Chapter 1: Black Bandit
Another day, another mission, another unsuspecting something to destroy.
At least to Natsu Dragneel and Gray Fullbuster, that was how their world worked.
It was unintentional of course, but their silly little arguments always lead to a battle of fire against ice. Who was big enough to stop it all from happening?
"There goes our reward yet again," Lucy Heartfilia said with a sigh. The wind blew strands of blonde hair into her eyes as the team walked away from what seemed like a destructed village.
"At least all the villagers are safe," Erza Scarlet said calmly. "Ain't that right?"
"Yeah, isn't that what's important?" Natsu said with a giant grin on his face. Happy, Natsu's pet cat, walked alongside him. Gray wasn't far behind, barechested, with his hands in his pockets and not saying a word.
"What's up with Gray?" Lucy asked.
"Him?" Natsu said. "He's just disappointed 'cause I won the last battle...again!" He threw his head back and laughed while punching the air with his fist.
"Aye!" Happy piped up.
"Shut up," Gray muttered as he quickened his pace to catch up with the rest.
"Oh come on, man, don't be such a sore loser!" Natsu said jokingly. Gray's frown deepened and he clenched his fist.
"Why you little—" he growled, his hands extending forward as if to attack. Natsu sensed this and a flame of fire burst from his hand.
"Alright, bring it on Gray!" he exclaimed. "Fire Dragon C-" but before he could finish, he felt someone grab his hair and pull his head forward and suddenly, wham! He felt something hit against his head, hard. The grip loosened and he fell to the ground. Natsu groaned and rubbed his head in pain. Happy immediately skipped to his side.
"Oww! Geez Erza, what was that for?" Gray whined, rubbing his forehead.
"That," Erza ecplained as she slapped her hands against each other to dust them off, "was for picking a fight with each other in public."
"Public?" Natsu cried, clearly enraged.
"You know what I mean, Natsu," Erza said with a sly smile.
"Yeah, you know what she means," Lucy piped up.
"No, I don't!" Natsu said, pouting his bottom lip forward and rolling his eyes.
"Yes you do!" Happy said, jumping up and down.
"Shut up!"
Erza chuckled under her breath as they continued their journey home. Halfway through town, Lucy suggested that they take a carriage and go through the shortcut through the woods, so they can come back to the guild sooner. Everyone agreed, except for Natsu, who suffers motion sickness. But nevertheless, the manage to change his mind at the mention of 'Igneel'.
"Oh yeah, maybe they have news of him!" Natsu said, sounding almost excited.
"Aye!" Happy exclaimed.
"Well, what're we waiting for? Let's go!" Natsu took a step forward and put two fingers in his mouth and blew, creating a high-pitched shrill whistling sound. Lucy and Happy covered their ears and winced, while Erza and Gray patiently waited.
A horse-drawn carriage soon approached then and they all piled in. Natsu held his breath and braced himself for the upcoming sickness. Lucy giggled at the sight of him.
Oh Natsu, always making a big deal of things!
"Where off to, kids?" the coachman asked.
"Hargeon Woods," Lucy said.
"Then take the shortcut to Magnolia Town," added Erza.
The coachman gave a small nod and cracked his whip. The horses whinied and the carriage lurched forward and before they knew it, Natsu went all pale, his eyes narrowed to slits and his mouth hung wide open, as if to throw up.
The carriage bounced over potholes and small rocks, and Natsu still wasn't looking any better. Soon they entered the woods. The trees blocked most of the sunlight, but light was still able to pass through. About halfway through the journey, Lucy was starting to doze off, Happy was already asleep on top of Natsu's head, Gray was looking down at his feet and Erza was staring out the window and enjoying the view.
As for Natsu, well, you all know how he is with moving vehicles.
We shouldn't be far now, Erza thought.
The further they pushed on in the woods, the thicker the trees became. Hardly any sunlight was able to reach them this time. The tree branches also became more crooked and twisted, the trunks more gnarled and the atmosphere more sinister.
"Something isn't right," Gray muttered to himself.
The horses let out a nervous whinny, as if to agree with Gray, and moved slower and more careful. The coachman had lit a lantern but as the day was growing darker and the trees became denser, the couldn't see any much farther than arm's length, more or less.
