A/N: Been a minute since I posted, but hey, it's here. Enjoy!
Chapter 2
Spectral Eves
…you see these three marks?
"Hold onto me, princess."
Mirajane obliged, still much too shocked to wonder why. She glanced back at his neck, hoping desperately she'd imagined the three black stripes. But no, they were still there, as real as their owner, who was scowling as he tried to figure out what to do next.
Kalan, he'd said his name was.
His pale eyes swiveled around the alley, and Mirajane could practically see him working out a plan. He really had strange eyes, she thought. They made him seem unearthly, like some kind of spirit. She watched as he seemed to decide on a course of action, causing a smile to blossom on his face. His smile curved that vicious looking scar, making his whole face look unfittingly ominous.
His whole countenance was odds with itself.
Her eyes drifted, almost against her will, back to his neck and those three self-incriminating black lines.
All members of Spectre have this tattooed on their body…
"Tighter," he said shaking her a little when she didn't respond. Mirajane nodded and dutifully tightened their her hold on him, much tighter she was sure than was strictly necessary. With her now secured to him, he let his other arm drop, and he fished around in his pocket for a few seconds, finally pulling out a dagger.
"Still holding on?" he asked as he switched his grip on the tiny weapon, preparing for god-knows-what to get them down from the precarious position they were in.
"Of course I am," Mirajane said in exasperation, her lack of sleep suddenly turning her cranky.
His smile this time was different; it mirrored her annoyance, "Good."
Then he let them fall.
Mirajane screamed, and wrapped her legs and arms around Kalan in a death hold. She could have sworn she heard him laughing again, but the sound was taken by the rushing air around them. They hadn't even been falling for a second when he plunged the dagger into the building next to them immediately halting their descent. They jerked to a stop a few feet from the ground.
Kalan growled in pain, and unceremoniously let go of the dagger, landing easily on his feet, while Mirajane fell flat on her ass. She stood up, and in a rare moment of anger (which were slowly becoming less and less rare in this man's presence), jabbed her finger into his chest.
"What the hell was that for?" she hissed.
Kalan wasn't intimidated. In fact, he leaned even closer, until he was nose to nose with Mirajane. His eyes lanced into hers, searching for some type of reaction. He was testing her, Mirajane realized. In response, she drew herself up, and stared right back at him. It seemed like forever that he glared at her, until finally he must have decided she passed because he broke the contact.
"Attitude, for one," he said with a smirk, then turned away, pulling his hood back up and striding out of the alley. Mirajane rolled her eyes, then jogged to catch up with him.
"We're close enough to walk, just make sure you stay close to me," he said once she'd reached him. He began to walk, this time without taking her hand. For some reason, Mirajane found herself slightly disappointed, but she took off after him all the same.
The two of them weaved through the loosely connected groups that were straggling out of the bars. They gravitated towards the center of each group, brushing through but never causing too much of a commotion. When no one was around they clung to the shadows at the bases of the buildings, and only went out into the bright mechanical light of the street lamps when they needed to cross over to another street.
Like on the rooftops, Kalan seemed right at home slinking through the streets and moving through the night. He was never at a loss of where to go, some assurance of years of practice allowing him to keep from slowing down at all. For the third time, Mirajane's thoughts strayed to the tattoos on his neck. He was a member of Spectre; he probably did stuff like this on a regular basis.
The rain that had been drenching them before was now coming down in a light misty drizzle. It was far too late though, because Mirajane was already soaked down to her skin. Her feet ached from all the running they'd done, and her lungs burned from polluted city air.
"Kalan," she called, his name feeling strange on her tongue. They had been walking along next to what looked like an abandoned building. He stopped at the corner and looked back at her. Strangely, now she could see his face in his hood, "How much longer until we get wherever we're going?"
"Tired, princess?" a smile began to form on his face, but it fell off. He looked away and sighed, "I am too…but we're here."
He pointed across the street to a rather large building, much bigger than those around it. Even in the early morning, the lights were blazing. It was made of bricks, but brilliantly polished steel peeked through where they fell out. There was no sign anywhere on the building to suggest what it was, or what was going on inside. The entrance was guarded by two huge men in black and white pin striped suits.
"Home," Kalan muttered, then rounded the corner, leading them away from the front entrance. Mirajane followed in confusion. Soon they reached the back of the building, and he crossed the street quickly. There was an old creaky fire escape that led up all the way up to the roof. Kalan only took it to the first floor, where there was an unused door.
Mirajane watched as he produced another dagger, this one with a thinner blade, and jammed it into the lock. He jiggled it around with precision until in a few seconds, there was a snap and the bolts came undone. She stared at him, "Why do you need to break in if you live here?"
"Forgot my key," he said without looking at her, making no effort to conceal the lie. With a shove, he opened the door and held it open for Mirajane with his foot. After she was inside, he closed the door back, making sure it looked like it had before. "Make sure you be quiet."
They were in a dimly lit hallway, with rooms on each side, all with numbers printed on their closed doors. It looked like a typical apartment complex. Kalan turned to her, and put a finger to his lips. He stalked down the hallway, walking only on the balls of his feet.
Mirajane mimicked him, with mild success until she hit a bump in the floor and nearly fell over. Only Kalan's well timed hand on her shoulder kept her from falling. She was about to thank him, until she looked up and saw his little shit-eating grin, and then she was about to snap on him like she had on Jezebel.
Kalan must've sensed the change, because as soon as she opened her mouth, his hand was over it and she was up against the wall. Mirajane could do nothing but stare into his pale eyes.
"I said be quiet," he whispered. Mirajane nodded quickly, and he let her go. Putting his finger to his lips for good measure, he continued on to the stairs.
They took it all the way up to the top floor, and the next hallway they entered only had one room. The door had no number on it, only the word 'Baade' in stylized letters. The door was red with peeling paint, but looked nicer than the other doors in the complex. Kalan walked over to it, and gave it the same treatment as the door outside. After he jiggled the lock open, he swung the door open.
"Welcome to the Baade residence," Kalan said, flicking a light switch.
