Chapter 1

It was one sunny day as a mysterious man in a tan cloak stood on a cliff face overlooking Magnolia. As the man stood there he stated aloud "I wonder, will they accept me into their ranks?" he paused in long thought "or will they reject me like the others". He paused in deep thought "Well there's only one way to find out, and standing around here isn't going to help". With that the strange cloaked man slowly made his way down the hill side towards Magnolia.

Gajeel sat at his table with his exceed friend almost oblivious to the outside world as bar brawls and fights erupted here and there Gajeel seemed to sit there quietly as if deep in thought. Then something grabbed his attention. He could sense an ominous presence approaching the guild hall. He stopped his train of thought and directed his attention to the front entrance unsure of what to expect. Then the door opened. A man stood there with a tan hooded cloak and a large back pack the shadows of the hood concealing his face. As the man entered the guild hall he was meet with an exceptionally cheery Mirajane he stood and spoke to her for some time and her face became full of understanding. Even with Gajeel's dragon hearing he could not hear their conversation over the rowdy guild members who had yet to notice the strange man. After a few minutes Mirajane lead the man towards the back of the guid hall towards the master's office. After showing him the way she returned to her regular position at the bar. Gajeel intrigued decided get up and go ask her about the strange man but as he did Gajeel simply heard "FIRE DRAGON IRON FIST" and was thrown across the guild hall slamming into the opposite wall. As he got up he dusted off the debris and screamed "God dammit Salamander!". Natsu turned to the now enraged Dragon slayer to deliver a smart mouthed reply when he was suddenly grabbed by his neck and lifted into the air. Gajeel was as surprised as Natsu to see the red-haired Erza with Gray in one hand and Natsu in the other. Gajeel tried his best to suppress his laughter as the great Erza scarlet berated both Natsu and Gray. Gajeel knew if he were seen laughing Erza would have thrown him into the mix as well which he thought would be best to avoid. Gajeel watched as Erza finally released the two of them after they agreed to go on a new mission with her.

Gajeel loved how much quitter the guild was after Natsu's group had left he savored the times they were away on missions. Gajeel went to go sit back down at his table completely forgetting why he had gotten up in the first place. As he sat down he could now here the clunking of boots on the floor of the guild hall. He stopped, it was unusual for him to hear boots other than his own in this pace. Then his dragon senses picked up something new, a smell. He could distinctly pick out the smell of earth, mud, and a hint of fresh blood. As Gajeel turned around he could see the cloaked man leaving the master's office slowly followed by the old man as they walked across the guild hall Gajeel could hear the old man say "you are aware that hood isn't necessary anymore?". Now Gajeel heard the man speak he turned to the master and removed his hood exposing his face "I guess you're right but some habits are hard to break I've been hiding my face for so long I-" the master cut him off "there is no need for that now you are at home at last. There is no need for hiding". Gajeel relaxed a new member ok that seemed common enough but something still seemed off about him. Gajeel averted his gave on the new man back to his drink. As Gajeel sat deep in thought he heard something hit the table in front of him. He looked to see a tan back pack laying in front of him then the mysterious figure sat down across from him. The man he saw before him didn't appear much older than Gajeel. He was built similarly to Gajeel as well. Roughly the same height but much slimmer with medium length black hair that dropped down and covered part of his face. You could still see through the slips of hair, which partially covered his right eye, a vicious scar that crossed over his eye in almost a lightning bolt fashion. Other than this, his eye was completely normal and his face bore a genuine smile. He wore a tan t-shirt, and tan baggy cargo pants that were neatly tucked into his boots that were tightly laced down. Gajeel annoyed as usual gave a disgusted look and said "what do you want twig". Unfazed by Gajeel's rudeness then man simply said "well I'd like to introduce myself" Gajeel thought to himself 'Was this guy insane?' it was quite an obvious fact that the iron dragon slayer wasn't the most friendly person in the guild and for someone to be ballsy enough to walk right up to him and be as friendly as he was put Gajeel on edge. "Listen twig I'm not a people person so get lost" Gajeel responded in a very annoyed fashion. Lily causally approached the man and greeted him with a handshake and introduced himself and Gajeel. "well it's nice to meet you Gajeel and Lily most people just call me Stone". Lily then asked "so what brings you to Fairy Tail? Are you a new member?" "Yes I just joined actually and I thought I'd walk around and get to meet some people here at the guild before starting my first mission" Lily continued to have small talk with the new comer. Gajeel sat disgusted by the new recruit's presence. "so what type of magic do you use?" Lily asked "well I have tried a variety of magic in an attempt be well balanced but the down side is it has made me a jack of all trades but a king of none" Lily nodded understandingly "so what will you do now?" "Well I was wondering if you guys would be willing to take me on one of your missions since I'm new here so I can see how you guys do things". Gajeel in mid swig of his drink nearly choked from being so surprised by this new comer's attempt to team up with him, but as Gajeel tried to regain his breath to berate the newcomer Lily happily turned and said "sure I think that would be wonderful" "What in the hell absolutely not you're gonna let some scrub come in here and try to join up on a mission with us I don't think so!" Gajeel screamed loudly as he turned and looked at the man. His face looked very confused and hurt. But as Gajeel looked closer he noticed that Stone's right eye had gone completely black. Everything from his pupil to the whites of his eyes were as dark as a bottomless pit. Gajeel was speechless unsure of what was happening. After a few seconds Gajeel managed to stammer out "y-y-your eye it's…" the recruit quickly grabbed his right eye and looked away with a look of shame on his face. "sorry that just happens sometimes I hope I didn't scare you" simply the mention of being scared sent Gajeel into a rage "What do you mean scared? I ain't scared of nothing you little punk how'd you get that freaky eye shit anyway?" a smile appeared on his face "well you see it was one of my foolish attempts at learning a bit of eye magic" he chuckled to himself "I wanted to be able to see my opponent's thoughts while in battle. It was supposed to be a very simple ritual according to the ancient novel I was reading however something went terribly wrong as a bolt of lightning came up from the ground and struck me in the eye leaving the massive scar you see today it also left me with the ability to see people's deepest thoughts. Thoughts so deep in a person's mind they might not even know it's there, and it kind of makes my eye go all weird and stuff on occasion. Ha-ha it was kind of the opposite of what I was aiming for I almost never use it unless I really just want to screw with people". Gajeel sat and thought to himself then said "that's interesting and all but you're still not coming on a mission with me and Lily" a sneaky grin appeared on Stone's face "what you ain't scared of me now are ya? Afraid to take me on a mission?" knowing this would incite a raging rebuttal he sat back in his seat awaiting the spectacle that was about to come. "fine punk you want to come along be my guest just don't get in my way!" and with that Gajeel stormed over to the mission board and ripped a mission off the wall and slammed it on the table "there's a group of bandits three towns from here that have been ambushing travelers. Meet me out front the guild hall tomorrow morning at 8 ready to go" "how are we getting there train, carriage?" Stone inquired. Gajeel stopped thinking about his motion sickness and how that would make him look in front of this new comer "no we're walking you got a problem with that?" "Nope sounds just fine to me" "I'll see you then don't be late"

