Mercury rode on a four-legged land-beast behind Erza and Mira, still uncharacteristically silent. His stomach hurt in a way he hadn't experienced in a long time. At first, he attributed the sensation to the ride itself; Mercury had felt a little bit off about riding on the back of an animal – after all, his experience with animals was limited to what he could find in Magnolia and a beach a long time ago – but this ride itself wasn't bad. A bit bumpy, maybe, but not terrible.

The ever-present rumbling in his stomach was born of something else. Something that wouldn't go away just because he'd told himself everything was going to be okay.

"Are you sure it was okay to send Anemone back to the ocean?" Mira asked quietly. Her voice stuttered momentarily as the deer-like creature they rode on leapt over a fallen log. "Won't he be worried about you?"

Mercury bit his lip. "Yeah. But I gave him something to do, so he'll be focused more on that than me." He sighed deeply before quietly adding, "I hope."

Just before departing, he'd sent Anemone back to the ocean. It was perhaps the hardest decision he'd had to make in a very long time, but it was one that he now stood firmly by; after seeing the destruction caused by just one of Tartarus's members in "Jackal," the demon that Natsu, Lucy, and Happy had come across recently, Mercury had come to the conclusion that there was no safer place for the boy than the ocean simply because it was a place Tartarus couldn't physically reach. And if he could have sent the rest of the guild there with the boy, he would have. Alas, Anemone was the only one who could make such a journey, and even if he wasn't, the odds of any of the Fairy Tail members abandoning their home base to hide away was slim to none.

It was unfortunate, then, that Anemone had already begun to take on the traits of the Fairy Tail members he idolized. He'd started to develop Evergreen's eye for detail and Fried's interest in the world around him, as well as Bixlow's relaxed nature, but worst of all was that he'd already inherited the "stubbornness" that was already shared between Laxus and Mercury himself. There was no way to convince Anemone to leave unless he gave a compelling reason, so it was fortunate that Mercury did actuallyhave one.

There was a task that only Anemone could do. An important task that only Anemone could do.

He needed to tell Leviathan what was happening.

It wasn't for the sake of keeping their former older brother in the loop. No, if it were a vacuum and they didn't explicitly need something from him, then Mercury wouldn't have tried to tell the man at all, though he certainly still would have attempted to convince Anemone to make the journey regardless. But as it was, there was one important thing they could still get out of Leviathan – or, rather, from Cyrus – so it was necessary to tell the underwater race of people what was going on.

Mercury's thought process went a little like this: First, Cyrus hated humans. He hated them more than anything else in the world; it was the whole reason that the two of them had gone so far, attempting to swamp Fiore under the ocean. Second, despite the emotional flaws in his plan, it was clear that Cyrus was smart. He was well connected. He had a lot of knowledge that others couldn't hope to dream of, which was what they needed from him in the first place, because there was no way a petty, human-hating man like him didn't have information on influential people in Fiorean society.

Perhaps even people as influential as former members of the Magic Council.

While it was still a longshot, it was better than nothing. Loke's information was solid but limited to people who had "easily accessible" relatives. Those that lived alone or kept personal information from their families weren't included in his list of addresses, and among rackety old bastards like the Magic Council, there were probably loads of them that had no one close to them. For that reason, Anemone had been sent to the bottom of the ocean to convince Cyrus – or, more specifically, to convince Leviathan to convince Cyrus – to tell them any more information he could give them.

If their current leads turned out to be a bust, or there were more former Councilors out there who might have been the key, they needed every hint they could get.

It was definitely for that reason, and not because Mercury feared Anemone might get himself involved in this guild matter.

(And definitely not the fact that he feared losing what little family he had left… again.)

"That boy will be fine," Erza said from the front. "He may not carry the Fairy Tail emblem yet, but he's a member through and through."

He didn't say out loud that that was exactly what he was afraid of.

The ride that they'd picked up along the way slowed down as they approached a small clearing in the forest. When they reached what appeared to be a small path made of gravel, it started to trot, then stopped entirely when the trees opened up to reveal a large grassy clearing with a house smack-dab in the middle of it. No, instead of calling it a house, "mansion" would be a better word. From where he sat behind Erza and Mira, Mercury could definitely make out at least two stories, and knowing the enlarged egos of the Council members, former or not, he didn't doubt that there was even more. A basement, perhaps, or a separate floor hidden away by magical means.

