Chapter 1

Makarov Dreyar was very small for his age. He stood at a height that made a child look tall, and he was very old. Eighty eight years of age to be exact. He was a very friendly person who viewed all the members of the guild he was in as his family. He was also the Third Guild Master of that same guild, Fairy Tail, and he was proud of it. He was currently dressed in less formal clothes than he would normally, simply wearing black trousers along with a white shirt with a red vest over it. A high collared cape was over the attire with the mark of Fairy Tail present on the back of it.

Right now though, the man was simply furious. There was no other way to describe his anger. The only way to understand why though was to look back on what was happening. Because it all revolved around one man currently. His grandson.

Fairy Tail was found in the city of Magnolia. With a population of over sixty thousand, it was a busy place. At this time of the year though, there were thousands more. People from all over had come to Magnolia for one purpose. They wanted to see the Fantasia Parade.

It was a annual event held by the guild, a chance to show off with their magic in more creative ways or even just to have some fun. Makarov himself was part of the latter group as his main Magic wasn't the type to be creative compared to other Mages.

The moment he heard that his grandson Laxus was back in town, he felt like something was wrong. Was it premonition? Was it simply his mind exaggerating his grandson's actions recently? All that he was certain of was that something was off, that danger was close by. But Laxus was his grandson so he repressed that feeling, a hint of guilt seeping into his thoughts at doubting Laxus. The boy had been distant lately and his attitude left something to be desired but he was still a member of Fairy Tail and he shouldn't doubt family.

Time passed and he heard of an incident with Laxus and one of their new members, Gajeel Redfox. It wasn't too unexpected knowing how Laxus thought. Gajeel had attacked Fairy Tail when he was a member of Phantom Lord and most of the guild had been hostile to him when he joined. Laxus just took it a bit too far, that's all. He certainly didn't want to believe the rumours that Gajeel had jumped in front of an attack meant for Levy, purely because that meant that his grandson would have meant to attack a fellow guild member.

So once again, he repressed his doubts and focused on the upcoming parade. They always liked to outdo the previous year and they had a few new members who could put on quite a show. Gray and Juvia could be a good pair together for one of the floats.

The Miss Fairy Tail Contest happened then, something akin to an opening for the festival later on. A lot of the female members had joined. First was the local drunk of the guild, Cana Alberona, the Card Magic Mage. She was one of the first members of the newer generation and was fairly skilled. She had been put up for S-Class multiple times though she hadn't made it yet. She was close though.

After her was Juvia Lockser, a former S-Class Mage of Phantom Lord before it was disbanded. She was known for her use of Water Magic though he himself wondered if there was more to it. She could make her body into a form that was completely made of water and that wasn't something a normal Water Mage could do.

Mirajane Strauss was next. She used to be known simply as 'The Demon' due to her Take Over Magic being used to control the power of a variety of Demons. She was an S-Class Mage but due to the incident with her sister… well it wasn't good to think about. Mirajane hadn't been the same since she returned. Sure, she was nice and friendly now, but she had lost that something that had made her Mirajane. She lost her will.

Next was one of the guild's strongest, Erza Scarlet. She was one of the five current S-Class Mages of the guild, the others being Laxus, Mystogan, Gildarts Clive, and - Makarov winced as he thought about him- Tristan Saelma. She was incredible strong. Natsu and Gray fought each other all the time yet her mere presence sent them cowering and acting like they were the best of pals. She even scared him sometimes.

Her little performance involved using some manipulation of her own Magic, Requip. Sure, any Requip Mage could do such a thing but everyone there knew hers was superior to any other. The speed she could use it at along with being able to requip both weapons and armour at the same time, even while fighting, made her well known. Titania, the Queen of the Fairies.

He had snapped out of his thoughts with the appearance of the one of their quieter members, Levy McGarden, a member of Team Shadow Gear along with Jet and Droy. It always surprised Makarov how oblivious Levy was to her teammates obvious affection for her. She made a short show using her Solid Script Magic before disappearing once again.

