AN: Well, here's my first story on fanfiction . net. If you're looking for one of those 'action every chapter' stories, then this probably isn't for you, otherwise, I hope you enjoy; I'm certainly enjoying writing it!
Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Kishimoto Masashi and Shonen Jump; Fairy Tail is the property of Mashima Hiro and Shonen Jump. I own nothing and hold no claim to anything originating from either intellectual property.
Second Chances
By GrooveyGuru
Prologue
Joya, Zen ruins, year 473.
Nethil and Lorne Graad stepped softly as they slowly made their way down an ancient stone stairway, the walls so close together there was only enough room for one person to traverse the stairway at any one time.
Holding an ornate oil lamp emblazoned with images of some fantastical city, Nethil, the elder of the two, led the way.
They were explorers, adventurers, and Nethil at least, was an archaeologist. The two brothers had scoured the globe looking for the ruins of civilisations long past, Lorne for the adventure and excitement and Nethil for his insatiable curiosity; finding ancient artefacts of all descriptions and studying them, keeping them safe in museums all over the world.
Reaching the bottom of the staircase, the walls opened up into a large room covered in elaborate images, which despite the thousands of years since any human had last set foot in the place, was still in excellent condition; and in the centre of the room was a small pedestal, its top in the shape of a bowl.
Nethil slowly turned a small knob on his oil lamp and the light slowly got brighter, illuminating the dim room and he got his first look at how truly magnificent the room truly was. In all of his forty seven years Nethil had never seen a chamber in as good a condition as he saw here.
On three separate walls were three different figures, each of them dressed in what looked to be ceremonial attire, each figure standing at the forefront of entirely different scenic backdrops.
As Nethil examined glyphs covering the three walls he suddenly gasped in excitement.
"What is it?" asked Lorne.
"Lorne quickly, come here, come and see this"
Quickly going to his brothers side, Lorne saw that Nethil had his oil lamp raised in the air, lighting a particular part of the wall. Leaning in, Lorne looked at the scene depicted on the wall. It was of a man dressed in long flowing purple robes, arms raised in the air as if in worship of some unseen god, prayer beads clutched in one of his raised hands, the prayer beads were of obvious importance, if the artists rendition of sun rays around the prayer beads was any indication.
The man was surrounded by a peculiar form of architecture, long monolithic columns supporting domed rooves, while all around there were stairways leading to some unknown subterranean structures.
Lorne also saw an arcane script, and while he didn't know what it said, he recognised the characters; both he and his brother had seen it before and if he was right then that made this discovery even greater than they had thought it would be.
"Nethil, this writing, it's from the Zen dynasty isn't it?"
"That's right"
Nethil had told Lorne all about the Zen dynasty. His brother had taught him that The Zen dynasty was both a title of dynastic succession and had also become the name by which historians referred to their civilisation.
From what Lorne had learned from his brother, the Zen dynasty had been a people who had been highly religious, dedicated to their pantheon of astronomical deities. They had also been the most technologically advanced people of their time. The Zen had an odd belief, they believed that they existed for the singular purpose of pursuing greater knowledge, and through them their gods grew and learned, and by this process did the cosmos expand.
Though, something strange seemed to have happened, as two thousand years previously the entire Zen civilisation had simply vanished overnight.
"What does it say?" Lorne asked his brother.
"It is somewhat difficult to decipher, but I'm thinking this place is dedicated to some form of secret order or cult"
"A cult? Which god is it to?" asked Lorne.
"I'm not sure but listen to this 'defenders of the secret and holders of the way, strength through silence, elsewhere be welcome here' this isn't like any passage from any Zen text I've ever seen and amongst the Zen, secrets were as close to a taboo as you could get"
"What does that even mean?"
"I'm not entirely sure, but look at this" Nethil said as he moved to another wall, casting the light from his lamp on its surface.
Following his brother, Lorne saw that this scene was entirely different, it depicted a man standing upon a cliff, resplendent in jewellery and ornaments befitting an individual of exalted status, a clear crystal ball held reverently in his hands.
Once again Lorne saw some ancient script, though, this time it was one he hadn't seen before.
"What does this say?" Lorne asked his brother.
