Wow, it's been ages since I last updated... hope I didn't keep you guys waiting too long! I'm glad to be back though, and this chapter was a blast to write.

A quick not before the fun begins: I reread the first two chapters, and I feel like a certain character (coughcoughLaxuscough) was a bit OOC, so I'm gonna try to fix that sometime in the near future.

Well, without further ado, here's chapter three of The Dragon of the Sands! Enjoy, and be sure to review, follow, favorite, or all of the above! :)

"Fire Dragon's Fist!"

His eyes closed, Alishar let his sand Whisper to him, and in a blur of motion, he slid sideways to dodge Natsu's attack with ease. However, the fire-user spun and unleashed a flurry of blows in rapid succession, and Alishar found himself impressed by the younger man's speed. His attacks are reckless and unpredictable, but powerful… no wonder he's well-known for his skill.

Natsu landed on all fours after spinning through the air over Alishar's head, and he grinned when he saw that he was behind Alishar, who's hands were still dangling at his sides. "Fire Dragon's Claw!" he roared, and with a strong push off of the dirt, the Fire Dragon Slayer launched himself forward and swung his right foot in a wide arc, trailing fire through the air as he aimed his powerful blow at the side of his opponent's chest. The entire crowd sharply inhaled in unison, save for a single S-Class wizard, who shook his head and laughed, looking forward to everyone's reaction to what he knew they were about to see.

With a soft woosh like sand running between one's fingers, Natsu's foot passed right through Alishar, his attack meeting as much resistance as if it had been aimed at a cloud of smoke. The surrounding wizards gasped, and Natsu's breath caught in his throat as he landed on the other side of his opponent. What the hell kinda magic was that? he thought, and when he turned to face Alishar, he saw the blind man look in his direction.

"As the Sand Dragon Slayer," Alishar said flatly, his chest reforming in a matter of seconds, "I can take the physical form of sand, allowing me to dissociate and reform at will. Your attacks will not harm me, fire-starter."

"We'll see about that!" Natsu yelled, his eyes flashing. Planting his feet, he brought his hands up over his shoulders and shouted, "Fire Dragon's Roar!" His hands met before his lips, and from them was unleashed a torrent of raging flames, their light reflected in the eyes of those watching the brawl. As Alishar's casual, unmoving body was engulfed by the blaze, Mirajane's hands flew to her mouth, and Lucy and Levy were stunned into silence by the sight of Natsu roasting their newest guild-mate alive.

As the flames died out and the smoke cleared, the onlookers searched desperately for any sign of the mysterious new recruit. However, they found none, and even Natsu's brow was furrowed as he scoured the area before him, his fists still clenched and adrenaline coursing through his system. Before the firebreather could so much as utter a single word in his confusion, a flicker of movement was seen behind him, rising from the ground in slender clouds of dust.

Though Gray's keen eyes spotted it and he moved to warn his friend, he was too late, and several streams of sand whirled together behind Natsu to form a torso, then arms, and then a head, which opened its still-forming mouth and shouted, "Sand Dragon's Tails!" As Natsu started to turn, one of Alishar's arms whipped forward, and from the magic seal on his hand sprouted a number of long whips formed entirely of sand. In a single blow, Natsu was sent careening clear across the training yard, sliding along the ground and coming to rest on his back, his eyes closed.

"Natsu!" Lucy yelled, her eyes wet and her hands shaking even more than the equally horrified Lisanna's. Pushing Freed and Elfman aside, she ran out into the makeshift arena, her shoes slapping against the dirt.

I warned him I wasn't gonna hold back, Alishar thought, turning to face the portion of the crowd where Makarov stood. When the Sand Dragon shrugged apologetically, he felt the Guild Leader nod, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness I'm not already in trouble. When he sensed that Natsu was still on the ground, his eyes slipped closed as he began walking back towards the entrance to the main building of the guild hall.

"Hey, Sandman!" Alishar stopped, and was surprised to realize that Natsu had managed to get back to his feet. That attack should've left him out cold, he thought.