Another Requip Mage appeared next, only she used Gun Magic instead of Sword Magic. Bisca Mulan was a great shot with a rifle and managed to shot through all four coins she threw up with one hit. He could even hear the sound of Alzack over the crowds, cheering for her. It always made for a funny joke on how everyone knew they liked each other but neither knew that their feelings were mutual.

Lastly was one of their newer members, a girl called Lucy Heartfilia. While her Magic was widely heard of, it was rare for someone to pick it up due to the strongest abilities being restricted. She was a Celestial Spirit Mage after all and there were only twelve Golden Zodiac Keys. She was lucky enough to have six of them in total. It made you wonder what could happen if you managed to possess them all.

And that's when everything went wrong. Every one of the girls that were competing had been turned to stone. And it was her doing. Evergreen. She was known for her Secondary Magic being able to turn her enemies to stone, and for some reason she had decided to use it on her own guild mates.

Over to the side Freed Justine and Bickslow had appeared, sitting above them all. He didn't even know when they suddenly arrived, but he knew that something was up. Together, they were known as the Thunder God Tribe, Laxus's personal bodyguards.

And then Laxus had made his appearance. There three were acting under his orders and he declared that the battle of Fairy Tail was beginning. If they didn't comply, the frozen girls would die.

Every member of the guild got the message. They ran for the exit and began to scour the city, searching for the Thunder God Tribe and Laxus himself, determined to defeat them.

They should have all split up and not worked together. Freed had prepared the battlefield perfectly for them and the guild continued to get caught in trap after trap, where guild members were forced to fight amongst themselves to proceed. He could feel his heart breaking from the damage his grandson was causing among his guild.

Then Laxus showed his hand. He wanted to be the Guild Master of Fairy Tail, and was determined to do anything to get it.

He would have gone out to stop him if it wasn't for the runes blocking the exit for anyone over eighty or if they were stone statue.

The Guild Master sighed as he looked up towards the runes by the door. "Only two people are left."

"Why the hell can't you get out, huh? Stop copying me!"

"Like hell I know, Salamander. I'm not doing anything here."

Makarov frowned as he looked towards the two voices arguing. One was Gajeel, the Iron Dragon Slayer. The other was Natsu Dragneel, the Fire Dragon Slayer, also known as Salamander. The two were an odd pair but they were definitely some of the guild's strongest members. Dragon Slayer Magic was very destructive due to its immense power, and it was rare to find users of it as only Dragons could teach Humans the Magic.

Makarov turned his gaze back to the runes. "Two, left huh?" he muttered, eyes suddenly widening as he turned back to the two Dragon Slayers. "Don't tell me you two are the only ones left!" he shouted frantically.

"Why don't I count?!" shouted Happy, a blue, talking cat that used magic to fly.

Makarov could feel the despair closing in as he began to pace around the guild hall. His entire guild, his entire family, had been defeated, by each other and by the Thunder God Tribe. Natsu and Gajeel were both trapped within the guild hall by the runes, for reasons none of the three knew. There was no one left to battle, and he wasn't allowed to leave the guild hall either, due to the age restriction Freed had placed on the rune barrier. Was this the end of Fairy Tail?

"No choice then," Makarov spun around to see Natsu walking towards the statues. "I'll have to revive Erza. And here I was looking forward to fighting her..."

"WHAAAAAT?!"

Makarov tried to calm himself down. "J-just wait a second, Natsu. What are you talking about?"

"Ummm isn't obvious? If I burn the stone, it will melt, right?" Natsu replied, staring at Makarov like he was stupid.

"ARE YOU AN IDIOT?! DON'T DO IT!" Makarov screamed at the pinkette.

"We won't know until we try, right?" Natsu asked as he placed his hands above Erza's statue and activated his magic, causing them to burst into flames.

"Yes, we do! Are you trying to kill her?"

"Broil her nice and good!" Natsu cackled insanely, lowering his hands...

The argument halted at the sound of a sudden crack. They took one look at Erza's statute, where a crack had appeared, and went into full blown panic mode.

"CRAP! She cracked!" Natsu cried desperately. "Happy, get glue!"

