Disclaimers: I do not own Fairy Tail.
A/N: Alright; many of you may think this is a new chapter but it's not. I just split chapter 1 up into two seperate pieces but doesn't let me update that way, at least I don't think it does. Sorry. Work has got me away from writing a new chapter for a bit, I had to write this and split the chapter during my breaks.
Alright Chapter Eleven. I will now be shifting my focus to Romeo Rising (it seems most of ya want Romeo to have a exceed, according to the polls), Romeo Falling, Rainbow Flames, Right Claw, and Ghost of the North. Also I like to thank LKFairy4416 and peddy-kun for the review and fav. Also know that just because I changed the ending to Chapter 10 doesn't mean Enno not going to be in Romeo's life. Just wait and see. Please Review, Follow, or Fav if you want.
This is a co-write between me and BarelyProdigies.
Chapter 11
Clash
Wendy and Romeo were searching through the board, looking for any job that didn't require them to pick thru a garden. One of the reasons was because they were sick of picking weeds out and the other reason was because Romeo was temporarily banned from the city gardens.
"How about exploring the cave where the towns folks claim they been hearing strange noises from?" Romeo suggested.
"Sound pretty cliché. Like straight out of a story that the author had run out of ideas cliché", (A/N: I was not running out of ideas!) Wendy said as she points at a flyer in the upper right corner, "How about this?"
Mages required to teach at magic school in Tyure
Reward: 49000 jewels
Would like mages to be of one of the five main elemental types.
"Huh, almost fifty thousand jewels to teach a bunch of kids. I think we could do that. With your wind magic and my fire magic we fit the criteria", Romeo said as he grabs the flyer and hands it to Wendy, "Go get Mira to approve it while I give Chelia a call and see if she wants to join us."
This catches Wendy's full attention as she stops mid-grabbing the paper out of Romeo's hand.
"Chelia?"
"Yeah, I kind of been ignoring her lately and I want to make it up to her by seeing if she wants to come along on this job. It's in Tyure City, which is the same distance from here and Margaret Town so she can meet us there." Romeo tells Wendy as he walks over to the bar where Kinana was stocking the shelves. As Wendy is left standing there with the flyer in her hands she can't help but wondered why she feels a little down at the prospect of Chelia joining her and Romeo on their mission.
"It's the same feeling I got when Gray told Romeo's mom that we're just friends and teammates."
Romeo walks up to the bar and asks Kinana once again for the communication lacrima and decides to take his conversation with her outside, this time, seeing how there wasn't really any place in the guild hall that was private at the moment. Apparently, everyone decided not to go out on jobs today for some reasons.
"It could be the training Erza and Mira have been putting them through", Romeo thought as he walked to the doors.
Once he was in the forests surrounding the hall he calls up Chelia.
"I swear to the gods if this is another call about Arashi and me, I'll send you flying to Bosco", Chelia threatens as her face appears on the globe.
"Well at least you've mellowed out since the first time I call you after the concert", Romeo joked with a light-hearted smile.
"Well someone is looking better today. I'm happy to see that you aren't looking depressed like the last few times you call", Chelia says.
"Yeah I feel a little bit better now. I figure moping around isn't going to help anything", Romeo tells her, "Anyways, I was wondering if you're free at the moment."
"Why? Planning on taking me out on a date my little firefly?" Chelia purred causing the tips of Romeo's ears to turn red.
"Actually, I was wondering if you wanted to go out on a job with me."
"A job? Where?" Chelia asked.
"Tyure City. It's about the same distance from you as it is for me", Romeo explained, "It's teaching some school kids about magic. I was planning on meeting you there."
Chelia thinks about this for a moment before sighing.
"As much as I would love to go out on a job with you Romeo, I'm a little overwhelm right now. Master Ooba wants me to start training for the Grand Magic Games in three months but in order to do that I have to get all of my concerts, interviews, photo shoots, rehearsals, and dance lessons out of the way first", Chelia tells her boyfriend.
