"Natsu, Gray, I have a favor to ask of you two," Erza demanded loudly. "I heard a rumor when I was returning from my last job, frankly, this is somewhat beyond my jurisdiction but as Master isn't present, I've decided to settle this matter myself, but in order to do that, I need you two to lend me your strength," she continued in her usual stern voice.
Natsu and Gray looked at each other for a brief second, primarily out of confusion and objection. They had no interest in working together, but there were circumstances where they were forced, primarily when it was Erza asking them.
"What does this mean?" murmured someone in the crowd that had surrounded themselves around the little group. That was briefly followed up by; "Erza asked the two of them for help," and "this has never happened before," although it had at several points in time.
"We will be leaving tomorrow morning, come prepared," Erza said authoritatively, as Natsu and Gray were glaring at each other out of the corner of their eyes.
"Erza, Natsu and Gray...I never considered this...this might be Fairy Tail's strongest team," Mirajane said, entirely swallowed up in the moment, completely forgetting that just a single member of their guild could probably overpower all three of them, but that was just nitpicking, and it really didn't suit her personality.
Suddenly, a loud voice came from the other end of the guildhall. "Erza," it called out. The crowd of people surrounding the newly formed group, and the group itself turned around towards the source of the voice. It was a tall man, enveloped by a long, black cloak and a dark hood, with tints of red on it.
"Who is that?" Lucy asked Mirajane quietly.
"That's…well, it's a bit hard to explain…I doubt that anyone knows his real name apart from the master, and he might not know it as well," Mirajane explained. "We normally call him Vile…I'll tell you why some other time," she finished, smiling at Lucy.
Lucy smiled back briefly, afterwards turning her attention back towards this, Vile, person.
Vile walked towards them. The wood creaked beneath his feet as he strode towards them with long, clam steps. No one was talking. It was only the sound of his footsteps resonating within the walls of the guild. When he eventually reached them, he stopped just outside the crowd, and with him, the sound filling the void of an otherwise quite hall. An awkward, tense silence slowly laid itself upon them.
"What do you want?" Erza was the first to break the silence with an uncertainty that was unfamiliar to even herself. It was the first time she had heard him speak, disregarding the little accident earlier that year. Needless to say, she was confused...this man had been in the guild for so long, he'd joined even before her, he was now speaking to them, to her, but for what reason?
"I've heard of this rumor as well. I'd prefer not to explain in detail, but I have some personal interest in following along with your group," he said. The crowd had split so Erza and Vile could see each other directly, without anyone in the way.
"I see," was all that Erza could muster. She couldn't find any other words to say.
"You needn't worry, I promise I won't be in your way," he said, after which he quickly turned around and made his way towards the large wooden doors on the other side of the hall. Erza, along with the rest of the crowd looked at the black cloak wavering each time he took a step towards the door. He opened the large door, but before going outside, he turned his head and looked back at the crowd, that was at this point still fixated entirely on him in silence. Without saying a word, he turned his head back and went out the door.
'I won't be in your way,' Erza cited inside her mind. She shrugged. For all she knew, he could be weaker than Natsu and Gray, but then again, she had heard rumors about his supposed powers, but those were just rumors. She, alongside everyone but Makarov, probably didn't even know what kind of magic he used, Erza figured.
She shook her head, removing Vile from her thoughts, and looked back at Gray and Natsu. "Well it's settled then. Meet me at the train station," Natsu groaned loudly, "tomorrow morning," she finishing her sentence. Erza lifted the giant diamond-encrusted claw she had gotten from her previous job and began heading towards Fairy Hills. The crowd dispersed soon after Erza had left. Lucy and Mirajane lingered briefly.
Lucy looked at Mirajane again, only to find a rather perplexing facial expression. She was either livid or confused, or both at the same time, Lucy figured. "Is something wrong?" Lucy asked concerned
Mirajane shook her head immediately. "I'm just excited, that's all," she replied, smiling ever so brightly.
Lucy raised an eyebrow. "Why?" she asked.
"Well, Vile has been in the guild longer than I, and yet I've not seen him take a single mission, or try to talk to anyone for that matter. He always sits in the corner writing in his book, keeping to himself. This is the first time I've actually heard him actually say a whole sentence," she explained, with a single twitch of her mouth. "I'm just happy that he's finally reaching out, but then again I'm interested in why he chose to do it now," Mirajane finished, after which she turned back towards the counter. Lucy decided to go back to Natsu and Gray, who was once again quarreling like always.
"Gray, you're still not wearing clothes."
Morning had just dawned a few hours ago, the sun still hung low in the sky. Low enough to peek in under the large canopy above the train station, spreading it's early rays of light across the platform.
Natsu and Gray were having one of their usual, pointless feuds on said platform, whilst Lucy was sitting on a bench looking at them with an annoyed expression on her face.
"Why are you here again, Lucy?" Happy asked while munching on a fish beside her.
"Mirajane asked me to make sure they weren't fighting when Erza wasn't looking... and to maybe snoop up some information on this... Vile person..." she said, not mentioning the fact that she was hoping to find some good material for her book from Vile.
"You're not really doing a good job, you know," Happy said with his usual carefree voice.
"But..."