"Aye sir!"

"You idiot! Do you think that will actually work?" Natsu turned to look at Gajeel, who had turned his right arm into iron. "Melt down my iron and we'll weld her back together!"

"You're both idiots!" Makarov roared.

The cracks kept appearing, and Natsu got and his knees and bowed to the statue repeatedly, shouting "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

There was a final crack, and the statue shattered. Instead of seeing a million rock pieces, however, they saw Erza, perfectly fine.

Erza took one look around the room before glaring menacingly at Natsu. "I feel hot...is this your doing, Natsu?"

The requip mage stood slowly, dusting off a few specks of stone before she brought her fist back and smashed the two dragon slayers into into a nearby wall.

"Erza!" Happy cheered, flying in circles around her ecstatically.

"Erza," the redhead looked down at the guild master when he called her name. "How...?"

"I...don't know," Erza admitted. "Perhaps it was my right eye?"

Makarov nodded in understanding. It was entirely possible. The Magic of Stone Eyes worked by making eye contact, as many types of Eye Magic did. Erza had only one real eye, however, the other having been destroyed before she arrived at Fairy Tail. The artificial eye Porlyusica had made for her must have cut the power of Evergreen's magic in half, since it only affected her left eye.

"Do you know what is going on?" asked Happy.

"Yeah. I heard everything."

A smile grew on Makarov's face. They had a chance now. Erza was free and with her, they could strike back. She could freely exit the runes now and take on the Thunder God Tribe.

"These runes really are impressive." Makarov turned towards what Erza was referring to as she walked towards the door of the guild. "They realised I can fight and so added me to the roster. So with three people, I assume that is me, Natsu, and Gajeel."

Before anyone could say anything, the runes changed again, the number increasing to four.

"It went up…" muttered Gajeel.

Natsu spun round the room furiously, looking for the culprit. "Who?"

Makarov was doing a similar thing. "All the girls are still frozen."

Erza though smiled as she realised what had happened. "It looks like another player has decided to take part in this little battle of ours."

The Guild Master looked up at the runes before he realised what Erza was implying. Gildarts was still away on a mission, and Tristan was...out of the question, he wasn't coming back yet. Erza was here and Laxus was an enemy. That left one man. Mystogan.

Far away in the center of Magnolia stood a large cathedral, known as Kardia Cathedral, and was the current headquarters for Laxus while the guild fought amongst themselves. He was currently waiting, letting what he referred to as the trash get wiped out until only the strongest remained.

Right now though, he was bored. The numbers had dwindled down too much. No one was left except for Natsu and Gajeel. He couldn't believe the nerve of Gramps, letting in that Phantom Lord trash. Disgusting.

He had hoped at least one of the Thunder God Tribe would have lost. Maybe then, they could have proved to him that the guild was strong. Elfman and Gray had seemed promising, but in the end, they had failed. Sure, they put up a better fight than most of the others, yet they still lost in the end.

His only other source of amusement had been watching Alzack's progress. He took down member after member when they were caught as he searched relentlessly for them. He failed when he reached Freed though. Shame in a way. The Gun Mage had a lot potential with that much dedication.

He had recently made his little announcement to his grandfather, demanding the title of Guild Master be passed over to him. With it, he would remake Fairy Tail. He would make it stronger.

An alert on the runes nearby caught his attention. He turned to it and smiled in anticipation. Erza and Mystogan were both into the tournament now. Disregarding Gildarts and Tristan, who both weren't coming back, that was almost all of Fairy Tail's strongest members. Mirajane was out of action even if she recovered. She didn't have that edge she had as 'The Demon' and even if she recovered it, she wouldn't be effective after so long of inactivity. There was those Dragon Slayers to consider as well but they weren't worth his time. They had potential, he couldn't deny that, but it wasn't complete yet. They would have a long way to go to force him to get serious against them.

"This is just like what a festival should be." No one heard his soft mutterings but no one needed to. He chuckled as he tried to imagine who would reach him first. Would Erza find him or would she get caught up with someone and allow Mystogan to have first shot. He knew the man's little secret however so he could always use that to unbalance him. And Erza if she was there with him.

