Chapter I, Prologue

"Life is a road that has many twists and turns. You never know what's around the corner. Always be prepared for a new road to take…"

X783

I eyed the group in front of me carefully, quickly counting them down. There were so many that even I began to doubt my ability to take them on. Three dozen maybe, all armed with various swords, cubs or axes, and all I had were my two trusty Sai daggers.

My eyes fell on the tall person standing in the middle of the group – Yaiba Tsurugi, the outlaw that I tracked down to hunt down and claim the rather large bounty for his head. He was infamous for his ability in sword wielding and his supportive magic. The latter was the reason why he was in the middle of over thirty grown men.

They raided several smaller villages and even defeated a lesser guild of mages. They were simple mercenaries – or as simple they could get, they were good, obviously. As proven by their actions a few seconds later.

The first man shot at me with ridiculous speed – Seemingly due to Yaiba's enchantment magic – ruffling my clothes and slicing the side of my stomach slightly. I hissed from the pain, slipping to the side as another rushed at me. Another came to my path and his blade nicked my shoulder. It was beginning to look hopeless.

I backed off to the side, out of their direct path. Still, their speed was making my hair ruffle. It wasn't long before they conglomerated into another big pack of armed warriors. With a simultaneous move that was almost comical, two dozens of them drew various daggers from their belts and held them up. I knew that there was going to be airborne steel in about three seconds. I couldn't help but count down.

The thin blades flew by, thrown by dozens of hands. I received only minor slashes, twisting through the cascade skillfully. A few of the daggers lagged behind the group, and I used the opportunity. I plucked out three knives from the air, and using the momentum of my twist tossed them back at the group. Three knives found their targets, and three men fell in the attack.

It was time for me to take the offensive. My twin crimson-red daggers held in front of me, I rushed the crowd.

A pair of slashes across the first man's face and he fell down on the ground screaming. I ducked a sword blade and stabbed the owner in the stomach, pulling the dagger to spin and drive the steel right into another man's neck, stabbing it right through it. My blades gleamed with the crimson liquid as I danced away from the countless slashes and out of the crowd. It had been cut down by at least one-sixth. I could practically feel their confidence slipping away…

And I enjoyed every second of it.

Another rush at the mass and six more men fell. My blood was but a pittance compared to their losses, I knew that they knew it was over. I whipped a dagger at an adversary who had dared to rush from the safety of the group. It flew into his throat, and he dropped to the stone seven feet away. I ran to his lifeless body, took his sword and flung it at my enemies carelessly. Two more fell. This was easy. I couldn't believe that I had doubted myself.

A few of the bandits ran away from the group, abandoning their leader, their morale evidently reduced to nothing. I let them run away since it was Yaiba who was my target. I grinned like a predator and lunged at the rest, quickly reducing them to but a single man, who was trembling at the sight of the carnage.

He pulled out his one-handed short sword and held it defensively in front of him – it was beautifully crafted one with several blades stretching out from the hilt and with the tip of the sword looking like a sharp hook, I definitely would keep it as a trophy. I had to defeat him quickly though, as I heard that he was quite proficient in using the blade in his hand.

I stared at the man and gave a smirk that seemingly ticked him off as he lunged at me, intent on killing me in one shot. The swing was rather sloppy, I wasn't impressed – I almost laughed at how his supposedly great sword wielding capacity was exaggerated. I managed to catch the fancy looking sword in the narrow spot between its blades with my dagger and twisted my arm, disarming Yaiba before he even blinked.

I caught the sword by its hilt and kicked my opponent in the chest, knocking the air out of his lungs.

Swing!

Before Tsurugi Yaiba could even beg for mercy, his own sword in my hand descended and dug cleanly through his flesh, decapitating him on spot and resulting in a large spray of crimson liquid to erupt right in my face.

I sighed and wiped my face when it was finally over. How long did it last, five minutes or half an hour? I didn't know and didn't care. I merely picked up Tsurugi's head and put it in a leather bag, intent on exchanging it for money on a bounty station.

