A/N: It's ToTG's Tuesday again and you know what that means! Chapter 7 is up!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

I hope you enjoy the chapter!


Chapter 7: Sleepyheads, a Rune Knight and an Enemy!?

July 16th, X793 - Evening

"Monty… please leave," a lazy voice belonging to a twenty-two year old man named Rucca Volca requested as he lay on a tree branch in the Zen Garden.

Rucca Volca was a quite skinny and lean man who stood at 5'11". His white hair, which was spiked up on the left side of his head while the right side was left in a messy state that slightly covered his right eye, stood out against his tan skin along with some lazy stubble along his jawline and chin. His eyes, while they were a dark red color, seemed to be lazily left closed at all times. Rucca's white Kitsune's Garden guild mark was on his left ankle while he had two tattoos on his body. The first one started on his lower back before traveling up to his shoulders in a manner resembling ash clouds while the second tattoo was hidden over his right eye under his hair, and it resembled the shape of a volcano. Rucca wore a long-sleeved, gray shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a pair of dark, camouflage pants that reached halfway down his shins before the pant legs were torn off, revealing his bare feet. He also had a maroon sash wrapped around his waist that had a small pouch hanging off of it while Rucca also carried a four foot long, white staff in his hand.

"Just because you're always so energetic and ready to do something amazing doesn't mean the rest of us want you to drag us along," Rucca continued with a lazy smile on his face as he let his arm and staff swing through the air from his position on the tree branch.

"Well you three are hardly ever doing anything," Monty responded with a sigh as he tucked his pillow under his arm, "There's so much to do for the upcoming festival and you three are just lazing away as always."

"Please. With such a hard-worker like yourself, three people won't be missed," Rucca countered, knowing that even if the three of them went along with Monty that he'd probably just end up doing their share of the work anyways. Rucca and Monty turned their heads as one of the other people, a twenty-two year old man named Silas Al'Rhanzed, let out a loud yawn before turning on his side.

Silas stood at 5'10", being just shorter than Rucca, but while he too had a lean build, he was more muscular, as Silas had good upper body strength and his torso and arms were well-toned while his skin had been slightly tanned by the sun. His long, silky hair was a burnt sienna color that had a few light orange spots throughout it. It was tied into a low ponytail that ended at the middle of his shoulder blades while his bangs were held out of his face by a dark orange headband that had a brown, spiky line pattern around it while the ends of the headband ended at his shoulders, although his bangs still managed to brush his eyebrows and frame his face while his hair also covered his ears. Silas had an oval shaped face with a sharp jawline, thin, arched brows, a narrow nose and thin lips. His round eyes were a pastel green in color, but they were droopy and usually only half-open at most. Silas' black Kitsune's Garden guild mark was on the back of his left hand while he had a few scars from training on his arms and a silver loop piercing his nostril. Silas was wearing a sleeveless, dark orange top that had a turtle neck and slashes in each of the ribs. On his arms were a pair of brown, leather fingerless gloves that ended just below his elbows and were adorned with black leather straps that lined the outer forearms and the back of his hands. He wore a pair of baggy, black pants that stopped halfway down his calves while he wore a pair dark orange sandals that strapped behind his ankles and over the top of his feet.

"See? Silas agrees with me," Rucca smiled lazily as he watched the other man lazily scratch his back before drifting back off to sleep.

"Please, he didn't say anything," Monty sighed.

"But he communicated quite a bit if you knew what kind of guy he was," Rucca explained as Monty turned back to look at him, "Usually Silas will just yawn in response to requests made of him. If you're lucky, and I do mean quite lucky, he might actually consider doing what you requested of him."

"What about Saria then?" Monty asked, pointing to the sleeping, nineteen year old woman curled up over on a nearby bench.

Saria Tamura was a scrawny young woman who stood at 5'5" with an average sized bust and pale white skin. She had long, unkempt lilac colored hair that reached down her back and rarely put the effort into even brushing. Her eyes, while she usually had them closed or halfway open at the most, were a baby blue color while she also had dark circles around her eyes and her Kitsune's Garden guild mark was found on her forehead in purple. Saria wore a thin, black coat that reached down to her waist and had pictures of little white sheep and purple bat-like wings on the front and back of it. Under the coat she wore a white shirt that had the letters 'ZZZ' on the front of it and she also wore a lilac skirt that reached down to her knees and had a few pictures of iris flowers on the front and back of it. Saria also wore a pair of white bunny slippers on her feet, which she insisted were extremely comfortable.