As it was, the house was already large enough that he doubted it could be called a "secret," so adding in a couple of extra mage-required tasks wasn't too much of a stretch, either. And it was clearly within the ex-chairman's power if the size and quality of the house were already an indication.

The three mages departed the back of the quadrupedal animal. Mercury was taller than it while he stood, but its antlers still went almost a foot over his head, giving it an ominous impression despite it having the flat teeth and eye location of an herbivore. The moment he slid off its back, it gave him a little bleat as though to say, "good riddance," and turned back to the direction they'd come from. Even if he didn't have much else to say about the creature, the water mage could at least admit it was a well-trained animal if it could return to the man they'd borrowed it from without someone to lead it there.

That still left the question of how they'd get back, however. He didn't bother to consider it; odds were that they'd be staying here for a little while, assuming that things went to plan.

(Then again… what even was the plan?)

"Erza," Mira said, pausing slightly as she smoothed the wrinkles in her yellow dress. "Do you think that Jellal would be a target as well?"

Apparently, the approach to the ex-chairman's house had put it on her mind. Mercury hadn't even thought about it despite being vaguely aware of the fact that the man they were after and the one that Erza was romantically involved with used to be coworkers, but apparently, she'd been thinking about it on the way over too. She nodded, then said, "It's likely. But even if I don't know where he is, he'll be able to defend himself – he's strong."

"He can't get himself killed before I thank him," the water mage sighed deeply. "I heard he helped find that guild, so if it comes to that, I'll do my best to help him out if he needs it."

'That guild' being Alchemist, of course.

"I'm sure he'd appreciate it from a man like you," Erza said with a smile that the water mage didn't – couldn't – reciprocate. "That aside, we must protect the ex-Counselor at all costs. I fear what will happen if we fail here."

"Yeah. We'll have to turn this into a fortress if it comes down to it," Mira said.

Mercury cleared his throat "... I guess it's as good a place as any."

They were located in the middle of a forest. It couldn't get much better than that. Since the area was so sparsely populated, the only uninvolved party that they risked dragging into a fight was that of the local wild animals, but they were probably smart enough to steer clear once trouble started to break out. In Mercury's experience, they usually were. And, as proved by his and Natsu's interrupted fight, at least the water mage would be able to mostly go all out; he could cut down the trees with moderate ease and had no doubt that Mira and Erza could do the same.

The only downside was that there'd be nowhere to hide if they really did go wild. Just as the Fairy Tail mages could cut down the trees, so too could their enemies – and considering that they'd already clocked two of their enemies as having "explosive abilities" and "weather-related abilities," it wasn't so much of a stretch to say that one might have a forest-related ability, too. Without the cover of the trees as an ally, the ex-Counselor would have to run for his life if the three of them were defeated.

The key phrase being, "if they were defeated," of course. Mercury felt pretty confident in his chances, all things considered.

The three made their way up to the front door. Mercury expected it to be guarded in some way – a trap maybe, or even just someone standing out front, but it was entirely empty. He was certain that the former leader of the Magic Council would have found out about his former comrades' demise, yet the Fairy Tail mages were free to ring the doorbell as they pleased, which made something else in Mercury's stomach start to cramp.

There was no way he was dumb enough to leave himself undefended, right? The former Council Chairman was known for being crafty and sly; he used all the tools at his disposal to get what he wanted, and surely he had enough cards – or blackmail – in his belt to keep someone at his side during these troubling times.

Yet there they were: three Fairy Tail mages who'd illegally gained his address, standing outside his door without anything to stop them.

Erza leaned forward and rang the doorbell. Almost immediately, the door swung open as though they'd been expected, and the person waiting for them was exactly the man they intended to see: Crawford Seam, the ex-chairman of the Magic Council.

