I do not own Fairy Tail nor any of the characters in it
In Fairy Tail
Three days after the Lullaby incident Erza was sitting at the bar in Fairy Tail. She looked at her former rival.
"Have you seen Vile around lately?" she asked, hoping that Mira would've seen him. She was quite excited to be honest. Finally unmasking the mystery that is Vile. It's like Mystogan going into the guild without putting everyone to sleep and showing his face. Something like that. Erza nodded to herself as Mira stared at her.
"I haven't seen him around lately. The last time I saw him was when you decided to join up a little over four days ago," Mira said, she too was curious. Erza shrugged and turned around and looked out over the tables. Something caught her eye as she glanced towards the spot where Vile usually sat.
"Wait a second," she muttered to herself as she stood up and made her way down to the back aisle. When she reached the back-row Natsu, Lucy and Gray came through the wooden doors. They had decided to take a job while Erza stayed behind, waiting for Vile to reveal his face for the first time. It was something she definitely didn't want to miss.
"Hey, Natsu!" Erza shouted at him as he waved at her.
"Yo! What's up Erza?" he asked, lowering his hand wondering if he had done something wrong.
"Can you smell Vile?" she asked. Natsu nodded and looked over to his usual spot, though he couldn't see anyone there.
He narrowed his eyes and looked more closely and then said, "The smell comes from over there." Natsu pointed towards Vile's normal spot.
Erza looked at him and then back to the spot."I thought there was something strange going on," she said.
She walked over and stood right behind the spot on the bench. The space in front of her seemed somewhat twisted, as if the light was going towards a prism. "Vile, are you there?" she asked. The others looked at her confused. Why was she talking to the air?
'No response, so that's how you want to play, huh?' Erza thought. She raised her hand and decided that slapping whatever was in front of her was the best course of actions. She slammed her hand towards the spot, but suddenly the hand stopped by itself, though Erza knew what had happened. She could feel something grab her wrist.
"You really are a nuisance aren't you?" an irritated voice said out of nowhere. It startled Natsu and the others though Erza remained adamant.
"Why are you still hiding? I thought we had a deal?" she said angrily.
"I agreed that I'd remove the hood and start using my real name. That was the deal. You didn't say anything about warping light," he said. She could hear the thrill in his voice. A frown appeared on Erza's face. "Don't look like that. It's true that I have no real obligation to show myself, but in spite of that I still plan to show myself sooner or later."
"Vile, is that you?" Natsu asked, moving closer to Erza and Vile.
"Yes?" he asked.
"All right! I want to fight you!" he said with a big grin on his face.
"I thought you were fighting Erza?" he asked.
"Well, I am, but that can wait. I've fought her before and I haven't tried you, and after what I heard you did to Lullaby I wanna see it for myself," he said, his grin getting bigger.
"I will accept your request then, though I won't use that technique on you. It's far to dangerous, no matter how strong you are. Actually, I have an idea," he said as Lucy tilted her head while Gray was somewhere in the background looking for his clothes. "If you beat me I'll stop using this spell while in the guild and finally show my face. If I win however, you let Happy run an errand for me," he proposed.
"Yosh! It's settled then!" Natsu shouted. Vile released his grip on Erza's hand and muttered, "Manifest," as a small magic circle appeared on the ground. Shadows began to spike out from it, gathering around a figure it seemed. The shadows began wrapping around the figure, forming a cloak and a hood.
"Let's go outside. Would you want the master to observe the fight?" Natsu nodded.
"I'll get him" Erza suggested. The master had returned earlier that day.
Outside of Fairy Tail
It was afternoon, soon to be night. The sun hung low on the sky as the fight was about to start. The whole guild has assembled outside of Fairy Tail to watch Natsu fight Vile.
"Are you prepared Natsu?" Makarov asked.
"Yosh! I'm all fired up!" he said as he smacked his fists together. "Vile?" Vile nodded and looked down at his fist.
"All right, let the fight begin" he declared.
"Here I come!" Natsu shouted as Vile quickly looked up.
"This will be fun..." he murmured as Natsu jumped towards him with his fist engulfed in flames.
Natsu was right in front of Vile as Vile reached out his hand and grabbed the burning fist that was hurling towards him. Natsu's eyes widened as Vile pulled his hand towards him. Vile swung his other hand up and hit Natsu on the top of his head with incredible force just as he let Natsu's fist go. Natsu slammed into the ground, making a hole in the tiles and the ground itself. The impact sent a shock wave through the spectators. The crowd was silent, until Lucy broke it. "Woah... is Natsu all right?" Erza stared at Vile, clenching her fist.
"He better be."
Vile took a step back and watched as Natsu started to pull himself up from the ground. He finally managed to pull himself all the way up, rubbing the back of his head.
"I think you hit harder than Erza," he said with a smile on his face.
"Can you still continue fighting, Natsu?" Makarov asked, looking concerned at him.
"Sure," he said while giving him a thumbs up.
"Natsu. Do not hold back. Give it your everything," Vile said as he watched him.
"What do you take me for? You don't hold back either!" Natsu said, de terminated. "Do you mean that?" Vile said in a dark voice that sent chills down Natsu's spine. Natsu swallowed.
"Yes!" he shouted as he jumped forward again, though this time he roared "Iron Fist of the Fire Dragon!" as a magic circle appeared at his hand. Vile watched his as he approached rapidly. As Natsu was about to hit him he simply said, "Shackle."
