The new girl recovered far more quickly than Meredy had anticipated. After only a single day of rest, the girl had been awake and let the entire airship know that fact by letting out the loudest shriek Meredy had heard. "NOOO! Let me go, you creeps! I wanna go home!"

With a sigh, Meredy walked out of her room towards where the child had been left on the ship. Kain and Rustyrose were with her, attempting to calm down her screaming. "Do you want to play with Mr. Cursey? He—"

"Don't touch me!" The child pulled away from Kain's outstretched arm along with the toy he used for his magic. "Where am I? I don't wanna be here…" She sniffled, her shoulders shaking. Then, the child blinked and her eyes widened. "Sora…where's Sora?" She spun towards them. "Did you take her too? I want to see her!"

"Ah, such a feisty personalty for one so innocent as a child. My heart aches alongside—"

"Rusty." Meredy interrupted, narrowing her eyes at the man. "Both of you, leave." Neither of them were fit to deal with a child. Even she didn't know what to do and she likely wasn't that much older than the girl herself. Either way, it had to be better than these two. They left without complaint, leaving Meredy alone with the child.

"Who are you?"

"Meredy," she replied stiffly. "We found you and rescued you from some destroyed town. You should be grateful to us for saving you."

"No! You're lying." The girl pouted, folding her arms over her chest. "Sora was there. She would've saved me before anyone else, I know it."

Whoever Sora was didn't matter. "Sora is likely dead along with everyone else." The girl froze. "I'm sorry." Meredy hung her head. "I lost my family when I was younger than you, to a similar disaster. But it is better to face the truth than it is to live a lie."

"Sora isn't family." The girl shook her head. "And she isn't dead. I would've seen if she had…" She trailed off, swallowing. "Are…are you taking me to Sherry then? Is she looking for me?"

"We don't know anything about you, let alone where you'd prefer to go." Meredy met her gaze. "All we know is that you have powerful abilities for a girl your age. You possess a magic we have not encountered in years."

"But…I'm not a wizard. Sherry's the powerful wizard." The girl looked down at her hands, before slowly taking a breath. "I'm sorry for yelling. That wasn't nice for me to do and Sherry says we need to always embrace love when talking to people." Looking over at Meredy, the girl offered her hand. "My name's Sherria. I like dancing and all sorts of animals."

Meredy shook her hand with a frown. "You were startled. Shouting is an understandable reaction."

"Well, I'm glad. Because now that means we can work on being friends!" Sherria grinned. "But first, do you think you can help me? I know you didn't recognize their names, but I know Sora has to be around somewhere. And if she isn't, then Sherry has to be done with her job soon."

"Sherria, we want to help you with your magic here."

"But I told you, silly, I'm not a wizard."

Did this girl not even realize what she had done? Meredy frowned, but only offered a hand. "Please. At least meet with our guild master first." Maybe Hades would have an idea on how to get the girl to use her magic. He was definitely their best chance at identifying exactly what branch of healing magic she used.

"Only if you promise to help find my friend or my cousin."

Meredy nodded, not saying a word. Empty promises meant nothing, after all. Sherria would learn that this would be what was best for her, once she learned what Grimoire Heart had to offer. So, that was how she found herself wandering the halls with the younger girl practically skipping along at her side. Sherria was humming under her breath, likely the most cheerful thing Meredy had ever seen inside the walls of this airship. It didn't make sense, to see such a bright smile after coming out from the destruction Meredy had witnessed.

Master Hades' office was open, apparently waiting for their arrival. He saw the child and offered her a smile, leaning forward onto his desk. Sherria stopped skipping, staring at him for a moment with a frown. "You've got a scary face, you know."

Letting out a sigh, Hades shook his head. "You wouldn't be the first to have that opinion." The older man studied her for a moment. "I heard you survived the destruction of Jorlsville. Based on the stories I've heard of the incident that occurred months ago, I'm surprised anyone was still alive."

