Hey everyone. I'm back with another chapter for you all to either like or hate. Sorry it's been a while that I've updated this one, hopefully the wait is worth it.
Also, as someone pointed out, sorry if things are a bit confusing to understand, I'm not that good at explaining things, as I stated before in all of my other stories.
Anyway, enjoy, or not, I don't care you all have your opinions.
Everything belongs to their respective owners.
Chapter Ten: Meeting the Guardian
"Whoa…" The three former Fairy Tail mages spoke in union as they look outside the aircraft they were in.
They could see the massive mountains that formed a circle with a massive opening where a large town could be seen below them. To recap what's happening, Clint took them all to one of the closer military bases in Tai'Zul City, and after getting the permission from one of the higher up officers there, are now flying in the air about to arrive at Guardian's Keep. The vehicle they were riding wasn't like what they have seen before, it was a bit small and it flew with giant metal rotors at the top and smaller ones at the tail of it (A/N: Basically a helicopter, cause I'm unoriginal.).
Speaking of the Keep, the three former mages were surprised to see how massive the Keep was. It was almost the size of the city before it and nearly rivaled the height of the mountains that surround both the Keep and the large town below. The pink haired male, red haired and blonde haired women couldn't help but be awed at the sight of it all. Even from up in the sky like they were it was a sight to behold.
"Amazing…" Erza trailed off as Clint was about to land the aircraft in on one of the landing fields in the town.
"It is amazing isn't it?" Wess stated, getting the three to look at the black haired soldier, who was sitting in the passenger seat next to Clint, "That Keep right there has been around for over seven hundred years, as long as the Guardian himself. And trust me; the inside is just as massive as the outside of it."
The three couldn't help but be impressed as they looked at the Keep in the distance. As they did this, Clint proceeded to land the vehicle on one of the opened landing fields in the town. To be more specific at one of the closer military bases near Guardian's Keep.
The aircraft landed onto a field as Clint turned off the vehicle, allowing them to exit the machine without trouble, with Natsu helping both Erza and Lucy off.
"So that big fortress building over there is known as Guardian's Keep?" Natsu asked the two soldiers, wanting to make sure that he's getting this right.
"You would be correct," Clint replied back to him, as he turned around to look at the three former Fairy Tail mages, "I will get us a transport to take us to the gates of the Keep. Wess, stay there with them while I go get us one." The dirty blonde haired male told his friend.
"You got it." Wess simply told his companion, who left them right there to go get on from one of the nearby military buildings that houses transports.
"Hey Wess," Lucy spoke up, getting the black haired male to look at the blonde and the other two outsiders, "Do you really think that these "Exiled Keys" are worth us coming here?" The blonde questioned.
"Of course it is. Even if they don't listen to you, this trip at least got you to see and greet the Guardian of the Tai'Zul Isle." Wess responded back, not seeing any downside to this trip for them to see.
"I'm sure these spirits will listen to Lucy," Natsu spoke up, getting the black haired man's attention once more, "After all, Lucy is really smart and kind. There's no way they won't listen to her." The pink haired man responded with confidence and a big grin. His words got Lucy to blush at his compliments about her, and got Erza to simply smile at Natsu's word to her friend.
Eventually, after a few more minutes have passed, Clint arrived in a transport vehicle, which reminded the three former mages about the magic-powered vehicles back in Fiore.
"Get in everyone. We're going to meet the Guardian." The dirty blonde man told then.
They group proceeded to do so. Now with everyone in the transport, Clint drove all of them toward Guardian's Keep.
'A FEW MINUTES LATER'
It didn't take long for the group of five to arrive at the gates of the Keep. Luckily there were plenty of room for them park outside the fortress. Clint found an opening next to a few other vehicles similar to the one they had and park next to them.
"Here we are, Guardian's Keep." Wess told the others with a smile as they got out of the machine.
For Natsu, Erza, and Lucy, the Keep looked even bigger than before now that they were up close to it. They felt even smaller since the Keep and the town around them was surrounded by even larger mountains which could be seen no matter where their eyes looked.
"Well don't just stand there, let's go!" Wess told them as he and Clint proceeded to open the gates of the Keep, which had rather large size doors to point that out. The pink haired man, red head and blonde haired women merely looked at each other before nodding in agreement.
"Yeah." All three of them said, holding each other's hands, Natsu in the middle with Erza and Lucy at his sides, and walking into the massive building along with Clint and Wess.
Like they guessed before, the inside of the Keep was just as large as they thought it would be. The style of the large hallway they were currently going down also gave them an idea on how elegant the place is. The three former Fairy Tail members also noticed many other guards and soldiers walking around as well, all of them heading to their respective areas of the Keep.
"Man, this place is so big!" Natsu couldn't help but exclaimed as he looked around. Both the woman at his side couldn't help but feel the same way.
"The architect of this place is also elegant, and yet also shows how mighty the place is." Erza pointed out, as the group continued to head deeper into the Keep.
"Yeah, we always loved the older architect styles of out culture," Clint spoke with a soft smile, "We never really liked the more modern look many places on the Isle had taken. To us, it only taken away what our history and culture shows and tells us. So it warms my heart to know that the newer leaders of the Isle are trying to bring the older styles and architectures back." Clint finished, with Wess nodding in agreement.