"I'm sorry, were you waiting?" Erza said as she approached the little group, interrupting Lucy. She was towing a large cart filled with an astounding amount of luggage firmly tied onto it. The sheer amount of luggage Erza was bringing with her made Lucy's jaw drop. Natsu and Gray had stopped their fighting as soon as they had noticed Erza, and they were happily prancing around the station, only to return to fighting whenever Erza's watchful gaze left them and directed itself towards Lucy, whom she had just noticed.
"I'm afraid I've yet to be acquainted with you. You were in Fairy Tail yesterday, right?" Erza asked, smiling as warmly as she could.
Lucy nodded quickly, returning the smile somewhat strained. "I'm the new recruit, Lucy," she said while hugging Plue tightly to her chest. "Mira asked me to tag along for the experience, and to watch Gray and Natsu," Lucy explained.
"I'm Erza. Glad to have you on board," she said.
"Erza! I've got a favor to ask of you," Natsu shouted out of nowhere, while Gray was glaring at him, hoping that he would be pummeled down to the ground for yelling at her and interrupting her conversation.
"What is it?" she said exasperatedly. At this point, she was sure she knew what he was going to say next.
Natsu raised his fist and almost growled; "When we get back, fight me!"
Lucy gasped slightly. From what she had observed, Erza wasn't one to be trifled with, though Natsu seemingly didn't care about that. It was admirable, at least to Lucy, but that was mostly because she was unaware of how many times they had fought and how many times he had lost.
Gray conflicted. On one side, he wanted Natsu to be beaten by Erza, but on the other side, it was almost too cruel to have them fight.
"It won't be like last time... I'm good enough to beat yo-," he started, but was abruptly interrupted.
"I highly doubt that Natsu," a tall man with a long black cloak said. Natsu turned around and saw Vile, with his head shrouded in another dark hood. He immediately recognized the smell, though he hadn't been paying attention to anything around himself.
"And what do you know?" he said, offended.
"Enough," Vile said apathetically, shrugging lightly.
"Stop it you two" Erza said harshly, her brows furrowed slightly. Natsu shivered slightly, but Vile seemed unaffected, something that Erza wasn't fond of by any stretch of the imagination.
"I will fight you when this is over Natsu, though I'd suggest you listen to Gray," she said as a small smile crept onto her face.
"All right! I'm getting fired up!" he shouted for no particular reason, causing everyone within sight of Natsu to look at him, confused and annoyed.
"The train is leaving," Vile said, before heading into the locomotive.
Lucy rose from the bench and went to the others, waiting for Vile to enter the train completely, before saying; "Is it just me, or is that guy really creepy?", though she quickly regretted that decision because Erza punched her on the shoulder.
"You shouldn't be talking behind the backs of your own teammates," Erza said before she made her way inside as well. Lucy rubbed her shoulder whilst following Erza, all the while Gray was dragging a screaming Natsu onto the train behind her.
"I guess my first real adventure has really begun," she said to Plue when she had stepped through the doors of the train.
Erza was roaming the train to find Vile. He had seemingly decided that he didn't want to sit with them, and as such, he wasn't anywhere to be found, at least without searching. She had just finished her debriefing of the others, and was looking to have a short talk with Vile when she noticed him sitting on an empty train compartment, excluding himself of course. Erza tentatively took hold of the door and opened it slowly.
"Erza," he said, his gaze still fixated on the horizon that slowly trailed by outside the window.
"Vile," she responded. "I've got some questions for you."
He turned his head and looked at her. His face was still submerged in a perpetual state of shadows and obscurity. "Sit, please," he said while gesturing towards the seat across from him.
She nodded quickly and sat down in front of him. "Why are you here?" she asked, staring intently into his hood in a somewhat feeble attempt at seeing his face. It was to no avail, and she shortly thereafter figured he was using magic to cover his face.
"I'm here for many reasons, the primary one being either to prevent the release of Lullaby, or to destroy it. Why I would want to destroy Lullaby…well, let's just say that it's because it was created by Zeref," he said in a soothing voice.
"Zeref?" Erza asked somewhat hesitantly. She had heard of him, but she had never encountered anything related to him after that incident, though that wasn't why she was interested in. What was really on her mind was the relation between Vile and Zeref. She could easily imagine him having a grudge against Zeref for reasons that was to her, irrelevant. The problem was that it didn't really seem to make sense in context. If it really was a grudge, he would probably have done something about Lullaby earlier, or he would probably have gone alone. She shrugged it off. No matter how hard she thought about it, she would not get a definitive answer through speculation.
He nodded. "Let's just say that I've personal interest in dealing with his creations, and leave it at that, if that is alright with you?" he asked.
"It's fine," Erza said promptly, deciding not to pursue the connection any more. It was clear to her that he didn't want to discuss it any more than what was necessary.
Vile nodded at her, seeming quite self-satisfied. "While we are at it, is there anything you'd like to ask me?"
Erza thought for a second or two, only to find the same question as the one that had immediately popped into her mind. "Who are you, exactly?" she asked the living enigma, that was sitting in front of her.
Vile chuckled briefly at the question. "Who am I…that is certainly a good question, if I do say so myself," he said, skirting around the inquiry, though seeing the annoyed look on Erza's face that quickly followed, he spoke again, in a more serious tone. "It's still too early for me to tell you who exactly I am, but rest assured, you needn't wait long before that question answers itself."
