Here is the new chapter! I changed the story name mainly because I felt like it didn't reflect the story all that well and it w as weird having a 2 part story with different names.

Also, huge thanks to Applegirl3223 who Beta read this chapter! Enjoy!

Hospital

"Aghh!" Bartholomew grunted as the lacrima was inserted in his empty eye socket.

Bartholomew sat there, alone for the witch doctor had left, holding his eye. He was desperately hoping that the lacrima would work and return vision to him.

"Come on Bartholomew…you can do it…" he sighed as he moved his hand away from his eye.

The improvement was remarkable. Instantly, he could see! Bartholomew jumped from his hospital bed in joy and danced around the bland room, knocking over a coat rack and a table.

"I can see!" he shouted and jumped for joy.

When Bartholomew landed, he and quickly noticed something about his new vision. The eye that had been replaced by the lacrima, it was strange because it seemed to see farther than the normal eye. It also made the world appear, more lifelike. He could also easily calculate distance! Bartholomew grinned as he stopped in front of the mirror in the hospital room to see his face for the first time in a few days.

His blonde hair was flat, sticking close to his head and his new eye, it was strange because the lacrima had adapted well to the space where the eye would have been. It seemed to have quickly bonded with the nerves and it looked, normal. Besides the eye, his body seemed normal. He was still thin, tall and his blue eye stared back at him. With trembling hands Bartholomew reached up to touch his face.

"So this is how far I am willing to go. Sacrifice an eye for the future." Bartholomew murmured to himself as he observed the lacrimal eye that twisted and turned within the socket.

He tore himself from the mirror to grab the clothes that were laid out for him on the chair that stood next to the mirror. He quickly dressed into the white dress shirt, black robes and white dress pants that were given. He considered wearing armor but he decided against it. He grinned to himself as he left the hospital room for the corridors of the fortress.

'Those rogues will have hell to pay.'

The Machine Shop

Crack sat alone, illuminated by a spotlight that was attached to the ceiling. He was sitting at a table and was fiddling with some strange mechanical device. His bored face observed the gears as they turned rapidly and his hair seemed to blend with the darkness. His white lab coat was the only thing that was visible besides his face.

"I don't like people. Politics are useless to me. When will the fools of Adrianople learn that the more they meddle with the affairs of the natives, the angrier they become? That is why I turn to inventions. Yes…I will create things. That is the only way I can be satisfied…" Crack muttered to himself as he added another gear to the massive collection.

This would go on for hours, the mechanics were told not to disturb Crack while he worked and he often sat alone, working on random gadgets. He would add gears to the contraption, mutter to himself about inventions and then continue working. But today was a special day. He was building something that could revolutionize warfare forever. He had noticed that the autobow most soldiers carried didn't fire fast enough and because the arrow shaft was so delicate, the gears had to be more careful, resulting in a mediocre speed at which the arrow would fly. It was almost perfect.

Crack wanted to do something more than shoot arrows. He saw a long battlefield, the trucks carrying soldiers rumbling over the field and his new gun attached to the truck. The pistols of this age were, poor. Accuracy was sacrificed for power and rarely did anyone die from a pistol or rifle shot. However, Crack was creating something that would make the pistol and rifle more useful. He called it, The Mechanik Ghever. It was Garlan for "Mechanic Gun". He simply took the autobow mechanism, added a few gears and fed a chain of bullets into the feeding mechanism intended for arrows.

The results were magnificent. The bullets shot out like bolts from the blue. they were literally invisible because they travelled so fast. They were also accurate with only 1 misfire in a series of 1000 bullet tests and every single bullet hit the middle area of the target.

"Excellent! It seems that the goddess of invention has smiled upon me!" Crack said as he smiled and turned to another table that had a copper sheet and a hammer on it. Crack took the copper sheet and hammered the sheet around the mechanism to protect it, cutting the sheet so that the bullet feed would still be useable. Crack grinned as he stepped back and looked at his creation. The beaten copper shined in the spotlight and the metal 3 legged tripod held it upright while a short barrel of metal provided even more accuracy. A feed of bullets hung from the feeder and he flicked off the spotlight as he turned and left the workshop.

"Inventing, brings me peace…"

Magnolia

The legendary guild of Fairy Tail had not changed much over the 150 years that had passed since the Last Nightmare Mage had awoken. Makarov had long passed away at the age of 120, leaving Gildartz to run the guild as the 5th master. He was an old man now, still retaining the extended lifespan of a wizard saint. Most of the old guild members had passed away besides a few long lived members such as Wakaba, Macao, Natsu and Gray. Romeo had also grown up into a fine young man,, hearing stories about the world before the Garlan Empire. He grew up hearing the heroics of Julius, Noel and Seraph. He also grew up hearing the devilish deeds of Toy Box, Anastasia, The Big Four and The Nightmare Mages.