"M-months ago?" Sherria stuttered, her eyes flickering towards Meredy. Nodding in confirmation, the young teen shifted her weight as Sherria swallowed. "I thought it was, like, a few days ago." Sherria scratched the back of her head. "See, Sora said to stay at home, but that was boring and I wanted to play with her. So, I followed her out and then there was this big flying monster in the sky! It went whoosh and then vroom and then there was this flash of light and - BOOM! And then it sorta went dark and then I was here."

Well, Sherria certainly had the descriptive talents of a child at least. Meredy didn't know exactly how useful that description would be, but it at least said it wasn't a wizard for now. Meredy couldn't see anyone describing a wizard as a flying monster. "I see." Master Hades was studying her closely. "And did you not question what happened while things were dark?"

"Well, not really." Sherria shrugged. "I was just sleeping, you know?"

"You were on the verge of death. Rubble had crushed your body and you were starving to death due to your unconscious state." Meredy looked over at her calmly. "Surrounding you was an active magic spell, consistently allowing you to recover as quickly as outside forces caused further injury. Your energy must've surely depleted, yet somehow, you persevered and survived."

"Meredy, I'm not a wizard like that, alright?" Sherria frowned. "I keep trying to tell you that, so — ow!" Sherria spun around, grabbing her wrist tightly. Behind her, Master Hades had risen and was now standing by her side with a small dagger in his hand. Blood trickled from Sherria's wrist where Master had cut her. "Meanie! I'm not gonna talk to you at all anymore." With a huff, she spun around and held her wrist to her chest.

Meredy watched her, only to see the girl frown at her skin. Similar to before, magic started to grow and surround the cut. It was a gradual process initially, but the healing began quickly and sealed over the damage. "See." Master smiled at her. "You possess great talent and potential, child." He kept walking, frowning before turning towards the bookcase on the far wall. He skimmed the books for a moment before pulling one off of the shelf, holding it out towards the girl. "This may prove useful for your talents, if my assumptions are true."

"But…why? When did I even get magic?"

"You were born with it." Meredy shrugged. "Emotion brings magic to life. Perhaps the stress from the…flying monster activated your latent talent."

"No way…" With a grin, Sherria opened the book and began to skim through the pages. "This is the sort of magic I have? I can use sky magic?" Her smile grew wider. "I'm going to be amazing! Sherry is going to be so proud of me. We'll finally get to work together and maybe we can stay together this time when I get home again. Oh, and Sora! Sora kept saying to be careful but look at how strong this spell is!" Sherria shoved a page of the book into Meredy's face, not even giving her enough time to read. "I'm going to be the best wizard ever!"

"I am glad to hear your excitement." Master Hades smiled at the child. "We look forward to assisting you in your education while you are with us, child."

Looking over at him, Sherria frowned for a moment before slowly nodding. "I suppose this might make up for you being a meanie." She frowned. "Maybe. We'll have to see." Her head turned towards Meredy and she smiled again. "For now, I'll only agree to learn with Meredy. She's my friend and she doesn't try to cut me with knives."

Master raised his eyebrows but slowly nodded. "As you wish." His eyes turned towards Meredy and she began to have an odd sinking feeling in her stomach. "Train her well, Meredy. Ensure she learns how to behave." He pressed a hand to her shoulder as he passed them, leaving them alone in his office. Meredy watched as Sherria eagerly began to absorb the information in the book she'd been given, but all she could think about was her new task. Meredy was in charge of training, meaning she'd now be the one traumatizing this child to force her to be strong. Taking a deep breath, Meredy focused on staying calm. She could do this like Ul, instead. Being strict did not mean being cruel and even if it did, it was all for the world Ultear needed more than anyone else.

Being left behind also meant Gray was the one carrying himself out of the temple. It felt weird, not just the thought of it but also because Zeref was smaller than he was. Yet, it didn't exactly put much strain on him either, so size definitely had nothing to do with how much strength the man had. I might not be the most fit person in the world, but it is necessary to build up some sort of muscle.