"Hey Natsu, care to transform to a human torch?" Erza asked in a tone that seemed to make it sound as if she was just joking. All eyes turned to him.
Natsu was lying in an awkward position; his arms were stiffly pinned to his sides, one of his legs limply dangled from the seat, his eyes were shut tight and his mouth hung open with saliva drooling at the side of his lips.
"Forget it, he's out," Gray said with a roll of his eyes.
Lucy looked around nervously and shivered. She had never been fond of the dark.
"Erza, where exactly are we?" Happy asked in a timid voice.
Erza didn't answer him, for she didn't have one.
"Shouldn't we just turn around?" Lucy suggested silently.
"Not a good idea," Gray answered. "No matter which way we move, it's almost impossible to see where we're going." He then stood up and pushed Erza aside, sticking his head out the window.
"Hey you!" he called out to the coachman. "Are you sure we're going the right way?"
The coachman gave no reply.
"Hello?" Gray yelled out to him. "Did you hear what I just said?"
Still no answer.
"Dammit, he's useless, too!" Gray complained aloud.
"Be patient, boy," the coachman said.
Lucy hugged her knees to her chest. Her breaths were small and shallow and sweat were dripping down her forehead at a rapid pace even though the air was startingly cold. Happy waddled over to her and gave a her a hug, in attempt to warm himself up to. Lucy smiled and stroked his head.
"Smoke is coming out of my mouth," Gray suddenly announced.
Erza turned to face him. "What?"
"Look," Gray said as he drew in a sharp breath and let it out. Sure enough, white puffs of smoke came out of his mouth.
Happy playfully began blowing at his paws and giggled silently at the puffs that were coming out of his mouth. In a way of trying to calm his nerves down, this was helping a little.
"Winter in the middle of the woods?" Lucy suggested.
"Don't be daft, Luce!" Gray said.
"But it's possible, right?" she said.
"Look around you, Luce!" Gray said, raising his voice. "There is no snow around, is there?"
"Does it have to snow to show that it's winter?" Lucy was up on her feet and yelling.
"God Luce, you're such a blonde!" Gray complained with a roll of his eyes.
"Hey, hey, no need to fight," Erza said trying to calm them down.
Gray and Lucy paid no attention to Erza and continued to proceeded to each other.
Suddenly, though she could've been imagining it, Erza's ears perked up as she heard the faint sound of a clown's horn.
She stuck her head out the window and listened as hard as she could, but it wasn't easy since Gray and Lucy were still bickering behind her back.
"Well, I think you should keep your thoughts to yourself!"
"Well, I think you should keep your mouth shut!"
"Guys, shh!" Erza hushed them, but again she was ignored.
Honk honk!
And there it was again, the recognizable sound of a clown's horn. It sounded distinctively louder this time and Erza craned her neck in order to find its source.
"Oi! Guys!" Erza warned. "Zip it!"
But Gray and Lucy's argument just got louder and louder.
"Hey guys!" Happy tried. "Erza has somet—" but the carriage went over a large cobblestone and he thrown into the air before he could finish.
"Aah oof!" Happy cried as his head hit the ceiling and landed face first on the floor.
"Well, aren't you a little fiend?"
"Shut the fuck up, you have no right!"
"Hell yeah I do!"
Honk honk!
"Guys, cut it out!"
"God, if you weren't in my team, I'd—"
"Oh yeah? What would you do? Ha! You can't even answer me!"
"GUYS!"
BOOM!
Screams of anger turned into shrieks of fright and panic as the carriage blew up into smithereens. Everyone was thrown in every direction. The horses have had enough surprises for one day. Whinying in fright, they galloped off into the darkness, abandoning the rest of the company.
The sight of the woods weren't pretty. Bits and pieces of wood were scattered everywhere and embers were starting to show signs that they were going to turn themselves into a forest fire.
"Ughh... What happened?" Lucy groaned as she tried to get back up. Her arms and legs were scratched and scatherd, as of the others as well, except for Erza, whose armor protected most of her upper body.
"Who cares?" Natsu cried in delight at the fact that the carriage was demolished. He let out a terrifyingly happy roar and turned himself into a human bonfire. The others jumped in shock. They had completely forgotten about him.