Inside was one of the nicest apartments Mirajane had ever seen. It was something of a penthouse, with a huge skylight and a spacious living area. A sofa and love seat were all in the center on a red carpet. The floor was wooden, and in the back it rose up into a little kitchenette area. A sliding door in the back led out onto a balcony. There were a few doors leading to other rooms in the penthouse.
Kalan disappeared into one of these rooms, leaving Mirajane standing alone in the doorway. Was this where he lived? The rent was probably twice what Mirajane paid for her apartment back in Magnolia. The walls though were blank, making the whole place seem very impersonal.
She heard some drawers slamming shut, and Kalan was back. He tossed her a bundle of clothes, "Here are some dry clothes. You can get changed in that bathroom over there, and put your wet clothes in the hamper. Turn off the lights when you're done, and don't wake me up unless your life is in danger."
"Where am I going to sleep?" Mirajane asked looking around for another bed.
"On the couch," he snapped, "where else?"
With that he shut the door to what she assumed was his bedroom, and she saw the light go out from underneath the door.
"Well then," Mirajane whispered to herself, and proceeded to the bathroom. It, like the rest of the apartment was spacious, with a full bath and a separate shower. There was a huge floor to ceiling mirror on one of the walls. Gingerly, she peeled off the rain soaked clothes and dropped them in a canvas hamper by the sink.
She picked up a towel to dry herself off, but was caught by a little fit of curiosity. She brought it up to her nose, expecting it to smell like Kalan (whatever that smelled like), but instead it only smelled like detergent. She half shrugged, dried herself off, and pulled on the clothes Kalan had gotten her. She was wearing a pair his old athletic shorts and a lose tank top. At least they were dry.
She closed the door to the bathroom and took a final look around Kalan's apartment before she turned off the lights. Ambient light from the skylight lead her back to the couch. Draped across the back was a thick blanket. Mirajane pulled it off, and wrapped it tightly around her body as she lay down.
The couch was plush, but anything would be when Mirajane was as tired as she was. Her entire day seemed to crash into her as soon as she lie down, and the Demon of Fairy Tail heaved a great sigh. She was in the home of a member of Spectre, the organization she was here to help take down, who for some reason had decided to save her from another gang.
The world was fond of making her life complex, Mirajane thought as she drifted off into a thankfully dreamless sleep.
Caerleon City
(North Side)
The north side of Caerleon city is home to the big movers and shakers, the upper crust of Caerleon's business owners. The most notable location, however, is the headquarters of the corporate giant Artisan. This section of the city has been rated in the top ten nicest places to live in Fiore by Sorcerer's Magazine for the past seven years, but recently rising crime rates throughout the city threaten this status.
Ellis Vanunu was a careful man by nature, but a bold man by profession. It was because of this, his heart quivered with excitement and fear whenever he made a decision for his company. Hiring mages to find the Ghost had definitely been one his gutsier moves as regional manager.
That hadn't prevented him, however, from taking a careful approach.
He hadn't for a second believed that hiring mages would have the Ghost sitting in his office with in a week. The Fairy Tail group certainly hadn't been the first set of mages he sent undercover and certainly wasn't going to be the last. Maybe one could succeed where another failed, and eventually from a series of failures, one group would have enough information to finally catch up to the Ghost.
He was hedging his bets, in other words.
"A bird in the hand," he murmured to himself. He was currently on his way to debrief another group of mages. This time, though, they were a group of dark mages. It technically wasn't illegal to employ them, so Ellis Vanunu had no problem with it; they worked for less anyway, and had less scruples to hold them back.
Artisan headquarters was the tallest building in Caerleon City, and most likely the tallest building in all of Fiore. It was made entirely of black one way glass, and it stretched almost out of view into the sky. The sunrise was reflected in the glass, and if Ellis Vanunu had some time he would have stopped to enjoy the view.
But unfortunately, Ellis Vanunu was a man perpetually pressed for time.
He strode through the revolving doors, and hurriedly made his way across the huge lobby. Hardly anyone was there yet, and the building felt familiarly empty. His footsteps echoed around the entire room.
"Good morning, Mr. Vanunu," a receptionist called out to him. He nodded to her, but didn't break stride until he reached the elevator. He waited for the doors to chime open, then ducked inside, and pressed the button for his floor.
One of the benefits of being a regional manager was a nice office. He wasn't anywhere close to the top of the buildings, where the major executives worked, but he was far enough away from Research and Development that he could't hear the noise. And his office was on of five on the entire floor, so he had more than enough space to work.
He stepped into his office, and was surprised by what he saw.
There was someone sitting at his desk.
Ellis Vanunu was a careful man by nature.
It was because of this that everything about this man made him quiver in fear.
He reclined as if it was his own desk, his feet propped up as though he owned the whole place. All the shadows in the room gravitated towards him, pushing the light in the room towards the corners. He was dressed in an all black suit, with dark red accents on his lapels, tie and cufflinks. His hair was long, pitch black, and messily kept out of his face.
He had his head tipped back and his eyes closed, a bottle of Ellis Vanunu's own scotch opened. He was sipping from a short glass, swirling the drink in the glass around before each sip.
As soon as Ellis Vanunu entered, the man seemed to sense it, and his humming stopped.
"Hello, Mr. Vanunu," he said, with his head still lolled back, "Would you like a drink?"
"Who are you?" Ellis Vanunu asked, putting down his briefcase and inching towards the panic button on the opposite wall behind the bookcase. The button would summon the entire building's security force. But to get to it, he would somehow have to get past the dark man sitting at his desk.
"Oh, come now, you mean to tell me don't know me?" a smile curled itself onto his mouth, but it only made his appearance all the more chilling. He poured himself some more scotch, "I thought you knew everyone you employed, Mr. Vanunu?"
"Have I have employed you?" he was almost even with the desk. A few more steps, and he could lunge and hit the button. He just needed to keep this man talking for a few more seconds, "For what job?"
Ellis Vanunu was even with the desk. Slowly, he took two large steps, and was at the bookcase. The man still hadn't answered his question, and the silence set goosebumps running along his skin. He was at the panic button and he was only a breath away from summoning security.