The others were focused on discussing how to get into Grimoire Heart as they headed back towards the village. "If Gray is Zeref now, I see no reason why he can't go there as Zeref." Lucy crossed her arms over her chest. "Sure, they are searching for him, but doesn't that mean they'd be more than happy to let him join like that?"

"Yeah, and they'd force him to do who knows what once he arrived." Lyon shook his head. "As simple as that plan may be, it would be no where near safe to actually enact. We need a plan that places someone else as the infiltrator now, I think."

Only one of them should recognize me. Zeref seemed to give his input as well. If done carefully…there may be a way to distract him and have Gray seek out the others. The premise could remain relatively the same as well. Gray is bringing them a new member, who has utilized human enslavement magic. Different magic, yes, but still a lost magic nonetheless.

Relaying his suggestion to the others, Gray saw them frown. Natsu shrugged. "Eh, I don't see a problem with it. But what sort of distraction did you have in mind?"

"Natsu, I don't think it is smart to just blindly follow one of Zeref's plans." Ur shook her head. "We're better off coming up with our own solution."

"And at this rate, we'll never get anything done." Gray sighed, shaking his head. Then, he frowned down at himself, realizing he was wrinkling the fabric of Zeref's robes, getting stuck as he lifted them upward. Recognizing his habit trying to act, Gray dropped the fabric and let his hands fall to his side. At least weird clothes stopped him from being able to strip so easily. He wasn't certain how Zeref would feel about sharing that weird habit of his.

Modesty isn't exactly a high concern of mine, Gray. Living for a few centuries will alter exactly what it is that flusters and embarrasses you.

So, Zeref didn't care about the swap and he still sounded like he had no intentions of letting Gray return to himself instead. He didn't know what had triggered the curse, but if Zeref was still wary of it, it had to have been something strong. Zeref didn't bother adding more details on it, so Gray figured he was on the right track but Zeref didn't want Gray to know more.

Shaking her head, Ur crossed her arms over her chest. "You know what? Screw him trying to keep the rest of you calm." She turned around, stopping them completely. "Part of why Zeref wanted to separate us from you guys earlier was because we're not a part of the Fairy Tail guild. He told us that if this little adventure of ours fails, he has plans to start a war with your entire guild."

"What? How the hell does our guild have anything to do with his curse?" Lucy stared at Ur. "We've done nothing to him, either. It's not like we're a dark guild that could've stolen one of his old spells or something."

"I wasn't so certain what it was either." Lyon turned away. "Yet, he seemed wary of what that plan would result it. He had labeled it as his last resort, at least."

"And he's not fond of the idea of it either." Gray stared at them, narrowing his eyes. "I'm not happy about it, but it's not like he's actually done anything either. And right now, I'd prefer to drop this subject. Zeref just finished talking to me about this whole thing and I imagine he's still not in the greatest mood about it all."

"Wait, you knew?" Ur blinked at him. "And you're still trying to defend him?"

"Because his goals right now have nothing to do with our guild! Hell, the only connection I know this curse has with our guild comes from our founder." Gray ran a hand through his hair. "And even those details are vague. Zeref's not gonna go through with that plan unless he absolutely has no other options. Not only does the guy hate war, but he also knows who he'll be making an enemy of in that situation." His gaze flickered towards Natsu at that, seeing the dragon slayer grin.

"Well, at least he has some common sense to know that Fairy Tail won't go down easily." Natsu looked at the others. "And I guess it is sorta pointless to be mad at him over something that hasn't happened yet. If he doesn't want to do it, I don't see why we should get all worried about it."

