A/N: Alrighty then. Chapter 1 is up!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 1: Best Friends, Rivals and S-Class

May 10th, X786

A woman walked among the fields north of the sinkhole that was home to Honey Town, the sun high in the sky as it shone down on her head and those of the workers in the fields who were tending to their crops. As Honey Town was largely isolated from the rest of Bosco, much of the grove surrounding the Tree of Heaven was farmland, primarily the northern and southern sides as they received more sunlight throughout the day than the eastern and western sides.

The woman's name was Freya Jaska and today was her turn to patrol the fields and protect them from monsters that might otherwise attack the workers or destroy the crops. She was in her upper twenties and she stood at 5'5" with moderately tanned skin and a toned build that wasn't too curvy nor very buxom. Her pale pink hair was similar to the color of a peony bloom and it was swept to the right and over her shoulder, revealing the small, golden feather earring she wore on her left ear. Her eyes were round and slightly downturned, but their color matched that of the forest around her with a deep forest green hue while her Cosmos Grove guild mark was on the center of her back in black with a green outline. Freya wore a black tube top that had gold lining the edges paired with a tough, leathery earthy green miniskirt while around her waist was a black sash that was held in place by a large, golden ring that acted as a belt buckle of sorts. On her feet were a pair of sturdy, black heeled boots that almost reached up to her knees. Over all that though, she wore a jacket that was the same green color as her miniskirt and had its sleeves rolled up, which revealed the soft blue color of the lining on the inside of the jacket while blue and gold stripes adorned the lapels and bottom hem of the jacket. But around her neck was her favorite and most prized accessory, a necklace adorned with wolf teeth and peonies that had a single gold pendant hanging in the center.

Freya let out a sigh as she looked over the fields, another peaceful, uneventful day in Honey Town as far as she was aware, but a small frown appeared on her face as her eyes landed on two men she knew to be master and slave. She knew that the slave was treated kindly though, especially since the master was right there with him working hard in the field. But she knew that not all slaves had it so good in comparison to that particular one. With another sigh, she put it out of her mind though, not wanting her thoughts to linger on the subject anymore as turned away just in time to see a dust cloud approaching her.

"Winn?" Freya muttered to herself as she squinted and saw a goggle-wearing streak of red in the center of the dust cloud that was now rapidly closing in on her with her Velocity Magic. Though as she realized that Winona had no intentions of slowing down, Freya felt a wave of panic wash over her as she tried to move out of the way, "Winn! Stop! What are you doing!?" she shouted as Winona leapt towards her, the eyes of the workers being drawn to the ruckus before they collectively sighed and went back to their business.

"Frey!" she heard Winona shout out as the younger woman tackled her, sending the two of them rolling across the ground, "Pinned ya again!" Winona declared proudly with a smirk on her face as they came to a stop, Winona holding down Freya's arms as she looked down at the older woman who was now sprawled across the ground, covered in dirt, "You might be a Slayer, but you're not very sturdy, are ya? Not that you've ever been very sturdy," Winona added in an offhanded manner.

"That's cause I've got brains, unlike someone I know," Freya said as she glared up at Winona.

"You're just upset that I'm winning right now!" Winona stated as she got off of Freya and stood up before helping Freya up off the ground.

"Only in pinning me to the ground," Freya muttered as she dusted herself off, "Why'd you do it this time anyways?"

"Well, other than it being fun, my pops wanted me to find whoever is up here and send them back to the guild," the redhead answered as she pulled off her goggles and hung them around her neck.

"What for, Winn?" she asked as a rare scowl crossed Winona's face.

"A guild meeting," Winona answered tactfully, "It's pretty serious, so you should hurry back."

"I see," Freya mumbled as she watched Winona put her goggles back on, "I'll head back to the guild then. Meet you there?"

"Yep yep. See you there," Winona said before she took off running again, stirring up another dust cloud as she kicked off the ground.

"Serious enough to put Winn in a bad mood, I see," Freya said to herself as she watched her friend shrink in the distance, "I suppose I should head out right away then if it's that bad."

. : + : .

A man laid in a hammock tied to two posts next to a waterwheel, slightly swaying back and forth as the sounds of the nearby people went about their work went on in the distance, although the creaking of the wheel and the sound of running water did well to drown out any other background noise as the man continued to nap.

