Would like to thank those of you who submitted OC's, it adds a new variable to this fic that helps make me want to write more!

Laura Froshe-Noneofyourdamnbuisness14

Mikael Renton-altijr95

Lindsey Bonnette-iamasonofOURANOS

Holy Grail

Chapter 4

Danika

As I raced through the dungeon, I tried to comprehend the events that had just transpired within that office. Seeing Randuin had been strange, for he is sort of a wild card within Holy Grail. A solo mage with what seems like the power of an S-Class mage, yet has never been chosen for the S-Class trials. He also only goes on missions that Master Salandria specifically gives to him, that apparently half of which aren't even requested jobs.

I remember the first time I had ever saw him. It was my second day at the guild, and Duncan was showing me around the place. He was introducing me to others as well, and that's when I saw Randuin. He was walking up the stairs on his way to the male dormitories, and I recall that I had strange urge to go and talk to him.

So I pointed towards the man and asked Duncan who he was, which caused the brunette beside me to break out into one of his signature smiles. I still remember what he said.

"That Dani, Is Randuin Dole. A piece of advice from me, would be to keep your distance. That kid is a time-bomb waiting to happen." Duncan seemed to move to another subject after that, but I couldn't get the image of his piercing yellow eyes out of my head. And now to think I'm going on a job with him, and the other S-Class no less!

Oh god, I am not excited for this. While Salandria had been talking, the screen in front of me had been showing pictures of what she was saying. The Mermaid Heel's guild hall, The Shadow's Nest's guild mark. And the army, I can still see it in my mind's eye. It was the largest force I had ever seen, and every single one of them was a mage.

And I have to go against the remnants of that force. Dear god, it's sending shivers up my spine. 'Hey, at least I'll be with Duncan, right?' Yah, that's right. I'll be with all of the S-Class! There aint no way we could even dream of messing up with all of Holy Grails S-Class.

The S-Class… It's not the only name they go by. Their other name brings fear into the hearts of darkness, and smiles onto those of light. They are known as the knights of heaven, the warriors of humanity. Their other name, is the Inquisitors.

Deep in thought, I weaved my way through the dungeons once more, before finding the stairs back up to the request board. As I walked up, I heard a rather large echo coming from above and behind me.

"That's coming from the Arena," I muttered, before making my way up the other set of stairs and down the hall. As I approached the massive doors that opened up to our training ground, I could hear people cheering from the other side. "What the hell…"

As I opened the door, I was greeted with a massive influx of energy, and I had to brace myself against the side of the entrance to stop myself from being blown away back down the hall. When the force of energy finally calmed down, I made my way to the seating area to see about twelve of my guild mate's watching and cheering on the battle that was going on down below.

I quickly found Nissa, who was sitting next to her brother and another good friend of ours, Laura Froshe. Laura is also 19, and stands at 5'11. She has dazzling pink hair that curls out around her head, and dark obsidian eyes. She is wearing at the moment her relaxation attire, seeing as she had just gotten back from a job yesterday. She is wearing a red and white baseball cap, baggy grey sweater that says 'Valor' on the chest, and baggy grey sweats with matching flats. She is a distortion mage, which basically means she can warp and distort her friends/foes, as well as the battlefield. For example, she can cause massive illusions that can affect everyone in a specific area, as well as speed up o slow down an ally or enemy.

Anyway, I forged a path over to where they were seated, plopping down to Laura's left. "What's going on?" Stark just laughed, giving me a strange look while pointing down to the battle.

"What do you think? Dante and Mikael are duking it out!" I looked out, gasping as I realized he was telling the truth. Another wave of sheer force suddenly propelled a mixture of ash and debris into the seating area, forcing to close my eyes to prevent dirt from scratching my cornea. When I opened up my eyes, the two opponents who had been locked in battle were now a couple meters apart from each other.

To the left stood a man named Mikael Renton, a nice yet destructive wizard who has the claim of S-Class. He is 20 years old, and stands at 6'0 with a very lean and fit build. He has his charred red hair spiked up around his head, with poisonous looking yellow eyes. When at the guild, and especially whilst sparring, he likes to don and outfit of black sleeveless shirt, gloomy torn pants, and dark combat boots. His guild mark is always clearly displayed, situated on his left shoulder in a bold looking red. Mikael is a 3rd generation Lava Dragon Slayer, and he is known for his rages that have literally torn town asunder. Mikael is the newest of the S-Class mages of Holy Grail, only passing his exam this year.

