Welcome to Dark Shadows chapter Two.
I am amazed that the first chapter alone got so many reviews and favs/follows. Can you all believe I actually wasn't going to write this story when I first got the idea, but then I couldn't get it out of my head so I finally caved and began to write it.
Still do not own anything except Tatsuo and the plot.
Onto the story.
(The next morning, Dark Shadows hideout)
"Oh Natsu" Tatsuo called while knocking on the door to the Dragon boys room, heard Natsu shuffling around in the room before the door opened revealing a semi-awake Natsu.
"Yeah" Natsu said as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
"Sanji says breakfast is ready and if you want anything to get out there now or you will be catching your own breakfast that he will not cook for you" Tatsuo said with a grin.
"Okay, be there in a minute" Natsu said through a yawn.
"Oh and after dinner I have a Hit you may like to take" Tatsuo said with a grin. Natsu nodded and closed his door, got re-dressed and ran to the lounge were his plate of food was still sitting at the bar waiting for him.
"Look who is finally awake" Sanji said as he lit a cigarette.
"Sorry, I over slept" Natsu said with a small smile, he didn't normally sleep in when he stayed here, he usually was the first to wake up.
"That is unusual" Sanji remarked, "Maybe the stress from the past few days" Sanji said.
"Maybe" Natsu agreed as he began to silently eat.
After eating Natsu made his way to Tatsuos office to discuss his new Hit.
"This is all the information on your new target, this time it is to be quiet, no other people are allowed to die on this" Tatsuo said as he handed Natsu the information sheet.
"Ha, someone actually put out a hit for this guy, who would have guessed" Natsu said with a grin, "wonder who he pissed off enough to want him dead"
"Who cares, all you have to worry about is getting to him, killing him, and getting away from the guild without killing anyone else" Tatsuo said.
"Consider it done, hell even I hate the guy" Natsu said with a grin, "Creeps me out whenever I see him"
Natsu then left the hideout and made his way to Magnolia where he quickly passed through town without being seen and made his way to Blue Pegasus Guild a few towns over. When he saw the guild hall he grinned and jumped in through a window on the second floor, quickly leaping into the rafters to avoid being seen until he strikes his target. He scanned over the hall until his eyes locked on his target, Ichiya, the parfume obsessed pervert ugly short guy, but Natsu frowned when he realized who the guy was fawning over at the moment was Levy Mcgarden, and beside her was an already irritated Gajeel Redfox.
"Shit" Natsu whisper-cursed. Levy was talking to Hibiki as the man typed away on his info magic thingy that Natsu never really bothered to learn about, no doubt they were trying to gather info on Dark Shadows. The thought of them figuring out more about his dark family the more he wanted to growl and attack Hibiki too so that he can not pull out more info, But Natsus hit information was very clear that he is not allowed to kill anyone else or he will not be paid.
Natsu watched silently as Ichiya fawned over Levy until Gajeel growled for him to get away, then watched as Ichiya silently walked towards a secluded booth to pout. As soon as Ichiya sat down alone was the moment Natsu sprung into action, coating himself in black flames and launching himself at the target.
At the spike in magic most of the people in the hall looked over to see a black blur launch at Ichiya, before anyone could react the blur reached Ichiya and a loud snapping sound was heard, then a smell of burning flesh. They stared in horror as the black flames died out to reveal a blood red haired guy holding Ichiya in the air with one hand, Ichiyas head rolled around freely... obviously dead with a broken neck, and his shirt was burned off revealing the insignia of the Dark Shadows guild burned into Ichiyas stomach flesh.
Gajeel instantly recognized Dragon Shadow and launched to attack the assassin, but Dragon threw the dead Ichiya at Gajeel and dashed out the front guilds door and was gone before anyone else got over their shock enough to do anything, but Gajeel was not going to give up yet, This was the SECOND time that bastard killed someone in front of him and he dammed well will try and catch the assassin. But after following for a few moments Dragon engulfed himself in black flames and when the flames vanished... Dragon Shadow was gone too.
"Dammit" Gajeel growled as he searched the area to find anything, anything at all he could use to track the deadly man... but he couldn't find anything, no sent, no tracks, nothing at all. So after half an hour of searching he reluctantly returned to Blue Pegasus to see the guild was devastated and some were crying.
After what happened today, Blue Pegasus was now dead set on finding Dark Shadows and Hibiki worked harder to find any information he could... but in the end he was only able to find the code names of all five members, and a little information that Gajeel and Levy already knew about Demon Shadow, and Dragon shadow. They learned there were three more members named Dark Shadow, Fullmetal Shadow, and Black-leg Shadow who Gajeel and Levy knew more about already with having met the blonde guy once.
Levy and Gajeel left Blue Pegasus at the end of the day with no important new information other than the death of Ichiya, and heavy hearts because just like Jerry, they couldn't save Ichiya.
(Two Weeks Later, Fairy Tail guild hall)
As soon as the pink haired Salamander entered the guild hall everyone grew quiet, Natsu froze at the quiet that greeted him when normally they were usually so hyper and happy to see him. Suddenly Erza walked up to him with a frown.
"Natsu we have some bad news" Erza said, "That Dragon Shadow guy we were assigned to find, we found out he is your brother" Erza said calmly, Natsu stared at her for a moment before sighing.
"Erza, I already knew he was my brother" Natsu said with a sigh, the rest of the guild stared at him with wide eyes.
