Chapter Eighteen

With Those Few Words

The difficulty of breathing was what drug Levy into consciousness, her breaths growing sporadic as she drifted out of sleep and became aware of the taste of something putrid in her mouth. She could only assume that it was some sort of dirty rag, her arms met with resistance when she instinctively tried to bring her hands to her mouth to rid it of the intrusion.

Her eyes slowly peeled open, her focus exhaustedly rolling around the room to figure out where the hell she was. Steel walls met her focus on all sides, the only light in the room coming from a grated window on the door.

She looked to see why she couldn't really move her arms, her eyes widening as she found her wrists bound to the corners of the bed frame she'd woken up on. She didn't have to look to know that her feet were restrained in a similar manner, the ropes burning her ankles as she futilely tugged to get free.

A muffled shriek slipped through the gag as she recalled the last thing that had happened before she'd lost consciousness, the reality of where she was and what had happened to her bubbling to the forefront of her mind.

Gray had finally found something they could use to get the police involved in their take-down of Zentopia, and just when she'd been leaving the church to publicize the information, she'd been caught. And poor Lucy, with tears streaming down her cheeks, had been forced to beat her by Precht and his apostles. The blonde was surely disgusted with herself for what she'd done, but Levy's thoughts didn't linger on her friend for long, the grim reality of what was going to happen to her quickly taking precedence in her mind.

She knew that the people of Zentopia were evil, but truly, no one really knew what happened to those who betrayed their trust. The corpse of the Mine girl that'd been found in the woods less than a mile away was enough to give her a few ideas, but she had a dreadful feeling that death wasn't the only thing that awaited her.

'Loke's gonna be okay. He's got bruised ribs and a concussion, but he'll recover just fine if he takes it easy.'

Gray huffed out a breath of relief as he read over Natsu's text, running a hand down his face as he let out a heavy sigh. It was well past three in the morning now, and with his concerns for orange haired friend's well-being abated, he wanted nothing more than to crash for the night. But he'd been tasked with yet another, more arduous rescue mission, the raven haired boy unable to ignore or dismiss Lucy's plea for him to save Levy. And he wanted to make sure their blue haired ally was alright too, no matter how daunting the task of saving her would be, because this time, he was all on his own. He had no doubt that she'd been taken to the same place Loke had been held captive since, as far as he knew, that was the only place on Zentopia's grounds where the apostles could hide people without drawing the attention of their regular members. Given what had just happened with Natsu, Elfman, and Loke, he couldn't be sure that breaking into that bunker would be easy as it had been for his friends, and if anything, the place might be guarded now.

His phone vibrated before he could let too much of his anxiety over the matter get to him, his lips pressing into a grim line at what he read.

'Today is D-day. That detective I told you about said he's going to start an investigation, but I'm raiding that place tonight whether the cops are with me or not. You and Lucy only need to hold out a little longer. I'm trusting you to look out for her until then, so please don't do anything dumb and stay safe, frosty.'

The steel door of Levy's cell creaked raucously as it was pushed open, the blue haired girl's breathing quickening as her panic to get free resumed with new fervor upon catching sight of who was approaching her bound form.

She had never seen Ultear look so cruel, the female apostle's heels clacking against the floor and her lips curled downwards in distaste and fury as she stalked towards the girl, a glass syringe with its barrel filled by a greenish-brown liquid in her grasp. "You probably want to say that this place is fake," she remarked with disdain as she watched the blue haired girl shriek wordlessly through her gag, "but it's real. And if you still refuse to believe, I'll simply have to force you to."

Levy's eyes widened as Ultear lifted the syringe to examine it for a moment, shaking her head furiously against the mattress.

"Sister McGarden," the apostle spook smoothly over the girl's muffled shrieking, "this injection will make you believe in this place, in the paradise that it truly is." She leaned down to stroke the backs of her fingers across the girl's sweat-covered forehead as she lightly and comfortingly hummed, "So you don't have worry, alright? From here on out, you'll know only happiness and salvation."

The door slammed against the wall as it was shoved open and Ultear whipped around to face the intruder, her eyes widened as she came face to face with Gray, the boy that'd been given the title 'Gatekeeper of Zentopia.' Her brows furrowed as she confusedly thought aloud, "Why are you here?"

The stone-cold rage and disgust on his features had realization crashing down on her in a single moment.

He'd fooled them all about where his allegiance rested, and it was all her fault since she was the one that allowed him entry into their paradise. But her shock didn't deter her, her features morphing into look of rage that was parallel to the raven haired boy's. She'd repent for her mistake and make him pay for his deceit all in one go.

She tightened her grip on the syringe in her right hand as she charged, a battle cry spilling from her painted lips as she drove towards him.

Gray easily caught her right wrist and left forearm as she launched herself at him, but once he had a grasp on her, the apostle became more of a challenge than he'd anticipated. For a woman who always practiced poise and maintenance, she was surprisingly strong, her arms quivering in resistance against his as he used his grip on her wrist to lead the hand with the syringe in it towards her opposite forearm. He grit his teeth at her show of resistance, only using more strength to control her arms as the needle broke the skin of her forearm. She shrieked, more out of anger than pain, as he pushed her arm so that the needle was stabbed all the way in, his hand slipping from her wrist to slam down on the bottom of the syringe, forcing the greenish-brown liquid from the barrel and into her veins.