The answer he got surprised Lorne greatly "I don't know, I've never seen it before"
Quickly moving to the other wall, Nethil shone his lamp light on it, motioning for his brother "And this one, too"
Looking at the wall Lorne was struck with a stark realisation of what he was looking at "You haven't seen this one before either, have you"
"No, no I have not"
Nethil moved to the alter in the centre of the room "Lorne, what I'm thinking is that this place is some kind of inter-religion meeting place"
"What makes you say that, Nethil? I think the cult idea sounds more reasonable"
"Three separate languages, three separate men of obvious importance, the focus these images put upon their religious artefacts, their ceremonial attire is completely different from each other. What's more, I'm thinking that this place is the very same city depicted on the wall"
"I don't know, Nethil, it doesn't sound very convincing to me. The Zen dynasty was never known to be very tolerant of other religions"
Reaching into the alter, Nethil pulled something from its embrace, strangely pure and clear water cascading down Nethil's arm. When Lorne saw what it was he immediately understood, they were prayer beads, the very same prayer beads clutched so tightly in worship upon the wall.
Second Chances
Chapter one
A flash of red lit the cloud laden evening sky. Moments later a heavy grinding roar rippled through the sky, the noise of the thunder loud enough to rattle the ground as if there were a small earthquake.
Light from a burnt red sky streamed down onto a decrepit cityscape from between the cracks of thick black clouds that clogged up the evening sky.
This was the sight that greeted Mystogan as he opened his eyes, his head still dizzy from the effects of the spell that had just been used, the cold biting wind blowing against his masked face not helping in the slightest.
Tall buildings were riddled with large cracks, while others had entire sections that had simply fallen off. The streets filled with the debris of a dead city.
"Where have you brought me?" Mystogan said as he stared at a rosary of prayer beads twirled around his hand and wrist. Clinking together innocently as he took them off and deposited them safely into a pocket, zipping it closed.
Mystogan felt an eerie chill go down his spine as he began walking towards the broken city. It wasn't the near perpetual noise of thunder that roared through the skies that looked like they belonged to some infernal realm, nor was it the grim shadows cast upon the ground by burnt and blackened clouds as flashes of lightning forked through the skies and occasionally struck the ground, it wasn't even the apocalyptic sight of a civilisation brought to its end, its corpse still being ravaged by an unforgiving environment that made the Fairy Tail mage feel uneasy.
What truly made him feel uneasy was the silence, he felt the silence like it was a physical force upon him, and the way the unnatural silence lay over the land was like it was being squeezed by the deathly chill of the reapers skeletal hand; the thunder the reapers laughter. But as loud as the thunder was, the silence was louder still.
The sound of gravel crunching underfoot was heard as Mystogan made his way through the streets of the city. If ever he had thought a place to be haunted, this was it. Every window he passed he felt eyes piercing through him, around every corner shadows scurried away just out of sight.
He knew this for what it was, there would be no bodies behind those shadows, no faces would be attached to those eyes – this was a kingdom of ghosts and regret, the very land itself was drenched in fear and anger.
He didn't know what it was – all he knew was, something truly horrible had happened here. There was only two things Mystogan knew of that could generate what he was witnessing: Truly mind numbing fear on a mass scale right before the moment of death, or a mortal wound inflicted upon the planet itself. Lightning flashed overhead, he had a feeling he knew which of the two he was dealing with.
Briefly, Mystogan considered simply turning around and going back home, his mission was for all intents and purposes complete, but there was something else here, something that stayed his feet and it stood out like the burning brightness of the sun amidst this empire of shadows and dust. Somewhere in this city of the dead, something still lived, one person yet remained alive.
Almost automatically, his feet carried him in the direction he could feel this pulse of life coming from. He didn't know how he knew someone was still alive, all he knew was that somehow he knew what this strange feeling meant and it demanded he find the last person left alive.
As he travelled closer to the heart of the city, he wondered what could have possibly caused such a terrible tragedy.
Things like this mass haunting had been witnessed before, albeit on a much smaller scale, the largest previously recorded incident being a small township of five hundred people back when the dark mage Zeref was still terrorizing the world.
