A/N: So here's the next chapter. I'm doing my best to stay afloat in school and still update, so I apologize for the sporadic updates.
I'm sorry in advance for any grammar errors, I have no beta.
All rights to Hiro Mashima.
Chapter 6: Thickening of the Plot
Lucy stood on the cliff overlooking the lake by Fairy Tail. They had finally been able to stop calling Fairy Hills, Fairy Hills in the last month and it had officially become Fairy Tail, their guild hall. Lucy was alone at the guild today. Yesterday, everyone else had departed on their missions. Missives had been sent to her allies as soon as the guild members were out of sight. There was going to be a conference tomorrow in Oak Town, since there was no longer a resident guild and as such it was a relatively neutral zone to meet.
The lacrima in her pocket lit up and she pulled it out. "Yes?" Lucy responded, hood shadowing her features.
"Ah, Master Fairy," Lucy winced at the unfortunate name, "I'm glad I got ahold of you."
"Is something amiss, Master Serena?" Lucy asked.
"We've received word from the majority of the guilds we contacted," the older woman reported. "They have all given us their support. It seems that many more are sick of the Magic Council than I had anticipated and we no longer have enough space for all the guests."
Lucy pondered this. It was a bit of a dilemma. The more guilds that were present at the meeting, the more strength the campaign possessed. "The younger guild masters will just have to set up camp. The hall we're meeting in is plenty large."
Serena looked relieved at Lucy's suggestion. "I'm glad you suggested so. I would have, but then there would be more resentment. If it comes from you, Master Fairy, who was already planning on sleeping outside, than more will respect it and be willing to sleep outside."
Lucy nodded, an unseen smile gracing her mouth. "I am glad to be of assistance. Thank you for organizing everything."
Serena shook her head and smiled. "No, thank you for agreeing to support our movement. It has led more gravity to the situation."
"Indeed," Lucy said and cut the connection.
On the other end of the line, Serena stared at the dull orb in her hands, a sneer twisting her upper lip. A figure swathed in black robes stepped out of the shadows, fabric swirling around their ankles.
"What a bitch," Serena scoffed. "Thinkin' she owns the world just because she survived some stupid war."
"Yes," the shadowed figure rasped in a deep, growly voice. "Do you remember the details of the plan?"
Serena snorted. "How could I not? It's fucking brilliant."
The figure waited in silence. Serena darted a glance at him, licking her lips before continuing. "Once the conference starts, call the Master of Fairy Tail over with a false problem. Get her alone in the private meeting room where you and your associates will be waiting. You knock her out and take her, then the Rune Knights swarm and all the uppity guild masters and put everyone in their place," she recited dully. "I still don't see why you won't give her to me once you're done. I'd love to experiment with her."
"Very good," the figure rasped. "Don't you forget it. We'll be ready for you."
Serena watched as the stranger stepped back into the shadows, robes swirling, and disappeared into the shadows. She found it creepy that he could just melt into the shadows like that, always appearing and disappearing without a sound. But he was providing her a chance to get on top. Something that Serena had been waiting for ever since the war between Fairy Tail and Alvarez broke out nearly two years ago. Somehow, a fragment of the greatest guilds had survived and formed under a new guild master as Fairy Tail. That damned guild would never stop overshadowing Serena.
Ever since she was young, Serena had despised Fairy Tail. Some Fairy Tail mages had destroyed half her village trying to slay a demon. They hadn't help to rebuild, or to stop and make sure that the innocent villagers were alright. Ever since, Serena had made it her mission to destroy the guild and overtake them with her own. She'd joined a small guild with a lot of potential. Years of hard work had led to her securing her place as guild master. Once there, Serena had started to build up the strength of her guild members. From there, she'd done her best to overtake Fairy Tail, at first by legal means, then by anyway possible. And it hadn't worked. Serena growled and stomped to her rooms above the guild where she lived.
Gajeel, Romeo, and Meredy knelt before Lucy, their black cloaks fanned out on the ground behind them. Lucy glanced back at them from her place by the window.
"Well?" she inquired.
"It is as you suspected," Gajeel reported. "The woman, Serena is being manipulated by someone from Kasmaan. I was able to capture him and take his place, though he is not talking."
"Where are you holding him?" Lucy inquired.
"In our safe house outside the city," Romeo said.
"And you took the proper precautions so that he cannot take his own life before we can get what we need from him?" Lucy checked.
"We did, Master," Meredy said.
"Very good," Lucy turned to face them. "I want you to keep monitoring the situation. Gajeel you will check up on Serena routinely, follow her in the shadows for as long as possible. Meredy and Romeo, stay nearby in case he needs help. Meredy, you should establish a link between all of you so that you can instantly alert each other in case of emergency.
"We are going to try and keep Serena from raising the alarm. We want to destroy this operation before it is carried out and catch the culprits, not let them get away because their suspicions were raised."