I started humming after I treated the few nicks and scratches on my body and started searching the bodies for any money they could have, something that I got used to ever since I became a bounty hunter.

Sometime ago, my name was Namikaze Naruto, a proud member of a guild, and a mage under my father's command. We weren't widely known, as we preferred to stay below the council's radar due to some… brutal actions they took against our blood, my blood.

The violent actions that took away my father's clan and my mother's family were nothing other than a split-second of a flash, and then everything was gone – just like that.

I didn't know much about my ancestors, except that they were very dangerous, so much that they had gotten themselves a bad name among the Ishgal's people. They feared them. They were afraid that they might use both their power and political standings for their own gain. Even the powerful council was afraid, so they did what they could to prevent that from happening.

Genocide – a mass murder that lasted no longer than a split-second of the impact required for the legendary Etherion to destroy anything in its path.

My father's clan was the first to go. A flash and then nothing, there was almost no survivors. Nobody but two survived, the survivors being my father and his grandfather.

Then a few minutes later, hundreds of miles away, came my mother's clan turn. Only three persons survived, two were very old though, almost at the end of their already very strained life time. The third was a teenaged girl – my mother.

Both clans that had no relation between each other were destroyed in a single day. The legendary lineage of the Uzumaki seal masters and the lineage of the fabled Namikaze mages almost disappeared within seconds.

Almost

You see, from what my parents told me, a few years after the… massacre, my parents somehow met and fell in love with each other. I don't really know the details, but like the majority of the guild I was once a member of, they hated the council. They wanted to avenge the deaths of their families.

Sometime later I was born. From what my mother told me, I was able to unconsciously draw onto my magic from when I was a few days old. I can only imagine the looks of my parent's faces when I shocked him with a small amount of electricity.

However, that action did something that I will always regret to the end of my days. I'll tell you later what it did, though, now back to my parents.

They wanted the vengeance so much to the point of sacrificing their son. Yes, me. I don't mean sacrificing my life - or at least, not exactly. What they did to me… it's too difficult to speak of.

I was barely thirteen years old back then. I was already strong. I had to be, I always wanted to surpass my parents, especially my son-of-a-bitch father. Considering the fact that the guild I was in did not accept weaklings, I had to grow up quickly.

My parents knew of that and I was trained to the ground by the both of them. Day and night I trained. Through blood, sweat and tears I grew up and became respected in the guild.

But evidently that wasn't enough… and that's when they broke me. They destroyed my pride as a mage and then threw me away like a broken tool.

I won't tell you what they exactly did to me, because I don't know either. However, I know for a fact that whatever they did, it destroyed my ability to use magic.

My heart was shattered. Those who I considered my two suns betrayed me. If not for the Uzumaki part of my blood, I would've died from their experiment. I almost did, but I survived - with my body completely unable to draw on the Eternano from the atmosphere.

I was excommunicated from the guild, and something inside me snapped when I saw my family's faces. The looks on my parent's faces, they were disappointed. Fucking disappointed!

I was left alone with nowhere to go. No family to go to, no guild to be accepted by – due to my lack of magic capabilities – and no roof above my head.

But then, something popped into my mind. I could become a bounty hunter! Sure, killing was prohibited in Ishgal, but bounty hunters weren't restricted to that law. After all, even the almighty council couldn't keep an eye on every outlaw in the continent, so someone had to do the dirty job for them.

But how could I become a bounty hunter if I couldn't use magic? Well, I did mention that the Namikaze clan was feared for their assassination skill.

Now, let me stride off the topic for a moment. The Namikaze were the best assassins available in the entire Ishgal – if not the whole world, who knows what lies beyond the oceans – and were mostly hired by the dark characters. The council wanted to get rid of them as quickly as they could, so when someone finally found their headquarters it was immediately mentioned to the council.

The same day the Namikaze clan was destroyed, and considering that the Etherion Cannon was still partly charged, someone pulled a few strings and got rid of a continental superpower – the Uzumaki clan – in the same day.

