So, I just wanted to say this up front. I speak for the two of us when I say that we appreciate all the support this story has received. I mean it when I say that it's all of you who drive this story onwards. Without you, who knows where we would be right now? Would we even be writing? I don't know for sure, but I shouldn't dwell on the what if's.

There's a review I would like to respond to before we continue onwards.

DAve and Bob: Honestly, I can remember getting the idea for Legends all the way back to when I first decided to write Fairy Tail fics. Believe me when I say the improvement is definitely noticeable from the first chapter up 'til now. I decided to lengthen my chapter's when I heard that another writer tended to write about 2,000-word chapters so I thought I might give it a shot as well and see where that takes me. As I mentioned in the discontinuation notice, it wasn't that I felt that the first chapter was bad or so. I wasn't liking the pacing of it, it felt too rushed in my opinion. Plus, I could feel writer's block coming into play from where I had left it. So, a combination of that and other factors caused me to discontinue Crimson Hunter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail, we only own OUR OCs

Enjoy chapter 4 everyone!

(Phantom Lord Headquarters)

The crimson-haired mage's voice resounded in the room. "Despite your power, and the S-class rank you hold, you will always be known as nothing more than a coward who fell by my hand."

That fight had taken much out of the great Titania. Numerous scars and surface wounds covered her body-all signs of her recent bout with Phantom Lord. Though still, she remained standing, for now at least. Only when the building started crumbling around her did she begin to show any sign of weakness. Having used the last of her available energy in her attack against Aria, she collapsed.

Almost immediately, Natsu was by her side, supporting her as she slowly began to recover her strength. Soon after, a voice came on the loudspeakers inside the guildhall. It was Phantom's master, Jose Porla, claiming that he had one of their guildmates. It was only proven true by the cries of pain that soon followed.

Almost pleadingly, Erza begged Natsu to go and find Lucy. She begged him to use what little strength he had left to rescue his comrade and leave her there.

He tried to come up with a different solution, but she pressed him forward. He had to go, at least until he was sure that she was safe and unharmed.

Her thoughts would shift when he finally left the hallway. Drifting from her current situation to her old home in Rosemary Village. She was just a child at that time.

Her mind filled her consciousness with images of her past, a time where she was happy with the only person who completely understood her and would often go along with her on her various adventures. They would play together on the hilltops and shorelines, often with nothing more than what nature would provide for them. She was truly happy back then, happy when everything in her life was absolutely perfect. Their version of it, at least.

She often wished she could go back. Back to when she felt that together the two of them could take on the entire world and still come out victorious. Back when they felt that even the mightiest of tyrants and mages would bow to them in respect.

Unfortunately, those days had long since gone away, taken from her when she was forced to serve as a slave in that tower. The tower changed her. It replaced her life with him, with her current life as a member of Fairy Tail. Though she loved and respected her guild, her new family, she also deeply desired to return to her childhood. Her innocent times.

To anyone that knew her well, it was obvious that she desired a future where everything was right in her eyes. A future in which she and her brother were together once again, undertaking various tasks, both domestic and work-related, as a team. But, for anyone who knew Erza Scarlet personally, also knew that she was not someone who was content enough to just dream.

She so desperately wanted to make her dreams a reality. To have him by her side once more, enjoying the various things life has to offer.

Having fun with each other on the hilltops, as they had when they were kids. To be known as the strongest pair in all of Fiore, a pair so strong that not even the strongest of the Ten Wizard Saints would even think of fighting the two of them!

But at this point? That's all it was. A dream. So, in order to fulfill such an idealistic dream, she had to keep fighting. She had to keep protecting her new home so that it would remain standing for when he returned to her.

The moniker of Titania would not allow her to think any differently. She was expected to protect the numerous Fairies under her care and protect them she would.

Among her thoughts and musings of the past, there was a feeling that she could not shake. Like some part of her was begging to be released and put all of their foes in their place. To have all of those pathetic Phantom Lord mages cower and beg before her. To kill every single one of them without the slightest hesitation. To revel in the bloodshed that she wanted to desperately create.

Such thoughts scared the Scarlet Knight. Of course, she had dealt with such thoughts and feelings before, however, she never felt them on an intense scale as she felt them now.

