Summary/Disclaimer: Time for another chapter of Swordsmen and Thief. Enjoy the 900-word chapter. I do not own any rights to Fairy Tale, Hiro Mashima, Kodansha and a few others that I may write about.

"Should I point out that this adventure has been cursed from the beginning?" Clell questioned as he and Erza continued to look up at the stars.

Clell could only ponder what would happen tomorrow. He knew for a fact that he'd have to keep fighting tomorrow. Still? Clell also knew that Erza was upset. She was far more focused on glaring at him as he tapped his fingers on his knees.

"You've made that abundantly clear." Erza responded as she hummed.

"Well, to be very clear?" Clell questioned with a raised eyebrow. "We haven't exactly had it easy since we started this. We get attacked by thieves barely out of the gate… Then we get attacked by soldiers." Clell said while crossing his arms and looked up at the sky.

Clell sighed to himself as Erza continued to glare at him. He knew she was upset, but there wasn't exactly much that he could do at the moment. Clell was still busy getting through the fact that they had soldiers trying to hunt them down. Clell also knew hurting the soldiers would ruin their chances of an alliance.

Clell cracked his fingers and continued to gaze up at the stars above them.

"Do you ever stop getting upset at things we cant control?" Clell questioned and leaned back onto the ground. "It isn't like I wanted to get shot out. It isn't like I felt like I decided on getting us into a fight we couldn't win. I didn't know we'd have soldiers hunting us down." Clell stated while he brushed off his jacket.

Erza said nothing. She knew that Clell was right, that she couldn't blame him for what happened. He didn't know there would be soldiers that were sweeping the area… And he didn't try and fight them for fear of something going wrong.

But she was upset, because that meant that they could have been killed… She shouldn't have slept; she should have asked someone to go with Clell so he had backup.

Even if they couldn't fight back? They could have at least knocked the soldiers back. She felt they could explain that something was out of their control.

Clell drummed his hands on his legs once more before he turned to look back at Erza.

"You know sooner or later their force us into a corner, right?" Clell asked in a way that made him sound slightly annoyed.

Erza said nothing as she scanned the tree line. Clell sighed and rubbed at his eyes a moment later.

"They will continue to hunt us." Clell stated as he let out a yawn. "And knowing how people work? Their assume that the thieves are with us. The fact that I used their attack to escape isn't going to help. I don't know for a fact that we're safe, I know that right now we have a reprieve when it comes down to it." Clell stated as he closed his eyes.

He wanted to sleep; they'd probably return to sleeping in shifts when he got down to it. Clell couldn't understand how things would be by then, but he knew for a fact that they wouldn't be as good as he wanted them to be.

There would be someone who wanted to pin them to the wall. Whoever had sent the thieves after them wasn't stupid. That trap was set up in advance with someone knowing that they'd go right through it… Clell couldn't understand what would be their next move. If they were smart enough to know who they were going after? Then they were smart enough to know for a fact that the mercenaries were outmatched.

Which left the idea that someone had set up the trap to… Test them.

It was something Clell would mull over for a few days. He wanted to figure out what was the endgame. People always had one. They always had someone that they either worked for… Or wanted to work for them.

"Do you think that their come after us again soon?" Erza questioned which caused Clell to hum and shrug his shoulders.

"Probably, if they were smart? They'd want us dead soon… But I don't think they want that." Clell said which caused Erza to raise her own eyebrow in response.

"What makes you think that?" Erza questioned as Clell hummed and cupped his chin.

"Because that trap was well set…" Clell said while he crossed his arms once more. "But they weren't smart enough to send someone dangerous enough…. If someone wanted us dead that bad? They would have sent someone more dangerous… More cunning, that was a test. I can 100% guarantee that the trap was a test." Clell said and turned his gaze forward.

Clell hummed and clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth while rolling his eyes.

Author Notes

Phew. Another chapter done! I want to point out for a fact that next chapter will be pushed back for a few months or such. Next chapter will be in 2-4 months and will show Erza and Clell bonding hopefully and getting along better along with starting the romance and such. Until then, Lighting Wolf out!

P.S: Next chapter is 900-1200 words. Mirajane is 1200 for 2 chapters. Lucy 900-1200. Jenny 1200 and the others 900 for now.