Alright, let's get back to the topic. As I mentioned, the Namikaze were exceptional assassins. Just like my father was trained to the ground in the Namikaze's assassination arts by his grand-father, I was trained even harder by my father.

I didn't need magic to use what I learned from him and that's what I did. I became a bounty hunter.

This was what I did for the next five years. I killed some outlaws, was brought up before the council, managed to get myself the Bounty Hunter's Permit from the stuck up faggots in the higher authorities and continued on hunting.

It was my job, my only meaning of life. I had no goal, no dream to achieve. At first, I wanted to have vengeance on my parents, but I was no fool – They outclassed me, obviously. Hell, they outclassed the majority of the Wizard Saints. How the hell would I defeat them?

I dropped that immediately and just proceed on hunting. Until a week ago I had nothing planned for the future.

Then I met Menoly once again, or rather she found me.

The damn girl who I befriended back in the guild, Menoly, somehow managed to find me. What she told me a few minutes later completely changed my life.

X783

Roughly a week ago

Location: Fiore, Clover Town

I was having a good time in an inn, slowly sipping the beer I bought earlier from the money I got for killing some weak-ass dark mage. The inn, Mountain's Well was filled up to the brim with people who had fun through the entire night.

There was a festival of sorts in the town. People laughed, drank, sang and danced, and I just enjoyed the show.

That was until I spotted her. My eyes bugged out and I almost choked on the beer. I had to high-tail out of there! If she was there, then it was either to get my ass back to the guild – though I had no idea why – or something even worse.

I panicked when that devil-of-a-girl spotted me, a grin appearing on her slim face. "Naruto!" She shouted and dug through the crowd, attempting on getting me.

My eyes quickly darted around looking for exit while my right had quickly grabbed the handle of one of my sai daggers attached to my waist. When I was sure that I found a rather obvious exit, I threw the mug at the shady-blonde haired girl and jumped to my right, pushing one of the more drunk people away.

My goal was the medium-sized window a few meters away from me. I heard the loud curses and the chaos behind me, but I had no time to waste. My legs propelled me through the unfortunately closed window, crashing through into the street outside

Thud!

I landed face first in the snow, scaring a stray cat that hissed at me before it darted off into an alley. I had no time to waste though. I quickly stood up and took off in a random direction.

I was glad that the thin layer of snow wasn't plowed tonight. It reflected the moon's light much enough for me to see where the hell I was running.

"Wait up!" I heard that devilish voice behind me. I was sure that I would lose her in the tight alleys in the town, but I overlooked an important fact.

Contrary of me, she was a fucking mage, obviously.

When I was about to turn a corner, my instincts screamed and not a second later I found myself stuck on the ground, after a large glob of glue crashed into my back.

"God damn it Naruto, I'm not your old man. I mean you no harm." My only response was a snarl and a futile attempt to stand up - even though the glue held me in place. "I'll let you go if you promise not to run."

I stopped struggling and quickly thought it over. If I made an attempt to run for it, I might lose her, eventually try and fight her – although, I didn't want to fight against a friend. I sighed in the end, what could I lose? "Alright, I won't run."

"Promise it!" I heard her say it with an amused voice.

"God damn it, Menoly." I complained. "I promise."

Not a second later I felt the glue disappear. "Now that's what I wanted to hear, get your ass up and follow me." I cursed for letting myself get caught that easily. Why the hell would she speak with me anyways? I had severed any ties I had with that guild the day I left it.

With a groan, I propped myself up and followed the girl to a nearby motel. Menoly didn't say anything, allowing me to see how she changed in the past few years away from the guild.

As always, in her short hair was the blue ribbon I once gave her. Her loose clothes were blue – just like her ribbon. She looked no different than a regular girl of her age. Although, her chest was definitely more developed than before…

"What the hell are you staring at, pervert!?" I had to duck before her hand smacked my face.

