Just noticed, that I hadn´t written a disclaimer before. Then I noticed, that I hadn´t used anything from Fairy Tail yet (At least not directly). Anyway: I don´t own Fairy Tail.
~Chapter 1: A new face~
"Yahuuh" screamed Natsu. "S-Class Mission, S-Class Mission"
"Aye Sir" Happy said while flying around the dancing Dragon Slayer.
"Man, grow up, flame brain." Gray mumbled, trying to sound annoyed, but he could not hide an excited undertone in his voice. Natsu was too busy with his chant to start a fight with the Ice Mage like he usually did.
A miracle Lucy thought smiling, as she walked at Erza´s side. Team Natsu was walking along a peaceful country road to a small town called Orchidhaven. She still could not believe that this was already her second S-Class mission. Then again considering all the dangerous adventures she had since she joined Fairy Tail it was also funny that it was only her second S-Class mission.
The Celestial Wizard shook her head. She did not want to show it, but she was beyond nervous. Of course, the battle with Grimoire Heart or the fight with the dragons had been much more dangerous, but still. The mission was a little creepy: Protect an exorcist while she does her work in a haunted house. Contact Mr. Jerris for more information. Reward: 3 Million Jewels. Lucy was not happy with the prospect of fighting evil spirits. Why had she even agreed to the whole thing in the first place?
She was still certain, that Natsu was somehow responsible for the chain of events that brought her here. She had been low on rent, and there was not a single job offering enough money on the request board. Then Erza found a flyer for some expensive costume shop, bursting through the doors of the guild to earn the money needed to buy another set of show props.
And at that moment Natsu slyly suggested to do an S-Class mission. Lucy sighed. At the beginning of the journey she had also been excited, but now she was starting to have doubts. The blonde wizard wanted to talk about it, but to who? She did not want to destroy the good mood of Natsu, Happy and Gray. She wanted to save magic power, so she could not call her spirits. And Erza was still quoting from their play while her eyes seemed to sparkle. Lucy felt a little lonely.
"What did you call me Ice Princess" Apparently Gray had finally managed to insult the Dragon Slayer despite his good mood.
"You heard me Flame Breath" Both men prepared to attack each other, when a dark shadow seemed to rise above them.
"Natsu…Gray…Because of you two I forgot my text" said a furious Erza.
"Ah, we´re sorry!" both mages squeaked, as Erza chased them.
Lucy smilled. Why did I feel lonely or worried? My family is here, and together we can do everything!
~Orchidhaven~
"Excuse us, is we are looking for a certain Severin Jerris" Erza asked the barkeeper of the local tavern.
The man looked up from the glass he had been cleaning. "So you are the wizards this two crazy persons are waiting for." The barman said with a raised eyebrow.
"Two you say?" Gray asked with a frown.
"Yes him, and this weird girl. They both arrived a few days ago." The barman said while continuing to scrub his glass.
"Can´t be, Lucy was the whole time with us" Happy smirked.
"Neko!" Lucy screamed as she tried to grab the blue cat.
"Ah good, you're here" A cheerful, female voice shouted. As the team turned to the speaker, they were a little shocked at the sight before them. The girl was about as old Lucy and she also had a similar figure. This was the point the resemblance ended though. The girl had a much paller skin, almost as white as paper. Long, black hair was tied in a short pony, bound together by a skull shaped ribbon. Skulls and bones seemed to be a common theme on her outfit, which consisted of a black robe. As if to oppose her graveyard looks, she had a big smile on her face, as she looked at them with her ice-blue eyes. She offered her hand. "We have been waiting for you. I´m Nyria. Nyria Innes."
"Erza Scarlet" Erza said, while shaking the offered hand, before introducing everyone else. "Are you with our client?"
"Yes, and I´m very excited to work with you." Nyria smiled, as she shook hands with the Team, even Happy´s paw.
"Then you're this exorcist?" Gray noted, arms crossed before his suddenly bare chest.
"Gray, clothes" Lucy sighed. She had seen this way to often.
"Erm, yes" Nyria sweatdropped, as she watched the cursing Ice-mage search for his coat. "I´ll bring you to Master Jerris, he´ll explain everything."
The young exorcist led the wizards upstairs.
"Master Jerris, the wizards are here." Nyria said cheerfully as she opened a door. The man inside the room, whom Lucy assumed to be Severin Jerris, turned around and looked at them. Lucy couldn´t help but to feel intimidated. Their client was about as tall as Laxus, but more wiry. He was in his late fifties with a short, unkempt goatee and shoulder-long black hair with traces of grey in it. One of his eyes were green, the other one was hidden by a simple piece of cloth. His clothes consisted of a black trenchcoat and a matching wide-brimmed hat. Two swords were strapped on his back.
Nyria waited, until the five Fairy Tail members had entered the room, before going back downstairs.
"So" Mr. Jerris said. His voice was calm, although it had an undertone that reminded Lucy of a tensioned spring. "You are the S-Class Wizards?"
"Only Erza. But Natsu and Gray are both candidates, and Lucy and I were assistants during the last trial!" Happy chirped. He didn´t seemed to be intimidated like Lucy was.
"I see" Mr. Jerris finally turned away "Does any of you have any experience with exorcisms?"
The five mages shook their heads.
"Hmm" The old man seemed to think for a moment. "Doesn´t matter. That's why Nyria is here."