Such thoughts disgusted her, made her question where they were coming from in the first place. Moreover, she was frightened and scared of the possible implications of such thoughts. If she could feel these emotions, who is to say that other members of her guild weren't feeling similar ones; that other members of her guild weren't experiencing the same desires she was?

Fairy Tail was a guild that prided itself on second chances, and in never killing their opponents. If she was having such thoughts, did she truly deserve to call herself a Fairy Tail member?

The musing didn't last long.

Of course, she did. Why did she even bother to question her own beliefs? She wouldn't doubt it, not even for a second, that Fairy Tail was where she belonged.

She had spent enough of her life here and had too many connections to the inhabitants of this city to even consider something as drastic as leaving Magnolia.

Her new family was here, so she had to stay in order to protect them. In order to give them the guidance that she felt was necessary to survive in times such as this. To reprimand them when needed. To eat cheesecake, and make them laugh when she could. To make sure Magnolia was ready for his arrival.

That was Erza's goal, and she was going to do everything in her power to make sure that it becomes a reality.

Using the strength and determination that she found by her desire to protect her comrades, she reached out and crushed that slowly festering, developing feeling.

Closing her eyes and taking a long heavy breath, she drove them into the deepest recesses of her mind, never to see the light of day again. Or, at least for the moment.

She knew that from past experiences, said feelings would eventually return, haunting her mind and trying desperately to corrupt her.

Focusing her mind once again on the problem at hand, she got to her feet albeit very slowly as to not agitate her body more than she already had, thinking that she had recovered enough of her strength for the inevitable fight against Jose, the guild master of Phantom Lord. although she was quickly forced back down due to the pain.

(Phantom Lord Headquarters)

Erza did not have much time to rest before other members of her guild arrived in the hall and noticed her condition. Mainly it was Gray, Elfman, and her former rival, Mirajane, who noticed her weakened condition. If circumstances were different, Erza would have keeled over in death before showing her rival any sign of weakness. But such times were gone. Faded away with the unfortunate and unexpected passing of Lisanna. Her death had changed many in Fairy Tail, it reaffirmed her desire to find him, mostly in fear so that he wouldn't die like Lisanna had. She would find him so that she could protect him with every ounce of her strength.

Mirajane on the other hand, had done a complete reversal on her personality. Granted some aspects of her rambunctious youth would remain. The event had seemed to mellow her out. It softened her rough edges, until she became the woman she is today.

All three of them were shocked at Ezra's accomplishment. For it was not every day that a mage would not only completely defend against a Jupiter blast but also defeat one of phantom's top mages, the Element 4. Especially after having little time to recover.

They were proud of her, and she could feel it. The waves of positive emotions filled her with a happiness she hadn't felt for a while. But at what price did she pay for this feeling? What did she have to give up to attain their approval?

Her musings were quickly cut short as Jose entered the hallway, determined to finish the war he had started.

Jose gave a slow, almost mocking applause. He had a dark aura emanating from him, anyone could feel it. "My, my. I'm quite impressed, my Fairy Tail mages..." Elfman and Grey whipped around, shock spread across their visages. "To think that I would be able to have such fun... I would never have dreamed it. Destroying Jupiter, taking down Element 4." His grin was menacing and sadist. "And even bringing my magic giant to its knees!"

Erza grit her teeth. "Master Jose!"

"This guy's-" Elfman started.

Grey finished for him, "Phantom's master?!"

Mirajane held a hand over her mouth, tears in her frightened eyes.

"Now," Jose continued. "I must thank you for the fun you've given me." Grey and Elfman stood protectively in front of their guildmates. Jose chuckled darkly. "I'll enjoy this."

Grey and Elfman both began their chants, summoning their magic.

This wasn't right, and Erza knew it. "Wait!" she yelled out. "Don't be hasty!"

Grey and Elfman jumped at him, calling out their attacks, but it was too late. They didn't have a chance.

"Absurd!" Jose called out, shooting black streams of seemingly powerful magic at the two mages. They both screamed, falling to the stone in a painful heap.

"Elfman, Grey!" Mirajane gasped.

Erza had had enough. This had gone too far. She tried to stand up again, her knees buckling and shaky, her entire body in excruciating pain. It was obvious that she hadn't recovered as much as she thought she had earlier.

