Chapter 1: The First Impression
Several years ago, there was a string of vicious murders of guild wizards from the guild called Isosource. It got to the point where the Council stepped in. The prime suspect, a young charm wizard named Chase Lothbrok. He was granted the great honor of being the youngest of the ten wizard saints, which was until he was stripped of all his titles, and a manhunt was started. Chase Lothbrok was now on a hit-list for any high ranking guild wizard, an enormous bounty was set on his head.
Meanwhile, in Magnolia, Fairy Tail's strongest team was busy deciding on what job they should take next.
"Oh come oooon! No way am I even bothering with a stupid missing dog!" moaned Natsu. He slouched down in his seat. Gray, Erza, and Lucy sat around him at one of the tables. All with matching scowls. "Ughh, I wanna fight something!" He groaned, sending a fire ball into the ceiling of the newly remodeled guild hall.
"Shut up Flame Brain! Money's money, so deal with it." Gray said, his scowl deepening.
"Who are you calling Flame Brain?! Huh?" Natsu roared, slamming his hands on the table. Gray followed suit.
"You! You hot headed moron!" Gray shouted. Ice shards and sparks began to fly.
"Enough! You two have caused enough trouble and it is getting old with this fighting! Now, here is a well paying job that we are going to take whether you want to or not, Natsu!" Lucy yelled over top of the noise. From her sudden outburst calmed the two down, but now the whole guild hall was staring at her. A blush settled on her cheeks. "O-okay, now let's just get ready for the job, K?"
A day and a half later, the four (sorry Happy), five teammates came upon a village. Tired and hungry, they made their way to the town centre.
"Whoa, looks like a battle went down here!" exclaimed Happy, as he jumped up onto Lucy's shoulder. It really did; the sides of the buildings and houses were torn up and the bricks were cracked and the windows were smashed. It looked as if Fairy Tail had already come and gone.
"Lucy? Is this the right town? I mean, this doesn't look like Kaleon." Gray said as the group glanced around. A shocked look spread across Lucy's face.
"K-kaleon?" she said. She held out the map. "O-oh, um, I thought we were going to Halean!"
"Lucy!" The whole group shouted. Lucy wanted to shrink down and become a grain of dirt the lay on the path behind them.
"Dammit Luce! That H is supposed to be a K, and it's not a, it's an o!" Natsu shouted pointing to the original job poster; groans and some certain choice words began sailing through the air.
"I'm so sorry guys! Oh, I really messed up." Lucy said over the shouts, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Shh, do you hear that?" Erza said, gazing around. A whimpering sort of sound was heard in the near silence of the empty town.
"Huh, what is that?" Lucy asked. They five wondered around, trying to pin-point the whereabouts of the sound. Suddenly, Erza stepped on something. She bent down to pick it up. A ring? That's odd, hey, there's another. She walked over and picked up another ring. How peculiar? Both rings had an engraving on the brightly coloured jewel on the ring. Where have I seen this symbol before?
"Hey there are rings all over this place, make sure to grab them." Erza instructed as she re-quipped her sword. "Keep your guard up, I believe someone is here." I knew I've seen this symbol before! It's that murderous Chase Lothbrok!
"Erza? I-I think I found that 'someone'" Lucy said. Her teammates came to her side. There, in front of them, lay a teen boy. His shirt was in shreds, and cuts and gouges covered his skin. He lay unconscious against a half demolished fountain. Articles of clothing lay scattered around him; emblems of a wizard guild covered them. The boy's crimson coloured eyes fluttered open.
(Chase's POV)
My eyes opened, pain split along my side. Such a delightful wake up call, I thought to myself. Something wet and warm slid down from my nose onto my lip and into my mouth; blood.I was too exhausted to wipe it away, so I let it pour into my mouth. With the pitiful amount of strength I had left, I examined my wounds. I had used every ounce of my magic energy over the past week. Countless attacks from the strongest wizards left me weakened and injured; although, my head is yet to be on a stick. Something wasn't right. Something felt weird. Wait! My rings, no no no no, it can't be! I patted around my pockets searching for my pouch of charmed rings I kept attached to my pants. Gone!
"Rise you foul being!" a females voice broke through my panicked thoughts. I looked up to see four people standing over me. The one who spoke was a beautiful young woman with long red hair, clad in armor; she held a broadsword to my neck.
"I said rise!" her voice was filled with fury. Panic acted as my strength as I quickly hobbled to my feet.
(Team Natsu POV)
The young boy rose to his feet, wobbling at first. He looked as if he had taken a serious beating.
"Erza, why are you doing this?" Lucy asked; she looked to Gray and Natsu for answers. They looked just as puzzled.
"This disgrace of a wizard is Chase Lothbrok. He is a murderous monster! Do you guys remember Gramps calling us S-class wizards for a private meeting? Well, he was the subject matter! There's a bounty for his head. He killed eight guild members from his own guild, then went on to kill two of the council members that tried to help him!" Erza said, holding her sword inches for his throat. His crimson eyes darted around.
"Yeah! I remember hearing about that!" Natsu exclaimed, sparks flying around his fists as they ignited. "If anyone's gonna kill this monster, it's gonna be me!"
"Oh shut up stupid, you aren't going to kill anything!" Gray shouted.
"And why not?" The fire wizard retorted, another useless fight was about to go down. Fire and ice went flying yet again in the background, but Erza stood her ground.
"I just want to know one thing from you, you bastard. Why did you do it?" Erza asked. She stared him in the eye. He didn't say a word, which angered Erza more. "Answer me you monster!" she shrieked. Her outburst made her sword nick Chase's neck; dark red blood trickled out.
"I didn't kill them." Chase said, his voice was hoarse and low. All four stared at him in shock.
"What?" Erza was taken aback, eyes wide in shock.
"I said I never killed anyone! I was framed," a dark expression was cast over his face, "now, I know you don't believe me, nor should you, I have no proof. No one helped me; they all tried to kill me. I don't know why. And, I am very sorry for this but..." suddenly he lunged past Erza, a blinding light flooded over her. She fell to her knees, Lucy, Natsu, and Gray ran to her aid.
"I'm sorry, I just borrowed some magic energy, please forgive me. You will be fine soon." Chase said as a black and purple smoke appeared around him, and he disappeared.
"Omigod! Erza, are you okay?" Lucy cried; she and Gray helped her up. Natsu stood dumbfounded, as he stared at the ground.
"Yes, I am fine now." Erza glanced around, a scowl formed on her face, "He took the rings back!" She strode past them, kicking pieces of rumble on her way.
"Where are you going? Shouldn't we go after him?" Gray called after her, but she kept walking.
"I am going to set up camp in the forest. Feel free to go on a wild goose chase if you must, but your efforts will fail. So my suggestion is to come with me." She replied, her voice wavering with anger.