"And you're certain he won't act?" Erza stared at him, frowning. Gray slowly nodded, wondering what had Zeref so silent this time. "Then we will take your word for it. As we've discussed before, you are currently the one hearing his thoughts. As such, I will continue to defer to your authority on what level of trust Zeref should be given." Her gaze flickered towards Lyon and Ur. "While I understand the concerns over how trusting you've been, I also cannot deny that history does not give us much information when it comes to handling Zeref and the sort of person he has become. It is quite possible for him to have changed drastically over four hundred years."

"He threatened to kill me this year."

"And he tried to convince me to use iced shell mere days ago."

Erza frowned, but turned back to Gray. "Again, Gray is the one who hears his thoughts at moments such as those. If anyone can justify his actions, it would be Gray."

Opening his mouth, Gray moved to try and counter them. However, that was when he felt something vibrate within his chest, making him stop and press a hand to the center of his robes. What the hell had that been? An alert…something is wrong. Why now? There was almost something like a mental sigh, before a memory flashed in his head. He felt Zeref using requip magic and watched him pull out a lacrima. That is what must be done. If they are contacting me in any form, it is an emergency…He trailed off, and Gray wondered what was wrong. Answer it, please. Perhaps this will be my way…to destroy that plan…

Wait, how the hell would someone talking to him break a plan like that? Gray didn't know, but he moved to try and focus on following what Zeref had shown him. Yet, requip magic just felt strange to Gray. He wasn't used to energy flowing into some place he couldn't see or visualize, so when he finished the spell, all he had to show for it was a book. He stared at the object in his hand, frowning. It wasn't even one about his demons, just a plain text book about runic layouts, according to the cover. Put it back, try again. This magic isn't like yours, where creativity assists it, Gray. Despite being unseen, everything is in its place within a spacial anomaly like this. It is logical and organized, needing precise actions to remove something from it.

"Gray, did you just grab one of Zeref's books?" Lucy frowned, staring at him. "What are you doing?"

"Someone's trying to contact Zeref, apparently." Gray tried again, getting yet another book. With a sigh, he returned it again, and shook his head. "Damn, I suck at this magic."

"If you are looking for something specific, maybe Erza could help. I mean, she uses magic like that too, right?" Happy glanced between them, and Erza nodded.

"Perhaps. I imagine Zeref likely has precautions in place to avoid allowing others to access his distortion in space. Most requip users do, if they have even a moderate level of skill."

But mine is dependent on my own mindset…my own decisions on if I allow the intrusion or not. Zeref paused as he considered his options. Tell her…that if she takes anything beyond the lacrima, there will be consequences. Otherwise, she is welcome to access it to retrieve what we need.

Relaying his warning, Erza nodded and reached out. Gray could actually feel the intrusion, as if the space created by the magic was almost a part of him. Yet, the slight ripple of energy it created faded quickly and Erza held out an orb towards him. Taking it, Gray activated at least that one without much issue, seeing someone on the other end light up the screen. "Ah, there you are! Pleased to see my magnificent self once more?"

God Serena. Well, this was someone Gray never expected to meet. He frowned, realizing he had no idea what to say. Ask him. Be direct and blunt…in essence, be me. Like that was an easy request. With a sigh, Gray focused on the lacrima. "What are you doing?"

"Contacting you, of course. You see, I warned you that this would happen, Mister-go-interfere-with-the-magic-council. I got found out and was outed from my position…but they will miss me too, of course. No one can go long without knowing how much they need their god, after all." God Serena smiled, looking very pleased with himself. Gray honestly didn't know how much more self-absorbed a person could get. "So, that Siegrain fellow and that Ultear girl? They're still launching the attack. Your tower will go bye-bye soon enough. Just thought I'd warn you, since it was your own plan that forced me into this failure."

Be angry. He's supposed to be a…subordinate of mine. "And did I say failure was an option?" Gray didn't know what else to say. He wasn't used to being intentionally harsh with others and he definitely had not planned to act like Zeref for even a moment.