"I'm surprised you're still standing, Dragneel," Alishar said, still standing with his back to his opponent. "You're strong, and certainly a powerful wizard." He turned, and with his eyes still closed, he bowed slightly at the waist, his foster father's lessons still ringing through his mind. "It has been an honor to do battle with you."

Natsu took a step forward, his eyes glowing brighter. "Now you listen here, stranger! I'm not goin' down without a better fight than that, and if you wanna beat me, you're gonna have to step it up!"

Alishar was silent for a moment. I've been able to avoid pushing myself so far, but I don't know if it's smart to risk… that. I need to try not to trigger it again. Sighing inwardly, the Slayer nodded. "All right, let's finish this."

Both Dragon Slayers threw themselves into the fight, and the entire crowd was captivated as they danced around each other, Natsu's flames clashing with swirling clouds of Alishar's sand. Though the latter's Sand Form allowed him to avoid being hit by several of Natsu's techniques, the Fire Dragon merely began countering Alishar's attacks; the Sand Dragon needed to 'solidify' in order to cast spells, so by attacking at those exact moments, Natsu was able to land a few hits on him. At one point, Alishar seemed oddly tired, but he used another spell - "Dessicate!" - to turn some of the trampled earth to sand, allowing him to nab a quick snack.

"Fire Dragon's Flame Elbow!"

"Sand Dragon's Bullet Stream!"

Several minutes passed, and as the rest of Fairy Tail looked on, Natsu slowly but surely began to gain the advantage, with Alishar being forced on the defensive, throwing up walls of sand to block incoming attacks. Damn, I can't believe he's letting Natsu beat on him like this! Laxus thought. Either that pink-haired punk is even tougher than I thought, or something's holding Alishar back…

A number of wizards oohed and aahed as Natsu charged a powerful attack, which he then unleashed by bellowing "Crimson Lotus: Exploding Flame Blade!" The swirling torrent of flames hit an out-of-breath Alishar head-on, slamming him into a rock at the edge of the yard and causing an explosion fit for no one but the great Fire Dragon Slayer himself.

As the smoke cleared, dozens of sets of eyes watched as Alishar stood uneasily, a hand on the lower edge of his bandaged chest. Damn… he was too fast… Alishar inhaled, then raised his hands over his head and croaked out, "Desert Lotus: Sandsto-"

"Gaah!" Pain stabbed at Alishar from every direction, his arm, chest, face and leg burning like the hottest desert. His blank eyes misted with tears he couldn't see, the Slayer fell to his knees, his teeth gritted beneath his bandages, which now felt like cruel vices, crushing him and eating away at his flesh.

Natsu was stunned into motionlessness for a second, but when he heard Alishar let out another muffled scream, he broke into a run across the yard. "Someone get Wendy!" he yelled as he reached his opponent, who was now on the ground, convulsing wildly.

"We need to get him into the infirmary," Makarov said, his voice the only source of calm in the entire yard. "If this is what I think it is, I fear that it may take more than Wendy's impressive skills to help him."

The assembled members of Fairy Tail watched solemnly as Elfman lifted the now-motionless Alishar into his bestial arms, carrying him towards the guild hall. As they passed Mirajane, she stepped out from the crowd and said to her brother, "Please… make sure he's okay."

"I will, sis," Elfman said with a smile. With that, he followed Makarov and Macao back into the guild hall, with Laxus and Wendy trailing behind.

"Damn, Natsu," Gajeel said, "what the hell did you do to him?"

"Nothing!" the Salamander snapped. "I just wanted to fight him and make sure he was worth all the fuss he's kicked up today… I didn't wanna hurt the guy…"

Gray looked off into the distance, his brow drawn together in thought. "Honestly, Natsu, I don't think that you're at fault here."

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked, an exhausted Natsu leaning heavily on her shoulder.

"Gray's right," Levy said softly. "Something didn't seem right… it's almost as if something else was what took him down. Maybe he's sick?"

"Well, whatever it was," Natsu said as he lifted his head, "I wanna go check on him as soon as we can to make sure he's okay. Special treatment aside, he's one of us now, and that means he's family!"

"I absolutely agree, Natsu!" The group turned to see Lisanna standing behind the Salamander, a bottle of water in her delicate hands. Her cheeks turned pink when he met her blue-eyed gaze, and she held out the bottle as she said, "here, I thought you could use this!"