The guild had soon proven themselves once again the strongest guild in Fiore with the breakup of Sabertooth by Cyrus. Most of the old members of Sabertooth joined Fairy Tail. It was a miracle that Fairy Tail had survived this long. Sara and Darius had tolerated them. Adrian had reduced their power considerably only because he didn't like their destructive behavior and Cyrus had completely downsized their power. And it seemed as the future king, Otto Evadeus, intended to disband the guild forever. But Gildartz had other plans. He had formulated a conspiracy with the guild masters of other guilds to overthrow the Garlan Empire.

Magnolia had grown considerably since the arrival of Sara Evadeus. The citizens of then Arcana were ordered to leave the city and move somewhere else. Most of them went to Magnolia. The town's population swelled to well over half a million. The city was the 3rd biggest city on the continent with only Adrianople and Crocus rivaling it.

Hyde and his friends rested there now. Taking a well deserved rest from days on the run. The entire group had been labeled as "Rogue" and any town that sheltered them was open to immediate martial law. Fairy Tail had kept them safe and they were getting ready to start searching for the middle piece.

Fairy Tail

The group of rogues stood outside of the Fairy Tail guild building, about to leave. Hyde had gotten some new clothes, a white lab coat like jacket, a new pack and his hair was actually combed for once. He had his sword strapped to his back and everyone else was looking good as new as well. Tadaaki and Hitoshi wore matching black jackets with the Ryuusaga emblem woven into the soft black fabric in gold. Lucia had chosen to have her old clothes washed instead of making Fairy Tail pay for new clothes. Norman insisted on wearing his ancient sailor's uniform and Lidia had her clothes simply washed as well.

The town seemed peaceful with birds chirping in the huge oak trees near the guild, the sun shining on the guild and the sounds of business from the town below. A few of the Fairy Tail mages stood outside the guild to say farewell to the group of rogues as they ventured into the cold and dark world. Gildartz shook Hyde's hand as they said their final goodbyes.

Gildartz had grown old since the death of Makarov and sported a great beard of ginger hair that was starting to go gray. He was as imposing as ever, looking like he was still the man he used to be, almost 100 years ago. Natsu hadn't aged nearly as much, being a dragon slayer. He still had that personality that made Lidia want to go smack him. He was loud, outgoing and still had that fierce rivalry with Gray. He was grinning hugely at the group now. Gray on the other hand was old. Not nearly as old as Gildartz but the years had taken their toll on Gray. His once dark blue hair was starting to fade and his face showed the scars of many fights. Gildartz finally decided to say the words of goodbye. He pulled Hyde into a huge bear hug and Hyde ended up being squished between the huge man and his muscular arms.

"Gah! G-Gildartz! No!" Hyde wheezed as Gildartz apologized and let him go.

Hyde paused to catch his breath and rearrange his bones. That man, was still a behemoth of power. Gildartz took on a serious face and faced Hyde as he stood upright.

"Hyde. I don't know where you are going, but I know that you will succeed in leading this group. Always know that Fairy Tail is a home for you and your friends and any Fairy Tail mage you come across will be an ally." Gildartz said to Hyde as he turned to leave.

Hyde smiled and he waved to Gildartz and they started walking down the long dirt road that led into the city. Everyone else smiled and gave their thanks to Fairy Tail as they left. The entire air filled with words of gratitude and Gildartz shouted some more words of advice.

"Oh and when you meet Cyrus, give him hell!" he shouted to the group as they started to walk down the dirt path.

"Yeah!" Natsu and Gray said together.

They looked at each other and immediately started to argue.

"Oh I see, trying to copy me popsicle?" Natsu said to the ice mage.

"I can take you easily. I'm going to enjoy grinding you into ice shards." Gray shot back as they tackled each other.

The arguments faded as Lidia and the others walked farther but Lidia could still hear their constant bickering.

"Do those idiots ever stop fighting?" Lidia asked as she slumped forward in an exhausted motion.

Everyone burst out laughing. The sight of Gray and Natsu fighting reminded them of better days. Hyde kept the words of Gildartz in his mind.

'Give him hell Gildartz? Oh I will. I will guarantee it.' Hyde said as he pushed his brown hair back with his right hand and tapped the sword sheath on his back with the other.

Otto

Otto was reading, again. He seemed to have trouble doing anything without reading Balviron. He was drawn to the book, no matter what he did. He sat in his comfortable room, fireplace blazing, feet out on a stack of old books on magic and his black cape wrapped around him. He had almost forgotten to wear black in respect for his grandmother.

But those thoughts didn't matter to him now. His dark brown eyes gazed over hundreds of words stamped into the iron pages of the book and he was particularly interested in something called "God Slayer". It seemed that anyone who undertook this high pressure magic gained the powers of a god. The talk of gods was nonsensical to Otto for he was a pagan like his father. Gods held no power over him. He continued reading until he came to a section that read "Earth God Slayer".