The others were quiet, watching him as he spoke with the man. "Oops, well, I have to go. Someone is calling me…" The man almost seemed to be sweating, and he gave a slight wave with a nervous smile. "Ta ta! Have a nice day, your majesty!"

Wait, your majesty? I'm…an emperor. Elsewhere, of course, but still.

The lacrima dimmed and Gray shook his head. "Don't ask me to be you again, Zeref. Trust me, it won't end well if I have to manage anything longer than a two minute conversation like that."

"I don't understand. Jellal needed a sacrifice for the tower, so why would he activate it still?" Erza looked over at Gray. "And the one who might understand why is unable to speak to us directly, it seems."

"Juvia thinks he still plans to gain his sacrifice. That tower is not the sort of thing a person can build alone, after all. Perhaps others are still helping him, but we were unable to find them during our short visit."

"Yeah, now that you mention it, that place did smell like other people." Natsu frowned, "What do you think?"

"He has help." Erza frowned. "Maybe he plans to use one of them." Her eyes went distant, her frown intensifying. "I need to go back. Please, do not let me hinder your efforts here. However, this situation is still my responsibility and as a result, I will handle it personally."

"Not this again, Erza. Didn't we already go over handling this tower together?" Gray sighed. "It's not like you built the thing, so don't go taking the blame for this."

"Actually…you could say I helped." Gray stared at her and Erza turned away. "Before I joined the guild, at least." She didn't explain nor did she elaborate, yet Gray was starting to see her connection to it at least.

"This is going to push an even greater delay onto us, isn't it?" Lyon sighed, shaking his head. "We're never going to get to Grimoire Heart, are we?"

"I told you before, don't—"

"Erza, we're not just gonna sit back and let you handle this alone." Natsu looked over at her, nodding. "We're a team and that tower is dangerous. Who knows what it'll do without Zeref actually needing resurrection?"

"Plus, the guy is stupid enough to try it again now, despite Zeref still being alive…why the hell would he go this far?" Gray didn't get it.

I'm not certain. It does seem quite odd.

Even Zeref was clueless, making Gray even more confident that something was off about this whole thing. However, there wasn't much to do but go back now. Ehterion was going to strike that tower and they had to be there when it did. "Gray…if you are going with us, you shouldn't go like that." Ur watched him. "There's no telling what could happen and we can't be focused on carrying you, literally, in a fight."

I will lose control again if you leave. That I'm certain of, Gray.

"If I go back, Zeref's curse will be active again." He glanced over at Ur. "As much as I hate the thought, I think this is better. Dealing with carrying me is easier than trying to run away from a cloud of death magic." His eyes flickered towards Natsu's scarf, narrowing at the sight. There was that to deal with as well…it seemed like they had nothing but problems and all of their plans were getting too scattered and hectic to stop and fix even one of them.

Natsu's dilemma will take time to manifest. If the…individual suppressing things for him is careful like I imagine they are, that scarf is currently useless. I'd estimate about a year before the situation spirals out of control, at least the internal situation without suppression that is.

Snorting, Gray shook his head. Zeref had made it sound so urgent before, yet they had an entire year to think about it? Well, that was one thing he could shove aside for now. A year is hardly that much time. You'd be surprised at how quickly one passes, you know. Zeref paused. Well, it seems that way to me, at least. It isn't my fault I've lived for so long…or well, it is, but I didn't want to be cursed either.

This time, Gray chuckled, walking along with the others. "Ur, you know how to sail?" The woman nodded and Gray sighed. "Great, because none of us know a thing about it and Zeref's the one that brought us here. If we're heading back to the tower, we need someone to get us there."

"Again, blindly trusting in Zeref to guide your path. I still can't imagine how he got to you like this, Gray."

"And I can't imagine how he managed to piss you off even more, so we're both confused."

She frowned, staring at Gray, then she slowly turned away, shaking her head. "He claimed to be your friend and lied about wanting to help you. After what he said about his war…there's no way he actually wants to do anything beneficial for you, Gray. There just isn't."