"Thanks, Lis!" Natsu said with a toothy smile, taking the bottle and draining it with gusto. When he was finished, he removed his arm from Lucy's shoulders and followed after Lisanna, asking her if she saw how badass he'd looked in his fight.

As Levy, Gajeel, Lucy and Gray followed after the other two, Lucy felt someone nudge her arm. Pulling herself away from glaring at the back of Lisanna's head, she saw Levy staring at her, a knowing look in her eyes and a small smile on her lips. Oh, shut up.

"How's he doing, Wendy?"

"Much better, Master Makarov!" the dainty wizard said, flashing a thumbs-up. "He's just resting now…" She went quiet, and Dreyar could see sadness in her eyes.

"What's wrong, child?" When she looked at the door to Alishar's room, he easily read her youthful face, and he sighed. "So you saw under his bandages?"

"I had to, sir!" Wendy suddenly squeaked, her eyes tearing up as she looked back at Makarov. "I-I didn't… I didn't th-think…"

"It is all right, young one," Makarov said gently, resting a hand on her quivering shoulder. "It is his burden to bear, but that does not mean you have to fear it. I'd heard rumors of the Devil being stricken by a curse or something of that sort, but to see a powerful mage crippled so easily is still a terrible sight indeed." The elder wizard walked past her, and paused with his hands behind his back. "You now know as much about it as I do, and I do not think it is anyone's place to press the matter. When he is ready to talk… we can only hope that he will."

Wendy nodded as she wiped her face, and she left in a hurry when Makarov told her to go get some rest. The Guild Leader then walked into the room where Alishar was asleep, and when he pulled the curtain aside, the Slayer's eyes opened. "Master Makarov."

"How are you feeling, Alishar?"

"Like I just lost a fight with an actual dragon," the young man said with a crooked smile, and Makarov chuckled. "I know what you're going to ask." Makarov's face grew solemn, and Alishar's blank, sightless eyes gazed towards the ceiling. "I hope you understand that I don't want this kind of information to get about me. I have a reputation, after all."

"You can trust me," Makarov said, patting Alishar's blanketed leg with his small hand. "You're part of our family now."

Alishar smiled sadly, then said, "When I was young, I was an orphan. A dark guild snatched me up off of the street, and it was them who implanted me with my lacrima. Fortunately, I managed to escape before their little experiment could come to an end." He paused, licking his lips under his bandages. "I ran into the desert, to the east… though I didn't know why, it felt safer there. Once I set foot on the sand, my powers started coming to me."

"Is that where you met your foster father?"

"Yeah." Alishar's eyes closed as he basked in the nostalgia. "Decirox was a tough teacher, but he raised me up right, and he taught me how to fight, how to live… how to see." He paused again, his brows furrowing. "When Decirox… disappeared, I just started wandering. I eventually made my way to a small town in the hills, and I did odd jobs. I met a girl."

"The dark guild found me even quicker than I thought they would… they came like a disease, burning and killing, searching for their escaped lab rat. I fought back, but…" his voice caught in his throat. Makarov felt sadness overwhelm him when he saw the pain and guilt in Alishar's eyes. "I wasn't strong enough. They killed so many of them… because of me."

"They grabbed her when I wasn't looking… they beat me down, held me back. They… did things to her, and I couldn't do anything!" Though his eyes were so very far away, Makarov was shocked to see them grow misty. "I… I wasn't thinking straight… I was so desperate, and I-I…"

"You cast a Forbidden Secret Art," Makarov finished, and Alishar nodded, sniffing slightly. He put a hand on the young wizard's shoulder. "I know this is hard, young'n… you don't have to tell me about this if you don't want to," he said kindly.

"I know." Alishar looked away, and the visible portion of his face hardened, a steel mask drawn back over his visage. "I just thought you might like to know who you're letting into your guild."

"I know exactly who I'm letting in," Makarov said, and he saw Alishar raise an eyebrow. "You've a strong mind and a strong sense of what's right. I know that you'll make a powerful and worth-while addition to Fairy Tail, Alishar." Makarov walked to the window, his hands clasped behind him. "You know how your curse works, correct?"