Despite his round stature, the man was rather tall – almost as much as Mercury. The water mage immediately got flashbacks to fighting Aria all those years ago despite the only similarity between the two being their overall size and shape. He couldn't even remember anymore if Aria had a beard, but Crawford's was definitely something that was unmissable; it was nearly the size of his own chest, and probably contained more hair than Mercury had on his entire head before he was captured. Plus, Aria and Crawford had entirely different airs around them (pun intended); while Aria'd had an air of "I'll lick the boots of whoever I deem stronger than me," the ex-chairman's vibe was more of a, "I'm a kindly old grandpa, but I sell methamphetamines and other illicit substances on the side."

Mercury wasn't sure exactly what gave him that impression from Crawford, but it was there, along with a vague feeling of familiarity that made his stomach writhe. He pushed it down, telling himself it was just that he hated the Magic Council.

Because he did.

If not for the fact their deaths were giving someone he hated even more – Tartarus, the group that had directly hurt his friends, that was – a chance to fire a weapon that could destroy the whole continent, Mercury would have said "good riddance" and left them to be hunted like animals.

"Ah," said Crawford, eyes widening when he saw who was at his door, "to what do I owe the pleasure, Fairy Tail?"

.

.

.

The four of them sat at a table that was clearly intended for more than just one person. Mercury had to wonder why, exactly, a former member of the Council who now lived in seclusion would have a table with more than enough seats to sit a whole party, but at the same time, the illogicalness was also logical; just because he was supposed to live in isolation didn't mean he was going to. Such a life would be a boring one, and a man who was used to being as important as he was wouldn't want to give that up. But even though the water mage wanted to scoff and say something snotty about the whole situation, he kept his mouth shut.

After all, if the ex-Councilman really lived out here by himself, Fairy Tail wouldn't have found his address in the first place.

Crawford Seam sat on one side of the rectangular table in a chair that gave the impression of a throne, while the other three sat side-by-side on regular chairs that made them much shorter than the ex-chairman. It was about as much as Mercury expected from a Magic Council goon, even if he was technically the leader of the goons rather than one himself.

But, at least the man had the sense to be polite. Fairy Tail might not have been the most "esteemed" of guests, but they were important ones, especially considering what they'd come out here to do – something that Crawford couldn't have been unaware of. The old man served them all a cup of tea moments after they'd sat down, a smile that screamed, "oh, finally, someone to try this out on," stitched onto his face. That being said, Mercury sipped at it slowly. While Mira and Erza commented that it tasted good, he had no such tidings about it; rather than feeling anything in particular, it just burned his tongue in a way that mere heat alone couldn't do.

Of course, he had no sense of taste, so to him it just felt like something odd that humans enjoyed. Perhaps it was the same reason that some people liked spicy foods – because it hurt. The tea just felt like acid swimming down his throat, but the other two drank it like it was alcohol.

… But was Mira one to enjoy spicy foods? Mercury couldn't remember.

"So, what's wrong?" Crawford asked while slowly sipping from his own cup. The tea inside was a different color than what had been served to the three mages, so perhaps he truly was trying a new recipe on the three mages who had the sense to not reject it. "These are rather unpolished questions for a rare guest, but how did you get my address?"

"This might sound awfully rude of us, but in this emergency, please forgive the use of our guild's characteristic intelligence," said Mira. It was a very polite way of saying that Loke had once slept with the chairman's former secretary and had gotten the information as a bonus, or, more accurately, that Crawford should really invest in a secretary that wouldn't give away his address for the price of sleeping with one of Fiore's hottest men.

"To find me from my supposedly secret address," the chairman mused, taking a long sigh. "It's something to be afraid of, isn't it? If it were anyone else…" He left the threat to hang in the air, but Mercury understood; if it were anyone else other than Fairy Tail, who didn't give a crap about what the Magic Council tried to do to them, then the ex-Councilman's life was at risk – but that was exactly the reason they were here in the first place.

Mercury didn't point that out. He bit down on his tongue, trying to stop himself from being rude, and let the other two handle the conversation; as far as he was concerned, he was here for one reason and one reason alone.

If Tartarus attacked Crawford, he would be there, and if the demon that had attacked Laxus and the others was there too…

He'd end it as soon as he could, then rush back to Magnolia.

In that sense, he hoped they were attacked. In any other sense, he hoped they'd get through this without a confrontation.

Erza apologized, bowing her head. "Given the circumstances… It was unavoidable."