Natsu's entire body froze, though the fire still burning. His fist was just in front of Vile's head. Vile stepped aside. He chuckled a bit to himself as he saw Natsu's eyes follow him as he stepped behind him. "Release." Natsu's stumbled forward punching the air in front of him.
"That's cheap!" Natsu shouted as he turned his head glaring at Vile.
"Shackle," Vile said again, and once again Natsu's body froze again. "I will show you something I've never shown anyone before," Vile said as he changed his stance. He was now standing with his back straight, both of his hands on his head.
"Spirit Manifest," he muttered as he stopped moving completely. It didn't even seem as if he was breathing. Suddenly Natsu's eyes widened in surprise and pain. There was something weird going on in his chest. His breathing became more rugged as the pain intensified.
"Spirit Return," Vile said as he lowered his hands to his sides. "Release," he then said. Natsu dropped down on the ground, holding his hands over his stomach where the pain was coming from. He shut his eyes with a pained expression on his face.
Erza stared at Natsu and then to Vile. "What did you do to him?" she shouted and was about to charge in before Makarov stopped her. Erza blinked and looked down at him, before regaining her composure.
"Natsu. Stand up," Vile ordered him. Natsu opened his eyes and stood up, looking down at his fist. He clenched it and looked back at Vile.
"I don't know what you did to me, but thank you," he said with a large smile on his face.
"I wanted a more... interesting fight, so I released your maximum current potential. It will last around thirty minutes, long enough for us to conclude our duel," Vile said. "Yosh!" Natsu shouted as he charged forward, trying to punch Vile.
He moved at incredible speed, half of the guild lost track of him, only a few members saw his movement. Vile quickly brought his hand up and blocked his fist with his palm, though Natsu kept on pushing, making Vile's arm shake a little. "Let's see what you are truly capable of, Shackle."
Natsu's body froze once again, though this time, he struggled to get free of it. His magical power began to increase as he kept trying to force his way out of the binding. Vile moved away slightly, as Natsu finally broke the bond, ripping the magical tethers that was holding him in place apart.
"Perrrrfect," Vile said in a dark tone. "Are you ready for the real battle to start?" he asked. You could almost hear the joy in his voice. Natsu nodded.
"It's time I show you the next level," Vile said, as he put his hands up to his head again. "Immortal Nightmare: Release." The ground began to crack around Vile as his magical power increased substantially. You could even see the darkness flow around him as he began moving towards Natsu. It was a truly terrifying view.
The whole guild stood by and silently watched as Vile approached Natsu slowly. With each step the ground beneath his feet cracked and shattered. He stopped right in front of Natsu. He moved his hand up to his hood suddenly, and grabbed the top part of it.
He ripped the hood off, revealing his face to everyone. He had short black hair, though the thing that caught everyone's attention was his face. His face was covered in dark-red glowing markings and black eyes. His skin was incredibly pale and his mouth was twisted into a big, sadistic grin.
Before anyone could say anything, Vile quickly sent an uppercut towards Natsu, hitting him on the chin, sending him flying up in the air at a rapid speed. Vile regained his posture and looked around.
"What are you looking at?" he said in an almost demonic voice, making the crowd shudder. He began laughing maniacally as he saw all of their faces cringe at his voice. He suddenly stopped and then turned his face upwards. He could see Natsu diving straight down towards him with both his fists ignited in flames.
Vile crouched down and then set off the ground, making the ground beneath him give away as he was heading straight towards Natsu with his own fist wrapped in dark energy.
Their fists met in the middle of the air over Magnolia. Their fists clashing sent streams of fire and dark magic out, creating an astounding visual display over the city of Magnolia. Both of them retreated only to have their fists meet again at another point, both of them flying around the sky clashing against each other, creating flashes of light and darkness.
In one of the clashes Vile managed to land a successful hit on Natsu which sent him flying downwards towards the ground while Vile was still floating in the air looking down at him. Natsu quickly turned around and landed on a rooftop, destroying the tiles on the house.
"Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!" Natsu shouted as he created a ball of fire in each of his hands. He then brought his hands together and created an even larger fireball, which he sent flying towards Vile at a high speed.
Vile looked down at it and then positioned his hands so that his fingers formed a triangle. He faced this triangle towards the fireball and Natsu and yelled, "Duskbringer!" A large beam of dark energy shot out from his hands.
When the fireball and the beam collided the fireball was extinguished immediately and the beam headed directly towards Natsu who was about to move as Vile shouted "Shackle!"
Natsu froze in place. He could see the beam heading straight towards him... yet no matter how hard he tried he couldn't break the restraints. The beam reached him and he was embraced by the darkness. The beam continued and cut through the house, and the earth beneath it.
Natsu tried to scream but he couldn't move his mouth... It was as if he was being bathed in acid, corroding his skin slowly. After a few seconds the beam finally stopped and the shackles were released.
Natsu dropped down on his knees and watched as Vile slowly came down to his level. Natsu panted heavily while realizing that there was a lot of holes in his clothes. "Immortal Nightmare; Subside," he muttered as the markings began to fade and his eyes returned to normal.
His eyes were red.
Natsu looked up at him. "I must commend you. Not many people would still be conscious after that attack. Hell, even alive. But even so you still have a long way to go. If you continue like this you will become stronger than most of the people in the guild. Definitely S-class. But remember... just because you lost this battle doesn't mean you're weak. It just means that you are really bad at picking your opponents," as he said this, he reached out for Natsu.