To the right stood a man named Dante Felbourne, a brutal but hilarious sorcerer who also holds claim to the title S-Class. He is 25 years old, and stands at 6'4 with massive, bulging muscles. He has crimson auburn hair that seems to crackle above his head in a flowing motion at all times. He has terrifying electric gold eyes that always crackle with power, and many a mage surrender before a fight begins simply staring into those malicious orbs. Dante wears an outfit of all bloody red, a jacket atop of a long sleeved shirt with short ripped pants and tattered flats. At the moment, in each of his hands, are two giant red broadswords that are serrated at intervals all the way to the tip.

But the thing that's most apparent on Dante is the massive tattoo that surrounds his body. It starts at his lower back, and encompasses his entire torso, arms, and face. The tattoo is of a dragon, inked red and blue, and each part of the dragons anatomy aligning with Dante's. The wings spread on the back of his shoulders, the tail running down to the lower half of his torso. The arms and claws spread across his arms, and the head of the dragon seemed to be swallowing Dante's face. Dante is a 1st Generation Hell Dragon Slayer, and is the third longest running S-Class mage of Holy Grail.

The two of them are truly awe-inspiring wizards, as well as the most shiver inducing mages I have ever met. 'And I am going to be working with them, for the next who knows how many days.' I thought somewhat miserably.

As I was basking in my own gloom, I overheard a couple of other guild mates ahead of me debating the outcome of this spar. The one on the left, Zak Grouse, is a somewhat petit man standing at 5'9 with green hair that is buzz cut and shining blue eyes. He was supporting Mikael.

"He may be new, but that dragon has a reputation of being almost as bad as Natsu from Fairytail when it comes to his destructiveness!"

The girl beside him simply chuckled, a wizard who just likes to go by the name Mercury. She has puffy black hair and bronze eyes, her ears and lip pierced with small metal beads. "Mikael may be strong, but Dante is literally known as the "Lord of Hell." During his year of S-Class testing, he managed to defeat a team of Miller and Maxis!"

Zak's eyes went wide at that. "Really? I never knew about that. That's incredible!" Zak moved to continue, when suddenly from down in the arena both dragon slayers started laughing. Mikael's deep yet crisp voice rang out through the massive battleground.

"It would seem that either I've improved, or you have gotten weaker Dante." I looked at Mikael in shock. He was about to get the shit beaten out of him. Dante simply smirked, revealing his terrifyingly sharp teeth. Dante began talking, his voice sounding as it always did. It was as if someone was scratching a chalkboard whilst someone inhaled hexafluoride.

"Mikaaael… you seem to forget… I haven't even started trying…" This seemed to piss Mikael off, and he leaped into the air.

"Lava Dragon; Wing Attack!"

Both of the slayer's hands became covered in dripping magma, swirling as if being constantly fanned. Dante continued to smirk however, before using his own spell. He outstretched his hand, and then made a thrusting motion with his palm facing Mikael.

"Hell Dragon; Ultimate Punishment!"

A magic circle materialized in Dante's palm, and then a giant blast of red lightning and black flames poured forth from his hand. The blast engulfed Mikael, sending him flying backwards to the other side of the arena. However, he was up in a flash, planting both of his feet firmly in the ground.

"Lava Dragon Roar!"

A huge blast of fire and earth flew out of the Mikael's mouth, racing towards the other slayer. Dante just reeled his head back before contesting the spell with his own roar.

"Hell Dragon Roar!"

A mighty explosion of power shot out of Dante's mouth, hurtling through the air. As the spells collided, a massive outburst of energy exploded around the spells, the pressure forcing me painfully backwards into my seat. Dust obscured everyone's vision, but ever so slowly it passed away to reveal Dante standing in front of a downed Mikael. He leaned forward, his eyes focusing onto the yellow ones below him.

"You forget Mike… I am the one who beat you three years ago… and while you have gotten tougher… I have gotten ten times stronger…" Mikael simply seemed to lay there on the ground, slowly regaining control of his breathing. It was strange to see there was a smile on his face.