"No, no, don't apologize. After all, I'm retired – it's no longer my business to find fault in Fairy Tail." He broke off into a somewhat awkward laugh before adding, "I remember much about you all."

Mercury had no idea what he was referring to, but the redhead clearly did. Her apologetic head bow became one of shame, and her cheeks became almost as bright red as her hair. "I can only be embarrassed."

"Oh, those times… It's already been seven years since then, with you lot being caught up in the timeslip and whatnot," Crawford said.

Mercury noted that he was very carefully only looking at the two women – something that would have been more suspicious if they weren't both very famous and very pretty. Compared to Mira and Erza, the water mage was just an accessory. But he didn't miss the way that Crawford's eyes flicked over to him when the conversation lapsed as though wondering why he was there. Mercury took another sip of tea, ignoring the man and his odd glances. It couldn't be because of anything good, but then again, Mercury's cheeks were still plated with small grey scales like they were his own unique brand of freckles.

He didn't exactly pass for a human anymore, and it wasn't his intent to, anyway.

"Mr. Crawford," said Mira far more respectfully than he deserved, "without further delay…"

"Right, right. It's about Face, right? I, too, have been hurt by the sad news regarding my comrades. And now, in a time where the Council is no longer needed, it brings me much joy to know that guilds like yours have a strong sense of justice."

"Cut to the chase," Mercury said for the sake of interrupting the man's reverie. It sounded like he was just rambling for the sake of rambling, which was the last thing they needed right now – what they needed was information. "Where's Face? And how can it be destroyed?"

Crawford Seam took a deep sigh. "Unfortunately, I don't know."

"What?"

"It's not that I'm hiding it from you because it's secret information," he explained. "I might've been a chairman before, but that doesn't mean I knew everything."

"But surely you know how to activate it?" Mercury pressed. "Or you'd know someone who knows how to activate it – there can't be no one in the Magic Council who knows how Face is used."

"You're right, but that person is not me; I don't even have the clearance to know who the Council members in charge of guarding face are."

Mercury didn't believe it for a second, but when he opened his mouth to bite into the man, Mira put a hand on his thigh. He could only feel the pressure because he watched it happen. Other than that, his body just felt numb, and he couldn't tell if it was because he was so angry or because he was freakishly cold all of a sudden.

He wrote it off as being disgusted by Crawford's presence.

"Is there no information you can provide us? Nothing to help us find the weapon and destroy it?" the Take-Over mage asked.

Crawford Seam shook his head, shrugging. "Face… is actually an abandoned weapon. Its very existence is something that cannot be made public. A forbidden weapon, you might say."

"What, you couldn't use it as a threat because it was too dangerous?" Mercury asked. His head suddenly felt very foggy, like someone had shoved cotton balls in his ears. "You lot love to throw Etherion around, but an anti-magic pulse bomb is too much?"

"Mercury," Mira hissed under her breath.

He knew it as well as she did – being rude wasn't going to get them anywhere. All it would do was cause tension between the two groups, and even if the ex-Chairman didn't seem to know anything useful, there was definitely still something floating around in his brain that they could use. Emergency procedures, things they could do to keep the barest minimum of order, things like that – anything to help them smooth over the massive problem that was the genocide of the current Council.

But.

But.

Mercury still hated the Magic Council with every ounce of his being.

How many times had they interfered with Fairy Tail's life? How many times had they directly had a hand in injuring the members of the guild? And even ignoring all of that, wasn't it their ineptitude that had landed Mercury in a basement for four whole years? Or, rather, their direct hand in it, considering that man in charge of funding the whole damn thing had been part of that very Council for years without anyone finding it suspicious that he was spending and receiving ridiculous amounts of money?

So, yeah. Mercury hated the Council, and even if they were in danger, he wasn't going to pretend he didn't.

"I admit, we may have been a bit… hasty in our use of Etherion," Crawford Seam admitted, though in truth, he didn't look nearly as guilty about it as his words suggested. "But you must understand that without it, Fiore – no, Ishgar as a whole may have come under attack by other nations. It's our only way of standing against the Alvarez Empire of the Western continent."

"You've nearly killed Fairy Tail with it twice," Mercury hissed. Once in the Tower of Heaven, and once with Tenrou Island – and who knew how many other times it had been on the table and only removed because someone had the sense to know that nuking something from orbit wasn't the only way to solve a problem?