"Well, you can always try to get her attention," Rucca chuckled lightly as he watched Monty approach Saria, clearing his throat.

"Excuse me, Miss Tamura, do you think that you could come and-."

"No," Saria answered curtly in a tired tone, barely opening a single eye to look at the older man before shutting it just as soon as she had finished talking.

"I never said she would agree," Rucca called out as he leaned back against the tree he was sitting in.

"All right," Monty sighed, "I get it. None of you are interested in helping out. I'll just find somebody else," he added before walking off, exiting the Zen Garden.

"He's gone now, right?" Saria asked halfheartedly as Silas let out a yawn before sitting up.

"Seeems like it," Silas answered with a slight drawl as his head began to slightly nod as he caught himself nearly falling asleep again, "I wissssh he'd just let sleeeeeeping dogs lie for once."

"You and me both, Silas," Rucca chuckled as he watched the other man lay back down, beginning to lightly snore again.

. : + : .

"They've sure gotten straight to work, haven't they?" Arielle asked as she and two others walked through the streets of Sakura Village, their eyes ghosting over the various projects going on in the town as people prepared for the upcoming festival.

Now that Arielle had left the hot springs, she wore her usual outfit, which consisted of a white, pullover hoodie that was splattered with paint and was two sizes too big for her, jean shorts that ended at her mid-thigh with gold, knee-high socks, a pair of black cargo boots and a pair of pink and orange headphones.

"Look how many stands and banners they've started to put up!" she continued before skipping ahead of her two friends.

"It really is impressive, isn't it?" the first friend replied, a nineteen year old man named Junge Noid, "They really go all out every season, don't they?"

Junge was a tall man, standing at 6'1" with a well-toned body from all of the fighting he had done as a mage. He was slightly tan and across his back from his left shoulder to his waist was a large scar, although his white, Kitsune's Garden guild mark was on his left wrist. His eyes were a light brown in color and they held a friendly look in them while his short, black hair had a fringe falling down towards his left eye while a stripe of white hair could be seen at the fringe. Junge was simply dressed in a brown, sleeveless shirt, a pair of long pants with a pair of black boots and a pair of black gloves. But on his back was a shield as long as he was tall and despite its many years of use, it did not have a scratch on it.

"I wonder if they have any designs they need painted?" Junge wondered aloud, drawing a slightly excited look from Arielle, "Monty did say that we should help out around town if we can."

"I'm sure they have someone better at painting than me though," Arielle sighed as she dismissed the idea from her mind.

"C'mon, Arielle," the second man spoke up, who was named Rake Malinovy and was nineteen like Junge, "You know you're a good painter and you do paint a lot of different pictures."

Rake stood slightly taller than Junge, being 6'2", but with a slimmer frame that was still well-toned. His crimson, Kitsune's Garden guild mark was just under his right pectoral and stood out against his fair skin, which was mired with a few scars on his legs and back. Like his guild mark, his eyes were also crimson, but a darker shade of it while his hair was a dark brown and was kept in a semi-messy and natural style while his bangs ended just over his eyes. He wore a black, v-neck shirt under a white, short-sleeved button-up shirt with a pair of dark colored jeans and a pair of black shoes. Lastly, Rake also wore a homemade rope necklace that had a dog tag hanging off of it that had the word 'truth' printed on it.

"Besides, I'm sure they could always use more help," Rake added as Arielle stopped to think about it, the three of them seeming to be an odd group to look at due to Rake and Junge being so much taller than Arielle.

"Ah! Kistune's Garden mages!" they heard a short man call out as he walked closer.

"You're the owner of Inugami Ramen… Nobuyuki Inoue, correct?" Junge asked politely as he looked down at the middle-aged man.

"Yeah, that's me, kit," Nobuyuki responded gruffly as he looked up at Junge, coming to a stop near the trio.

