Boarding the airship, Gray wasn't certain what to expect. Other guild members were already on board, being directed by a man in an orange shirt and black pants. When Gray approached, the man gave him a smile. "Hey, welcome aboard. We're gonna be packing this thing full today so don't expect too much privacy during the trip." He pointed down towards the left. "That hall leads to the main deck. We're meeting out there for now so we can explain things during the flight."

The man's voice sounded like the one that had been talking through the telepathic link. Still, there were plenty of others getting on behind him. Moving quickly, the ice mage turned to follow instructions. The narrow hallway lead out into an open space where plenty of others had already gathered. A woman with a dark blue cloak was watching them quietly from the front. Her long pink hair was pulled back into a hair tie, shifting around her back whenever she twisted her head to look at others.

Gray's team joined him shortly after, being some of the last to start leaving Magnolia. Everyone on board, we are about to take off. The man from the entrance was speaking to the group through telepathy again. Just know that we will return later if anyone is missing. We can't risk lingering in the area any longer.

The airship began to lift off of the ground after his warning. Gray felt the ship moving, shifting his balance. Natsu immediately fell to the ground holding his stomach before the thing really made it off the ground. Lucy sighed and crouched down next to him, shaking her head. Gray looked off in the distance, seeing the open sky around them along with the view of Magnolia getting smaller as the distance between them grew. He found himself glaring at the sight, his hands closing into fists as they took off.

"We're missing someone." The girl in front was frowning, staring around at the crowd. After a moment, she closed her eyes. A pink band began to glow over her wrist. Her brow furrowed and then she turned to stare off over the distance. After a moment, she scanned their group again before focusing on Gray. She approached him quickly, disregarding the confused looks of the others. "Gray, where is Zeref? He was supposed to be here."

He frowned at the girl and crossed his arms over his chest. "Yeah? And who are you? Because I certainly haven't met you before and you clearly know me."

The girl lowered her head, avoiding his eyes. "Right. I suppose we haven't explained things yet." Letting out a sigh, she looked back up at him. "I promise, we'll explain things soon, but a major reason we rushed out here was because Zeref was here. We cannot let him fall under their control or things will be nearly impossible to resolve."

Gray stared at her, closing his eyes as he thought back. It was his fault Zeref wasn't here anyway. For all he knew, these were cult worshippers of the guy that they hadn't heard of yet. "There was nothing we could do." He looked over at the girl. "He's not able to move at the moment."

"That's not possible." The girl's eyes were wide and she slowly shook her head. "No. We have to find a way around it. There—" She broke off, inhaling slowly. "Sorry. I suppose it is too late anyway." Her eyes drifted towards the edge of the deck before she turned around. The majority of the guild was now in front of her, rather than to her back. "Everyone! I would like your attention for a moment so I can explain a few things about where we are headed and why Magnolia was evacuated."

The conversations around them began to quiet down. "The first thing all of you should know is that as far as I'm aware, the entirety of Magnolia vanished without a trace seven years ago." Her eyes flickered around the group while Gray stared at her stiffly. "We have a contact who told us that there was a high probability of finding it again today which is why we were here to retrieve all of you." Her eyes turned towards Gray, meeting them steadily. "During your seven year absence, Fiore has fallen under the complete control of a dark guild known as the Oración Seis."

"That can't be!" Mira stood tall, meeting her eyes calmly. "The Oración Seis only has six members. The magic council, wizard saints, rune knights, and even Fiore's royal guard would be more than capable of suppressing them through sheer numbers alone."

"For all intents and purposes, those forces are now part of the Oración Seis." Meredy met Mira's counter calmly. "Not long after Magnolia vanished, they obtained a spell known as Nirvana. This spell is true reversal magic - it will alter someone's moral alignment and change their personal goals to match the desires of the caster. Through the use of this spell, the Oración Seis first converted over the rune knights into their forces. From there, Fiore fell into a nearly decade long civil war and while the majority of the battles have ceased, the current outcome is placing the Oración Seis as the victor."