"I assure you, it was never a decision that was made lightly. And besides, how many members of your guild were actually killed by an Etherion blast? Or the Magic Council in general, for that matter – I'm quite sure that the answer is none."

"It doesn't matter. Intent is what –"The water mage was cut off not by the sound of Erza's authoritative call of his name, but by the simple fact that he'd gotten upset enough to stand up – and subsequently had his vision go entirely black for what could have been one second or ten. His balance was suddenly shot; his legs lost all stability until he barely managed to lean on the edge of the table to catch himself, though he knocked the teacup sitting there all over his legs in the process.

It should have been hot, or at the very least, lukewarm, but Mercury couldn't feel anything below his waist.

"Merc?!" Mira shouted, standing with him. Her hands were certainly pressing on his shoulders, trying to guide him back to his chair, but he couldn't feel them at all – and he couldn't feel her fingers pressing into the part of his neck where his pulse should have been thundering with rage, either.

… a pulse that was now slow, steady, and dropping fast.

"What the… hell?" the water mage asked. Slurred, really. In the last ten seconds, it had become harder to talk than he'd expected. Moving his tongue felt like someone had filled his mouth with wet cement and left it to dry, and each word that left his mouth was near incomprehensible – almost as incomprehensible as the words being practically shouted at him by Mira and Erza.

Words he couldn't hear at all.

Words that he couldn't even read, with how blurry his vision had suddenly gotten, which led him to one conclusion and one conclusion only. Even if his body was more similar to a human's now, external magic still didn't work on him – it just fizzled out like a candle fighting against a high wind because it wasn't designed to work on him in the first place. It had been one of the first things he'd tested once he'd gotten better. Other than Wendy's unique Dragon Slayer magic, nothing should have affected him to this degree.

But he was certain that he'd been hit with something.

Drugged with something.

The flimsiness of his limbs, the quietness of the voices around him, the absolute drowsiness that suddenly began to weigh down his bones – all of it pointed to the fact that something was amiss, but just when had he been –?

The tea.

The tea that all three of the Fairy Tail mages had consumed. The tea that the ex-Councilman alone had not consumed. The tea that was provided by the ex-Councilman.

Mercury was certain of it – the Crawford Seam had drugged him, and he probably wasn't the exception. Mira and Erza – they'd get hit with this too. They'd soon be keeling over, struggling to stay awake and unable to see the world around them that fizzled out before their very eyes…

Shit.

He should have listened to his gut. He should have known from the taste – he was right when he thought the "spiciness" of the tea was weird; even humans had to have some sense when it came to food, and drinking straight acid wasn't going to feel good for anyone. But it was too late for what-if's and possibilities, and Mercury came to one more terrible conclusion as his body was forced to sleep by some unknown substance. Despite his magical resistance, he was affected by physical reagents more strongly than anyone else, which was why he was going down first.

If they were lucky, it would be early enough that Erza and Mira could purge it from their bodies. He could stand it, being drugged – he'd even manage if they fled without him, though he knew they wouldn't – but at least one of them had to make it out and pass on the last message from their party of three.

The message that they'd been betrayed, and there was no one left to trust.

.

.

.

Mercury slumped against the table despite Mira's best efforts to rouse him. His body – his scales– was cold, but unlike the last times he'd passed out, she could still feel the heartbeat underneath, even if it felt slower than it should have been for a man that had just stood up to yell at their quarry.

"Is he okay?" Erza asked. Her voice didn't shake – unlike Mira, she was calm.

Her quiet, slightly shaky reply was, "Just asleep."

He was just asleep. The pulse in his neck was slow but steady, and it wasn't like when they brought him back from that horrid underground guild. It was stillthere.

He wasn't dying.

"Is it related to…?" The redhead's eyes flicked between Mercury and the open window, where an endless sea of trees greeted her. It was a "sea," for sure, but it wasn't quite the "sea" that the water mage relied on, though Mira was almost certain that this wasn't related to his unique "afflictions" of the past. There'd been no sign of it on the way, and he'd even commented that he felt normal enough that he wasn't worried.