"I let my emotions get the better of me, didn't I?" It was more of a statement than a question. Dante chortled at this.

"Yes… you indeed did…" Dante then reached down and extended his hand to the other Dragon Slayer, who graciously accepted the aid. As Mikael began brushing the dust off of his shoulders, people began to leave as the interesting spar was over.

'Wow, they are insane!' I thought as I walked side-by-side with Laura and Nissa. As we moved through the crowd of mages walking out the door, I saw Duncan race past me. He noticed my stare as he gave me a wink, before proceeding to the male change rooms under the arena. 'Must be going to tell them about the job.'

I suddenly felt an elbow in my side, wincing as I turned to see Nissa staring at me. "What are you thinking about Dani? Your minds been wandering all day!" I just looked at her and sighed, knowing the master would not want me to tell her about the goings on in the office earlier.

"Oh you know, just a bit tired from my spar with Cy earlier. Speaking of which, where is he?" I had only just realized as I looked around that Cynex was indeed not present. Nissa just shrugged her shoulders, but Laura gave a short laugh.

"Knowing him, he's probably by the bar drinking away his sanity." I raised an eyebrow to the distortion mage, who looked at me curiously. "Wait, you don't know?" Both myself and Nissa gave Laura the 'we both know I don't know get on with it' look. This time Laura really did laugh, throwing her head back as the sound rang down the hallway.

"He asked out Mya earlier, and apparently he got shot down hard." My eyes filled with worry at that. And I could see that Ni's eyes mirrored mine.

Mya Pourlia is easily the prettiest, and nicest person in this guild. She has glorious blond hair that falls down her shoulders and then proceed to curve slightly up. Her eyes are a light shining green that look like leaves on summer trees. She has perfect tan skin that would make Blue Pegasus wizards jealous, and has not a single blemish nor scar. She's 5'10, and has a very curvature build, allowing strength while at the same tame appeal.

And since day one, Cy has been head over heels for this chick. When they first met, he was nothing but a stuttering mess, barely able to introduce himself. They are really good friends now, but Cy has always been secretly hinting that he wants to make it more. I've talked to him about just going up and telling her how he feels, but he's never been able to.

'Until today,' I though miserably. This day couldn't get any worse. During my little thought process, Laura had a question of her own for Nissa. "Hey, do you know if Demitri is around? I was surprised to not see him there. He idolizes hi brother." Nissa shook her head, and so did I mentally.

"He's not around right now. He's off on a job with his team, Mayhem." I quickly thought back as to Sallandria's mood during the meeting earlier. She seemed a lot sadder, and a lot more worried than usual. 'That makes sense, god I am an idiot! Jo is in that team after all…'

"I gotta say, while he may not be the nicest person on earth, Demitri's got some spunk! I mean, did you see him take care of that dark wizard Markus when we were with him? He literally just knocked him out, in one punch!" Wow, didn't realize Laura paid that much attention to Demitri. Both of my friends stopped to talk about Demitri more, while I left them behind and headed to my room to start packing.

Meanwhile, on Galuna…

Serakei and Demitri where, at the moment, walking around town and searching for a building among the tipi's and cabins that would most likely hold the young lady they were tasked to find. The Psychokinetic pointed to a large house at the end of the small village.

"That looks like a suitable place to-" Mid-sentence he stopped as Demitri let loose a tremendous sneeze. Serakei just looked at the Take-over mage with a look of 'are you serious?' The dark haired behemoth just ignored the look, gesturing for his friend to continue. 'Someone must be talking about me…'

Back in Sylvein…

As I continued to pack for my job, I took the time to actually try and assess what I knew and what I was going to have to do. I know for a fact that I'm not being dragged along for my power. I mean, I'm with the freaking S-Class, and Randuin is one strong guy. I've seen him vaporize buildings with a bit of concentration.

Salandria must have an ulterior motive for sending me with the Inquisitors, and I need to figure out what that is. Seeing the severity of this assignment, she would not bring a liability for no reason. 'Unless there are going to be other people there, other guilds, but why would I need to help with that? Unless… no she wouldn't ask that of me… would she?'

As the thought of that came into my head, I shut my eyes as I tried to banish my past away. 'I entrusted her with that information not so that she could use it, and we both know that.' As I thought this, images of what happened last time once again filled my brain. I knew that I couldn't fight the memories, so I just let loose my barriers and let them come surging forth.