The affect was almost instant, the strength of her resistance depleting exponentially before she collapsed in his hold entirely, the back of her head smacking against the metal of the bed frame where Levy was restrained on the way down, blood quickly pooling from her head and coating the floor around her.

Gray had to keep a tight grip on Levy's shoulders to keep her on her feet, tucking the petite girl into his side as he drug her across Zentopia's grounds. Now that Ultear knew who he really was and where his loyalties lied, his standing at the church teetered on the brim of collapse, which made him wary of being so out in the open with the blue haired girl, both of them now at risk of being found out and taken captive once more.

At least once he'd helped Levy escape and he was on his own again, he wouldn't have to worry about people discovering his true identity until Ultear had regained consciousness. He wasn't sure what had been in that syringe, but if it had acted that quick and taken her down in the matter of only a few moments, it had to be one hell of a drug. He only hoped that it lasted until Natsu came to wreak havoc later today, though really, to spite himself, his hopes weren't too high.

As they reached the end of the dirt path they'd been traversing, Gray tucked them both behind a cluster of bushes so they could both take a breather before parting ways.

The blue haired girl all but collapsed onto her knees, catching herself with locked forearms as she gasped down air like it'd been minutes since she'd last breathed.

Gray's brows furrowed when she suddenly heaved as if she might vomit, crouching down beside her as he anxiously whispered, "You alright?"

She didn't say anything, only sweeping back her crazed hair from her face and breathing heavily as she gave him a single nod of her head.

Gray pressed his lips into a grim line. He didn't know what'd been done to the journalist apart from Lucy's forced beating, but with how pale her skin was, he was sure that she'd endured much more than that. He didn't want to dwell on it for too long though and waste time by trying to figure out what she'd been through, knowing that both he and Levy were putting themselves at risk the longer they stayed where they were. He lightly placed a hand on her shoulder, gripping her firmly enough to gain her attention as he pointed to a stretch of trees, "If you go straight that way into the forest, you'll find a small river with a bridge running over it. Natsu, the friend I told you about, will be waiting for you. He'll help you get somewhere safe."

The blue haired girl finally lifted her head to look at him with wide eyes, her features etched in concern as she hoarsely asked, "What about you and Lucy?"

His lips quirked a fraction in a bitter grin, "We'll be fine, Levy. We're gonna tear this place down from the inside out, so we need you on the outside. You have to get out and tell the whole world about this place. That's all you can do to help us now."

"Okay," she reluctantly breathed out after a moment of resilient silence. "Be careful, alright? I promise I'll help get you guys out."

"I will be. Good luck."

He helped her stand, the two sharing one last look before the blue haired girl stumbled off in the direction he'd pointed out to her, neither knowing whether or not they'd see each other again.

Levy could barely stay on her feet as she hurriedly stumbled across the bridge Gray had told her about, her wobbly feet nearly catching in the small gaps between the boards of the bridge numerous times as she stuttered along.

Just as she reached the end of the bridge, a pair of headlights shone over the crest of the hill that morphed the ground ahead of her, the car approaching on the dirt road that ran along the edge of the river.

She frantically waved her arms above her head, her veins filling with sweet relief at the thought of finding the friend Gray had told her would be waiting there for her.

The headlights shone on her for just a moment before the car stopped a few feet away, and, knowing that she'd been spotted, she bent forward in relief, bracing her hands on her knees as she huffed for breath.

She heard the driver's door open and close, and to her horror, the voice that greeted her was one she knew as opposed to one belonging to a stranger.

"The Almighty must love me very much. I mean, who would've thought that I'd happen upon you here?"

With dread weighing heavily on her chest, she slowly straightened herself out and lifted her head, already stumbling backwards with tiny steps as her eyes settled upon Zancrow, a cruel smirk contorting the apostle's features as he calmly approached her.

He let out a deep chuckle, his eyes alight with anticipation as he hummed, "I didn't even know that you'd escaped. How very fortunate."

She turned to bolt, but his hand shot forward and curled through her blue strands as they flew through the air, his fingers clamping down on her locks and tugging her backwards, away from freedom and towards the shallow river.

Her hands instinctively shot to his wrist in a futile attempt to alleviate the pain radiating across her skull, her feet kicking uselessly against the brush on the shore and sending water flying as he entered the river, "No! Please don't! Please! Stop-"

Her shrieks were cut short when he shoved her head under upon reaching waist-deep water, using both hands on the back of her head and locking his arms straight to keep her under, seemingly completely unbothered by the churning and splashing of the water beneath him as she flailed for freedom.

He only let out a cruel chuckle, "Why did you even come to Zentopia in the first place? You graduated from a good college and were living decently as a journalist. Did you really think that a puny brat like you could do something against us?" He tightened his grip and shoved her further beneath the surface as her struggles grew more frantic, his lips curling in a pleased smirk, "Your family and friends will be heartbroken, don't you think, Sister McGarden? I hope they'll join you in paradise soon."