So, Mira shook her head, but the only other conclusion she could come to about why he passed out was almost just as terrible. If it wasn't something that was physically wrong with his body, then it had to be –

Erza and glared at the ex-Council member. "This tea," she picked it up, sniffing the cup, then pouring it out on the ground. "Is it spiked?"

Mira didn't expect Crawford to nod and grin. Honestly, she didn't expect much of the man, but there he was, looking at the two of them with such glee that it made her skin crawl. "Indeed, it was," he admitted far too easily. "I'm surprised it took effect so quickly – I expected it to take much longer."

It was a betrayal.

The conclusion came fairly easily. Perhaps the possibility had been in the back of her mind all along. After all, if the addresses of the former Council members who may or may not have been part of the seal for Face were private, then how did Tartarus get ahold of them? They needed someone on the inside – someone who not only had access, but also the means to pass them on.

Someone who lived alone, where no one would find him. Someone who likely had all the keys to the Magic Council's high-security databases, who wouldn't trigger their security systems.

Someone like the sniveling man in front of them.

Rage like she hadn't felt in a long time pulsated through her chest. This wasn't just a betrayal of Fairy Tail, she knew – it was a betrayal of humanity itself. Mira shifted into her Satan Soul without saying anything else, but she, too, began to feel the effect of whatever was in that tea seeming into her bones, and movements were only going to make it worse.

Soon, she'd be asleep just like Mercury was – assuming that he was only asleep, anyway. It may have hit him faster, but that didn't mean it hit him the same way that it was going to hit her and Erza.

His "unique," magic-powered body was still unknown to both him and everyone else alike.

"How miraculous this is," Crawford mumbled. He took a half-step towards the unconscious man's body but froze when both Mira and Erza readied themselves. His eyes... looked hungry. "That Furune was a fool and deserved the end he got for being as obvious and nearsighted as he was, but I never expected his old experiment to show up on my doorstep – and with enough vigor to curse at me, too. I thought that thing died when Alchemist was destroyed."

To say Mira paled would be an understatement. It took a moment for the words to sink in, but when they did, she immediately shot a glance at Erza to see if she understood, too – and she did. Of course she did. There was little doubt in either of their minds that this man in front of them had been part of the ridiculous, inhumane "experimenting" done by Alchemist.

Perhaps that's why Mercury had been on edge since they got here. Or maybe he, too, had come to the conclusion that something was amiss. It didn't matter now; he was unconscious, and they were running out of time.

… But the heaviness that came with being drugged was beginning to grow, to her own dismay. Erza clearly was beginning to feel the same. Her face became flushed and her shoulders tinted inwards. She turned to Mira and said, "Get him out of here. I'll handle things with the ex-chairman."

"No."

"You're far more mobile than me, and –"

"Girls," Crawford interrupted. "There's no need to argue about it. You'll both be coming with me and my friends either way. That thing, too; Tartarus will find some use for it, I'm sure."

Mira's arms trembled, but she couldn't tell if it was because Mercury was once again being referred to as a "thing" or the weight of the sedative beginning to build up. And, to make matters worse, the "friends" that the other man referred to suddenly began to pop up on the edges of her magical senses. She could feel a large crowd gathering at the forest cottage's entrance, their voices beginning to become loud enough for her to hear.

One question came to mind: How were they going to get out of this?

Mira had a limited amount of time before she was going to pass out – of that, she was certain. Whatever sedative Crawford Seam had used was enough to completely knock out a grown man in under ten minutes, and Mira was far smaller than Mercury was. The only reason that he'd passed out before her was because he was weak to things entering his bloodstream. Soon, it would start hitting her in earnest, too. Her vision was already beginning to become hazy on the edges and the sound of her heartbeat pounded far louder in her ears than any of the words being spoken, but before she passed out they absolutely needed to get at least one of them out of here – if not to tell the others what happened, then at least to leave a sign that something had happened.

Alas, they were going to have to fight their way out of this, and moving around to fight was only going to speed things up. Mira glanced at Erza, who'd likely already realized the same thing; her lips were pressed in a tight line and her face was set in a hard scowl, signaling that she was just as unhappy with the situation as the Take-Over mage was.