"Speaking of dance lessons", Romeo interjects, "Have you heard anything about….my mother?"
Chelia stares at Romeo for a moment before pinching the brim of her nose.
"Nothing has change since you ask me a few days ago. I can only get in contact with her assistants who tell me she still wants to be my choreographer, but she just wants some time to herself", Chelia explains to Romeo.
"I see", he says in a sullen tone.
"Romeo, please don't be sad. I'm sure things will work out", Chelia pleads.
"I'm fine, really. I just wish I could get my head around everything that has happened."
"You sure you're going to be okay on this job?" Chelia asked.
"Oh yeah, I'll be fine. Wendy will keep me company", Romeo says nonchalantly.
….
….
Chelia once again is staring at Romeo through the orb, blinking rapidly every few seconds.
"I'm sorry Romeo, I think I didn't hear you right. Who's going to keep you company on the job?" Chelia asked knowing full well what she heard but she felt the need to verify it.
"Wendy", Romeo repeats, "This is a team mission for the both of us."
"Oh, you formed a team with Wendy, did you? You know it's funny how I didn't know about this until just now", Chelia said through a forced smile.
"Really? Could have sworn I told you about this. Anyway, yeah, me and Wendy formed a team a few days before I came to see you", Romeo says, completely missing the fact that Chelia was struggling to keep her emotions in check.
"Take deep breaths Chelia. You're just over thinking things", she tells herself.
"So you two have been a …. team for almost two weeks now", Chelia said.
Romeo thinks the math over in his head for a moment, "Yeah, I guess we have. We form the day after your concert. Anyway, this is our biggest job yet. In fact, Mira named us Team RoWen for some reason."
Chelia takes a deep breath and holds it in for a bit before letting it out slowly in an attempt to calm herself.
"Romeo, can I ask you something?"
"Of course you can."
"What exactly is the… relationship between you and….?"
Romeo throws Chelia a baffled look, "Between me and who?"
"Between you and…and… Never mind, I have to go! See you later!" as Chelia turns off the lacrima. After which she throws her hands up in the air and slam her forehead on the desk from which she was talking from. Her annoyance only grew upon hearing a certain voice from behind her.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. There goes another opportunity to get a straight answer out from him", Sherry chides from her place at the room entrance, "That makes three, one for each call."
"NO ONE ASKED FOR YOUR INPUT!" Chelia hollers out from the desk, her forehead still on its solid wooden surface.
"Okay, but the longer you drag this out the worse it's going to get", Sherry informs her, "But like I said before, you're so jealous."
Chelia didn't even have a retort as she reached into her shirt and pull out a second necklace she had along with the one Romeo gave her that was a golden heart-shaped locket attached by a gold chain. She opens the locket and smiles faintly at the picture inside.
In the picture Romeo was blushing profusely with a bouquet of flowers in his hand while Chelia was overjoyed, engulfing him in a hug and kissing him on the cheek. The reason she was so happy was the fact that the flowers Romeo got for her weren't from a store or ordered. No, he picked them out from the forest himself after seeing how much she liked them during one of their earlier walks. He said he had to search the entire forest around Magnolia just to find that many.
"Okay, maybe I'm just a little bit jealous that Romeo spending more time with Wendy than he is with me, but what did I except when she's a guild member of Fairy Tail?" Chelia pouts.
"Told you so", Sherry says, not having left the room at all.
"SHUT UP SHERRY! ONCE AGAIN NO ONE ASKED YOU!" The Sky God-Slayer screamed as her cousin walked away laughing.
Back to Romeo…
"Okay, that was weird. That's the third time she asks me a question like that only to change her mind", Romeo says as he walks back inside and hands the lacrima back off to Kinana. As he turns to look around for Wendy he spots her walking back over to him from a star-struck Mira.
"What's wrong with Mira?" he asks.
"I don't know", Wendy tells him, "She was just fine until I said that both you and I were going on this job."
Romeo only shrugged.
"Anyways, Chelia said she won't be able to meet up with us in Tyure City, she's too busy with all of her singing business", Romeo says.