"Didn't someone try to stop them?" Droy frowned at the speaker. "I mean, I can't imagine a spell like that was easy to find. Someone had to have been able to figure out what was going on."

There was a shadow passing over the girl's eyes at those words. "A coalition of guilds made an attempt." She looked over at them, inhaling slowly. "I was part of their forces, a team formed of guild members from Blue Pegasus, Cait Shelter, and Grimoire Heart. Our final attempt to destroy Nirvana was halted by its activation - I only escaped due to the intervention of the few rune knights who had not yet fallen under its influence."

"Grimoire Heart?" Erza frowned. "Weren't they frozen in Magnolia along with us?"

"Myself and Ultear were not." She met the requip wizard's gaze. "It's been a while, Erza. I'm glad to see most of you are back safely at least."

"Wait…Meredy?" Lucy's eyes widened. "No way. You're…" Lucy's voice trailed off. Gray could somewhat see why - Meredy had definitely grown since they last saw her. She wasn't exactly that much taller, but her figure had filled out. Exactly how old had she been when they met then? Most people didn't change that much over seven years.

Nodding, the wizard smiled at them for a moment. "Yep." Her eyes flickered around the larger group. "I will be distributing some paperwork to you shortly. These are forms you will be required to fill out and hand in to myself for official submission to use your magic after we leave Fiore. While the rune knights technically are no more, I have been working with their remnants to form a guild of refugees in another nation while we wait for the time when our forces are strong enough to stand a chance against the Oración Seis' current strength."

"Where exactly are you taking us?" Lyon narrowed his eyes at Meredy. "While I understand seeking a safe location in response to the situation you've described, all of us are completely in the dark about all of this. We've seen no proof of this war and for all we know, you're kidnapping us for some nefarious purpose of your own."

"You didn't have to board this airship if that was your stance." Meredy placed a hand on her hip, shaking her head. After a moment, she reached into her cloak and pulled out a folded stack of papers. She held one out to Gray, before turning towards Erza to continue handing them out. "For the time being, our temporary guild is officially registered within the Alvarez Empire. Their regulations on magic are a bit stricter than they are in Fiore, but it is simple to adapt to."

"Alvarez?" Gray stared at her, uncertain of what to say. Zeref had mentioned it, just once. That was the place he lead, the place that had apparently been without its emperor for seven years now.

Nodding, Meredy kept talking as she worked her way through the members with forms. "We have been attempting to gain an audience with their emperor since we arrived. Our goal was to appeal to their government and gain the addition of their military for our efforts to stop Nirvana. Alvarez is known for its military strength and should be more than capable of overcoming the Oración Seis, provided they do not fall under Nirvana's control as well."

"You were specifically looking for the emperor, weren't you?" Gray shook his head, his mind already thinking of the lacrima in his pocket. "Did you even try getting ahold of some other representative?"

"We did." Meredy folded her arms over her chest, finished handing out forms to the wizards on the airship. A few were reading over the document that Gray was mostly ignoring for now. "In fact, we are in regular contact with one of their military generals. She informed us that she does not have the authority to offer support to us without the approval of her superiors. She recommended the emperor as two of the other three options were already immersed in a personal project along with implementing a national religion for the empire."

Maybe that was why Zeref was expecting them to contact someone specific. The lacrima was safely in his pocket for now, unused due to the limited time they had to evacuate Magnolia. Considering what he'd just learned, Gray was questioning if he even should reach out for help to free Zeref right now. If that spell activated, Zeref was going to become someone's pawn and he wasn't in any state to even try resisting it.

Lifting the form he'd been handed, Gray began to review what it was Meredy wanted them to fill out. Right now, he just felt tired and almost like this was all some weird dream. Seven years had passed? The Oración Seis was the new government of Fiore? It was all too surreal for him to really even imagine. Yet, this was something small he could focus on at least.