This, however, was something else entirely. This city was a literal metropolis most likely containing somewhere close to three million people, all of them dead, all of them afraid, all of them angry. It made him shiver at the thought of what was capable of doing something like this.
Mystogan heard another rumbling in the sky and his brows creased under his mask.
'This sky' he thought to himself 'it is not natural' something snapped under his foot bringing his attention back to the ground beneath him.
Kneeling down, Mystogan cleared away some of the dirt and debris, sighing and then standing back up, he began to survey his surroundings with a critical eye.
All at once he realised what his mistake had been and it made him feel slightly ill at the thought of what he had done. Now that he looked, he could see what should have been plainly obvious to him. Littered all throughout the streets, under the debris of fallen buildings and some simply laying in open sight, covered somewhat by a layer of dirt and rubbish, were bones, skeletons that lay by the thousands, everywhere he looked.
Mystogan tasted bile as he resisted the urge to vomit, there had been no gravel, all this time he had been treading on the bones of the dead like they were all so much dirt.
'Father' Mystogan thought as he looked at the legions of the dead that covered the streets 'is this what you want? Is this what you are willing to reduce Earthland to for more power?'
The Fairy Tail mage steeled himself, he had to move forward, he had to find this person who still yet lived, maybe then he might find some answers.
He had been in the city for an hour and the death he encountered only seemed to get worse the further into the city he got. It was like some fiery god had suddenly plunged its hand down through the skies, sweeping away all life where it stood, setting the sky ablaze as it did so.
He suddenly stopped, he could feel the life force like a shining beacon and it was somewhere close by, somewhere very close.
With deliberate slowness and care, Mystogan began to scan his surroundings, carefully searching every window, every shadow, every rock for the slightest hint of movement.
He knew someone was there and he knew they could see him, he could feel eyes on him like they were claws, digging into his skin and tearing away at his spine.
Mystogan stood there for several minutes scanning and rescanning every surface with his eyes, his ears listening for the slightest shuffle when suddenly something made his breath stop in his lungs.
Wide bloodshot eyes stared out at him from the darkness of a nearby building, not even six feet away from where he stood.
For several moments he wasn't sure what he should do as he stared into the ghoulish eyes that stared back at him from within the darkness. Slowly, trying to be as unthreatening as possible, he slowly turned towards where he knew them to be and slowly started walking towards the figure – emphasizing a gesture of openness and non-hostility. Mystogan got all of about three steps before the figure suddenly ran, vanishing from its spot behind the broken window in an instant, light and very fast footsteps being heard running in the opposite direction.
"Wait!" Mystogan yelled out loudly before heading off in a sprint after the survivor. For the most part he had to follow the survivor by sound and the odd glimpse he caught as the figure seemed to run faster and faster, jumping through shattered windows with the same nimbleness as a cat, screaming down stairways and corridors without the slightest bit of difficulty, all the while completely missing every skeleton, never once did the figure touch a single one of them in its mad dash away from him, while he himself seemed to be much more like a clumsy bull in comparison, still somehow managing to crush the skeletons that lay in his path, barely able to keep up with the fleeing survivor.
The pace the survivor kept was harsh and unforgiving and Mystogan knew he would soon begin to tire and then he would lose the survivor and would have to find them all over again. Reaching behind him and taking hold of one of his many staves, holding it out in front of him he felt the power held within the staff be released and a radiant yellow glow came from a glyph that suddenly appeared under the survivors feet and all of a sudden the survivors movements began to slow and become incoherent as the figure stopped and began to sway, struggling to remain upright. Within moments the struggle was over as the figure fell to the ground in an unceremonious heap. Slowly walking towards the victim of his sleep magic, sweat covered Mystogan's brow and his breathing was heavy, the chase this survivor had led him on had been far more physically taxing on him than he was used to.
Now that he could see the survivor properly, he had to frown. While he hadn't been expecting royal robes, the rags the man was in were pathetic in every sense of the word. Worn and tattered, they were completely covered in filth. The same could be said for the man himself, there wasn't a spot on him that wasn't completely covered in grime and filth, his hair was a tangled and knotted birds nest of straw; it too was grime laden and caked with dirt.
