Alex sat up on the couch with a yawn. It had been a day since he had kicked Natsu and Gajeel's asses with his Crystal Dragon Slayer magic, and the sleep had been well appreciated. Looking over the back of the couch he slept on, he saw Lucy was still fast asleep. Taking a look at the windows, he was relieved to see his crystal sealant was still there.
Getting up, he opened the duffel bag filled with the clothes Gray had given him after he arrived. Putting on a violet shirt (Why did Gray even have one?) and some black jeans, he went to the chimney. Bending over, he grabbed the metal plate he put at the opening and slid it out. No Gray in here. Seriously, why does he use the chimney?
Content with his check, he went to the empty kitchen. Opening the fridge, he grabbed a carton of eggs and the milk, then went to the cupboard and got the cinnamon, nutmeg, and bread. Putting a pan on the stove top, he set about making some French Toast for breakfast. While waiting for it to cook, he was reading from the book on ocular (eye-based) magic. His primary focus was the power of compulsion, which reminded him of a certain teen's Geass power. When he finished all twelve pieces, eight for him four for Luce, he grabbed a couple of trays and stacked the plates, silverware, and syrup. He even got a couple glasses of milk.
Walking into the bedroom, he smiled. Lucy's gold hair practically shone in the morning sunshine. As nice as that sight is, I need to find my own place today. Placing his trays down on the nightstand, he gently shook the sleeping girl. "Luce, it's time to get up."
Grumbling, she rolled over. "C'mon Luce, wake up." This time, she pulled the covers over her head. Alex sighed, knowing what he had to do. "Lucy, Happy's wearing your underwear and is mocking you."
"I DON'T THINK SO YOU STUPID CAT!" she yelled as she bolted upright.
Panicking, he put his hands on her shoulders and held her down. "No, Luce, calm down! I didn't mean it! He's not actually here!" Not knowing what else to do or why, he gripped Lucy's shoulders and kissed her on the lips. He didn't know why he was kissing her, and she didn't know why she wasn't fighting him off. They stayed like that for a minute until Alex pulled away.
Opening his eyes, he saw that Lucy was blushing rather heavily. He expected a Lucy Kick, but one never came. So, he broke the awkward silence by grabbing his tray. "I made us French Toast, Lucy. You hungry?"
Snapping out of her trance, she nodded. "Y-yeah. I am."
Setting up the trays' legs, they each sat on one side as they quietly ate. "Hey, listen Lucy. I'm thinking about taking a solo job today."
"Huh? Why?"
He sighed. "Well, as much as I like staying here, I need to find my own place," he explained. "So, I'm taking a solo job so I can pay for my own place."
"Oh, ok. So, you're moving out?" asked the blonde. Why am I so sad about that? This was going to happen eventually.
"Yeah, but don't worry. I'll still visit, maybe even cook sometimes." He got off her bed and took the trays. "I'll bring these downstairs for you. You can get ready. I'm heading over to the Guild."
Walking out was the hardest thing he'd ever done for some reason. Nevertheless, he deposited the dishes, and grabbed his sweatshirt and boots. Opening the door, he walked onto the street and went towards Fairy Tail. As he walked, he couldn't help but wonder why it hurt to leave Lucy's house.
Opening the door to the Guild, he said "hi" to the few members already there while heading towards the request board. Once there, he began looking for a job.
"Hey Alex," said Mira as she walked over with a stack of new requests. "What's up?"
"Hey Mira. Looking for a well-paying job so I can stop mooching off of Lucy and get my own place," said the boy.
She giggled. "Well then I have just the job for you. And it's right here in Magnolia." Leafing through the fliers, she picked one out and handed it to Alex.
"Rid my house of its spirits!" read the heading. Under it was a picture of a house he had seen during his runs around town. It had a front lobby structure of sorts with two large areas to each side and two floors. It looked a lot like one of the villas he read about back home. "A while ago, I was left this house in a will. However, two spirits are haunting it. I no longer care for the estate, but I would like those spirits gone!"
Alex raised an eyebrow. Then gasped at the job reward. "Reward: the entire property?!"
Mirajane nodded. "Yup. Sounds to me like it's exactly what you need."
He smiled before hugging the young woman. "Thanks Mira!" He started towards the doors. "I'll be back once I'm done!" he called.
"Bye!" she waved.