Natsu grabbed his hand and smiled. "We will fight again," Natsu said as he stood up.
"Wait... didn't you say that you were only going to remove the hood if I defeated you?" he asked, confused.
"That is true, though I figured that your unleashed powers would force me to enter my Nightmare form, due note that when I say force I mean it would have been an equal battle in my previous form. Though an equal battle would mean that I could lose, and I'd prefer not to, since I really want Happy to run that errand for me. Regarding the hood if I had worn it while in the Nightmare form it would've burned away due to the amount of magical power running through the runes on my face. Also, I made a promise to Erza to take the hood off, and I have a feeling that if I break a promise I made with her she would probably try to kill me," he said with a grin on his face.
Only now when Natsu wasn't focused on fighting he realized that Vile looked younger than he had first assumed. Hell, he looked like a person only a few years older than himself.
"I always wondered... how old are you?" he said while inspecting his face.
"I don't know," he shrugged as he jumped down from the building. "I'm heading back to the guild. You coming?" Natsu nodded and jumped down.
Outside Fairy Tail
As Natsu approached the guild he could see the crowd was still standing outside waiting for them. It had only been a couple of minutes since they had disappeared into the sky. Natsu waved at them with a smile on his face.
"How did it go?" Makarov asked inquisitively.
"He knocked me out with a spell," Natsu said scratching the back of his head. "I guess I wasn't a match even with the power boost." Erza, who was standing behind Makarov looked at Natsu. With that power boost he was probably almost at her own level and he was still knocked out by a single spell...
"Speaking of which, where is Vile?" Erza asked, as she could not see him.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I think he said something about going home after something and then meeting me back here." As he said that, a person turned a corner at the end of the street. Erza spotted this and turned her attention towards the person.
As the figure came closer she could start seeing some of its features. It was a rather tall man with dark hair. He was wearing a pair of black pants and a black jacket and a grey shirt beneath it. He seemed to be carrying a book in his left hand. He had red eyes, but the most fascinating thing was the runes on his face. There was lines on his face with a black colour. The crowd had now all noticed this person, and were all staring at him. The man stopped in the edge of the crowd, staring back at them. An awkward silence emerged as everyone was staring at this person.
"What are you looking at?" he asked them, raising an eyebrow as he saw all the surprised faces. This time he didn't sound as demonic. The silence continued. Makarov finally decided to break the awkward silence and coughed into his hand.
"Is that you, Vile?" he said while raising an eyebrow.
"Not exactly," he said. "You refer to me as Vile, though my name is not Vile. It's Ksaner, though you may call me Ksan if you wish. Now if there is anything else?" he said while looking through the crowd.
"Yeah... there is one thing," Erza said while looking at him. "What was that thing you did before?" she asked, still a little frightened by the thought.
"It looked like some sort of demon takeover, like Mirajane," Gray added.
"Ah, about that... It's a longer story, and I really do not have the patience to tell it right now, some other time maybe." he said carelessly as he walked around the group and went into the guild.
Makarov chuckled slightly as soon as Ksan was inside of the guild. Natsu turned his head and looked at his laughing master. "What's so funny Gramps?" he asked, slightly confused.
"It's nothing. It's just that I didn't expect him to be young. At all," Makarov said as he shrugged. He does have a point Erza thought to herself. Vi-.. Ksan had seemed older than that. Not just a bit, but a lot. She shrugged. It didn't really matter anyhow.
Inside the guild
Ksan was sitting at his usual place in the back end of the room. Ever since the little charade outside of the guild people kept staring at him as if he was some sort of freak show. It bothered him, to say the least.
The doors opened and Natsu and his team went inside. Ksan noticed that they weren't going for their usual place near the bar. They were going towards him. He looked at them with his head slightly turned. They reached the table and sat down next to him.
He had turned his focus away from his and back to the book. "What'cha reading?" Natsu asked. Ksan smirked and slid the book over to him so he could see.
"See for yourself," he said, knowing full well the reaction that he was going to get. "I don't understand any of this," Natsu said as he stared at the pages filled with weird symbols that didn't seem to make sense.
Erza grabbed the book from Natsu and looked at the pages as well. "I think I've seen this somewhere before," Erza muttered as she slid the book back to Ksaner. "I figured you might have. I'll explain later when we have that talk you promised, since I fulfilled my side of the bargain," he said as he smirked at her. Erza blinked and nodded. The rest looked at the two confused though didn't say anything. "Also, Natsu, if possible could you ask Happy to meet me at around midnight tonight?"
"Uuh... sure," he said.
"Where is Happy by the way?" Lucy asked as he hadn't seen him for awhile.
"I think he heard about the fish sale down at the harbour," Natsu grinned.
"Oh! Vil-... Ksan, I meant to ask you, what kind of magic do you use? Because I saw you use shadow magic back in Onibas.. and in Oshibana you used some sort of... box magic.. and just now you used some sort of.. dark magic or demon takeover.." Lucy asked, looking even more confused than when she started to talk.
"I figured you'd ask sooner or later," Ksan said. "Though I'd prefer not to talk about it in the guild. Is there somewhere we can talk that's a bit more private?" he suggested.
"Lucy's house is free!" Natsu said while smiling.
"Why my house!?" Lucy shouted at him.
"Well.. you were the one who wanted to know," Gray added.
"Your clothes, Gray," Cana shouted from the other side of the guild.