"You've been in the guild for years, even longer than me, and you still say it's too early?"
"You're quite…persistent, I'll give you that," he said before leaning towards her. "Listen, if you've waited for so long, what does another couple of days mean?" he said with a smirk on his face, or at least Erza could swear there was one. Erza sighed dejectedly. It was even clearer now that there was no use trying to prod answers out of him.
"Now arriving at Onibas station, I repeat, now arriving at Onibas station," a male announcer said loudly and unclearly through the speakers, as if he had stuck the microphone into his mouth and spoken.
Vile looked out the window, Erza soon followed suit and saw the train platform slowly roll by, with a sign on which 'Onibas' was written with bold letters.
Erza stood up and walked to the door, but before exiting, she turned around briefly. "I expect us to continue this conversation when all of this is over, you do realize that?"
Vile chuckled for the second time during their little conversation. "Of course Erza, go on ahead, I'll be right there," he said, standing up as well.
With that, Erza left the compartment and headed outside to find Natsu and the rest. She stepped out of the train and hit by the steam coming from the engine of the train, and then soon after the stuffy air that quickly and efficiently swooped in to replace the light smoke.
"We're over here," Erza heard Lucy yell from somewhere further down the train. Amidst a larger mass of passengers exiting and boarding the train, she saw a single hand stick up, and beside it, an inconspicuous flying cat. It took a couple of moments before the stream of people had passed them, but when it finally seized they were able to gather again, that of course being without Natsu who was inexplicably missing from the rest of the little group.
"Where's Natsu?" Erza asked, almost reluctantly since the answer was so obvious, it was almost painful.
A loud whistle sounded.
"I... he's.. on the train?" Lucy said, turning towards to train only to find it accelerating ever so slowly.
Erza wasn't normally one to swear, but in this particular situation, the temptation was, to say the least, extremely alluring. She resisted however, and began her usual spiel whenever she had messed up, or at least in her own opinion. "How could I have let this happen? I knew Natsu isn't good with transportation, and yet I distracted myself with Vile," she proclaimed, completely serious. "Somebody, hit me please," she asked, although Gray, and by proxy Lucy, knew better than to do so.
More so the reason for their surprise when Vile walked, seemingly out of nowhere, up behind her and tapped, more so than hit her on the shoulder. "We don't have time for your self-deprecation, go find the manager or whatever they have here, and I'll go after Natsu," he said clearly and concisely.
"But he's on a train…how are you going to go after a train?" Lucy said nervously, inching ever closer to Erza for reasons she was unsure of.
"I'm not entirely incapable, you know," he said casually before stepping down from the platform, onto the train tracks. The steam, dust or whatever the train had left behind upon it's departure was still not entirely cleared
The three of them stood there and watched as he just stood in the dusty cloud, each fully enveloped in their own thoughts, completely oblivious to the many stares they were receiving from all the ordinary people. Gray was wondering whether he was a complete idiot or not, Lucy wondering if she should get away while she still could, again, for reasons that were unknown to her. Erza, the only one of the three not entirely skeptical of Vila's abilities was quite pleased with the turn of events. She wanted to know what magic he used, simple as that. This would provide a good excuse to see it, so she was pleased, as she continued watching Vile, stand there.
It didn't last long before he took action. Vile muttered a string of incomprehensible words, clouded by the noise in the station. Immediately after having done that, two dark-patterned circles appeared beneath his feet and then slowly began moving up to his ankles. The circles began to spin faster, as what appeared to be shadows began replacing the circles patterns. The circles slowly disappeared; leaving behind two small 'belts' created by what they though was shadows, because what else could it be, had formed around his ankles.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Get going," he said, after which he left a trial of dust, even larger than the residue the train left behind, as well as three quite surprised mages. The sheer speed of which he disappeared was astounding. It easily bested Jet in terms of speed, which was quite the feat since he specialized in speed magic, only, and from what they could tell, Vile did not use speed magic. Needless to say, that little show would not be brought up in Jet's vicinity.
"I…didn't expect that," Lucy finally managed to stutter, as the first of them to speak.
"So he's a..." Erza stood there, watching the trail of dust he had left behind slowly dissipate. She did not have any specific ideas as to what kind of magic he used. It was both what appeared to be dark magic, fused with speed magic. It wasn't exactly common for two schools of magic to mix, and especially not such a strange combination. She'd have to find another reason to watch his magic at work, though that could wait for later. They had things to do, people to catch up to and incredibly destructive magic to destroy.
It took only a minute for Vile to catch up to the train. It was already starting to slow down, probably because Erza had managed to find the emergency brakes back at the station. He ran the last distance, reaching the last train section. He kept going, though slowed down when he reached each new train section, checking quickly if Natsu was in it. There were many people poking their heads out of the windows of the train, confused as to why the train had come to such a sudden halt. Needless to say, their questions weren't answered but the cloaked man certainly did draw a fair amount of attention as he ran past them.
It didn't take long until the train had finally stopped and until he finally found the familiar dragon slayer. In the same cart as him was a black-haired mage with plain clothes, except for what was hanging in his belt. Vile quickly lowered his head to avoid being seen and quietly moved closer towards the middle of the train section. It was at this point, where he heard a loud noise and thankfully had enough sense in his head to push himself away from the cart. Seconds after he'd gotten a large enough distance between him and the compartment, the windows suddenly burst and fire roared out from within the train, shattering the wood in the ceiling and the walls, essentially destroying the entire cart.
