I do not own Fairy Tail.


Gray walked through the green forest with his new comrades. They silently made their way to their destination. So far the first day together was off to a rough start. The most compassion the two more experienced pure magic mages showed were glares of detest at each other. Gray was beginning to doubt the idea of them being together. Of course, it didn't help that they had started the day with Masaru "affectionately" kicking everyone awake.

At the moment they were on their first mission. When the two males had woken up they were told they were needed somewhere. As it turned out, that somewhere was a few hundred miles away from their campsite. Transport had gotten them most of the way, but the exact destination was unknown and thus they were forced to look for whatever was their opponent. "What exactly are we searching for?" Gray asked, breaking the silence.

"Nothing in particular."

"That clears it up." Masaru glared at Takeshi's snide remark.

"Here's a question," Gray wondered out loud, trying to not let the mood turn towards hostility. "Why do you two hate each other?" Maybe not the best topic to keep from enmity.

Masaru and Takeshi glanced at the other. "No real reason," Masaru said, "other than he's annoying as hell."

Takeshi's gaze turned into a death stare. "You're one to talk. Besides, what makes you think you're so good?"

Gray sighed. Though their antics were petty, he could completely relate. It was the same thing he had with Natsu, neither had a real reason to be rivals, but it didn't stop them. Thinking of the fire mage made him flinch. The idea of going back to Fairy Tail, though his home, was rather difficult to think about. It's one thing to show improvement, but his magic had become inhumanely powerful. He had already decided to leave the part of him having a death spell was out. There was no way he would make anyone worry, or have them waste their time on him trying to find a cure. The ice mage knew as soon as anyone knew about it the whole guild would make sure Wendy and Porlyusica were looking for a cure.

A loud curse was yelled out and the ice mage drew his attention back in front of him. Gray watched just in time as Takeshi was sent flying off from a hit from Masaru. Gray paled, she's scarier than Erza.


Natsu stood in the middle of the guildhall, challenging every mage in his sight. Lucy groaned at her friend as another mage was sent flying past her, another victim of one of Natsu's punches. "It can't be helped." The requip mage said next to her. "He's bored without Gray to bicker with. He'll calm down when Gray returns."

Lucy sighed at that. "Except Gray's going to be gone for a while. Plus, Natsu will probably destroy the guild before he gets back."

Erza sat silently next to her. "Has Gray seemed odd you?"

The question caught the blonde mage off guard. "Well, now that you mention it, he has seemed a little off lately. He's been gone a lot and there's just something… different."

The scarlet nodded at this. "As much as I hate to put him on the spot, I think a few questions should be answered when he returns." Lucy stared at her. Erza's tone was different than her friendly tone she usually had. This was more like the Erza that fought with monsters.

"Erza, what's wrong?"

A look of consideration was written across her face. "Probably nothing," she said slowly, "but when Gray was last here his magic power was different then his creation magic. It was almost ominous."

Lucy shivered at her friend's words. She hoped when their friend returned he would be back to his usual self.

Makarov sat at the bar, eavesdropping on the conversation between Erza and Lucy. So Erza felt it too, the elderly man thought, figures, after all, she's not unobservant. She's wrong though, Gray's power wasn't almost ominous. It was deadly.


Takeshi pushed himself up from the ground. That damn Masaru! Why am I even putting up with her? He froze when a low growl sounded behind him. Turning around slowly he looked at the beast behind him. It wasn't exactly an uncommon demon of Zeref's, but he had only meet a few in his life. It stood eight feet tall on all fours. Its pelt was black and eyes glowed red. Drool dripped from its yellowed fangs onto the ground. A smirk spread across Takeshi's face, finally, something to fight.

"Do you hear that?" Gray asked. A growl rang out through the forest.

"Aye, sounds like Takeshi found our demon."

The young teen dodged to the side. He sent his arms out in front of him. Wind shot out in front of him, sending fatal cuts along the demons body. The beast whimpered in pain and fell to the ground. Unfortunately, these things traveled in packs. Ducking the swipe of a paw he raised back up and shot another deadly slice of air at another demon. Any other mage would have been mincemeat by now. He was different though, no pure magic mage would lose to a few demons like these. Takeshi swung his arm into a beast and sent to crashing into another. A grin was spreading across his face, this is almost too easy.

"What is that thing?!" Gray yelled as they neared the younger mage.

"It's called a Quietus Messenger. One of Zeref's pets." Masaru answered next to him. "Nothing to worry about, these are too young to cause any real damage." Gray watched as a deadly wind sliced across the demons. So this is the power of another pure magic mage. Gray watched in wonder as Takeshi battled the beasts. For a boy so young, he can sure hold his own. Gray dodged as a beast was sent flying towards him. Though he is pretty reckless.

You're stronger than him. Gray snapped up at that. He turned towards Masaru, she showed no signs of speaking in his head, but somehow he knew it wasn't her anyways.