At Lucy's House
"This place is really nice," he noted as he stepped inside the room. Natsu had already planted himself in a chair around a table. Erza and Gray took the other two chairs while Lucy opened her kitchen windows to vent out the air.
Ksan looked around the place, noticing a stack of papers on Lucy's desk. He looked at it and picked it up and skimmed through the pages. He shrugged and was about to put it back when Lucy came back and saw what he was doing... "DON'T TOUCH THAT!" she shouted angrily as she quickly tore the papers out of Ksan's hands.
"Is that a novel of yours?" he asked.
"None of your business!" she muttered, hugging the papers tightly to her chest.
"I don't see the point in writing when no one is there to read it," he shrugged.
"Anyway, I figured that I should just skip straight to the point," he said. They nodded. Lucy had found a chair for herself and Ksan took the chair they was standing in front of her work desk. "I presume you're all familiar with Natsu's Dragonslayer magic, yes?" he asked. They all nodded again. "Basically, to be a 'true' Dragonslayer you have to learn the magic from a dragon, and so on." he continued.
"But how is this relevant?" Erza interjected.
"I'm getting to it," he muttered. "My magic is somewhat similar to his. You see, I'm also a Slayer," he said and then paused, letting the words sink in.
Natsu smiled and asked happily, "What kind of Slayer are you then? I've only heard of Dragonslayers."
"I'm just a Slayer. That is the purpose of my magic. To kill... I was trained by a demon to become his successor, though I rejected his beliefs and was abandoned. That is why I call my magic Slayer, or Fallen Demon arc. However, as in the magic in of itself, I possess the ability to manipulate shadows, space, poison, acid, fear, pain and even the mind itself. There are several different levels of this magic. You saw the first form, Immortal Nightmare earlier today. That is the first stage of eight so far. From what I can tell each step multiplies my magical power by two of the former state," he said. Erza peered at him... If this was true... then he was probably the most powerful mage in Fairy Tail... maybe even in all of Fiore.
"Though," he added, ending Erza's stream of thoughts. "With each level up, I begin to fuse with the demon within me. I lose my sanity and the only thing that remains within me is the urge to kill and destroy. That is what you saw earlier today. But that was, as I said, only level one." The others gulped as they listened to his words intently. "That is my weakness. Though to a certain extent also my greatest strength. If I'm isolated with an opponent it wouldn't matter if I lost my sanity or not. Fighting without fear of dying, without the fear of pain increases my capabilities to push forward even if I'm losing. Though, when I enter my eighth form I will lose control of my own mind for a longer period of time. Last time it happened I had a memory lapse of over three months. I think it was about the time where you became a S-class mage Erza," he noted as he watched their reactions.
Lucy seemed terrified, Gray and Natsu seemed frightened as well, though they were hiding it quite well. Erza was deep in thought as she always was around Ksan. She did recall not seeing Vile around the time she became S-class. And she also heard rumours about a monster destroying countless cities. She had even considered taking a mission to get rid of the monster... Thinking back on that now that she knew what the monster was, she was kind of glad that she hadn't accepted the request.
"Though there is something else I'd like to say before it comes back and bites me in the ass," he said. The others looked at up at him again, as he said something that they probably wouldn't forget.
"Basically, I wasn't the only one who was taught to be a Slayer. There was another. She was.. is... she was absorbed..." He suddenly got a sad look on his face as he stared down in the table. A frown appeared on his normally careless face.
"This demon... he rejected her, because he thought she was weak, tooweak... He only wanted one person to walk in his footsteps, so he forced me to..." he stopped again. It sounded like he was going to burst into tears any moment now. "He forced me to fight her... and absorb her power... she... I couldn't..." he said, as he began to stutter as the tears began to flood out of his eyes. "S-she was forced to.. I... she became a part of me... willingly, I had stripped her of herself... It was only after that I... I realized what I had done," the others looked concerned at him. It wasn't like the Vile they knew to burst into tears.
He sighed heavily as he managed to regain control over his feelings. "I'm sorry about that," he said as he rubbed his eyes. "What I was getting at is that she is a part of me. The reason I why I'm telling you this is because I've made some promises to her, that mustn't be broken for anything. These promises prevent me from doing what I wish to do myself... as a punishment for what I've done I see it quiet befitting, though it still limits me to a certain extent. One promise was to keep away from other people for five hundred years, or until the time she allows me to do so. That is why I've not talked to anyone before here recently, when the five hundred years was ending."
"So.. you're saying that.. you're over five hundred years old..?"
Ksan nodded and continued, "There was also another thing I promised... something that I regret now that I think back on it." They looked at him in anticipation.
"I promised not to die," he said as an even bigger frown appeared on his face.
They looked at him, confused, but also concerned. Did he wish to die? "Is that really a bad thing?" Lucy asked.
"Have you ever thought of why they put people in prisons?" he said, as he looked up at her.
"Isn't it to make them rethink their actions?" Erza suggested.
"That is true. Life is my prison,, and as long as I live, I will be forced to relive all the horrible things I've done. I personally believe that I deserve to die for all the atrocities I've committed," he said solemnly.
Natsu was just about to interject, and say that even if he had done all those bad things he should atone for them, or something along those lines, but then Ksan continued speaking. "I do realize that dying is the easy way out. Though I do intend to defy that promise I made with her, though only after I've atoned for my sins. And I know how I'm going to do that, though I won't tell you how I'm planning to do it. No offence or anything, but I'd prefer to keep that to myself for a little bit longer. I've already given you enough to think about... Now, is there any questions?"