"YOU KNEW" Erza yelled in shock, Natsu nodded at the knight.
"Igneel told me that when he found me there was another boy with me, we were twins and the only difference between us was the hair color, Igneel told me he gave my twin to his brother the black fire dragon to raise because a dragon can only raise one slayer at a time, I never met my brother in person, but when I heard of his black fire magic that was similar to mine I knew right away he was my twin" Natsu said with a frown.
"While you were gone, Dragon Shadow, your brother, killed at least six people, including Ichiya and a shopkeeper here in Magnolia" Erza said with a frown.
"Were you able to find anything more about him" Natsu asked.
"No everything we learn we already know, but we did find out code names and at least what one more of the members look like" Erza said.
"So nothing useful" Natsu sighed as he went to sit down.
"How was your trip Natsu-San" Wendy asked.
"It was alright, I cleaned the cave Igneel raised me in, it was covered in vines over the last seven years" Natsu said with a smile, "Now I kind of want to take a mission" Natsu said while looking around the table at his team.
"A mission sounds nice, since we are at a standstill in our investigation, and money is running tight" Lucy said with a smile.
"How about a s-class mission" Erza said with a smile, Natsu pumped his fist in the air and cheered.
"Yes, S-class, one with lots of fighting and monsters" Natsu said childishly causing his team to laugh and smile at the childish fire user.
"Alright, I think I saw one about a dark guild that has been terrorizing a village using weird monsters" Erza said as she went to go get the mission.
(After the mission)
the team was sleeping outside in a make-shift camp, the mission was really easy for an S-class Quest and they all actually agreed to walk instead of using a train simply because they had time and they now had two Dragon Slayers who got Motion sickness.
Gajeel awoke to a small buzzing sound that if it was not for his dragon enhanced hearing he wouldn't have heard at all. He opened one eye and looked around, he noticed Natsu sit up and raise his wrist and stare at his wristband that was now glowing blue. Gajeel saw Natsu look around the camp, Gajeel closed his eye when Natsus gaze passed over him, he then heard shuffling and opened one eye to see Natsu was silently sneaking away from the camp.
Gajeel frowned and quietly started to follow the Salamander, he kept himself downwind from Natsu, using what Metalicana taught him about hunting and stalking prey, he followed and watched as Natsu jumped into a tree and tapped the wristband, a holographic image of a black haired guy popped up with a grin directed at Natsu.
"What do you want, do you even realize what time it is" Natsu said with a small yawn. The guy in the image laughed at the tired Salamander.
"It is two in the morning" the black haired guy said matter-of-fact.
"Why did you wake me, is everything okay" Natsu asked, the sleepiness fading from him the more he talked.
"Everything is fine, I wanted to know how your mission is going" the guy asked.
"It was kinda boring actually, wish there was more fighting, and that Erza will stop hitting me every time I try and pick a friendly fight with the ice pop" Natsu said as he leaned his back against the tree trunk and placed his hand on his knee so that he had the image in clear view without having to hold his arm up the entire time.
"Oh, When do you think you will be back" the guy asked.
"In about two days, Gajeel and I were able to convince the rest to walk the journey, why is there something for me" Natsu asked.
"Yes, quite the exciting one too, I thought about taking it myself but you enjoy the bigger ones most, so I am saving it for when you return" the guy said.
"Oh, almost makes me wish we took the train so I can take it already" Natsu said with a sadistic grin.
Gajeel stared at Natsu with wide eyes while listening to this conversation, the look on Natsus face looked very wrong for the cheerful dense Salamander he knew. He had no idea who the man was Natsu was talking to, but apparently they were friends.
"Natsu, You know you are like a brother to me right" the guy asked. Natsu instantly flushed and started stuttering.
"H-hey, what is with the mushy talk all of a sudden" Natsu asked with a slight growl to his voice, "Are you sure you are okay, did you challenge Zoro to a drinking contest again" Natsu asked.
"No, I didn't challenge Zoro, and I do not think I am sick" the guy said while laughing before he sighed , "But with everything that has been going on, the nightmares have returned"
"Hey, listen to me Tatsuo" Natsu said with a serious face as he stared hard at the guy, "You, me, Sanji, Zoro, and Edward, we are a family, we will not disappear on you, we will not leave you, and we will not, I repeat NOT die on you. Yes I have my life in Fairy Tail, yes Fairy Tail is also like a family to me, but no matter where I am, where I choose to stay, you guys will always be my family" Natsu said with a voice full of complete devotion.
Gajeel stared in shock at Natsu, his voice and words sounded like these strange group of people meant the world to him, his voice sounded so full of devotion to this guy that it paled in comparison to his devotion to Fairy Tail.
"Thanks Natsu, that is exactly what I needed to hear. I honestly do not know what I did to survive without you these past seven years" Tatsuo said.
"You lived in denial to the fact I was thought to be dead" Natsu said with a smirk and a teasing tone.
"I did not" Tatsuo said with narrowed eyes.
"Whatever" Natsu said with a smile, "Anyway, I need to get back to camp before the others wake and realize I am gone, Tell the others I will be back in about three days, and Tatsuo try to get some sleep tonight, there are dark circles under your eyes that should not be there" Natsu said.
Gajeel didn't wait to hear the end of the conversation, he quickly and quietly made his way back to camp and layed down in his sleeping spot and pretended to be asleep, he heard the footsteps of Natsu returning to camp and quietly laying back down, he yawned and a few minutes later Gajeel heard the soft snores that told him the pink haired slayer was now sleeping.
