I'm back and I finally decided to do this!

I don't own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima (arguably the greatest creative genius of all time) does.

OC's like Ester, Crimson, and the dark guild Cursed Fang are mine. OC's Garnet and Ruby belong to TheGreatSakura. Exceeds such as Salberay are canon. You can find the list of Exceeds that actually appear in Fairy Tail on the wiki, which I recommend because many of the Exceeds are only briefly referenced throughout the Edolas Arc.

Set before the Tartarus Arc and after my story, 'Three Little Words'.

Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Top Priority

In the Kingdom of Fiore were hundreds of magical guilds. Of those magical guilds was the legendary Fairy Tail in the town of Magnolia. All was peaceful there. Well…as peaceful as could be.

"Give me back my burrito!" Natsu slugged Gray in the face.

"Give me back my pants!" Gray punched him back. The Fire Dragon Slayer and Ice Make wizard were once again going at it without a care in the world.

"Someone should get them some leashes and muzzles," Happy commented as he munched on a fish, sitting nonchalantly on the bar counter. Sitting next to him was his beloved white beauty, Carla.

"Honestly, those hooligans have no regard for the safety of others, do they?" Carla asked agitatedly as she took a sip of her favorite Darjeeling tea. She felt Happy grasp her arm and smiled. She knew he could be counted on, and she loved him for that. He may have seemed meek and vulnerable, but he never backed down, not even at the death's door.

"Natsu! Gray! Knock it off!" Lucy pleaded, trying to get them to stop. "You know who is going to be peeved!"

"IT'S NOT HER BUSINESS ANYWAY!" the brawling comrades countered in unison.

"Oh? Wrecking our home is none of my business?" the ever-elegant and powerful Erza Scarlet asked, standing behind them with her arms crossed. Frightened, Natsu and Gray tensed up and rigidly turned their heads back towards her. "How about you two knock it off?"

"Y-yes, ma'am!" they both complied.

Lucy let out a sigh of relief. Glancing toward the bar counter where Happy and Carla sat, the blonde came to realize that Carla had come to the guild alone today. She asked the white Exceed, "Say, Carla, where's Wendy? You two are almost never apart."

"She's taking lessons from Miss Porlyusica. Sometimes her stubbornness knows no bounds," Carla answered with a lonely gleam in her eyes.

"Aww! She could have at least walked you here!" Happy protested.

Carla simply shook her head and replied, "I told her not to. We only live up the hill. It's not more than a five minute walk."

"Speaking of walks, I think Crimson and Garnet come back today," Happy recalled.

Crimson and Garnet were two brother Exceeds. Crimson was six. Garnet was twelve. They had been orphaned until a few months prior when they had finally been reunited with their mother, Ruby. Garnet was a wandered who kept to himself until he decided to take a fishing class that Happy just so happened to have volunteered to teach. Crimson was once a member of a dark guild called Cursed Fang, but he left because he fell for Carla and gained a sense of morality along the way.

Happy, along with fellow Exceed Samuel, had gone out of his way to find their mother, Ruby, which wasn't as hard as it could have been. She just so happened to be living in town. It was a beautiful reunion. On top of that, she had been dating the orange Exceed with the southern accent called Salberay and they had recently gotten married out in the country-side.

"Ah, yes. I wonder how the wedding went," Carla mused and sipped more of her tea.

Behind the bar, Juvia was giving Yukino lessons on the art of coffee making so the Celestial wizard could go back to Sabertooth as a better barista. Juvia had discovered an uncanny talent for making coffee several months ago, and her coffee was quite a huge hit.

"Carla-sama, wasn't Crimson-sama a part of Cursed Fang?" Yukino asked, daring to mention the dark guild.

"Yes. I'm so glad he left it. He didn't belong there," Carla answered with a wave of relief in her voice.

"Apparently, neither did their Celestial wizard, Seri. Rumor has it that she left to live on a faraway island and got married. She's even expecting a baby," Yukino informed the wizards nearby.

Lucy was pleasantly shocked. With the rarity of Celestial wizards, it was always a shame to encounter one in a dark guild. "Really?" she asked excitedly. She received a nod from Yukino. "That's awesome! How do you know?"

"The Magic Council retracted her bounty," the silver haired Celestial mage responded matter-of-factly. The barista lessons seemingly gave her a confidence boost. "Not to mention their spy."

"They sent a spy to watch her?" Lucy asked flatly. She understood why such a thing would be deemed necessary. Nonetheless, it seemed like a creepy decision.

"Stay, go, yes, no, I like fish," Happy sang softly. Simultaneously humored and perplexed, Carla shot him a kind glance with her head tilted at a slight angle.

"Lucy, hold me! I'm scared!" Natsu jumped into Lucy's arms and cowered. There were only two things he was truly afraid of: transportation and Erza, both with good reason.

"Natsu, I'm not going to hurt you now that you've ceased making a fool of yourself," Erza sighed. She went behind the bar and got a slice of birthday cake out of the small lacrima-powered refrigerator.

"Whose birthday was it, Erza-sama?" Yukino asked curiously with a delighted sparkle in her eye.

"Someone's," Erza answered with a shrug and proceeded to eat the cake.

"EVERYONE STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING!" Master Makarov erupted into the guild and roared.

"With all due respect, Master, I refuse to waste this cake in such a manner!" Erza called back.

"Whoa, Gramps, what's got you in a hurry?" Gray asked curiously.

"Where are your clothes?" Makarov questioned irritably. "Never mind that. At the meeting I was just at, we discussed an order passed down to all guilds in Fiore directly from the Magic Council."

The whole guild fell silent, waiting for him to continue. The silence was loud, gaining volume from the suspense. When Makarov continued to say nothing, Natsu finally spoke up. "And?"

"We're to take down Cursed Fang as soon as possible," Makarov informed them, a job easier said than done.