"Do you need something?" Rake asked as Arielle gave Nobuyuki a curious look.

"Yeah, there's a couple of guys over there that need help setting up a temporary food stand if you two've got the time to help," the ramen chef answered, pointing over to a couple of men and a pile of wood.

"Of course we have the time to help," Junge answered with a nod of his head, "We were just considering looking around for things that need doing. You don't mind, do you, Rake?"

"Nah, I can help out," he replied with an easy smile as the two walked off towards the two men.

"What can I do?" Arielle asked, looking up at Nobuyuki.

"Well I think you're a bit too young to work on construction," Nobuyuki began to say before Arielle cut him off.

"I'm eighteen! Not a little kid," she huffed, crossing her arms as she gave the man a hard stare.

"Ah… Is that so?" Nobuyuki stammered, giving her a once over, "If you say so… Well, I know there's some women around here working on preparing some banners and signs for the festival if you're interested in helping out with those."

Arielle thought about the offer for a moment before letting out a sigh, "All right, I'll do it," she finally said.

"Great," the chef said before pointing off towards a small area shaded by sakura trees, "The women are working over there if you want to go ahead and head on over."

"I'm on it," Arielle sighed before starting to walk over, 'Although, I guess this could be fun, so might as well try my hardest,' Arielle thought as she let a smile come onto her face.

. : + : .

"Dokutsu," Mathew called out, himself, Dokutso and Avalon sitting in another alleyway in Apricot Town, "I have to ask. We're still doing this even after what happened earlier today with Artur?"

"Yep!" Dokutsu snickered as he emptied out another can of spray paint, "Hey Avalon, pass me another can!"

"You got it, zu!" Avalon cheered happily as she tossed a spray paint can through the air, although it flew just out of Dokutsu's reach and past Matthew who just watched it pass him before it hit the ground, fortunately not spraying any paint on anyone this time.

"Careful now, Avalon. Don't want another 'Artur-incident'," Dokutsu snickered as he got up and to go and grab the can.

"Sorry, zu!" Avalon called out happily, not really caring if she missed or got Dokutsu in trouble for something.

"I think I've had enough excitement for one day," Matthew sighed as he stood up from the building he was leaning on. Normally he was up for being around when Dokustu and Avalon were causing trouble, but people like Artur were hazardous for his health.

"Not so fast," they heard a smooth and condescending voice call out as soon as Dokutsu bent over to pick up the spray paint, "I take it you three are the infamous graffiti artists from Sakura Village."

Dokutsu quickly looked up, seeing a man who appeared to about twenty-four in front of him. He stood at about 5'8" with a thin, but fit build all things considered. His skin was a fair tone, but he wore a knowing smirk on his face and his features were sharp, but slightly feminine. He had dark brown hair that fell around down to his shoulders in slightly messy waves while it was cut around his ears. His long bangs were parted to the side, covering his right eye, but leaving his left one uncovered and framing his face. He wore a pair of black, thin framed rectangular glasses over his sharp and intelligent gray eyes. He was wearing a midnight blue, button-up shirt tucked into a pair of black jeans while the shirt's collar was popped up. His jeans had a black leather belt around the waist while they were tucked into a pair of knee-high, black boots that had large, folded white cuffs on them. Over his jacket was a long, white coat that was adorned with black trim along the edges and it had large pockets on the waist while the signature ankh symbol of the Magic Council was on the back and left chest of the coat in black. Lastly, around the man's neck was a silver chain necklace that held a silver pendant on it that was shaped like an 'X'.

"Wha-? Who are you?" Matthew demanded as he gave the man a hard stare.

"Who am I? Ah right, I'm new in town you could say," the man chuckled before continuing in a condescending tone, "Nice to meet you neighbor. My name is Lieutenant Castor Thales of the Rune Knight's Custody Enforcement Unit."

The three mages gulped as they read into why the man was there, each of them beginning to repeat what he had said.

"C-Custody…"

"Enforcement…"

"Unit, zu?"

"That's right," Castor stated, a sneer on his face, "I'll let you three troublemakers off the hook with a warning this time since I'm not here for three little punks like you. What? Did you three little shits really think you were worth my time?"

