To Cast Long Shadows
Chapter 1: Headaches and Explosions
'Well, it was a day like any other. The birds were singing, the sun was shining and once again Fairy Tail had dissolved into another pointless and stupid brawl.'
I sighed as a body flew past my head, and slammed into a now very annoyed Erza Scarlet, who had been sitting in the corner enjoying her cake. 'This is just great. I'm dead broke AND surrounded by a bunch of raving lunatics.' Prior to joining it was only the former. Joining a guild wasn't my first choice by any means, but I needed the money. As it turns out, scholar wasn't a well paid profession and several years spent traveling had worn my savings down to next to nothing. The idiot that had slammed into Erza quickly leapt up and tried to run away. 'Yeah good luck with that moron.'
On top of all my other problems, I still hadn't found a place to live within my rapidly dwindling price range, and I was getting real tired of being around the guild 24/7. 'God why are these fights so loud?' I thought, rubbing my temples to try and relieve the throbbing headache building behind my eyes.
They weren't all bad, Mirajane was kind, Erza was fairly serious most of the time, Levy was a fellow scholar, and Laxus, though terrifying, at least wasn't one of those preachy "Believe in the power of friendship" kind of masters, but the rest of them? I sighed, letting my head fall onto the book in front of me. They were complete idiots at best and outright insane at worst. You had the unapologetic drunk, the pathological stripper, the moronic pyromaniac and the oh so sickeningly sweet spirit mage that had probably been sane once before she met the rest of them. And that was just the old guard. For god's sake the most sane person in the guild was a talking, flying, black cat.
Still, there was good money to be made in guild work. As long as I could build up the capital to continue my studies I could put up with everything else that came with it. With that in mind I got up and walked over to the job board, trying my best to ignore the screams of agony from the brawlers behind me as Erza dealt swift vengeance for her fallen confection.
- POV Aidan Moore -
'Oh shit.' I saw the cake fall and knew enough about her to run. I tried, I really did, At least give me credit for that. I was quickly grabbed by a surprisingly strong, metal covered arm and found myself looking at the murderous face of Erza Scarlet. I barely had time to register her shouts of anger and lament before I was flug into the nearest wall.
'Uh, what the hell did I do? It wasn't even my fault.' Picking myself up and looking around, I wondered what in the world had possessed me join this guild. Was it because they were the strongest guild in Fiore? No. Money? No. Hot ladies? Still no. The main reason I joined was because anyone could. Hopefully I'd find what I was looking for but of course I'd had no luck, I never did. Not here, not the place before, and of course not where I was from.
But Erza's rage clearly wasn't sated from my pain, she flew into the melee, a flurry of punches, kicks, and throws, brutally reaping vengence from all involved. Unfortunately this put her between me and the door and I was NOT gonna risk going anywhere near that. The screams of pain and thump of bodies slamming together split the air as I retreated towards the bar. Slipping out the back seemed like a favorable idea.
Despite my decision to bid a hasty retreat, the job board caught my eye as I passed. While I wasn't the kind of guy that worried about money, I was always looking for a chance to get stronger. Grabbing a job on the way out couldn't hurt.
'Find a thing. No. Have you seen this monster? No thanks. Repair building. Why would you need a wizard for that?' I looked over the thing twice for a hunting job but found none so I ended up settling for an escort mission flyer. If I can't go looking for something to hit, then maybe something to hit would come to me. Seemed logical.
Only one problem, the job request asked for two or more wizards. That explained why the pay was an impressive 100,000 Jewel, I'd have to split it with someone. "Eh, whatever." I muttered as I pulled the flier, turning to see who I could ask to come.
And found myself looking at the pile of bodies left over from Erza's rampage. There were only a dozen people left standing, the remainder nothing but a spread of groaning bodies rubbing their sores as they picked themselves off the floor. I wondered where Erza had disappeared for a split second, but quickly dismissed the worry as it wasn't important to my problem.
The closest person was a guy standing a few feet away who was also looking at the job board. Slightly shorter than me, he was skinny and clearly still in his teens. He had slicked-back black hair and blue eyes, his clothing just a simply grey jacket over a black shirt and jeans. I'd heard his name once or twice, but couldn't remember it for the life of me. Luca? Lucina? Something like that.