The form was labeled as Application for Practical Magic License. Information was requested about the person filling it out, including standard personal details like names and addresses. After identifying the person, it continued to ask for magic abilities. It looked for the type of magic used most frequently, asked if the wizard could use multiple magics, requested information on any magical items frequently used or in possession of the wizard, and went on to a series of check boxes asking if the wizard had ever once researched or used specific styles of magic. Those lists seemed to be groupings of like-styles, likely asking about forbidden branches since one contained human enslavement magic as an option.

"What do you think, Gray?" Lyon was reviewing his own copy, frowning over at him. "Should we believe her story?"

There wasn't anything to gain from a lie like this. Meredy was alone, without the rest of her guild as far as he could tell. "I'd say we fill it out for now. This doesn't mean we can't return later after finding more information."

"Agreed." Ur folded her arms over her chest. "As unbelievable as it sounds, I will admit we're aware that some major spell activated during that attack other than what Gray did." She sat down, shaking her head. "Never thought I'd be going so far as to leave Fiore completely. Alvarez certainly asks for a lot of questions regarding wizards."

"Indeed they do." Erza was already filling out her form, frowning over at them. "Do you think we've technically researched human enslavement magic? We are aware of it due to the spell cast upon Gray, but I cannot say we've even looked into the spell itself beyond what we were told."

"I'll have to say I have." Gray sighed. "Technically, I turned it back on Zeref after all. I've actually used it."

"Wait, they actually include living magic on this too?" Lucy blinked. "I thought that only Zeref was able to use it. Why are they bothering to ask about an impossible branch of magic?"

Gray looked over at her, rubbing the back of his head. "Because we're headed for Zeref's empire." Lucy looked up at him and blinked. "Figured it out a bit recently, actually. It slipped through his thoughts, just a brief mention of the name."

"So, he's monitoring for others that have his curse," Lyon said. Gray could only nod in agreement, filling out the form in silence after receiving a pen from Erza. Once they had all finished, Lyon was frowning at him. "Are we going to contact them then? I imagine that's who the lacrima would reach out to."

"And tell them what? That we trapped their emperor?" Gray shook his head. "We should wait and figure out what we're going to tell them first."

"Would you want to wait to be informed because someone was afraid to admit to what they'd done?" Ur argued. "Based on what we've been hearing, I think it is only right to tell them. I imagine they are wondering why he hasn't responded or really done anything to help in the last seven years."

True, Gray wasn't the only one impacted by Zeref's absence. He just didn't quite know how to phrase what had happened in a way that wouldn't make them just as angry with him as he was with himself. Glaring at the ground, he stayed silent as he debated what to do. Footsteps approached and someone sat down with their group during the silence.

"Hey." Meredy looked over at them. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I have to ask. Do we need to make plans to face Zeref as an enemy when we next return? You know the situation now."

Staring at the ground, Gray closed his eyes. "No." He spoke quietly. "He's not gonna be able to get out of that for a long time, not without some outside help. I can't imagine anyone has the sort of info they'd need to figure it out either."

"And I've taken their only potential starting point as well." Lyon smiled, waving a small journal in the air. "I thought it wouldn't be wise to simply leave any notes of his lying around on the ground. Who knows what else is in this thing?"

Nodding, Gray turned to look at Meredy. She was biting her lip, holding her legs close to her chest. "That's good then. One less problem to deal with, I guess." Brushing hair aside, she looked over at their group. "I know this is a lot to take in, but I promise, we've been doing this for a while. None of them have quite been on this scale, but Doranbolt and I have been running rescue missions like this for years now. Some of the others help out too, now that we've expanded a bit."

They needed to stop Nirvana though. Otherwise, Zeref would just be living his immortal life inside of a block of ice. Maybe the black wizard wouldn't care since it seemed like it made his curse rather ineffective, but Gray just couldn't imagine that was any way to live. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the lacrima and let it rest in his lap. "Do you think you'd have the numbers you need if you got Alvarez on your size?"

Meredy nodded. "We've been researching. Just a fraction of their military would be enough - their entire government is composed of individuals who are at least at the same level of strength as Fiore's wizard saints."