"What'd you say? I'll have you know I've vandalized this city more times than you can count!" Dokutsu yelled as he got in Castor's face.

"Is that a confession to a crime?" the Rune Knight sneered as Matthew forcibly pulled Dokutsu back.

"Shut your mouth, you idiot," he hissed, "Do you really want to give this guy the pleasure of being able to arrest you?"

"Tch…"

"Don't stop on my account, now," Castor snickered, "Please do go on."

"I don't like you, zu," Avalon suddenly stated lowly, giving Castor a hard stare, "Go away four-eyes, zu."

"Oh? Is that a threat?" the lieutenant asked, an excited grin on his face.

"Just a suggestion," Matthew suddenly said, stepping between Avalon and Castor, "You said you had important business. So do you really have time to waste here?"

"Heh. You've actually got a decent head on your shoulders, don't you?" Castor muttered, frowning slightly as he adjusted his glasses with his middle finger, "Fine, I'll leave. But if I catch you three causing trouble again, I'll have to take you into custody," he added with a sneer before turning and walking off.

"That son of a bitch," Dokutsu huffed angrily after Castor had gotten beyond earshot, "Thinks he's so great cause he's a Rune Knight!"

"I hate him too, zu!" Avalon shouted, stomping her foot a few times, "He's trying to ruin our fun, zu!"

"Well, I don't like him either. He's too shady for his position," Matthew sighed.

"See! You don't like him either, Matty!" Dokutsu yelled, "I doubt any of those sticks in the Rune Knights can like a guy like that either!"

"Yeah, zu! Who likes a guy like that, zu!?"

"Hey, let's head back to Sakura Village for the day," Matthew suggested, "I'm pretty sure that guy killed your mood for this."

"Damn straight he did, bastard," Dokutsu huffed as he crossed his arms.

"I'm hungry, zu," Avalon chirped, quickly changing the subject, "Let's go eat, zu!"

Matthew looked over and Dokutso as the graffiti artist sighed, "Yeah, lets' go eat guys."

. : + : .

June continued to walk through the dark crypt, the Dragon Slayer having to rely on her ears and nose to guide her now that she had lost her torch. She had only encountered a few more ghouls since the first two she had encountered, but they had been easily dispatched.

"I'm still finding disturbed bodies," June sighed as she stepped over yet another corpse that had been thrown to the ground, "So the source of the ghouls must be in this direction," she reasoned as she walked on. Although a different scent soon hit her nostrils, "Smoke and… wax? Candles?" she questioned as she activated her 'Shaded Movement' spell again, her form turning into a gray shade as she floated above the ground and flew towards the source of the scent, 'There's a faint light up ahead,' she thought to herself as she noticed the faint, flickering light coming from a chamber ahead of her.

June continued forward, sticking to the shadows as she entered the chamber. The room being filled with cobwebs and lit candles, as well as a few pots and chests. But in the center of the room was a stone coffin with a stone pillar sitting in front of it. June looked around for a moment before deciding that there was no one else in the room. She looked towards the far corner and noticed a table with a book on it before floating over to it and opening it up, realizing that it was a sort of journal keeping track of the progress of an apparent search.

'This is odd,' June thought as she deactivated her magic and picked up the journal before walking over to the coffin, 'This is the coffin of the third Guild Master of Kitsune's, but according to this journal, the body is missing,' she continued before pushing the stone lid open slightly with one arm so that she could look inside, "Empty, just as it said… What happened to the body?" she asked as she flipped through more pages of the journal, before finding some more text on the subject, "So the body was either stolen before this person arrived, or it was moved to a secret location so that it wouldn't be disturbed… Why was a Kitsune's Garden Guild Master buried in Apricot Town in the first place?"

"Are you so foolish that you do not know the history of your own Twin Towns?" a voice rang out from behind her, June quickly turning around to see a thin and brittle old man dressed in a dusty, black and red kimono. The man, who was easily in his nineties, only stood at 5'6", his tan skin mired with deep wrinkles as his gray hair fell all around his head, despite the top of his head being bald, a few liver spots being noticeable while he had a long and wispy gray mustache as well.