Jose threw his arm out in a swooping motion, another grand blast of power emanating from it. It sent Mirajane, Elfman, and Grey flying.

Erza drew her sword, lunging forward with an intense new-found determination. However, Jose was ready for her. He sent out more blasts, all of them narrowly missing her. She swiftly jumped into the air, donning her Black Wing Armor.

Not again. Not ever again. The loss of someone she cared for wasn't an option she was willing to accept, not once more.

She let out a yell and swung at him, but he caught her gripping her forearm.

He grinned vilely as brown orbs widened in shock. He spun her around, trying to throw her against a wall, but she wasn't as S-Class Mage for nothing.

She flipped in mid-air, rocketing herself off of a piece of rubble and landing safely, and (in the circumstances) gracefully a few feet away from him. She stood up, glaring at him ruefully.

"You," Jose said, the same villainous smirk on his face. "I'm pretty sure that you took a direct hit from Jupiter. How is it you can stand?"

Erza gripped her blade tightly, determination evident in her eyes. "My friends strengthen my heart!" Thoughts drifted through her mind... That young scarlet-haired boy, whose voice was always quiet, just the slightest bit cracky, since he had been aging, and his laugh... He always snorted when he laughed. And she remembered the freckles on his stomach, which he always hated. All of those thoughts led back to one central point in the trail of her mind: her brother. Her magnificent and intelligent brother whom she might never see again.

Well, then... If that was to be, she would protect the family she had now until her very last breath. She narrowed her eyes. "For those that I love, I'd throw away this body without a second thought!"

Jose's eyes were wide with a kind of sadistic wonder, his grin spreading across his face gruesomely, pushing his cheeks up and turning the corners of his mouth into sharp points. "Strong, courageous, beautiful... A troubled mind, a terrible sister." Erza's eyes widened. How did he know? What was he talking about? "It'll be such a pleasure to destroy you, girl!"

Erza's chest heaved with fury. "Hey! You-" Rubble and stone fell from the ceiling.

"Our dragons have run quite amuck," he said, referring to the battle commencing above them.

Erza pushed away her furious and questioning thoughts, for the moment. "It seems like they underestimated Natsu's battle strength." That's right. Natsu. Someone who was part of her family. Someone she hadn't let down yet.

She fixed her stance, making it more powerful, and hopefully a little more threatening. "He is just as powerful as I, if not more so!"

Jose let out a scoffing laugh. "Enough with the modesty, Titania Erza. Your magical power is indeed amazing. I've never met a Mage who could hold out against me for so long. Though..." His smile widened. "Scarlet might be able to."

Erza furrowed her brow. "Who is Scarlet?"

"Oh, no!" he said, feigning disappointment in himself. "You didn't know? Then... I've let out the grand secret." He clicked his tongue and smirked. "Clumsy me."

Erza grit her teeth. "Who is Scarlet?!" she yelled again.

He let out a loud, howling laughter. "I can't just tell you, that'd spoil the fun little mystery we have going on here!"

Her knees buckled in anger. He was taunting her. He probably didn't even know anything. So why did she feel so furious and sad at the same time..?

Jose sighed. "If you hadn't taken any damage from Jupiter, I suspect we might've had a better match." How could he just change the subject like that?

"Hey!" she spat. She caught herself. She needed to calm down. This was what he wanted, her to lose her cool.

"I really can't stand Makarov, or any other guild, having a Mage this powerful in their guild," the Mage clad in blue said. He made a flicking motion with his hand, sending Erza flying backwards, her back colliding painfully with the stone wall. "Do you understand why I didn't finish Makarov off before?" Black swirling orbs of energy collected around his fingers.

He shot them off in Erza's direction. They hit the wall, but she avoided them, jumping into the air. "Despair!" he yelled. He shot another blast at her, it cleanly destroying the wall behind her as she landed. "It was to put him in despair!"

He kept shooting at her, no matter where she landed, jumped, or ran to. 'This guy...' she thought. 'Maybe... Just maybe... Should I kill him?' Her blade looked extremely tempting at the moment. She gasped at her own thoughts. No. No way! She told herself once more to push away such thoughts.