"Alright then." He let out a deep breath, bracing himself. "I have no clue who we're going to be talking to, but I'm about to see just how pissed they'll be at me for freezing their emperor alive."

"Their—you've met the emperor of Alvarez?" Meredy was watching him with wide eyes.

Giving her a smirk, he nodded. "So have you. He's just got a thing for keeping himself hidden." Running a hand through his hair, he focused on the lacrima. "Now, just be quiet for a moment. I haven't exactly thought through how I'm going to bring this up with them."

"Nor do we even know who you'll be talking to," Lucy said. "For all we know, it'll be the guy from last time who keeps talking like he's some all-powerful god."

"I doubt that was his preference for contact given the current situation," Erza argued.

Whoever it was, it was going to be someone within Alvarez. Gray began to activate the lacrima, ignoring their concerns. He'd get this over with so they could move forward to focusing back on their old mission. It took a brief moment for it to connect to a general Gray hadn't met yet. A young man with light blue hair and glasses answered. "Finally! Your majesty, why—" The man broke off, narrowing his eyes at Gray. "Ah. His majesty's friend, I presume?"

"Uh, yes?" Gray frowned, uncertain what he'd heard. Did Dimaria talk about him or something? He hardly spoke to the girl so he didn't think he'd made an impression. "Sorry to interrupt. I—"

"If you are looking to speak with us, follow the appropriate channels. I'm not going to endorse this…special treatment because you just happen to have been in contact with his majesty."

"Wait! Zeref-er, your emperor told me to contact you," Gray said. The man narrowed his eyes, frowning at him. "As much as he can, anyway. Something happened and unfortunately, we had to leave him behind because of it."

"Could you be any vaguer?" The man shook his head. "I am quite busy. Speak plainly and explain the situation quickly."

"I attempted to use iced shell on Zeref." Gray spoke without much thought. Then, he realized exactly how that would sound. "Because of his own plan, not because I wanted to." Pressing a hand to his hair, Gray frowned. "I have no clue what I did, now that I've seen the results, but apparently it wasn't iced shell. He's still frozen in a block of ice, but…"

"You're still here." The general narrowed his eyes even further. "And the results look identical to if you had truly used iced shell itself? An eternally frozen spell that cannot be destroyed or melted?"

"Not certain if I'd go that far." Gray shrugged. "I was told we had to evacuate before I got to investigate much. All I do know is that the reversal spell for iced shell didn't do anything to it."

"Evacuate?"

Seeming to have picked up on the conversation, Meredy leaned in. "Yes." She leaned in close to Gray's side so her face was visible. "I'm Meredy, the guild master of Crime Sorciére. We've been seeking an audience with him since our initial creation and have discovered his location in Fiore."

The general frowned, staring down at something else for a moment. Then, he let out a sigh and shook his head. "Very well. I suppose this matter is worth investigating." He looked over at Gray with a frown. "I imagine you're the guild of immigrants coming from Fiore then?" Meredy nodded. "Then I anticipate you'll be landing in Alvarez soon. Please expect my arrival at your guild hall soon after you land."

"Wait—who even are you?" Meredy frowned at him. "You never even bothered to introduce yourself, you know."

The man adjusted his classes as he spoke. "I am Invel Yura of the Spriggan Twelve. Based on your information, I will be specifically looking to speak with Gray regarding his majesty's current state."

"Yeah, I figured as much." Gray looked away, letting out a sigh. "Sorry for the trouble. I really didn't mean for anything bad to happen, not like this."

Invel had no response. He simply nodded, cutting off the connection and leaving them alone. Gray sat in silence for a moment, before looking up at the others. "Well, sounds like I've gotten us some visitors from Alvarez at least."

"It sounds like they're coming to arrest you." Meredy pressed her hand into her hair, groaning. "Really, what were you trying to gain from that? You basically just told them you trapped their emperor!"

"I don't know." He stared at the lacrima, closing his eyes. All he knew was that he had been honest. Whatever happened to Zeref was his own fault. Now, the man was trapped and Gray had no idea how to free him. Hopefully, one of his generals would have the answer he couldn't gain. They'd be arriving soon and whatever happened, he'd face it head on and accept the consequences for what he'd done.