"About time," Gray grumbled in pain.
As soon as the situation sunk in, everyone started talking all at once.
"What the fuck just happened?"
"Is everyone alright?"
"Happy?
"Aye... I'm here, Natsu..."
"Happy! What are you doing up there?"
"My keys! Has anyone seen my keys?"
"Everyone, calm down!" Erza yelled over the commotion. "There's gotta be some logical explanation for this."
"Explanation?" Gray exclaimed. "They're gonna do a whole lot more than just explaining! By the way Luce, your keys..." He tossed them over to Lucy, who caught it mid-air.
Lucy smiled at him. "Thanks! And sorry about before..."
He smiled back at her. "Yeah, me too..."
"Well I'm glad you guys made up," Erza said. "But we have more important things to take care of, like the fact that our carriage exploded and the horses took off; we have by no means, no others ways of going back to the guild, except walking."
"That's waaay better!" Natsu said cheerfully.
He's a pretty optimistic guy, Lucy thought. But then again, he does have a problem with vehicles.
"Speaking of which," Natsu continued. "What happened to the coachman?"
"Yeah, wasn't he supp—"
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Fairy Tail?"a sinister voice suddenly spoke. All heads immediately tunred in shock.
"Who's there?" Erza called out. "Show yourself!"
"We'll show ourselves when we feel like it," the voice replied.
Happy's eyes widened. "W-we?"
"Why yes, my dear little cat," the voice rang out. "We!" Suddenly, Happy was snatched into the air. Before anyone could move a muscle, he vanished.
"Happy!" Natsu screamed as Happy disappeared into nothingness. "You bastard! Give Happy back!"
"I'm afraid you must battle us first," the mysterious voice replied.
"A fight, you say? Alright! I'm all fired up!" Natsu let out a fiery roar and an orangish-red aura enveloped him.
"Oh boy..." Gray muttered, fearing the worst.
"Show yourselves!" Natsu yelled again. The sound of rustling leaves and broken branches were heard as the Fairy Tail team kept their heads up. It was all very creepy, considering the fact that they were in almost absolute darkness.
They waited for a few more moments, but there was still no sign of the enemy.
"Cowardly brutes," Natsu mumbled to himself, but at the same time, something started coiliing itself around his ankles and before he knew it, he was dangling upside down.
"Arrrgh!"
"Natsu!" Lucy cried out as he was dangled upside down from what looked like coils of thick, black rope. Natsu reached up and tried to burn them but he couldn't quite reach. He flailed around and flung his arms out, but to no avail.
"Sureprise, surprise," a woman voice cooed out from the darkness. She was wearing an open red coat with gold buttons and matching red shorts and black boots. In her hands were some whips.
Suddenly Lucy heard an odd growling sound behind her and to her horror, three pairs of feline eyes stared back at her.
"Lucy, look out!" hollered Natsu and he threw a fireball in their direction. It landed exactly between Lucy and the eyes. The creatures growled in dismay as Lucy stiffled a scream as heatwave blasted against her face. She quickly scrambled out of the way but was caught up by a big burly man. She gasped and froze in fear.
"Where do you think you're going, lady?" he grunted and gripped her arm. She fought back and fumbled with the keys at the same time.
"Let go of me you bastard!" she scremed at him. Raged by her words, he instinctively raised his fist and punched Lucy in the face. Lucy let out a cry of pain as she struggle to fight back the tears. The man placed his arm on her knees and hauled Lucy over his shoulders.
"Miriade, follow me," he said to the woman and she bounded off after him.
"Hey! Where are you taking Lucy?" Natsu shouted at the man in anger and threw another fireball at him, but he easily dodged it. Usually, he would've done something worse if anyone hurt her, but that was the best he could do at the moment.
"Erza! Gray! Look out!" Lucy let out a pained yell and both turned around to face their different opponents. "Don't worry abut me Natsu, save yourself!"
"Oof!" Gray fell back as a thin, lean man wearing a top hat and coat with tails faced him from above.
"Greetings, o wild one," the man said. He then whipped up some colored handkerchiefs tied to each other and lashed it out at his direction.