"How will we do that if our captive doesn't contact his guild?" Romeo asked, and immediately wished he didn't when a malicious smile spread across Lucy's face.
"Oh, don't worry about that. I'll take care of him," she purred. "Now, any other questions?"
The three mages shook their head. "Alright. I want weekly reports, unless you learn a crucial piece of information. We'll work on the man you captured here and I'll rely anything necessary to you. If your lives become endangered, come home. We don't need to lose anyone else and just knowing about the attack will allow us to take precautions. Understood?"
"Yes Master," they bowed their heads, fists over their hearts.
Lucy watched her members take off in a swirl of shadows and static. A wave of grief enveloped her as she watched her friends and family treat her as though she were a god. Lucy fingered the objects that she always wore as a reminder of what the world had stolen from her, as a reminder of all the family that she had lost. She vowed, once more, that she would not lose anyone else, that she would annihilate those who tried to take her family, tried to hurt them.
Calmer, Lucy turned pick up her communications lacrima and powered it, sending a call to Team Flight (consisting of Wendy, Mest, and Rogue). Mest picked up the call.
"Hey, Lucy!" he smiled at her.
"Hi Mest," Lucy smiled back. She loved how laid back the Direct Line Mage was.
He turned to glance behind himself, then shrieked and Lucy saw the orb go black for a moment before Mest reappeared in a different location. He flushed and smiled sheepishly at her. "Sorry, Wendy and Rogue decided to do a little bit of training with their new powers before we headed home and they don't always remember that I'm there when they really get into it."
Lucy giggled. "No worries. I was wondering when you all were going to be home. I have something I would like you to assist with."
"When do you need us?" Mest asked, suddenly serious.
Lucy sobered as well. "The sooner the better. Our future depends on what we can do."
Mest nodded. "I'll go let the beasts know and we should be back within the hour."
Lucy nodded and the lacrima went dark, this time not lighting up again as Mest arrived back at the clearing in which Wendy and Rogue were sparring. The older mage stood and watched his two team mates go at it, both half in Dragon Force. It had taken a lot of training and research to learn about and attain partial Dragon Force. Both Wendy and Rogue were constantly training to see to what extent they could draw on their draconic nature and powers before they feel completely to either side. He was amazed by their dedication to the task, and understood their determination.
But now, now their Sworn needed them and Mest had to face the dragons, literally. He'd hoped they'd have fallen out of the trance by now, but of course, he wasn't that lucky.
Taking a deep breath, Mest let out the loudest shout he could. The two stopped in their tracks, instinctively turning to face him, flinching as their sensitive ears rang from the sound.
"Time to go you two," Mest continued in more normal tones. "Lucy needs us."
Wendy and Rogue took a moment to process what he'd said. They nodded and straightened from their crouches, the partial Dragon Force melting as they did so.
"We just need to pack up camp," Rogue said.
"Let's hurry," Wendy called, already halfway to their camp set up a little ways away.
The two men scrambled to assist her in tearing down the camp and erasing all signs of their presence in the woods. Once all the baggage had been distributed, Mest wrapped his arms around their shoulders and off they were. It took three jumps to get back to the guild. A total of ten minutes, as Mest had needed a short five minute break after each jump to recover before the next one.
Lucy was waiting for them outside the guild. "Go drop your bags and change into something… menacing."
The three mages were intrigued as they saw her normally delicate, kind features twist into something cold, hard, and terrifying. Her normal outfit had been replaced by something black and red. She still wore Erza's gauntlet, Natsu's scarf, and Gray's necklace, but Laxus's coat, and Evergreen's fan were gone. Bickslow's mask was on the side of her head, glinting ominously in the sunlight. A billowing black cloak and black, leather boots completed the outfit. All in all, it was seriously badass and petrifying.
"Sure thing," Mest grinned. He adored playing bad guy.
The three scampered off. When they returned, Lucy knew she'd picked the right team. Mest was in all black, his muscles clearly showing, and his scar standing out more on his tan skin. Rogue had donned a sort of kimono in black with a gray undershirt and an overcoat with one sleeve and white detailing that fell to the bottom of the kimono. A strip of black cloth was tied around his waist holding everything in place, a piece of white fabric with black detailing sticking out about eight inches from the bottom. Wendy looked perfect devilish in black, thigh high socks, black booties, a black shirt with a white strip, and a black blazer with cutouts and red detailed. Her hair was hanging loose with a single braid tied off with a black ribbon.
"Let's go," Lucy smiled. "Mest, take us to the safe house outside of town."
In the next instant, the four of them stood before the door. Lucy turned to face her guild members. "Now, this man is a member of Kasmaan, so we'll have to work hard to scare him, but I have confidence in his skills. Wendy, Rogue, I'm not sure if Mest told you, but our future is depending on how much we can wring out of him. I'm counting on you all."