The airship landed in a clearing surrounded by trees. Gray and the rest of the wizards gradually exited the airship, looking around at where they'd landed. They weren't exactly at a guild hall, but more accurately a camp site. Tents were set up and scattered around in the grass with people hanging out together as they relaxed. Gray recognized a few of them, seeing Jellal sitting with what looked like his companions from the Tower of Heaven. The girl with cat whiskers was there, along with the blond kid who'd used some form of card magic.

"Jellal…" Erza breathed out his name when seeing him, but Meredy quickly shook her head.

"Mystogan, actually." The pink haired wizard sighed. "I thought the same thing to be honest - nearly started fighting him on sight as a result." She looked over at them. "Jellal was hit by Nirvana almost right when this all began. I haven't seen him since."

It was still the first time any of them had actually seen Mystogan's face though. Gray didn't know if he wanted an answer as to why he looked like Jellal's twin, but for now he simply moved on. Mystogan did seem to be the only face Gray recognized from Fairy Tail here. There were plenty of other wizards he didn't know, though. Two boys about his age sat together, one with blond hair and a fur jacket the other with dark black hair. A woman with straight black hair sat off to the side by herself, warily watching Mystogan with a hand resting on the hilt of a sword at her waist.

He did spot Sherria in the distance, sitting with Sora and an older woman with pink hair like Sherria's. "Sherry?" Lyon blinked, recognizing the woman Gray did not. Their group was larger than most, consisting of an elderly man and another young woman that couldn't be much older than Sherria based on what he could see.

Approaching them, Gray found himself focused on Sora for the time being. If seven years had passed, something must've changed for the god. Zeref had started re-introducing the religion that worshipped those gods, after all. The sky god slayer spotted him first, though, giving him a large grin when she noticed him. "Gray! Sora, look, it's our friend from before." She walked over, grabbing his hand and pulling him to join.

Looking over at him, Sora blinked. "Ah, so they did find you after all." She looked over at the elderly man, nodding. "Nice work. Seems like you haven't lost your touch after all."

"I'm still no where near where I used to be." The man sighed, looking over at Gray. "Good evening and welcome to the group, I suppose. There isn't much we have to offer, but we are glad to have more assistance."

By his side, the young woman snorted. "Like they'll be able to do anything."

"He's the one who convinced Zeref to invest in reviving the old religion." Sora smiled, shaking her head. "I'm sorry things didn't go quite as expected, though."

The other girl just kept glaring at him, before finally letting out a huff and leaning back. "So, Zeref's new friend." She frowned, watching him carefully. "Is he still a stubborn idiot who refuses to listen to anyone?"

"You know him?" Gray frowned at the girl.

"You could say that." The girl smirked. "Probably not on the friendliest of terms though. I imagine he'd try to kill me if he thought he could, actually. There's a reason I've made sure to avoid him for the last few centuries."

Turning, he raised an eyebrow as Sora. "Another god then?"

Nodding, Sora sighed. "Yep. Chronos and Ankhseram, though they're currently going by Crow and Sara. Can't say most people here really buy into the whole god thing yet either - Crow's been trying to convince them with what little he can see of the timeline though."

Ankhseram? Gray focused on the young girl, uncertain on how to feel about that. His perspective of the god was built solely on what he knew of the curse Zeref had. "Don't go giving me that look," Sara said. Gray's frown deepened while Sara turned towards him. "He's the one that started playing around with black magic. At the time, I was the only one around that could still enforce any sort of regulations too - someone had to step in and show we were still watching."

"I wasn't saying anything," Gray said. Sara just rolled her eyes, shaking her head at him.

"So, did our plan have any impact on your powers then?" Lyon interrupted, trying to shift the conversation. "You claimed it would grow your strength."

"It's getting there." Sora shrugged. "I can manage a little bit, but we're far from where we used to be. Crow's probably the one that sees the largest difference though."