+Fairy Tail+
Alex made it to the house's gate and found a small tent with a middle-aged man outside of it. He looked extremely tired, and fed up with the house. "Excuse me, sir? I'm from Fairy Tail. I heard about your dilemma.
He looked at Alex and heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank the heavens. I was hoping someone would come to get rid of those two." He shook Alex's hand. "My name is Michael, the owner of the house."
"I'm Alex Darmetko. Now, what exactly am I up against?"
"Allow me to explain. A little while back, my father passed away and left me his house. With the property came the Gate Keys for Corvus the Crow and Vulpecula the Fox. I summoned them, and when I proposed a contract, they flew into a frenzy. Not only are they keeping me out of the house, but they took their keys with them."
The man gave Alex a pleading look. "Please get rid of them, and the property is yours, all of it!"
The teen gave Michael a confident smirk. "Don't sweat it. I'll take care of those spirits for you." Flashing a thumbs-up, he headed towards the front door. Gripping it firmly, he opened it and entered the pitch-black house. Much to his confusion, he could see clearly. Examining the floor and walls, he realized they were covered in a weird black substance that seemed to give off a dull light.
A noise of something moving came from the room in front of him, the main hall. Not wanting to cause too much damage, he Requipped Oathkeeper and entered the room. Dammit! Why am I so nervous? I played games like this all the time! He cleared his throat. "Hello? Is someone here?"
Two shadowy figures appeared on the split in the staircase. "Leave, human!" they yelled.
"Sorry, but I'm afraid a Fairy Tail wizard doesn't back down from a job," commented the boy.
"Then this house will be your grave!" with that, the figures split up and vanished into house.
Seriously, it's like someone's taking inspiration from every dungeon crawling game ever. Sighing, he climbed the stairs and went to the room on the right. Opening it, he found a black room with a bed and dressers. Must be the bedroom, or at least a bedroom.
Looking around, he almost didn't notice the bubbling things on the walls before one of them launched a shadowy bird at him. Spinning, he slashed through it with his Keyblade. "Ha, just like fighting Heartless." The bubbling increased, and soon enough he was being swarmed by the weird birds.
Even with sword training from Erza, he couldn't keep up with just one blade, so he summoned Oblivion and began cutting the birds down. It took at least ten minutes before the birds stopped coming. Instead, the room's dark covering formed a large shadowy bird and flew through the door, allowing light to enter the regal room.
Not bothering to examine the now sunny room, he chased after the bird. Hitting the floor after jumping from the second floor, he heard haunting piano music from a room to his left. Ever alert, he followed the music and found a room covered in a similar darkness. The grand piano was playing itself as seven small, shadowy figures stood ready for him. Looking carefully, he noticed they all looked like foxes.
One took the initiative and launched itself at him, only to be cut down by Oblivion. "Alright, Vulpecula. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. What's it gonna be?"
Four of the remaining foxes grouped together and turned into a shadowy version of Alex. The other two turned into shadow versions of his Keyblades. "I choose the hard way," it said in a raspy voice. "I will not be ordered around by some human!" It charged forward, putting Alex on the defensive.
With every strike made by the shadow being, Alex was able to block. The piano kept on playing as they battled. This is bull! I need to counter. Shoving away from Vulpecula's puppet, he Requipped Graceful Dahlia and charged, putting the doppelganger on the defensive. "What do you mean get ordered around? Michael said you two wouldn't form a contract with him!" With a yell, he smashed through its defenses and buried the blade in the chest of his opponent. The piano stopped at the action.
The creature chuckled as it began dissolving, the surrounding darkness being absorbed by it. "So he told you that? You humans are more delusional than I thought. Especially if a wizard like you believed a single word that man said."
"What?" Alex was confused. "What are you talking about?"
The shadow laughed as it reformed into a large fox. "Why don't you come and find out?" it cackled madly while leaping over him and into the hall. The white room now shone with light, the piano gleaming like ebony.
Turning on his heel, Alex chased after the fox. Once more, he was in the center hall. The shadows were rippling all along the walls. At the top of the stairs, the large shadow bird (a crow he figured) and the shadow fox were getting ready to attack.
"Corvus! Vulpecula! Please leave this house," he shouted. "I don't want to fight you. I don't want to have to fight Celestial Spirits!"
"Why should we trust you?!" screamed Corvus. "You were hired to take us down for that slaver!"
