Pain. Absolute pain. Terrible, overwhelming pain. Did it hurt so much because the one casting the spell piercing his body was his former master, and the greatest father figure he had known in years, Purehito? Or because he knew that, with himself defeated, there would be nobody who could take on Grimoire Heart's Master Pure— no, Hades. That was the name he had given himself. The name of an underworld God. How fitting for a man who had betrayed his own guild, his family, his nakama, in favor of brute sternght and the key to a collossal magical power.

In all his years, Makarov never dreamed such a situation would happen. He had always dreamed his first encounter with master Purehito would be on his retirement, that he would chase after the old man who had taught him and given him his own position, and be reunited and remember the old days on the guild, and laugh together, brothers, family, mages of Fairy Tail.

Not for a minute would he have conceived the idea that Purehito would change so much as to mutate his name and form a Dark Guild.

And yes, that pained him so. Between that pain and the pain of the piercing magic casted on his chest, Makarov wouldn't have known which one was the one that hurt him the most.

As he fell, his mind already becoming numb with the blood loss and pain, Makarov could see master Hades' face. A smirk of triumph twisted his features into something dark, something sinister. And on that brief glimpse the old man could tell: the man standing before him was no longer his beloved master. Something dark and terrible had taken him over, and if he wished to destroy his guild, Makarov would not put it easy for him.

With a tremendous effort, the guild master tried to draw his mind into a blank. To silence the pain. To silence the sorrow. To silence the crawling of the shinigami coming to lure his soul away.

And in the absolute silence of his mind, Makarov prayed.

It isn't... over yet... reach... the one who will inherit my will...

The rocky desert he wandered on was many things, but hospitable. Even with a couple dozen small plants popping out in the sand every now and then, the place had an aura of misery and loneliness that was hardly comfortable.

The man knew he had to go through this to find himself again. To regain his sense of belonging into his guild. And maybe, just maybe, be accepted by his grandfather as a member of his guild again.

He had never realized it, but he liked the guild's enviroment. Even with the usual ruckus, Natsu challenging him to a battle he had no way of winning every couple of days, and the two Phantom kids, Gajille and Juvia, the guild had a way of making him feel at home he had never experienced nowhere else.

Whom he missed the most where his fellow bodyguards, the raijinshuu. Fried, Evergreen and Bixlow had been the only ones close to him for a long time, always holding his back tho he never felt like he needed them, never issuing a mere 'thanks' to them. And he missed them so much.

The hope of seeing them again was a part of what kept him moving. And moving was he, when something forced his halt.

It was vague. Not a gust of wind, or a spray of heat. This was different. Like something had snuck behind his skin and penetrated deep into his heart – into his magic. Although it wasn't uncomfortable at all... it felt like... and invitation. The young man had no other words for it. Somewhere, at some point, someone was asking him to return.

Turning to the place he had been walking from – the place Fairy Tail was, Laxus couldn't help but shiver and wonder.

What is... this feeling?

"I'm telling you," called Gildartz with a grin "Natsu will be the one to become an S-class magician."

"No way," called Fried, sitting in a barrel with one of his legs crossed over the other. "if you had seen the way Kana and Lucy fought, you wouldn't believe anybody but them had a chance at it."

"That's true!" merrily agreed Boxlow, flashing his tongue before his friend and the older S-class mage. "That drunkie and the cosplayer sure had some heart on the fight!"

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" echoed Bixlow's 'babies', this time in the form of five winged wooden-head dolls.

Gildarts merely chuckled and looked at Tenrou Island, the mushroom-shaped grounds where the S-class advancement test was being held. After letting Natsu pass, he had chosen to return to the guild, along with Fried and Bixlow, who were beaten by Kana and Lucy. So the three of them had rode on the boat and were currently sailing towards the continent of Fiore, back to Fairy Tail.

And then Fried joked, something so weird on the green-haired man both Bixlow and Gildartz broke into laughter.

"Woah Fried! Who woulda known you had some humour in you!" giggled the masked man, immediately followed by an echo of his 'babies' "Don't you think, Gildartz?"

But no reply came the old man's way. Both Fried and Bixlow looked at him, trying to see why he wasn't talking. What they found made them feel a chill all through their bones.

Gildartz was sitting very still on his place, eyes widened, pupils shrunk to a mere dot, veins popping all over his face and neck, his skin so pale it was almost transparent. In all, the strongest mage of Fairy Tail looked... scared.

Gildartz, scared... what in the world could bring him to feel such a thing? Wondere Fried, albeit not too sure he wanted to know the answer.

For the old man, what he felt was, despite what his fellow fairies would think, nothing new. He had experienced plenty of fear growing up, and on his misions as a rookie in fairy tail. Most S-rank missions were frightening too, let alone the SS-rank mission he couldn't fulfill because of the black dragon chewing on his arm, leg and part of his liver. Gildartz was no foreigner to fear.

Yet this feeling... this wasn't normal fear... it was something else... as if a wind had come with the stench of death on it. A call. A call for blood and despair, emitted from the mouth of his beloved ones.

And for this, Gildartz dreaded.

"We go back." Calmly muttered the poorly shaved man. Fried and Bixlow remained in their seats. Then Gildartz turned back, his back twisted into a mask of anger that could barely hide the fear in his features. "HAVEN'T YOU HEARD! WE GO BACK TO TENROU ISLAND! NOW!"

Author's Note: So I've been working on a fic, Miss Titania Contest, a fic where 7 girls from the guild fight each other to see who's the strongest (since we all know Gildartz kicks all the guys' round the globe). It'd also be a multishipping fic, one of the couples being FriedxMira. And this fic came to me first as a flashback from that fic, in which Fried is checking on Mira at Poluchska's place after she survives the explosion (which she WILL, mind you. She will, or I'll go kick Mashima's ass so hard I'll make Gildartz proud). And then the whole story started taking more form and content and this came out. There are probably gonna be 2 more chapters, 3 at the most.

Hope you liked, and that I could keep the guys true to their personalities. See ya next chapter.

Moc2