Vile ducked, avoiding the scraps of wood flying rapidly towards him. He turned around and looked back towards the cart. Natsu was standing at the center of the destruction, and the other mage stood in the midst of the wreckage, his clothes clearly seared. The object around his waist had fallen off during the explosion. As soon as Vile noticed the absence of said object, he moved in low and swiftly, remaining out of sight.
He reached the destroyed cart in a matter of seconds. He halted briefly, to check whether Natsu and the other mage was in a position to see him. When he saw that they were both too preoccupied with each other, he moved to the back of the cart, jumped through a window and landed silently. Conveniently, the object was right in front of him. It had dislodged itself from the shadow mage's belt and then been blown to the back of the cart, only to lie just in front of Vile. He quickly grabbed it and jumped out through the same window he used to get in.
"We apologize for the sudden stop. It turned out to be false alarm, so we will now continue the trip towards Kunugi Station and Oshibana," it sounded through the one functional speaker in the destroyed cart.
"Damn it!" Natsu shouted from within the train. Vile stepped away from the train that was now setting into motion. For a brief second, he wondered why the train was still moving even though one of the carts had been wrecked. The train picked up its speed and as the end of the train passed him, he heard a low, but increasing rumbling behind him. He turned around and managed to see the dust of a car that roared past him towards the train.
Vile sighed heavily, after which he began walking in the trail of dust that car had made. The car had caught up with the train. The track turned a corner, as did the car. Not soon after that, he heard two loud cries of pain.
It took a little while before he caught up the car. When he eventually arrived, Gray and Natsu were sitting next to each other on the ground, each rubbing their heads.
"That hurt, you idiot!" Gray shouted at Natsu angrily.
"Shut up! You left me behind!" Natsu retorted., after which he dragged himself off the ground alongside Gray.
"That is true. Thankfully you're safe now," Erza said with a self-satisfied smile.
"By the way, there was this crazy guy on the train," Natsu noted casually.
"What guy?" Erza asked, or more precisely, demanded to know as she crossed her arms and looked at the befuddled Dragonslayer.
"There was this weird guy on the train that attacked me…said something about hating official guilds and Eisenwald, or something," Natsu said while shrugging.
"You idiot!" Erza shouted at him, after which she attempted to slap him, though as her hand approached his face, it was halted by a hand grabbing her wrist before its end destination, which was Natsu's face. Gray, Lucy and Natsu jumped startled back; Lucy even let out a high-pitched yelp before realizing who it was.
"I think Natsu has hurt his head enough for today," Vile said calmly, letting go of Erza's wrist.
"Vile... B-but he let a man affiliated with Eisenwald escape on the train!" Erza protested, quite annoyed by his interjection.
"I'm well aware since I let him get away," he said nonchalantly.
"What? Why?" Erza shouted, raising her hand once again, attempting to slap Vile.
He simply took a step back; avoiding the rather agitated Erza would give up after only one try. "There wasn't any reason to question him, since I managed to get this," Vile said, reaching into his cloak and withdrawing a wooden flute with a three-eyed skull engraved on the top of it. The three eye sockets were filled by a dim purple light.
"I saw that! That guy had it around his belt!" Natsu exclaimed. "Wait, you were in the train?"
"Ah, well, I grabbed it while you weren't paying attention," Vile noted which caused Natsu to raise an eyebrow at him. He was normally fairly observant of his surroundings. Natsu shrugged it off and blamed the motion sickness.
"Oh, I know that!" Lucy shouted out of no-where. "It's...Lullaby...death magic," she said. Natsu and Gray looked at her in surprise, though Erza looked at Vile instead.
"How did you know that the person Natsu saw had it?" Erza asked, glaring at him.
"I didn't, it was pretty much sheer coincidence, but that's not important. The important thing is that Lullaby cannot be destroyed in its dormant state, which means that I'm going to force a member from the dark guild to release it," he said casually as he looked at the flute. The four people around him looked at him as if he was crazy or demented. Maybe both.
"But...can't we just release it now?" Lucy asked.
Vile looked at Lucy and shook his head. "No. Lullaby is quite specially…it has the ability to detect the intentions of its user. Only people whose intentions have been corrupted are able to unleash Lullaby's true form, so unless one of you are harboring a sociopathic mass-murderer, we have to use someone else," Vile said. The four of them shared a moment of silence as they looked at each other, after which they collectively shook their heads. "Very well then, off towards the rest of the dark guild we go," he said, after which he turned around and began walking towards the car that was parked a little down the dirt road.
"Are you sure we can trust this person?" Gray asked the three who was standing next to him. Erza glared with withheld anger at Vile's back as he walked away.
"I don't like this at all, but it seems that we don't have a say in the matter. I say we follow him and make sure he doesn't mess this up," Erza said whilst struggling to remain calm. She silently wished Vile had never interfered with the whole matter in the first place...he was just so...arrogant. Erza clenched her fist while still glaring at him.
"What do you think you're doing?" she asked angrily Vile as he sat down in the driver's seat of the car.