Jose's eyes were filled with more malice and evil than Erza had seen in a long time. "When he wakes up and sees his precious guild and his beloved guild members destroyed... How will he feel?" He let out an insane fit of laughter. "Probably similar to how you felt when you abandoned your only kin! Crestfallen, I'm sure!" His laughter died down. "I will destroy that man with despair and sadness never-ending, I will never let him rest. I'll make him suffer, suffer, suffer until the end of his days! I would do the same for you, but you're already so damaged, so it would be no fun."

Erza snapped. She couldn't take another word out of his mouth. She leapt at him. "You villain!" she screamed. She swung at him violently and without pattern. She wanted to kill him. She needed to kill him.

Jose avoided her, quickly showing up behind her, a few feet away. "Phantom Lord was always the number one guild," he said. "We had the most powerful magic, the most talented mages, and the most money in the country." He looked so smug. "...but these recent years, Fairy Tail has suddenly gotten more powerful." His smile finally fell. "Erza, Laxus, Mystogan. Those names were heard even in our city, and rumors of the Salamander were spread throughout the country." He scoffed. "You're very well-known, Erza Scarlet..." His smirk returned. "Like brother, like sister, huh?"

She didn't even know what he was talking about, nobody knew anything about him, not even his name, but it still filled her with rage. She screamed again, whipping around and slicing at him frantically. "I'll kill you!"

He simply jumped away again. "Somehow," he continued on. "at some point, Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail became the signature guilds of this country." He scowled, his eyes narrowing into slits before widening in a way akin to someone of an unstable mind. "I don't like it. Especially when your guild was once weak and crappy!"

She lunged again, though he jumped easily out of the way. "Silence!" She was blinded with anger, blood the only thing in her sights. However... There was still a clear corner of her mind. If only just a little bit clear. She could hear a quiet voice from her past: "Sis! Are you okay?"

It echoed in her mind, but she couldn't pierce through the fog. She pointed her sword. "Are you saying that the reason you started this whole war was over some petty jealousy?!"

"Jealousy?" Jose laughed. "Of course not! I wanted to show everyone our superiority!"

Erza glared at him, her chest heaving. "What a worthless reason!"

"Ah," he sang. "You know every little thing about being worthless, don't you? Or was that your brother? I can never tell with you two, you're both equally as pathetic."

She was about to charge at him again, but the voice spoke a little louder, giving her a shooting pain in the back of her skull, almost like a migraine.

"Erza, you should be more careful! Look at you, you're bleeding... Blood is no good, we've already got enough red to go around."

Why was it so loud now? His voice was always there, but not usually this loud. This clear... This real. Was it her murderous thoughts? She let the voice consume her, briefly closing her eyes.

She could see the view, watching it as if she had been there just yesterday. They both stood upon a hill in the blistering heat of summer, her and Eren. They had been running around and laughing, and then rolling around in the grass and vibrantly blooming flowers. Erza had suggested climbing a tree, but Eren said it was too dangerous.

She probably should have listened, but she didn't, promptly making her way up the thick branches. It had rained the night before, making the wood slippery. She made a wrong step, and she plummeted to the earth, gravity definitely doing its job.

She had landed on a root, the back of her calf bathed in a sickening, sticky iron. Tears immediately built up in her eyes, but he came running for her. Her brother.

He knelt down by her side, his eyebrows furrowed in worry. He told her to be more careful, listen to him more, general nagging, but then... He hugged her.

He gently stroked her hair, breathing in her familiar scent. "Erza... Please listen to me from now on. You're so pretty, and blood is very ugly. You don't want to mess up how beautiful you are, right? You'll grow up looking like a troll." Erza had called him Ross and pushed him away, but he just came right back. "Erza," he said it more firmly that time. "I don't know how to say this... I'm not our parents, I'm not older than you, I'm not even an adult, but if you think you'll regret something, or you think you can't tell someone about something, it probably isn't the right thing to do."

"...Like climbing a damp tree?" she had asked in her tender age.

He nodded. "Like climbing a damp tree."

Ah, a memory so simple. Yet it calmed her down like none other.

She slowly opened her orbs again, making eye contact with Jose's terrifying empty ones. All they had in them was corruption. She took a deep breath, clearing her mind, once again pushing down all of her homicidal thoughts. If she killed him... She'd regret it. And she wouldn't want to tell anyone, because of the same. So, therefore, it wasn't right. She shot herself at him, powerfully swinging, but this time for all the right reasons.