"Who exactly is that guy Natsu was talking to, who is this other family that he is keeping hidden from us" Gajeel thought, he was too busy thinking that he didn't realize the sun was rising until Natsu awakened again and left to the bushes to take a leak. Shortly everyone was awake and headed out on their journey back to Magnolia. Gajeel noticed Natsu was now walking faster than before, probably in a hurry to see his other family.
"Oi, Salamander, slow down" Gajeel growled.
"Yeah flame-brain, we need to rest, we have been walking, trying to keep up with you for hours, how are you not tired yet" Gray grumbled.
"Come-on guys, I want to get home already" Natsu whined.
"Why are you in such a rush Natsu" Erza asked.
"Because I remembered I have something to do as soon as we get back to Magnolia" Natsu said with his usual toothy grin.
"What could you possibly need to do that would make you rush" Gray growled.
"I have somewhere to go" Natsu said seriously.
"Where" Erza asked, Natsu sighed before looking at the group, he guesses he can tell them some of the truth.
"If you must know, I have a few friends that I want to see" Natsu said.
"who could you possibly want to see, we are your closest friends in the guild" Gray asked.
"You do not know them" Natsu said earning confused looks from the group except Gajeel.
"Who are they then" Lucy asked.
"Well I met one of them before I even joined Fairy Tail, and together we met the others, we basically grew up together in a sense, but I rarely get to see them because they travel a lot while I mostly stay in Magnolia as a Fairy Tail mage" Natsu said.
"So I guess your friends are in town and you want to see them" Erza said with a smile, Natsu nodded.
"Can we meet them Natsu" Lucy asked excitedly, Natsu visibly tensed at that question.
"No" Natsu said, "I rather send as much time with them alone as I can" Natsu added with a smile, "Maybe next time they are around I can introduce you"
Gajeel narrowed his eyes at Natsu, he knew he was lieing through his teeth, but he had to admit he wouldn't know the guy was lieing if not for listening in on the conversation last night, but Gajeel did not voice his thoughts on the matter, he really didn't care if Salamander has friends outside the guild... it was just how Natsu was acting so secretive about them that got on his nerves.
"Lets take a small lunch break and then we will continue walking, is that okay Natsu" Lucy asked.
"Yoosh, food" Natsu cheered as he sat down and waited patiently for Erza to pass him his sandwich for lunch.
"While we eat, why don't you tell us more about your friends Natsu" Wendy asked, Gajeel noticed Natsu tense for a moment before relaxing and smiling.
Natsu looked around at his team and thought about what to tell them, they do not know who his friends look like or the real names of Dark Shadows members.
"Well Tatty was my first friend I ever made after Igneel left, his guardian died around the time Igneel left leaving him all alone like me, so we traveled together. About month after I met Tatty I met Makarov, I asked Tatty if he wanted to join Fairy Tail with me but he didn't want to, he stayed near Magnolia though. About a year after I joined Fairy Tail, I was with Tatty when we came across two kids that were around our age, they were lost and alone, Tatty offered for them to live with him, soon they became close friends just like Tatty was to me, their names are Zo and Ji" Natsu said with a smile, but a moment later his smile turned to a frown.
"Erza, Gray, do you remember when I left after Lissannas death" Natsu asked.
"Yeah, you just disappeared for over two months, I always wondered where the hell you went" Gray said.
"I went and stayed with Tatty, Zo, and Ji" Natsu said, "Tatty came up with a crazy idea to help me get over my grief faster and together we all went on a two month travel together"
"We were all worried sick about you, and you were traveling with friends we never even knew about" Erza asked while glaring at Natsu.
"Yep, and I do not regret it, they helped me feel better, and my friends discovered they like to travel" Natsu said, "I was going to continue traveling with them, but I knew I had to return to Fairy Tail. A year later They returned to Magnolia with a twelve year old kid they took him in, the kids name is Ed and his home village was destroyed by a dark guild. They stayed in town for a while and just like the rest Ed became a good friend of mine"
"Do they do any magic" Happy asked.
"Oh yes they do, and if any of them decided to join Fairy Tail I have no doubt they would all be S-class, even Ed" Natsu said with a smile, "Enough talk about my friends, lets get going already, I want to see them" Natsu said as he stood, the group groaned but did not complain as they all set back out on their walk home.
Gajeel kept staring at Natsu, the entire time he was talking about his friends Gajeel noticed Natsu was leaving a lot of things out, like he was hiding something. Normally Gajeel wouldn't care, but something was bugging him about Natsu and his friends...and Gajeel was dead set on finding out what.
(Return to Fairy Tail)
They were all walking towards the large guild hall and were about to enter it when Natsu turned and started to head for the East forest earning semi-confused looks from his team.
"See ya guys later" Natsu called over his shoulder as he continued walking.
Gajeel silently went into his hunting mood and began to follow the pink haired teen when Wendy stopped him for a moment.
"What are you doing Gajeel-San" Wendy asked.
"I am going to follow Him and try to figure out more about those friends of his, didn't you guys notice how guarded he was when talking about them" Gajeel said.
"Now that you mention it he did seem kinda tense" Erza said.
"And the fact that he kept them secret all this time" Gray added.
"Well it is not against guild law to have friend outside the guild" Erza stated.
