don't know? Gajeel was found by Metallicana as a baby. He's lived most of his life in a dragon nest, and grew up learning their magic. That's why he's a dragonslayer." She shrugged, "It's also probably why Natsu would say that. His magic changed him physically, so there's bound to be some dragon in there."

Lucy sat back in surprise, "I had no idea." She admitted, "I thought he was a metal manipulator of some kind like Gray."

Levy grinned, "Well you weren't far off the mark." She glanced around, "Come to think of it... where is Gajeel anyway? He left right after we ate, but that was a while ago."

"I'm not sure," Lucy admitted, only just now realizing Gajeel had left somewhere. He had slipped away like a shadow and Lucy wasn't sure where he could have disappeared to. He vanished like smoke, and the fact he had been gone so long only made her nervous.

"I wouldn't worry about him Lucy," Levy said, sensing how her friend looked to be growing anxious. She pulled out her toothbrush so she could get ready for the night.

"He's kind of the solitary type, and he likes to run off on his own," Levy shrugged, "and if he runs into trouble we're close by."

Lucy wasn't entirely convinced but she had to admit Levy had a point. Gajeel was practically the definition of a loner. It was entirely likely she was still on edge from the angry mob after them.

-::-

While Lucy and Levy were getting ready Gajeel was doing a little bit of snooping. He didn't trust these people after the episode from earlier, and he sure as hell wasn't going to sleep in the same town as them until he was sure it was actually safe.

Something he very seriously doubted was the case.

He knew, better than most, that prejudice could run deep, and while he couldn't blame the girls for wanting a chance to relax and sleep in a real bed he knew the kind of traps that could be waiting if they weren't careful.

So he slipped silently through the shadows and listened.

At first, it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. People talking, some playing music and drinking, the sounds of kids demanding food or playtime.

But then, as it got later, and darker, the tone changed.

The children had gone to bed, and now the adults were talking more freely. He frowned as he overheard one pair of women talking fearfully about the 'demon' from earlier before a third shooed them on. That wasn't good, but it wasn't bad either as long as it was all talk.

Unfortunately, it wasn't going to stay that way.

No the fearful gossiping turned from one person into two, two into four until it increased exponentially.

Gajeel swore quietly as he saw the quiet town morphing before his eyes into crowd of angry villagers. It seemed the mob had not been diffused, only delayed.

He was about to slip away to warn the others that their visit was going to be cut short, when the portly innkeeper from before approached the crowd.

Gajeel hung back to observe, wondering if the man would stop the situation before it escalated. But that was not the case.

"Alright the demon and his human captives are all asleep and in their room now, if we are going to take him by surprise, we've got to go now. The sedative I put in his food won't last forever," the innkeeper grunted.

Gajeel's eyes narrowed dangerously and he grit his fangs in anger. Of all the conniving and underhanded things to do... he had to move fast if he was going to race the mob.

Fortunately, the size of the mob would work against it. At least for now. The sheer size wasn't anything good, but at least it meant it would take a couple of minutes for it to get organized enough to start marching.

Gajeel wasted no time as he ran back to the inn with a speed that belied his appearance, and rushed into their room.

"Up!" He snapped, flicking the lights on, "Get up now! We gotta leave immediately!"

"Wha?" Levy asked confusedly as she sat up, unintentionally giving him a delicious view of her rumpled and in a shirt that looked like it might fit him.

"No time to talk shrimp." He growled as he moved to their packs and started shoving things in, "There's an angry mob on it's way to kill Natsu and 'liberate' us. We gotta run if we don't wanna fight."

Lucy's eyes widened in shock and she scrambled out of bed to shake Natsu, "Natsu!" She ordered, "Get up! We have an emergency!"

She heard him snort and blink blearily at her and nodded before diving for her clothes and cramming everything back into her pack without regard for proper packing.

"Not sure that's gonna work." Gajeel grunted, nodding at the dazed looking Natsu, "Damned innkeeper drugged his food."

Natsu just yawned, stretching out as his back bowed off the bed, "Did he?" Natsu asked with a roll to his shoulders.

He jumped out of bed and flexed an arm, his eyes narrowing in distaste, "I thought it smelled weird."

"But you're okay?" Lucy asked, waving a hand in front of his face. Natsu followed the gesture with ease and he sheepishly shrugged.

"I might have... replaced my plate with one I swiped in the hall going up," he admitted nervously. Lucy gave him a scandalized look and his cheeks flushed.

"I didn't know it was laced, I thought it was just bad! I was still hungry!'" He whined.

Lucy rolled her eyes and shoved his vest at him, "Just as well all things considered." She huffed, "C'mon, get dressed."