The sleeping man's name was Cormac Mentor, the son of Kenelm and younger brother of Winona at twenty-three years. He was tall, like his father, as he stood at 6'4" with a fit and athletic build, although he was nowhere near as muscular as his father, but his mocha skin was often compared to his mother's, as well as his wavy black hair that fell to just above his shoulders and was messily brushed back behind his ears so that it stayed out of his face and his droopy green eyes. He had a small, diagonal scar on the right side of his lower lip, but his mouth was currently set into a scowl as he continued to grimace and furrow his brow in his sleep. Cormac dressed similarly to his father, being dressed in a loose, sleeveless black tunic that revealed his chest and the black Cosmos Grove guild mark on his right pectoral while the bottom hem of the tunic fell down to his knees, often billowing around him when he walked. He also had a midnight blue sash wrapped around his waist, keeping the tunic closed while he also wore a pair of black arm sleeves on his forearms and a pair of baggy black pants that were tucked into a pair of brown cuffed boots.

It would be obvious to anyone that he wasn't sleeping well though, with the way his face kept contorting as he thrashed his head about, his mind being filled with visions of horror and pain and a voice… a voice that he could make no sense of as all that surrounded him in his mind's eye was figures shrouded by fog and wisps of dark purple flames. But as he tried to make sense of what he could see, he felt something grab him and pull him down. He felt a scream escape his mouth before a hand smacked across his face and his eyes shot open to see his best friend, Reed Wystan, standing above him.

Reed was a man the same age as Cormac, although he stood a bit shorter at 6'1", but with thick muscles and broader shoulders, still nothing compared to Kenelm though. He had tan skin and a layered mess of light brown hair that reached down to the tops of his shoulders while his bangs covered his forehead, a few strands falling over his dark blue, almond shaped eyes. He wore a white t-shirt under a brown leather jacket that was left unzipped, the sleeves covering the blue, Cosmos Grove guild mark on his right forearm. He also wore a pair of fingerless, black leather gloves on his hands a pair of dark jeans, which were tucked into a pair of heavy, black steel-toed boots.

"You all right?" he asked as he lowered the hand he had used to wake up Cormac with, "Seemed like a pretty nasty dream this time, huh?"

"Y-yeah," Cormac muttered as he sat up, rubbing his cheek slightly, "They get worse every day. I blame the war, but…"

"But?" Reed repeated as he waited for what Cormac would say.

"It was… different this time. I still saw scenes of war in my dream, but there was more after that," Cormac explained as he climbed out of the hammock and stood up, "Nothing I could make sense of though," Cormac said before trailing off, "Anyways, I'm guessing you wanted something if you came to find me here."

"Yes I did," said Reed before he walked over to Cormac and threw an arm across his shoulder, "Your old man walked past in an awfully big hurry and yelled at me to drag your lazy ass back to the guildhall. Normally I'd ask if he thought I was your keeper or something, but he didn't seem to be in the mood for jokes. Didn't stick around for any either."

"Tch… What's the old man want this time?" Cormac huffed as brushed off Reed's arm and started walking towards the Tree of Heaven and the center of town where the guildhall was, Reed walking after him.

"He said something about a meeting, well, more like yelled something about it, but you know. Same difference," Reed shrugged as a smirk crossed his face.

Cormac let out another huff as Reed caught up to him, "There's only one thing the old man would call a meeting for right now and that'd be the war. I swear, if he's gone and gotten us wrapped up in something so troublesome…"

"C'mon, you know your old man. I doubt he'd do something like join the war. He didn't show any interest when it broke out two months ago, why would he now?" Reed said as he patted Cormac's shoulder, "Your old man's reckless, not stupid after all."

"I'm pretty sure he's stupid," Cormac huffed as they walked through town, the two of them surrounded by smithies and workshops on both sides while they navigated their way through a sea of people going about their business.

"Maybe a little, shouldn't let him hear you say that though. You remember the last beating you got, right?"

"That was years ago," Cormac growled.

"And you thought you were so tough before it happened too," Reed teased, "Showed you how tough you were, right? Bout as tough as wet tissue paper!"

"You tryin' to start something, Reed!?" Cormac shouted as he came to a stop and got into Reed's face, "Cause it sure sounds like your itching for a fight!"