"Well I am still following him" Gajeel said as he turned and started to follow Natsus scent now that Natsu was out of his sight, when he heard footsteps following him he turned to see Gray, Erza, Happy and Lucy following too.
"We are curious about them too" Lucy said, Gajeel shrugged and began to follow Natsus scent again. The scent mostly lead east, took a few turns in town, after a while Gajeel just stopped with a confused look.
"Oi, why did you stop shitty metal head" Gray growled.
"Because the scent stops here" Gajeel said, "It's not even in the air, it just stops, like he masked it or something"
"Why would he do that" Erza asked.
"He may have figured that we would follow him so he masked it so we wouldn't bother him and his friends" Lucy suggested.
"Something just doesn't feel right" Gajeel said with a frown.
"What do you mean" Happy asked.
"He keeps these friends hidden from you all the entire time you guys known him, he was tense while you guys were asking questions and he didn't go into too much detail about them, now he masks his sent so that we can not track him, not to mention he knows how to mask his scent in the first place." Gajeel said, "And then there was this conversation I over-heard him having with some guy named Tatsuo a couple nights ago"
"What conversation, I'm sure we would have realized if there were people near the places we camped at" Gray said.
"Salamander is wearing a communication lacrama, the black wrist band he wears is the communication device. He was called in the middle of the night by some guy named Tatsuo, Natsu left the camp to talk without waking everyone. The way Natsu was talking with that guy was weird, the guy said something about having something Natsu would enjoy and asked how long until he would be back, there were other people mentioned too" Gajeel said as he thought about what he heard.
"And the guy said something about nightmares, then Natsu went on to say they were like family, and even though he is a Fairy Tail mage and Fairy Tail is also like his family, and no matter where he chooses to stay the guy would always be his family. When Natsu said these things he had a voice full of devotion that sounded stronger than his devotion to Fairy Tail" Gajeel said with a frown.
"Apparently this Tatsuo means a lot to him" Lucy said.
"Wait, what if this Tatsuo guy is the Tatty guy he spoke of, Gajeel can you tell us if any other names were mentioned during the conversation" Gray asked.
"Well there was Tatsuo, Zoro, Sanji, and Edward, those are all I heard" Gajeel answered after a few minutes of thinking.
"Tatty could be Tatsuo, Zo could be Zoro, Ji could be Sanji, and Ed could be Edward" Lucy said as she thought over all the names.
"I don't know what he is trying to hide, but whatever it is it makes me uneasy" Gajeel admitted.
"There is nothing we can do right now if Gajeel can't track Natsu further, we should return to the guild and wait for Natsu to return" Erza said as she turned and started to walk back towards the guild.
"Aren't you wondering why he is keeping things from us" Gray growled earning a glare from the mighty Titania that quickly softened.
"I am wondering why he is keeping things, but then I realize that we all kept things from him too, Gray you kept your past about how Ur died and Lyon, I kept my past in the Tower a secret, Lucy kept the fact she was the daughter of Heartphillia." Erza listed, "To be honest, if he wants to keep secrets then we have no right to judge him for it" when she said this Gray and Lucy looked guilty, but Gajeel shrugged.
"Lets get back to the guild" Erza said and the group left.
(Dark Shadows Hideout)
Natsu entered the door to the hideout and walked the small hall to the planning room where he saw everyone gathered around the table while Tatsuo made some markings on the map.
"Now Sanji your target will be in Oak Town around noon in two days, be there and be ready, also be alert your target has requested help from light guilds to protect him" Tatsuo said seriously.
"So the guy who sent us the Hit must have threatened the target, target got scared and called for help. Any idea idea who answered his request" Sanji asked as he looked at the picture of his target that was placed over Oak town on the map, his target was a middle aged man with short brown hair, black eyes with glasses.
"I think the guild Quarto Cerberus answered his request" Tatsuo said after a thoughtful look.
"Ha, piece of cake" Sanji said with a grin.
"I could use a piece of cake right about now" Natsu said now making himself known to the group.
"Welcome back Natsu" Edward said with a grin, "Took you long enough"
"Shut up shorty" Natsu teased.
"I am not short" Edward yelled but everyone ignored him.
"So what is going on" Natsu asked as he walked over and looked at the map, aside from the picture over Oak Town there were four other pictures, a tanned lady with long blonde hair and golden eyes over the town called Freesia.
There was a picture of a rough looking guy with a lot of scars on his face over Hargeon Town. There was a old perverted looking bald guy over Oshibana. And lastly there was a fancy looking guy wearing a council uniform over Crocus.
"Natsu, we are all going to take a Hit and and make some money for supplies and a few adjustments to the hideout" Tatsuo said.
"What kind of adjustments to the hideout" Natsu asked looking at Tatsuo with confused look.
"I wanted to expand the training room, and I was thinking of making our rooms a little bigger as well as create a new room. Edward wants a library room, and Sanji wants to upgrade his kitchen" Tatsuo explained.
"All of those sound really nice" Natsu said as he looked at everyone, "But have you all forgotten that we are currently being tracked by my light guild. Now I want you all to keep this in mind and use all of your skill to try and stay undetected during these Hits"
"Natsu is correct, I expect each of you to use the skills I taught you to remain undetected, even you Sanji, if you can avoid fighting the light guild guards then avoid them, I want clean hits from each of you" Tatsuo said with a serious tone.
"You can count on me" Sanji said with a grin.