"I'm driving the rest of the way. You've already used up a fair bit of your magic power as far as I can tell. There is no point in you being exhausted for no reason at all, especially if you consider where we are going," he explained while readjusting himself in the seat.
"I hope you know where we are going," she said in defeat.
"I do most certainly, anyway, could you tell them to hurry up? I don't like wasting time," he said, equipping the bracelet that fueled the car.
Erza nodded and turned to yell at them.
He saw the little group go into the cabin a little while later. Erza, however, decided to sit next to him.
"So, what are you planning to do when we reach the dark guild?" Erza asked.
"I'll probably subjugate their leader and force him to release Lullaby somewhere where I can fight it without causing too much destruction," he said bluntly.
"Where exactly does the rest of us fit into your plan?" she inquired, somewhat annoyed.
"I never really considered that you know…I just figured you'd do whatever you normally do."
A vein appeared on Erza's forehead. "Do you seriously expect us to not fight with you? We're a team, aren't we? We fight together and that's that," she objected demandingly.
He his head and looked at her. The dark void that covered his face greeted her once more. "You need to remember that I never agreed to be part of a team. I only said that I had personal interest in the matter, and that I wouldn't be in your way, and I do believe taking care of Lullaby would not in any way obstruct your goal. Just like I won't interfere with whatever you're doing, I expect you to not impede my own plans, which is to obliterate Lullaby and nothing else," he said harshly. Leaving Erza no room to object, he started the car.
Erza looked at him with an annoyed expression that she had been wearing quite a lot ever since Vile began speaking. The car slowly started to move along the dusty road. "I don't think I've ever meet anyone as dumb as you. First, you let a member of a dark guild walk awa, and then you come up with some crazy unneeded plan to destroy Lullaby when it's in our possession and now you're declining our help? Who exactly do you think you are?" she asked as the vein began to grow in size. She crossed her arms whilst glaring furiously at him.
"I'm no one important. The only reason I'm working with you is because you forced me to do so," Erza was just about to protest at this statement, though he quickly continued. "You were planning to finish this the four of you. I'm well aware of your strength as well as Natsu's and Gray's, hell even Lucy's, and I do believe that you would be able to destroy Lullaby by yourselves, but-…" he said, turning his eyes from the road and looking down at Erza for a brief second. "I can't tell what kind of destruction you would have caused while fighting him. That's why I'm here. If you destroy a city while fighting Lullaby, aren't you just doing what Lullaby was made to do? Lullaby was created with the purpose of killing people and destroying everything they held dear. It goes for the rest of Zeref's creations as well. If you destroy a city, you only used a lesser evil to defeat a greater, and I do not believe that is acceptable, which is why I forced myself to interact with you so that I could do this my way. Zeref's creations have already created enough destruction as is, and there is no need to increase the damage that these creatures have caused. You can ask Gray. I'm sure he would feel the same as I," Vile said. "And for the record, the one on the train was too weak to summon Lullaby," he noted with a shrug.
Erza sat there quietly, letting the words sink into her head. "Do you think you are you strong enough?"
"It seems like you're taking me too lightly. Don't worry, it's going to be fine" he said.
Erza could've sworn that she could see a smile under the hood as she looked at him. Vile really was quite strange...granted, Fairy Tail does encourage strange personalities she figured.
"Erza...after this is done there is something I'd like to discuss with you."
She looked at him confused.
"You see, I've been planning to talk to you for quite a while, though I've never really got around to it."
"Oh...about what?" she asked.
"It's about the R-system," he said calmly, waiting for her reaction.
"I see...but why now?" she asked, confused... how did he know the R-system?
"It's because you were always busy, either messing around with Natsu and Gray or out on a mission, and I was…otherwise occupied so to speak. I gave up some time ago, but conveniently enough it seems that I've finally gotten an opportunity to talk with you without interference. I'm honestly glad that I didn't have to wait much longer," he said with a short sigh.
Erza sat in thought for a moment, after which she said, "On one condition." Vile turned his head once more and looked at her briefly, before turning his attention back towards the road. "You drop that hood of yours and you start using your real name. You're like Mystogan, to a certain extent, but then somehow you're more mysterious...you're within arm's reach, and yet no one knows anything about you. It's saddening to see someone alone in the guild..." she looked away, trying to hide a frown on her face.
"There were two conditions," he muttered.
Erza hit his shoulder in response, causing him to momentarily lose control of the car, sending it drifting around the road. A large groan came from the inside of the car. He quickly regained control of the vehicle.
"Fine, but only after we're done with this mission. Is the terms of this agreement acceptable?" he asked.
They were nearing Oshibana. It was visible on the not so distant horizon.
"Yes."
Not long after entering the city, they found out that the station has been taken over by Eisenvald, or at least the trails of smoke emitting from the large building suggested it quite heavily.
The normally congested streets were empty, which allowed them to speed through the town unhindered. It wasn't long before they reached the large plaza in front of the station. There was a large mob kept at bay by the city guard outside the large entrance of the building. Vile stopped the car not far from it, and was about to knock on the window to the cabin, but the door sprung open and a barely conscious stormed out of the car. He was followed by the others, though at more moderate speeds.
They grouped up around the fallen Natsu. "The plan is rather simple. I go in and…extract their leader and take care of Lullaby and you take care of the other members. When you're finished, just look for the large monster in the horizon and go there," Vile said.
