Chapter 1:
This story takes place roughly a week after Galuna Island and about a month before the Phantom guild. Hope you enjoy.- Ninja-Cat Sif
John Proin hated his job. There was no other way to say it. He hated it with a passion. When he became a freelance wizard he had expected adventure and excitement.
Nope! He was stuck guarding a door. He didn't even know what he was guarding. He just knew that his employer was willing to pay six thousand jewel a day. The money was better than good but he still hated twelve hour shifts with no breaks.
His employer was a rich snob by the name of Edward Darkblade one of the wealthiest men in the southern regions. Despite not knowing exactly what he was guarding he was fairly certain it was a person and judging by the iron door it was a powerful person.
Click… click… click…
He looked up from where he was sitting. Walking towards him was the queen of the castle. Darkblades daughter the blonde bombshell Tiana.
She as usual had a smirk on her face. He never understood why she always looked so happy when she went into this room. She produced a key in her left hand as her right was missing. With a loud click she opened the door.
However when she stepped inside she only half closed the door. John's curiosity got the better of him. He peaked inside. What was inside shocked him. Hanging from the celling wrapped in chains was a man.
His eyes were closed His arms were crossed over his chest and were held there with thick metal cuffs. John noticed something odd as well. On the left side of the man's chest there was a red tattoo of Fairy Tail symbol.
"Why would a guild wizard be here?" He thought. Tiana walked over to the man. Then she held up a cattle prod and after activating it prodded him with it. John's fist clenched as he flinched slightly at the cruelty. However the suspended man didn't flinch at all. Tiana scowled.
"Why won't you hurt?!" She prodded him again but again nothing happened.
"Tell me why?! You used to scream. Are you beyond feeling monster?" Another shock. "Why?!" she screamed shoving the prod into the man's face. Suddenly Jack felt a pressure overcome him. He couldn't move and he felt a prickly feeling in his body.
He looked at the man hanging from the ceiling. He had finally opened his eyes. One of them was bright red the other was a deep green..
"What are you looking at monster?!" Tiana yelled as she turned. As soon as her eyes found him she froze.
"N… no…" She spoke quietly her voice quivering. She turned back to the man who was now smiling.
"Monster," He said in a raspy voice. Jack suddenly felt strange. He felt his magic leave him. It was strange. He suddenly felt hungry, thirsty, tired, stiff and pain all at the same time. Then he screamed. A red aura was radiating off him and was forming a dark red cloud in front of him. Then the cloud shot at the man and latched onto his chains. John realised that it must be wearing away the chains.
"Stop! Stop!" Tiana yelled as she watched in horror as the chains broke and the man collapsed onto the floor. However the cloud rushed to catch him and held him up. The man's eyes glinted and he started laughing.
"Aren't you happy?" He said through fits of hysterical laughter. The woman looked at him with tears of fear in her eyes. He body tensed up and she rose off the ground and floated in front of the man. The man raised both his hands slowly. With a cruel smirk on his face he whispered.
"I'm finally a monster." Then he smashed his hands together and yelled.
"Red Rain!" What happened next was so horrific that John vomited there on the spot. Tiana screamed as her body suddenly expanded. Her face went red like a cherry. Then she burst like a balloon. Blood guts and bits of internal organs splattered all over the room.
Jack was covered in blood and his own vomit. The man however was laughing. His face was stained by blood. He licked it with a giggle. As he swallowed the blood he said to himself.
"At last, I feed." The red cloud around him moved towards him and was absorbed into his body. The man sighed contently like he had just had a nice tasting snack. Then he walked towards the pale Jack. Jack was paralyzed by fear. The man smiled and ran his fingers through Jack's hair gently. Jack trembled more.
"You know I'm grateful to you." He said softly.
"You gave me the magical energy I needed to escape. Now I want you to do something for me." Jack finally found his voice.
"I… I'll… d… do an… anything please." He said tears of fear falling from his eyes. The man cocked his head and smirked.
"I'm glad to hear that. Now I want you to travel to the magical guild named Fairy Tail." Jack nodded frantically.
"I… I will I promise." The man nodded slowly.
"Good, now when you get there, I want you to deliver a message to …" The man took a deep breath through his nose and closed his eyes. After waiting a few seconds he opened his eyes and realised his breath.
"…the master of Fairy Tail." Jack nodded again. "Fairy Tail, message for the master." He recited. The man giggled like a child.
"Good Good. You're a smart one aren't you? Now tell him this." He whispered a something in Jack's ear. Then the man backed up and lifted his arms up as red energy began to radiate off him.
"Now run screaming from this estate knowing that everyone here will die the same way the proper girl died." And run Jack did. Run like the devil was after him. He ran like a madman away from the estate until he collapsed onto the road from exhaustion.
Three days later…
Yawn…
Lucy was exhausted. She had just returned from a job with Erza, Natsu Grey and Happy. She was now sitting drinking a glass of milk and talking to Mira. Natsu was eating and Grey was thinking. Lucy couldn't blame him after the experience on Galuna island a few days ago.
He had been a little distance. Erza was upstairs, she was thinking about taking on an S-class quest. Suddenly a man burst into the guild. He was dressed in rags and looked exhausted. Lucy stood up and rushed to help him."Sir are you alright?"
Natsu looked up from his food. "Jeez you look like crap."
"Aye!" Happy exclaimed. Grey glared at Natsu. His shirt was gone.
"Natsu will you cut the man some slack."
"Grey, your shirt." Mira chirped.