You said we were friends? Gray just couldn't believe that. Zeref was the one insisting that such a thing wasn't possible, and that it'd never happen.

Well, it isn't my fault that you forced it on me. Zeref almost sounded irritated with it, though Gray wondered if he was actually upset about the matter. If you'd just hated me like I planned, none of this would have even been happening. Of course, you have to go and actually be convincing as to why we should be…friends of some form. Gray felt himself smiling slightly, wanting to laugh at how hesitant Zeref was to even use that label for them. It was progress, though Gray didn't know if he should actually be pleased with it or not. Why did you think I was struggling so much with my curse? You were only supposed to keep me on the brink of remembering, not throw me back into this chaotic mess of no control at all, Gray.

Now the guy was straight-up teasing him. Gray chuckled, shaking his head. "Well, it seems like he's not that happy about it either if it makes you feel better." Yet, that clearly wasn't the case, despite his words. Zeref's thoughts usually didn't feel light-hearted or kind like this. Sure, he got entertained when Gray was irritated, but that was different. "Besides…I don't think it would be possible for us to come out of this mess without someone getting mixed up on if we were friends, allies, enemies, or whatever other label you want to use. The whole sharing thoughts business makes this way too complicated."

"It isn't like they're your thoughts. I'd imagine it would be quite straightforward to just ignore him." Lyon shook his head. "Yet, you foolishly let yourself get attached based on whatever goes on inside of his head. What on earth even makes you so sympathetic towards that man?"

"Because." Gray didn't need to explain it to them. He'd already told Zeref his reasoning, to the best of his ability, and he didn't need his friends demanding the same response. Still, it might be the only way to get them to drop it. "In a way, he isn't that much different from me. He just took his desperation and drive in a different direction than revenge."

"Wait, are you saying he lost his family before he was immortal?" Gray nodded and Lyon frowned. "Strange. I suppose time must dull grief, but I never got that impression at all from him." He glanced over at Gray, his brows furrowing. "Have you actually seen them then? The people who raised the black wizard? Because I cannot imagine what sort of childhood could possibly lead to him being…well, as he is, I suppose."

Nodding again, Gray sighed. They were boarding the ship again, preparing to leave for the tower once more. "Yeah, I've seen them." He paused, looking away. Zeref was silent as well, likely not fond of the subject himself. "I've also seen their dead bodies." He paused. "Zeref was the one to find them, after…." He trailed off, taking a deep breath. He didn't want to remind Zeref of this either, but Lyon kept asking these questions.

"Don't go joining him, Lyon." Ur narrowed her eyes at both of them. "Maybe Zeref had tragedies in his past, but who here hasn't? The way he reacted to it is what proves the true nature of his character."

"So, you're saying I'm just as bad as he is in terms of my character then?" Gray raised his eyebrows at Ur. "Like I said, he let that loss drive him forward."

"Towards what? Because honestly, I don't remember seeing anything in history books about the black wizard's family, just him and his demons." Lucy stared at him, shaking her head. "He probably just wanted you to be sympathetic or something towards him."

"He wants me to kill him. Me seeing him in any kind of favorable light sorta destroys my motivation for that, so he wouldn't do that." Gray scratched the back of his head, before turning towards Ur. "And as for what it drove him towards, that's something even I can't say was wrong. His goal was to improve his knowledge of magic, rather than his strength like me. Zeref set himself on the goal of bringing his family back. So, if you want to say he was wrong to do that, go ahead. However, I'm not gonna condemn a man for trying to bring back the people he once loved after losing them so suddenly."

Gray moved to walk away from them, leaving them to think on that in silence. Yet, as he turned, a shout came. "Dark Moment!" Instantly, everything went dark. Gray gasped, spinning around desperately to try and see anything, but it had no affect.

"Aww, what an adorable kitty!" Another voice came from the darkness, this one female.