I gave her a slight smile, remembering the old days back in the guild. "Nothing, I was just admitting how much you've changed since I was excommunicated." The girl's face softened at that remark, a hint of guilt visible in her dark-grey eyes.

"Forget it, just follow me." She said and picked up the pace. A few minutes later I was standing in a motel room whilst Menoly was sitting on a bed.

"You might be wondering what I have to tell you." She said and motioned me to sit down next to her.

After we both were seated she began talking. "You know, Min–"

"Don't say this name around me, never." I snarled loudly before she could say that name.

She nodded slightly in response. "Right… I should have realized that you'd hate him this much." She scratched her nose and continued. "He never got my respect back for what he did to you."

"Just get to the point!" I stood up with a shout, visibly startling the girl. "Why the hell would you track some useless bounty hunter like me and then travel a fucking distance of three thousand miles to find me?!" I yelled "Surely not for a talk!"

"Wouldn't I? We're best friends after all…" She answered feeling a little down. "I realized that you needed a goal in your life, something to push you forward instead of just staying with that crappy bounty hunting job…" I was about to rant once again, but her next words completely shocked me. "Did you ever realize that you had a sister?"

I just stared at her with a blank look on my face, my brain slowly computing what the hell she just said.

A sister? None that I would know of; due to the shock I slowly sat down on the bed and looked deep in Menoly's eyes. "Continue…"

"A few weeks ago I 'overheard' your parents talking with each other. Kush…" I growled when that name was about to leave her lips. "Right… your mother; she said something about your twin sister. Apparently, because you showed such amazing magical prowess early in your life, they abandoned your… what's the word I'm looking for… right, incapable sister around a year after you two were born. "

I raised an eyebrow, folding my arms across my chest. "And how did you get such delicate information? Surely she wouldn't be going around, spewing some impossible secrets left and right" I said, not believing a word she spoke.

"After you… left, she took me as an apprentice, it appears that I'm the closest she considers a daughter due to the oath between you and me. You probably won't believe me, but a few weeks after you left she was heart-broken." Menoly explained to me. "Please, believe me, I'm your friend and I wouldn't lie to you Naruto."

I didn't say anything. Mainly because I didn't believe her; I didn't want to believe. The idea of having a sister was so unreal to me that it was scary. If this was actually real, I'd hate myself. I'd hate myself because it would be my fault that she was abandoned.

"You're lying." I whispered, my fists clenched and trembling in anger. "Tell me that this is not true!"

My eyes were planted on the floor, waiting for her to finally answer, to either admit her annoying lies, or prove that it was true. I hoped for the former though. I totally did not expect her hugging me the next moment.

"You said it yourself, why would I travel a distance this long, only to lie to you?" She said and placed and envelope on my lap. "Naruto, you are like a brother to me, hell, we're siblings by the blood oath. I'd never lie to you; you know very well that it's impossible."

I sighed, finally giving in. "Alright… I believe you, now spill it about my supposed sister, who is she?" Menoly merely surprised me by giving me a tender kiss on my whiskered cheek.

"When you'll read envelope's content, you'll know everything you need." She said and let go of me. "I'll be watching you."

I took the thick envelope in my hands and stared at it intently, slowly taking in what she told me. "Why are you doing this?" I asked, but when I received no answer, I looked around.

An audible sigh left my lips when I noticed the absence of Menoly in the room, the only evidence of her being here were the open window and the envelope in my hand. "God damn it." I cursed her with a slight laugh. She always did that, suddenly disappearing for no reason and then coming back some times later.

I opened the white envelope, letting its content fall down on the table. The first thing that caught my eye was the picture. My curiosity rose over the top in the exact moment my eye spotted her features. "Well… she kind of looks like mom…" I said to myself, dropping the picture on the table and picked up a few papers.

"Huh, looks like I'll need to catch a train to Magnolia…" I thought at first, but then I changed my mind when I reminded myself of something. I forgot my wallet at the inn! Considering the amount of people back at the place, there was no hope getting it back. With sunken emotions, I quickly rummaged through my various pockets, avoiding the phials with dangerous poisons, medicaments and such, finally finding a scroll. "Yaiba Tsurugi… huh."

