Chapter 1: A Man Among the Rubble
The Fairy Tail Guild Hall:
Master Makarov's eyes were unyielding. It was clear that he'd made a decision—and only an idiot would challenge it. Luckily, Fairy Tail was known for being full of idiots.
"But Master, the Magic Council is already there. I don't understand why we have to go clean up the mess!"
The speaker was a young woman with cream colored hair and pink eyes. She slammed her palms down on the counter in front of the master. Makarov didn't even flinch, he sat still and serious, arms folded and legs crossed.
"It's simple, Dreamer," Makarov said calmly. "Fairy Tail already has a bad reputation with the Magic Council, and after this ordeal with Oracion Seis, it's more important than ever to make a good impression."
"But it's redundant!" The girl cried out in frustration. "Does it really make sense to send a team that far just to clean up Nirvana's wreckage? It's not like the local townspeople and Magic Council aren't already working on it. And you just want to send us so that we'll look responsible to the Council? They'll be long gone before we even get there, so they won't even see this 'good deed' thing!"
"That's enough, Dreamer," Makarov said darkly. "I'm sending your team to the site of the battle with Oracion Seis."
This girl is Dreamer Cumula, a member of Team Derelict Heart—one of the many teams of wizards in the Fairy Tail guild. The other two members of her team are on her left and right, Jezran (fondly referred to as 'Pops,') and Piper.
A hand rested on Dreamer's shoulder. "Drop it, Dreamy." Piper looked at her through understanding but firm green eyes. He was a built man with sky blue hair that covered only half of a shaved head. "It ain't that bad—just busy work. Sides, me and Pops'll be with ya."
Dreamer chewed her lip, still not willing to back down. "But Master, I had plans with Syllestra—"
"Mirajane will take care of that," he cut her off. His eyes dared her to try something else. He was prepared for every way she might try to weasel out of this.
Piper's hands tightened on her shoulder, both comforting and warning. Dreamer groaned. "…Why us?" Tasks like this were usually left to new guild recruits or even hired help. It wasn't like the master to send a valuable combat team to go put buildings back together.
A black shadow crossed Makarov's face. "You know exactly why, Dreamer. Had you agreed to join the coalition and go with Natsu and the others to fight the Oracion Seis, then such needless destruction and pain might have been avoided. Now, as punishment for your inaction, you will clean up the wreckage."
Dreamer blinked in disbelief. "M-master, you know I couldn't…"
"Enough of your excuses! Freed, are you ready?"
Freed Justine stood up from a nearby table at once and joined them. He bowed politely to Makarov and the others. "Yes, Master."
"Oh dear me, what does young Freed have to do with this, dear me?" Jezran, a dapper old man with a handlebar mustache, raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Freed is going to teleport you there, to save on time," Makarov said, finally relaxing slightly.
"He can do that?!"
"I will do my best."
"Master, if he uses a rule to transport us there, we won't be able to get back!"
Makarov smiled innocently. "You're an intelligent girl, I'm sure you'll figure something out. Besides, Natsu and the others haven't left yet. Maybe you'll be able to catch a ride with them."
"You're tormenting me on purpose!" Dreamer dramatically slammed her head on the counter.
"Dear me, dear me," Jezran and Piper stroked her back while Freed finished writing the code he'd been working on.
"Any wizard located within this area will be transported safely to these coordinates in the Worth Woodsea," Freed recited.
"Wait, Master, I haven't even packed or—"
"Bye, bye!" Makarov chuckled.
"Rule activation starts… Now."
The wizards inside of Freed's coded cube flashed and began to flicker out of sight. Dreamer vanished completely. Jezran and Piper flashed for a moment longer before their bodies re-solidified. The walls of the rule box disappeared and the two men were left blinking in confusion. Freed lowered his head with a cloud of gloom hanging over him.
"I am truly sorry, Master. It is as I feared. I only have enough magic energy to teleport one wizard at a time."
Makarov leaned back and shrugged, a mischievous smile on his face. "Oh well."
Piper and Jezran exchanged a look and sighed. It looked like Dreamer was on her own.
Near the Wreckage of Nirvana; In the Worth Woodsea:
Dreamer gasped for air as she was deposited roughly on a pile of rocks. One thing was for sure, she would never be traveling by Freed teleportation again. She righted herself and sat on a nearby rock to wait for Jezran and Piper. They shouldn't be too far behind.
Five minutes went by. Then ten. Fifteen.
She groaned and looked up at the star-scattered sky. "I get it, Master. I hope you're happy." She finally stood up and dusted off her leggings. She supposed she should find the nearby town so she wouldn't have to sleep in the woods. Maybe she'd be lucky and run into Erza, Natsu and the others and she could just ditch this dumb task and go home with them.
She started walking, trusting her instincts to guide her toward civilization.