"Roger that," Mest said, saluting. The others rolled their eyes and Lucy opened to door to the small cabin.
Lucy led the way inside to a small room where a man in his boxers was chained to the wall, a gag filling his mouth so he couldn't bite off his tongue. Magic suppressing restraints secure each limb and a length of magic cancelling rope was wound around each limb of his body and his torso. The man's eyes opened as the four of them entered the room, the door shutting behind them. Lucy lit the candles in the room and turned to face the man.
The wavering light intensified the slightly off-kilter smile on Lucy's face. She saw the first flicker of fear in his eyes and the malicious glee inside of her swelled. "Wendy?" Lucy nodded towards the man.
The teen nodded, an unbalanced smile of her own forming, showing off her glistening fangs as she called on partial Dragon Force to elongate her incisors and give her eyes a slight cast of pink so that they seemed to glow in the dim light. The man chained to the wall flinched slightly as she strolled towards him, head tilting slightly, nostrils flaring to his sudden rush of endorphins as her approach. Prey, Wendy's inner dragon whispered, tail twitching in anticipation.
Settle down, Wendy ordered it, plucking the gag from the man's mouth. She skipped back to Lucy's side and leaned into the older woman's side. Lucy absently patted the young dragon's head, unintentionally sending shivers down her poor captive's spine at the sight of the small devil apparently tamed by the older one.
"So," Lucy's voice broke the stifling silence of the room, causing the man to jump a little. "Tell me about yourself."
The man just shook his head. Lucy's grin grew. "No? Very well, I'll tell you what I know first, then you can tell me what you know. Sound good?" She didn't wait for his reply. "I know that you are a member of Kasmaan, the dark guild working to resurrect Zeref. I know that you and your guild are manipulating Serena through her hatred of Fairy Tail. I know that you are not too high up in the ranks of your guild, but you aren't the bottom either. I know your guild is planning to attack me and the rest of the guild masters at the conference we'll be holding in eleven days, disguised as Rune Knights. Now tell me what I don't know."
The man paled more and more with each word that fell from her mouth. "Who," he croaked. "Who are you?"
Lucy's smile became maniacal and devilish. "I am the Master of Fairy Tail and you will not take anymore of my family from me. Tell me what I don't know."
The blood rushed from his head. His master had told him to be wary of Fairy Tail. He'd said that they were like cockroaches, everywhere and difficult to get rid of. His master had said though, that since the old geezer wasn't part of the guild, they'd finally be able to crush it easily. He'd said they were powerless, and if they were truly equal to the Fairy Tail before the Great War, they'd have come to destroy Kasmaan already. His master had said be careful, but don't worry because Fairy Tail wasn't a threat anymore. His master had been very, very wrong.
"Y-you're Fairy Tail?" he whispered, horrified. But wasn't Fairy Tail supposed to be a light guild? These two were more terrifying than any dark mages he'd ever met.
"I am," Lucy said. Her eyes started to glow a brilliant gold. "Now, tell me, who is your master? Where are your headquarters? How many members do you have total, counting affiliated guilds? What are your affiliated guilds? Tell me everything."
"I can't," he said. "My master would kill me."
Two men stepped out of the shadows that he hadn't noticed before. One had the glowing red eyes of a devil, a scar across his nose, and hair that was half white, half black. The other, taller with defined muscles, had a large scar with two crossing scars across the side of his face, and his blue eyes glimmered in the candle light, as cold and merciless as ice.
"We recommend you tell the lady what she wants to know," the larger, bulkier man said.
"Otherwise you'll face something much, much worse than death," the red-eyed man promised, hand resting casually on the hilt of his sword.
He looked at the two men, the two women, and felt only dread and terror. There was no hope for him, or his guild if this was the new Fairy Tail. It was as though they had nothing left to lose, but yet, everything to lose.
"I-i can't," he protested weakly.
As soon as the words left his lips, he regretted it. The wind pick up in the room, shadows started to curl around the smaller man and he slid his blade out of the sheath a little bit with an ominous rasping sound. Gold light crackled on the skin of the Master of Fairy Tail. The icy-eyed man took a step forwards, menacing smile twisting his scar grotesquely.
"A-alright, alright!" he shrieked, sure he was going to be in a world of hurt if he kept quiet. "I'll tell you everything! Just don't hurt me!"
"Good," Lucy purred and the others immediately backed off, magic dying out.
"My name is Farid," he sighed, sagging against the wall in relief. "I joined Kasmaan when I was sixteen years old."
A/N: And I finished another chapter! If you are confused about anything, just let me know and I'll my best to clear it up! I'm gonna go fail my AP tests now because I wrote this for yall instead of studying.
Thank you for reading!
Artistofthemind