"Pfft, we don´t need help to kick some evil ghost´s butt." Huffed Natsu.
"While I have no doubt that you are strong, there still certain rituals that need to be performed to banish certain spirits" Mr. Jerris said sternly, while staring at Natsu. "And you won´t be fighting evil spirits."
"Why don´t you tell us what we have to do" Erza said, while silencing Natsu with an angry glare as he was about to make a stupid retort.
Severin waited until the group stopped bickering, before pulling a picture of a bald man with a gigantic mustachio out of his pocket.
"This is Dr. Tischer. He is an archaeologist, specialised in ancient cultures. He six years ago he published a book about Nirvana, which you might be familiar with. Anyway, a year ago he built a small manor just a few miles from this town."
The old man paused to drink from a small bottle that was standing on the table, while everyone waited for him to continue, even Natsu, who usually only paid attention, when their clients talked about fighting and food. Nirvana was still pretty fresh in everyone´s mind, and the reappearance of the Oracion Seis had only made it worse.
After a deep swallow, Mr. Jerris continued "Two months later, the town started to worry, because they hadn´t heard anything from him since then. So they send people to check on him. They didn´t return. Next they send law-enforcement officers. They didn´t return either. The town decided to send guildwizards next. They hired Minotaur´s Axe. The guild dispatched three teams of experienced mages. None of them returned. Minotaur´s Axe was disbanded afterwards, because their master couldn´t pay some debts."
Lucy was starting to feel more and more uncomfortable. This didn´t sound like a mission this sounded like a scary bed-time story.
"Because of this events the mission became S-Class. However, this town doesn´t have enough money to hire S-Class mages, so the mayor decided against hiring another guild. This was six months ago."
"I see." Gray said, deep in thought. "But where do you come into this?"
The old man looked out of the window. "I have been in the manor a month ago."
"Huhh?!" That was unexpected.
"Before his disappearance, found a strange artefact, somehow linked to Nirvana." Severin continued, seemingly not the slightest bit unsettled by Team Natsu´s outburst. "I don´t know what it is, but it´s dangerous. And it´s intelligent. It somehow tries to overwrite personality, while distracting with certain tricks, like hallucinations. I barely escaped. Nyria later confirmed the presence of evil auras."
Okay, now Lucy definitely didn´t like this mission.
"The longer you are exposed to this auras, the more likely they are to influence you. Nyria can shield you from the worst, but you still have to be careful." The swordsman put a big metal cylinder on the table. "Once Nyria finds the artefact, put it in this container and bring it to me. The container should cancel its power. Should it be too big, or its influence too strong, destroy it. Any questions?"
"Why don´t we just burn the manor to the ground" Natsu grinned, his hand engulfed in flames.
"Because the people in the manor could still be alive?!" Lucy screamed, while hitting the Dragon Slayer on the head. Apparently he hadn´t listened as closely as they thought he had.
"Also, while I would prefer to destroy the damn thing, it would be useless afterwards. I know a few organizations and guilds, who have some intelligence about such things, and might be able to create countermeasures." Interestingly, the old man seemed to be the least opposed to the idea of simply destroying the manor.
"Will you accompany us?" Asked Erza, while inspecting the container. "You seem to know how to fight, and you already know what awaits us."
"While I can hold myself in battle, I can´t come with you. Exposure to the artefact increases the danger to be influenced by it." Severin said, apparently genuinely sorry. "I have filled Nyria into all the details, so she should be able to tell you everything. Now, will you accept this mission?"
"Of course." Erza said with a stern tone. "We will do everything to rid this village of this evil. And we will either save or avenge the ones who tried before!"
Lucy wasn´t so sure about the whole thing, but she didn´t want to destroy the good mood.
"Well, if that's all, I have taken the liberty to order something to eat for the five of you." Nyria said as she entered the room.
"Yahooo!" Natsu and Happy cheered as they stormed out of the room. Lucy and Erza followed them, while Gray struggled to carry the cylinder, which was two feet high and made of heavy lead.
~After the meal~
"So, what you guys think about this mission?" Gray asked while taking another plate. Nyria was paying for the food, and Severin hadn´t left his room, so they had the table for themselves.
"Nyria seems to a nice girl. And this Severin seems to be a honorble man." Erza said, taking another slice of cake.
"I agree about the girl" Natsu mumbled while eating a whole chicken. "But this old man. He might be a bad guy."
"Huh? Why do you think that?" Lucy asked, while studying the book about Nirvana from the missing Doctor. The owner of the tavern had borrowed it to her.
"He has only one eye! Like Hades! Or Cobra! One eyed people are never up to something good!"
"Erm, Natsu…" Gray said fearfully. "You know that Erza has only one eye?"
The scarlet mage was surrounded by a dark shadow as she grabbed a franticly apologizing Natsu. For the second time on this day, Erza punished Natsu, and for the second time it somehow helped Lucy to gain confidence. They were definitely the best team.
This got longer than expected. And it´s only the mission-description…Oh well. I know Hades had two eyes, but I wanted to write this joke about him having suspicions that one eyed people are evil.
For those who wonder where Juvia is, she will have a big role later. The mission is mostly plot and OC introduction, and should take the next chapter. Afterwards she will come. I wanted to write a little everyday FT life first, but I didn´t like the result, so I went directly to the mission.
As for who the baby in the prologue is…well, there are several clues.