"Hey, if you're looking for a job with good pay, I need a second person for this." I said, handing over the flier.
He quickly scanning it before exhaling deeply."Why not? Any excuse to get out of this madhouse for a few days. Zentopia knows I need the money." He looked at me weirdly. "Who are you again? I need something to call you besides that idiot who was stupid enough to mess with Erza Scarlet."
'And just like that, I already don't like this guy.' I tried to play it off with a laugh."You saw that 'eh. I didn't mess with her on purpose, someone sucker punched me. The name's Aidan Moore. What should I call you besides prick? Or do you prefer asshole?"
"Ooh scathing." He responded sarcastically, "My name is Lucifer Skia. Anyway as much as I'd like to stay here while you fire base insults at me, I think Erza's looking for more victims. We should probably leave now, very quickly."
'Well this guy actually has half a brain, there's a surprise. If worst comes to worst, I can use him as a practice dummy to pass the time.'
- POV: Lucifer Skia -
Two days of walking with not a sight nor sound of trouble had done nothing except to prove our presence utterly pointless. Then again why do I care? I'm being paid either way. Still an attack would do wonders to break up the monotony. I had already finished the book I'd brought within the first four hours of the journey and had spent the rest of the trip silently pondering how I would go about robbing a caravan such as the one we were guarding. Purely for entertainment's sake of course.
The convoy itself was nothing more than eight covered wagons of merchants and their goods, two dozen people at most including the children. We were riding right in the middle so we could get to either end of the train as fast as possible.
Aidan had taken to alternating between napping and walking alongside the procession, only joining me in the shade of our cart to inform me that he had nothing to report and for quick meals. Now that I'd finally had time to observe my companion without the distraction of the guild I found myself surprised at how normal he looked. Brown hair, maybe a little under six feet, appeared to be in good shape. Admittedly the black eyes were slightly creepy but the guild tended to have a lot worse. His choice of clothing was a little ridiculous, a t-shirt isn't a great choice for an eight day journey, but that wasn't my problem.
Conversation had been fairly sparse all things considered. As it turns out, neither of us were exactly social butterflies. I wasn't even sure what his magic was, not that I particularly cared, I was sure I'd find out if it became important. 'On the other hand I probably should at least try to learn something about the person I may be entrusting my life to, unlikely as that is. Social convention and what not.'
"So, if you die can I have your share of the reward?" I asked next time he jumped in for food. 'Wow Luc, great conversation starter.'
"Yeah whatever, but I'm taking yours if you die." Aidan responded absently poking through his bag, he wasn't particularly skilled at small talk either it seemed.
"Seems fair, but me dying won't be a problem." This was all completely theoretical of course, the chances of us being attacked, let alone dying on this mission were fairly low. Even if we were attacked, bandits such as the ones the client was worried about, would pose little threat. They would have only a few mages at most and probably crappy ones at that. Any criminal with serious magic power would have joined a Dark Guild.
"Oh really, because I've learned when you don't think something will happen, it usually does." Aidan clearly didn't understand sarcasm. "Don't tell me the odds are low, because if nothing happens I have no reason to be here."
"It's been three days with not as much as a whiff of trouble, we're already halfway to Peace Village and it's broad daylight on a well traveled road." I argued. "Who's going to be stupid enough to attack us."
It was right then that an explosion announced that someone was stupid enough to attack us.
"If you say 'I told you so' I will burn out your retinas." I stated, covering my face with one hand and sighing as the universe continued to fuck with my life.
For the first time I saw Aidan smile with a gleam of mischief in his eye. "It's about time. By the way, I told you so." Then he'd jumped out and was off running toward the front of the caravan.
"Fuck my life." I lamented to the empty air before following my smug companion.
By the time I had caught up Aidan had already engaged the enemy. They were what you'd expect from bandits. Mostly armed with knives and clubs with a handful of guns thrown here and there. Pathetic. His first attack had knocked most of them to the ground. They didn't get back up. 'Rude, he didn't save any for me.'
"Hey I was bored too- I mean not bad. Still they must have been pretty weak." I finished after catching myself mid sentence. "Doesn't matter though, I'll handle these last two. I could use the exercise."