Then the man spoke, causing Ellis Vanunu to jump nearly out of his skin. "Catching the Ghost, of course."
Ellis Vanunu stopped in his tracks. His hand froze above the It was about then he realized that this man was toying with him; if the dark figure at his desk hadn't wanted him to reach the panic button, he never would.
"Are you a member of Black Compass?" Ellis Vanunu asked, trying desperately to remember the brief case file he'd read about them. Dark guild based in southwestern Fiore, only active for the past three years…that was essentially all that the case said. Next to nothing else was known about them. When they'd contacted him with interest in catching the Ghost was the first time Ellis Vanunu had ever heard of them.
"Indeed," the man said, spinning around in the chair to face him. His eyes were silver, like twin pools of moonlight. There was an air of power that emanated from him now that filled up the entire room, "I am in fact the leader of the team representing Black Compass for this mission. I'm here to let you know that we do not require a debriefing."
Ellis Vanunu opened opened his mouth, but the man continued right over him, "Why don't we, you ask? Simply because we know everything there is to know about this case. We know all about how you want to show up your predecessor by actually catching the Ghost. We know that they've almost cut your quarterly profits in half, so failing to do so would cost you your job. I know about Artisan's little secrets in its R&D department, but that's for a later date…we know about the other mages on the job…"
Here he paused, and gave a thoughtful frown.
"…which is the other reason I'm here. For us to work, we can't have any other guilds sodding up our work. So as of now, all other guilds are off the case. Either that, or we're going home, Mr. Vanunu."
The man was leaning forward now, and Ellis Vanunu forgot how to speak for a second. He knew that it would be unwise to say any more than he needed to.
"What makes you think you can do what those other mages can't?" Ellis Vanunu asked, unable to help himself. He had thought the man would become angry, but his expression didn't change aside from his mouth taking a tiny dip in displeasure.
"You obviously have very little experience with mages, Mr. Vanunu," the man stood, and walked towards Ellis Vanunu. The shadows followed him until he was in front him, leaning into his personal space. Ellis Vanunu backed up, until he was pressed up against the bookcase. In his haste, he accidentally hit the panic button, setting off the silent alarm. Up close, the darkness that surrounded him was almost palpable.
"I am what you call an extremely powerful mage," the man said, pointing one of his fingers at Ellis Vanunu's throat, "You can see, even when I exert no magical force, just being close to someone like me is enough to make someone without magic like you utterly paralyzed. If I released some magic, with just an ounce of effort on my part, I could make your entire body shut down…a most unpleasant way to die, I assure you."
Ellis Vanunu tried to move his mouth, but his muscles weren't only thing he could do was quiver as he stared into the man's terrifying silver eyes. "Where are the five sets of mages?"
Because he still couldn't move, Ellis Vanunu glanced at his desk, hoping desperately for the man to understand. He did, because he drew back with a grin on his face, and returned to the desk. After a few seconds of searching, he scooped up the list and put it in his pocket.
"Excellent speaking to you, Mr. Vanunu, but I'm afraid I'll need to be going. You'll have the Ghost in less than a week."
"Wait…" Ellis Vanunu croaked, still in the same spot as the man had left him. "…w-who are you?"
The man stopped, and Ellis Vanunu almost thought he wouldn't answer. Slowly black magic began to consume his form, as he disappeared from the bottom up. It looked like dancing black flames, rising steadily until he burned out of existence.
"Naito Galatine," his disembodied voice reverberated around the room.
When the security force finally arrived, they found Ellis Vanunu slumped against his bookshelf, muttering about how the night was finally going to catch up to a ghost.
Caerleon City
(South Side)
The few mage guilds in Caerleon City are located on the outskirts of the East Side, and offer little training to those who don't have money in the bank. As a result, many untrained mages roam around Caerleon's poorer regions, especially South Side. One of the main revenue sources of the gangs, a drug called Blaze, is especially potent for these untrained mages, for short periods making their bodies rapidly produce magic. The effects of prolonged use, however, cause eventually cause the mage to self-destruct.
"Has anyone seen Mirajane?"
Erza was worried. She checked the clock in her and Lucy's room; it was just past eight o'clock. She had knocked on the door to her room almost an hour ago, but she hadn't responded. Erza knew letting her drink last night was a bad idea; when was the last time Mira had gone drinking anyway?
It had to have been around two years ago, now that Erza thought about it. Now, whenever the guild partied, she was always on the sideline when she used to be in the center of the fray. The changes in Mirajane after that day, besides her appearance, had been subtle. But Erza, who knew her so well, had noticed all of them; she didn't fight, she didn't hang around the boys anymore, she didn't use her Satan Soul, she never caused any drama, she smiled much more around everyone, but not as much when she was alone.
The list went on, but one thing was clear; losing Lisanna had changed Mirajane.
But now that she was back, Erza wasn't sure where that left Mirajane. All she knew was that Mira was having trouble coping with whatever she was going through.
"I haven't seen her since last night," Natsu said, and Lucy and Gray nodded in agreement.
"She could just be asleep," Lucy offered, "and hopefully not too hungover…"
"Lucy can you go check her room again?"
"Sure," Lucy went out, shutting the door quietly behind her.
The silence that had set over them was a heavy one. Erza sat with her arms and legs crossed in on the edge of the bed. Natsu was sitting cross legged on the floor. Gray was leaning against the wall. The sun was just rising above the horizon of the buildings, but a fog cloaked the streets below them. As the sun climbed, its beams began to pierce through, letting them only see snatches of Caerleon at a time.
Finally Gray spoke what had been on all three of their minds, "Erza, what if Mirajane isn't there?"
"We'll look for her," Erza responded bluntly.
"What about the mission?"
"We'll look for her," Erza repeated, and sighed as she turned to Gray, "Friends come before the mission, always. Would you rather leave Mira?"
"No, definitely not," Gray said, and scrambled to verbalize his thoughts, "It's just that…that guy, Ellis Vanunu, he seemed really impatient. I don't think he'd really like us spending our time looking for her instead of the Ghost."