"Now Zoro, your target is the blonde lady, her name is Sara, the client didn't give much info on her so I want you to be careful" Tatsuo said.
"Yeah, I got it" Zoro said as he picked up the girls file.
"Edward, you have the pervert man, he has a hit put on him by a rape victim, he apparently uses some kind of motion prevention magic so the best tactic is to take him when his guard is down and he is not looking, remember that if you get into trouble you can use your lacrama and we will come to your aid" Tatsuo explained.
"Why do I get the pervert" Edward whined.
"Because I want the scared up guy, and I'm sure Natsu wants the big Council guy" Tatsuo said with a grin.
"Dam right I want the council guy, besides I am the most known member of this assassins guild so it wont matter if I make a big scene like always" Natsu said with a grin as the gold in his eyes shown brighter.
"Right, but I still want you to try and stay undetected" Tatsuo said.
"Okay Dark, promise to try and stay undetected" Natsu said.
"Okay, now another thing, I want each of these hits to take place in exactly two days around noon, all the deaths at the same time is bound to draw up confusion between the authorities" Tatsuo said with a mischievous grin.
"Sounds like a contradiction to me" Zoro stated, "You want us to remain undetected, yet you also want us to cause a lot of confusion"
"It's not really confusion though, we leave our mark every time we kill, they will find out it is our guild" Edward said.
"Yes, but even if I want to cause the council problems, I do not want them to find out who any of you are, they already know too much about Dragon Shadow and Demon Shadow, and at least Fairy Tail knows what Black-leg Shadow looks like. I do not want them to know anything about Me or you Fullmetal, If they figure out what we all look like then we will all have to learn appearance magic like Natsu so that we can do anything outside the guild when we are not on hits" Tatsuo explained.
"As a matter of fact it might be a good idea for us all to learn appearance magic anyway" Tatsuo said after a moment of thought.
"I'm not much of a teacher, but I can lend you all the books I studied it from" Natsu said earning a nod from his black haired friend.
"Yeah, so as a second order I want each of you to begin learning appearance magic" Tatsuo said, "Unless any of you have any questions or anything you want to run by everyone then I think this meeting is over and we should begin our missions" Tatsuo said earning nods from everyone before they all went to start their preparations for their jobs.
(Later that Day, Fairy Tail)
Natsu calmly walked into the Guild hall with a frown, instantly he earned his teams attention as he quietly headed for the bar, but he didn't notice their gazes because he was too busy silently cursing Sanji in his mind because the blonde haired cook refused to make him anything sweet to eat because he was too busy getting ready for his Hit.
Natsu sat at the bar and waved at Mira.
"Hello Natsu, are you okay" Mira asked the pink haired dragon slayer.
"Hey Mira, I'm fine, but can I have a fire whiskey and a cinnamon cheesecake" Natsu asked.
"You don't usually ask for sweets, are you sure you are okay" Mira asked while making him his drink.
"I'm sure, and you are right, I don't usually ask for sweets, but today I just have a craving for something sweet" Natsu said with a smile, "And Sanji wouldn't make me anything" Natsu added in his mind.
Mira handed him his drink and Natsu took a sip without even caring about the flames that licked his lips, when Mira went to get him a piece of cake he noticed Gray and Erza came over and sat at the bar on both sides of him and Lucy was standing behind him...they had boxed him in. Natsu glanced at Gray and Erza through the corners of his eyes before sighing and setting down his drink.
"Why are you guys looking at me like that" Natsu asked them.
"So how was your visit with your friends" Erza asked.
"It was good to see them again, they will head back out on travels in a few days so don't expect to see me much in the next few days" Natsu said with a small smile.
"Where are they staying" Erza asked
"In Tattys house of course" Natsu said
"He has a house here in Magnolia" Gray asked.
"Of course, Its where he and the others stay whenever they are in town, I help Tatty keep the rent paid while they are out on their adventures" Natsu explained.
"So you pay two rents" Lucy asked, she actually felt a little bad about complaining about her rent when Natsu is paying two rents.
"No, just Tattys rent, I built my own house in the woods and there is no rent to pay on that" Natsu said as he took another sip of his flaming drink.
"Why don't you just live in Tattys house if you are the one paying for it" Gray asked.
"Because I prefer living in the woods because that is where I was raised, Tatty was raised in an actual city so he feels more comfortable in a city or town" Natsu explained.
"So why are you paying his rent" Gray asked.
"Because I want my friends to have a place they can come home to, just like Gildarts, although they show up more often than Gildarts, Magnolia is their home and I want them to always feel welcome" Natsu said with his voice so full of devotion... that they understood what Gajeel meant when he said it rivaled his devotion to Fairy Tail.
"That sounds nice of you Natsu, it also sound so mature" Mira said as she set his Cinnamon Cheesecake in front of him, Erza and Gray looked shocked at the sweet desert Mira placed in front of the spice loving fire head. They watched as Natsu took a bit and hummed in enjoyment at the sweet taste.
"Since when do you love sweets flame-breath" Gray asked.
"My entire life, I just never really want them most of the time" Natsu answered before taking another bite of his cake, "Anyway, like I said, do not expect to see me a lot in the next few days, I will be staying with my friends" Natsu said.
"Can we meet them sometime before they leave town" Erza asked.