Come again? Gray was given no answer to what the voice meant. The nagging at the back of his mind tugged at him. Gray continued watching Takeshi fight.

You could beat him, the other one too if you tried.

Gray's attention was on the voice. Who are you?

Isn't that obvious?

Gray didn't answer. Nor did the voice say anything after that. The young teen in front of him finished his attack and Gray could hear him mutter something about it being too simple. "Oi, Masaru!" Takeshi called. "Isn't the part of being a team working together. Nice to see you're doing your part."

The female member narrowed her eyes. "Sorry, just figured you needed the practice."

Gray could practically see a fight forming. His two fellow team members began butting heads. You're wasting time. Eastern country, middle class demon, go already. Gray snapped into an upright stance, surprised by the new voice. This time it was calmer, it was threatening either. "We need to go."

Takeshi and Masaru glanced at him. "What do you mean?" Takeshi inquired.

"There's an eastern country that requires our presence. I suggest we go."

Takeshi looked at Masaru. "How the hell does he know that? Did you even sense anything?"

Masaru stood quietly, deathly still. "Aye, it's weak, but it's slowly appearing." How did he know? She wondered. How did he sense that before I did? "Let's go." She moved her arm out in front of her and created a transport portal. How is he progressing this fast? If any other mage developed at this rate they would burn out. The three mages stepped through the portal and onto the other side. How close is he to Zeref's power?


Natsu sat at the guild's bar, enjoying a drink after coming back from his mission. A few days had passed since the ice block left, and Natsu was enjoying every second of the other's absence. At least, he had led the others to believe. In truth, he missed bickering with the ice mage, and was starting to concern from his constant disappearances.

Master Makarov sat talking to a few members of Fairy Tail when Mira came out from one of the back rooms. "Master, there's a private call for you on the communication lacrima." Makarov raised his brow. It wasn't often that he got a message via lacrima. It was even rarer for it to be a private message. The old man stood up and made his way towards the back room.

Closing the door behind him, he enclosed himself in the small room. Sweat beaded on his skin as he saw who the message was from. Members of the Magic Council were present on the other line. Makarov cleared his throat. "How may I help you?"

Erza sat with Lucy at one of the tables. They chatted a bit, but mostly they watched Natsu act foolishly as he challenged Laxus to a fight. A loud banging sound came from one of the back rooms as Master came out of one, swinging the door into the wall. "Listen up brats," he called, "I have a job for you."

"What is it, Master?" Titania asked. He seemed tense to the young mage, and slightly agitated.

"Message from the magic council. More precisely, the Magic Council and Councils in other countries. Several nations want us on this mission and you brats are going to do it." He concluded, pointing a finger towards their direction.

"Mission?" Lucy asked next to her.

Makarov nodded. "The Light Team will once again be formed. The other guilds have already been notified. Wendy, Lucy, Erza, Natsu, you four will be going on this trip."

"What about Gray?" The fire mage asked.
"Unless he shows up by tomorrow he's not going. This is urgent."

"What's the mission?" Erza asked.

"That's the iffy part." Master replied. "An unknown force has been appearing across several countries, and is believed to be with Zeref." The guild became deathly still. The mention of Zeref set all the mages on edge. "You brats need to go find whatever force keeps appearing, no excuses."


Daiki stood on the mountain side. A rather high class demon had made an appearance earlier, but had disappeared as quickly as it came. Every creak and groan was felt in his bones, and joints seemed to work against him. All these years of fighting were not kind to him. He glanced down at the black, death magic on his arm. The magic had spread rapidly these last few days. His veins had started to turn black under his skin. "Awful sight, isn't it."

He stiffened at the voice, the older man turned around and glanced in the direction of the voice. "What are you doing here, Isamu?"

A grin spread across Isamu's face. "Nothing much, just asking a few questions. Isamu strode towards him. Daiki stood up and got into a defense position. There had been a time when they had trusted each other, but that was a long time ago. Isamu motioned for him to calm down. "Don't worry, old man. I just want to know about the new force."

Does he mean Gray? Daiki glared at the Dark General. "What gives you the idea I would rat him out to the likes of you."

"Calm down, you're getting too old to fight me. Just tell me, will he put up a good fight."

Daiki glared at the other mage. The aura around the younger mage reeked of death. True, Isamu had a gift for sweet talking, but the scar below his eye only reminded the older mage of who the dark mage really was like. "I'm running out of patience," the older mage stated. "You never ask questions, why are you really here?"

Isamu sighed, "Orders from higher up. We can no longer wait for any of you to die on your own." The Dark General's eyes turned dark. "So I've come to speed things up." Before Daiki could think to defend himself Isamu was upon him. He felt a long blade from one of Isamu death spells penetrate his skin. Daiki began to cough up blood. The long blade was pulled from his stomach and everything became black.

"What a shame." Isamu murmured. "The world just lost a great mage, and no one will even mourn."