"Well tough titties to him," Natsu snapped, chiming in for the first time, "I don't care if we don't get paid, we're gonna find Mirajane. That Vanunu guy can su—"
Their argument was cut off when they heard a scream, a door slamming and Lucy scrambled back in the room. She was breathing heavily and had gone pale, "Guys, I knocked on the door and someone answered, but it wasn't Mirajane."
"Who was it?" Natsu asked, jumping to his feet.
"I don't know, some guy, and he was gross, and he smelled like smoke, and he grabbed me, and I slammed the door on his arm and..and.." Lucy trailed off as her heart rate slowed and she calmed down. "Just come on, maybe he knows something!"
Exchanging wary glances, the members of Fairy Tail rose and made their way across the hall to the room Mirajane should've been in, room 254. Gray rapped on the door for a couple of minutes there was no response. Then there was a crash and a groan of pain, and a long string of expletives.
"Yah, Yah I'm coming you…" A scratchy voice came from within the room.
Seconds later the door slowly opened but the first thing that came out was stream of smoke. It was followed short, hunched over, grubby old man. His white shirt was stained so much it looked yellow.
"The fuck are you?" his voice cracked on almost every sylable. He tried to shut the door on Gray, but he easily overpowered the old man and threw the door wide and the man on his ass.
"What's the shit wrong with you?" he howled, rubbing his back and glaring at Gray. He then caught view of Lucy, and Erza next to her. "Oh blondie, you brought me back a friend!"
Lucy's nose wrinkled as she glared down at the smoke stinking old man, "Go die already, pervert."
"Don't be like that blondie, I'll still have time for you and yo—"
"Shut the hell up, will ya?" Gray growled, freezing some of the smoke around the old man. It fell to the ground and shattered, and the man paled.
"W-wizards huh?" He stood up, and brushed his shirt; the action sent more smoke into the air, "Name's Pappi. What can I do for you, ah, fine peoples today, sirs and madams?"
"You can tell us where the girl that bought this room last night is, to start off," Erza said lowly.
Pappi gulped.
"Oh you mean that white haired girl?" he asked offhandedly. The next second there was a flash of steel, and Pappi looked to his right, and a sword was buried in the wall not two inches from his ear. He screamed, and fell to the ground, his eyes wide and afraid to say anything more to anger the red haired mage.
"Yes, her. What do you know?"
"W-well last night, ya friend got into a fight with old boy Jezebel," he kept glancing to the sword and to Erza then back the whole time he was talking, "And she trashed the bar with this other cloaked guy, then them two skated out. I-I, uh, usual don't got enough to afford one of these nice, nice rooms, so I asked Jezebel if ya friend, ya know, had rented a room and if I could have it. He wasn't in no shape to respond, see, so I took it as a yes. And here we are, in this precarious situation."
Erza thought about this revelation for a few minutes, forgetting about her blade buried in the wall, and Pappi still sitting there about to piss himself at any sudden move. With a flick of her wrist, the broadsword disappeared into a pink magic circle. Slowly Pappi rose to his feet, his eyes not leaving Erza for a second.
"Where can we find Jezebel?"
"You should look downstairs first, and if he ain't there, look in the warehouse across the street. He probably there countin' up his product."
Erza nodded.
"Is that it, madam?" Pappi asked, his eyes now darting back to his vaporizer, sitting on the table in the other room. He saw Erza follow his gaze, "Don't think that's the stuff for you, madam. That's Blaze, heard it does some crazy shit to mages."
"Does it…" Erza trailed off. The smell was of the smoke was strangely familiar. But there were more pressing problems at the moment than remembering a smell. "That is all. Thank you, Pappi. Natsu, wake up Happy, we're leaving."
"Yeah, yeah," Pappi said as the mages left, and shouted after them, "Careful around Jezebel!"
He shut his door, and sighed. Pappi shook his head all the way back to his vaporizer and took a huge hit, hoping the Blaze would take away the jitters from those scary ass wizards. He crashed back onto his couch, and began writing down that entire encounter with those so called Fairy Tail mages down on a notepad.
"Even if he's Baade's son, that brat ain't paying me enough…"
Crash!
"Who the hell are you?"
The scream tore Mirajane from her sleep, and somehow her dormant instincts from years of field work kicked in, and she rolled off the couch, her blanket caught around her shoulders like she was some superhero. Her eyelids were still heavy, and the sun coming through the skylights made her squint. It took her a second to focus, but standing in the doorway of the apartment was a young woman pointing a wickedly sharp butterfly knife right at her.
Of course.
"I'm only going to ask you one more time, honey, who the hell are you?" she growled, tucking her silky black hair behind her ear, but keeping the knife from moving an inch. Slowly she began to close the distance between them.
"I think I should be asking you the same question," Mirajane said evenly, her hands raised if it came to a fight. She really hoped that wouldn't happen, because Mirajane wasn't quite sure she had completely regained control of her Satan Soul. But the other woman was still approaching, her crystalline blue eyes locked onto her with deadly glare.
"You little tramp, you don't got any idea who owns this place do you?"
Then, as if summoned, the door to Kalan's room slammed open, the hinges nearly snapping with the force. He stood there with a knife of his own in each hand, in only a pair of loose pants His pale eyes shot to Mirajane.
"The hell is going on?" he asked her, "Could've sworn I told you not to wake me up unless…"
Then he noticed the other woman, and before Mirajane could blink he was beside her, pushing her out of reach of her assailant. He stared down the intruder, and left Mirajane confused; sure, he'd saved her once, but the last time she checked Kalan hadn't indicated he'd kill for her.
But from the look in his pale eyes, it certainly seemed like he would now.
The woman's form had gone slack and she was staring at Kalan, her mouth opening and closing without forming words. It was then that his groggy eyes widened with recognition, much to Mirajane's surprise. "Tam?"
Mirajane cocked an eyebrow. Tam?
"Kalan," the woman, apparently Tam, choked out looking absolutely shocked, "you're… ah…back…" She looked like she wanted to say something else, but she only grew pale and swallowed the words.