"Wait…you're going to take him on by yourself...? Isn't that like…dangerous?" Lucy looking worriedly at him. She might not like him that much, but that didn't change the fact that she was still concerned for her senior.
"It's nothing to worry about. If I needed your help I would've asked for it," he said nonchalantly, after which he headed towards the station. "If you have any intentions of helping me you should probably hurry. Either way, good luck. I'll see you after all of this is done," he said, just before being absorbed by the crowd.
Natsu, who had eventually gotten up from the ground and recovered from his motion sickness, was staring at Vile's back as he disappeared amidst the mob. "Erza, are you sure we should just leave him to it?" Natsu asked. "I mean…I wouldn't be able to have a good fight at all if I don't get to fight Lullaby."
"It's as he says Natsu, if we deal with the dark guild before he's done beating Erigor, the man who was dubbed Shinigami for good reason, into submission and destroying Lullaby we get to help him, and I highly doubt he's that fast," Erza said with a self-confident smirk, something quite unlike her.
"All right, I'm getting fired up," Natsu shouted as he ran into the crowd pushing people away, Happy flying right behind him.
"That idiot," Gray muttered quietly as he started walking
"Lucy, you stick with me. These are dangerous people after all," Erza commanded. Lucy nodded and ran up to Erza and then walked calmly behind her, though she couldn't quite get rid of her nervousness.
"And what authority do you have over me?" he shouted mockingly at the hooded man that had just entered the train platform.
"I have power, and you don't," Vile said in a cold, apathetic voice. He waited until he saw how Erigor's face became warped in rage, and then he jumped at Erigor who was standing on top of a light pole inside of the hall. Before Erigor could even react, the stranger had already grabbed his throat with his hand, set off the light-pole and was flying towards the large window that led to the plaza. He tried to yell, but all he ended up doing was gasping for air. His attempts to break lose were also in vain, since every time he tried, the hand would simply clamp down mercilessly. He heard the sound of shattered glass, and then he passed out.
Down on the ground, just in front of the building, Erza heard the sound of the window breaking. She looked up and saw Vile, dragging a man whom she presumed was Erigor, by his neck, through the air at an incredible speed moving towards the outskirts of the city.
She stopped. She couldn't see any magic...He wasn't using magic to force Erigor to do as he wanted. Erza was quite vary of his reputation, and the fact that Vile had complete control over him, without even trying it seemed, was quite unsettling, at least to her.
"Is…is that Vile?" Lucy asked, sounding almost overwhelmed. When she had first seen Natsu she had been impressed by his strength…but this was over the top.
Erza nodded.
"Who's he dragging?"
"That's Erigor..." Erza said, hesitating slightly. She had thought that Erigor would at least have put up a fight before going submitting to Vile, but that assumption had seemingly been quite unfair to Vile.
A large explosion quickly stopped her train of thought. She could see even more smoke coming from within the building. "I guess Natsu really doesn't want to miss out on fighting Lullaby…it would be a shame to let him down like that," Erza said as she stormed through the rest of the crowd, knocking down whoever was stupid enough to stand in her way. Vile wasn't the only scary person in Fairy Tail Lucy thought to herself.
Inside of the train station, the dark guild was going into a pure state of entropy. Everyone were trying their hardest to do absolutely nothing to regain control. Several people had already chosen to run, some decided to stay and others did both, lingering at the nearest exit with a foot on each side of the door. As soon as they heard the high-spirited yells from one person, accompanied by a faint smell of fire, those who were lingering ran, and those who chose to stay, were now deciding that running would also be a good idea, sadly for them though, they weren't as prepared as the others had been.
Natsu crashed into the dark guild and single handedly ripped a hole right through their unorganized ranks. Many, upon realizing that Natsu was the only one there, reconsidered their previous decision to run as Natsu was only one person. They turned around and managed to surround him quickly, though were at a loss at what do next until someone decided to charge forward. The others followed him, but most came to regret that decision as soon as Natsu began smirking and fire began to imbue his limbs. Needless to say, but should still be mentioned, the people who were smart enough to realize how bad their newfound position was had already left, just after the cowards had dashed, thus leaving the ignorant and the people who had convinced themselves of otherwise.
Their venture only worsened as they heard a clear voice shouting from the entrance. "Ice Make: Lance," they heard, after which several of their members fell, knocked out by pillars of ice that disappeared as quickly as it came. Pandemonium ensued, everyone scattered to the winds and didn't look back, even when they were quite mercilessly taken care of by a large number of flying swords that somehow managed to not kill anyone, which for those who stayed conscious long enough to realize this was confusing. They didn't have long to ponder about this, as they were subsequently also taken out by the very same swords.
"Whoa! She's amazing," Lucy gawked as she watched Erza crush the dark guild with renew vigor. Erza was quite adamant about finishing things quickly, most of all because she wanted to help Vile, though secretly she wanted to get in his way for being so arrogant.
"I think you now understand why she is so feared now," Gray noted from the sidelines to Lucy. Lucy watched with great interest as Erza slowly descended to the ground. Being able to float, albeit shortly was quite astounding, at least if you asked Lucy. In addition, the fact that she was able to change her clothes, as well as weapons so quickly, of course, but she could float. It amazed Lucy much more than it should have, especially upon seeing Vile all but fly just moments earlier, but at that point, she had already classified him as a monster and explained everything he did using that fact.