"Leave it alone, Millianna. We're here for Sister and nothing more." A response came.

There was a shout and Gray heard Erza begin to attack as well. "Blumenblatt!" Without knowing her location or if she could see any better than he did, Gray reacted by dropping to the deck of the ship. He heard something hit the wood and then another harsh thud.

"Got her! Simon, help get her off, before the spell wears off."

There was a grunt and then footsteps. Blindly, Gray lashed out, realizing they were under attack. However, he stopped just moments before activating a spell, remembering Zeref's warning. A flash of heat made him realize Natsu was attacking as well, but even his flames seemed to do nothing to add light to the dark area. Gray sat, gritting his teeth and debating if there was any purpose to actually trying anything. Yet, even as he considered it and began to reach for his magic, he felt it was slightly…off. Zeref's memories of using magic before had at least helped him direct it towards other spells, but using magic as he was used to just didn't seem to mix well. He'd never had to focus on directing the spell towards ice magic before. It just automatically took on the form of ice as he wanted it to.

That is because unlike myself, you only grew up practicing ice magic. Zeref paused. Magic develops much like anything else, though it is easier to alter its development at a young age. The more branches of magic you practice when you are young, the more flexible that energy becomes, the more adaptable it is to taking on different forms. Trying to learn a new branch at an old age is nearly impossible. That is why your magic is so difficult for me to use for purposes too far beyond ice magic without overexerting your energy. For me…my magic is quite varied, as I practiced in an academy designed for such development in my childhood. Using ice magic is quite easy for me, but it is also just as easy to use fire, wind, or any other sort of branch you wish to relate to. You need to understand how to properly differentiate between elements before using maker magic as myself…if it becomes necessary at all, that is.

Having a lecture while under attack wasn't exactly the sort of thing Gray needed right now. He scowled in irritation, glaring into the darkness as if that would have some sort of effect on them. Gray nearly asked Zeref if he had any info on how to cancel out the darkness spell, though it vanished just as suddenly as it had arrived.

"Damn it!" Natsu shouted, his flames dying out as he spun around the boat. "What the hell just happened? Did anyone manage to get a good look at them?"

"Juvia was focused on protecting Lyon." Gray blinked, seeing water spiraling around to reform the girl. "She absorbed Lyon to ensure no one could harm him within that darkness, when she sensed ill intentions from a nearby magic source."

"He can handle himself, Juvia." Gray glared at her. "Don't go thinking he's some weak wizard that needs your protection."

"Gray." Lyon narrowed his eyes at the dark haired ice wizard, before his gaze softened and he turned to look at Juvia. "I appreciate your kind gesture, Juvia. As startled as I was by your act of defense, it means a lot to know that you are so willing to watch out for me." Of course he'd go and encourage her instead. Gray sighed, shaking his head. Juvia blushed, before smiling over at Lyon and throwing her arms around the man happily over his declaration. Lyon looked startled and stumbled back, but Gray wasn't going to even bother helping him this time. The man got himself into this situation and he kept ignoring Gray's warnings about the girl, so he was done even trying to help out there.

"I was waiting and trying to sense for incoming attacks." Ur glanced around. "It didn't seem like a good time to move around a lot, though clearly someone decided attacking blindly was a good idea." She gestured towards the side of the boat. There, not only were there burn marks from whatever Natsu had done, but a few stray swords were nailed into the wood from Erza's magic.

"Yes, I would have done that too, she says." Another voice startled him, making Gray turn around to see a familiar clock spirit, with Lucy inside. "However, my spirits tend to react on their own to defend me, she adds ungratefully."

Spirits…right, I have Leo's key now. Zeref seemed to get distracted with that comment. I had nearly forgotten. Given his state, recovery was going to take some time. And with my lack of control now…it may be interesting to see if there is anything to be done with him now. It isn't exactly kind to leave spirits trapped in the celestial world for too long, as there isn't much there in terms of activities to be done.