"I might be, it's a been a while since we had a good match," Reed smirked, refusing to back down, "Though I don't know how tough a fight it'd be since you're about as strong as wet tissue paper."

"You're really asking for it now, you damn flirt!" Cormac growled as his fists ignited with dark purple flames.

"Am I now? You darn grump," Reed said as he started to lower his hands towards the ground, all his fingers outstretched and bent forward.

"Wraith Magic…" Cormac began as he pulled back his left fist, the dark purple flames burning more fiercely than before, "Spectral Fist!" he roared as he let loose the punch, Reed quickly crossing his arms in front of his face and blocking the punch head on, the cool, spectral flames washing over him as he was forced to slide backwards.

The crowd of onlookers wore a look of shock on their faces for a brief moment before they scattered, some calling out for a man named Gwallter as they ran and deserted the area.

"Stone Magic: Stone Golem!" he shouted as a golem of stone erupted from the earth and lunged at Cormac, swiping down at him with a large stone arm as he slid out of the way on a trail of dark purple flames, "Haha! You can't let yourself get hit like I can, can you Cormac?" Reed laughed as his friend scowled at him briefly before dodging the golem again, "Like I said, your about as tough as wet tissue paper!"

"Hmph… You're all muscle. I'm not about that," Cormac huffed as he dodged the golem again while pulling back his arms and bending his knees, the golem charging towards him, "Wraith Magic: Phantasmal Crusher!" he roared as the flames on his arms formed two large clawed hands that followed his movements as he clapped his hands together, the flames crushing the golem as it approached him and releasing an explosion that was accompanied by a noise that sounded like the howling of spirits as shards of stone scattered across the area, "Your golem's not as tough as I remember, you damn flirt," Cormac said with a rare smirk on his face.

"Well then why don't you come over here and see how tough I am? Or are you scared of me?" Reed said in a mocking tone, "Wet tissue paper," he added quietly as Cormac's smirk was instantly replaced with his usual scowl before he charged in towards Reed and leaped into the air.

"Feet of the Damned!" he announced as he kicked down towards Reed with a flame covered foot, although Reed saw it coming and grabbed Cormac's leg before slamming him down on the ground behind him, Cormac bouncing hard off the ground before rolling a few feet scrambling to his feet and throwing a Spectral Fist at Reed who let the flames roll over his arm as he caught Cormac's fist in his hand before throwing a hard punch into the other man's stomach sending him flying into a stand.

"You're not usually so sloppy, Cormac," Reed huffed as he stood up straight and tried to look through the settling dust, "You took the bait really easily this time."

"Phantom Blast!" he heard Cormac shout as a dark purple fireball burst through the dust and exploded against Reed's chest, sending him sliding back a few feet as Cormac climbed out of the wreckage, "And I'm not quite as fragile as you think I am. I'm more than tough enough to take a good beating from muscle heads like you, ya damn flirt."

"Heh, looks like it'll be a close fight after all," Reed said as a large smile appeared on his face from the excitement before Cormac charged at him again.

. : + : .

Kenelm walked through the streets of Honey Town at a quick pace, the Tree of Heaven standing above all of the buildings in front of him as he walked into the center of town and to the guildhall. Under normal circumstances people would've stopped and greeted him and he would do the same, but the people of Honey Town could tell that something serious was going on from the look on his face and let him pass undisturbed on his way back to the guildhall. As he grew closer to the Tree of Heaven, the Cosmos Grove guildhall came into view, a large, two story brick manor that was nestled up against the Tree of Heaven that had four, round towers on each corner with dark curved roofs on the top of them that had small flag poles that held green, rectangular flags on them that bore the Cosmos Grove guild mark in dark blue. The front of the building was adorned with several tall windows while the entryway was rather exquisite with a white balcony over it.

As Kenelm stepped into the guildhall, he was greeted with the familiar of the large main room that was always rather dim and was filled with long, wooden tables that stood on a dark stone floor while a wooden bar was off to the left side. In each of the four corners of the room were spiral staircases that led up to a balcony that overlooked the main room and more comfortable seating, as well as access to the balcony out front. The room was filled with close to around seventy mages, all laughing and drinking and butting heads with each other, only a handful noticing the look Kenelm had on his face as he walked through the room towards the back where a set of large double doors were located that led back into a series of rooms that acted as Kenelm's and his wife's home, as well as to his office.