"Now that they are dealt with, it's time to catch up with that arro-, Vile," Erza said, exquipping back into her normal clothes. She didn't look pleased by any stretch of the imagination, no matter how hard she tried to constrain her irritation. "Let's get going," she ordered them as she started to head for the exit.
"What about Natsu?" Lucy asked, pointing towards the pink haired Dragonslayer that had been caught in the attack.
Erza stopped and looked back at Natsu, after which she shrugged with slight indifference. She knew he was fine. He wasn't that weak. "It's his own fault, he knew I was in a hurry," she noted.
"A-all right," Lucy said, a pearl of sweat ran down her forehead. "I'll can take care of him, if you want?" Lucy suggested. She was just hoping not to be in close proximity to this agitated Erza whom was frightening her almost as much as Vile did. Almost.
"Sure, are you coming Gray?" she asked Gray who quickly nodded and followed her obediently. The two of them left the hall, leaving only Lucy, Happy and Natsu, along with a lot of knocked out dark guild members. She hesitantly stepped over some of them and reached Natsu. She crouched down and poked his forehead somewhat reluctantly. He might have been seriously injured she figured.
She quite regretted her concern as soon as his eyes sprung open instantaneously and he got on his feet before Lucy finished her surprised shriek.
"What happened?!" he shouted as soon as he got on his feet.
"Erza took care of them," Happy happily responded.
"Where's Erza and Gray now?"
"They were heading towards Vil-," before Lucy had managed to finish her sentence, Natsu was practically out the door already.
"Do you want a lift?" Happy asked Lucy who was now standing all by herself, excluding Happy, in a large hall filled with many unconscious men. She sincerely wished that would be the last time she ever found herself in such a situation.
"Do you think they took the car?" Lucy asked.
They hadn't taken the car. Erza and Gray were running through the streets in the direction they had seen Vile taken off towards, luckily it wasn't that far. Around halfway there, the sunlight that had beamed down upon them suddenly vanished, replaced suddenly by looming black clouds and a faint, purple glare emitting from outside the city. They could see the outline of a large creature in the distance, just above the rooftops of some of the smaller buildings that formed the outskirts of the city. They saw how the sky rippled like waves just above the monster, and then spread outwards. When it eventually reached them, they were almost overpowered by an ear-shattering shriek that chilled them to their bones.
Gray remembered it. It wasn't the first time he had heard the like. It made him sick to his stomach recalling Deliora at a time like this…
"Are you alright?" Erza asked after having taken but a single glance at his face. It was contorted in pain.
"Yeah…I'm fine, you go on ahead, I need a moment," he said, brushing her concerned look off. Erza nodded and increased the pace, quickly disappearing from Gray's sight who had stopped to take a breath.
As Erza slowly came closer to the monster, she began hearing a ringing noise that became more pronounced the closer she came towards it. It hurt, but she managed to deal with it, she had to. She wasn't going to let Vile win without a fight, Lullaby neither but it wasn't as important as teaching Vile a lesson. She was well aware of the rarity of such a situation, which was why she dreaded wasting but a second if it meant letting the chance slip away.
It wasn't long before she finally turned a corner and found Vile standing in the middle of the road, in front of the gigantic Lullaby, who at this point hadn't moved an inch as far as Erza had noticed, which puzzled her immensely. She saw him turn his head and noticed a couple of dark-red lines illuminating on a ghastly white surface inside of his hood. It looked strange to say the least. He turned towards Lullaby again.
"YOU VILE, REPUGNANT, WRETCHED, FILTHY TRAITOR! RELEASE ME AT ONCE!" it roared with its demonic voice, thundering above them. Vile seemed to be unaffected.
"It's about time you arrived, I was getting tired of waiting," Vile said with a chilling voice. It wasn't the cold indifference she had gotten used to during that day.
Erza was just about to make a remark, but Vile decided he didn't have time for that.
"Nullzone: Enclose," he shouted, moving his hand so that his palms faced towards Lullaby. Two large magic circles appeared, one beneath Lullaby, and one above. They were both black.
"NO, NOT THIS, RELEASE ME YOU FILTH, YOU DE-," it yelled in futile desperation. It was stopped by a swift hand motion by Vile.
Not soon after their appearance, darkness began to pour out of the magic circles, filling the space between the two circles like tar, slowly filling up a contained, strangulating everything inside with its thick, suffocating liquid. It took mere seconds for the entire monster to be submerged in the black liquid that made up the box. Erza could feel the incredible magic pressure around Vile. The air itself was resonating with him, as he shouted once more.
"Nullzone: Erase!" The gigantic black box disappeared in an instant. There was a moment of awe, followed by a moment of terror, as Erza felt the incredibly air force that was pulling her towards where the box had been. Everything that had been engulfed by the box, Lullaby, trees, some ground, even the air had vanished, and all that was left was a vacuum that sought to be filled instantly.
Erza found it difficult to believe what she had just witnessed. All her expectations had been blown out of the water, and then some. She had no idea what kind of magic he used, or how strong it was, but the fact that he had taken care of Lullaby without breaking a sweat, added to the fact that he somehow kept it from moving for minutes without showing any effort was staggering, even to her.