"Here, three hundred thousand jewels." A relatively short, frog-like creature behind the counter said, resulting in me stumbling a bit. I expected more for someone like Tsurugi, but there was no point in arguing.

The damn frogs would never listen to anyone except the council. So that's why I accepted the rather low bounty for Tsurugi's head and made my way towards the exit.

As soon as I left the building, I made my way through the town towards the train station. It didn't take long for me to arrive at the railway station as it was a rather small town. The station was quite small as well.

With a slight yawn, I walked towards a ticket booth and knocked on the glass to wake up the old lady behind the counter, making her shot up almost instantly with wide eyes, a slightly creepy sight.

"A ticked for next train to Magnolia, please." I asked placing the money on the counter, which was immediately snatched and replaced with a ticked by the clerk, a second later giving me the change.

I was about to leave and head for the platform, but I noticed something with the corner of my eye. "And I'd like the weekly Sorcerer Magazine."

Almost like a machine, the elder woman handed me the magazine and took the money from me. I inwardly breathed with relief that I didn't become a clerk or something similar... becoming a mindless puppet sitting behind a desk wasn't something I wanted to do for life.

I departed for the platform where the train would be stationed at. Luckily, I didn't have to wait as it had barely arrived. So just like that, I entered the train, found a nice seat for me and crashed down on it.

I immediately took the magazine and started reading it. I had to remind myself of the most important guilds, interesting mages and such. Ever since I became a bounty hunter, the only mages I cared about were the dark mages. Considering the fact that I wasn't a mage, I wasn't interested in any guilds, and therefore I had no interest in knowing the high standing mages' names.

My eyebrows raised in interest when I saw an emblem on the front page. The same emblem my 'sister' – I still wasn't sure if she was actually my sibling – had on the picture. At first glance it looked like a bird or a phoenix, nothing like the guild's name Fairy Tail interpreted. Maybe it was my interpretation that was wrong, I had no idea.

A spark of interest flashed in my eyes when I noticed a busty, white haired girl posing in a swimsuit. Her name was Mirajane Strauss and apparently she was a member of Fairy Tail and a former S-rank mage. It wasn't long before I noticed that pretty much the whole magazine was about Fairy Tail, with only one page mentioning a different guild. There was nothing about my sister, though. Or maybe there was something mentioning her, but all I had was her picture, I still didn't know her name.

"Excuse me sir, show me your ticket, please." A rather young man in a simple outfit halted my focus on the magazine. I looked at him for a second before rummaging through my pockets, looking for the small paper-slip. "Sir."

"One second, please" I told him, slowly panicking at the thought of me losing the damn ticket. "Shit… I must have lost it."

He didn't look amused. "Sir, I'll regret to order you to leave at the upcoming station." He said and turned to leave. Before he could make a single step, I grabbed his arm and shoved a handful of jewels into his palm, my eyes focused on his intently in an attempt to intimidate him.

The ticket-checker man glanced around nervously before nodding. "Have a nice ride to Magnolia, sir." He said and left in a hurry. I sighed with relief, inwardly happy that the man accepted the small bribe.

"You know that forcing a bribe is a crime?" I nearly jumped when a voice called from in front of me. My eyes quickly turned to the black-haired teen in front of me. He seemed a little younger than me, maybe two or three years. The most interesting and rather disturbing thing about him was the lack of his upper clothing, but who was I to point out someone's habits?

I finally shrugged my shoulders in an uncaring motion. "I don't really care." I answered and then noticed the mark on his chest. My eyes furrowed, and just to be sure I looked at the magazines front-page again and then on his chest. It was the same symbol Fairy Tail had. Convenient if you ask me. "You're from Fairy Tail, right?"

"Yeah, why'd you ask?" He questioned, folding his arms on his toned chest.