Nodding, the older man smiled. "Indeed. My latent vision has certainly been strengthened."

"You managed just fine on your memory before." Sara scowled. "Now it just means we'll have more work to do again." There was a stiffness to her shoulders as she spoke.

Sora looked at the god of death, only to turn away and shake her head. "Look, the point is, they've got enough power to manage for now. We're still waiting to see if we actually can get back to how we used to be though."

"That isn't something to hope for and you know it." Sara glared over at Sora. "There's a reason we weren't doing anything."

"Sara." Crow spoke softly, giving Gray a small nod. "I apologize, but this is a rather personal debate for us. It does not concern you, but there are some differing opinions as to our role in the world these days."

"Such is the nature of love." Sherry clasped her hands together, rising to her feet and smiling over at them. "Lyon, my darling, we have much to catch up on! I haven't seen you since our endeavor to destroy that monstrous demon!"

Catching the hint that the remainder of the conversation was not for them, Gray nodded and began to leave them as well. Sherria and Sherry followed them with the young god slayer smiling happily. "She talks about that a lot, you know. My cousin is the best wizard ever! She's been teaching me all about the strength love grants a wizard when they use their power. I'm still no where near her level, but I have learned to fight with all of my heart just like her," Sherria said.

"I see." Lyon looked between them with a small smile. "So, are the rumors we've heard true? Did all of us really vanish seven years ago only to reappear now?"

The smile on Sherry's face shrunk as she pressed her hands to her chest. "I'm afraid so. I spent so much of my time searching for you, hoping that I'd be able to locate you through the power of love." The woman hung her head. "My love was not strong enough to reach you, though. All we found was the lake that had replaced Magnolia along with the odd rumors that a dragon had triggered the transformation."

"Well, there was a dragon attack involved." Gray frowned, uncertain of what else could have caused it. Scanning the crowd, he spotted Makarov in the distance, speaking with Mavis. "Master likely knows more about what happened if that's really the situation. I didn't hear him making any objections to Meredy's explanation either."

"You're right. A powerful wizard like him would surely be aware of the cause of this," Lyon agreed.

"Oh, your guild master?" Sherria nodded. "He looks a lot nicer than the last one I met. Meredy's old guild master was kinda scary - she explained a bit more about him to me and I'm rather glad I ran away."

Nodding, Sherry grabbed Sherria's hand. "It was truly a fortunate decision. I don't know if my heart could take the pain of knowing you'd been manipulated into falling into darkness like that."

Their group continued to approach the guild masters, both the current and the former. Makarov looked up at their approach, pausing in his conversation. "Gray, Lyon." His eyes flickered towards the two unidentified wizards. "I see you're finding new friends already."

"Old friends, actually." Lyon gestured towards them. "Sherry worked with me in the past on a rather long-term project of mine. And this is her cousin, Sherria."

"Hi!" Sherria reached out to grab Makarov's hand in an eager handshake. "I've been making all kinds of new friends since we came here. I've already met a few of the wizards in your guild before and I really hope we can continue to get along in the future."

Considering the bleak situation they were in, Sherria was unusually cheerful. Yet, Makarov took it in stride, giving her a warm smile. "Indeed. Staying with your friends and comrades is the best thing to do during times like these." His eyes flickered towards Gray. "Was there something specific you needed? I can't imagine you approached me now for no reason, given your recent choices to ignore my advice."

"Zeref isn't going to cause issues, not if we manage to help him like we've planned." Gray was getting tired of this argument. Shaking his head, he quickly moved past it and changed the topic. "That's not what we're here for, though. Meredy claimed that we apparently vanished seven years ago. I don't know about you, but to me, it really feels like that dragon attack happened hours ago at most."

"I see. You question the validity of her claim then." Makarov's eyes flickered over towards Mavis. Their first master was avoiding their gaze, staring at her bare feet on the ground. "There is only so much I can say, with the presence of non-guild members here. What I can tell you is that it relates to the activation of one of our guild's three great spells."