"I will ask them if they want to come here one day, but I doubt they will, they always say guilds just aren't their thing" Natsu said as he finished off his cake and placed a few jewel on the table, "Now if you excuse me I need to go" Natsu said as he placed a hand on Lucys shoulder and moved her aside so he can leave the bar and exit the guild.
"Something about his friends is odd, even if they don't like guilds they could still visit for Natsu right" Gray said.
"Yeah" Erza agreed, "And you would think Natsu would be excited to introduce his friends to each other" she added with a frown, "Something isn't adding up"
"Maybe we should keep a closer eye on him" Lucy suggested.
"That sounds like a good idea, I really want to see these mystery friends of his" Erza said.
(With Natsu)
"so I have two days to make it to Crocus and find my target" Natsu said as he started his walk down the road that lead out of Magnolia, held in front of him was the flier with details of his next kill, "So he is a guard captain for the magic prison, Franky Howl, rune magic as well as a bit of sword magic, simple sneak attack and he should be easy" As Natsu was walking he was also planning his possible attack plans. After walking for an hour his wristband started to glow and buzz.
Natsu tapped the band and an image of Tatsuo appeared.
"Hey Tatsuo" Natsu greeted.
"Natsu, I have something else for you to do during your mission" Tatsuo said with a grin.
"And what would that be exactly" Natsu asked.
"There was a prisoner that was recently placed into the prison that your target works at, he is a old friend and very talented, his name is Senji Kiyomasa and he was my mentors best friends student" Tatsuo said with a smile.
"What do you want me to do with him" Natsu asked.
"I want you to bust him out and offer him a place in our guild" Tatsuo said, "He should fit right in and quickly become a member of our small little family"
"So that is why you want to add a new room to the living quarters" Natsu said with a smile.
"Exactly" Tatsuo said with a grin.
"I'll get him out" Natsu said with a smile.
"Thanks Natsu, see you when we all return to the hide out" Tatsuo said before his image faded and Natsu continued his way to Crocus but this time at a run.
(Crocus, day of the assassination)
"Ugh, This city is so boring when the Games aren't happening" Natsu said as he headed towards the prison his target was suppose to be at. He ran his hand through his red hair and sighed as he looked around the large city streets at all the people that were not aware that a deadly assassin was walking among them, the thought made Natsu grin, not many people would look at him and immediately recognize him unless they were somehow associated with the magic Council or have personally seen one of his assassinations.
Natsu reached the gates of the prison and instantly went into his stealth mode, using black flames to launch himself quietly to the top of the prison building where he ran into a guard who stared at Natsu in shock.
"Y-Your D-D-Dragon Sh-shadow" The guard stuttered as he reached for his spear weapon in fear.
"The one and only" Dragon said as black flames engulfed his fist and Natsu punched the guard in the face hard enough to smash his face in and knock out the guard, Natsu looked down at the guy with a frown, "You must have a thick skull, that was suppose to kill you, not knock you out, grr why do you council shits always like to piss me off like this" Dragon growled as he bent down and lifted the mans head to quietly snap the guards neck.
"There" Natsu sighed as he burned the Dark Shadows mark on the guards face, "Now where is the door" Natsu said as he looked around, he soon found a door in the roof and he lifted it slowly open while using his black flames to block any light from shining down and alerting anyone.
He slowly climbed down the ladder closing the door behind him, at the bottom of the ladder was a small room with one guard sitting at what looked like a control panel. Natsu silently crept over to the guard and before the guy could turn Dragon snapped his neck and dragged his body up the ladder and disposed of it there with a Dark Shadows mark on the mans neck.
Dragon silently climbed back down and examined the control panel, he learned this was the surveillance room and the panel had video lacrama that showed all of the prisoners in their cells, each video lacrama was labeled with the prisoners names and Dragons attention was instantly grabbed by the one labeled Senji Kiyomasa as well as the one that showed the guard captains office.
Senji was a tall muscular man with short black hair in spikes to the back, he wore a eye patch over his right eye. He wore a black long coat, Dark blue pants with a black belt, and black combat boots. When Dragon first saw the guy that is apparently the guy he was suppose to bust out Dragon thought that this Senji guy is going to be an anti-social asshole worse than Gajeel when the iron dragon mage first joined the guild, but Tatsuo said Senji would fit in the family so Dragon will bust him out.
Dragon looked at a map that was on the wall and noticed the head office was on the same floor as Senjis cell...and they were on the same floor as this surveillance room.
"Oh this is too easy" Dragon laughed, "Maybe I will set the whole thing in flames after wards" he said with a grin, "Ha, but then Tatty will be mad I didn't keep undetected" he sighed. Dragon then looked at the videos again to see if there was any guards in the hall outside this room before he quietly left the room.
(Head office)
Franky sat at his desk filling out paperwork, it has been another long day and it is only around noon, he still have seven hours until he was allowed to go home. He loved the pay this job has...but sitting around guarding prisoners that are locked tightly in cells that prevent them from doing magic can be really boring.
"I really hate paperwork" Franky sighed, "I wish something exciting would happen"
"They say you should be careful what you wish for" a voice said as the door opened and closed. Franky looked up and instantly stood from his seat as a light engulfed his hand and a sword appeared.
"What the hell are you doing here" Franky asked.
"Well lets see, I am an assassin, now what do you think I am here for, here is a hint, it's in this room" Dragon said as black flames flickered on his finger tips. Frankys eyes widened at that and he charged for Dragon with his sword ready to attack. But at the last moment Dragon grabbed his hand stopping the attack.