"Magic? Wha-whoa!" Gray tumbled back down as the handkerchief began to tie itself up around Gray.
"Argh! What are these things?" he cried aloud. He tried to break loose but the more he struggled, the tighter the ropes wound around him, and pretty soon he was starting to suffocate.
Ugh, what's going on? Why are we beaten so easily? He thought in despair.
"You guys are more weaklier than I thought," the man in black mocked.
Natsu's face reddened with rage. "Don't you dare call us weaklings! Fire Dragon—mmpfhh!" More black ropes whipped around his face and forced its way into Natsu's mouth and gagged him.
Suddenly, a loud-ear splitting scream pierced through the air.
"Umm-phyy!" Natsu tried to call, but was muffled by the gag.
"Erza!" Gray screamed. "Do something!"
Erza, who had been fighting girls with cat-like features that kept on cloning themselves, was having a hard time answering him. "I'm trying the best I can, Gray!" She pushed and shoved her way through and finally made it out into the open. She rushed towards her friends and wham! She fell back.
"What? What is this?" she felt the air in front of her, which turned out to be not air at all. It was glass. Panicking she felt the spaces around her, all felt the same. It was unmistakable; she was trapped in a glass box.
"Hey, what is the meaning of this! Let me out!" Erza yelled angrily as she hammered the glass walls with her fist. When that didn't work, she drew out her sword and started stabbing the glass with force. But it didn't even leave a single scratch.
"Wh-what is this madness?" Erza gasped, horror-stricken.
"As, just as I expected," the mysterious voice piped up again. "My army is a far stronger one than yours."
Gray still struggled to break free. "That's not true!"
"Oh? Then explain your situation."
Erza fell to her knees and sighed. As much she hated to admit it, she admitted that they were strong. Stronger than she expected them to be.
"Well, we're not going to give up!" Gray bellowed. "We are Fairy Tail mages, we don't quit!"
Erza looked up again, feeling a spark of hope ignited in her heart and a plan formulate in her head. Now if only she could pass it on to her teammates, could they hear her from behind the glass?
There's only one way to find out.
"Natsu! Gray! Can you hear—".
Smash!
Erza screamed as a spear whizzed past her armor just by inches and broke the glass into a million little pieces.
"What?" Erza and the mysterious voice cried out in astonishment.
Whomp! It sounded like someone had been carelessly thron onto the ground.
"Lucy!" Gray said.
"Umm-phyy!" Natsu's muffled voice rang out nearly at the same time.
Bearing her new-found freedom, Erza took no time to get into action. Smoke billowed around her and her armor changed into The Knight.
"Dance, my swords!" she commanded and her swords began whizzing this way and that, heading towards the enemies, attacking them one by one.
"Guauuh!" the man in coat tails fell back and landed on his back. The girls, however, were a much harder target. They bent back, twisted their bodies gracefully as the swords swooshed past. It didn't touch them one bit.
"I'm afraid your swords won't do us any harm, Erza Scarlet," they said in a robotic monotone and their eyes flashed bright green.
"Feline nail gun!" they hollered and stretched out their arms and their fingernails suddenly started shooting at Erza. Erza was horror stricken, never in her life has she seen anything like that. Suddenly, she fell back. Heaven knows how, none of the nails hit her. Instead, she heard strange clanging sounds and soon, they subsided.
"Who are you?" Gray called out.
Erza sat up and saw a hooded figure in front of her. Her cloak was swaying in the breeze and Erza could see that she was wearing a tattered, black dress and was barefooted.
The figure turned to look at her. "Are you okay?" From her voice, it was clear that this was a girl.
Erza blinked. "Yes, but who—"
Suddenly, the mysterious girl said, "Quick, hand me that stick!"
"What?"
"The stick! Hurry!"
Erza looked to her side and saw what the girl was tlaking about. She grabbed it and handed it to her and the girl ran forward to where the feline girls were standing.
"You are no match for the twenty-four of us, girl!" the felines hollered and prepared for another attack. One by one, all their other clones disappeared, leaving only two identical twins behind.