"Now what is this…" Otto muttered to himself as he absent mindedly stood from his comfortable sofa and walked around the room, reading the words in the book.

It was startlingly simple. All he had to do was sacrifice a certain amount of earthworms to the earth god and he would gain the power of the earth god. Why earthworms?

'Disgusting creatures…' Otto thought disdainfully as he called for a servant to bring him 100 earthworms from wherever earthworms lived.

He sat back in his chair and waited for the earthworms to be brought to him. It took a while but the servant eventually walked in with a jar filled with earthworms and Otto took the jar into his hands. The servant retreated and Otto almost gagged from how disgusting they were.

"For the good of the empire." Otto reassured himself as he opened the jar and walked to the fireplace. He held the jar over the fire, warming his hands at the same time.

He flipped the jar upside down and the worms started to tumble into the flames and Otto spoke the words that were needed to gain the powers of a god.

"Earth God, Terra, I sacrifice to you! Lend me your powers for I have given you 100 of your sacred earthworms!" Otto shouted demandingly into the ground.

The last of the worms had burned away in the fire and Otto next to the fireplace feeling stupid. Had it not worked? Did he say the words wrong? Suddenly Otto felt a stabbing pain in his foot and he dropped to his knees. The pain started to rise through his body and Otto could felt every blow of pain as he fell to the hard stone floor of the room. Suddenly he saw a stony hand reach from the ground and grab his leg and soon, dozens of hands rose from the ground and grabbed him. Otto screamed, screamed louder than he had in his entire life.

"H-HELP! HELP ME!" he screamed as the hands continued to grab his body.

"Quiet fool! Did you not sacrifice to me? Terra, the earth goddess? Be still and I will give you what you desire! But there are unwritten laws within the book boy. Did you know the risks before taking this task? The last god slayer died in the burning flames of his pride. And so will you. Do you take these risks?" a quiet voice asked from the stone floors.

Otto was about to go insane. Floors were talking! He continued to scream for help but his heart had made up its mind for him.

'Yes!' his heart unwillingly screamed to the stony hands that were grabbing him.

"Then I will lend you my power, Otto Evadeus, crown prince of the Garlan Empire."

A pain went through his heart and Otto could only open his mouth in pain as his vision fell to black.

Crocus, the second biggest city in Fiore

The city of Crocus was in dismal shape. Most of the buildings were old buildings with houses that had tin roofs or didn't have roofs at all. The city had once been the shining capital of the Kingdom of Fiore but had fallen into poverty with the ruling of the Big Four and it still continued to this day. The population was huge with around 5 million citizens but most of them were poor. The only person who lived in even the slightest luxury was the mayor, Allison Doma, the descendant of Guran Doma, the former chairman of the wizard council. Everyone in the city held a deep hatred for the Garlan Empire and words of rebellion were common in the dirty taverns. Even Allison herself considered organizing a rebellion against the tyranny of Cyrus. That was nothing but a dream until she was contacted by Gildartz of Fairy Tail one day.

Gildartz had told her that the guilds of Fiore were organizing a rebellion against Cyrus and he wanted the citizens of Crocus to join him. She agreed. She was a mage too, inheriting her ancestor's skill as a Phoenix Slayer and she was eagerly awaiting the day of the Empire' fall. She had busied herself by contacting several other guilds and spreading the words of rebellion and soon, they had amassed an army to overthrow the Garlan Empire. To make things even sweeter for the guilds, The Garlan Empire was on the verge of war with a powerful feudal lord on the Southern Continent. Their forces would be strained as they struggled against the Asarabians. The stage was set for something drastic. But there were even more drastic things happening within the city and the military.

?

Only the shadows of men could be seen from within the tent in the dark of night. They spoke with urgency.

"I grow tired of his majesty's fickle wishes. He sends my soldiers to the ends of this continent and then demands I travel back to Adrianople!" one of the men raved.

"Aye. He seems to be having fits of madness, sending our soldiers across the world in short notice. Does he not realize that the Red Army does not have an infinite amount of soldiers?" asked another man.

"Patience my friends. We will have victory soon enough. There is an important deal coming…"

Alleyway in Crocus

The alleyways stank, they were dangerous and frightening. But they were the only way street rats could get food. And one stood rummaging through a trash can in the dark alleyway next to a street overflowing with sewage. He was digging through the trash when his dirty hands fell upon a something cold and hard. His rags whipped in the wind as he pulled his hand out of the garbage to reveal a pure silver half circle with another half circle cut into the middle. Strange markings adorned it and the street rat's eyes glinted as he turned away from the garbage can.

"Sell this for a good price. E-eat food…."

And thar we go. Took me a long time to actually finish it but it got done. I really don't know why the sacrifice to Terra was earthworms. Probably because they had earth in the name. Thanks for reading and please review! FF