Chapter 1: I Need to Find Him
"What do you mean we're giving up!"
The Lamia Scale guild members looked up from their conversations. There in the middle of the hall was a sight not many of them had yet seen. Their resident ice mage who was normally so stoic and composed was was now openly livid right in front of them and yelling out his frustrations on none other than the guild master herself.
"We don't have the resources to keep helping out the Fairy Tail guild." the master shot back. Her own irritation was quickly growing but had yet to match the young man's display of emotions.
"So you'll just abandon them? What will people say about our guild when they find out we've abandoned one of our allies in their time of need?"
"The allied forces doesn't exist anymore, Lyon." The old woman let her voice grow softer as she spoke, "If you want to help Fairy Tail so much then put your nose to the grind stone and get back to work. Once we've replenished all the savings we've spent then maybe we can send out another search expedition."
"What do you mean maybe? You say that but all I hear is you admitting defeat. You may have given up old woman but I have not!"
With that declaration Lyon stormed out of the guild, everyone watching him as he went. As the doors slammed behind him everyone breathed a collective sigh as the tension in the hall dissolved.
The wizard saint Jura Neekis had been watching the whole exchange with growing concern. As soon as Lyon was gone he stepped forward and addressed the guild master.
"Please be patient with him." he said, giving the woman a pleading look, "You do understand why he's so upset don't you?"
Ooba nodded, "It's because of Fairy Tail's ice mage. I'm not sure exactly what kind of relationship they had but it seems he cared more about him than I first thought." she sighed and shook her head at the guild doors, "Talk to him for me Jura, I can tell you looks up to you. Maybe you can get him so see reason."
"I will do my best," he said with a slight dip of the head and moved to follow the ice mage.
"Jura wait!"
He looked to his left to see Sherry standing there, her hands clasped together and looking at him with pleading eyes.
"Be sure to tell him that I, Toby, and Yuka are there for him if he needs us. He's so stubborn, and can sometimes be too prideful to ask for help."
He nodded. "I was already planning on doing that."
"Ignorant old hag!" Lyon cursed as he trudged down the street.
He was sick of her, sick of his guild. With every new search attempt, the launched more and more members voiced their complaints and said it was a lost cause.
"I guess I'm the only one left who has any sense. It's up to me now!"
"What's up to you?"
Lyon stopped as he heard the familiar voice and turned around.
"Don't tell me you planning on searching on your own?" Jura scolded.
The ice mage narrowed his eyes, "Are you going to stop me?"
"I will if I have to." he replied, his expression sagging as he looked at the younger man, "Lamia Scale needs a break from this search and you do too. It's starting to affect you for the worst."
Lyon stared at him for a moment before he decided that he didn't want to hear any more of this and began walking away. Jura didn't miss a beat and was soon walking with him step for step.
"Can you tell me why finding the members of Fairy Tail is so important to you?" He asked.
"What? The fact that people have gone missing isn' enough? Unlike the rest of you cowards, I don't give up so easily." Lyon spat with every ounce of anger he was feeling in that moment.
"That's all?" Jura probed hesitantly.
"Why would I need more reason than that?" Lyon growled in frustration and tried to break into a run so he could get away from this frustrating conversation, but Jura predicted his action and grabbed him firmly by the arm and yanked him back.
"Let go."
"Lyon," the wizard saint softened his voice, "I'm sorry that Gray is gone."
Lyon's eye's widened and he opened his mouth in bafflement before closing it. He then immediately went on the defense and glared accusingly at his guild mate, "What are you talking about? Why should I care anymore about that idiot than the rest of the missing mages?"
Jura stared at him in disappointment, "Lyon, you're friends are there for you when you need them, the whole guild is. You know that right?"
"Of course, I do. But I don't need them now? I'm fine!" Lyon's voice was slowly rising as he spoke. "Now let me go!"
"I will, but promise me one thing first."
"What?"
"Go home tonight and get some rest then come to the guild tomorrow and get back to work."
"I'll do what I want."
Lyon pulled against the stronger man and Jura reluctantly let him go.
The wizard saint left out a deep sigh as he watched the ice mage walk away.
Lyon stopped in front of the train station and looked at the schedule to see when the next train would be leaving for Magnolia. He skimmed down the list and saw that it wouldn't be until later that evening.
The train station was moderately busy. The smell of engine fuel filled the air and people were hurrying about, paying no attention to him as he tried to decide what to do next.
He glanced over at the people boarding the train and saw a woman with two children get one. One of the kids seemed to be on some kind of sugar high as he hopped up and down all the way, the other looked like he had just woken up from a nap. As he watched them, Lyon felt a tightening in his gut. He cringed at the feeling and turned away from the sight and back to the posted times.
He decided that it was pointless to travel that late. It would be dark by the time he got there and would have to start in the morning. Better to go home and catch the early train than spend money on a hotel.
He turned away and began walking towards his home.
The wind picked up as he walked and began blowing dust and discarded papers around. He watched the bits of trash getting tossed around in a light daze. What Jura had said to him came back to him and the unpleasant feeling inside of him came back.
