Shadow Games

Yo, Ice and Thunder here! I've read so many wonderful stories on this site, and I was kind of writing one about demons, so I thought, why not write a fanfiction as practice? I've already started on a couple of different ones, and this one is a test to see if all goes well. Just to see if all of you like the way I write. This story was inspired by a song called 'Shadow Games'. Depending on your reviews, I could turn this into a story or a one-shot. Enjoy!

Clad in robes, they walked over the dark streets. They looked just like shadows in those street lamps. In the town of Crocus, they walked in the middle of the road, not caring much for any approaching cars. No cars occupied the streets at night anyway, in fear of them. Nobody wanted to just run into them. Their legend spread like wildfire. They were feared throughout the town. They were wherever they needed to be. They were there when duty called.

They arrived at their destination. They entered the building. The basement is where their target was. However, they were stopped by a bouncer. "This is a private party. Only invited people may enter." The figures stayed silent. One of them stepped forward. It was like he just appeared out of the shadows themselves. He lowered his hood, his face staying in the shadows. Without the bouncer noticing, the man suddenly appeared next to him. For the bouncer, it felt like the man had faded, and appeared next to him. He stood shocked, and was easily knocked out with a single blow from the man. The bouncer had moved his widened eyes towards the fist driven into his stomach before he collapsed. But then again, they had all had martial arts lessons.

Without saying another word, they entered the basement of the building, where there was music being played, and the sound of laughing was heard. Nobody noticed them slip in. But then again, they had all had stealth lessons.

The one that had lowered his hood before appeared before them, the others stayed hidden in plain sight. He cleared his throat and watched everyone stare at him. He had abyss black hair, which covered the right half of his face. He had red eyes, and a scar on his nose. It wasn't very visible, but his lips tugged upwards lightly at the corner. It looked like he was smirking, if you looked close enough. "Oi, who the fuck are you, and what the hell are you doing here? How the fuck did you get in, anyway?"

Instead of answering those questions, the man said: "Let's play a game of Russian Roulette. If I win, you guys leave the town and never come back. If you win, you get to kill me." His voice was dark. He proceeded to walk over to a gun that hung on the wall. The other hooded figures watched silently. The black-haired man grabbed the gun walked over to a table, and sat down. "Your leader will play with me, and thus decide your fate. Call him forth."

A tall orange-haired man appeared from the crowd. He sat down on the chair opposite. He had a cigarette in his mouth, and wore a purple tank top with black jeans and brown shoes. "You know, I could kill you right here and now, but a game sounds fun." The leader said, leaning in on the table.

"The rules are simple. I load the gun with one bullet. The gun has six chambers. Five are going to be empty, one is going to be loaded. You can back out anytime you want, but backing out means you surrender. Agreed?"

"I know how the game works. Let's get this show on the road!" He roared, his gang cheering. "One more thing," the man in robes said. "If you cheat, you automatically lose." Next, he removed five bullets from the gun and spun the chambers around. No one knew where the bullet was. The black-haired man laid the gun in the middle of the table and span it around as well. It pointed to himself. He picked the gun up and held it against his own temple. "I go first," was what he said, before pulling the trigger. Nothing happened. "My turn." The orange-haired leader wanted to set an example for his gang, so he complied with the rules by holding the gun against his own temple. A bud of sweat dripped from his forehead. The man that had been so over confident before, was now about to wet his pants. He closed his eyes tightly and pulled the trigger. He opened his eyes when nothing happened. He looked at the robe-clad man, who was smirking. But instead of losing it, the gang leader decided it would be best if he would act cool. So he handed his opponent the gun and plastered a smirk on his face, which he would force to stay there. The black-haired man didn't even flinch when he pulled the trigger. He tossed the gun over towards the gang leader. Said man was starting to grow nervous even more. The bullet had to be in one of the last three chambers. He pressed the gun against his temple and pulled the trigger, his eyes closed tightly again, while his smirk weakened. Nothing happened. Two chambers left. He slid the gun over to the black-haired man, waiting in anticipation. He feared for his life. There was a 50% chance left that his opponent would be shot, but the same went for himself. The black-haired man held the gun against his own temple again. He closed his eyes and remained completely calm. He pulled the trigger and… nothing. Just the simple 'click' of the trigger being pulled. "Well, looks like you drew the short straw." The black-haired man remarked and gave the gun to his opponent. Now the orange-haired man was really afraid. Then a plan shot up and he calmed down. "Nice game, kid," he started, then pointed the gun at the black-haired man in front of him. "But I win."

"I'm warning you, you're breaking the rules of the game."

"Like I care about that. Adios, kid." Just before he pulled the trigger, the black-haired man kicked the wooden table that separated him from his opponent. The table fell on the gang leader, who pushed it aside and got up from his chair. He aimed the gun, but… there was no one there. The black-haired man had disappeared. Suddenly the orange-haired man felt a sharp pain in his knee-cap and he fell down on one knee. Behind him was the black-haired man. "Why, you..!" He pulled the trigger, but the man was gone. He looked over at his own gang for help, and they pointed. Their fingers pointed towards the direction of their leader, but then a little higher. "How pathetic." The robe-clad man was now in front of him again. The leader pulled the trigger again, but nothing happened. Then he remembered that he only had one shot, which was wasted. He watched shocked as the gun was kicked from his hand. "N-No, please… get away!" The gang watched their terrified leader crawl backwards towards them, and were starting to get scared themselves. "You broke the rules, which means you lose."