"Oh now how were you able to become the head guard here if you can't even use your sword correctly" Dragon asked as he yanked the sword out of Frankys hand and twirled it a little to get a feel of it while still holding onto Frankys arm, "The smarter thing you should have done that might have helped you would have been to not attack, run and call for all the remaining guards in the building to back you up"
"Remaining Guards?" Franky asked.
"Yes remaining Guards, all the guards that are not in the cell blocks on this floor are already dead" Dragon said with a grin, "Even if you are my actual target"
"But there were over twenty guards on this floor, how is it that none of them rang an alarm" Franky asked in shock.
"None of them had time to ring an alarm let alone yell for help" Dragon said, "Now how should I kill you, a clean cut across the neck with your own sword, burn you with my black flames, or a silent break of the neck" Dragon mused as he thought over his options.
"Oh I know, since you are a swordsman then it is the ultimate shame to be cut with your own blade, so I think I will kill you with your own sword" Dragon said with a sadistic grin as he raised the blade up to Frankys neck, "Any last words"
"One day you will get caught, and I hope to god that they sentence you to the most painful death imaginable you sick son of a bitch" Franky growled.
"Hmm, you are able to face your death without fear, I admire that about you, and it will be hard for them to sentence me if they find me out because they will know who I really am" Dragon said.
"Who are you then" Franky asked.
"Trying to get me to reveal my true name in front of a camera, very sneaky, but I am no idiot" Dragon said as he slit Frankys neck and watched with a smile as the man choked and bleed to death. When the life finally left Franky, Dragon dipped his hand in the blood and used the guys blood to draw the Dark Shadows symbol on the wall.
"Now lets see, the master cell key should be on this guy or at least in this room" Dragon said as he wiped the blood off his hand using the guys coat that was hung on a coat hanger by the door.
After a while of searching he found it and silently made his way to the cell area.
(Cell block)
Senji lay on his cell bed staring at the ceiling in complete boredom, suddenly he heard a slight scuffle and got off his bed to look into the hall to see what was going on. That was where he saw a wild blood haired guy strangling the cell guard to death. When the guy was out the red haired guy snapped the guards neck just to be sure that he was dead and layed the guy on the ground, then the red haired guy used black flames and burnt a symbol on the guards bald head.
Senji recognized the man as the rumored Dragon Shadow assassin guy and grinned.
"Well now, what is the famous dragon assassin doing in a prison like this, you must be extremely talented if you were able to make it here and not have any alarms set off" Senji said as Dragon stood from burning the symbol.
"I had two reasons to be here today" Dragon said as he turned his gaze on Senji and started to walk over to the cell.
"Lay them on me" Senji said.
"One was a hit for the head guard of this prison, that has already been carried out. Two is more of a personal request from my best friend and master of my guild." Dragon said while looking directly into Senjis grey colored eyes, "Senji Kiyomasa, I have come to offer you a place in our assassin guild Dark Shadows"
"hmm, that is interesting, the strongest and most elusive assassin guild is asking me personally to join them, even busting me out of jail to get me. I think I will give your guild a shot" Senji said with a grin.
"Just so you know, if you betray us, I will not hesitate to burn you until even your ashes are gone" Dragon growled.
"Hey, I may have been an independent assassin before, but I have a code of honor" Senji said with a grin. Dragon nodded and pulled out the master key, unlocked the cell allowing Senji to come out, as soon as Senji was out a bright light engulfed his hands and when the light faded two silver rings were now on his thumbs.
"Lets get out of here, my job is complete" Dragon said as he headed back to the surveillance room and out the roof with Senji following closely, they silently jumped off the roof and dashed away from the prison before anybody found the dead guards and rang any alarms, once they reached the city edges they distantly heard alarm bells ringing and they both laughed as they continued to run from the city.
(East Forest of Magnolia, one day after assassinations, hidden path to the hideout)
"Alright Senji, there are a few things I need to tell you before we reach the Dark Shadows Hideout, first off our master is called Dark Shadow, and I am second in command called Dragon Shadow, whatever Dark and I say is law in our guild" Dragon said with a serious tone.
"Alright, I can deal with that" Senji said.
"There are currently three others in the guild, Demon Shadow, Black-leg Shadow, and Fullmetal Shadow" Dragon explained.
"I take it I will get a code name that ends with Shadow" Senji said with a grin.
"Yes, that is just how our guild runs, another thing, Dark Shadows is a family, if you join you become part of our family, and we protect each other, we do not hurt each other unless in a friendly spar" Dragon said.
"Now that is surprising, any assassin guild I ever met was at each others necks, no sense of loyalty or honor in any of them" Senji said.
"Not Dark Shadows, we are friends, family" Dragon said with a happy smile.
They walked in quiet for a while until Senji finally spoke again, this time with a observation.
"You know the resemblance is amazing" Senji said, Dragon looked over with a questioning look.
"What resemblance" Dragon asked.
"In that prison people that have seen you before said that you looked similar to a guy called Salamander, the guys a light guild member, people also say he is a hero, I saw a picture of the guy as well as some of the recent grand magic games the guards let us see, now that I have met you I agree with the other prisoners that you and Salamander look very similar" Senji explained.
Dragon started to laugh after a few minutes he stopped and looked at Senji with a grin.