The night was peaceful in the small village of Lilycove. The town rested upon the sandy shores to the east of Hargeon, and it was a place of peace and prosperity. All of the building were made of would and straw, and there was no currency, for all shared the food and commodities of the village. Within this village, in the house closest to the beach, a family of five sat around the dining room as they ate and made merry. The father was a kind man with kind blue eyes and brown hair. He wore an old button up floral shirt and tan khakis. The mother was a gentle women with hazel eyes and auburn hair. These two sat at either end of the small wood table, the light in the room coming from the jar above their heads that was filled with fireflies.

On both sides of these parents sat three children. On the right side of the father sat a young boy with brown hair and brown eyes. Beside him sat a little girl even younger than him that had blue eyes and blue eyes and brown hair. And then on the other side of the table, to the left of the father, sat a girl with blue eyes and auburn hair.

As the family ate and talked, the little ones making cute jokes which received much more adoration from the parents than a joke of that caliber should have. This family was that of the village's mayor, that being the father, whose name was Michael Roberro. Michael was known in the village as one of the best mayors they had ever had, and as such they all abided by the laws, and the town was even more prosperous than it usually was.

Within the community, since they do not have a currency, they cannot afford to ask the local guilds for assistance when magical problems arise. As such, the village has one mage that is selected from within the town to help deal with these problems. At the moment, a man named Rale Tarwood was the resident wizard, and he happened to be the brother of the Mayors wife, Tunia Roberro.

To provide safety to the mage who has been chosen to be the village's wizard, an age limit is made to ensure that at the beginning of their ascent to being elderly, they would switch off with the next in line.

The next in line, was actually was sitting at the Roberro's table, the eldest of the children, Danika. Danika was gifted at an early age with the power to make the towns few lacrima work, as well as heat things up and repel things away from her.

As such, when Rale was around, he would help teach Danika how to use her magic. The only problem however, was that no one yet knew what her power was. She had yet the power to make a physical manifestation of it, and as such Rale could only speculate. Years past, and soon Rale was old, and Danika was not so young…

For some reason, the memories vanished. My hopes rose, I thought I got lucky, and wouldn't have to relive that pain again. I headed over to the sink inside my room as I began to brush my teeth. Once I deemed my team thoroughly scrubbed, leaned forward and spat the smooth paste out of my mouth. Swilling some water in my mouth to help remove the taste, I looked in the mirror to see if I needed to take a shower before bed. I Spit-took and shrieked at the same time, for where my reflection should be, a young girl with burnt and singed hair as well as piercing blue eyes stared back at me with tears in her eyes. The memories hit again, and I had to grip the sink in front of me to stay up, cracks lining the metal.

Rale's hair, which used to be so much like his sisters, and a lot like Danika's, was now a startling grey, and his used-to-be shining blue eyes now had dulled, but yet filled with wisdom and power. It was the no-longer-so-young Danika's 16th birthday, and it was the day of her initiation of being village wizard. Her parents, who like Rale were starting to show their age, walked with her to the centre of town. This area of town was a large circular stone floored area with a small altar in the middle.

It is here that the initiation was to happen, and the entire population of the village was present. The small town of about 350 people began cheering as young Danika appeared with her parents. Danika shook from the attention, fearing that she would mess up in front of them, in front of her parents, and more importantly her mentor Rale.

As she kept walking forward, the 16 year old walked towards the altar. Unknown too many in the village, this altar is actually an ancient relic. It has the ability to reveal the true properties of magic, as well as boost the power of the person who uses the altar.

Danika turned to her right as she saw her younger brother and sister, Darren and Wyllia, smile and cheer her on as well. At this, the young mage smiled as small tears formed in the corner of her eyes. She lifted her blue eyes as she continued marching towards the altar. Abruptly, her parents stopped. Danika looked to her mother, who gave her the most amazing smile she had ever seen.

"Go on Dani, we'll always be with you." The tears that had gathered at the corner of the teens eyes began to fall as she hugged her mother and nodded at her father. He smiled as well, gesturing her to the altar. "We love you."