"My name's Naruto, and I'm looking after someone from your guild…" I introduced myself and started looking through my pockets after the picture of the red-haired girl – my sister.

"I'm Gray Fullbuster, who are you looking for?"

I finally found the picture. It was a picture of a teen, red-haired girl who was wearing a silver armor with a large Fairy Tail banner proudly hanging behind her. "Her." I said and handed the picture to him.

A second later, the blood from Gray's face drained away and his hands started shaking. "W-What the hell do you want from her?!"

I leaned in with curiosity written all over my face. "Is something wrong with her?" I asked.

Gray shoved the slightly crumbled picture back into my hand. "You don't want to meet her! She's ridiculously scary!" He yelled, slowly regaining the color on his face.

"I need to meet her anyways." I stated, not budging a bit.

"Trust me, you don't want to!"

"Oh for fucks sake, I wouldn't care if she was Zeref himself." I finally rebuked with a rather loud shout, getting a few worried looks from the passengers. Thankfully, it managed to shut Gray up. "You know her name?"

Gray took a deep breath and scratched the base of his nose. "What do you want with her?" He asked me instead, not answering my question.

I realized that it was futile to get anything out of him. He was just too stubborn. "She…" I began – my words getting stuck when I tried to force them out. "I'm not entirely sure… but I might be closely related to her." I finally managed to say that, it was harder than you might have thought.

If Gray wasn't paying me his full attention, he was doing it now. Definitely, I could see the very curious gleam in his eyes along with a hint of mistrust. "You're… related to her?"

I nodded with a sigh. I wasn't one hundred percent sure about her being my sister, but I held my hopes high. I wanted to have someone who would be close to me.

My parents, Ku shina and Minato, mother and father, I would never think of them as someone dear to me. Not after what they did to me. I doubt that anyone would consider someone so abusive a parent.

Maybe she would help me and get revenge on my parents, our parents hopefully. If Fairy Tail really was that famous, maybe they would lend us help… maybe there is someone who has very high standings, high enough to pull a few strings.

"Do you have a proof? How can you be sure that you're related? Do you know her parents?" Gray began asking a storm of questions. I would gladly answer them, most of them at least. "How exactly is she related to you?"

"She's my sister… I guess." I stated, getting a very visible act of surprise from Gray's side. I glanced at the window for a second, admiring the quickly passing landscape as the train hastily rode the tracks. Then I looked back at the picture of her. "She's almost like a carbon copy of my mother… and she's the same age as me."

Gray nodded hesitantly, apparently not believing a word I said. I could clearly read the suspicion out of his eyes. I could read him like an open book.

"Do you know your parents?"

I made a grimace, and slowly, but reluctantly nodded. "I'll refrain from telling you the names, though. They're only for me and my sister's ears." I answered, resulting in a rather annoyed reaction from the teen.

"Come on, why not?"

I grimaced once again. It was very uncomfortable speaking about them. "I'll let you know one thing though. If you'd fight them, you'd end up flat out dead the very moment they laid their eyes on you." Before Gray could point out the killing point, I answered his thoughts. "They're dark mages… I once was too."

This seemed to silence Gray for a few minutes. He sat there in front of me, and I could literally hear his brain working overdrive. I knew what he thought about me. In his opinion, I was a threat. That was quite obvious after my speech.

"I'll tell you her name after you fight me."

"Huh?" A confused expression appeared on my face before realizing what he said. "Oh, no I refuse."

"Why not, if you're anything like her, you must be quite strong." Gray said, slamming his fists together.

I merely chuckled. "If you – a mage – think that my sister is powerful, then I'm nowhere at her level, I guess."

"So… you suck?"

I deadpanned for a moment. I, suck? I, a bounty hunter who without magical capabilities took on various outlaws and dark mages, sucked? Aw hell no. "No, I'm not a mage." I answered his blunt question.

"Oh…" This was the most unintelligent answer he could come up with.

I sighed and stayed silent for a few minutes. I enjoyed the view behind the windows. The quickly skipping landscape allowed me to stop worrying about everything. I had to tone down with my job. I was too concerned about my work as a bounty hunter, my connections to the underworld and many, many other things.