Silence fell between them, a much heavier silence, Mirajane was beginning to realize, then there should have been.
"What are you doing, Tamara?" Kalan said, looking down and seemed to only then to notice the knife in her hand, "Put that damn thing away, you gone crazy on me?"
The woman obliged without thinking, hiding the knife back somewhere in her jacket. Her eyes darted back to Mirajane as if remembering she was there. Her expression soured, and she jerked a thumb at her a she turned back to Kalan."Who is this?"
"She's with me," Kalan said glancing at Mirajane. For a second he gave her a curious look, as if he too was wondering who she was. "That's all you need to know."
Tamara seemed to recover from her shock, and she put a hand on her hip, "Guess I should have known that. Didn't even let her sleep in the bed, huh?"
"Um, I think you're misundersta—"
"What are you doing in my apartment? How'd you even get in?" Kalan said, not even noticing Mirajane's outburst.
"I have a key, remember, Kal?" Tamara just shook her head, "What, you forgot? Somehow that doesn't surprise me a damn bit."
She was glaring daggers at Kalan, who didn't seem to be able to look away. He just stared at her with a blank expression. The surprise that had painted his face before had slipped off, leaving Kalan looking cruelly apathetic. Tamara continued to stare him down, something Mirajane couldn't comprehend passing between them, until her face twisted into a bitter scowl and she gave Mirajane one last look before she turned to go.
Then she remembered Kalan's other question.
"And I was cleaning your place, 'cause someone's gotta do it while you're away."
She jerked her thumb to a box of cleaning supplies that had spilled on the floor, explaining the crash Mirajane had heard when she woke up. Kalan's shoulders slumped ever so slightly at this. He looked away from Tamara, and up to the skylight.
"You didn't have to do that."
"You know what? You're damn right, I didn't have to," Tamara said, already at the door and scooping up the contents over her dropped box. As she bent over, a small swath of skin was exposed. Mirajane almost had to do a double take; just above her waist were three black stripes.
Here was another member of Spectre.
"Tam," Kalan called out softly. Mirajane wasn't sure at first if the woman had heard, but her head raised, and there was a hope in her eyes that was so strong it made Mirajane's stomach quiver."Don't tell anyone I'm back."
Tamara's eyes widened, as though his words had been a slap in the face; on some level, Mirajane thought, they had. Going out on a limb, Mirajane could guess what Tamara had expected to hear. She stood up quickly, not even bothering to pick up the rest of the cleaning supplies and left without so much as a look back.
The door slammed shut, leaving Mirajane's head ringing. There was a pit in her stomach, and she felt an excruciating amount of pity for that Tamara woman, even though she was a part of Spectre. Kalan was just staring at the door, not having moved an inch. With huge sigh he fell back onto the couch and went back to rubbing his temples.
"My head hurts," Kalan said simply, then covered his face with a cushion. He let loose a loud groan into it, and just stopped moving. Mirajane stood there, not really sure where the boundary between them was, so she sat on the table across from the sofa.
It was then Mirajane noticed two things; Kalan was shirtless, and he had another tattoo on his stomach. He was really skinny, with some lean muscle here and there, but for Mirajane who was surrounded by muscular mages all the time, they were fairly unimpressive. But Mirajane recalled how far his punch had thrown Jezebel, a man literally twice his size. His physique made it only more mystifying.
His tattoo was even stranger. Mirajane wasn't sure if Kalan was a mage or not (she hadn't sensed any magic around him, so it was most likely a no) but the ink looked vaguely like a magic circle. It was nine symbols arranged within two concentric circles, like a magic circle. The design looked strangely familiar, but she couldn't place exactly where'd she'd seen it.
"…are you listening?" Mirajane jerked her head up to see Kalan staring at her staring at his stomach. She could see the corners of his mouth twitching, "If you want to stare at me, I think I have some pictures somewhere around here…"
"I think I can live without them, thanks," Mirajane responded, rolling her eyes. A small smile came to his face, and the look in his eyes made her pause, "What?"
"Nothing," something shifted in his pale eyes and the look was gone, "I was just asking you if you were hungry."
"Now that you mention it," Mirajane said, just as her stomach growled, "I am pretty hungry. What's for breakfast?"
"Lunch, princess. It's almost one o'clock." Kalan leapt over the back of the sofa. And went into his room, returning a few moments later pulling on a red tank top. He went over to the kitchen and started rummaging through the cabinets. Mirajane drifted over to the the kitchen table. As Kalan sorted through the cabinets, his shirt rode up, and Mirajane could see the hilts of four knives tucked into his waistband.
"Why do you carry so many daggers?" Mirajane asked, plopping herself down in one of the chairs.
He stopped for a second, then continued what he was doing."Why do you want to know?"
"I'm just curious," Mirajane said, confused at his response. "Am I not allowed to be curious?"
"Depends," was his short reply. He had cleared a few cabinets and was no scouring the refrigerator.
"Depends on what?" Mirajane was quickly growing frustrated with the way he was handling her question. He shut the refrigerator door and turned to her. His mouth became decidedly infuriating smirk.
"Depends on why you're curious," he said pulling up a chair across from her, ignoring the glare she was leveling at him, "It looks like everything's went and gone stale. I guess I was gone longer than I thought.."
He finished his thought almost mumbling to himself, but Mirajane caught it; the implication stoked her curiosity. Twice now, once by that Tamara girl, and now by Kalan, it had been mentioned he had gone away. Last night when Mirajane had met him, he'd certainly smelled like the road (and still did to an extent).
"Can I ask you a question?" Mirajane said, trying her best to put on a sincere face.
"That was a question."
Deep breaths, Mirajane thought, deep breaths and close your eyes, he's only trying to get a rise out of you.
"I meant another question," she said as calmly as she could. When she opened her eyes she found Kalan grinning like a madman at her, enjoying every moment of her frustration.
"Sure," he shrugged, momentarily containing his smirk.
"Um," Mirajane paused, suddenly nervous. The hair on the back of her neck were standing up as the question formed itself in her mind. "That Tamara girl said something about it, and you just mentioned it too. I was wondering where you were, you know, before you came back to the city last night?"