"V...Vile…who...who exactly are you?" Erza asked. She couldn't wrap her head around how someone could be so powerful, and not be S-class. She couldn't remember him participating in the S-class trials…not even once…but he was still this powerful, it felt almost like a given that he would be, but he wasn't.
"Vile is much more powerful than you think," she heard a voice say from behind her. A very familiar voice.
She turned around and saw none other than her guild master, Makarov, standing behind her with a smug grin on his face. "Master? What are you doing here?" Erza asked in confusion.
"I heard through an anonymous source, Mira, that you had joined up with Natsu, Gray and that new girl, Lucy, though what I found interesting was the fact that Vile had joined you…I don't exactly know much about the guy, but from what I know, it's not the safest nor harmless cocktail one could make. Also, let's not forget the fact that Lullaby is dangerous and I figured that you could use some help…and we weren't doing anything important at that meeting anyway, everything was taken care of within the first day," Makarov shrugged, walking up to her.
"Master…do you know who he is?" Erza said, motioning towards Vile who was watching the two of them. The dark-red tint had disappeared from his face.
"I don't know exactly who he is, but I've got a general idea," he said with a shrug and a grin on his face.
"What do you mean by he's more powerful than I think?"
"I meant exactly what I said. He's quite powerful, terrifyingly so from what he's shown me…what you saw just now, however daunting it might have been is not much compared to some of the other, more flashier things he's got in his arsenal," Makarov said with an even larger smirk. "Natsu would be impressed by what he can do."
Erza shook her head in disbelief. "If he's so powerful, why isn't he S-class?"
"He is, actually, well, not formally. I don't do it often, but I made an exception in his case. Let's just say that it would be somewhat unfair to pit him against other aspirants."
Once again, Erza found herself baffled. What she had seen had been one thing, but the testimony from her master was another. It wasn't often that she heard him give such praise to anyone, mostly because she never found herself in a situation where she would hear it.
"Greetings Master. It's been a while since we last spoke, hasn't it?" Vile said as he walked up to the two. Erza was trying to keep a straight face as best she could, and managed, mostly.
"Yes it has Vile, I see you've become a bit talkative?"
Vile nodded. "A chain of events has started, and there is no stopping it. That is why I'm going to be more...open, as you would say, yes. I believe that if I join forces with the rest of the guild for once, most of the members will manage to overcome the challenges ahead mostly unscathed. For the sake of the guild I will try to become something else. Something more...compatible," Vile said as he looked over Makarov and saw a car slowly rolling down the dirt road, driven by Lucy.
"That does sound pretty ominous," Makarov noted offhand, to which Vile nodded.
"It is, for the most part…I'll indulge you later," he said. Makarov's face lit up with glee. One of the reasons why he had let Vile join was because he was interested in him. It was the reason why he let most members join Fairy Tail, it was the reason a guild like Fairy Tail was created in the first place.
"Vile?" Erza said, cautiously. She had successfully managed to gain control over her facial expressions.
"Yes?"
"What did you do with Erigor?" she asked.
"Ah, him. It's a bit hard to explain, but I've got him confined for the time being," he said while shrugging.
"What are you planning to do with him?"
"Nothing really. Do you have anything in mind?"
"No," she said flatly.
"I'll probably release him at some point in the future, I don't really know," he said, shrugging once more. "Anyway, I'll take my leave now. I'll see you in the guild, although I doubt you'll recognize me."
"What do you mean?" Erza asked, confused.
"I made a promise to you, didn't I?" he said, after which he turned his back towards her and started to walk away from the two.
"What's he talking about?" Makarov inquired of Erza.
"You'll see when we get back I guess," she said, as a self-satisfied smile crossed her face.
The sun was starting to reappear from behind the clouds that had so abruptly seized the skies. It was a gradual shift, but pleasant nonetheless. Erza took a moment to look up at the reemerging sun, reveling in its warm caress that brought back the heat that had been forcibly torn out of her when the vacuum had been filled. All in all, the area where Lullaby has stood was a complete mess. Trees were uprooted, scattered branches lying everywhere, leaves being spread to the winds, the ground itself looking quite weird with its unnaturally flat surface.
Natsu, who was the first to get off the car, was in awe of the landscape in front of him. "Who did this?" he asked, quite excitedly.
"That was Vile's doing," Makarov said calmly.
"Ah, Master! You're here too?" Gray said, exiting the cabin of the car, smiling for once.
"Yes. I came to check up on you. I need to go back to the general meeting soon though. Tell the others I'll be back in two or three days, okay?"
"I'll tell them," Erza said. Makarov nodded and began walking back towards Oshibana.
"So, Vile did this?" Natsu asked while gesturing towards the messed up field.
"Yes…and he didn't even break a sweat while doing so," Erza noted.
Natsu smiled widely. He couldn't wait to fight Vile. It had been a while since he last fought someone seriously, someone who could actually fight back, and someone who wasn't Erza…
Author Notes: And that was it for the first chapter. If you were unaware, it has been redone twice, making this the third edition of this chapter, and undoubtedly the best.
I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter and I would, as always, appreciated any feedback or comments you may have in form of a review.
Just as a last note, the chapter after this one, Escalation, has yet to be 'fixed' and is at this point not up to par in terms of quality.