"Who are you!?" June barked, quickly dropping the journal atop the coffin.

"Bah… Has Kitsune's Garden wiped out all trace of my name? The All-Powerful Necromancer Takeshi Shiori!" he shouted as he pulled back the sleeve of his kimono, revealing an orange, Kitsune's Garden Guild Mark.

"Wha-?" June gasped, "You're from… Kitsune's Garden?"

"I see no reason to explain myself to you, brat of Ursine Rampart!" the old man shouted as he pointed at June's guild mark with a long and bony finger, "Long ago, under the glorious third Guild Master, I was the greatest of the guild! You pathetic Ursines cowered at the mere mention of my dark name!"

"You sure talk a lot even when you say you won't," June huffed, a sweatdrop rolling down the side of her head.

"Silence! Undead Magic: Ghost Bomber!" the Necromancer screamed as spirits gather in his hands before forming a smoky, gray skull, "Now die and become a member of my great army!" he shouted as the ghostly magic spell launched from his hands as June just stood there and let it hit her, "Fool! Now I hope you are ready to rise up to a greater pur- Wait… what?!" he screamed as he watched the ghostly explosion begin shrink as it was seemingly inhaled by June.

"Thanks for the meal," June huffed after exhaling deeply.

"What!? What did you do to my spell you filthy Ursine!?" Takeshi screamed before gritting his teeth together.

"Sorry, but I'm the Ghost Dragon Slayer of Ursine Rampart. You were never a match for me," she stated before lowering her stance before leaping towards Takeshi, "Now! Ghost Dragon's Restless Vortex!" she announced as an explosion of gray energy erupted from all around her, enveloping Takeshi in the blast as he let out a pained shriek before falling silent. His body hitting the ground hard, unmoving, "I suppose such an old man was barely hanging on to life as it was," June sighed as she examined the man's corpse, "I should go report now," she huffed before grabbing the journal and beginning to leave the crypt.

Although, an eerie presence entered the room long after June had left, a near immobile Ghoul managing to drag itself into the chamber. The undead beast being drawn to the presence.

Come…

Come…

Come to me…


A/N: And there it is! Chapter 7! I hope you enjoyed it!

Credits:

Rucca Volca- onixdragon4

Silas Al'Rhanzed- Raiyane

Saria Tamura- DiskyFrisbee

Junge Noid- Wallz

Rake Malinovy- Gunny979

Lieutenant Castor Thales- Dreadburner94

Takeshi Shiori- Dreadburner94

Anyways, the last winner was StormRider2.0! The correct answer being Lucas Shadowe, Emilia Rhinehart and Grace Treewalker, the latter two both being mentioned in last chapter's first scene by Mitsuko and Lucas.

Festival Special Question

So far a variety of side and minor characters have been introduced. Name four of these side and minor characters and what their occupation is.

Be careful with this question, a major character or two might be masquerading among them and won't be counted as a correct answer. Anyways, in order to keep it fair, GhostOfOnyx, bored kid 48, MyDearWatson and StormRider2.0 cannot win another event until the Autumn Fighting Festival Arc. Of course they can still participate if they want, but they cannot technically win.

And of course I will PM the winner.

Ah, as a side note, I do have a small list of future story arcs on my profile now. It's not complete, but if you want a peak of what's to come, you can take a look at the list.

Also, if any of you are interested in created side characters for the twin towns, like shop owners and even retired members of the two guilds, feel free to check out the new Side Character OC Form on my profile!

Now onto the reviews!

StormRider2.0- Yeah, I'm pretty sure if you looked through some of the other reviews you'd be able to glean an idea of what Kain said to Artur to make him so mad, but anyways, I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed Kain's introduction!

JJun- It's no problem, I understand if real life circumstances keep you from reading for a time. But I'm happy that you like my writing style so much as well. I honestly always try and set a minimum word count for each scene in a chapter, which is usually 1000 words so far, but I always try and get in a few hundred more than that. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

SaiyaStyles- Yep! Victor's shadow will be showing up a lot throughout the story since it often runs away from him. But I would think Ghoul meat is rather rancid, like spoiled meat… not something too appetizing to think about really.