Nodding, Mavis met his eyes. "Fairy Sphere, our ultimate protective spell." Standing up, she approached Gray. "For a brief moment, I could sense its activation as I awoke. There wasn't much I could do to intervene in my state at the time." Her green eyes looked distant and she slowly shook her head. "It requires an excessive amount of energy to cast and is in essence, a spell designed to protect everything within through the act of removing a region from the flow of time. The amount of time before it returns varies depending on the amount of magic used during the casting - given the fact that the entire guild was involved in its activation, I imagine we were quite nearly at the spell's limit for duration."

"First, they're—"

"For the time being, everyone here should be considered members of our guild." Mavis interrupted Makarov. "Our situation is that of war, based on what we've awoken too. Keeping secrets from those fighting on our side will not gain us anything beyond distrust. That distrust would cause unnecessary internal conflict when the time for the true fight begins."

"How did we even cast it then?" Lyon frowned. "I'm not even a member of your guild. Most spells require at least a basic understanding of their function in order to use them."

"Fairy Sphere is unique." Mavis met Lyon's eyes calmly. "I personally designed it, in response to a rather dangerous situation during the trade wars. After realizing that Fairy Tail would become a target for many due to its involvement, I implemented a last-resort spell, layered and hidden within the guild mark all of us bear." She looked over at Gray. "Any wizard of Fairy Tail has the capability to activate it as a result. Given a strong enough desire to protect the guild combined with the fear of having no other options to realize that goal, Fairy Sphere will activate and draw on the magical energy of all wizards in its vicinity that share in the same goal. Once activated, any wizard can contribute to the energy needed to sustain it."

Letting out a sigh, Makarov nodded. "Indeed. Given the situation we faced, I am not surprised that we activated the spell. However, we've now lost seven years worth of time. Nothing can be done to reverse that fact now. Our only path is to keep moving forward and face this problem head on."

"Fairy Sphere certainly does sound like a powerful spell." Sherry nodded. "Its concept is formed from the foundation of your guild's love for its members."

"Well, I'm glad it worked." Sherria smiled at them. "If it hadn't, Gray wouldn't be here. All of you likely would have been hit by Nirvana years ago, just like Meredy's friends."

"Meredy's friends?" Lyon frowned over at the girl. "Ah, right. She did say Ultear had joined the coalition to fight back. I suppose that means we will be facing off against her when we return to stop Nirvana."

Nodding, Gray frowned. Yet, Sherria was shaking her head. "Not just her. Meredy doesn't like bringing it up often though. She…avoids me a lot when I ask about her." Her smile faded and she began to pick at the edges of her skirt. "I think I remind Meredy of her friend. She was a sky wizard too."

"The ways of the heart can be mysterious, but we must respect that she makes her decisions out of love." Sherry squeezed her cousin's shoulder, looking at the others with a smile. "I'd recommend leaving Meredy's past alone for now. She's done a wonderful job assisting us all in fleeing. If it weren't for her, many of us would have fallen prey to Nirvana's influence."

"Even now, all they can do is keep fighting." Sherria shook her head. "Last time I was in Fiore, I was close enough to see them battling. It just looked so pointless…"

"I'm certain they had their reasons to fight," Lyon said quietly. Gray didn't know what else to add either. Someone as young as Sherria shouldn't have been involved in any of this, really. Yet, it sounded like Meredy sent her out on rescue missions too. Gray debated bringing up his concern with the girl, but he supposed he wasn't familiar enough with the situation to really have an alternative option either.

There was some commotion within one of the crowds of the camp as they continued talking. Gray looked over with a frown, seeing a few of the wizards he'd passed earlier hovering near the border of where the tents began. The two guys about his age were there, both of them tall enough to block his view of whoever was on the other side. After a moment, they backed off and stepped aside, revealing Invel and August entering the area.

"Guys, I think I'm going to have to catch up on things at a later time," Gray said.

Lyon followed Gray's gaze, standing stiffly by his side. "Are you certain you don't want us to come with you? You know we'll face this together if we must." Lyon gave him a small smirk. "It wouldn't be the first time I broke the law."