As he opened the doors and began to walk through, he noticed someone walking up to him from behind, "Where are you off to in such a rush," he heard the person ask as he turned around to see his wife, Kalina, "And with a scowl on your face no less, you know that's Cormac's thing, right?"

Kalina was a middle-aged woman of around forty-nine years, her age starting to show on her face some, particularly around her mouth. She had mocha skin and droopy green eyes that usually held a sharp and serious look in them while her curly, black hair fell down to her lower back but was shorter in the front as it ended just a bit lower than her shoulders and rested on them. She had a very fit and toned build with an average sized chest, although she was the shortest in her family at 5'10", her children having gotten their height from Kenelm, although she was still taller than the average woman. Kalina had a large diagonal scar on her face, which started above her right eye and ended on her left cheek while her cyan Cosmos Grove guild mark was on her left shoulder on top of what seemed to be a another scar. She wore a sleeveless, tan tunic that exposed a good bit of her chest and wrapped around the back of her neck while the edges of the tunic were lined with white fur. Kalina also had a cyan sash wrapped around her waist, the loose cloth ending down past her left knee while she wore a pair of baggy black pants that were tucked into a pair of brown boots that were lined with white fur, much like her tunic.

"Ah, Kalina," Kenelm said, a smile he couldn't help having appearing on his face as he looked down at his wife, "You're right, that definitely is a very Cormac-like thing for me to be doing."

"Well something serious must be on your mind for you to be sulking so much," she said with a smirk that quickly disappeared, "So what is it? What's got you so worked up?"

"Hrm… Are there any other S-Class present right now? Besides you?" Kenelm asked as he looked around the guildhall.

"I know Cross is here right now," Kalina answered as she crossed her arms, "Why?"

"Fetch him for me and meet me in my office, I'll explain everything there. I don't want the rest to hear until I've discussed the matter with you and the other four S-Class," Kenelm said as he turned to walk through the doors, Kalina nodding before she went off to find Cross.

Kenelm kept walking straight forward to another set of double doors after stepping into the hall, staircases at either end of it while a few other doors lined the same side of the hall as the doors that Kenelm was now opening, which led into the man's office, a long rectangular room that was lined with cabinets and paintings while Kenelm's dark wood desk sat near the back with two leather chairs in front of it while a larger leather chair sat behind the desk for Kenelm. Behind the desk in the back left corner was a black, wooden coat stand where a large, crimson formal cape hung that bore the symbol of the Boscan Wizard Saints, while a large bookshelf filled with several books sat to the right of it with nothing else on the other side of it while skid marks could be seen on the wooden floor.

As Kenelm walked behind and sat down at his desk, hardly a moment passed before the door to his office opened again, Kalina stepping through the doorway with Cross right behind her.

Cross Albion was a tall and muscular, standing even with Kenelm at 6'6", although the burly man still out muscled him. He had pale skin and eerie green eyes that were concealed behind a pair of shades. His white hair was fairly spiky and reached down to his shoulders while his facial features were generally rather sharp. His guild mark was concealed under a silver rimmed, black jacket that had two long, thin tails hanging down on the back of it. Under the jacket, he wore a white shirt with three gray belts and a pair of gray trousers, which were worn under a black hakama and were tucked into a pair of steel-toed boots while he had a pair of black gloves on his hands.

"You called for me?" Cross inquired as he and Kalina sat down in the leather chairs in front of Kenelm's desk.

"Yes, I have something to discuss with you two and the other S-Class should they show up today," Kenelm said as a grim look crossed his face.

"Sounds rather serious then," Cross stated as he leaned forward in his chair.

"Let's have it then, Kenelm," Kalina added.

"The matter I wish to discuss, is the Slave Rebellion," Kenelm said as the two S-Class wore looks of shock and curiosity on their faces, "It has come to my attention that the Magic Council has decreed that any Mage Guild that takes up arms to change the status of Slavery in Bosco will be declared Dark Guilds from now on and the leaders of these guilds that join the Slave Rebellion are to be treated as criminals of the worst kind, enemies of the state."