Natsu, Erza, and Lucy couldn't help but smile themselves at seeing their new friends smiling.
"You really care about the Tai'Zul Isles don't you?" Lucy asked them with a soft smile of her own. This got the two to look back at them, both of them still smiling.
"Of course we do. The Tai'Zul Isle is our home. We would do anything to defend it." Wess informed them.
After a littler bit of walking, the group arrived in a large training room. This allowed the three outsiders to see the many soldiers and guards training with one another. The room itself had many fields for the occupants to use. Some fields in the room had those training in melee combat, either it be with weapons or martial arts. Another group of fields had magic-users practicing their magic on targets or each other for training. There were many types of fighting styles, from melee, to magic based, to range based, Natsu, Erza, and Lucy couldn't help but be awed at the sight of it all.
"Whoa, the Keep is also a training station as well?" Lucy questioned as the group kept moving to the other side of the large room, making sure to avoid the military soldiers and wizards so they don't interfere with their training.
"Yup! The Keep acts as the Guardian's domain, a training station, and a massive military base. This is also where all of the military leaders meet up to discuss strategies and plans. Either it be war related or improving the military." Wess explained to them.
"Man, I really want to see what these guys are capable of." Natsu stated, wishing that he could fight some of the se soldiers himself. He may no longer have his magic on him, but that doesn't mean his physical strength won't be enough to have a good fight.
"I would like to test out these weapons that these soldiers posses as well." Erza admitted, as she like the craftsmanship of the weapons that the red head sees with the military men and women in the large training room.
"Maybe another day, right now we're here to see the Guardian," Clint told the two of them. The dirty blonde haired solider then spotted a couple familiar commanders in the back of the room overlooking the trainees, "As a matter of fact…" He trailed off as he and Wess then walked toward the armored commanders.
The other three, not knowing what to expect, simply followed the two like usual.
"Commander Fang! Commander Selna!" Wess called out getting both the commanders to look only to see Wess and Clint walking towards them.
From the former Fairy Tail mages viewpoint, the two commanders they were looking at had armor similar to that of the other soldiers and Clint and Wess. However they had more detail and a few differences on the armor, most likely to show the difference between the commanders and normal soldiers. The two had their full bodies covered in the armor from head to toe, so any looks they may have were obstructed from the armor. The only thing the three could tell was one of them was male and the other was female.
"Ah, Wess, Clint, I see that you all have come back to the Keep." Commander Fang responded with a tone of a gentleman.
"Have you come back to partake in the training?" Commander Selna questioned them with a bit of a rougher voice, showing a more warrior-like personality with her, before the women then noticed the pink haired man, red haired and blonde women behind them, "Oh, I see you brought friends with you." The three former Fairy Tail mages figure this was the point that they introduce themselves.
"Hello there, I'm Natsu Dragneel." Natsu introduced himself to the two commanders.
"Greetings, I'm Erza Scarlet." Erza told them her name.
"And I'm Lucy Heartfilia, it's nice to meet you." Lucy stated to the two in front of her.
"Well hello there you three," Commander Fang replied back, before noticing the looks on Erza and Lucy, "Hmm… you two seem to have a bit of weight on you don't you?"
This got him to be whacked in the head by Commander Selna, who had an annoyed look on her face, though one couldn't really tell due to the helmet. Natsu, Erza, and Lucy also had an annoyed look on them. Erza and Lucy didn't like being called fat due to the way they were now, and Natsu didn't like anyone insulting his lovers like that.
"How do you know the difference between a pregnant woman and a fat one?" Commander Selna questioned with a tick mark present on her forehead.
"There was no need to be violent about it," Commander Fang replied after recovering from the hit, before getting to the matter at hand, "So Clint, Wess, may I ask why you brought your friends here? They don't look like they're here to join the military, especially the two women for obvious reasons." He wondered. Luckily for him Clint had the answer.
"We're here to get an audience with the Guardian. Do you know where he is by chance?" Clint asked his superiors, hoping that they knew where he was. His hope came with Commander Selna answering him.
"The Guardian is on his way here to help overlook the training of this room right now actually." Commander Selna responded to them.
Before anyone else could answer her back…
"Ah… I see that everything is going well here?" A deep but powerful voice was heard, getting the attention of everyone, even the trainees in the room to look at the entrance to the chamber.
Natsu's, Erza's, and Lucy's eyes widened as they saw a massive man, who towered above everyone in the room, standing there. He was wearing silver colored armor leggings with darker colored metallic boots, with his chest and arms being completely exposed. He wore two large darker silver shoulder pads that each had the symbol of the Tai'Zul Isles on them. He was extremely buffed, but not unrealistically buff, but buffer than anyone else in the room at the moment, since everyone else had a more leaned kind of body. He also wore silver metallic gloves as well, and he wasn't holding any weapons on him. His face had the look of an old war veteran, with a long and large white heard from his face, with long white hair gown down his upper back. He wore a helmet that block some of his facial features, but everyone could still see the glowing blue eyes and the scar that went over his face as he simply smiled at everyone.
This was the Guardian, the head of the military of the Tai'Zul Isle, and he has arrived.
There you all go. How was it? Good? Bad? Want me to kill myself? Let me know.
See you all next time, whenever that will be.