With the adrenalin of the chase now gone, he began to feel how cold this place really was. Taking a good look at his surroundings for the first time, Mystogan noticed a lot of wooden desks laying on the floor in all manner of disarray, grubby sheets of paper covered the floor, and books were littered about the room. The thought came to him 'is this a school?'
Hoping that the former students would not mind too much, Mystogan set about disassembling one of the nearby desks to use as wood for a fire, he also gathered some of the fallen bricks to use as a barrier. Several minutes later with the aid of some of the paper and a small flame lacrima, he had a warm fire going.
As the heat from the fire began to warm him, the thoughts of the mage turned to the man that lay asleep on the floor, he wondered what exactly this poor soul had to endure for him to end up in the pitiable state he was in now, and for a brief moment he began to wonder if he really wanted to know what had happened.
Reaching into his pack Mystogan drew out his water cantine, taking a sip, he noticed that the man was beginning to stir 'strange, he's coming around much faster than I had expected'
The eyes of the figure that lay on the floor of the classroom began to flicker and stir, life began to return to the mans limbs as he gave an unconscious stretch.
Mystogan waited anxiously for the man to awaken, trying once again to present himself in as unthreatening manner as he possibly could, sitting cross legged across from the now awakening survivor.
Moments later, bagged and grimy eyes snapped open and he was once again met with the somewhat haunting and ghoulish gaze from the bloodshot eyes of the man on the floor.
His water cantine still in his hand, he suddenly had an idea, and began moving his cantine towards the man on the floor, quick as lightning the man flinched back, his back soon hard against the wall.
Expecting this, he tipped his cantine to the side slightly, allowing some of the liquid to spill onto his open hand letting the man see it was only water, and just to make sure, he took a sip in front of the man before presenting the cantine to the man again.
Like a coiled snake the survivors hand shot forward and faster than he could react to his water cantine was snatched out of his hand, its contents being downed like the man had never had a drink in his entire life.
Finishing the cantine, the man put it to the side and turned his attention to Mystogan, he could see that the survivors eyes were different now, they were scrutinising him, they were curious and they seemed to be searching for something.
The man reached out his hand and poked Mystogan fairly hard, he did it a second and a third time, each time the mans surprise seemed to grow.
Much to his surprise he heard a voice, quiet and husky from disuse "Y-you're alive"
Merely nodding his head at the deceptively simple question, considering all this person must have been through, maybe the question wasn't so simple.
Once again, Mystogan was caught by surprise as the man started wiping at his eyes, the sound of sniffling soon being heard, he seemed to be... crying.
All of a sudden the man launched himself at Mystogan, latching onto his trouser legs with a vice like grip, burying his face into them, his tears soaking into the fabric.
Mystogan honestly felt a little uncomfortable by the whole display but he knew he needed to be patient if he was going to get any answers.
"I'm sorry" came the voice from the man "I'm so sorry"
Deciding not to respond he simply let the man say what he needed to.
"I couldn't do anything, I'm so sorry"
Mystogan suddenly realised something 'he thinks I'm a survivor, too'
Far from getting answers, the pitiable man very quickly degenerated into a sobbing mess, repeating the words 'I'm sorry' over and over again.
Soon after, the man tired himself out, the encounter being too emotionally exhausting for him. Mystogan had to sigh openly, 'what am I going to do with you' he thought 'I can't just leave you here in this place' he knew there was only one course of action open to him, he could sense it, this world was dying, it was dying a slow and painful death, screaming in agony as it tried with all of its might to hold on for just that little bit longer. Mystogan knew it, the survivor would have to come with him, would have to leave his dying world behind and like him, become a dimensional refugee, he didn't know how he knew what he did, he simply knew that no matter how long he searched, he would never find another living soul, he would only find more cities filled with the dead, reaching into the billions. This was a world with a population of one.
The Fairy Tail mage smiled to himself under his mask, the people of Earthland were good people, especially that one place, they had a natural ability to bring out the best in people and make them forget their worries. If there was anyone anywhere that had the power to breathe life back into a broken spirit, he would find it there, at that place.