Only two of them were still standing. One was bulky and wearing a tattered wife-beater with tattoos covering his arms and neck. The other one didn't look impressive but he was the first to speak. "Well, well, well. Looks like we have some C-class wizards trying to play hero." I bet couldn't have sounded more pretentious if he'd tried.
"Well, well, well, what are you a supervillain?" I retorted smugly, "You must have dropped your cat somewhere. Actually it probably ran away when it smelled you, for god's sake take a shower. And with the way your companion there looks I would recommend that you be careful not to drop the soap while your at it."
The tattooed one spoke up, his voice was deep and slow, he was clearly the stupid one. "Careful what you say skinny. I got life for killing stupid pricks like you. I broke out and now I'll break you." A magic circle appeared and metal chains flew at me.
"There is no one like me, only me, and I will make sure you remember that scum." I put an end to the conversation as I fired off my first spell. "Sunlight!" I invoked as I rolled to the left to dodge the chains, coming up on one knee and extending my arm to fire the bright burst of sunlight. He sidestepped the spell bringing his arms up to cast more chains.
"I will admit, chain make magic had not been what I was expecting. I mean CHAIN magic! Not iron or steel magic. Chain magic. Way to limit yourself, jackass!" I taunted as an explosion rang out from my right.
I ducked under the next stream of steel and fired off three more bursts of light in quick succession. The first missed altogether, the second he managed to dodge, and the third only grazed his arm. 'Damn, I really need to work on my aim.' Still even grazed it must have hurt, and my opponent clearly took exception to this. Chains burst from the ground all around me.
"Godray!" I blew apart the first one with the focused Solar spell. The second however managed to wrap around my ankle. 'Oh Crap Oh Crap Oh Cra-' It pulled me skyward and slammed me back into the ground. It hurt, a lot. It proceeded to spin me through the air in a wide circle as its creator laughed wildly.
"Ha what are you gonna do now punk, and you were all Mr. Big Mouth earlier and here you are screaming like a little gir-" He cut off as he tripped over the small crater I'd blown in the ground at his feet. The metal went loose as the chain mage lost his concentration. I had aimed that attack at his head, but hey, it worked. I took the chance to close the distance between us as he stood back up.
"Sunlight!" I cast as I ran forward.
"This shit again kid, really. Chain!" He brought a chain up to block my spell, then it lunged at me. "You never learn, do you?"
"I doubt there is anything scum like you could teach me." I retorted as I danced around and past the attack. This left my back open but if this worked it wouldn't matter.
"Dazzle!" The light flashed from my palm. Dazzle was a very pretty name for a very brutal attack. I had been on the receiving end of it before, imagine staring into the sun for an hour. It had rendered more than one person at least partially blind. He brought up his arms and chains to block it but it was just as futile as trying to block out the sun.
"YOU LITTLE SHIT!" He roared in agony as he shielded his eyes. Eventually the pain subsided enough for him to force his eyes open only to find my hand in front of his face.
I was less than a foot away. I couldn't have missed if I had wanted to.
"Godray!" I incanted point blank.
The explosion threw him twenty feet backward where he landed on his right arm with a sickening crunch. He wasn't getting back up. I took a moment to catch my breath before turning to see the fight that was still going on between my ally and the other bandit. Using Godray at point blank hadn't done me a world of good either and so I decided to be generous and leave the last fight to my comrade.
- POV: Aidan -
As soon as I saw the magic circle appear I jumped to the right and rushed forward. His partner intercepted me with a fireball that exploded as it hit the ground, forcing me to jump back.
"Lame." I taunted. "You're going to have to be way faster than that to hit me."
He had a cocky smile to match my own. "That was just a warning shot. Let's try this." The ground below my feet glowed and exploded. With no time to dodge, I was launched into the air and hit the ground hard. I was going to enjoy punching that smirk off his face, but didn't get up right away.
"What's the matter. One blast and you're done already. Don't tell me you wasted all your magic wiping out my minions." I didn't respond as I pushed myself to my feet. "You're going to pay for them too. Minestep!" The ground below me exploded again but this time I used it to boost my jump. I was going to come down right on top of him. He saw me coming, thrusting his hands toward me he called. "Explosion!" This attack turned out to be his fireball from earlier. There was no way to dodge in midair, his attack hit me dead on and exploded with far more force than his other attacks.