Kalina could only wear a look of anger on her face as it twisted into a harsh scowl, though Cross was less angry about the development as he raised a question, "Why would Virva allow such a thing to be declared?"

"I believe that rat, Albanus, pressured her into it. Although it's no secret that the Magic Council is extremely pro-slavery given their close ties with the Boscan government," Kenelm explained, "We should consider ourselves lucky that all Mage Guilds in Bosco aren't being pressured into military service now that the Slave Rebellion is no longer solely just a political war."

"So we are to continue to sit and ignore the outside world then?" Kalina growled, her arms crossed as her right hand grasped the scar on her shoulder under her guild mark, "There are thousands of people like me that need to be saved, but I know how important the safety of the town is to you. You did not participate in the last rebellion and I never expected you to participate in this one."

"I know you do not like it, Kalina, but I cannot be the one to choose to endanger the lives of the citizens of Honey Town or the Tree of Heaven," said Kenelm before he looked to Cross, "And what do you think of this?"

"You know me, Kenelm, and you know that I don't like Albanus. But this whole thing is bigger than any grudge I have against one man," Cross began, "So I believe that we should wait and see what happens. If we are forced to fight, then we fight, if not, then we don't fight. But I believe that the safety of the town and the entire region is our responsibility and we can't endanger it recklessly."

"Well said," Kenelm responded before looking between them again, "But we should wait and see what the others and the mayor have to say about this whole matter before I make my decision public to the guild. So keep an eye out for the other S-Class, if you see them, tell them to meet me here."

"Understood," the two S-Class answered.

"One more thing," Kenelm said as he looked to Cross, "Do me a favor and send word to the mayor for me."

"Of course," Cross answered before the two S-Class stood and exited the office to look for the others, Kenelm staring at the door for a good long while after it had shut again.

"Hrm… I can only pray that the correct decision is made. Whatever that may be," he said to himself before standing up from his chair and reaching for a book on the shelf behind his desk.

A/N: And there it is! I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I had to type this up twice cause Word decided to have a fit and delete a lot of what I had written, still, it's up now.

Credits:

Freya Jaska – TheMagiSpirit

Cormac Mentor – Dreadburner94

Reed Wystan – MyDearWatson

Kalina Mentor – Dreadburner94

Cross Albion – Death Obelisk

First, I'd like to thank everyone who's sent in an OC so far. There's still several spots open though, so feel free to create a character or two to fill them.

All S-Class and Slayer spots are filled or reserved though, so I won't be accepting any more of those.

Regarding magic for new characters, I'd like to request that I receive no more earth related magics for now, which includes earth, rock, nature, metal, gem related magics and such, because I have a large amount of those so far compared to any other type of magic.

Now for the reviews.

potentialauthor18 – Yeah, this has been what I've been up to, asides for being a beta, although I'm close to finishing the next Tale of Two Guilds chapter too, so I'll be working on both this and that. But yeah, this story will definitely have a darker feel to it, what with slavery and all that. But anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

MyDearWatson – Yep yep, that Albanus guy is pretty shady and I really enjoyed writing out Honey Town and the Tree of Heaven's descriptions. The whole sinkhole thing was completely spur of the moment and I thought it was much more interesting than the town just simply surrounding the tree. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! And I hope that I portrayed Reed well.

LexGem – Yeah, there's so little info about so many of the countries in Fairy Tail. Asides for the Alvarez Empire, Bosco is the one we know the most about and all we know for sure is one simple fact, being that they have slavery. I had actually heavily considered placing this story in the Alvarez Empire, but I decided that would be too complicated to pull off, not that setting up all of Bosco wasn't a time-consuming process, but it was fun to do!

Hawk725 – Glad to hear that you liked the intro. Yep, I wanted to give everyone an idea of what the situation in Bosco was like without giving away too much, but it seems like I did what I set out to do in that regard. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Origm2012 – Well, I have to disagree with you on that point on Kenelm. He's very proud of what he's accomplished and how strong he's become over the years, so he's prone to boasting at times cause at his core, he's just a big muscle head that loves fighting and showing off. But anyways, I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed the prologue and I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!

Anyways! I'll try to have the next chapter up sometime soon!

So I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and please remember to review!

Your host,

Dreadburner94.