The waters went still.

Natsu let out a heavy sigh as he decided to abandon his motorcycle and go looking around the river himself, a strange sense of dread creeping up on him at the silence that surrounded him. Twenty-five minutes ago, he'd received from Gray, notifying him that the journalist was headed his way.

She'd never arrived, so he'd gone looking for her.

He figured she must've gotten disoriented somewhere in the woods, the uneven ground and seemingly endless expanse of trees making it easy to lose a path in the dark night. Gray had told him that the poor girl had been drugged too, and if she was coming out of some sort of daze, then her getting lost was entirely understandable. There was another bridge that crossed the river a little less than a mile south, so he started in that direction, figuring that since that was his and Gray's decided landmark, the reporter might've taken that bridge for the meeting place instead of the one up north.

But his heart sunk further and further the closer he got, and still, there was no sign of her. The area was void of any human life but his own, and the only sound was the trickling of the shallow river as it lazily crawled by.

He tugged his phone out of his pocket, his lips pressed into a grim line as he shot Gray a text, 'She's not here. Something must've happened to her. I'll file a missing person's report. If I do, Zentopia will probably try to cover it up again, and that might give us a chance to catch them.'

Only a moment later, the near silence was broken by the ringing of his phone, and, assuming it was Gray since he didn't know who else would be calling him this late, or rather this early by now, he pressed it to his ear before even checking the number, his eyes still anxiously scanning his surroundings for the girl as he huffed out a sharp, "Hello?"

"Na…Na-tsu…"

His eyes went wide as he heard the broken syllables of his name, the familiar voice wrenching at his heartstrings and making his eyes go wide. It'd been years since he'd last heard it, but it was one that he could never forget.

Tears stung his eyes as he hopefully, quietly breathed out, "…Wendy?"

Gray rubbed his eyes tiredly before settling Loke's glasses back onto his nose and muffling a yawn, sniffling to clear his nose. He'd been out in the cold for far too long last night, or rather, only about two hours ago, and he'd only gotten about an hour of sleep before he'd had to wake up for the sunrise service at six. He was sure that he must look like a mess, but at least he had Loke's glasses to partially hide behind, and given that they were in a church, he could get away with bowing his head a lot, too.

"Gray…are you sure that Levy made it out safely?"

His gaze drifted to the blonde that had been standing quietly beside him in the hallway up until she'd asked him her question, her eyes never leaving the door that led onto the chapel's stand from the side. She was wearing the same black, lace dress she'd been wearing when he'd first seen her upon sneaking in to the church, her long, blonde hair lightly curled like it had been then, too.

Given her clothing, he knew that something was special about today's service immediately upon catching sight of her, and to his surprise, he'd been told to wait with her until Precht signaled her grand entrance from within the chapel. It was incredibly fortunate that his new calling as Gatekeeper actually afforded him the role of being a sort of protector for the blonde, Precht asking him to stick with her when the preacher himself or her father couldn't. Understandably, he'd been internally psyched when he'd been told to stay by her side upon waking up, both because it allowed him to watch after her better and it meant that Ultear hadn't awoken to reveal his identity.

Gray swallowed heavily before beginning with his weighty answer to the blonde's question, "I saw her off, but…I think something happened. Natsu was waiting for her, but he said she never showed."

Lucy bit her lip, tears puddling in her eyes as the grim weight of his words settled upon her shoulders. She gave herself only one moment of pessimism before she swiped at the single tear that had managed to slip free, taking a deep breath as she spoke to reassure herself more than her raven haired friend, "We…we can't make any assumptions yet. Levy's smart, so I'm sure she's fine."

He slowly nodded his head, though his voice was still heavy as he mumbled, "…right."

She took another deep breath, her eyes shooting to the clock on the wall, "It's time."

"Good luck, Lucy."

The blonde only gave him a stiff nod of her head as she placed her hand on the nob of the door, forcing aside her dread over what had become of Levy. She couldn't show weakness in front of the congregation as she spoke in front of them during the service. She was supposed to be a beacon of strength and forthright spirituality, so she forced her features into an expression that gave away no emotion and only told of poise and prestige, carrying herself in a manner befitting someone who had been given the title 'Spiritual Mother.'

"Wendy!"

Natsu swore his heart nearly stopped beating as he entered his sister's hospital room, his eyes widening as he found her collapsed on the floor between her bed and the coffee table of the visiting area, a phone, one he didn't recognize, resting on the floor next to her.

With another cry of her name, he collapsed to his knees beside her in an instant, his arms sliding beneath her fallen form to lift her upper body from the cold floor. Her head lulled in the crook of his elbow, his other arm reaching across to grab her waist, "Wendy, what happened? Did…did you move on your own?"

She swallowed before her lips shifted as if she was fighting to say something, one of her hands shakily lifting from her lap to rest on his shoulder, her fingers quivering as they dug into his flesh.

Natsu watched her hand perform the action with tears in his eyes before his focus found her face again.