"Grimalkin attack!" they bellowed at the same time and they joined bodies and morphed into something entirely different. The whole team watched in shock as the girls became a tomcat with piercing green eyes and giant paws and claws. The cloaked girl paid no mind, instead she kept running. But as she ran, the stick in her hand started transforming. As if was covered in ice, It grew longer and smoother. One end widened and got sharper towards its end. Carves engraved its side and the ice exploded, letting out a loud tinkly noise as it did so. Before she launched her attack at the wild tomcat, she reached for something underneath her cloak and threw it in Natsu and Gray's directions, freeing them from their bonds.
"Waaah, oowgh!" Natsu grumbled as his face hit the hard ground.
"Arc of embodiment," Erza said in a hushed voice.
The tomcat pounced at her and the cloaked figure dodged it gracefully, sliding underneath its belly. The tomcat started clawing at the ground, narrowly missing the girl.
"Look out!" Lucy called out as one of the tomcat's claws was ready to scratch the cloaked girl's face. She quickly rolled out of the way and its claw was entrangled with her cloak.
That halted the cloaked girl for a while, as it was choking her. The tomcat decided to take advantage of this and began messing about with the cloak.
But the girl was smart enough to cut through the button that held it together and soon freed herself. She let out a war cry and threw the spear into the tomcat's stomach. Instantly, it started to take effect. Ice started to spread through the wound and further back. The tomcat stopped its inconsistent attacks and began hurling its claws at its stomach as a sign of panic, but its claws were too big to get hold of the spear and the ice started to spread all over its legs and body.
Everybody watched in astonishment, especially Gray.
The cloaked girl smiled to herself and quickly scrambled out of the way, grabbing her cloak and putting it back on. By the time she was back on her feet, a good feet away from the tomcat, it was already completely frozen solid. It leaned a little towards the left and and landed on the ground with a loud thud.
"Whoa," Natsu gasped.
"Yeah, whoa," Gray echoed.
The cloaked girl stared at the mess, the mess that everyone help created. "I don't like it when people trash around the forest," she said quietly.
Erza was the first one to speak up. "Yes, of course, uhm, I'm—we're sorry..."
"No, it's alright," the cloaked girl said. "I can tell this is not your fault."
"You can?" Erza said, confused.
The girl nodded. "Yes, I saw you."
"You saw us?" Natsu exclaimed. "Well, if you saw us, why didn't you help us earlier?"
"I only saw your carriage passing by," the girl replied. "By the time you were attacked, I was halfway home."
"Where is your home?" Lucy asked.
The girl pointed somewhere into the woods. "There. Oh, and here's your cat." She reached into the bushed behind her and took out Happy by the tail. He was knocked unconcious. The girl threw him to Natsu's direction.
"Happy!" Natsu exclaimed. "I was worried!"
"I must go," the girl said suddenly and silently, and with that, she ran off.
"Hey, wait!" Erza called out to her.
But she was gone.
"Who was she?" Lucy wondered aloud.
"I don't know," Gray said. "But she sure is amazing."
"Yeah, amazing," Natsu echoed.
"Does she belong anywhere, I wonder?" Lucy asked herself.
"I hope she doesn't," Natsu said. "Fairy Tail could use a mage like her!"
"As if we don't already have srong mages already," Gray commented.
"Hey, the more the merrier," Natsu said, grinning.
"Well, whoever she was," Erza spoke up. "I hope she's doing okay now." Her armor had already returned back to normal.
"Oh, I'm sure she is!" Gray exclaimed. "You saw how she kicked all their asses out there! She's a total badass!"
"Yeah, what a bandit," Natsu said dreamily.
Everyone turned to stare at him.
"Bandit?" Lucy repeated. "A bandit's a thief!"
"But bandit's dress in all black, don't they?" Natsu pointed out. The stares went on. "Sorry, I just have no other words to call her."
"Well, black bandit doesn't sound half bad, if I do say so myself," Erza said, smiling a little.
"Well, the next time I see her, I'll be asking her name," Gray said. "Now, let's just go home."
"Yeah, home..." Lucy said softly.
And off they went, talking and chatting about the things they were going to tell Makarov and the others when they get back.
Little did they know, Black Bandit had been hanging up on the tree above them, listening to every word they said. She couldn't help but smile.