"Oh, that's too bad. Guess it's just you and me then Romeo."
"Guess it is", Romeo agreed as he turns around and starts walking toward the door, and for the third time, today completely missed the fact that a girl close to him was having an internal struggle with herself.
"Why did I feel sort of happy when Romeo said Chelia wasn't going to be there? She seems like a really nice person, so why do I feel like this? It's almost like I'm glad she's not coming", Wendy tells herself as she goes to catch up with Romeo.
"Oh, my gods! This is finally happening! This is finally happening!" Mira squealed as she watches the two of them walk away, "All my hard work is finally going to pay off!"
"Mira, what are you going all about?" Lisanna asks as she comes out of the bathroom.
"Romeo and Wendy just went on a job together!" Mira told her.
"So? They have been doing that for a while now."
"But they're going on a train ride to the job site and Carla won't be with them! Plus, Romeo is still feeling kind of down about the whole Enno thing!" Mira explained.
"Wait…so you're saying?"
"So they'll be alone together for a long period of time and no doubt Wendy going to try and cheer Romeo up! Just Romeo and Wendy and no one else!" Mira finished, "This is exactly what we been waiting for!"
As the two sisters hug another and jump up and down, the middle child decided to ask a question that has been on his mind for quite some time now.
"Mira, why are you so bent on hooking Romeo up with Wendy? He already has a girlfriend and seems quite happy with her. This is not very manly", Elfman stated.
Mira looks over at her younger brother with a look of pity, "Ah Elfman, I wonder if you will ever understand love."
Elfman's eye twitches at the mild insult, "What do you mean? I can clearly see that Romeo and Chelia love one another."
"That's not true love, that's just puppy love", Mira tells him, "While I think Chelia is a sweet girl and I really like her, she and Romeo just aren't meant to be. They're better off as just friends."
"And you base this off of…?"
"The simple fact that they're not open about their relationship", Lisanna jumps in, "While Romeo's condition is the main factor in that, keeping it a secret isn't helping anyone."
"But him being with Wendy is different how?" Elfman asked.
"The fact that he can walk down the road hand in hand with her without having reporters, photographers, and gods forbid Jason, following them, would no doubt do wonders for the boy", Mira says as walks over to the bar, "Besides Macao told me himself that he's surprised that they made it this far as a couple and Gray said that even Enno thought Wendy was already Romeo's girlfriend. That's basically Wendy getting the seal of approval from the mother before she even met her."
Elfman stares at his only living blood relatives as he tries to soak in everything that has been said.
"Have either one of you asks Wendy how she feels about Romeo? She could just see him as a friend."
"Have you not notice the way she been staring at him ever since she got back from Tenrou? She has a crush on him, I can tell", Lisanna tells her older brother.
Elfman was about to say something else when he suddenly felt a cold chill go down his spine as he slowly turns to see Evergreen glaring at him from across the room. If it wasn't for the fact that her glasses were still on Elfman would have sworn that she was trying to turn him to stone.
"Oh gods not again", The Take-Over mages thinks as he remembers how Evergreen has been doing this to him ever since the day after the Dance Mission. And it wasn't just in the guild hall either. Sometimes when he is walking around town he would feel that same stare pierce through his very soul as the Fairy mage seem to follow him wherever he went.
It was at that moment that Elfman saw Evergreen get up from her table that she was sharing with Freed and Bickslow and stalk over to his location. As his sisters left him to deal with the powerful mage on his own, Elfman couldn't help but remember that this is all their fault to begin with.
As Evergreen puts her chest into Elfman's and looks up at him with a frozen glare that would put Gray's magic to shame, the next words that spew forth from her mouth shook him to the core.
"We need to talk. Now."
On Board the Train to Tyure City
Romeo and Wendy were alone in an empty train car on their way to Tyure. The train ride would take two hours of traveling to get there, but luckily it was a straight shot with no stops or change-overs in between.