"Slaver?" whispered Alex.
With a yell, Vulpecula leaped at him. Alex Requipped his Sky Splitter axe-sword and swung at him. Unfortunately, he left himself open to Corvus' attack. Getting struck by its head, the wizard crashed into a wall. Hitting the ground, he glared at the spirits as they regrouped.
"Guess I'd better stop avoiding damage to the place," he muttered. As he tried getting up, Corvus tackled him.
"What now, human?!" he yelled in Alex's face.
Alex smirked. "I say... Crystal Dragon's Roar!" He blasted the bird away with his jeweled vortex.
"Dammit! He's a Dragon Slayer?!" cried Vulpecula. The fox quickly dodged a ruby covered fist.
"I will beat you two. And then I'm going to find out what the hell is going on here!" He leaped into the air and swung a fist at Corvus. "Crystal Dragon's Ruby Wrecker!" His weapon collided with the shadow monster and sent it crashing to the ground.
"How dare you hurt Corvus! I won't forgive you!" The fox monster leaped at him, his claws extended and ready to tear him apart.
Alex leaped towards him spinning. "Crystal Dragon's Emerald Claw!" The kick made contact and made Vulpecula crash into his downed partner. Alex brought his hands together as he felt his power rising. He took a deep inhale. "Crystal Dragon's... ROAR!" He unleashed his vortex of destruction upon the fallen spirits, and the attack forced the spirits to release the shadows around the room and house.
Where two monsters once stood, a couple of animal-like teens now laid on the ground. One was a boy with short, dark reddish hair and a couple of fox ears sticking out of it. His brown cloth jacket had a furry collar and a similar boa of the material on the bottom. His pants were blue with light brown boots. A fox tail poked out from under him.
The other was a boy with long black hair tied back to flow down his back. He wore a black jacket and a red under-shirt. The teen's pants were a dark grey material and his shoes several shades darker. His arms were the tops of his black bird wings, with the feathers going down from the undersides of his arms. Each hand looked more like a claw.
As the two groaned and began getting up, Alex cast his Sapphire Slicer spell and pointed the sharp limbs at each of their throats. "Alright, now talk. What happened to make you two go psycho-nutcase on Michael?"
Vulpecula glared at him but sighed nonetheless. "Very well, wizard. We originally belonged to Michael's father. When he passed away, he made the mistake of leaving our keys to his son."
Corvus continued for him as he started growling. "The second Michael summoned us, he demanded that we begin serving him and said we only existed to serve the "far superior humans". So, we struck with a vengeance and will not submit to him."
Alex went wide-eyed. "That's... DISGUSTING!" The spirits looked at him in shock. "Even though you aren't human, you feel just as much as we do." He looked at them with determination. "Corvus, Vulpecula. You have been wronged, and deserve a partner, not a master. I will accept your contracts. I will gladly take on your keys and become your partner in combat, but on one condition."
Vulpecula looked at him cautiously. "What's that?" Alex smirked as he began to tell them.
+Ten minutes later+
Alex walked out of the house, twirling the silver gate keys between his fingers. Michael saw him and ran up. "Did you do it? Are they gone?"
"Yup. I couldn't kill them, on account of them being spirits, but I forged contracts to get them to leave."
Michael went wide-eyed. "You what?! Those spirits were mine!" he shouted, losing his meek attitude. "How dare you make contracts with them?!"
Alex rolled his eyes. "I got rid of them, that was the job. Besides, they're considered part of the property. So, I would have gotten them regardless."
"Like hell you would've!" As he lunged at the young wizard's throat, Alex dragged his left index and middle fingers in front of his left eye.
"Thank you for allowing me to test my newest spell." Making eye contact, he activated the new power. "Alexander Darmetko commands your obedience." He smirked, knowing he gained control when the man stiffened.
"What do you wish, sir?" he asked.
"First, you will not only give up the two Gate Keys, but you will also hand over the reward for my job as well as any keys that belong to the house," he said in a tone that demanded respect.
Nodding, the older man wordlessly handed over the required items. Checking the papers, Alex confirmed they were the deed and other property documents. "Now, be off on your way, and forget everything about this house and giving it to me."
Nodding, Michael turned and walked away. As he did, Alex chuckled before shimmering with reddish light. In his place stood Vulpecula. Alex then stepped out of the house with a victorious smile as Vulpecula walked up and gave him the items. "Thanks for the new spell, Boss."