Mirajane felt it as soon as the words left her mouth.
"Where was I?"
Whatever boundary there was between her and Kalan, she definitely just crossed it.
His grin receded into a thin line, and his pale eyes went hard. The strange freedom and comfort she'd felt in engaging with Kalan had drawn back, as though his very presence had locked itself back behind those pale eyes. For the first time, Mirajane saw someone else beneath Kalan Baade's grin; it was someone cold, and starving for something they couldn't find for the life of them.
"It's damn fucking hard to lose anything, princess," he said, looking at her, but not meeting her eyes. Mirajane wrapped her arms around herself; the way he said 'princess' had made her shiver. "Trust me, you don't want to worry about it."
"This is the warehouse?" Natsu asked in wonder, staring at the building before them.
It was a huge building, at least a block wide and extended three blocks back. Like most of the buildings in Caerleon's south side, it was a fusion of modern steel braces, wood scaffolds and brick to fill in between. It was an impressive building, or at least seemed to have been one at one point; everything that could have faded had, leaving the building gray and washed out. But that wasn't what had the Fairy Tail mages staring at it in wonder.
They were staring at a huge, jagged hole at least ten feet across where the door should have been.
"I thought we were just dealing with some strew thugs." Lucy said, "What kind of street thug could do this? It's so big…"
"I'm scared Natsu!" Happy went to cling onto Natsu's shoulder.
"Maybe they used explosives," Gray volunteered.
"This wasn't done by flames," Natsu said after a moment. The Fire Dragon Slayer walked over to the hole, and ran his hand along the edges, "There's no charring, and the steel here is just torn. Metal always melts and then tears in an explosion."
Everyone stopped at this.
"Natsu that was actually…" Erza fumbled around for the word.
"Smart," Lucy decided, looking skeptically at Natsu.
Natsu shrugged, oblivious to the implications of what his teammates said, and started into the warehouse. Everyone followed, not noticing the tingle of magic that brushed against them as they passed through the opening.
The warehouse was a single huge room, with a labyrinthian layout of shelves that were arranged so that none of the Fairy Tail mages could see more than a few rows ahead of them. The shelves were stocked with various magical items, and some that were unfamiliar to them. Some had racks of vials filled with glowing solutions, and others had strange looking guns with curved barrels.
"Hey guys, come look at this," Natsu called from somewhere ahead. When the other caught up to him, he was sitting in a corner, looking into the contents of one of the many crates strewed across the warehouse.
"What is it, Natsu?" Lucy asked going up behind him to look over his shoulder. The crate was filled to the brim with purple, glassy looking orbs. All of them had a ring of crimson in the center. Looking at all of them in one place made Lucy a little dizzy. Erza and Gray leaned over to look into the crate too.
"Why did you want us to see this?" Erza fixed the orbs with a scowl, and picked one up to examine it.
"Wait a second, Natsu isn't that…" Gray said and his eyes widened as he realized.
"Yeah! The demon eye I bought back in the train station," Natsu said, scooping up a handful and letting them fall back into the crate, "I guess they ain't as unique as I thought."
"Ah, I remember that now," Erza said, glaring at the quickly paling Natsu and Gray, "But what are they doing here?"
"This is really weird," Lucy said, backing up, only to trip over a dark mound in the middle of the walkway.
"Lucy's so clumsy," Happy cooed, shaking his head.
Gray navigated over the mound, and helped a flustered Lucy up, "What did you even trip on?"
Gray prodded the mound with his foot, and turned it over. Gray and Lucy gasped in surprise. Natsu, Erza and Happy looked over, and they too went pale; the mound that Lucy had tripped over was a man. It was clear he was dead.
As they looked ahead, there were more men, presumably the warehouse's guards, slumped around the shelves.
"Looks like we're not the only ones looking for Jezebel," Erza said, lightly poking one of the men. He was dead, too. They all were. "Be careful, whoever did this may still be around."
They continued through the warehouse, Erza in the lead with Lucy and happy shakily bringing up the rear. The warehouse was truly like a maze; after a while, Lucy was sure Erza was leading them in circles, but was too afraid to say anything. It was impossible to tell where they were in relation to anything, or even if they were making much progress at all. Lucy couldn't even remember which way the entrance was now.
It seemed like the third time they'd passed the shelf of smoking paraphernalia when up ahead they heard voices. Erza haled up a hand, and they all strained to hear the conversation going on a fews rows ahead.
"…but you don't want that, do you? So tell me, Mr. Jezebel how many of your fingers is what you know about the Ghost worth? I think…"
The first was a man's voice, strangely easygoing despite the weight of his words.
"…us what we want to know and you get to walk out of here. It's actually really simple. But since you seem kind of stupid, if you don't coopera…"
The second was a woman's voice; she was clearly the more volatile of the two.
Through the shelves they could also hear the groans of another man, who Erza assumed was Jezebel. And the two that had made the huge hole in the entrance and done in all the guards had captured him.
"We need to move quickly," Erza whispered, her magic summoning a broadsword from thin air, "Jezebel is our only lead to find Mirajane so we can't let these two kill him."
Everyone nodded in agreement. They stalked towards them, following the sound of the steadily growing voices. Just as it seemed they had gotten close, the voices stopped. The Fairy Tail mages stopped as well, each one of their hearts pounding; the sound filled up their ears in an excruciatingly loud drum, and if anything had given them away before, surely their heartbeats were giving them away now.
"Oi, you guys can come out," the man called, startling them, "We know you're there."
The Fairy Tail mages all exchanged glances, until finally Natsu rounded the corner the others quickly following him.
They had arrived in a clearing a few shelves wide with plenty of space for all of them to stand side by side rather than in single file. There was a single lantern hanging from the ceiling, and under it, strapped to a small chair, was a hugely muscular man with dark blue hair. His whole form was slick with sweat, and his mouth was bound.