"I-I, I lose! I lose! I lose!" Just when the black-haired man was about to let him go, his eyes grew dark. It looked like he was clad in the shadows themselves now, and he picked up the gun. He the remaining five chambers of the gun with bullets. "But, you did try to kill me. So let's see what your destiny holds. This time, five of the six chambers are loaded. Ready?" Without waiting for a response, he pressed the gun against the forehead of the gang leader, who had started to cry. The trigger was pulled. The bang of the shot echoed through the room. The robe-clad man warned the gang. "Leave the town before noon tomorrow, or experience the same fate." He pulled his hood back on, and faded into the darkness.

At the park, it was midnight. The figures clad in robes were all gathered. One of them walked over to a tree, and pulled a twig downwards. It didn't break, but there was a cracking sound heard. The tallest of the whole group moved towards an odd-looking patch of grass, and lifted it. It turned out to be door, leading to a set of stairs. They all entered, one after the other. They appeared before a huge metal door. One of them stepped forward and hit the password. The door opened, and they all entered. They threw their robes on the pile one by one. "Rogue, good job tonight. Keep Shadow under control, though. That is all." A blonde man said. He had short, spiky blonde hair. His body was very muscular and he had a scar shaped like a thunder bolt over his right eye. He was the closest thing to what they called a leader. "All teams can go home, today Lamia Scale will train with Quattro Cerberus. Meaning, Lyon and Bacchus. Objections?" He split them up into groups according to which school they went to.

"Hell yeah! I want to train too!" One of them roared. He had spiky, pink hair. "Sure, whatever. So Natsu joins them. Anyone else?" One more hand was raised. "If droopy eyes and Lyon are training, I guess I should too."

"What did you call me, shanty eyes?!"

"Shut it, flame-brain!"

"You shut it, ice queen!"

"Guys, calling names isn't manly!" A white-haired, buffed up man exclaimed.

"Stay out of it!" They both yelled in unison and punched the large male.

"SHUT UP! BOTH OF YOU!" the blonde man from before roared. His voice was like the sound of crackling thunder. Despite his strong voice, Natsu exclaimed: "You want a piece of me, Laxus?!"

"Goddamn it, Natsu! Do you always have to think about fighting?!" When Laxus got no answer he continued. "Okay, so Lyon, Bacchus, Natsu and Gray are training. Get going. As for the others, you better show up tomorrow. I have a good game for our training. Now, get going." Everyone was starting to leave. But the blonde called a maroon-haired man over to him. "Cobra, I need to speak to you." The maroon-haired man turned around and headed over to the blonde. He also had a scar on the same eye, only his scar disabled his eye. "Sup, Sparks?"

"How is it going with the whole undercover operation?"

"I did what you asked."

"And?"

"You were right. I told them to count me in."

"Good, I'll talk to Jellal tomorrow."

"Sure, whatever. Can I go now?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

"Alright, time to train!" the pink-haired man from before exclaimed. "I'm all fired up!" Soon they started with a simple warming up. While they were busy, Laxus walked in. He was always checking out how everyone was training and gave pointers where necessary. He watched them train.

After doing a series of push-ups, sit ups, and running laps, they started to work on their combat skills. Laxus was the most experienced in combat of their whole group. He watched as they sparred. Bacchus was sparring with Natsu, while Gray sparred with Lyon. He focused on Bacchus and Natsu first. Said pink-haired man took no pause from his punches. He continued attacking, throwing punches and kicks. Bacchus was walking like a drunk, dodging every hit he got from the raging male effectively, then countering it. "Natsu, if you keep attacking, he'll start to see openings in your form!" Natsu didn't listen to him. Well, Natsu was a genius when it came down to fighting. He could adapt himself to any kind of fight. So Laxus wasn't surprised when Natsu countered Bacchus' counterattack.

Next, he glanced over at Gray and Lyon. Said men were like brothers to each other. They had grown up together under the same teacher, who was also their adoptive mother. But unfortunately, she was murdered. Both Gray and Lyon were sparring hard with each other. Lyon, being older, had more power than Gray. But Gray in turn had much more stamina. Lyon sent a kick in Gray's direction, but the raven-haired man grabbed his leg, and pulled him closer by it. Gray threw a punch in Lyon's direction, who was sent tumbling to the ground.

While Laxus watched the sparring sessions, he remembered why they had started this group. It was to protect the ones they loved. The ones they held dear. Every single one of them had lost more than enough. They had all been through hell. This was to make sure it never happened again. Whenever one of their loved ones was in danger or harmed, they took off. Not all at once though. A handful of people. They kept it a secret. No one knew, but them. They all taught each other what they knew. Laxus taught everyone how to fight. Rogue taught them how to be stealthy and how to fade into the shadows. They looked out for each other. Tonight, they got the gang that had harmed Yukino. She was a girl that went to school with Sting and Rogue. She was like a sister to Rogue. Laxus had asked everyone to make a list of their loved ones. Only Laxus would be allowed to see the list. He kept them in his office, with a security lock. The members were allowed to add a name whenever they wanted. The only names on Rogue's list were Sting, Yukino and Frosch. Frosch being Rogue's cat.

After the sparring sessions, everyone went home. Laxus to his apartment, Natsu to his own house, Gray, Lyon and Bacchus to wherever they lived.

So, how was it? Did I do a good job? Please review and tell me what you thought! Any tips? Tops? Should I continue? Of course I want to continue. But that depends on you guys! I really hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing! I don't own Fairy Tail!

See ya next time!

-Sirev.

P.S. Yeah, that's my name. Kinda.