The Ring Master | Jellal Fernandes [1] ON HOLD

58 | Let The Games Begin

It was slightly unnerving to have so many eyes on her at once. Maybe it was because it was 2 am or maybe it was because they all looked so damn nervous.

"What's going on?" Halay asked as she eyed the room. Her teal eyes drifting from Laxus to Master Makarov, Gray, Erza, Juvia, Gajeel then to Rose and Natsu. Seems like the whole squad was here.

"Keeri and Lucy just got taken by the Royal Army!" Rose announced to her, terror filling her voice.

Halay's confused expression morphed into shock mixed with anger. "What?" She questioned, daring someone to explain what the hell had happened. Her guild member's eyes dropped, no one dared to say what had happened on that night.

But Erza did. And Halay was not happy about it.

"One day. I was gone for one day! And you thought it would be a good idea to walk into the Royal Palace and look at a military project?" Halay expressed in disbelief, her arms crossed across her chest as she rubbed the crook of her nose.

"In our defence, we were invited." Gajeel tried to reason but it fell on deaf ears.

"Oh my god, does everyone in this guild lack brain cells or just you guys?" Halay exclaimed with wide eyes as she looked at her friends. Laxus simply shrugged while Master Makarov sighed deeply. With a double take, Halay added on, "Why is Natsu tied to a pole?"

"He wants to go and beat up the entire Royal Army to get them back." Laxus replied, amused at Natsu slamming his heels into the floor like a child having a tantrum.

Halay blinked. "Leave him tied to the pole."

"Master." Erza cut through the confused – and rageful – exclaims of Halay Winters. It seemed the red head had noticed that her Master had finally made a decision. She waited with bated breath to hear it.

"We can't afford to take reckless action against the Kingdom, and they surely wouldn't want word to spread that they mistreat innocent civilians." Makarov spoke slowly as he voiced his thoughts. "But I suppose we should consider her a hostage until this eclipse project is called off."

"Man, they've got us by the you-know-what, don't they?" Laxus couldn't help but add in.

Rose had a visible reaction. Her jaw clenched and her green eyes flared with burning rage. "A hostage." She repeated like it was a poison.

"There's one thing I don't really understand." Gajeel admitted as he stepped forward. "If all of us know about this big secret they're trying to hide, why'd they let us walk away free?"

"You expect them to make any kind of sense?" Natsu spoke coherently for the first time since Halay walked into the inn.

"It was obvious that Colonel Arcadios was the primary target they were after. So maybe they let us go to testify against him later." Pantherlily voiced, with a sensible amount of assumption.

Happy hummed in disagreement, his gaze drifting to the floor. "I don't know."

"They'd still be risking their secret getting out." Carla added on.

"Perhaps they feel as if they can't keep it a secret for much longer." Erza said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"It's still weird that they didn't keep us there." Gray admitted as he thought about it more. "Nobody would have found out about it."

"That's true." Juvia nodded.

"No, it's not." Halay contradicted instantly as she looked over to Gajeel, Natsu and Gray. "Three of you are on the Fairy Tail team. If we randomly switch up on the final day, people are bound to notice and be suspicious." She explained carefully.