Chapter Two – Alliance

Erza

"What?!" everyone yelled in unison.

"Sabertooth?! What're we doing with those bastards?" Gray demanded.

"Isn't it good to work with old friends again?" Mira asked, smiling serenely.

"Crime Sorcière?" Lisanna asked, cocking her head to the side. "Who's that?"

Crime Sorcière…Jellal. A nervous flutter went through my stomach as I thought of the blue-haired mage. It would be nice to see him again, but part of me was a little apprehensive. After all, it had been six months since I'd seen him, and the last time I'd spoken with him, we'd been too busy rushing our wounded off to get treated to have a real conversation.

I shook my head abruptly. This was not the time to be thinking about Jellal! We had a dangerous mission before us, and there was a good chance that not all of us would make it out alive. We needed to stay focused and keep our heads in the game.

"Alright, when are we gonna get this thing underway?" Natsu yelled, a ferocious smile on his face. "I'm all fired up!"

"Erza," Master Makarov said, handing me a slip of paper. "Here is the address of the meeting place. You are to be there tonight, so I suggest you all get a move on!"

"Yes! Understood." I bowed and looked around at the guild members assembled before me. "We're moving out in an hour!" I barked. "Be packed and ready to go in front of the guild, or you're getting left behind!" And with that, I turned and headed for my dorm room at Fairy Hills to pack my things.

The sun was just starting to sink below the horizon when we finally stood before the large inn at the edge of a small town called Acacia. A forest loomed behind the building, casting sinister shadows across the ground. For a moment, they seemed to be moving, reaching for us like outstretched fingers. I tensed and put my hand on the hilt of my sword. But before I could be sure of what I'd seen, the shadows were inanimate again, harmlessly reflecting the trees blowing gently in the wind.

I was drawn from my dark thoughts when Natsu and Gray cried out in dismay. "What?! What's this?! Blue Pegasus, again? Why do we always meet in their buildings?!"

Lucy and Wendy laughed nervously, rubbing the backs of their heads. "It does seem a little strange…" Lucy said hesitantly, looking up at the embossed symbol of a horse head above the door.

I looked around at them sternly. "As long as we're safe, it doesn't matter. Besides, with all the damage you two—" My gaze snapped to Natsu and Gray, who immediately leapt into each other's arms in terror. "—cause, we should be grateful that they are willing to let us use their guild's property at all."

"Y-yes!"

Satisfied that they would behave—for the next ten minutes, at least—I walked up to the door and knocked. After a moment, it swung open to reveal a spacious and brightly lit entry hall. Golden statues of winged horses lined the pink walls, plush, colorful sofas distributed amongst them. Standing in the center of the room were members from all the other guilds.

As we crowded into the room, my gaze roved over the assembled mages, taking stock of our new allies. From Blue Pegasus, the usual suspects—Hibiki, Ren, Eve and Ichiya. A shudder traveled up my body as I looked at the short, auburn-haired mage. I quickly focused my gaze elsewhere, lighting upon Lamia Scale's Jura, Lyon, Sherry and Chelia. Next to them were the two Dragonslayers from Sabertooth, Sting and Rogue. With them were Rufus, Orga and Yukino.

I blinked in surprise. Yukino? Wasn't she kicked out? And yet, visible just above the low waistband of her light blue skirt was the white symbol of Sabertooth. I smiled to myself. So they got a new Master. Good. However, I saw that one of their members was missing. Minerva had clearly been the most powerful member of their guild when last we'd crossed paths, so I couldn't imagine why she wouldn't have been sent on this mission with the rest of their strongest members. And while I wasn't exactly fond of her, I could acknowledge that it would've been nice to have her power at our aid.

"Er-chan!" My attention swung to the girl with the short brown hair and cat ears who was racing across the hall to throw herself into my arms.

"Millianna!" I wrapped my arms around her and smiled, glad to see my old friend looking well. Glancing over her shoulder, I saw the rest of her guild's representatives from Mermaid Heel. Kagura gave me a respectful nod, which I returned. Risley, Arania and Beth stood behind her with polite smiles.

"Isn't it great? We get to work together!" She pulled back and beamed at me.

I nodded and made a noise of agreement. However, my gaze was sweeping the rest of the entry hall, searching for the final guild in our new alliance. But they weren't there.

Apparently Gray noticed the same thing. "Where's the fifth guild?"

Jura had apparently once again taken charge of things, for he was the one who responded. "Crime Sorcière arrived this morning. Since then, they've been in their room and have requested not to be present for the introductions this evening."

Disappointment settled in my stomach, though I wouldn't admit to it. As my gaze flickered to Kagura and Millianna, I found that I couldn't fault them. I could even see how it was for the best that they'd stayed away. After all, while I may have convinced the girls not to kill Jellal at the Magic Games, I was by no means foolish enough to believe that they'd forgiven him so easily for what he'd done in the past. No, it would take more than words for them to take that step.

"Great! We're all here." Natsu rubbed his hands together, a grin stretching across his face. "Now can we eat? I'm starving!"

"Aye, sir!" Happy piped in, raising his paw at Natsu's side.

"I don't remember you being this gluttonous last time we met." The blond Dragonslayer cocked his head and smirked. "I bet if we fought again, I could beat you easily."

"Yeah, Sting's been training!" Lecter, his red-brown Exceed added, grinning devilishly at Happy.

"Ahh? You wanna go, Droopy Eyes?" Natsu yelled, stepping forward. "Hey, Gray, this bastard has eyes like yours!"

"Shut up, you pointy-eyed bastard!" Sting and Gray shouted at the same time, turning to glare at each other.

"That's my line!" Gray snapped, stepping up alongside Natsu with his fist raised.

My lips twitched.

"You're welcome to challenge me, too, if you feel like getting whipped." Sting grinned viciously, beckoning them forward with one hand. Beside him, Rogue rolled his eyes and backed away a few paces.

My eyebrow twitched.

"Alright, here I come!" Gray and Natsu yelled together, preparing to leap into action. Sting sank into a fighting stance, bracing himself for their attack.

"ENOUGH!" I bellowed, storming over to Natsu and Gray. I grabbed their ears and twisted, making them gasp and cry out in dismay.

"I'm sorry!" they cried in unison.

"We're here to cooperate with each other to defeat a common evil. We can't do that if you three are going to be snapping at each other's throats the whole time! Show some respect for your guilds and don't make them regret sending you!" The three boys had the presence of mind to look down in shame. "Now. You three, shake hands with each other right now and apologize to everyone for wasting their time with your childish fighting."

"What?!" three incredulous voices piped up at the same time.

"You heard me!" I roared, my tone brooking no argument. At my furious glare, all three mages shut their mouths and glumly approached each other.

"I'm sorry, everyone," they mumbled, none of them meeting each other's eyes. Under my imperious stare, they reluctantly shook hands before slinking back to their spots in cowed silence.

Lucy shook her head and sighed wearily, holding her hands up in a helpless gesture. "Honestly. You could at least try to behave yourselves this time," she said pleadingly.

"Hang on, Lucy," Natsu whined. "That's not fair! He started it."

I glared at him again, and he promptly shut his mouth. Sighing, I closed my eyes and resigned myself to the fact that this was going to be a very difficult mission, especially if we couldn't even manage to cooperate within our own alliance.

Master… I thought to myself. Why? I just know this is going to blow up in our faces. Sighing once again, I opened my eyes and steeled myself for the task ahead of us.