"Just a bit longer. I'll create the perfect guild. I'll change Fairy Tail, and make it truly strong!"

Makarov could do nothing but pace. He didn't know what to do while he waited. Erza had gone out and not long after, the runes had show that a fight had begun. Erza was fighting Evergreen. It was the Queen of the Fairies against a user of Fairy Magic.

Had Evergreen grown stronger than last time he had seen her? It had been quite a long time and if the Stone Eyes were anything to go by, she was tougher than before. Last time, the eyes' effect didn't last as long as it did when held on too many people. She must have worked hard to increase the limit. It made him proud-

He cut of that line of thought quickly. She was an enemy right now. He couldn't be proud of her improvements despite her still being a member of Fairy Tail. Right now, they had the girls still frozen to worry about. They were still hostages under her will.

The cracking of stone caught their attention causing all the occupants not turned to stone in the room to turn towards the sound. One by one, the girls unfroze, returning to their normal selves.

"What's going on?" asked Lucy.

Juvia looked just as confused. "What happened to Juvia?"

"Ah!" Everyone turned towards Natsu. "You're all back."

Happy crashed into Lucy. "Lucy! You're okay!"

Makarov looked towards the runes in pride. Erza did it. She defeated Evergreen and, with her loss, the girls had been released from the spell. The question waiting now was what would Laxus do now? He wouldn't give up after going so far. His hostages were gone though, so would that make him more desperate. That wouldn't be good if it did.

He noticed Natsu was currently filling the girls in on what was happening.

"Laxus pulled something like that?" Makarov approached just in time to hear Levy's horrified question.

"It doesn't matter anymore," he said. "It's all over. None of you are petrified anymore, so Laxus has no hostages left. This ridiculous game of his is over."

"But Master…" Makarov turned towards Mirajane, her face looking down at the ground in sadness. "What about everyone who was caught in Freed's traps. Some of them would have gotten seriously hurt."

"That's right," joined in Bisca. "Laxus needs to be punished. He's gone too far."

Makarov couldn't help but agree with them all. "Don't worry about him. I'll be talking to him about what he had done later. I can't understand why he has gone so far as he has."

"Hold it!" a certain pinkette's voice demanded

Everyone turned to him, Natsu holding up one of his hands to reinforce the effect he was going for. He waited until they were all focused on him before he crossed his arms and continued.

"I know all you think what Laxus did was wrong, and I have to admit the way he did it wasn't right, but is there anything wrong with finding out who is the strongest in Fairy Tail is there? So just don't be too hard on the guy will you."

Makarov couldn't help but look at the pink haired Mage in front of him in amazement and shock. Natsu was simply something else. To him, everyone had that speck of light in them, that piece that made them good.

"Now let's start the Second Battle of Fairy Tail!" Natsu exclaimed suddenly. "Let's begin!"

"WHAT?!" The entire guild left in the building roared, perfectly in sync.

"Come on, I haven't fought anyone yet! Bring it on!" the son of Igneel cried, punching the air.

Lucy just shook her head at Natsu's antics. "Please stop. Coming from you, it's hard to tell if you're joking or not."

Cana took a swing from one of the bottles at the bar before smiling towards Natsu. "If you really want to go, then bring it on. I'll take you down."

"Don't encourage him Cana," said Bisca.

Makarov sighed in relief before he stopped something odd happening with the runes. Levy had noticed it too and pointed it out to the others. The runes all gathered towards the centre of the room before they formed a giant skull of runes. Then Laxus's voice spoke.

"Can you hear me Gramps? What about the rest of you in the Guild?"

"What do you want?" Natsu demanded. Laxus carried on, ignoring Natsu's demand.

"It seems one of the rules will no longer work. You'll all need a new incentive to keep playing. So to make things more fun, I've activated the Thunder Palace."

Makarov felt his entire body freeze in fear. "The Thunder Palace! You can't be serious!"

"One one hour and ten minutes left Fairy Tail. Can you win? Or will you hand over Fairy Tail to me? Choose well."