"Physical exertion or emotional stress can trigger… episodes like the one I had earlier. It won't spread, as long as I stick to 'normal' magic," the Dragon Slayer said, his voice bland. "It's a cosmic punishment for casting a Forbidden spell, and it can't be cured."

"Wrong." Alishar turned to face Makarov, his shock evident, even in his empty eyes. "No curse is incurable but death, and unless I'm mistaken, you remain very much alive." Makarov smiled at him, and he was close enough for the Desert Whisper to allow Alishar to sense his new superior's grin. "You have the strongest guild in all of Fiore behind you now, my young friend, and on my position as its leader, I swear that we will help to free you of your curse. After all, isn't that what any family would do?"

"Sshh, be quiet, you guys! What if he's asleep?" Lucy hissed, sticking her head around the edge of Alishar's door.

"Well he won't be for long!" Natsu said from behind her. Though she was startled by his closeness, she elbowed him in the gut all the same, and Levy snickered at his wheezing gasps for breath. "What… was that… for?" the fanged wizard groaned, clutching his chest.

"Being a moron, most likely," Gray said, leaning casually against the other side of the hallway. Ignoring him, Natsu slowly opened the door the rest of the way, leaning in with a worried look on his face; however, it quickly shifted to a crooked grin when he saw that Alishar was awake, sitting up in bed with a book in his hands. As the other three mages walked into the room, the Sand Slayer looked up.

"I am fine, so don't bother asking," Alishar said, making the wizards smile. "Also, I'd like to apologize for earlier, Dragneel."

"No, I should be apologizing," Natsu said. "I took it way too far out there, and I-"

"You did nothing wrong." Alishar leaned back into the pillow and sighed, his eyes slipping closed. "I'm not well, and overusing my magic tends to exacerbate my condition. It was no fault of yours that I lost our bout in such a way."

Natsu's jaw dropped, and his companions all looked at him in curiosity. "Lost? There's no way that fight's over!" the pink-haired mage shouted. "As soon as you're ready, we're finishing our scrap the right way, so I can beat your ass fair and square!"

Alishar sat in silence for a moment, biting his tongue. Before he could refuse Natsu's challenge, Makarov's words rang through his head, reverberating somewhere within and slowly coming to rest behind his unseeing eyes.

Isn't that what any family would do?

… Family?

"You're on, Dragneel."

"You're sure this is going to work, boss?"

"Of course I am, you fool." His underling cowering at his side as he stepped to the window, the man's dark eyes stared out into the night, a wicked smile on his face. "Our latest… acquisition will be a powerful bargaining chip in the chaos to come. With it, I will force the Devil of the Sands to bend to my will, and with a warrior of his caliber on the inside of that damned guild, we will be unstoppable."

"But sir, he's already almost escaped over a dozen times!" Waizel said, wringing his hands as his master chuckled to himself. "I don't think it's safe to keep him here!"

"That weakling should know better than to try and escape, for if he does, I'll be the one to put him down like the dog he is." The man turned from the window, striding across the room. "Still," he muttered, his voice a deep baritone, "it'd be a shame to destroy him before I even got to make use of him; after all, my plan will be put into action in only a few weeks."

"But sir-"

"But NOTHING!" As the looming man's voice shook the walls of his hidden keep, another sound rang out from somewhere beneath them, ragged and hoarse like the roar of an animal. "Ah, it seems our guest heard me!" the man said, his grin making the cowed Waizel shudder. "He can shout at me all he wants, but little does he know that he is now a pawn in the hands of Count Nalus Vilront, Master of Twilight Requiem, the strongest Dark Guild in all of Fiore!" Vilront spun back to the window, the dark sky now illuminated by pale fingers of moonlight. "For decades we have lived in the shadows, hiding away where not even the keenest eyes could find us. But soon, very soon, we will burst into the light of day at last, and once we cast Fairy Tail into oblivion…"

"No one will be able to stop me!"

Uh-oh, bad guys! Haha I hope you're likin' the fic so far! Be sure to give me feedback, and helpful criticism would be appreciated :) Until next time, adios!