Raising himself up off the floor with a grunt, Mystogan carefully grabbed the man and positioned him over his shoulders, lifting the man up in a fireman's lift. The smell was terrible, the first thing this man needed, the mage decided, was a very long shower.
Though, for now, the one thing that was at the forefront of his mind was the hope that the artefact which had brought him here travelled between fixed locations, if not, he knew he was in for a long and smelly walk.
Unzipping and reaching into his pocket with his free hand, Mystogan took hold of the prayer beads that lay within, the beads still strangely warm to the touch. Clutching the beads tightly, he began to concentrate, last time all he needed to do was concentrate on wanting to travel and he ended up in a completely random location, this time there was a clear picture in his mind of where he wanted to be, hoping that the artefact would respond to his wish.
Soon, they were both enveloped in a blinding white light, the light continuing to shine for several moments before it simply faded into nothingness, Mystogan and his fellow refugee gone with the light.
A brilliant flash of white light engulfed the basement and a rather portly man waited impatiently, his manner suddenly becoming excited and anxious the second the room became bathed in a glowing white light. His name was Vugris, Maxwell Vugris, and he had been waiting for the Fairy Tail mage to return from the mission he had assigned to Fairy Tail.
It was a rather simple mission, but potentially very dangerous, with the added danger of a return trip not being a guarantee, thus the need for a mage of Mystogan's calibre. The mission was this, use the artefact that had come into Maxwell's possession, discover where it led to and report back the findings.
The artefact in question, a deceptively simple rosary, had come into his possession twelve years previously, a rather spur of the moment purchase at an auction house for no other reason than the alleged connection between the prayer beads and a secret cult of the Zen dynasty; collecting artefacts for the museum he owned being something of a hobby.
By chance, when a passing mage commented that the prayer beads had a magical aura, Maxwell was immediately interested, the rumours about the artefacts link to the Zen dynasty suddenly having some basis in truth.
Spending an exorbitant amount of money on a team of diviners, the team immediately confirmed that the artefact was magical in nature and very, very old.
It took the diviners seven years, seven long years to determine exactly what the artefact was, and much to their surprise, the artefact was a device created for transportation, where to? They couldn't say, without knowing where it was meant to go, the task was simply too dangerous to give to just anybody.
As luck would have it, there existed a mage guild right in his own back yard so to speak, Fairy Tail, one of the heavy weight guilds of Fiore.
So it was with some confusion, as the light began to fade, Maxwell began to wonder why it was that the mage Mystogan had the filthiest person he had ever seen over his shoulder.
"Mystogan!" Maxwell said with excitement " Tell me, what did you see? Who is that person?"
Mystogan looked flatly at his client, Maxwell Vugris "Under no circumstances is anyone to ever use these" he said while holding out the prayer beads for his client to take.
"Why the devil not, man. What did you see? Who is that person?"
"I saw madness given form, Mr. Vugris"
"What? I don't understand" Maxwell said, confusion plain on his face and in his voice.
"Those" Mystogan said, pointing to the prayer beads "Lead to another world-"
"Another world, fascinating"
"A dying world, and this person is the last remaining child of that world, everyone else was dead"
A horrified look suddenly stole over Maxwell's face "Everyone was dead, you say. Such a terrible tragedy. I know it may sound callous, Mystogan, but I would still like to hear about everything you saw"
"Of course, however, I must see that this person receives care, immediately. I will have a written report for you within the week"
Maxwell nod his head in acknowledgement, feeling somewhat put out but understanding none the less "Oh, of course, well, you know where I live, the big place"
Mystogan murmured a word of thanks as the man left to return to his home "Oh, and Mr. Vugris, it may be best if the other worldly nature of the survivor remain a secret, for his sake, he's been through enough as it is"
"I understand" the normally jovial man said with a solemn look on his face before turning and leaving the small basement he had been waiting in.
Mystogan had honestly not thought about what he was going to do with the man after he had brought him to Earthland, his only concern at the time had been to remove him from that broken hell he had been existing in.