Jose effortlessly avoided all of her strikes, eventually making an attack of his own at her. He shot a powerful blast towards her, the front end of it looking like a skull. The shot sent her sword flying, but Jose was far from done. He sent streams of energy towards her, the black and purple ominous streaks snaking themselves around the red-headed Mage until she screamed out in pain.

Jose held out his hand to keep the bonds there, red bursts of lightning shooting off of them. "I've longed for the disaster of your guild, so the trigger to go to war was but a trifle." He explained the capture of Lucy, and most of his plans, all-in-all, he was yammering on and on. Every time he was irritated, he would pull the restrains tighter, making her let out a cry of pain. "There's no doubt that your guild could one day become more powerful than ours... I can't allow that!" He sent out another shock through her body.

Erza screamed again, which made him smirk, but his smirk soon fell once he saw her smile. "Making all this fuss about who's on top... It's pitiful," she spat. "However, it's your lack of information gathering that's absolutely laughable!"

Jose raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Lucy ran away from home," Erza said. "You think she uses her family's money? She lives in a rented house for 70,000 jewels a month! She does jobs, and she fights together with us! We've laughed together, cried together... She's like any other Mage in the guild!" She couldn't help but let the word 'family' rush aimlessly through her mind. She tried to push the word away, it brought up both painful memories, as well as beautiful ones.

She grit her teeth. "A trigger for war? The daughter of the Heartfilia family? As a flower cannot choose where it blooms, a child cannot decide its parents!" Memories flooded her mind and for just a moment, she felt like crying. "...Nor does a flower decide when it withers and falls." She pulled against her restraints. "A man like you couldn't know anything a both Lucy's tears. You hear that?! You know nothing!"

Jose's smirk returned. "I'll learn soon enough," he said. Erza's eyes widened. "Do you seriously think I would just hand her over to her father? If she doesn't have any money, I'll just keep her..." His face was shadowed over with a lust for money, riches, and most of all: power. "I'll get the entire Heartfilia fortune!"

Erza thrashed around. "Why, you-!"

"Don't struggle," he said. "It'll just cause you to suffer more." He created two skeleton-like masses, which quickly made their way over to her. One opened its mouth.

Pain. That was all Erza could feel. Excruciating, undeniable, unthinkable pain. It felt like her soul was being separated from her body. Dying. She wanted to die. That must've been better than this agony.

"Are you really going to give up just like that?" a voice rang in her head. "Pathetic." It definitely wasn't the one she had expected. She had thought that perhaps she might've heard the voice of a young boy with a quiet tone, slightly cracked and wispy, certainly not a deep voice laced with intense confidence, almost arrogance, and a firm tone. She had never heard it before. It was a stranger's voice... But it felt so familiar.

"You better finish him off," the voice rang out. It suddenly sounded like it was whispering in her ear. "We still need to meet." Then, it was gone.

That voice... It made her feel so incredibly nostalgic, and she had no idea why.

"Now," Jose said with a Cheshire grin. "Shall we start the horror show? Let's show how you're doing to the rest of Fairy Tail! Titania, so full of pride... If they see your pitiful state, the rest of the trash will be sure to give up!"

Erza choked out, "Does your wretchedness know no bounds?!"

"You'll be looking pretty wretched yourself in a moment," Jose taunted, laughing madly.

What could she do? What could it be? Nothing. She couldn't do anything worthwhile right now. But... She wasn't going to let the guild, her family lose hope. She summoned her blade towards her back. She didn't want to give up, but this wasn't giving up...

This was giving a secondary option.

She closed her eyes, accepting her fate. When she expected to feel the sting of metal colliding with her back, she was shocked to feel herself be seemingly pieced back together. Her armor fixing itself, and her bonds disappearing.

"This is..." she breathed out. With that, she was lowered to the ground, landing safely on her knees, Jose looking furious and confused.

Erza herself felt confused, though not for the same reasons. That voice... What was that voice?

Who was it?

The first fight of the story! I would like to give a big thanks to Blue for writing that fight scene. She did a wonderful job in writing it, at least in my opinion.

I hope you have a wonderful morning/afternoon/evening everyone! And we'll see you all in the next chapter!