Her breath hitched again painfully when his eyes narrowed on her face and he didn't move to look away. If there was even a shadow of a doubt that he might not recognize her, it was long gone now. His stare was measured. Eyes narrowing slightly. His expression was unreadable. A wild voice in her mind thought 'typical Gray' before her panic silenced it. If he pointed her out in a crowd like this she was going to die. There wasn't a single thing she could do about it. She must have moved without realizing because someone told her to "watch it!" and she vaguely became aware of colliding with someone. Levy felt her vision start swimming. The mildly unpleasant summer heat somehow had gone from tolerable to unbearable in moments. She felt a sudden jolt in her lower abdomen and the panic surged tenfold. Not now. Please not fucking now. she could feel it then. The wave of warmth as blood flow increased in the area left her with no illusions as to what had just taken place in the middle of her undercover mission into the ranks of the secret death cult. She had to tell Gajeel it would be fine, didn't she. Levy staggered into the man at her right before there was blackness and she collapsed.

She woke up to a cold, icy cloth over her head. Without even thinking her hands found their way to her abdomen and she winced. Of all the days, of all the hours for the potion suspending her pregnancy to end, this happened to have been the worst possible time. She found herself in the shade, propped up against the wall. Gray sat back on his haunches, the cloth in his hands steaming with the ice he was gradually applying to bring her body temperature down.

She remained silent, instead choosing to glare at him. Her shoulder hurt. No doubt after she fainted she'd been dragged from the clearing, out of sight. That she wasn't dead told her a number of things. One, Gray hadn't told anyone who she was, two, they didn't know she was there on behalf of the council, and three, she was going to have to put up with Gajeel's smug and overbearing behaviour for the remainder of the pregnancy. Possibly beyond.

Gray cast a quick glance around, scanning the area it would seem before looking back to her. Under the edges of his shirt she could see that the black markings from his face had already covered his guild mark. A new mark in its place. It was a sinister looking stain that seemed to writhe and move the more she stared at it.

"Coming here was a pretty stupid thing to do," He rasped. His voice hard.

Levy sat herself up straighter and crossed her arms over her chest. Avatar had almost succeeded in burning her and Gajeel alive while they slept. The anger she now felt to know that Gray had been involved in that; that even indirectly he'd had a part in that, made her blood boil like molten led in her veins.

"Stupid? You want to talk about stupid?" She snarled at him and there was a satisfied look in her eyes to see him recoil from that. "Stupid, was not finishing me and Gajeel off when you tried to burn us alive, Gray," Her voice broke with the magnitude of the emotion she was feeling. The surprise on his face sapped some, though not all, of her righteous anger. Her abdomen ached a little and she found herself suddenly nauseous.

"You're Rune Knight Captains?" He asked. Slow to realize the reality of what that meant. His face a mixture of shock and shame. "The attacks on you weren't officially sanctioned. I didn't hear about it until afterward," He took in a breath. "I'm sorry," He whispered. "So...you and Gajeel?" He asked her cautiously.

Levy started at him, frowning.

"We've been dating for about six months…not that it's any of your business," She grumbled. Her anger subsiding with the relief that she more than likely wasn't going to die. It was clear that whatever was going on, she didn't have the full picture. If Gray were really on Avatar's side she'd be dead. If he was on the Council's, she'd know about it. Hopefully, anyway. That could only leave third party involvent.

"I was just going to ask if you guys were alright, but I suppose, congratulations?" He offered a half smile. Levy let her right hand trail to her abdomen again. Gray's eyes followed, widening somewhat though he said nothing about it. Bastard was just too observant for his own good. "I'm not your enemy," He spoke softly. Levy didn't look him in the eye. Instead looking passed him into the treeline. A part of her afraid that this conversation had been overheard.

"I'm still alive, so figured as much," She thought for a moment, now that her head was clear. "You sent the information about the meetup to the Council," He didn't look surprised that she'd work it out. It wasn't even a question. As soon as the words left her mouth she knew it was the truth.

"It was Erza's idea," He offered and Levy felt herself smile a little despite herself. Dangerous mission into a den of evil, Zeref worshipping cultists? Of course Erza was involved. Levy laughed.

"Almost feels like we're getting the family back together," She smiled sadly. Memories of her last day in Fairy Tail cut pretty deep. The one thing that she'd never worked out had been why Makarov had disbanded them but it had given her the push to grow stronger. Maybe it had been for the best. It was a comforting thought, despite the empty, hollow feeling the memories left in their wake.

Gray stood and offered her a hand but Levy was already standing before he could say anything. She brushed herself off. Her pout at the grass stains on her tan skirt made Gray smile again. The year had changed him just as much as it had changed her, but some things seemed a constant. Examining him closely, Levy noted the dark circles that seemed etched into his face beneath his eyes; her gaze lingering worriedly on the black, jagged mark across his face. He looked tired. As she watched, the mark receded and grew back again. Gray's smile turned a little smug as her eyes widened to watch the darkness move.

"I've got it under control...though, it's about the only thing," He admitted; glancing around him again. "Listen, I left Gajeel an update before I knew you were going to show up here. He knows there's going to be an attack soon, but he doesn't know everything. For starters, Erza's been itching for a good fight for months. Not to mention Avatar have a certifiable army of followers at their disposal," He set his hand on her shoulder. "This is going to get very messy, very quick," He grinned like a fool and it made Levy want to kick him. "You know, just in case you want to duck out of it."

Levy looked at the hand on her shoulder and placed one of her own over it and twisted, pulling Gray off balance and making him stumble. "If you really expect me to sit on the side-line while Gajeel goes into this then you're crazy," Gray easily broke her grip and righted himself, but the message was clear. "Besides, if I'm not there, who's going to stop Gajeel from kicking your ass all the way from into a Council cell?" Levy countered.

The two shared a moment of amiable silence before Levy made to leave; a thought striking her as she went.

"Hey, Gray, ehh, this never happened, right?" She asked almost pleadingly.

Gray caught on quickly.

"Sure. You don't tell on me and I won't tell on you. Besides, Avatar has its share of eyes and ears in the Council."