As I got to my feet again."I see why you said the first was a warning shot," I spit out some blood, "but do you mind if I stop toying around now. You're fireworks are starting to bore me."
"So you were just holding back." He chuckled, "I thought so. In that case. Minefield!"
A magic circle flashed around his feet but nothing else happened. "Let me guess. I step on the wrong spot and go boom, right?" I asked calmly, no fear in my voice.
His cocky smile widened again. "That's one way to use it, or I could Detonate!" Everything exploded. "So did you survive that? Are you still in one piece?" The rogue mage taunted into the dust cloud he'd created.
"Your magic has a major oversight," I felt rather then saw his smile falter, "with all this dust you can't see what you tried to blow up. Shadow Hold!" An array of black arms shot from the obscured battlefield, grabbing and wrapping themselves around him.
"How did you block that? I didn't feel any magic power." He struggled against the tendrils holding him."
"Shadow Magic is untraceable. If you can't use it, you can't sense it." I said as I walked clear of the cloud. "Now do you want to give up, or do I have to beat you into submission?"
He finally noticed my calm, half bored demeanor. "Wipe that damn look off your face! Outburst!" It was just that, an explosion around his entire body that broke my Shadow Hold. "Eruption!" He started forming a large sphere of his explosive magic over his head. If I let him used that it would hit a lot more than just me.
"Shadow Hold!" I called, now with some actual agency. This time the shadow arms came out of the ground behind him, pulling him down and pinning him to the ground. "Shadow Wall." A black barrier sprung up around him, sealing him with his explosive ball.
Finally I whispered, "Shadow Break." I didn't need to see inside to know what happened. The shadows inside disrupted his magic and the energy did exactly what it meant to do.
It exploded.
As my barrier disappeared I took a look around, my opponent was unconscious from the force of his own bomb and the area beside the road was nothing more than a field of craters. The carts themselves were undamaged as were the caravanners hiding behind them, terrified but unhurt. All in all, the damage was minor.
Throwing the almost-a-corpse over my shoulder, I tossed him into the back of one of the carts we were protecting. I used a random metal chain someone had just left lying around to tie his hands to the back of his neck. He could still try to blow his way out, but if he did it was gonna hurt.
It was about this moment I remembered that Lucifer had been fighting the other guy. I turned to find him coming over, dragging the unconscious prison bitch behind him.
"Looks like you won. Was he a challenge?" I asked not out of dislike, but out of curiosity. "Mine wasn't."
"Not really no, I didn't even have to resort to any of the stronger Solar spells. A shame, it's a really beautiful day for them. And what kind of dumbass chooses straight up Chain-Make magic of all things." He responded nonchalantly.
"About that, I never did ask what magic you use. So you're a Solar Mage?"
"Yes and no. I am a Celestial Light Mage. Really The Celestial Light Mage. It's pretty much a lost magic at this point. I fight using the power of the Celestial Lights, the Sun, Moon and Stars." He corrected in an almost teacher-like manner. He seemed way to proud of it.
"What about yours?" He continued, "From what I caught of your fight it's some kind of Shadow Magic, correct?"
"If that's want you want to call it, yes." I answered, stretching one arm out behind my head. "But I for all I know that might be its real name or not." I quickly redirected the conversation back to him. "How did you learn a Lost Magic?"
I saw something flash in those blue eyes. "Eh very few things are ever really lost. Just forgotten or misplaced." He replied vaguely.
'If he's not going to tell, then I'm going to ask.' "Alright then. Let's clean up the rest of them. The sooner we leave, the sooner we get paid." Walking towards the area where the bandits were still sleeping off my first spell, I turned and called back. "And one last thing. Are you always such an unbearable ass?"
Author's Notes:
This is a collab with my friend Zorn42421 and our first posted work for both of us. Our only goal for it is to not be total trash.
Non-constructive reviews will be deleted and/or ignored. That being said, I hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: We don't own the FT, anime, manga, or anything else. If we did, it wouldn't be fanfiction.