So it was to his relief when several moments after Maxwell had left, a bright and chirpy voice made itself known "Mystogan, you're back"
"Mirajane" Mystogan said in response to the ever bubbly white haired woman, her ever present drinks tray still in hand "Please get the Master for me, and Mirajane, don't tell anyone but the Master that I'm here"
Having been long used to Mystogan's outwardly unfriendly and stoic demeanour for many years, Mirajane was in no way offended by the short and blunt command, instead settling on a happy "Ok"
Making her way up the stairs that led out of the basement and into the main hall, Mirajane was unsurprised to find that the guild was in a state of complete disarray, chairs and tables being thrown left, right, and centre; people being thrown into other people, punches and kicks being exchanged; it was just another wonderful day in the mage guild known as Fairy Tail.
Deftly sidestepping around her rampaging guild mates, easily ducking a stray chair that came her way, Mirajane casually made her way to where she knew the Master usually sat, that being on the bar table.
Not seeing him there, or anywhere for that matter, the white haired woman had to sigh, sometimes the Master was difficult to find, as strange as that may seem.
But then, Mirajane spotted something, or rather, someone she hadn't seen before. "Oh, are you new here?" she asked a blonde woman who stood amidst the chaos that was Fairy Tail wearing an expression that she had seen a thousand times before, a sort of horrified awe that can only be achieved when witnessing Fairy Tail in all of its glory for the first time.
"Mirajane, the real Mirajane!" the blonde girl suddenly exclaimed in excitement, the girl recognising her from one of her many photo shoots in the weekly sorcerer magazine, posing as a model being one of her side jobs.
After a few moments, the blonde girl seemed to come to her senses, before worriedly asking "Shouldn't we stop them"
Mirajane merely smiled at the girl "They're always like this, we should just let them be; Besides - "
Mirajane was suddenly sent crashing to the ground, her brother Elfman having been sent hurtling into her from the rapidly escalating bar brawl "- it's fun, don't you think" she managed to squeak out.
Her brother, Elfman, quickly getting up and jumping back into the brawl, Mirajane picked herself up off the floor and pat down her dress, straightened out her frills, and picked up her drinks tray; though, oddly enough, she didn't pay any attention at all to the mugs that had been sent careering across the floor.
The fight was quickly turning into more than a friendly bar brawl as some of the members began to arm themselves with magic.
Cana, the heaviest drinker in all of Fairy Tail, readying her cards; Loke, the ever flirtatious ladies man, activating his rings; Natsu, the one Mirajane suspected of starting the fight in the first place, coating himself in flames, the young dragon slayer having always been a little too eager to jump into fights.
"Cut it out, you fools!" came a voice from an absolute giant of a man, the man having to duck his head to avoid touching the roof of the admittedly tall building, nobody in the room coming any higher than the mans knees.
At his voice, the entire guild stopped mid swing, a little bit of fear present on their faces.
"Master, there you are" Mirajane said happily.
"Master!" the blonde girl squawked, the girl seemingly unable to comprehend that the monster of a man that stood before her was the Master of Fairy Tail.
The pink haired dragon slayer, Natsu, started laughing "What a bunch of wimps, looks like I win!"
Just as Natsu Started to continue laughing, though, the pink haired youth was suddenly flat on the ground, the giants foot having stomped the boy flat.
The giant then turned its attention to Mirajane and the blonde, staring at the blonde girl for several moments "Hmm, you new here?"
The frightened girl stammered out a quick "Yes!"
Then, much to her amazement, the giant of a man began shrinking; Where once he had been having trouble fitting inside of the guild hall, now, the diminutive man barely reached anyone's knee.
"Yo, nice to meet'ya" The elderly man said to the now thoroughly dumbstruck girl.
Mirajane, watching the girls reaction, smiled with amusement, it was the same every time somebody saw the Master revert to his original form, and watching people's reaction never got old for her.
"Tiny!" the blonde nearly shouted "This is your Master?"
"Yep! This is Makarov, Fairy Tail's Master" Mirajane replied.
The tiny man, Makarov, suddenly tried flipping to the upper floor of the guild hall, only to miss his mark and strike the railing with his back; quickly catching himself before he fell, and pulling himself up onto the railing, immediately striking an authoritative pose, all the while pointedly ignoring his complete failure at what he must have thought was an impressive feat in front of the new person.