They sat in silence as they thought about what he had just said. "Who is this demon?" Gray asked.
"It's a long and confusing story. I believe that I'd be able to make you understand later, but now is too soon."
"If you are older than five hundred years, how come you look so young?" Lucy asked.
"Ah... well... that is somewhat related to Gray's question. If you don't know who the demon I referred to is, or where he is, it's going to be hard to explain," he said, shrugging.
"What was that book you had on you earlier?" Erza asked. It had bothered her that she couldn't remember where she had seen them before. "Oh, about that. It's something I'd prefer to tell you, in private. It's something concerning the topic I wished to discuss with you." Erza narrowed her eyes. What did the book have to do with the R-system?
"Speaking of which, is it possible we could have that talk when we are done here?" he suggested.
"Sure."
"Erza's got a date!" Natsu blurted out as he chuckled. Erza blushed slightly but then immediately entered the angry zone, smacking Natsu, hard.
"Shut up."
Outside Lucy's house
"So, where you would prefer we talked. Your house or mine?" he asked, staring out at the canal. The way he said it made Erza blush slightly.
"Wait, you actually have a house?" she asked.
"Did you think that I slept in the streets?" he laughed.
"Honestly, I didn't think you slept at all."
"Well, that's not very nice of you," he said jokingly.
"Sorry."
"Don't worry, it's fine."
"I'd actually like to see your house," she said. He looked at her and then nodded.
"It's this way then," he said as he began walking towards the guild. This had been quite an eventful day she thought to herself. This guy is really fascinating, even if he seems to be so... sad.
In an alley near Fairy Tail
"We're here." They were standing in a small alley between two houses not far from the guild. There weren't any doors to be seen, only a wooden box containing trash and a bag which contained something which seemed to be moving.
"I don't see anything," she said, merely stating the obvious.
"That's the trick," he said as he raised a finger in the air, as if making a point. "I hid it using some magic since I don't really like uninvited guests. Only the ones who know that it's here can enter," he said as he nodded.
"So the door is hiding by using some sort of magic?"
"Kind of. Watch and learn," he said with a coy smile on his face. He knelt down as he grabbed a piece of chalk from his pocket and then made a small square with it on the ground. He then placed his hand in the middle of the square and said "Open." Suddenly the bricks that were beneath them began to retract into the ground, disappearing and leaving them standing on a metal frame. "Just so you know, we are going down," he said as the metal frame began descending into the ground.
The lift went quickly down into the ground. Erza looked up and saw that the bricks had retracted over the hole, cutting off the light from above, though luckily that there was torches placed in holes along the shaft. "How deep is this thing?" Erza asked as Ksan stood up and looked at her.
"Two hundred meters, more or less." The lift stopped all of a sudden as they had reached the bottom. There was a small wooden door in front of them.
Ksaner's home
"Welcome to my humble home," he said as he opened the door. The room behind the door was a small corridor with two doors on each side and a door at the end of it. The room was lit up by several lamps hanging down from the ceiling. The floor was made of cut out stone and the walls was made of wood. As Erza stepped into the corridor Ksan had taken his jacket off and was now carrying it over his shoulder.
"Just follow me," he said as he walked towards the door at the end of the corridor. "That's the kitchen," he said as he pointed to the first door to the left and then he pointed at the right, "The bathroom." As they reached the second pair of doors he pointed towards the left. "That's the training room and that's the confinement room," he said as he then pointed to the right. The door on the left was made out of reinforced metal.
"Why would you need a confinement room?" she asked.
He shrugged. "You never know."
They reached the end of the corridor. "This is the living room, slash library," he said as he opened the door. Ksan entered the room. Erza poked her head inside and saw a large room with at least fifty meters to the ceiling. From what she could see there was about a hundred meters down to the other end of the room. The room itself was round. The walls were filled with bookshelves, stuffed with books.
As she stepped inside of the room she noticed that she was standing on a bridge made of glass. She looked down and saw that there was about a hundred meters to the bottom of the room. Her jaw literally dropped to the ground as she saw this. This wasn't really what she had expected when she had first seen the little corridor.
"You coming?" Ksan said as he was walking on a glass bridge towards a large stone pillar in the middle of the room. There was a few chairs placed on top of the pillar. "Yeah..." she said as she stepped onto the glass bridge.
Ksan had already sat down beside a circular wooden table, when she reached the large pillar in the middle of the room.
"What is this place?" she asked as she sat down around a chair beside the same table.
"It's my home. I made it myself. It's nice isn't it?" he said while looking around massive room.
"How long did it take to make?" she asked. It must've taken a lot of time... considering the scale of it.
"About a day, maybe," he shrugged.
"That's quite fast..." she said.
"I did tell you I control spacial magic. It made it quite a lot easier."
"Ah, I see. Now what did you want to talk about?" Erza asked.
"Ah, about that. I figured you'd want to know that the R-system is nearing completion. I suspect it will be complete in about a month or two," he said in a very serious tone. Erza raised an eyebrow and looked at him.
"And what has this to do with me?" she asked, trying to feign ignorance. Maybe I could drag some information out of him she thought.
"I figured that you'd be more upset about this... considering the reason you've been training so hard ever since you arrived in Fairy Tail was to save your friends." Erza peered at him more intensely. How did he know about them... "Though that is not the thing that I want to talk to you about. It's about the person you call Jellal," he said calmly.