The runes scatter back to their original places, Makarov shaking in anger.

"What are you thinking Laxus! Are you planning to drag innocents into this?"

Pain filled his body as his hands grasped his chest. It happened in slow motion to everyone as their Guild Master fell to the ground, clutching his chest at where his heart was.

"Jii-chan!"

Mirajane rushed over to him. "This is bad, he needs his medicine!"

"What's Thunder Palace, Jii-chan? Jii-chan?!"

Makarov couldn't answer no matter how much he wanted to. He was simply in too much pain.

"Up here," called Bisca from the stairs.

Natsu got his answer soon enough though. While Mirajane took the Master to the infirmary, he and the others had gone to the roof. They could see what Bisca had spotted there. All around the town were positioned were Lacrima Orbs filled to the brim with Lightning Magic. They understood what Laxus planned to do now. When time ran out, the Lacrima would release the energy stored within them in the form of Thunder, pouring down towards the town. The city of Magnolia was now his hostage, and they would never be able to evacuate in time, especially if Freed had edited his runes to stop the Civilians from escaping.

Bisca found out the protection they had soon enough as well. She had fired a shot at one of them and destroyed it easily. Then she was hit by the same amount of damage she had inflicted. The Lacrima had been protected by Organic Link Magic.

Natsu was completely furious. He was repeatedly slamming himself against the wall, trying to break free and putting as much power as he could into breaking through. He could swear he could hear Laxus laughing at them and the situation he had put them in.

"Natsu!" Levy said. "Stop!"

"Like hell I will! Damn it, why can't I get through?!"

"Please, stop!" Levy cried. "I can get you out of here!" Natsu immediately stopped to look at her.

"Freed's Magic is a type of Letter Magic," she explained slowly, making sure everyone was following her. "The runes surrounding the guild and the city are a style known as Jutsu Shiki. They can take a while to set up but they have absolute rules. They are almost impossible to break out of but their weakness is that they can be edited."

Levy looked towards the rune barrier surrounding the guild. "All of you go on ahead. I'll stay back here with Natsu and Gajeel and work out a way to free them. It will take a while but I can free them if I deconstruct the rune formula. Leave it to me!"

"Can you really do it Shrimp?" Gajeel wasn't completely convinced but she seemed confident. She might be able to do what she said.

"Of course! I'll have you two free in no time."

Lucy vs Bickslow. Winner: Lucy

"NO WAY!" Gajeel shouted, gazing at the runes in shock.

"Yeah! Go Lucy! She beat Bickslow!" Natsu laughed happily.

"That cheerleader can fight?!" Gajeel yelped.

"I GOT IT!" Levy's sudden shout distracted the two dragon slayers from the runes as Levy quickly leapt to her feet and raced to the runes, beginning to rewrite them. "Get ready guys, because when I'm finished, you two will be joining the Battle of Fairy Tail."

"Alright! I'm all fired up!" Natsu shouted.

It took Levy only two more minutes to remove the barrier. "Now listen, you two!" the bluenette said, making sure the dragon slayers were paying attention. "If you get caught in any of Freed's rune traps, this was all for nothing, so you have to split up. Find Laxus, and beat him!"

"You got it, Levy!" Natsu said, racing out of the building, Gajeel hot on his heels.

At the edge of Magnolia, a hooded figure was gazing at the runes situated around the edge of town.

"Runes...are these...Freed's? Battle of Fairy Tail? What's going on here?" he muttered, his hand instinctively reaching for a sheathed sword on his back, the silver Fairy Tail mark on the back of his hand catching the sunlight.

He slowly stepped through the barrier, watching as the number of participants went up by one. Throughout Magnolia, Fairy Tail members would stop and stare at the nearest rune "scoreboard," wondering who this new competitor was.

"The Thunder Palace too?" the figure muttered, gazing at the lacrima, a sudden gust of wind blowing down his hood to reveal a young man in his late teens with tousled brown hair and grey eyes.

"You have a lot to answer for...Laxus," the man said, slowly making his way into the city.