"You people have gone and done it again" Makarov began in an annoyed tone "Just look at how much paperwork the council sent me this time, and they're all complaints!" he said while waving a thick stack of papers around to emphasize his point. "All you guys ever do is make the council mad at me"
The assembled guild members had enough shame to look guilty as the Master of Fairy Tail berated them.
"However" Makarov said, a fire entering into his eyes "To hell with the council!" Their Master proving himself to be just as rowdy and rambunctious as the rest of the guild.
Mirajane started to zone out as the Master began to go into a speech she had heard before, what was at the forefront of her mind was Mystogan; she wasn't a former S-class mage for nothing, she had seen what Mystogan had with him, it was obvious to someone that had known the man as long as she had that whatever he had seen on his mission had deeply disturbed him, and if the state of the man he had with him was anything to go by, whatever business he had with the Master must be important.
Normally, Mystogan would simply put everyone in the building to sleep, grab a job, then leave; Granted, this particular job had extenuating circumstances, the client having come to the guild hall; it was still highly unusual for the reclusive mage to want to speak to anyone, the Master or not.
As Makarov's speech came to a close, the guild cheering in unison to his words, as the elderly man jumped down from the second floor railing, Mirajane quickly leaned in to Makarov's ear, using the noise of the guild to help mask her voice "Master, Mystogan is here, he wants to see you"
Touching down on the floor, Makarov instantly assumed a serious posture, playtime seemingly over "Where is he?"
"In the basement"
Makarov nod his head and made towards the basement, Mirajane following quickly behind.
Descending the stairs, Mirajane noticed that Mystogan had taken the time to lay the man down properly, making sure he was as comfortable a possible.
"Master, please lock the door" Mystogan said as he heard Makarov come down the stairs.
Nodding to Mirajane, she quietly shut the door behind her, locking it as she did so.
Looking up to regard Makarov, Mystogan frowned at seeing the white haired former mage "Mirajane, I asked for the Master"
"Oh please, I already know you're here, and I've already seen who you have with you, whatever it is I'll find out sooner or later, better that I know now, I might be able to help"
Mystogan looked to Makarov who nod his head in agreement, causing the masked man to sigh.
"So, m'boy, what's got you so worked up?"
Mystogan seemed to be searching for the right words to begin with "To be honest, I had ulterior motives for accepting this last mission, as soon as I had read the details of the request, I had a feeling about what the rosary may be and where it might send me – I have had some dealings in the past concerning the history of the rosary"
"And, were you right?"
Looking down at the filth covered man, Mystogan let some of his sorrow into his voice "As bad as being right would have been, I wish with everything I am that I was"
"Oh? What were you expecting to find?" Makarov asked.
"This doesn't leave this room, I'm only saying this because I'm left with little choice in the matter" Mystogan said with all seriousness.
Nodding his head solemnly Makarov agreed, the same happening with Mirajane.
"I had been expecting to find myself in a dimension alternate to our own, in a place called Edolas; as it turns out, I was half right"
Suspicion creeped into Makarov's voice, the man already half suspecting what Mystogan was alluding to "That is some very... specific, information"
"It is just as you suspect, Master, Edolas is my home" Mystogan said, removing his mask as he did so, Mirajane seeing her friend's face for the first time.
"You're, Seigrain, from the council!" Mirajane said in shock.
Mystogan shook his head "No, I know of him, but he is not me, I am his counterpart, or rather, he is the 'me' native to this dimension"
Makarov nod his head sagely "I had been expecting a connection between you two, twin brothers perhaps, but this! Hah! Only a Fairy Tail mage could be this interesting, however, I think we're beginning to get off topic"
"You're right. When I arrived to the prayer beads destination, I came to the immediate understanding that it was not Edolas I had been sent to, but to an entirely different dimension altogether. Everyone was dead"
Whatever the two had been expecting, this was most certainly not it. The look of open shock and horror on their faces was all the evidence needed to confirm that fact.
"W-what do you mean, everyone was dead" Mirajane said unsteadily.