As they sat across from one another, Romeo was looking out the window watching the landscape flow by while Wendy was deep in thought, a whole hour went by before either one of them said anything to one another.
"So Romeo?", Wendy asks in an effort to break the silence.
Romeo grunts in response.
"You seem to know a lot about Tyure City. Have you been here before?"
"Nah, Totomaru-sensei mentioned it a lot while talking about a suitable location to open up a branch school. Believe or not, he has one of the highest acclaimed magic schools for youth in the country and has even offered the guys at the guild teaching position had Fairy Tail disbanded.", Romeo explains, "My dad thinks he trying to make up for the Phantom Lord/Fairy Tail war from seven years ago."
"Oh I see", Wendy merely says before once again the train cart becomes quiet.
Romeo watches the blue sky fly by as he thought of a number of things in silence. From daydreaming of Chelia to thinking about if he could actually forgive his mother. Surprisingly enough, the image of Wendy smiling pop into his head.
"What's that all about?" Romeo thought as he shook the image from his mind.
"Hey Romeo", he heard Wendy suddenly say.
"Hmm?" was his response as he continued to watch the landscape.
"How did you and Chelia first meet?"
Romeo glances over at Wendy for a moment, "Didn't she and I already tell you this? We met when she was visiting Fairy Tail during one of Lamia Scale visits."
"You told me that, but you never went into detail. I'm curious on how the first meeting between the two of you went. The way you described it, it almost sounded like you hated one another", Wendy explains.
"Almost?" Romeo laughed, "Trust me, Wendy, there was no almost, we hated each other guts!"
"Why?"
"Well, it all started that day almost a year ago…" Romeo drifts off as he goes back to watching the mountains while reminiscing about days gone by…
Flashback to Chelia's first visit to Fairy Tail (Hey they're back!)
Chelia had it all. She was one of the top mages in Fiore number two guild Lamia Scale, hell, she was considered the number one trainee mage (mages that were sixteen and under) in the country. The #1 pop idol on the continent who records have top the charts for a year now and whose concerts have sold out within minutes of tickets going on sale. She had legions of loyal fans in every country, and she manages to handle it all without any additional stress.
Plus, she was still very down to earth and got along quite well with pretty much everyone. You could say her life was perfect…. except for two things.
One, she couldn't for the life of her seem to get a boyfriend.
No matter how hard she tried to get Lyon's attention he always treated her like a little sister and nothing more, and it irked her to no end.
And two, she hated to be ignored. We're not talking about how not everyone's a fan of her music, she fine with that. No, she's talking about when she is trying to talk to someone and they completely tune her out, that ticks her off.
Which made the fact that she was sitting across from Fairy Tail guild master's son and was being rudely ignored in favor of a book was all the more irradiated.
This was her first time ever visiting Fairy Tail and she had to say she wasn't impressed with the once proud number one guild in the country guild hall. It was small and rundown compared to her guild hall, and the membership was laughable. Their strongest member, no doubt their guild master Macao Conbolt's magic was nothing compares to hers, and the job request board was damn near stripped bare. Chelia didn't like to be rude but she couldn't for the life of her figure out why two of the top guilds in Fiore, both hers and Blue Pegasus, went out of their way to help keep this guild open.
Anyways back to her awkwardly sitting across from the boy, whose name was Romeo she believed, as he still refuses to acknowledge her presence.
She didn't even want to talk to him; Sherry had asked her to as a favor in hopes of building up relationships between Fairy Tail and Lamia Scale by having their youngest members' converse with one another. The little girl Asuka was an absolute angel though. The smile on her face when Chelia gave her a free signed copy of her latest album and the fact she got a picture with her made Chelia feel all warm inside as she then watches the girl show it all off to her parents with glee. But this boy, who was only a year younger than her, didn't so much as look up from his book when she sat down.
"He's not even an active member of Fairy Tail, he's just their guild master's son. Yet him I am, wasting my time trying to "Build up relationships" with him", Chelia thought bitterly.