The Imposter- Happy to hear that you enjoyed the last chapter, and I hope you enjoyed this one as well!

WaterDragonMaverick- Eh, I rate Edel an 8 out of 10 on the Caleb Pherl scale, she at least has a few soft spots. But yeah, I imagine it being an eagle motif, but all I was told was 'bird'. But yeah, Peter Pan is what I was channeling there and of course Norah will be keeping that up, it will last for a whole week in the story.

Mistress Memoir- Yep, Miko's a bit oblivious at first when it comes to people crushing on her. But yeah, Kain was just trying to catch Artur's attention since he's just come to ignore everything Kain says so he doesn't get mad. Me? Try and push a ship? I've no idea what you're on about. Although Artur and Lila do make for an odd little duo.

MyDearWatson- Yep! So soon has someone messed up with calling Norah short. I figured that would be the best way to introduce everyone to the kind of girl she is. And I couldn't leave everybody with a poor impression of Kain, so he got to help give Victor a hard time with Norah! And you thought Cassius had something to do with the crypt, but I'm that the answer might've surprised you. But yeah, June's Dragon Slayer magic is very unique when compared to a lot of the other kinds.

potentialauthor18- Yeah, Miko's not good at reading when people like her in a way more than a friend, but yeah, as Artur stated, Kain's always been good at getting under his skin easily, so Kain really brought that punch on himself. But yep, Victor's nowhere near out of the woods yet with Norah's payback.

SpuSpu- Yeah, Ursine Rampart really has all of their bases covered when it comes to things like healers and weapons maintenance. So they're prepared for a lot of different scenarios. But yeah, regarding that crypt, what exactly happened? What was Takeshi's plan? Well, you all might find out for certain later on, I have plans you see.

Aonns02- Yep, June's a pretty interesting character and so is her magic. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Raiyane- I know what you're thinking: Is JoJo's magic related to rocks? And the answer might surprise you. But yeah, I was definitely channeling my hours of playing Skyrim when writing that scene with June in the crypts since that's what I was envisioning while writing it. It's a wonder Draugr didn't make it into last chapter. But yeah, Odette! Hehe… Asides for Elena, Odette and Mikoto complete my favorite three. Like they say, the quickest way to a man's heart is through his stomach… that or just cut open his chest with a sword. That'll get you to his heart pretty quickly too…

Master Of Anime224- Yeah… I don't think the guild would last long either if Emilia was in charge… Although given the other option… Well, I think some of the normal ranked mages would make for better candidates as Guild Master.

Gashadokuro Amanojaku- I am still impressed by my ability to correctly write out your name without looking at it… But yeah, I rather like how Victor's shadow runs away from him at times too since Peter Pan was one of my favorite movies growing up. But yeah, JoJo's got an interesting quirk to his personality asides for being a flirt.

XLil MEkoX- Organized chaos is the one, true way to organize things! Accept no substitutes! Anyways, I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed JoJo's introduction, even if it was a bit short, I feel like I got across the kind of guy he is.

ThePrinceOfLight- Ursine Rampart honestly really has their bases covered when it comes to several aspects. But yeah, JoJo really likes rocks, you've barely even seen any of his rock collection. Anyways, I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed Victor's introduction!

bored kid 48- Yeah, I had fun when writing Lucas and JoJo together. They're like friends who like the same girl (although JoJo flirts with a lot of people, not just Miko), but are too good of bros to really let it get between them. And I once had a Salt Dragon Slayer, but yeah, a Ghost Dragon Slayer is really unique too.

frozenwolf94- Yeah, crypts shouldn't be lively really… at all to be honest. Cause if it's lively something's wrong. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

FrozenBlast13- Yeah, I'd say that describes Lucas and JoJo fairly well, but yeah, you'll understand why a healer would skip out on her job when you meet said healer. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

All right! As usual, I'd like to thank everybody for their submissions and I hope that I've portrayed everybody's characters well thus far. I'll try and have the next chapter up by next Tuesday as well!

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and don't forget to leave a review!

Your host,

Dreadburner94.