It was a foggy morning with limited visibility as Gajeel and Lily approached the guild hall they could see the figure standing near the entry way to the guild. "Why you always wearing that cloak?" "It's chilly out man I'm trying to stay warm" Stone replied with a smirk. "come on already let's get going" the two men walked down the road as Lily trailed not very far behind. Later in the day they decided to stop for the night and make camp along the side of the road. Stone created a magic circle and a small fire sprung up in the center of camp. As they all gathered around the fire Stone turned to Gajeel and said "so tell me a bit about yourself Gajeel" "fuck off" he replied annoyed as could be. "come on now we're got another whole day of travel to get to our destination then once we complete the mission it's another 2 days travel back and I only know a little bit about you" "you don't know jack shit about me" Gajeel replied bitterly. There was a reason Gajeel went on missions by himself only taking Lily if anyone. It was for the simple reason that Gajeel liked to be alone with his thoughts and away from others. "well I do know a few things about you" "oh yea like what?" "well your name is Gajeel Redfox, from what others told me around the guild you use dragon slayer magic, and…" Stone's eye turned black again this time Gajeel didn't move he just stared deep into the black abyss that was his eye. "…and you apparently have a thing for some women named Levy" a smirk appeared across his face. Gajeel was so confused he fought to maintain his composure. How did he know about Levy? He hadn't even meet her yet she was away on a mission when he first showed up at the guild. Stone leaned back a smirk still on his face evidently pleased with Gajeel's reaction. "you know it's interesting sometimes what you find in the deepest corners of people's minds, often you find things people don't want to admit, things they want to hide, and things they aren't proud of" there was a long silence as the sound of the fire slowly crackling was the only thing that could be heard. Gajeel avoided the stares of the others around him by focusing his full attention to the fire before him almost pretending he hadn't heard what had just been said. "So which is it Gajeel?" Gajeel calmly turned to the other man "a bit of everything for me I can't admit that I've got feelings other than anger and hate. People would laugh you see I have a reputation as it is. I try to hide it from even myself saying it can't be, it won't be, it couldn't be. Finally there was a time when I was actually proud of the horrible things I did to her but now I feel nothing but sorrow and regret" Gajeel's Guilt-ridden face hung low as he stared into the fire as a long silence hung over the group. Now Lily chimed in trying to lighten the dreary mood "how about we get some sleep now we got a long trip tomorrow" and with that they each climbed into their own sleeping bags.