Hello my FT readers. If you didn't already know, I have two other stories posted and trust me there are no spoilers in either of them. Even though I said I wouldn't update this story for awhile well… three things happened. One, I finished the outline; two, my new stories gave me inspiration to continue; and three, I'm still trying to work out all of details in the SE fights since I only have generally what I'm going to do. As for this arc, it's going to be much longer than the previous one. But in this chapter is going to be more of a character/plot introductory one since last chapter I just introduced new characters. Anyways, I'm giving away too much. Read and Review.

Journey of the Scarred

Chapter 10: New Allies, New Enemies

"Why were you guys picked to go on this mission?" Hikari asked. The masters didn't tell him anything about his teammates and or why any of them were picked to go. The only information was about the mission.

"Makarov needed an S-rank mage to help balance out the group and I was the only left," Hudson replied calmly.

"I'm not really sure why I was picked to go on this mission," Kazehita answered as she looked at Hikari and then Tsukara. "Do you two know why?"

"Not a clue really," Tsukara said quietly as Hikari shrugged.

"I guess we were the next best candidates for this since Natsu-niisan's team is handling Oracion Seis," Hikari guessed as he received a confused look from Kazehita. "I call Natsu-niisan because I look at him like a brother since he reminds me of…" Hikari's voice trailed off as he looked down. He still didn't want accept the idea that his brother was dead but there was no proof that he was alive either. There was only proof of his death. After that, the rest of the trip was silent all the way through.

"Next stop, Leonidas!" one of the workers shouted, breaking the silence between the four. As the train came to a slow stop, the team got off to head to meet with the other member of their team.

"Makarov said there would be one more member of our group," said Hudson as he looked around. They had already arrived at their rendezvous point but the fifth member was nowhere in sight.

"Maybe we're at the wrong spot," Hikari replied, taking in the scents around him to find the final member. None of the smells stood out to Hikari but he still searched anyways.

"No, this is it," Tsukara interjected. After a few minutes, a girl about Kazehita's age came running towards them. She had large, dark orange cat-like eyes, and medium tanned skin. She had layered reddish brown hair that reaches two inches past her shoulder, with a small braid on each side. Her height was 6"4', and she looked rather slim and flexible. She wore a black tank-top with a white jean jacket. The jacket had short sleeves and silver buttons. She had blue jean shorts, and her shoes were regular black Converse. She had a spiked choker around her neck, white fingerless gloves, and silver bangles on both wrists. When the teen arrived at their spot, she was out of breath.

"Sorry I'm… late… Master was still… explaining the… mission… to me…" the girl huffed. Once she got her breath back, she stood up straight with a smile on her face. "My name is Mynh Yukaina, the Beast Spirit representative." The light wizard slightly flinched at this. "There was supposed to be another representative but he was… not available at the moment." Hikari stared at the ground sadly. He knew she was talking about Maru. Maru was one of the best mages in the guild by the time Hikari left the guild.

"Beast Spirit? I knew we were going to have another guild's help, but one representative from one guild outside the alliance. It doesn't make sense," Ryuu (Kazehita) said.

"There has always been a mutual alliance between Fairy Tail and Beast Spirit for as long as Yakumo-san has been master," Hikari answered with slight dread in his voice.

"Why wasn't a representative from one of the alliance guilds sent here then?" Hudson questioned.

"They're already sending their most powerful mages to take care of Oracion Seis so it actually makes sense that they didn't send anyone else," Tsukara interjected.

"Well, then. Since everyone's here, why don't we discuss our plans at the inn," Hudson replied as he and the others walked away from their meeting spot.

"Run…"a faint voice echoed in Hikari's head, stopping Hikari's movements. The voice didn't sound familiar to him but a sudden increase of magical energy made the Dragon Slayer frantically look around. As soon as it appeared, it disappeared but the voice continued to vaguely repeat itself to Hikari. Not before long, the voice began to drive him crazy. The light mage grabbed his head in pain, wanting the voice to go away. He was just about to lose it when something poked him in the shoulder.

"How long are you going to stand there looking like a delusional crazy person?" Tsukara asked Hikari, giving the teen a cold look.

"I'm NOT crazy or delusional. I just… I just felt something disturbing nearby," replied Hikari. Tsukara glanced at him one last time before moving on ahead. Hikari took one last glance before speeding off after his teammates. "There's no doubt. It had to be his but something wasn't right about. It was… different. More… murky…" A pair of soulless eyes gazed at Hikari before disappearing into the shadows.

I'm really sorry if you guys were looking forward to an amazing chapter but this is mainly just a set up chapter. I, myself, was hoping this would be longer but not all of our wishes can come true unfortunately. But next chapter will definitely be a lot more exciting and we meet our villains for this arc. –insert maniacally evil laugh here- Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and are looking forward to my next updates. Until next time, bye for now!