"That is because I am actually Salamander" Dragon said, "And that is one of the biggest secrets of Dark Shadows, I double life as a light guild member as well as an assassin"
"Seriously, how the hell you pulling that off" Senji asked in shock.
"I learned magic to help me change my appearance so I wouldn't get found out, my light guild has no idea because they believe Salamander and Dragon Shadow are just long lost twin siblings" Dragon explained, "Dark Shadows is fully aware that I live both as a Fairy Tail mage and as a Dark Shadows assassin"
"Dude, that is actually pretty cool" Senji said.
"Yeah well I fear it will be coming to an end here shortly, my light guild has been hired to find and stop Dark Shadows and I am on the team that was assigned to do so, I may have to choose what side I will stay with and I don't know who I will side with" Dragon said then sighed.
"Oh" Senji said with a frown. They soon came to the cliff and Dragon jumped down with Senji following, they walked through the water and Dragon walked into the waterfall with Senji cautiously following, "Now this is a pretty good hideout you guys got here, who would think of creating a hideout in the middle of the woods hidden by a waterfall"
Dragon used his normal red fire to dry off as well as dry off Senji.
"A couple of kids around the age of eleven or twelve" Dragon said with a grin, "Dark and I created this entire cave from scratch when we were kids" He then walked over to the door.
"Password?" the door asked
"Wow, the door just talked" Senji said.
"Occide" Dragon said and the door clicked before opening, "Yes the door talks to ask for a password, I created that door myself, took me forever to get it to work correctly"
They then entered the dark cave and the door closed behind them, Dragon used his normal red flames to light the path for Senji until they reached the planning room. Dragon sniffed the air.
"Well the others are not back from their hits yet so I will give you the tour" Dragon said.
"sounds fine with me" Senji said with a grin.
(Fairy Tail, next day)
"Dark shadows has made a huge move two days ago" Lahar said. Team Natsu and Levy as well as the master and Lahar and Doranbolt were all in the masters office discussing what happened.
"What did they do" Natsu asked.
"They committed assassinations in five different cities at the exact same time, Oak Town, Freesia Town, Hargeon Town, Oshibana, and lastly Crocus. But the assassinations are not just a problem, this meeting is mostly about what else happened in Crocus" Doranbolt said with a frown, he then pulled out a lacrama and tapped it, an image of a prison showed up.
"Dragon Shadow attacked the magic prison and assassinated over twenty people including the head guard, not even one alarm was triggered" Lahar said, "Not only that but he busted out a former lone assassin named Senji Kiyomasa who was one of the strongest lone assassins there was before he was caught a little over half a year ago"
Doranbolt taped the lacrama and an image of Senji showed up, but on his arms were two red curved blades.
"We do not understand what his magic is exactly, but it allows him to control his blood, his most common move is to use the blood and create these red blades on his arms to use as weapons" Lahar said.
"Wow, those look so cool" Natsu said as he looked at the red blades on Senjis arms with amazement, Senji never told him what magic he used but Natsu never even asked.
"They are not cool, they are deadly" Erza stated firmly.
"I don't care, they are still cool, Blood Blades" Natsu said as he crossed his arms to act like he was crossing two blood blades of his own, this earned many sweat-drops from the gathered team.
"Dragneel, focus please" Doranbolt said, Natsu quieted down and began to listen to the rest of the info the council people had witch wasn't much more than the rest of the team already knew.
After the meeting was over Erza, Gray, Lucy, Natsu, and Levy sat a a table in the guild hall to discuss their next moves, Gajeel and Pantherlilly went to look around the places they spotted Dragon for any clues to where the guy went, Wendy and Carla went home with Happy following them trying to get Carla to go out with him.
"I think we should involve more guilds and have them all set up watches for towns that surround their guild city, so that we can at least try to prevent more deaths" Erza said.
"But this Dragon guy was able to break into a prison and bust a guy out without setting off any alarms, what makes you think a simple patrol in each city will stop them" Gray pointed out.
"They would slip by the patrols and kill without anyone ever knowing" Lucy said with a frown.
"What if we ask around towns to see if there are any people who might have someone willing to hire people to kill them, then focus mostly around the places the possible targets are" Levy suggested. Natsu stared at Levy for a moment.
"Damn, she is too clever" Natsu thought.
"That sounds like a good idea Levy, and maybe we can also get Crime Scorer to help us out" Erza said with a smile, "I will go ask Master Makarov to help get the other guilds in on this"
"We should start patrols here in Magnolia, Gajeel and Natsu you two should be on full alert, your dragon like senses are able to at least hear if anyone gets attacked or causes a commotion" Levy said.
"I'll keep an ear and a nose out, if anything happens I will stop them" Natsu said while raising his hand that was engulfed in red flames.
"What will you do if you run into that Dragon guy" Lucy asked causing the rest of the small group to look at Natsu who frowned at the question.
"Yeah Flame-brain, what are you going to do knowing the guy is your brother" Gray asked.
"Not to mention is a trained assassin who is probably immune to fire like you" Gajeel added.
"That bastard kills for a living, he is no brother of mine" Natsu said firmly, "I am good at hand to hand combat, I will beat him to a pulp" Natsu added with a grin.
"just Be careful" Levy said.
A/N
Well now this is the end of Chapter two, I hope it was enjoyable.
Would love to see what you all think of the new plan Levy came up with.
Yes I killed Ichiya, not because I don't like him, but because he seemed like a good target for the Blue Pegasus scene.
Until next time