Gray made his way down a dirt path. It had been almost a week now since their "team" had formed. So far, they had been successful in their missions, but demon attacks have spread like wildfire. The two other mages had agreed that the increase of attacks had been too large for a coincidence. Zeref was making a move, a rather great one at that.

The ice mage rubbed his temples and let out a groan. The past few hectic days had allowed him little time to regain his strength, he was running on about three hours of sleep and was about to crash. Not yet, you still got a job to do. The mage shuffled his feet forward. He was alone at the moment, each mage having to go to a different demon attack. A growl of a Quietus Messenger sounded next to him. Maybe when this was done he could take a break.

Gray sent a wave of magical energy towards the beast. Another one swiped at his head, and was avoided. Moving swiftly Gray formed an iced sword and ended the job in one motion. The ice mage held his head in his hands, maybe he could take a rest now. Gray, you there? Masaru's voice appeared in his head. Gray groaned in annoyance, the only thing that meant was another demon appeared. Northern country, high class demon. Urgent.

Gray formed a portal and stepped through.


Natsu had his arms behind his head, walking lazily towards the meeting place of all the guilds. Erza walked in front of their group. Lucy and Happy walked besides him, with Wendy and Carla bring up the rear. It seemed odd without Gray's presence on such an important mission, but the dragon slayer had refused to say that out loud, not wanting the others to think he missed the ice mage. "The meeting building should be just ahead." Erza stated. A building came into view shortly afterwards.

A pink haired mage waved at the Fairy Tail members as they approached, Sherry, Natsu believed her name was. A rather annoyed Lyon stood beside her, "Where's Gray?" The ice mage asked, surprised by the missing mage.

"He's not accompanying us on this mission." Erza answered.

Lyon thought about her statement. "Maybe that's for the best."

Erza raised an eyebrow at the mage's tone. "Has the rest of the Light Team arrived?"

" 'Modified.' Light Team." Lyon spat.

"Modified?" Lucy asked.

"And improved." An ill willed voice said, coming from inside the meeting hall.

The members of Fairy Tail went wide eyed. "Nullpuding?!" Lucy yelled.

A wicked grin spread across the mage's face. "Surprised? I was sent in place of Blue Pegasus, a much better candidate, don't you think?"

Natsu balled his hands into fist. Why would the council send that mage here. The dragon slayer had begun to reel his fist back to deliver a blow that would knock that grin of the other's face.

"Enough." Jura said, besides Lyon. "The sooner we complete this mission the sooner we don't have to put up with each other."

Natsu slowly put his fist down. He would make sure to keep a close eye on the Raven Tail mage.


A small girl stared in horror at the monster attacking her home village. She wasn't sure how it'd started. Everything had seemed so normal earlier. Then suddenly everywhere she looked homes were being destroyed and families torn apart. Tears streamed down her cheeks as another section of the town crumpled to dust.

Her fingers dug into the earth in frustration. She wasn't even sure anyone was still alive. A painfully scream came from her throat till it turned raw. The more she screamed the angrier she got. A circle appeared underneath her and glowed green. The land crumpled under her and she sent a wave of power towards the demon that ruined her life.

The demon turned towards the source of power it felt. It barely scratched the demon and he continued on his path of destruction. Tears rained down from her eyes as the demon moved away from her. Her vision became blurry and she dropped her head.

A loud thunder like sound came from the other side of town. She looked up in time to see a magic circle the size of the demon closed around it. Everything seemed to happen to fast after that. Through her blurry vision she tried to make out what was happening before her. Did the demon just… freeze?

The demon's movements became slow and then stopped altogether. Cracks appeared along its body and it shattered onto thousands of pieces. Is that.. ice?

Gray moved along the destroyed town. Memories of when he was eight came flooding back. His village had looked exactly like this after Deliora was done with it. Dammit! He thought. Zeref tricked us. Those damn minor demons were sent to distract us from the real threat.

His footsteps echoed throughout the blackened town. He was searching for any signs of life, but only managed to find the remains of victims. A lump caught in his throat at the sight. Gray had just about given up on searching when he felt a small magical aura nearby. "Hello, is there anyone there?" Gray called, running in the direction of the aura.

Gray arrived at a crater in the center of town. This is where that power came from earlier. Soft cries sounded from the crater. Sliding down the sides of he ran through the center of the cavity. His eyes searched for the source of the noise. His gaze fell on the small form of a child. Her hair covered her face and her head was hung low. Gray kneeled next to her. "Hey," he soothed, "are you okay?" Not the best question, but what else do you say to someone who just went through this.

The small girl turned her eyes up towards him. Tears ran down her cheeks and she shook from fright. Gray rubbed her back reassuringly. Without warning the girl flung her arms around his neck and sobbed into his chest. Gray rocked her back and forth, promising her that everything will be okay. Zeref you bastard, you enjoy doing this, don't you.


Another chapter done, feel free to review.