"Why is he punishing me?" She muttered while she walked. Was he really that upset that she turned down his request to join Natsu's team in the coalition? It wasn't all her fault. Jezran and Piper weren't too keen on going with them either. What did Derelict Heart have to do with the Oracion Seis? And what could they have really done to help, anyway? They weren't one of the strongest teams in Fairy Tail. They were average, definitely not the type of team that could be expected to hold their own with Erza Scarlet's group. Beyond that, Dreamer wasn't a fighter. She would have been utterly useless in a huge battle like that. Choosing not to join the battle wasn't an act of cowardice, it was an obvious choice. They would have just gotten in the way.
She looked around her and noticed that all the trees here were completely crushed and swept to the side. One of the effects of the recent battle, most likely. She scoffed. Makarov really expected her to face off with people that could destroy miles of forest in one swipe?
She scaled rubble and destruction for what felt like hours. She worked her way through stone and metal, dirt and trees, as the moon rose in the sky. It had already been twenty-four hours since the destruction of Nirvana. If Natsu's team was in Clover town, they'd probably be leaving first thing in the morning. She needed to hurry. Good thing Makarov didn't give her any direction at all before tossing her here—not.
"Ugh, I can't keep this up." She sat on a stone to rest after climbing a mountain of debris. If this kept up, she'd have to sleep in the forest—and usually scavengers liked to come to recently destroyed places like this, hoping for a quick nab of valuables that had been forgotten in the battle. One might think that the danger would be over once the battle ended, but that was almost never the case. Often, enemies would come to gather their fallen—shady types would scour the battlefield. Dreamer would have no chance if another wizard decided to come tromping through here with ill intent.
She stood up and looked over the forest. It might have been her imagination, but she thought she could see lights flickering in the distance. It had to be the town.
Mind made, she hopped off the rock and started in that direction. She stumbled on scattered stones and fell, scraping her knees and elbows on jagged rock. "I hate this…" She grumbled and leaned to stand back up, but not before something caught her eye. The moonlight had caught on a shimmering object, drawing her eyes to glinting metal.
Curious, she crawled over debris toward the reflection. It looked like… An earring? She picked it up and examined it. A silver skull? "That's not creepy at all…"
She stood again. If someone's earring was here, could that mean that the owner was still around somewhere? She highly doubted it. By now, anyone who'd been involved in the battle would be dead, captured by the Council, or long gone. But still, it was technically her job to clean up the battlefield, and checking for survivors was one part of that.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" she called out. Her voice returned to her after bouncing off of fallen building walls. She began to move debris around, searching the immediate area. "I'm here to help! If you're here, speak up!" Again, there was no response. She wasn't surprised.
After about a half hour of searching, her back straightened with a pop. She stood up and sighed. She'd wasted enough time. She was ready to go toward the town lights. Her feet resumed their previous journey. She'd gone a total of ten steps before she could have sworn she heard a growl. She stopped in her tracks and tensed.
"A bear?" She looked around. Another growl echoed somewhere to her left. Even an animal could give someone like her a run for her money. One of the many drawbacks of not being a combat wizard.
Stones clicked nearby. Something was moving.
Heart in her throat, Dreamer turned toward the sounds and took a timid step forward. "W-who's there?"
A deep growl answered her and she nearly jumped back five feet.
"Come on, Dreamer… You're a Fairy Tail wizard," she chastised herself. "You're brave. You're strong." She chanted this over and over to herself as she moved forward again. There was a pit in the ground ahead of her, with wreckage scattered along the bottom of it. Another growl came from under a pile of rocks at the bottom.
"Maybe it's… a trapped animal?" She descended the side of the pit toward the sounds. Slowly, she approached the rocks. A low grumble emanated from beneath them. Shaking, she began to move them aside to uncover whatever creature was trapped beneath. Rolling away a large stone, she gasped when a hand flopped to the ground at her feet. With renewed fervor, she shoveled rocks out of the way.
What she uncovered was not an animal at all, but a young man. He was slender with black and white hair and enough makeup to make him look like a girl. He was wearing a silver skull earring that matched the one in her jacket pocket. Around his right arm was a white tied cloth directly under a tattoo that she recognized.
"Oracion Seis…" Her heart hammered against her ribs. This man wasn't some casualty of the battle, he was the enemy. "But if he's the one trapped under here, then where was that growling coming from?"
In response, the man let out a loud snore.
Dreamer sweatdropped. "He's sound asleep." She looked around to see if there was anyone else here, but the area was clear. Somehow, it seemed that the Magic Council overlooked this man when they made the first sweep. Maybe they just assumed he'd gotten away.
She returned to his side and gazed down at him. "What am I supposed to do now?" She couldn't just leave him here. He was badly injured, and besides that, he was a dangerous criminal. If he woke up and ran away, it would spell trouble. She'd have to get in touch with the Magic Council and turn him in, but of course she had no way to do that from here. The only thing she could do was take the man to town, maybe to a hospital, and call the Council from there.
"Great. Thanks, Master." Dreamer sighed and knelt down to scoop the sleeping man up against her shoulder. She just prayed that he wouldn't wake up between now and getting to town. She could never stand up to a member of the Oracion Seis.