Hey y'all, this is the edited version of the original Chapter 1. As I said in the summary, THIS STORY IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION. Don't freak out, I'm just fixing things and making it more acceptable for you, and for me. And Because I nitpick everything... Rating changed to M for language, violence, and possible adult themes.

Disclaimer: I wouldn't be writing fanfiction if I owned Fairy Tail.


It's been exactly one hour since the destruction of F.A.C.E., and the defeat of Tartaros. The gathering energy was so great; it even caught the attention of Acnologia himself, and drew him to the battle. It was a miracle when Igneel materialized to combat the beast, because most of the mages would have died had he not. The Dragon of Chaos escaped after getting a sound beating from Igneel, but the Fire King fell as a result. After the carnage ceased, it was evident that the book of E.N.D. disappeared. It is strange to think a simple object, such as a book, could bring about such calamity.

After the dragons demolished the pillars, everything fell into ruin. The already destroyed Tartaros headquarters was practically buried underneath all of the crumbling F.A.C.E. pillars in the immediate area. The earth shook as they fell. After the dust cleared, everyone who wasn't severely injured or incapacitated began to sift through the rubble in order to search for any remaining survivors.

Lucy teamed up with Levy and ten others, who were currently farther away digging up piles of rock in hope of finding anything, or anyone, to salvage. She wanted to comfort Natsu, but thought it best to leave him be while he grieved.

On the other side of the perimeter, Rogue and Sting helped an injured Minerva make it back across the mile-long dead zone to the other mages, all the while keeping an eye out for others in need of help. When they heard earlier that Natsu managed to defeat the King of Hades, all three of them were stunned into silence, but they already knew he was an anomaly. However, Sting had a lot to say when he got over the initial shock that came with the news.

"Jesus fucking Christ! How in the hell am I gonna keep up with that guy? We're over here getting our asses kicked, when he comes out swinging like a fucking machine after hours of this shit!" Yeah. Sting was still sore over their loss in the Grand Magic Games, but Rogue knew he continued to admire him. He sighed to himself, but suddenly sensed something peculiar in the wind. The Shadow Mage turned to listen intently.

"Help…"

It was barely audible, but Rogue heard it well enough to know he wasn't hallucinating.

"Sting, did you hear that?" Sting, who was still ranting about Natsu, halted in his speech and gave him a strange look.

"Hear what? Somethin' wrong?" Obviously, Sting was too busy complaining to have heard it, but Rogue knew he wasn't going nuts.

"Help..."

There it was again. It wasn't so much of a vocalization, as it was a whisper traveling on the wind. Rogue could tell it came from not too far away, and directly north of their current location. Since it could be a survivor, he decided it would be a good idea to check investigate.

"Take Minerva and keep going," he said. Sting gave him a questioning look, but stopped walking to shift Minerva's weight fully onto himself anyway.

"Ok, but where are you going exactly?" Sting was eying Rogue suspiciously, but not in accusation. Rogue didn't reply, but instead looked in the direction where he heard the noise, trying to pinpoint its exact location.

"I need to check something out, go on ahead." Rogue didn't want Minerva left untreated too long due to the severity of her injuries. He knew Sting would get her back to civilization safely, so he figured it would be best if those two kept moving. Sting nodded and continued on, knowing Rogue wouldn't leave them without an acceptable reason.

"Alright, be careful."

Rogue nodded in response and stayed planted in that spot until he could barely see them in the distance. After which, he wasted no time heading in the direction of the voice. It was not too far away, but according to his honed senses, it seemed to be coming from the other side of an enormous mountain of rubble in the distance.


As Rogue got closer to the determined location, he began to pick up certain scents. Blood, lots of blood. And fear. He was cautious in his approach, for he had no idea whether he would encounter an ally or an enemy. Slowly, he peered around the mound to survey the area. At first, he didn't see anything, but was able to clearly hear somebody shouting from across the debris. Rogue could make out a feminine voice, along with someone breathing raggedly about thirty meters away.

"Katja, stop! They're gone!" The owner of the voice seemed to be pleading with a second person in the clearing, who was clearly the source of the metallic scent coming in waves from the area. Rogue could also acutely pinpoint the source of fear, which appeared to be coming from the same source. He decided now would be a good time to move from his spot and quietly enter the clearing, but what he saw took a few moments for his mind to process.

In the middle of the rubble sat a purple cat, who was contained in a cramped metal cage. Rogue realized at this point that she was an Exceed, and the source of the voice he heard moments ago. Next, he shifted his gaze towards the figure standing, more like slouching, about twenty feet away. She was tall for a woman, a few centimeters shorter than his 182 stature, with a curly mop of blonde hair that appeared red in areas from blood. That wasn't what caught his attention; she was injured, heavily. Large and peculiar circular wounds covered her limbs, and there were probably more on her abdomen or back hidden by what looked like a filthy pillowcase.

Rogue was about to approach her, when he was hit with an onslaught of energy coming from the woman directly ahead of him. An aura of malice pulsed around her body. Rogue started moving towards the woman, and the Exceed began crying out to her again shortly after.

"You need to calm down, Kat! Can't you hear me?" The purple cat began to cry as she desperately tried to reach her friend, and it was only then she took notice of Rogue moving towards the blonde woman.

"Stay back! Don't get any closer, she'll kill you!" she screamed over the noise. Rogue was worried as to why this Exceed was telling him to retreat, but he couldn't just leave them both there, especially the wounded girl whom the Exceed called "Katja".