He wanted to be happy. His sister was finally moving and speaking again, albeit very shakily, because it been years since she'd been able to perform such simple actions. But she just looked so anxious and scared, her features pale and her irises quivering as she hoarsely choked out between heavy breaths, "Ze…ref…"

His brows furrowed, admittedly a little disappointed that after over three years of silence, her first word to him had been their bastard brother's name, "What about him, Wen? You want me to call him?" He personally didn't want to see their brother at the moment, but if his little sister wanted him there, then he'd suffer through Zeref's presence for her sake.

If anything, she only trembled more at his words, her eyes swimming with tears as she quivered out, "It…it w-was him…"

Natsu brows furrowed even further at the simple phrase. What was Zeref? What had their brother done that had her so terrified?

His mind ran over why, of all things, those four simple words had been the first to leave her mouth after three years of silence, and why her desperation to tell him had been worth tumbling out of her bed to reach the phone on the coffee table.

Her meaning struck him all at once, making his eyes widen and his chest tighten in anger as he realized that maybe her 'accident' hadn't been so much of an accident after all.

"Hey."

"I need your help."

Elfman quirked a brow when Natsu offered him no greeting other than those short four words upon answering his phone, but from the anxiousness in the salmon haired boy's tone, he knew that something was amiss, "What's up?"

"I need you get my sister out of that stupid hospital. Now."

"What about you? You're not gonna be there?"

"I'm going after my brother. He needs to pay for what he's done."

Natsu's tone let him know that there was no arguing about this favor, and considering it concerned Wendy, Elfman knew he had better follow through or risk submitting himself to his salmon haired friend's rage, "Okay. I'll be there as soon as I can."

Just like he'd offered no greeting, Natsu hung up without a single word of farewell.

Elfman tucked his phone into his pocket, spinning to face one of the two other people in the room with him, his eyes shooting to where Loke was passed out on the couch before he addressed Erza in an anxious whisper, "Can you watch over him for a bit?"

The redhead hadn't seemed too pleased to have her apartment crashed by them again, but upon seeing the bandages that wound around Loke's head, she'd let them in without a word, and Elfman hadn't known where else to go. He hadn't wanted to leave his orange haired friend alone at his apartment, and he hadn't even thought about going to his own home for the sake of not worrying his sisters. He'd nearly dropped Loke off at his mom's, but the orange haired boy had nearly lost it in anger upon seeing the cop car parked in his mother's driveway, almost as if he'd woken up just to tell him that there was no way in hell he was walking into his own home.

So really, Elfman had had no other choice but to go to the redhead's place.

Erza quirked a brow as she watched him go about gathering his things, "Where are you going?"

"To help Natsu."

She stood from her seat at the kitchen table, making him pause halfway through her entryway, "This is about that girl, isn't it? The one you brought here a little over a week ago."

He let out a heavy sigh, figuring that what had Natsu so concerned about Wendy probably had something to do with Lucy and Zentopia in some way, "Kind of…"

The redhead was silent for a moment before she, too, let out a heavy sigh, "Look…I won't tell you that you guys shouldn't get involved, because I know that won't change anything. But…you guys still need to be careful. And if you guys ever need any help…I'm here."

He turned back to give her a lazy, half-grin, "Got it. Thanks, Erza."

Natsu nearly broke the glass on the front door of the Magnolia daily office building as he charged inside, uncaring of how loud he was despite the fact that it was just past seven in the morning. There was only one guy in the large room filled with waist-high cubicles anyway, his orange hair sloppily pulled back into a ponytail and his eyes heavy with sleep. It was obvious that the only thing keeping him awake at such an hour was the cup of coffee on his desk, but Natsu figured that the message he carried would wake him up soon enough.

He charged straight through the cubicles to the orange haired man, immune to the shocked, wide eyes he received as he got straight to the point, "Levy McGarden works here, right? Have you heard anything from her today?"

The man stared at him with a brow quirked for a few moments before his lips parted to speak.

Natsu cut him off before he could say a single word, wanting a straight answer, "Look, I know everything. I know that she infiltrated Zentopia, and I also know that about two hours ago, she escaped," his voice dropped in intensity as he conveyed his grim message, "but no one's heard from her since."

The man's eyes went even wider as he blurted in a panic, "What?! Then we should file a missing person's report-"

"I already have," the salmon haired boy cut him off again, his tone very clearly carrying his distaste with the situation, "But really, I'm not sure if anything will come of it. Zentopia's got ties with the police."

Natsu didn't think the man's eyes could get any wider, but they did. He was still in a daze from hearing the news about his coworker as he breathed out in disbelief, "Really?"

The salmon haired boy swallowed and grimly nodded his head, his voice growing even heavier, "And that's not it…My brother…he's in on it, too."

"You mean Governor Dragneel?"

"Yeah," he huffed out. He folded his arms over his chest, clenching his jaw, "But I'm gonna stop them," he firmly connected his gaze with the man's, "and I need your help."

"You know what will happen to your brother once all of this is out in the open, right? Will you really be able to disclose all of this?"