She waited for five whole minutes before trying to get the boy's attention.
"Ahem", she coughed softly, but no reaction.
"Ahem!" this time a little louder but once again nothing.
"This is going nowhere. If I was out in public I would have guys his age fighting one another for the opportunity for me to even look them", She thought as she coughs one more time.
"AHEM!" this time she practically screams only to hear Yuka and Toby snickering off to the side. As she throws a glare in their direction she hears….
"You'd think that with your Sky God-Slayer healing ability you wouldn't have such a bad cough", Romeo states while flipping to the next page.
Chelia turns back around at him only to see that his eyes still haven't left the book.
"Oh so you can talk", Chelia sneers.
"How very observant of you. But yes I can talk. I just chose to talk to people I like", Romeo replies while still reading.
"And the reason you don't want to talk to me is because?" Chelia questioned.
"Well because it's obvious you don't want to be here if the way you cling to your guild's Ice Mage like a baby clings to a rattler is anything to go off of", Romeo answers while turning another page of his book, though he did not miss the small spike in Chelia's magic after he made that comment.
"Excuse me?"
He sighs before speaking.
"It's actually quite funny though, reminds me of Juvia and the way she used to act around Gray", Romeo tells her, knowing full well he should probably stop egging her on but for some reason couldn't. He briefly wondered if this was how Natsu felt around Gray or Gajeel; couldn't help but want to start an argument with someone.
"Were you raised to be this rude to a lady or is it just a phase you're going through?" Chelia asked.
Romeo looks up from his book and surveys the interior of the building, not once locking eyes with Chelia.
"The only ladies I see here are Kinana, Bisca, Laki, Asuka, Jenny, and your cousin though I do wondered about that Eve guy sometimes. And I almost mistaken Lyon for a girl when I first saw him, what with that hair and all.", Romeo states before going back to reading and once again sensing a spike in Chelia's magic, this time a little bit larger. Jura, Macao, and Ichiya felt it as well as they turn their attention from their discussion to the table in the back corner of the hall.
"I think we should intervene", Jura suggested, a little worried for Macao's son well-being as well as the guild hall, "Chelia has been known to have a short temper sometimes."
"I'd rather see where this goes", Macao said, "This is the most he's talked to a girl in months."
"You have a big mouth on you, has anyone ever told you that?" Chelia taunts.
"Having a big mouth is usually associated with a big vocabulary", Romeo responses, "Seeing how you have contributed so little to this conversation, I can only conclude that yours is quite small."
A narrow stream of darken winds knock the book Romeo was reading out of his hands and he slowly looks up to see Chelia sitting there with her index finger extended and a fake smile on her face.
"Oh, it seems I finally got your full attention", she says.
"Oh trust me, you definitely got my full undivided attention now", Romeo almost growls as he stands up and glares at Chelia. Slits started to form in his eyes and scales begin to dust over his face, "But you're going to wish that you hadn't."
Back to The Present
"You two had a fight in the guild hall the very first day you met?!" Wendy asks as she jumps out of her seat, "Also Romeo, it sounded like you were a little rude to her."
"One, I was getting to that part if you let me finish. Two, I admit I may have been a little bit of a jerk but she wa-"Romeo starting to say before a feeling of overwhelming yet somehow familiar dread suddenly washed over him, causing him to look toward the window.
"It's coming from outside!", he tells himself as he suddenly nearly breaks the window off its handle as he forces it up and sticks his head out the window. As he looks in all directions he activates his dragon-slayer abilities and uses his now enhance senses to detect whoever or whatever was watching him. But even with heighten sight, smell, and hearing, he couldn't find anything.
"I know what I felt. There was someone here", He thinks to himself before going back into the compartment.
"Romeo, is everything alright?" Wendy asks as soon his head is back through the window.
"Wendy, did you feel another presence a second ago?" Romeo asks.
"No, why?"
"Never mind then. I guess I'm just imagining things", Romeo says as he glances back at the window and sees Tyure City train station coming up, "Anyway, we're here. I'll tell you the rest of the story another time."