My eyes stung as the tears began free falling from my face. 'I don't want to see this! Please! Stop!' I wanted to scream this as I said it in my head, but I knew I couldn't. It was part of life's fun to not let me call for comfort or help.

Danika walked towards the altar Rale was standing, a large steel knife in his hand. The altar itself was simply a stone table that had a bowl built into it. As she got closer, she noticed the strange symbols around the altar. She had been around the altar before, but had never figured out what they were. There were two symbols inside of one large one.

The large one was of a large serpent who had its tail in its mouth, creating a circle. In the middle of this circle was a single runic letter, which I knew meant 'flow.' The other symbol was of a large helix surrounded by small spherical dots, the helix itself covered in strange creatures.

Both of these where inside of a large symbol on the table that was at each corner of the bowl aligning with the corners of the table. The large symbol was simply a rather curvature '8' that had the small symbols in each loop that makes up the number. However, a long spear runs through the large symbol, hiding behind the smaller symbols inside.

Stepping up beside Rale, he hands her the knide her had been holding, and she is surprised by its weight. She already knew what she had to do, but was still feeling the remnants of her earlier fear. What if it didn't accept her or something goes wrong? But she reflected on her families smile, and she turned to see Rale wink at her. Danika summoned up her courage and extended her hand, proceeding to draw a line with the blade across her open palm. She winces at it as she feels the slight sting and feels strange at seeing her own scarlet blood run across her hand.

She then raises her hand above the bowl, feeling comfort in seeing the other splashes of crimson left on the bowl from other witches and wizards like her. Squeezing her hand, she watches as a drop slowly falls into the bowl, spreading across the stone.

Feeling extremely relieved that nothing happened, she turns towards Rale to see him not moving at all. She peered at him strangely to see that his hands and feet were vibrating at alarming speeds, yet the rest of his body was perfectly still. She turned behind her to look for her parents when her heart dropped as she rose a hand over her mouth.

Everyone present was just like Rale, frozen except for their extremities. She looked in horror as slowly people started to drop, their eyes lidding back into their heads as the life that use to be visible in them disappeared. She suddenly heard a voice behind speak, though it was choky and hoarse.

"Da-a-ni... st-st-o-op…" It was Rale, and it killed the girl to see master like this. She hugged him and started shrieking, not sure what to do.

"How? How do I? I don't know what I'm doing! Rale! Help!" His face was turning blue, and he slowly began to fall.

"It-ts yo-ur ma-gic… elec…elct…" He slowly began to fade, his non beating heart failing to produce oxygenized blood. "Electron… magic…" With that, the man perished, the last to survive within the entire village. Danika sobbed, hugging her teacher, her uncle, her friend.

After a while, she searched through the non-breathing citizens of Lilycove until she found her family. Her younger brother and sister were clinging onto their mother on the ground whose body was splayed into an awkward position. Danika's father was simply lying down as if he was resting, except that his eyes were open. The usually shining and joyous orbs were now dull and lifeless, and it caused the young wizard to begin crying all over again.

In that moment, the entire village of Lilycove ceased to breath, and it was in that moment that young Danika despaired into darkness.

When the images ended and I opened my eyes, I was lying on the floor next to my sink, my toothbrush crushed and splintered in my hand. I leaned myself forward, curling up into the fetal position as I rocked myself backwards and forwards slowly for about a minute.

I reached into the front of my jacket and pulled out a small seashell that I kept in the inside pocket of my top layer. I turned it over to see a picture of my family, all of us smiling together at the beach. I was 11 when this was taken. My father is standing there with no shirt on and a blue swimsuit, his arm around my mother whose silver one piece reflected in the sunlight. My brother had a red swimsuit on, and he had my sister on his back who was also wearing a silver one piece.

In the centre of the picture, I'm sitting there in the sand in a two-piece green swimsuit. I feel even more tears come to my face as I look at the smile that had been on my face. My blue eyes had this sparkle in them that I had never seen whenever I look into the mirror, and my hair was set up into these perfect pigtails that I would never be able to replicate. In my hands, is a seashell that seems rather large in my small hands.

I turn the shell I am holding back over, leaning my head against the hard crust and feeling the smooth sea washed grooves against my forehead. "You broke your promise mom."

Sorry for the late update, took me longer than expected, plus a late OC. But thanks for reading!

-SillyCurse