Natsu swallowed heavily as the orange haired man, who he now knew to be Jet, switched off the voice recorder the younger Dragneel had given him after listening to its contents. The salmon haired boy thought of Wendy to strengthen his resolve as the voice recorder was passed back to him, his jaw firmly set as he nodded his head.

"You're practically strangling your brother with your own hands."

"Even if I told you that I didn't want to do this, would that stop you anyways?" Natsu spat back. "Would you really be able to keep all of this to yourself now that you know the truth?"

Before Jet could reply, the salmon haired boy's phone rang, his hands quickly working to pull it from his pocket and moving even more quickly to press it to his ear once he saw who it was, "What's up, Elfman?"

There was silence for a moment before Elfman uncharacteristically stuttered, "Natsu, I…It's Wendy….She's gone."

With those few words, Natsu's heart dropped to his stomach.

He shouldn't have let his carnal desire to take down his brother move him from his sister's side, his impulsiveness costing him dearly for the thousandth time.

He didn't process the reporter's calls for him as he charged from the office building, ready to wreak havoc on whoever had dared to lay even a single hand on his little sister.

And he knew damn well who it was.

Natsu didn't spare a moment once he'd quite literally barged into his brother's office, the hinges screeching as the door was thrust open. He charged right up to Zeref's desk, his features blazing with fury as he hissed, "Where's Wendy?"

Zeref stood from his desk, his own features hardened in anger, "You think you can just barge in here after just disappearing for a week?" He huffed out a heavy breath, "I moved her to a better hospital. I was worried about her, so-"

"Bullshit!" Natsu hissed, his hands shooting to his pocket to withdraw the voice recorder he'd taken from Wendy's room. He chuckled bitterly, "You know, I first sent her these things so she could hear my voice while I was away, but I have to say…they turned out to be a lot more useful than I originally intended. You've said a lot of things to her when you thought no one was listening in, and it seems like Wendy decided that the world needed to hear them."

Dimaria walked into the room at the perfect moment, freezing in her steps when she caught sight of the voice recorder in the pinkette's hands, her features shifting into an expression of shock and dread that mirrored Zeref's.

Natsu thrived off of their fear and apprehension, his features shaking in fiery indignation as he lowly and threateningly ground out, "How do you think your people will feel when they hear their governor comparing the feeling he'd gotten when he'd pushed his little sister from the third floor balcony of their home to the thrill of killing a wild animal? And what about when they find out that he did it because she discovered he was giving out bribes to win over voters for the upcoming election? Or how about when they hear him admit his disappointment when he found out that the fall didn't kill her?" His hand clenched even tighter around the recorder, "Or maybe I should tell them about how you've accepted bribes from someone as twisted as a cult leader, and that you sent a girl who'd just barely left her teens into his arms so she could be raped and murdered." His entire frame was rigid with anger, his voice dropping even further as he hissed, "You've done a lot of sick and cruel things, Zeref…and I'm gonna tell the whole world about them."

Zeref shifted on his feet in the tense silence that followed, his eyes shifting every which way, looking for an out as he reasonably started, "Natsu, I think there's been a misunderstanding."

It took everything Natsu had not to punch his brother, his voice spiking in volume, "A misunderstanding?! How can you lie to me when I literally hold the evidence in my hand?!"

His brother dove forward, "Give me that!"

"No!" Natsu pulled his hand back, clenching his hand tightly around the voice recorder as he hissed, "I hope you remember everything you've done, Zeref…because I'm gonna make you pay for all of it." He sharply spun on his heel, charging towards the door.

"Natsu!"

Zeref's cry had him pausing for a moment just as he was brushing past Dimaria, a wave of satisfaction rushing through him as he saw the look of devastation on her features. The lavish world she'd crafted for herself and his brother was crumbling right before her eyes, and to see her finally lose for once was something he'd been waiting for for years.

Zeref's voice was uncharacteristically weak as he called out again, but the salmon haired boy knew it was a ploy to get him to give in, "Are you really going to do this to me? I'm your big brother, Natsu."

The salmon haired boy swallowed heavily, his voice pained despite himself as he ground out, "Not anymore, Zeref."

Instead of a greeting, a growl slipped through Natsu's lips as he brought his bike to a stop in front of the sanitarium his sister had been housed in to yank the ringing phone from his pocket and press it to his ear, his lips curling in a snarl as Dimaria's voice carried through the speakers.

"Natsu, I know that you're out there looking for Wendy. If you give us that voice recorder, I'll tell you where she is."

He let loose another growl.

Her words had sounded pleasant enough, but he knew that they held another, less pleasant message. They were an offer of compromise, but also a declaration of leverage, and Zeref was almost outright and blatantly threatening their little sister.

Instead of offering Dimaria a progressive response, he only snarled, "Lay even a finger on Wendy, and you're dead."

He hung up without another word, only dismounting his bike and miserably trudging through the rows of cars in the parking lot of the sanitarium towards where Elfman had agreed to meet up with him.

The Strauss boy's lips were pressed into a grim line as his salmon haired friend approached, seated atop his own bike as he hesitantly asked, "Natsu…what're we supposed to do now?"