"It's alright," he shouted to the purple cat, "I'm here to help you, who is she?" The purple cat replied that her name is, in fact, Katja, but there was something weird about said girl. Upon getting close enough, he realized that her eyes were black. Completely black. Rogue could also spot what appeared to be dark crystalline scales partially covering her face and forearms, accompanied by a large burgundy stone that rested in the middle of her forehead. He was slightly baffled, considering her scales seemed eerily similar to those that appeared during "Dragon Force" and became concerned about how she could possess such attributes otherwise.

However, before Rogue could say anything to her, Katja seemed to take notice of his presence as her body stiffened. He stood absolutely still for about a minute, so as not to frighten her in her current state. It was after a few moments passed that she began to speak in a deep, feminine voice.

"Daiyar no…" Rogue couldn't find the will to move as she began uttering the spell, and the only thing he heard was the Exceed cry out in alarm, "Katja, no! Don't!"

"Kangoku!" Katja exclaimed, concluding the spell while he braced himself for the attack.

Nothing happened as Rogue waited to feel some sort of impact, only a sudden glassy sound came from somewhere behind him. He didn't move for a good thirty seconds out of caution, but then turned around slowly to see what had transpired. His eyes widened immensely at what met his vision a few feet away, and it would appear in his dreams for weeks to come.

There was a figure who seemed to be a faceless minion of Tartaros, holding a wicked-looking knife above its head. However, it was completely incased in what closely resembled ice. Upon touching it however, Rogue found that it was not cold in the slightest, but instead was some sort of crystalline structure created by Katja.

'Wait,'he thought, 'Daiyaryuu…' and then reeled at the notion that this woman was a Dragon Slayer, and of Diamond no less. He realized immediately afterwards that she just saved him from being stabbed in the back, by incasing the bastard in diamond. Rogue didn't have time to ponder the matter further, because he was jolted out of his thoughts when he felt an impact on the ground near his feet, and the purple Exceed started to panic.

Rogue turned to see that she was out cold, and bleeding on the ground in front of him. The onyx-haired Dragon Slayer quickly knelt down to survey the damage when he noticed how heavily she was breathing, well, more like wheezing. The scales and the large gem on her forehead had disappeared completely, only leaving scars and fresh wounds on her sickly pale skin. At this point Rogue decided he didn't have the time to waste here, when he should be getting her back to camp where she could get some serious medical attention from Wendy and Porlyusica.

He quickly went and broke the lock on the Exceed's cage, who flew over and pawed at Katja's face while calling her name, in a frantic gesture to see if she would respond. Only, the cat began to cry and hyperventilate when the young woman didn't even so much as twitch. Rogue sighed and went over to calm the Exceed enough in order to help him hoist Katja onto his back, all the while being mindful of her wounds, which continued oozing blood.

Katja was heavy on his back due to the large amount of muscle she possessed, plus her tallness, but he could carry her well enough. The purple Exceed, whom he now knew as Eve, seemed to be in good enough health to fly next to him for the majority of the walk back, which took about an hour. Eve was helpful in ways of keeping an eye on Katja and moving hair out of his face so that he could see, because he lost his hair-tie some time ago during the previous battle. Near the end of their trek, Eve lost the energy to fly, so she spent the last ten minutes clinging to the top of his head.


The three of them made it back to the makeshift camp just as the sun began to set, and Rogue was ready to collapse. Their journey probably wouldn't have taken such a toll on him if he didn't have to consistently climb over piles of debris blocking their path, and it didn't help that Katja was a deadweight while unconscious. Rogue looked around as he trudged further into the grounds, and after a minute, he caught sight of Sting casually flipping his dagger while talking to some female mage he can't remember the name of. Moments later, Sting took notice of them and started walking towards their little group.

"Rogue, where the hell have you been? And who the hell is that?" Sting leaned to the side trying to get a better look at the person on his back. Rogue gave him an annoyed look out of fatigue, "Later, Sting. Where are Porlyusica and Wendy?" Sting shot him an unamused look, but then turned and began shouting obnoxiously.

"PORLYUSICA! WENDY! MY OH-SO-SERIOUS FRIEND NEEDS YOUR HELP OVER HERE! There, happy?" Rogue could feel a vein in his temple pulse and was seriously considering punching the man, but was interrupted when he saw the two healers come out of a tent and start towards him at quite a clip.

Wendy made it to him before Porlyusica by a few moments, but stopped dead when she spotted the purple Exceed who currently occupied the top of his head. Her eyes were larger than normal as she eyed the strangely colored cat, and Rogue started to feel uncomfortable under her gaze. Lucky for him, Porlyusica came to his rescue when she pushed Sting out of the way and accidentally bumped Wendy's shoulder in her haste, knocking Wendy out of her daze.

"Who have you found? Quickly boy! Let me see…" Porlyusica was in complete nurse mode. Nobody who valued their life dared to get in her way while in this state. Rogue turned slightly in order to make Katja visible to the two females, and began removing her from his back while he started informing them of what he knew.

"Her name is Katja," he replied. After he handed the unconscious woman off to Porlyusica and another mage that came to help, he gently pried Eve off his head and held her out to Wendy. "This Exceed seems to be close to the girl, she'll tell you what you need to know." However, when Wendy moved to take Eve, the purple cat hissed in fear. Wendy recoiled a bit, but then gave her a kind smile and calmly coaxed her into her arms.

"It's alright now. Why don't you come with me and we'll get you cleaned up." Eve kept her body stiff for a few moments, but gradually relaxed, and agreed to go with the petite Dragon Slayer.

After they disappeared into the Med station, Rogue walked over to the camp's edge and collapsed onto a log, where he almost immediately started to doze.


Heyyyy... Thanks for reading, I hope you guys enjoyed it. Please drop a review for me, even if you hated it, haha.

Thanks as always!

~ofthehallows~