"What do you know about Jellal!" she shouted suddenly, pushing the chair back as she stood up. Her words echoed throughout the room as Erza starred angrily at him. The chair fell back and hit the ground. Silence crept it's way into the room as they stared at each other.
Ksan sighed, "Would you please calm down?" he asked her politely. "I understand that this is a sensitive topic but I don't see a way around it," he added as he crossed his arms. Erza's breathing became slower as she turned around to pick up the chair.
"I'm sorry," she said as she sat down.
"Don't worry about it," he said with a smile on his face.
The smile soon faded as he spoke again, "About Jellal... When the system is completed, someone will have to stop him right?" Erza nodded. "Are you prepared to do what's necessary to stop him?" Erza swallowed and then nodded again. "Even if it means killing him?"
Silence.
"Y-yes..." she said softly
"That's good... then I need not worry. Though, I just want you to know that when the time comes, I'll be there to help you. That much I can assure you," he said as she watched a faint smile reappear on her frowning face.
"Now, about the book and how I know all these things..." he stood up and walked over to the edge. "Level five." The whole started to rotate as the bridge and pillar began going down towards the bottom of the room. It stopped about twenty meters above the bottom. He stepped out onto the bridge, and as he walked towards the wall the bridge began to rotate around the pillar, leading him towards the place he was looking for. He reached the wall and grabbed a book, then turned around and walked back. When he reached the table he threw the book in front of Erza. It was a black book with a red symbol on it.
"That's the mark of Zeref. I do believe you are familiar with it," he said as he went to his chair and sat down. Erza stared at the book. "As far as I recall, you were taken in and bound to some sort of crystal at the R-system. That is where you know the symbols from. That crystal is related to both Zeref and me. We both use the same language," he said as he pointed towards the book, "Zeref used to be a Slayer, like me. Though something went wrong and he was stuck in an eternal state of insanity after entering one of his later stages." Ksan could feel Erza's eyes bore into him as he stood up and walked to the edge.
"The crystal you were bound to was originally created to force people into submission. The people they were supposed to follow was the slayers. Basically, there are two slayers in this world as far as I recall. Zeref, and myself. That is why you felt his presence when you were bound the crystal, though he didn't take you over. That was my doing... the reason why I couldn't help Jellal was because of Zeref's proximity to the R-system. He was closer than myself, and also at a higher state. I spent all my power securing your mental borders, so I didn't have enough to help your friend sadly."
"You should have abandoned me and helped him instead!" Erza shouted standing up again, this time not knocking back the chair.
"I didn't know that there was going to be another victim. I didn't know under which conditions you were being held. I only figured it out after Jellal had been captured. The reason why I know so much about your goals is because ever since Jellal was taken over not only Zeref has been within his mind, but I've also been in there." Erza stood silently, glaring at him angrily. She was considering killing him... or at least stabbing him in the leg just to injure him...
"Don't get me wrong, I didn't intend to involve myself. Though when a connection between a Slayer and a mortal is created, all Slayers are bound to this mortal to a certain extent. Basically you're forced to take a look inside of this mortals head, and you have the ability to watch through their eyes, though only the Slayer that formed the bond with the mortal will be able to control the mortal. That is why I failed to help him. And that is why I intend to end his suffering. Even if it means killing him," he said as he turned around. His face expressing every ounce of seriousness available.
"The reason I'm telling you all this is because I wanted to warn you. I'm familiar with the bond you had with the kid known as Jellal, but I'm sad to say he's gone now. And I doubt that he will ever be able to return to normal," he said with a very cold demeanour.
"I see.." she whispered to herself.
"I apologize if this is too much and too sudden for you." Ksan smiled at her, dropping the serious look on his face.
"Just one last thing... was Zeref abandoned as well?"
"No... he wasn't as much abandoned as kicked out. Originally there were three apprentices. Zeref was the third, though he proved to be weak and lost his mind in the later stages. He attempted to harm me and the second one, so I banished him to this plane. That is also why I feel a need to clean up after his mess," he noted.
What did he mean by plane? Erza looked at him confused for a second, but then he left out a long sigh and then he finally walked back to the table and picked the book up again.
"Are all these books in this language?" she asked. She had figured that changing the topic to something less... dark would be a good idea.
"No. I've compiled a collection of every single book I've ever come across, in this very room," he said smiling. "If you're interested you could borrow some," he shrugged.
"I'll think about it," though what she wasn't telling him was that she would never consider borrowing her usual books from him.
"Is there anything else? If not I've got other matters to attend to."
"I should be good for now," she said as she walked to the edge.
"How exactly do I get out of here?"
Ksan chuckled.
At night outside Fairy Tail
"Are you sure you can do this Happy?" Ksan asked the cat. He was wearing his hood and cloak again.
"Aye! I promised Natsu!" Happy said with a big grin on his face.
"Good, just don't get caught."
Next morning in Fairy Tail
"Master!" Mirajane shouted as she ran down the stairs from the second floor.
"Mhm?" Makarov grunted while taking another sip of his coffee.
"One of the requests on the second floor has disappeared!" she said while looking quite concerned. Makarov spat out the liquid in his mouth.
"Say what? A request is gone?" Wakaba muttered.
"If it was put on the second floor, then it's an S class right?" Macao asked rhetorically.
"Who would be stupid enough to take something like that?" Laki asked.
"A cat." Laxus leaned back in his chair on the second floor looking down at the bar with a smug grin on his face.
"I saw a cat with wings tear one off around midnight."