Unfortunately, the silence was broken when Gray came up with another series of questions. "Wait, you said that you once were a dark mage, how come you aren't a mage now?" I expected that question. It wasn't that rare when people talked with me.

Should I answer him truthfully, or with a half-lie? I would definitely confess almost everything to my sister once I got along with her, but he didn't need to know the details.

"My body can't absorb Eternano anymore."

Gray's eyes widened, then the look in his eyes was replaced that of a pity. I knew why he pitied me. To lose the ability to use magic was really a painful blow to any mage's pride. It was to me. It hurt. It hurt so bad I couldn't even…

"Erza Scarlet."

I looked at him with a questioning look in my eyes.

"That's your sister's name." He added, resulting in a smile that appeared on my face.

We didn't speak anything else for the rest of the journey. Gray decided to take a nap and I just kept looking through the window, wondering about the sudden change in my life.

'Erza Scarlet.' I thought and then realized something.

I might have found something to cherish, someone to really care about and someone who would return such feelings.

'I wonder what kind of person she is…'

The train suddenly skidded to a stop. My body jerked up from the resting position and I looked through the window. It was already late evening, and considering the large amount of tightly packed, neatly built buildings, we were in Magnolia.

I yawned loudly and stretched, enjoying the comfortable pops and cracks in my spine. I made sure that I didn't leave anything behind – since everything I had was either lethally hazardous, sharp or was my money – and proceed on leaving the train.

Although, it'd bother my mind if I just left Gray sleeping like that, so I did what any other kind person would do. I woke him up by kicking his calf.

"Ow! What the hell Naruto!?"

Maybe I kicked him too hard, it worked though. I gave him a smirk and pointed out through the window. "I guess we've arrived and you just kept sleeping. You should thank me for not leaving you here." I said and walked towards the nearest exit.

"Guess you're right." Gray murmured and walked outside with me.

The fresh air was a bit warm and comfy outside. I liked that. It wasn't that clear like I was used to outside the big cities, but it had that homey feeling for some reason.

Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder and I glanced to my left. It was Gray who just stood there with an expressionless face. "If Erza is anywhere in Magnolia, then she must be in the guild, follow me." He said and walked through the dim lit city.

If my sense of time was correct, it was probably an hour before midnight. It was early summer so the sun wasn't yet behind the horizon, and even though it was getting a little chilly.

It didn't take long to stride through the city to the outskirts. The large buildings were replaced by the smaller, private mansions and a large amount of trees. The only large building that stood out was the Fairy Tail headquarters.

It was definitely larger than the guild I attended to – maybe because we used to change the location very often to avoid detection. Fairy Tail's headquarter was a large, imposing building that consisted of three floors stacked up on each other. The one below being the largest, and the one on top being the smallest one. Proudly attached to a wall at the top floor was a giant, orange banner with a white Fairy Tail insignia painted on it – it was barely visible in the darkness though.

"Woah" I stared at the building for a brief moment. "I never imagined that it'd be this big." I managed to find my speech after a few seconds of silence.

Gray didn't answer, but walked up to the large gate instead. He tried opening the door and then banged on it with his fist. With an annoyed look on his face he turned to me.

"It's empty, come by tomorrow." He said and walked past me with no care at all in the world.

I turned towards the gate and ran a hand through my hair. "What am I supposed to do now?" I said out loud.

"Find yourself a place to stay, because I sure as hell won't let you sleep at mine." Gray shouted behind his shoulder, soon disappearing into the night.

"Right… so an inn it is." I grumbled, knowing that I had to spend my precious jewels.

Finding an inn wasn't a problem at all, but finding one with a free room was a much tougher task to do. The top quality hotels and inns were filled up to the brim and the low quality ones weren't exactly my taste. I may have been in much worse places, but considering that I wasn't really tight with my money, I wanted to get a nicer room.

