If he had to boil down his dislike of Foss to one thing, Jellal would say the lack of plant life made it difficult to love – and that was being polite. The town stood at a punishing elevation and everything was cold stone, but the place couldn't be avoided. He'd heard rumors of a magical relic shop somewhere nearby and Jellal was curious. If he couldn't draw magic from within, he was interested in commanding it from the outside.

The man he sought had a strange name and even stranger habits. He never showed his face and carried with him a collection of magical staves that, if the stories proved true, would put all the spelled papers and scrolls Ultear and Meredy had stuffed in his bag to shame.

Besides all that, though, Jellal needed to slow his pace. The winter storm on the horizon needed to pass before he could breach the mountains and over the last several days Jellal had become aware of a tail. Someone trailed behind him too close for comfort. Perhaps the town of Foss with all its sharp corners, hard edges, and closely packed buildings would throw them off.

On his third day in Foss, Jellal caught sight of a slight figure in a brown cloak lurking behind a row of produce vendors staring at him with wide eyes. His skin prickled but he chose not to react. Instead, he bought a bag of winter plums and took a sudden left turn out of view. He circled around the cluster of buildings that all backed up to one another and found the cloaked figure crouching near a pyramid of whiskey barrels at the mouth of a twisting alley. The display of inexperience in stalking a mark bothered him. Jellal reached out and grasped the figure's shoulder and spun them around against the stone wall.

"Why are you following me?" he demanded in a quiet but sharp voice.

"I'm sorry," the boy – who couldn't have been older than fifteen, breathed. "She paid me a lot of money to get caught watching you."

"She?" Jellal's grip on the boy's brown cloak loosened when the sharp point of a dagger poked him in the side just below his ribs.

"Can I go, please? I don't want any trouble!"

Jellal released the boy and heaved a shallow breath before grabbing the wrist of his assailant. In spite of being a master of not only his own magic but many others, Porlyusica had always insisted her assassins have an expertise in hand-to-hand combat.

The alley was narrow and Jellal easily pinned the other person – this one in a forest green cloak much more suited to travel than small town mountain life – against the opposite wall with his forearm pressed against their clavicle. His attacker didn't fight him at all and he didn't have time to make demands before the dagger fizzled away and everything fell into place.

"Should I be worried Her Majesty will send the insufferable Sir Arcadios to retrieve you?" he asked, still catching his breath. "As I recall, the last time you went missing, a certain assassin was dragged from a mountain half a country away to save your life."

"I would be insulted if my mother send that old windbag after me," she said pompously. "Anything less than Lady Brandish and Lady Dimaria and I would refuse to ever set foot in Crocus again."

Jellal released her and she pushed the hood of her cloak back over her head.

"Mother knows where I've gone and whose company I keep."

"Does she truly? How steep of a bargain did you have to strike?" Jellal smiled and fingered a tousled wisp of scarlet that fell against the green fabric of her cloak.

"Surprisingly none."

"Nothing?" He raised one eyebrow. "I don't believe it. Your mother is a shrewd woman."

"She is but she also understands it's time I scratched an old itch." Erza's hands sought the opening of his woolen, fur-lined cloak – the blue and silver had been left to Ultear's safekeeping – and touched his chest. "Are you angry with me?"

"Why didn't you reveal yourself sooner?" he asked, unable to stop himself from being pulled in by her gravity.

"Maybe I liked the chase." She bit her lip and grinned. "I thought maybe you'd take me more seriously as a companion if I proved myself capable first."

"After all this time you still feel the need to prove yourself worthy? Of me?"

Erza frowned. "My lover has walked away from me twice now. It was a reasonable assumption."

Her accusation stung but he knew her words to be true. He'd hurt her even if his intentions had always been in her best interest. Perhaps he needed to accept that Erza's best interests were her own to decide and not his.

"The road won't be easy, Erza. The man I seek is elusive."

"Do you mean the man with the staves?" she asked with another wicked grin.

"How –" Jellal cut himself off and kissed the corner of her mouth. "I'm always underestimating you, Erza, forgive me."

"Where will you go after you've found him?"

Jellal searched her eyes for any signs of hesitation or doubt. "Stella. I need to close some windows in a very old room."

"Take me with you, Jellal. Let me be good for you." She clutched at his clothes as if she thought he'd truly send her away.

"You've always been good for me, Erza." He paused and enjoyed her smile. "I'm finding it very hard to turn you away and I get the feeling that even if I did, you'd follow me anyway."

"I always knew you were a smart man, Jellal."

"Did you really pay that boy to be a sloppy spy?" he asked pulling her hood back up over her hair.

"I did."

"And did you truly tail me this far without an escort?"

"Absolutely."

"Is this what you've been practicing instead of a proper curtsy?"

Her laugh was low and soft. "Seven years is a long time, Jellal. I was going to get you back one way or another. Dimaria and Chelia were only a convenient catalyst."

Erza's peppermint kisses chilled him deliciously. Perhaps one day he'd take the Queen up on her thinly veiled offer to make Crocus his home but first he'd find the mysterious man with his sack of magical staves. Then he'd make his way over the mountains back to the plateaus of Stella. He needed to feel the stars.

Note: Thank you all for reading and giving this AU a chance!