"Exactly that, he was all that was left, his very planet was beginning to die"
Makarov steadied himself against a nearby barrel, Mirajane not being quite so lucky, as her legs gave way beneath her.
"It was unnatural, do you understand what I'm trying to say, Master"
"Tell me everything" Makarov said, his eyes narrowing.
"It was as if everyone had died where they stood, terror being their last memory, if the amount of ghosts I saw was anything to go by"
Makarov looked at the man on the floor "Do you think he had something to do with it?"
Mystogan shook his head "When I first saw him, I saw the fear in his eyes, he was afraid of me, he was afraid of everything... whatever he saw, I can guarantee you this, it broke him completely. The worst part is this, something had to have gone out of its way to cause the death of his world, and that rosary is proof that a means to freely travel between the dimensions already exists; how long will it be before whatever caused it discovers Earthland? How long will it be before it discovers Edolas?"
Makarov looked thoughtful for several moments "For now, get him cleaned up, we'll deal with this one step at a time"
"A word of caution" Mystogan began "In all likelihood, he will encounter people who look exactly like people he may have known, how he will react... I can't say, just be careful"
As if in silent agreement to Mystogan's statement, the man that lay peacefully on the floor, began to stir. Like this, he almost seemed an innocent, blissfully unaware of the horrors he had borne witness to.
Kneeling down, Mystogan readied himself for the man's awakening, he'd had a hell of a time getting the survivor to stop running from him as it was, he didn't know how the man would react to seeing Mirajane and the Master, better to be the first person he sees, just in case.
As his eyes began to open, something suddenly struck Mirajane's emotions at their core, maybe it was some maternal instinct, maybe it was just her kind and loving nature, it could have been anything; but seeing such impossibly blue eyes, eyes that were made to smile and laugh, be so lifeless, so dull, so... dead, nothing had struck her quite so hard, not since she had lost Lisanna, her younger sister.
His eyes opened fully and immediately his eyes were searching, surveying the room, confusion was evident in those eyes, he must have been wondering why the scenery had suddenly changed. Mirajane watched as his eyes came towards her and the moment he saw her, she felt her heart break; immediately the man's eyes filled with a fear she couldn't describe, he was crawling and clawing away from her as fast as he possibly could, his reaction to Makarov being just as intense.
The man looked left and right, he even looked up, desperate for a way to escape as his back hit a series of shelves that lay against the far wall.
The situation going just as he had feared, Mystogan did the only thing he could think of, short of putting the man back to sleep or resorting to physically restraining the man "Wait, stop, they're alive, just like me, they're alive!"
The man covered his ears with his hands "No, they're not! Everyone's dead, they're all gone"
"They're alive, I promise you" Mystogan said.
"Don't talk to them, never talk to the dead, we have to get out of here, before it happens again" the man said, a glint of madness shining behind his eyes as they switched back and forth between Mirajane and Makarov.
Before Mystogan could say another word, Mirajane was in front of him, bringing the terrified man into a tight embrace, not caring in the slightest that her favourite red dress was now covered in dirt and smelled as bad as the man did. She was simply no longer able to watch the man struggling like he was some cornered animal "I'm alive, and so is the Master, you're safe here, you're safe"
The shock of the physical contact brought a stunned look to the man's face, not expecting the supposedly dead people to be able to touch him.
The man stopped shivering somewhat, his entire body screaming confusion "You really are alive"
Mirajane smiled serenely "Of course I am, silly. Everyone here is alive, not a single dead person anywhere"
"Now" Mirajane began "Why don't you tell me your name, I can't go around calling you 'man' or 'that person' can I, then we can see about getting you into a nice hot bath"
Seemingly deciding to take a chance that maybe this might be real, a chance that maybe this wasn't just another sick, demented, nightmare; the man, still afraid but willing to hope just a tiny bit, allowed himself to believe for the first time in years "I'm... I was.." he took a steadying breath "My name is Uzumaki Naruto".
Well, that was the first chapter to Second chances. Tell me what you think, was it worthy of the words 'That man deserves a beer' (Tui will do, thanks!) or do you think it was toilet paper material. My spelling or grammar crap? Anyone seem out of character? Let me know.
GrooveyGuru.