She moved to pull her pack on when there was a loud crash downstairs as the mob burst in, "Uh oh..." She muttered as the angry villagers stomped upstairs with enough noise to wake the dead, never mind the people they were there to get, "I think we just ran out of time."

"We ain't done yet." Gajeel growled as he shoved the window open and shoved Levy, pack and all, under his arm before jumping out.

"That's one way to get out." Lucy noted, a little surprised over the swiftness of it all. There was a solid thump at their door that had her scrambling over to the window ledge herself, "Looks good to me! C'mon Natsu!"

A sickening crack sounded on the door and Lucy hastily dropped the two remaining packs down before climbing into the window. She hesitated as she looked back at Natsu, but he'd already positioned himself squarely between her and the door.

"Go Lucy!" He snarled, fire igniting on his fists, "I'll be right there!"

Lucy nodded, knowing he could take care of himself and trusting him not to do anything unnecessary. When alone, Natsu let out a rumble of anger at the mob filling the doorframe.

"I never intended to hurt any of you," he breathed out a cold warning, the fire in his hands dancing in the darkness and casting inky shadows over his face.

"You should go," His flaming hand reached out to the the wall next to him. His eyes were cruel and sharp, fingers flexing around the flames cracking and snapping in his grasp.

"This inn is the center point of traffic for this village," Natsu growled, his fingers skimming along the old wood. Ashy fingerprints began to coat the surface while the paint boiled and peeled off.

"What will happen to your town if your main source of industry were to go up in smoke?" Natsu growled. He bared his fangs at them, tension coiling his body up like a spring at the mob which had fallen deathly silent.

"Ultimately, you and everyone here would be so crippled, you would have to either stay and die, or leave and maybe live trying to find the next way station - that is if the monsters don't get you first," Natsu closed his eyes, "You can kill me, fine. But you threatened my mistress and her friends."

Why should he not tear apart their lives? All it would take would be a small stroke of his finger across the dry wood.

"What's important now, is that we fix it. We take back what Zeref stole. From all of us."

The words, affectionately spoken a scant few hours go, came back to him almost as soon as he asked himself that question. END. His alter ego or whatever. The reason these people hated and feared and suffered in the first place. If he did this he would be just like the stories written about END and the crimes he committed.

No. He couldn't.

These people had started it first, yes, but could he really blame them after what they'd been through at demonic hands? This was different from Jose. The master of Phantom Lord had reveled in his power and control over those he could manipulate.

These people were just afraid.

His mistress was safe. He knew Gajeel would watch her back until he re-joined them. There was no reason to add extra suffering. It would only cause more of the exact problems they were trying to fix by tracking down the dragons.

He sighed as he opened his eyes and dropped his hand, "Go home." He told them tiredly, "And leave us alone."

He watched their shocked expressions for a moment and then turned and leapt lightly out the window to where Lucy and the others were waiting.

"Natsu!" Lucy exclaimed worriedly, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Natsu smiled, "They didn't even touch me."

"What a relief!" Lucy sighed and flicked the back of Natsu's arm in punishment, "Don't you scare me like that again!"

Natsu whined, but smiled at Lucy's nerves. It was clear after everything which had transpired, they were going to need to get a little more creative.

"Come on, we need to get out of the town," Levy hissed urgently, although her look of seriousness was dampened slightly by Gajeel having her packed like a piece of lugagge.

They all crept to the shadows, hugging a wall each as they slowly made their way back to entry way to the front of the village

And quietly, as if they were never there, the group vanished.


SPECIAL THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED! Again, don't be surprised if there aren't review comments in the next couple of chapters. Mslead won't be here!

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30 REVIEWS EQUALS A SNEAK PEEK!

"I hate to break up this conversation! But the love you all have been sharing is about to be crashed!" Chelia's voice pitched a bit on the shrill side, "We've attracted some unwanted attention!"

"What?" Levy cried, leaning over the edge, which nearly caused Gajeel to tip entirely out of the boat, "From whom? The council has ships in Hargeon, but nothing large enough to cause swells like these!"

Chelia grunted as their boat nearily flipped, and slowly, a large cube-like shape emerged down from above the clouds.

"That's because it's not the council," Lucy breathed in horror, "It's Tartarus."

This time when they looked at one another in horror, it wasn't because of vomiting, but the very real threat that was descending down near them.

"I don't think we've been spotted yet!" Chelia struggled with her winds as the large ship continued to disrupt the air currents, "But we have to get out of their sight fast!"

"We're in a boat in the middle of the sea," Gajeel moaned, "I'm up for suggestions."