"So," the man said stepping out of the shadows. He was tall and lanky, dressed in a plain thermal shirt and some loose canvas pants tucked into low boots. A red and gold scarf was wrapped around his head and neck, letting his long grey-green hair fall erratically around his face. The scarf also hid one of his eyes, but the exposed eye was a lazy amethyst."How did you guys end up here, too?"
"We were looking for this man," Erza said, pointing her sword first at Jezebel, then at the lanky man. "He has information that we need, so we can't let you kill him."
"Oh, we weren't going to kill him, were we Katrina?" the man said looking back at the woman, who was still in the shadows. The woman only clicked her tongue, "Well I wasn't going to kill him, but Katrina here hasn't mastered the subtle art of self-control yet so I can't say the same for her."
"Self-control isn't going to help us find the Ghost," the woman, apparently Katrina, said, as she too stepped out into the light. She was slender, with wide hips and a mane of pale blond hair that she kept contained in a single ponytail. She wore a pair of tight pants with a series of holes that ran down each side, plain black shoes and a low cut vest.
"You see what I mean? No subtlety whatsoever," the man said, directing his statement at Erza, "But you two are alike in that regard, aren't you?"
"We didn't come here to play games with you thugs," Erza placed her sword right underneath thaw man's Adam's apple, but he didn't even flinch, "We're mages from Fairy Tail."
"Mages from Fairy Tail, huh?" the man said, and casually brushed Erza's sword aside so he could scratch his chin, "Katrina aren't these the mages we're supposed to find?"
"Yes, you idiot, they are."
"Oh, okay," the man regarded them all for a second and reached into his pocket. Erza immediately took a fighting stance, but he only pulled out a slip of paper. "Well I hate to be the one to break it to you, but your guild is off the Ghost case. We're taking over."
"Taking over," Natsu growled, "What the hell does that mean?"
"It means that Artisan gave us the case, and one of our conditions is exclusivity," the man said, "So you'll have to leave Caerleon by tomorrow, too, unfortunately."
"I can't sense any magic from either of you," Erza said skeptically, "What guild are you from?"
The two exchanged a look, which didn't go unnoticed by Erza; the man shook his head ever so slightly, but the woman disregarded him.
"We're from Black Compass," the woman said, glaring pointedly at the man, "And you better remember that name."
"I've never heard of you guys," Gray said folding his arms across his chest.
The man rolled his eyes, "That's because we're a pretty recently formed guild. And we prefer to remain under the radar."
He hissed that last part at the woman, who only turned her head.
"But what about the reward?" Lucy chimed in.
"Yeah, we've gotta get something for coming out all this way," Gray added.
"Yup, we got it covered," the man patted down his pockets, eventually pulling out a sizable purse of coin. He tossed it to Lucy, "There you go, all 50,000 jewels. And if that's all, you guys better get packing, if I recall the last train for Magnolia leaves early in the morning."
"We cannot leave Caerleon yet, we need to find our friend," Erza said, glancing at Jezebel. The man noticed.
"Ah, so that's why you want ol' Jezebel, not for information on the Ghost," the man nodded, and seemed for the first time to actually look at the Fairy Tail mages. He thought carefully for a long moment then sighed.
"Listen, I'm not going to tell my boss that I found you, so just find your friend and get out of the city as soon as you can."
The woman shook her head, "Are you sure, Beau? Naito doesn't like it when you keep stuff from him."
"He'll have to deal then," the man said simply, "These guys abandoned their mission to find their friend. I can respect that. I do respect that."
Erza's eyes widened. She put away her sword and bowed, "Thank you for understanding."
"Of course, Jezebel's all yours," he responded and walked past the Fairy Tail mages. When he reached Erza, he put a hand on her shoulder and whispered, "You were wondering about why you couldn't sense our magic, right?"
As soon as his hand met Erza's shoulder, she could feel it; the gargantuan amount of magic coiled inside his body, all contained with immaculate control. Suddenly the already tall man seemed to grow until he was something of a giant, dwarfing Erza with his shadow. But as soon as the moment came, it was gone, and the man was walking away, "Come on Katrina, we're leaving."
The woman looked at Erza curiously, then followed after the man. Erza's knees began to quiver without her noticing.
"Hey, Erza are you okay?" Gray asked laying a hand on her shoulder. To his shock, Erza jumped in fright, a small yelp escaping her, "What did that guy say to you?"
"Nothing," Erza breathed out, not convincing Gray at all. The Titania sighed, "You just have no idea how lucky we just were."
Mirajane sat curled up on Kalan's couch, with nothing to keep her company besides her thoughts; after their exchange Kalan had left the apartment, only coming back to give her some food. When she asked him what he was doing, he only responded with 'business'. He'd left around one thirty, and it was approaching six o'clock.
Mirajane was afraid to ask what kind of business would take that long.
But she couldn't help but wonder what Kalan's role in Spectre's operation was. Come to think of it, she hardly knew anything about what Spectre actually did, besides kill and steal. Even knowing that, Kalan hadn't seemed like a killer. At least not at first.
It was hard to admit, but deep down she was scared of Kalan, or more accurately who he could be. She'd known him for less than a day, and it already had been emotionally the most tumultuous experience of her life. Kalan seemed charming, but that dark hunger she saw earlier in him only reminded her of the harsh reality; she had no idea who this man was.
Mirajane sighed and laid back. She hardly knew him, but she was still wearing his clothes, and lounging about in his apartment, like she was his girl.
"Forget Kalan," she murmured to herself, "I have bigger things to worry about."
And chief among these worries was that she was supposed to be catching the leader of Spectre, and the one who was harboring her was a member. No matter how she looked at, it wasn't going to end well. But she couldn't forget about her mission. Now, with Kalan gone, it was the perfect time to gather information.
In the past few hours Mirajane had wandered around every part of the apartment except one; Kalan's room.
The door was cracked a tantalizing amount. Mirajane looked again at the clock, then back at the door. It was truly now or never. Slowly, she pulled herself up and stalked towards the door. She was just at the door, when she heard the doorknob begin to turn. Of course, Mirajane thought, of-fucking-course.
She was caught and she knew it, so she didn't move and just mentally scrambled for an excuse. But the door still hadn't opened. She listened a little more closely and she heard Kalan cursing and fumbling with something.