"Happy did?" Mirajane asked... "That means it's Natsu and Lucy?"
"This is quite a serious violation of the rules. If they make it back, they will be expelled... Right, old man? But of course with their skills they won't come back, will they?" he asked while looking down at Makarov, his grin becoming wider.
"Laxus, if you knew this, why didn't you try to stop them?" Mirajane asked angrily as she had gone up to the second floor to face him.
"All I saw was a cat running off with a piece of paper. I didn't know it was Happy. And I never thought that Natsu would be stupid enough to go on an S-class quest." Mirajane's stare became darker, almost showing murderous intent in her eyes. There was no way to describe how much his arrogance annoyed her, and the fact that he just let them go...
Laxus looked at her and chuckled slightly. "It's been a while since you last looked at me like that."
"This is no good," Makarvo stated. "Which request is missing?" he asked, looking up at Mira.
"Galuna," she said, still glaring at Laxus. The guild went quiet for a moment.
"What?" Makarov's eyes shot open. "Laxus! Go bring them back!" he ordered his grandson.
"You've got to be kidding me. I've got work to do. Didn't you say that wizards in this guild were supposed to be able to take care of themselves? Right?" Laxus's grin suddenly turned darker, enjoying the scene.
"Who other than you in here has the power to bring Natsu back by force?" Makarov shouted angrily. He heard someone stand up behind him. He turned around and saw that it was Gray.
"Gramps... I can't let him get away with this."
In front of Fairy Tail
"Where are you going Gray?" Ksan asked as he saw Gray exit the wooden doors of Fairy Tail.
He was wearing his normal attire which consisted of a cloak and a hood. Gray was wearing grey pants and a white shirt.
"Natsu and Lucy have gone on an S-class quest, and I'm going to bring them back," he said with a stern look on his face. Ksan saw that Gray was clenching his fist quite hard from what he could see.
"Oh, I see," Ksan mumbled, seemingly thinking about something. Gray raised an eyebrow at him.
"Do you mind if I tag alone? Sounds like it might be interesting," Ksan asked.
"You make it sound as if we are going to help them," Gray said, narrowing his eyes.
"Of course, and the only reason why I'm going with you is to subdue you when we reach Natsu and Lucy and force you to come with us to wherever they are going," Ksan said sarcastically, a faint grin appearing on his face. Luckily for him Gray picked up on his sarcasm and smirked at his remark.
"So, where exactly did they go?"
"They took a request that involves removing a curse from an island called Galuna. The closest city to the island is Hargeon, so that is where we are going," Gray said as he began moving towards Magnolia station. 'This is going just as planned' Ksan thought, the idea summoning a chuckle.
"Why are you laughing?"
"Oh, it's nothing," Ksan quickly reassured him as he waved a hand dismissively.
'Maybe I shouldn't have let him join after all... he seems a bit to excited... or whatever you might call it... but I guess I can't really refuse him. He did help us in Oshibana so I guess it's the least I could do. And if that idiot, Natsu, has already dragged Lucy and Happy on to that cursed island his power would come in handy... I guess it's a win-win situation' Gray figured, not knowing exactly what Ksan had planned if he had even planned anything.
They reached the train station in a matter of minutes. The large building was swarming with people, creating a cluster of bodies in the hall inside of the station. They managed to get through the crowd and found the train that lead to Hargeon.
Hargeon
The train ride there had been quite awkward if you asked Gray. He had attempted to start a conversation with Ksan several times but seemingly he didn't want to talk, at all. He had been reading in a book the entire way here.
They stepped out of the station a wave of fresh ocean air hit them. It tasted salty in their mouths, as they began making their way towards the harbour.
The city itself had barely recovered from the destruction Natsu had caused not so long ago. As they passed by some rubble, that, from what Ksan could tell used to be a house, Ksan stopped.
"I heard Natsu went and destroyed some of the town but I never figured it would be at this scale," he muttered to himself. Gray had stopped and was now looking at him.
"He doesn't really know when to hold back," Gray shrugged. "But It's not all his fault. As far as I've heard there was some other person, actually pretending to be the 'Salamander' from Fairy Tail... He did some of the destroying as well.. though I guess Natsu did probably do the most." Ksan looked at him for a second. Granted, he hadn't known him for that long.
He didn't really know much about him either, all he knew was things he had gotten to know through that person. And to think he would finally be meeting her face to face, it thrilled him slightly.
A vein popped into his forehead as he still had to deal with Natsu and the rest. He had planned for them to come along, though there was still an... unpredictability with people from Fairy Tail. Especially Natsu.
Though in the end there was only one possible outcome to this whole situation. At least if you asked Ksan.
"Is something bothering you?" Gray asked. Ksan had been staring at the rubble for almost a minute or so, and he seemed to be clenching his fist, if only a bit. Ksan quickly looked up and shook his head, ending the flow of thoughts.
"I'm fine," he said quickly, reassuring Gray. "I'm just a bit tired, that's all." Gray raised an eyebrow.
"If you're tired why didn't you sleep in the train?" Ksan narrowed his eyebrows. 'It's as if he's suspicious of me... of everything I do,' Ksan shrugged away the thought.
"I don't like to sleep with moving. I get nauseous," he said casually as he turned towards Gray. "Though we really should be looking for them," he said, his tone turning serious. "I guess you're right," Gray noted as he brought a hand up to rub his temples...