I strode through the Magnolia's roads with my hands around my neck. The sky was dark, littered with countless stars and the moon was shining really bright. The alleys were bright enough to walk through them without tripping on something, thanks to the moon, lamps and the lights in peoples' windows who weren't sleeping yet.

I was about to give up looking for a place to stay and thought about sleeping outside – just like I did many times before – when someone jumped on my back, successfully disrupting my balance and knocking me down on the ground.

Thud!

"What the hell!" I yelled outraged and the response I got was a very familiar giggle. I managed to turn my head and spotted the familiar, shady-blonde girl, Menoly. "Why you…" I barked angrily.

"Nuh-uh, don't be angry!" She said with a smile. "I saw you roaming around, looking for a place to stay so I decided to help you."

I groaned and pushed her off my back, much to her dislike. "How did you find me and how did you get here so fast?" I asked standing up.

Menoly gave me a grin and pushed me forwards, leading towards a hotel. "I told you before that I'd be watching you! There is no where you can hide from me, whiskers."

Aw hell no, I hated that nick name. "You're getting freaky, you know?" I pointed out, but it fell on deaf ears.

She merely dragged me into a nearby hotel and up the stairs, not allowing me to speak any words. When we finally were inside a rather comfy room, she turned to me with her hands on her hips and grinned widely.

"Well then, what were you up to since we met last week?" She asked and plopped down on the bed, leaving me the couch.

I rubbed my rather tired eyes and yawned. "Should I be the one asking?" I should, for example, how the hell did she manage to find me so quickly again. "You're stalking me or what?"

As soon I said that, I was hit by a large pillow thrown by Menoly. "That's for me to know and for you to find out!" She chirped and then her face attained a more serious expression. "Now spill it, you found her?"

I frowned at her sudden change in behavior. "I might see her tomorrow. Her guild was closed for tonight." I said and sprawled down on the couch, making myself comfortable. "I met one of her guild mates though, he told me her name."

"Erza, isn't it?" The shady-blonde girl spoke, spiking my interest on how she knew that. "Erza Scarlet, also dubbed as the Titania, an S-rank mage of Fairy Tail. Nice family you got there, your parents being ridiculously powerful and your sister slowly becoming one of the Wizard Saints."

I didn't know that… but how the hell did she know all these facts? Right, she probably did some research beforehand. "Why didn't you tell me her name?"

"And where would be fun in that? I won't hand everything to you on a silver plate, start being independent." She mocked me. Her eyes, her words, her body movements, everything she did mocked me and it annoyed me to no end.

"You're being annoying, stop it."

Menoly merely puffed her cheeks and shook her head. "Nuh-uh, I won't. I enjoy teasing you!" She said with a slight laugh.

"I said stop it." I growled, making her pout.

"Meanie." She answered and I grabbed the pillow she threw earlier at me and threw it back at her, knocking her off the bed. "Hey! What was that for?"

I stuck out my tongue at her and stood up. "That was for acting like a teasing devil." I said and walked up to the large window, looking out at the dark city.

The hotel room was high enough to see Fairy Tail's guild building in the distance, and I inwardly thought back at the old times in my old guild. There weren't many mages there, but a handful of elites among elites along with several trainees like me and Menoly. I let out a loud sigh and turned around only to see here munching on a sandwich.

"So, what are you going to do now?" Menoly asked in between bites, swallowing the tasty looking food.

I shrugged my shoulders. I have never been good with planning things for the future. "No idea, we'll see how my meeting with Erza works out." I answered, slowly scratching my chin. The light stubble that inhabited my face was quite annoying at times.

"Fine…" My friend muttered and then gave a long yawn. "I'm crashing down for tonight, take the couch." She said and hoped under the bed covers.

"Didn't you want to talk more?" I asked, slightly amused.

A simple 'good night' was all I got from her. With a sigh, I let myself fall on the couch comfortably, letting the blanket of night cover my body and guide me to the dreamland.

"…And if you get lost along the way, never be afraid to ask for help."