But they had no choice other than to fight. Without exchanging any words, the two women launched themselves into action. They'd never technically fought side by side, but their movements slotted into each other's perfectly; Mira blew the front of the house down, startling the newcomers, while Erza leapt in ahead to get a second attack while they were still stunned. Her blade cut down about half of them before they'd even realized what had happened.

And Crawford was startled, too. Mira wasn't sure exactly how poorly he'd underestimated Fairy Tail, but she was certain it was a lot. "Get up!" he shouted at those who'd already fallen. "And you call yourselves members of a dark guild? Pathetic – all of you!"

With how desperate her movements were, the Take-Over mage had no choice but to leave Mercury behind momentarily and go on the offensive. Black claws made of putrid Demon magic sliced through two members of the dark guild who were already starting to come to their senses. One was defeated on impact, but the other managed to get a wooden bat up in time to block some of the damage; rather than slicing through his face, it barely managed to slice off the tip of his nose.

Mira's movements had already become sloppy and shaky. Still, she couldn't falter; if she fell here, then her friends back home would be in danger, too – and that wasn't even including the one right behind her.

While Erza slammed the hilt of her swords into members' faces, backs, and necks, incapacitating them rather than killing them, Mirajane Strauss held little such restraint. She shot more blobs of black magic full force at them. If they weren't knocked out the moment it hit them, then they certainly were when the magic dragged them all the way back to the treeline.

Whether they were dead or just unconscious, she didn't know. Whether they were dead or just unconscious, she didn't care.

And in the end, it didn't matter, anyway.

Whichever dark guild had supplied these members, it wasn't Tartarus. They weren't demons – they were just normal humans with a penchant for getting themselves wrapped up in things that they couldn't even comprehend, which was why they went down fairly easily. They weren't even that strong, all things considered. At first, Mira wondered if she'd just overestimated the power of Tartarus, but that was before the sedative started really hitting her. Her movements became sluggish. Her reaction time shrank until she was getting hit by attacks that she'd never in her life dreamed of getting hit by. Her head throbbed painfully.

Her eyelids drooped.

Her face became loose.

She may have won her battle with the dark guild, but she was losing the war on drugs. Erza, too. As soon as the majority of their enemies were down, Mira unleashed a blast that took out the small percentage remaining, then fell to a knee, severely out of breath.

How pathetic this was. But with the betrayer revealed and his "friends" taken out, then the only thing they had left to do was to flee, even if it was cowardly; as long as they could get out of here, they could tell the others what happened.

But even that proved too much.

Mira turned, desperately trying to grab Mercury's limp body and sprint out of there, only to see that Crawford Seam had pulled the wool over their eyes one last time. Instead of cowering in the corner, terrified to get dragged into the fighting as he should have been, he hovered over the unconscious mage with a kitchen knife pressed against the gray scales on his neck. It wasn't hard enough for blood to be drawn, but it was enough for Mira to freeze.

"Don't do anything hasty," the ex-chairman said gravely. "Just let the sedative take effect, and everything will be okay."

Would the man do it? Would a coward like him be able to push a knife with enough force to not only puncture a man's throat, but also the scales on top of it?

And was that something she was willing to bet on?

No... it wasn't. Mercury was hardy and he managed to take blows that would have taken others out like it was nothing, but he wasn't evenawakeanymore. He couldn't defend himself. And if that somehow affected his recovery, Mira would hate herself forever. Besides, neither she nor Erza would be able to take it if he got hurt because they fought back.

It was their loss.

"You're going to... regret this," Mira said, breathing heavily. Her words were as slurred as Mercury's had been just before he passed out. They were out of time. Beside her, Erza lost the fight against the drug and fell to the ground, only barely conscious but unable to stand.

"Yes, things will be okay for me. That's the important part – that I'm okay and I get what I want out of this."

What a shallow, nearsighted man, Mira thought as her body hit the ground, too. Wasn't he aware that he was just going to be used, too? The moment Tartartus was done with him, he was as good as dead. Whatever they'd promised in exchange for his cooperation meant nothing when his use was for information alone.

The moment that they'd sucked him dry, he'd end up a corpse. One among many. The entire continent might join him if they weren't able to recover from this somehow. Mira's last thought before she passed out completely was a desperate plea that at least one of them would make it out okay – a plea that, like many things in her life, would end up unheard.