"Well, back then you didn't have other things to worry about." Gray scanned through the camp, finally spotting Juvia. She was sitting with Lucy and Meredy, relaxing away from Lyon for what felt like the first time since Gray had met the girl. "I can't say Juvia would be all that happy if I ended up being the reason you got arrested."

"She'd understand." Lyon patted Gray's back. "I know I don't say this often, Gray, but you are still important to me. As the only other wizard alive who's studied under Ur, I cannot allow you to vanish until I've proven who the superior student is." There was an attempt to speak in his usual arrogant tone with his words, but it was softer than usual.

Meeting his eyes, Gray nodded and gave him a half-smile. "Well, then I suppose we'll just have to answer that question when I come back." Returning the gesture, Gray punched Lyon's arm gently. "Keep practicing and maybe we'll have a spar if I feel like it."

Lyon didn't get the chance to respond. "Gray Fullbuster," Invel greeted him calmly. "I'm here in response to your earlier call. Not only did you report on his majesty's whereabouts, but you also claimed he was trapped in a spell similar to iced shell."

Nodding, Gray looked between him and the far older wizard by his side. "Yeah, I did." He nodded towards August. "Good to see you again. Sorry I couldn't offer you better news, though."

The elderly man frowned, his brow furrowing. "Invel." He turned towards the other general with his voice stern. "You did not tell me that we were meeting with the mage his majesty put his trust in."

"Because I knew you'd complain about my approach." The younger mage ignored his companion. "You offered a confession over the call that requires assessment of the highest level. Regardless of your current status as a citizen of Fiore, we are bringing you in for questioning. You are a suspicious individual who was in a position to cause great harm to our emperor. If our investigation finds that you have indeed caused him harm, punishment will be given accordingly."

"Invel—"

"I told you that this situation would only end in disaster." Invel didn't allow August to speak. "Since you will not handle it properly, I will." The air around them grew colder with his words. Gray was surprised that it actually gave him goosebumps when the chill came. The young general turned towards him and paused. "Are you going to follow willingly or must I resort to force?"

Holding his hands up in surrender, Gray began to walk. "Hey, I'm not looking for a fight." He slowly let them drop to his sides. "Can't say I don't blame you for your reaction." Gray's eyes flickered towards August. The elderly man was walking stiffly, refusing to look at either of them. "The guy's your emperor and I called to say I pretty much used a spell on him that would've left him trapped in ice for eternity. That's not exactly the sort of thing you can let slide, no matter who I might be."

The blue haired wizard nodded. "I'm glad we are in agreement on the matter. At least someone here understands how to be reasonable." The young man shot August a stern look.

Shaking his head, the elderly man let out a sigh. "His majesty will not be pleased with this, Invel." The younger wizard didn't respond. "Few people remain that he can label as a friend. I told you that his majesty was—"

"This is hardly the time to be concerned with his majesty's supposed friendships. If you're so concerned over the matter, why not try convincing his former lover to take him back?" Invel gestured over towards Mavis. August blinked, staring at her with wide eyes as if he'd only just noticed her presence. The man inhaled sharply, shaking his head.

"She…she cannot be here." August stared at her for a moment longer before closing his eyes. The elderly man slowly turned away, shaking his head. "Invel, you know why this is impossible."

"Indeed. Her presence only further confirms my existing suspicions about our situation." The young general turned his harsh gaze towards Gray. "Our investigation regarding his majesty's silence is more accurately an investigation on his suspected murder. You, Gray Fullbuster, are the prime suspect in this case and are also the last person known to have seen him alive."

What? How did Mavis' presence imply anything about Zeref's life? He didn't have an answer. All he knew was that he'd seen her dead in Zeref's memories. Zeref had implied he'd been the one to kill her, even. It made little sense. All he could do for now though was follow in silence. Somehow, he'd figure out a way to convince them they were wrong. He might not have the proof with him, but Gray had seen Zeref move. The man was aware of his surroundings, even if he now struggled with yet another form of curse controlling his life.