Well, that wasn't something to handle right now. "Hey, guys? Have any of you seen Erza around?" Happy frowned, flying overhead. "Because I just flew around the ship and didn't see her at all."

"Erza's gone?" Natsu frowned, sniffing the air. "Yeah. I don't smell her nearby either."

They took her, for the sacrifice. Zeref paused, frowning. Right…you don't know enchantment magic at all. Likely, when we switched, the spell trapping Jellal broke and he was capable of acting again…this will not end well.

"You could've warned me about that, you know." Gray sighed, shaking his head. "Seems like Zeref thinks that Jellal guy has her. If the council is reorganizing another Etherion blast…"

"Then Erza will be sacrificed to activate the spell." Lyon's eyes were wide, looking around at the others. Juvia was still busy clinging to his side, but he seemed to have adjusted to having her there at least. "Ur, we need to get back to that tower as fast as possible. We cannot delay any further if we want to save Erza."

"You're pushing to save her?" Gray blinked at him, seeing Lyon turn away.

"Of course." He was avoiding meeting Gray's gaze, though his hand had lifted to rest on his hair. "She seems to be one of the most logical individuals on this team that we can actually trust for a change. If I'm going to be investigating how to end a curse no one has even heard of, I think I might need at least one person who is moderately sane to work with."

"Hey! I'm the sane one on this team, not her." Horologium seemed to have vanished now and it was Lucy speaking again. Lucy narrowed her eyes at Lyon, before growing pale and leaning back. "You-you're not gonna tell her I said that, right? I-I didn't mean it in a bad way." She waved her hands in front of her. "Not at all! Erza's just really strong and crazy about how she orders everyone around. Not bad at all, right? So…" She paused, blinking at Lyon. "Could you please not tell her I said that?"

"Sane, maybe. Yet, you are still an air-headed, bubbly female that seems far more interested in the state of your clothes and your own comfort than anything else." Well, Gray wouldn't be that harsh about it, but Lyon sorta had a point. Lucy was growing stronger, but she shied away from fights too easily for a normal wizard.

She's from a family that likely raised her to be quite sheltered. Her even being a part of a guild is a surprising thing to see.

Either way, Ur was moving to get the ship off and into the water. "Relax, all of you. I'm prepared to take us back to that tower and we will stop this sacrifice from happening." She met their gaze, nodding at them. "It's been a while since I've actually taken on a job that could be considered official wizard's work. It'll be interesting to see what happens."

"You'll do fine. After all, you are still one of the most powerful wizards I know." Lyon nodded at her and Ur smiled.

By his side, Juvia sighed. "If she trained Juvia's Lyon, she must be powerful indeed. Juvia knows we can stop Jellal, no matter what it takes!"

With everyone focused and eager to move forward, Gray sighed and set his own body down on the ship. He sat down, preparing to stay calm for the trip before he realized how useless he was going to be in this upcoming fight. Would…would you like me to try to explain things while we are on the way? I can't guarantee it will make things safe immediately…but it is a way to pass the time, at the very least, and it does have a small chance of allowing you to use magic if it comes to a true battle. Why not? It wasn't like Gray had better things to do. So, he leaned back against the railing and began to tune out the others, instead focusing on Zeref prattling on about far more technical sides of magic than Gray ever thought he'd need to know. Hopefully, it would prepare him for the upcoming battle. If it didn't, he hoped the others alone would be enough to take on a group large enough and powerful enough to perfectly recreate one of Zeref's own spells.

So, I admittedly don't write with Sherria and have been trying to look up the correct spelling/translation of her name for a while (I've seen Chelia, Shelia, Cherria, and other variations trying to look it up). Ultimately, Sherria is the one I decided to use from what I found, but feel free to correct me if there's further debate. I do appreciate all of you reading this far! Feel free to review and let me know what you think.