"M…master. Guild Master." The man muttered. Lucy looked down at him. "You want the guild master?" The man nodded frantically.
"The guild master is not here." Erza said walking down the stairs. Her commanding voice carried through the tavern with almost visible authority.
"You can tell me." She added kneeling down beside him across from Lucy.
"No!" The man yelped. "I need to tell the guild master. He'll kill me otherwise." Erza looked concerned as did Lucy.
"Who will kill you?" Lucy asked. The man's eyes widened considerably as he remembered what had happened.
"The monster." Erza put her hand on the man's shoulder to stop him from trembling. "What monster?"
"What's going on?" Everyone turned to face the master who had just walked into the room.
"This man is rambling about a monster and says he has a message for you." Erza summarized. The master moved towards the cowering man.
"Are you alright sir?" The master asked. "I'm okay I just need to tell you his message." The man said quickly.
"Proceed." The master said nodding slightly. The entire guild hushed to listen.
"The monster said, 'thank you for helping me realize my part and that the monster you have made has finally returned.'"
Almost everyone in the guild tensed or clenched their fists, or both in Erza's case. Lucy looked oddly at her friends. Natsu was the first to speak.
"Could it really be…" Erza interrupted him. "What did this monster look like?" She asked desperately. "He was tall with dark brown hair. His eyes were mismatched, One was red the other was green."
Lucy was confused as she watched the rest of Fairy Tail process this. Erza glanced up from the man to look at something behind Lucy. When she did she stood up and walked behind Lucy. Lucy looked back.
"Mira!?" She exclaimed. Mira looked like she had been punched. She was pale and tears were actually beginning to leak from her eyes. Erza walked behind the bar counter and hugged her. Mira started crying properly. Lucy was shocked by this.
"Lucy will you take care of Mira please, while the rest of us discus something." The master said sadly.
"So what the cry-baby is back." Lucy hadn't noticed Laxus watching the scene from upstairs.
"How dare you?" Mira whispered. All eyes turned to Mira. She looked angry, since when does Mira get angry. She had pushed away from Erza and was looking up at Laxus with a cold glare.
"How dare you call him that. You don't know anything about him you never knew him you don't know what he…!"
"Mira!" The master's stern voice stopped Mira's rant.
"I know you were close to him but that is no reason to behave as you are." Mira whimpered and Erza hugged her again and began stroking her hair. The master sighed.
"Natsu will you please take Lucy and explain this to her." Natsu nodded.
"Alright Gramps," Lucy followed Natsu out of the room as they went down to the cellar. Natsu sat down and Lucy sat beside him. Happy had followed them down.
"Lucy the man they are talking about is named, Malacant. He's a Fairy Tail wizard that came to us about eleven years ago. He was a recluse but he was an S-class wizard by the time he was 15. He had a very unique and dangerous power. Blood magic."
Lucy was shocked. "Blood magic?"
Natsu nodded. "A very powerful forbidden magic that he was born with. He found it hard to control and when he was 15 he killed a square of people by accident. Mira managed to stop him. Then he was taken by the council to learn how to properly control himself. But before he could learn anything he escaped and we haven't seen him for five years."
Lucy paused for a minute to process the information. "Why is Mira so effected?" Natsu sighed.
"As I said Mira was the one who stopped him but what I forgot to mention is that Mira and Malacant were very good friends. She pitied him and the fact that he left hit her hard." The cellar door opened and Erza and Grey walked in.
"Come on we're leaving."
"What?" Lucy exclaimed. "We've been chosen to bring Malacant back as we are the strongest team. Pack your things, we travel light and we leave in ten minutes." Lucy met the others at the town centre less than ten minutes later with a small backpack. Erza, Grey Happy and Natsu were all there caring backpacks of their own.
"Lucy I need you, Natsu and Grey to listen to me very carefully." Erza started. The three looked gave her their full attention. She looked at each one of them individually before starting.
"If there was such a thing then this would be an S+ Class mission."
"Whoa cool. This'll be awesome." Natsu said smiling and fist punching the air.
"This isn't a joke Natsu!" Erza snapped viciously. All four of them flinched at Erza's harsh words. "This man was more powerful than I am now when he was fifteen. You treat this as a joke and we will all die." She waited to see if they would say something, when they didn't she continued.
"That is why I want you to listen and follow my orders to the letter. If I tell you to attack, you attack, if I tell you to run, you run, if I tell you to leave me, then you must leave me. Am I clear?" None of them were happy with what she had just implied.
"Erza we aren't leaving you to die." Grey said. Erza glared at him. "If you refuse to follow my orders than we will all die. Now give me your word all of you." Though unhappy they did swear to follow her. Lucy had no intention of disobeying her anyway unless she did command them to leave her and she was sure that Natsu and Grey felt the same.
"If Malacant is that dangerous then why doesn't Laxus help?" Lucy asked.
"Because he is a selfish brat." Grey snapped. Erza nodded and the spoke directly to Lucy. "If you don't want to come then you don't have…"
"Are you kidding of course I'm coming. You guys are my friends I'm not leaving you to face Malacant yourself." Lucy said smiling though she felt her knees get weak.
"I'm coming too." Lucy turned and found Mira running towards them wearing green trousers and a blue t-shirt. Erza shook her head. "No you aren't." Mira stopped in front of Erza.
"Yes I am. I won't be able to live with myself if I never saw him again. I might be able to stop him again anyway. Please Erza" Erza looked at Mira. She was determined and Erza thought she had a right to go as well.
"Fine you may come, now lets go."