The pinkette swallowed heavily, his voice weighty and low as he slowly started, "Three years ago, Zeref used Wendy getting better as leverage, and I made a really stupid decision. I couldn't save Lucy or Gray, and they both suffered when I could've done something to help them. I…" he bit his bottom lip, his brows furrowed, "I don't want to make the same stupid mistake again and end up regretting it."

Elfman's brows cinched in concern as he watched his salmon haired friend go through the pain of choosing to make such a sacrifice.

Natsu blinked rapidly to clear the tears stinging his eyes, clearing his throat in an attempt to ease it of its tightness as he professed, "Getting Lucy and Gray out of Zentopia comes first."

Abandoning his little sister felt wrong, and it made him feel disgusted with himself. But he knew that it was what Wendy would want him to do, so he would see his task through until its end.

'Don't trust Laxus.'

Those words wouldn't get out of Mira's head. They'd been echoing around her mind since she'd received that text from Loke earlier, the fact that the orange haired boy was telling her not to trust his own brother, her partner, keeping her from dismissing the words so easily.

And that wasn't the only thing Loke had told her that was haunting her every thought, the wad of cash she'd found tucked into the compartment in the truck of their cruiser that was meant for the car's hitch proving the orange haired boy's words.

But she couldn't accept it…wouldn't accept it until she'd heard it from Laxus himself. She'd never made her partner out to be someone who would accept bribes from a place like Zentopia, though she was sure that the deal had started on the church's end.

She'd quickly resolved to visit the place herself, to let them know of the horrible deed they'd done by getting Laxus, a man who was fully devoted to his family and justice, involved in a form of corruption like bribery. They'd probably even used his devotion to his family to get to him in the first place, claiming that he could be a good son and brother with the money they provided in exchange for receiving drunks off the street and pardons from their suspected crimes.

Her eyes warily followed the man she recognized as Jude Heartfilia as he set a cup of tea on the coffee table in front of her before vacating the room, her hands clenched into fists in her lap. She'd wanted to look into Zentopia ever since the incident with the Heartfilia patriarch and his daughter in the parking lot of the station only two weeks ago, the pain and suffering in Lucy's irises an image that hadn't left her head for days and days after the event.

But she momentarily forced all thoughts of the Heartfilia girl aside to fulfill the reason she'd come for, her eyes firmly set on the man in the armchair to her right, the one that Jude had called 'Spiritual Father,' as she forthrightly began, "Sergeant Dreyar is like an older brother to me. He and his family looked out for me for my siblings after our parents died, and he even paid my academy tuition himself."

The preacher's lips quirked a fraction at the edges as he hummed, "You must be very grateful then. It seems that Sergeant Dreyar has a kind heart. He must've been gifted it by the Almighty."

Mira lost it at the mention of 'the Almighty,' the term causing the beating she'd witnessed in the station parking lot to bubble to the forefront of her mind once more. She hadn't really been bothering with being polite up until then, but now, she was outright ticked off as she hissed, "You're insane." She shot to her feet, facing the still seated preacher squarely and firmly, "Pastor Gaebolg, you know full well why I'm here and what I'm talking about. If you take advantage of my partner by bribing him again, I will not let it slide. Do you understand?"

The preacher only quirked a brow, obviously not at all threatened by her sharp tone, "I understand that there are dozens of homeless people whom Sergeant Dreyar looks out for and takes care of. In Magnolia, he has the reputation of being a strict, but overall considerate man. It would be a shame if that were to be ruined, wouldn't it?"

"What?" Mira hissed, her jaw clenching. "Are you threatening me?"

"I'm simply pointing out a truth that you've yet to acknowledge and address. Is your petty need for justice really worth all of the hurt you would bring to your partner and his family?" Precht pressed on without remorse. "Do you really think that Sergeant Dreyar and his family would be able to withstand the criticism of the world once his corrupt practices came to light?" He fixed her with a more direct stare, "Do you think you would be able to cope with losing your partner?"

Mira stood completely still, her hands shaking in fists at her sides. Exposing the bribery that had taken place would both affect the church and Laxus. Her partner would be stripped of his rank and taken to prison for police corruption, and instead of alleviating the situation, Mira felt that that would make things worse.

Seeing that his words had got to her, a hint of a smirk splayed across his features, his lips laced with smug satisfaction, "If you really see him as your older brother, you should just go home quickly, and keep your mouth shut. That's the only way you can repay him for what he's done for you."

Precht was immune to the fearful trembling of the man on the floor of the cell before him, his hands clasped behind his back as he purred, "If you go down into the valley, you'll find the devil in the form of a female police officer with white hair." He crouched down before the man, who was one of the drunks Sergeant Dreyar had brought to them to be 'set back on the right path,' his voice low as he promised, "If you kill her for me, I'll grant you passage onto the Ship of Salvation, and you'll enter paradise."

Ultear pressed a hand to her head as she stumbled down the path that lead from their bunker to the church, her drug-induced sleep still clinging to the edges of her consciousness. Even if the gravel of the path was killing her bare feet, she didn't trust herself to be able to walk in her heels with how much she was stumbling in a daze, the back of her head still aching and her hair matted with blood where she'd hit it on the bedframe.