'I don't get why I'm feeling so uneasy around him... it's not like I dislike him.. do I? I mean... it's fine when I'm with him, when there's other people around... but when I'm alone with him, he just... gives me this feeling.' Gray shrugged. 'It's not worth thinking about probably. I've got to find Natsu before he drags Lucy into something stupid,' Gray thought. What he didn't know was that he wasn't the only one who had this ill feeling about Ksan. After their talk last night Erza had the exact same feeling, possibly worse. Ksan slowly walked past Gray and went towards the harbour.
"The longer we wait, the more time they have to find a boat," Ksan said casually. Gray quickly shook his head, returning back to materialized world. "Yeah..." he said as he turned around to follow Ksan.
Hargeon Harbour
"We're looking for someone to take us to Galuna!" Natsu said happily to the two fishermen that stood before him and Lucy.
"Galuna..? You mean the cursed island? No way, I'm not going anywhere near that place!" one of them said as he took off. The other one followed suit.
Natsu sighed heavily. "I told you! We should just swim there!" Natsu said, turning his face towards Lucy.
"We're finding a boat, and that's that," Lucy said stubbornly. Natsu sighed again.
"You shouldn't want to go to Galuna. The island is cursed." Natsu's head flew up, looking for the owner of the voice. It was a man covered in a greenish cloak and a headband of the same colour. His skin was light-brown and he had a funny moustache.
"We want to go there to lift the curse!" Natsu said.
The man shook his head. "It's too dangerous for kids like you."
"Hey, who did you just call a ki-.." Natsu stopped mid-sentence.
He turned his head and looked at his shoulder. A hand had suddenly appeared. And an annoying chill came from the hand. Natsu quickly turned around, pushing the hand off of him. Gray was standing right behind him, looking quite ominously at him.
"What are you doing here, Gray!" Natsu almost yelled.
"I came to bring you three idiots back," he said calmly, glaring at both Lucy and Happy, who both had started to creep away from him.
Lucy and Happy stopped abruptly. Just like before with Natsu, Lucy felt a hand on her shoulder and Happy yelped quietly as a hand wrapped around his tail.
"Where do you think you're going?" a voice said. It was easy to hear the joy in the voice. Lucy slowly turned her head and saw Ksan stand behind her. She shrieked and jumped away from him. She stared at him for a second. She heard something but wasn't quite sure what it was... Happy looked at Ksan very apologetically.
"They forced me to come, I didn't have a choice!" the cat spurted out.
"You traitor!" Lucy shouted. She quickly quieted down again, looking at Ksan, slightly worried. He hadn't made a sound since he had grabbed them. Though she could hear something but was unsure at first, but then later she could definitely hear a form of laughter coming from him. At this point Natsu and Gray had already started fighting, with a hint of magic every now and again. The man in the boat looked at them for a second, before realizing something.
"Are you mages?" he asked out of nowhere. It almost sounded like he was a bit happy about this.
"Yeah!" Natsu said enthusiastically.
Ksan stopped laughing as the man had spoken up again, "And the reason you want to go to Galuna is to rid the island of the curse?" he said, sounding quite happy about the last response.
"Yus," Natsu replied, giving him a thumps up and a grin.
"I'm not letting you go anywhere!" Gray almost shouted at him.
The man ignored Gray and quickly said, "Get in."
A grin appeared on Natsu's face. The man's words had distracted Gray enough to allow Natsu to land a cheap-shot on him, knocking him out. "Let's go!" he quickly said, but stopped just as fast as he had begun.
He had been so focused on Gray that he had completely overlooked Ksan, who was standing right behind Lucy and Happy. An awkward silence emerged from the situation. 'If it comes to a fight it probably won't end well' Natsu thought to himself, remembering the fight they had... even if it did hurt his pride, he had to admit it was probably better to just give up... though the silence was suddenly broken by Ksan.
"Go ahead, I won't stop you. I intended to come all along, that is, if you will have me," he said.
Natsu sighed in relief, as did Lucy and Happy. "Sure!" Natsu said happily, giving Ksan a thumps up as he jumped onto the boat with Gray slung over his shoulder.
On a boat near Galuna
"If you go to that island, misfortune will fall upon you... Can you really undo the curse?" Bobo asked. He quickly swung his cape away from his left arm, revealing an arm that looked like it belonged to a monster, if nothing else.
"The demon curse," he said, with a slight frown upon his face.
"Your arm..." Gray said, staring at disbelief at the man before him.
"The curse.. you don't mean..?" Lucy added. Ksan leaned back and watched the man, not emitting a sound.
"You can see it now," Bobo said as he raised his head. In the distance, in the middle of the ocean, there was a small island with some sort of light coming from the peak of a mountain.
"That's Galuna Island," he said, staring at the island.
"There's... some sort of light coming from the top of the island," Lucy said, wondering what it could be. She turned her head around and saw that the man had disappeared.
"Huh? Where did he go?" she exclaimed. Truth be told she didn't enjoy the situation. It was too scary for her taste. Ksan was sitting silently in the back of the boat, looking up into the night sky.
"Huh? Did he fall overboard?" Gray asked, looking into the water around the little boat. "He must have disappeared when we weren't looking," Happy deduced...
The boat began wavering more than it did before. There was also a rumbling sound coming from somewhere. "What is that sound?"
Author Notes: And so we arrive at the same point, again. Towards Galuna Island... I'll try to update within a week or two, which is better than the 10 months I spent getting here, to actually editing it. Anyway, yeah.