'I'm sorry that Gray is gone.'
He shook his head, trying to get rid of it, but the unwanted words kept repeating inside his head.
'I'm sorry that Gray is gone.'
'I'm sorry that Gray is gone.'
'I'm sorry Gray is gone.'
'sorry Gray is gone.'
'Gray is gone.'
'Gray is gone.'
'Gray is gone.'
"Gray isn't gone. he's missing and I have to find him!" Lyon screamed as something inside him snapped.
He broke into a run and sprinted the rest of the way home. When he arrived he slammed the door shut and went straight to his dining room table. He threw the stack of letters that were mostly unopened bills and whatever else was one there to the ground, then grabbed hold of the box that was sitting on a shelf next to it and emptied its contents onto the table top. Out toppled, news paper clippings, books, a whole stack of hand written notes, and various other writings; all the information Lyon had gather that had anything to do with the disappearance of Tenrou Island.
He grabbed a pen and piece of paper, pulled himself up a chair and began reading through all of it for about the hundredth time.
He dug through everything he had found, every bit of research he had come up with, skimming through all of it like a maniac and writing down any idea he could come up with on how to get the Fairy Tail mages back, most were improbable, somewhere down right ludicrous. He didn't care for logic or reason right then, his only thought was that if he came up with enough he might stumble across the right one.
As the day dragged on his ideas got more and more desperate. He felt like he was on a collision course and something inside him told him that he should stop, that he wasn't thinking straight, but he couldn't stop, stopping would mean giving up, and he just couldn't do that.
When he had filled the paper with possible solutions he got up to get another one. When he sat back down again something in the stack of notes caught his eyes. He pulled it out and looked at it. It was a drawing he had found of the dragon that had attacked Tenrou Island. It probably wasn't accurate but it was the only one he could find. It was black, hideous, and evil. It was a monster. A black monster had taken his master away and now another one had taken Gray.
His hand trembled as he tightened it into a fist, crumbling the drawing. He felt the rage building up in him as he ground his teeth together. He suddenly stood to his feet, knocking his chair over. He piled the papers back into the box, throwing them in with no particular order.
He grabbed his coat as he left and shrugged it over his shoulders. The sun had set over an hour ago and the streets were now almost empty. He set off at a brisk pass, almost a run and passed seventeen different blocks before he made it out of the city and onto a dirt road.
It was then that he stopped, his breath coming in fast. He looked up at the night sky, there were a few stars out, but not many. He remembered being disappointed when he came to this town in the number of stars there were. On the mountain where he trained with Ur, you could see thousands of them on a clear enough night with no moon. Something about that memory pulled him back to reality and he glanced back down at the road he was on. It winded through farm land then into a forest, after that he wasn't sure where it led or why he was even on it. It didn't lead to Fairy Tail, it wouldn't take him to Gray. This might be the direction Acnologia was in, but he had no way of knowing.
With a sense of shame in his heart, he turned and hung his head towards home.
The light was still on when he returned. As soon as he closed the door a wave of fatigue washed over him. He shed his coat and kicked off his boots before heading straight to bed.
Morning came and with it a knock on the door. Lyon was slowly pulled from his sleep. He blinked open his eyes and groaned. His body felt so stiff he wasn't sure if he could move it. The knock came again, this time, more persistent. He forced himself up and stretched his limbs out before slugging over to the door. He opened it to find Yuka.
"Why are you waking me up so early?" he complained.
"It's almost noon; you're usually up by now," Yuka replied, raising one of his massive eyebrows.
"I had a long night." Lyon mutter in excuse.
"I see. Well, the master has a special job lined up for you. Jura asked me to come here and tell you just in case you weren't planning on showing up at the guild today."
"The man never quits does he?" Lyon sighed, "Fine, just give me a few minutes to get dressed."
He went back inside and began searching for something to wear. He searched his room and found that most of his garments were dirty, including his usual attire. He found a clean blue shirt and black pants. A little too plan for his taste, but wasn't going to wear something that smelled like sweat.
He grabbed his jacket as he left and headed towards Lamia Scale with a newfound sense of resolve. He needed to get his life back in order and save up some money. That would get his pesky guild members off his back and his personal problems out of the way. Once that was done he could finally be able to think clearly and perhaps come up with a lead on how to find the missing Fairy Tail members.
Since it was almost noon most of the guild members had already gone off on jobs and the hall was practically empty. Lyon found Ooba sitting at one of the tables, sipping tea and looking over several stacks of papers. He approached her.
"I heard you had a job for me."
She took another large gulp then reached over and took a paper off the top of one of the stacks and handed it to him.
"Some visionary wants a maker mage to help him with a project he's got going. Some kind of new magical device he's trying to create. It'll be a longer job. Probably a few months, but it pays well."
"That's fine." Lyon took to the job request from her and turned to leave.
"Don't screw this up unless you want to spin!" she cackles at him as he headed out the door.