Even if her body was still heavy, her thoughts were perfectly clear, her mind running over the note she'd found tucked in her hand upon regaining consciousness.

'If you want to know where Levy went, look for me quietly.'

Her jaw clenched at the thought of its author, that wretched betrayer that had made a fool of her by injecting and knocking her unconsciousness with her own drug.

She would do just as his note had advised, and once she'd found him, she'd make him pay.

The dark haired apostle stumbled to a stop just after rounding a bend in the path, her jaw clenching when she saw that he'd come to find her instead, the raven haired boy standing directly in the center of the path and blocking her way to the church. He'd obviously been waiting for her, his glasses missing from his face and his features hardened in a way that she'd never seen before. He'd always seemed so clumsy and considerate before, but now she supposed she meeting the real Gray Fullbuster face-to-face for the first time.

He huffed out a heavy breath when he caught sight of her, not at all shaken by the heated look of disdain she was shooting at him, "So, you finally woke up."

"You're in on this with the rest of those boys, aren't you?" she hissed, her painted lips pulled back in a snarl. "What is your goal? Why do you keep trying to get in our way?"

"Do you really believe that Spiritual Father will lead you to paradise?" Gray pressed on with indignation lacing his tone. "Or do you just want to believe that he will because this world is too much for you to handle?"

Her features lost their edge as she stared at him, silence serving as her only reply.

He cleared his throat, his lips pressing into a grim line as he steadfastly continued on, "The believers here told me that you once you offered your foster daughter to Precht, telling him that you'd make her Spiritual Mother just like you're trying to do to Lucy now. Her name was Meredy, right?"

He received no form of confirmation other than the pooling of tears in her wide-eyed, blank stare.

"Tell me, how can you keep believing in that man when your own daughter killed herself so that she didn't have to marry him?"

The mention of Meredy's suicide finally snapped her out of her silence, the apostle floundering for something to turn the heavy weight he'd shot at her back on him, "You know nothing about me or my daughter, so-"

"If you still really believe that Spiritual Father is who he says he is and that he'll lead you to paradise," he cut her off, knowing that since he'd made his point, there really wasn't a need for him to keep talking to the apostle any longer, "then you can go ahead and tell him about who I really am. But, if you want to watch us expose him for the fraud he is, then just sit back and watch quietly."

Having said all he wanted to, he turned on his heel, leaving her standing in the middle of the forest path all on her own, her eyes wide and her expression frozen in one of disbelief.

He couldn't be sure what she'd end up deciding to do, but at the very least, he figured he'd bought himself a few hours before she revealed who he was, and he could only hope that Natsu would make his move before then.

Mira swallowed heavily as a familiar car pulled into the spot next to where she'd parked her cruiser, taking one last deep breath to steel her resolve as she exited her vehicle. She didn't want to cause a scene in the station's parking lot, so she'd asked Laxus to meet her at a local parking garage instead, where there wasn't a soul in sight.

She didn't give him the chance to say a single word as he got out of his own car, charging to the back of their cruiser and shoving their trunk open to reveal the stacks of cash splayed out across the compartment, her voice full of spite as she steadily hissed, "You need to confess."

Her partner's eyes went wide, but, to his credit, he got his expression back under control rather quickly, only the tiniest traces of panic in his voice as he started, "Mira, I think you've got the wrong idea. Let me explain-"

"There's nothing left for you to explain! Loke," her voice cut off for a moment as she prepared to face his reaction to the emotional bomb she was about to drop, her voice pained, "he knows…He saw you at Zentopia, and he told me everything."

For a split second, she thought the shifting of his eyes to the side was a sign of the shame he surely must be feeling, but when his lips parted, instead of an apology or confession, all she got was panicked shout of, "Mira, move!"

Her partner didn't wait for her to follow through with his command, forcefully grabbing her shoulders and shoving her aside, ramming her into the still open trunk of their cruiser as the blade that'd been poised to come down in the center of her back was embedded in his shoulder from behind instead.

"Laxus!" Mira's eyes went wide at the sight of blood. She hadn't even heard the man that'd attacked them approaching, and neither had Laxus since it didn't seem like he'd noticed him until the very last second.

Her partner was shoved to the ground as the blade was withdrawn, and, still hungry for the blood of his original target, the rugged man sought to bring his knife down upon her with a shriek of, "You devil!"

She caught his wrist with both hands, using the skill she'd learned at the academy as she kept her grip tight and dove under his arm, twisting his wrist behind him and forcing him to tumble to the ground face-first. She followed through with her momentum, straddling his waist and pinning his wrist to his lower back as she wrestled the knife from his weakening grip. It clattered to the cement next to them and she kicked it away, sending it skidding beneath her cruiser as she snatched her cuffs from her belt, not an ounce of mercy in her movements as she tugged the man's hands together to restrain them behind his back.

With their attacker successfully contained, she lifted her gaze to her partner, finding him standing only a few feet away with his hand pressed to his wounded shoulder, blood streaming from between the cracks of his fingers.