"Yo, can you help me out?" he shouted through the door. Mirajane put a hand on her chest to try to slow down her heart, thanking whatever gods were out there for the first lucky break she'd caught in a while.
She opened the door to find Kalan in his cloak with his arms full of bags, some groceries others much to big and unwieldy for Mirajane to recognize. "Here take these for a sec."
He handed her the groceries, and once he could move his arms he came inside and shut the door behind him. He laid his bags down on the sofa, and took a few into his room.
"You can put the groceries on the kitchen table, I'll put 'em away soon," he said and tossed her a duffel bag, "Tell me which one you like the best, and then put the rest back in."
Kalan went over to the groceries, and began methodically sorting and putting them away. Mirajane unzipped the bag, and dumped out its contents; they were dresses. All of them looked fairly expensive too. But just from looking at them, a sparkling blue one caught her eye.
"I really like this one," Mirajane said, holding it up for Kalan to see. He regarded the dress and then her with a single movement of his pale eyes, looking her up and down.
"It suits you, princess," he said, then turned back to his task of throwing away the stale and putting away the fresh food. He'd really bought a lot of groceries, Mirajane thought.
So without thinking, Mirajane walked over and helped him. She felt his eyes on her for a second, but he didn't say anything. "Where do the potatoes go?"
"In that cabinet to the right of the sink."
It was strangely therapeutic work. They didn't speak at all, aside from Mirajane asking where things went and Kalan answering her. Mirajane moved about in the same space as him, but she was exceedingly aware of both of their personal space. And sometimes, she'd pass a little too close to him or he'd brush against her and she found that something unnamable was building in her. She felt it trying to escape, dancing on her tongue.
"I'm sorry about this morning," Mirajane said out of nowhere. Kalan was caught completely by surprise at this, and nearly spilled the ground beef all over the floor.
"What do you mean?" he asked, eyeing her strangely.
"I just feel like there's a certain line between us and I crossed," Mirajane said, surprised she was able to articulate her thought so well on such short notice, "So I'm sorry I asked so many questions about you."
"It's fine, princess," he said, frowning as he seemed to try to come up with more, but couldn't. "You said you were curious right? There ain't harm in being curious." She saw him shake his head to himself, but she felt a strange relief and release. "Tell you what, let's play a game."
Mirajane stared at him in confusion, "What type of game?"
"A questions game," he said cryptically. The table was mostly clear, so Kalan just took the remaining groceries and threw them on the counter. He poured himself a glass of what looked like vodka, "Do you want some?"
"Um, just water, thanks," Mirajane said, even more confused now. He shrugged and poured her some water, and sat down at the table beckoning for her to do the same.
"So this is how the game works," he said as she sat down, "We both ask each other questions, but you don't have to answer unless the other person answered your last question. Get it?"
Mirajane nodded, "Who goes first?"
"I'm feeling generous," in one gulp Kalan drained half his glass, "so you can go."
"Alright," Mirajane found herself unable to come up with a good question. She didn't want to set Kalan off like she had earlier, so she started off with what she thought was a pretty harmless question, "Why are you drinking vodka at six o'clock in the afternoon?"
He grinned, "Because I love to drink. Always have, always will. Besides if it took you as much as it takes me to get drunk, you'd love it too."
Mirajane giggled, and felt herself catching Kalan's grin, "I'm not sure if that should worry me or not. Your turn."
"Hm, what is," he paused, fixing her with his gaze. Mirajane found herself holding her breath in anticipation, "your…favorite color?"
"Um, are you serious?" Mirajane said frowning at him, "Blue. Why ask such a…unimportant question?"
"Is that your question?"
She thought for a second, then answered, "Yes."
"Well, I'm really good with people," Kalan said, finishing off his glass and pouring himself some more, this time going into the refrigerator to add some orange juice, "It's just that I know so much about you by just looking at you, there are so many questions I already know the answer to."
"I don't believe you," Mirajane said, leaning forward and resting her chin on her laced fingers, "Nope, no way that's true."
"Is that a challenge, princess?" Kalan grinned and set his cocktail to the side for a moment, "I know you're left-handed, but you learned to use your right. I know you hurt your left leg when you were young so you favor your right. I know you grip your right wrist when you're annoyed. I know you've never been in love, even though many guys have been and are interested. I know your parents aren't in the picture, and I know you have siblings that you care very much about. I know that recently you lost someone close to you," here he gauged her response, "No? No, that person is back in your life and you don't quite know how to handle it. And I knew your favorite color was blue before I even asked it. Shall I continue?"
"No, that's fine," Mirajane said, her eyes wide. Kalan only took a swig of vodka and orange juice as though that had been the most natural thing in the world, "How did you do that?"
"You told me," he said, "You'd be surprised what you can see if you only look for it."
"You're pretty smart, aren't you?" Mirajane said in wonder, the words completely slipping out on accident. In a second she seemed to realize what she said, and her cheeks were tinged with red. To hide it she (non)chalantly drank some of her water.
"What, you thought I was dumb?" Kalan was grinning again, sipping his drink from the corner of his mouth. "Now you see, the question game isn't really for me."
"It's for me," Mirajane said, raising an eyebrow at him, "Why?"
"'Cause you seem to like questions. And I, I'm all about answers," Kalan said, "So I think you and your questions are interesting."
Mirajane just stared at him, at a loss of what to say. He just grinned at her, "But even so, this is going to have to be the last question. So ask away, princess."
"Why did you bring me those dresses and make me pick one?" she asked the only thing left on her mind.
"Good, pertinent question," Kalan said, his grin growing still wider, "The answer is simple; in three hours downstairs there's going to be a party, and you're going to be my date."
A/N: Really hoped you liked. The original chapter plan was to end with the party and some events after, but it just got too long, too fast. Naito Tsukiakari, though. Yeah, he's back and playing the villain, which honestly suits him so much more. You'll get a kick if you read my old (deleted so don't go looking) story, End of Shadows. But anyway, drop a review if you liked and keep chilling until the next chapter.
-SA