"Don't mention it, V. I just hope our partnership works out alright."
The fox spirit laughed. "Hey, just treat us fairly and we won't bolt on you. Simple as that. We owe you for helping us out, so give us a call if you need help or wingmen."
"Very well. So long, my new friend." Waving, Vulpecula vanished back into the spirit world. Alex looked at his two new Gate Keys and clipped them to his key ring. He then pocketed the house keys and put the documents in his Requip Room. With a spring in his step, he started walking back towards the guild.
Opening the door, he found himself face-to-face with the Raijinshu. "Hey, you guys. What's up?"
Evergreen groaned in annoyance. "There's this job we want to take, but we need a fourth member to do it."
Freed sighed. "If only Laxus-san were here," he said wistfully.
Bixlow shook his head. "Man, you need help."
"Help! Help!" chimed his dolls.
"Well, I'm not doing anything. Can I tag along?" The three of them froze at his question. Freed stopped whining about "Laxus-san" (Whoever he was. Alex hadn't met him), Bixlow and his dolls momentarily stopped teasing Freed, and Evergreen stopped complaining. "I mean, I've got time to kill. Besides, I'm pretty sure Mira knows I completed my job."
The three got into a sort of huddle and started whispering among themselves. "What should we do?" said Freed. "Do we take him along?"
"Why not?" replied Bixlow. "We could use the extra man power. Besides, he's strong enough to be like a second Laxus."
"But would it still work?" Evergreen looked at him as he walked into the guild to tell Mira about his success.
-With Alex-
"Hey Mira. Finished my job." he said as he sat down at the bar.
"So? How'd it go?" she asked. She set down the mug she had been polishing to lean on the counter, as if expecting juicy gossip.
"Well, the culprits were the Celestial Spirits Vulpecula and Corvus. The guy had tried making them his slaves, so they attacked him," he explained. "I got rid of them by forging contracts with the two of them and then had Vulpecula trick the guy into holding up his end of the bargain with the job."
"So you've got a house now?"
"Yup."
Cana slammed her mug down as she slumped over the bar. "Hey Mira, get me another barrel, would ya?"
Sighing, the older Strauss went to the back as Alex walked over to the Raijinshu. "Agreed," they all said as he got closer. They broke their huddle and looked at him. Evergreen walked up to him and grabbed his arm. "Let's go. You're coming with us."
The other two followed behind as he let Evergreen lead the way to the train station. After getting their tickets, they boarded the train and found their seats. Alex Reequipped his book and kept reading about the eye magic he wanted. Two minutes later, as the train lurched, he felt a little off, like there was the possibility of being sick. Trying to ignore his slight queasiness, he looked at the three wizards. "So, what's the job we're doing?"
"We've been hired to wipe out a small Dark Guild. It's laughably simple for us," explained Evergreen.
Alex could only stare at her. "So, you guys are strong enough to stop a small Guild?" he asked hesitantly.
"Indeed," said Freed. "Though, we aren't as strong as when Laxus-san was still here."
"Oh, I see. By the way, who's this Laxus-san you guys keep talking about?" asked the teen.
Freed looked close to having a heart attack, Bickslow was laughing at his friend, and Evergreen looked annoyed at the young wizard. "Laxus," said Evergreen, "is the founder of the Raijinshu and Master Makarov's exiled grandson. He was a lightning Dragon Slayer, and one of the strongest wizards in all of Fairy Tail. Because he tried destroying the city and the guild, Master saw fit to excommunicate him from the guild."
"Wow," said Alex. How can someone like that be Gramps' grandson?
Freed grabbed the book in Alex's hands and growled when it shut itself. "What's with this book, anyways?" he asked. "You, Lucy, and Levy seem to be the only ones capable of reading this thing." He then proceeded to try and pull the book open.
Alex sighed and took it from the irate wizard before opening it back to the section on eye magic. "It's the reason I came to Fiore in the first place. Not to mention it's filled with all sorts of magic types for me to learn. Right now, I'm reading about eye magic."
The three laughed as Evergreen closed the book. "If you want to learn about eye magic, you should have just come to us," she chastised.
"Don't worry, we'll teach you something great," chuckled Bickslow.
Alex could only gulp in fear.