"Laxus! Are you okay?"

The blond cop's eyes widened at the sound of his Loke's voice, his lips pressing into a grim line and his focus dropping to the white sheets of his hospital bed as his little brother stumbled to a stop next to him, his hands bracing on the metal rails that surrounded the mattress. If what Mira had said earlier was correct, then his little brother knew about the terrible things he'd done, yet he still cared for him enough to be by his side.

In a brief glance up, he caught sight of his little brother's face, double-taking at the bruises on his skin and the bandage's around his head as he hissed, "What the hell happened to you? Where are your glasses?"

Loke grit his teeth for a moment before he ground out, "I got into a stupid street fight. But don't worry about me. You just got stabbed!"

Laxus' gaze shifted to Mira, who sat in a stool beside his bed. She hadn't left his side the entire time he'd been at the hospital, not even when they'd cleaned and bandaged his shoulder before tucking his arm into a sling.

"Mira…Could you give us a second?"

She gave him a soft grin and a knowing nod of her head before she stood, offering him one last look of well-wishes and reassurance.

The orange haired boy took a seat in her stool once she was gone, immediately picking up on the shift in atmosphere as his brother softly started, "Loke…you don't...hate me, right?"

"What? Why are you asking me that out of nowhere?"

Laxus took a deep before he began the long tale of why he'd done what he'd done, not seeking for forgiveness from his brother, but only for understanding.

Gray had assumed that upon entering Precht's office, he'd either be given new orders pertaining to his calling or that Ultear had told on him and he'd be dealt with accordingly. But what he hadn't been expecting was that he'd come face to face with a friend, the raven haired boy freezing halfway to his seat upon catching sight of the man who'd been conversing with the pastor before he'd entered.

Gajeel was seated on one of the couches in the man's office, an arm thrown over the back of the sofa as he sat comfortably on the leather cushions.

"Don't just stand there. Please, have a seat," Precht invited.

The raven haired boy quickly got a hold of himself and complied, taking a seat on the couch across from the friend he'd met in prison.

Gajeel's eyes followed him the entire time, and Gray supposed he'd gotten the gist of things, because he didn't say a word about how they knew each other, his expression calm but his red eyes alight with intrigue.

"From now on," Precht started evenly, speaking more towards Gajeel than the raven haired boy, "you and Gray will be with me at all times, acting as my guards."

"Why?" the raven haired boy blurted before he could really stop himself, not at all pleased with the that he'd been taken from his role of aiding Lucy instead of the preacher.

"It is your duty as Gatekeeper of Zentopia to protect me," Precht answered firmly, displeased with his next words as he uttered them, "A group of detectives came by earlier this morning, and they insisted on searching the bunker that we use as a warehouse. They'd received a report that we were confining people inside, but of course, they found nothing."

Gray clenched his fists in his lap. He should've known that after what had happened with Loke, they'd clean that wretched place of all the blood that had coated the walls. Natsu had certainly been the one to make the report, and he'd even said that Loke insisted he hadn't been in there on his own, that he'd heard people screaming in the cells next to his during his confinement.

Where those people were when Natsu had rescued his orange haired friend and where they were now was a mystery though.

Precht shook his head in disappointment, "We have nothing against them, but still, it seems as if they're intent on destroying us." He lifted his gaze back to the two boys before him, "That is why I need you with me at all times. Both of you will be rewarded with first class seats aboard the Ship of Salvation on the Day of Reckoning."

Gray swallowed down his anger, forcing a pleasant smile onto his face as he reverently bowed his head to the preacher, "Our wishes be fulfilled."

Gray didn't waste a second once he and Gajeel had been excused to stand on either side of the door to Precht's office, keeping his voice low as he hissed, "What the hell are you doing here, Gajeel?"

The man only shrugged, his hands tucked in his pockets, "I've been working as a hired hand since I got out. I'm not really sure what's going on up here, but about an hour ago, some blonde chick came to offer me a shit ton of money for protecting some dude named 'Spiritual Father.' I don't what the Governor's hiding here, but-"

"Wait…" the raven haired boy quirked a brow, "Zeref sent you here?"

"More or less. I heard that that Spiritual Father guy asked the Governor protection, which means that he doesn't trust his own people."

Gray bit his lip. Given that conversation between Ultear and Zancrow that he'd overheard and how easy it'd been to make Ultear doubt Precht's spiritually, he wasn't sure that anyone in Zentopia trusted one another anymore.

He let out a heavy breath, "Gajeel…I'm sure you've already caught on, but…this isn't some ordinary church. You need to be careful."

Gajeel only dismissed his warning with a tsk, but Gray could tell that he'd got the message.

Deep down, the raven haired boy was incredibly grateful that Gajeel had shown up. Given their past together, he knew that he now had another ally with him in the church, and just in time, too.

Today was D-day, and once Natsu came, all hell would break loose.

AN

Holy moly, lots happened that chapter.

AAAAHHHH You guys! Only two more chapters. We're soooooo close.

Thank you guys so much for reading and see you next Friday!