The Outskirts of Tyure City
"Thank goodness this school is on the edge of town, otherwise, this job would have been difficult", Romeo points out as they near the schoolhouse.
"Are you sure you'll be okay? I mean, this is a large classroom we'll be teaching", Wendy says with concern in her voice.
"Oh, I got over being around large groups of little kids while I was still at Totomaru-sensei school. I had to pick Asuka up from pre-school in the past as well. Nowadays I just have trouble with the older crowds." Romeo tells Wendy.
"So your condition is improving then?" Wendy asks.
"My…issue has been improving little by little over the years, remember I've been trying to overcome my anxiety long before I started dating Chelia."
The teenagers were almost to the school house when they spotted a familiar figure walking a bit ahead of them.
"Is that who I think it is?" Wendy says.
"No way that's Laxus", Romeo said apparently loud enough for the Lightning Dragon-Slayer enhance hearing to pick up on as the towering man turn around behind him and saw the two.
"Well this is just great", he mutters as Romeo and Wendy walk up to him.
"Hi Laxus, how have you been?" Wendy ask, completely ignoring the negative aura that the former S-Class mage was emitted, though Romeo felt it well enough as Laxus stared down at them with a scowl on his face.
"W-What brings you here Laxus?" Romeo stutters out while trying to control his fear.
"I'm here on a job", Laxus bluntly told them.
"Well what a coincidence, so are we!" Wendy says, "What job is it?"
"Showing some brats at some school some magic."
Both Wendy and Romeo faces dropped upon hearing this, though Wendy quickly recovers.
"This school wouldn't happen to be call; Tyure Third Street Elementary School, would it?" she asked to which Laxus arcs an eyebrow.
"Yes, it is."
"And the person putting the job up wouldn't happen to be named Miss Tyrine, would she?" Romeo asks, dreading the answer.
"It is, why?" Laxus asks.
Romeo shakily hands Laxus the job flyer while the Lightning mage takes out his own and compares the two.
"Did you two just pick this job today?" he asks in a tone that made Romeo want to run for the hills.
"We did, I was the one that picked it out", Wendy confesses as a shy smile appears on her face.
Laxus stands there brewing for a moment before finally speaking…
"Try not to steal the spotlight and this job will go all the more smoothly. Now let's get going, the school just up ahead." he simply says as he hands the flyer back to Wendy and starts walking away. Romeo's jaw hangs open as his mind tries to comprehend what just happen.
"But how? What? But he?", as he looks toward a still smiling Wendy, "How did you do that?!"
"Do what?" she responds.
"Normally when guild members and freelancers pick the same job, nine out of ten it ends up with a fight breaking out between the two parties!" Romeo explains to her while waving his arms up and down, "Laxus could have simply told us to back off and I would have already been at the train station by now!"
"I doubt he would do something as mean as that", Wendy says as she starts to walk away, "I heard all about the Battle for Fairy Tail, but he also helped us out on Tenrou Island, so he can't be all that bad."
Romeo could only look on as Wendy runs to catch up with Laxus and it takes him a while before he starts running after her. He was almost about to catch up with her when all of a sudden a figure steps out from behind a building and Romeo collides into it causing him to stumble backwards.
"I'm sorry-" Time froze and his breath caught in his throat while his eyes dilated as the world breaks apart like shattered glass and rushes past him. While immobile, Romeo saw the ground, the sky, and the trees around him seem to break about to reveal a totally white space. Slowly he exhales and the shards of space itself warp back into place to form a completely new environment.
Romeo watches as the last shard fits underneath his feet to form solid grass that suddenly feels unnaturally real from its glass like state before. His body unfroze and he shakily looks up to find himself standing in a forest the likes of which he has never seen before with a man standing in front of him that he has never seen before.
The elderly-looking man stood about the same height as his father, with a thick beard the covered his neck. He wore what seem like a combination of a hood and a robe vest that match the color of the grass while in his hand he held a wooden staff. The man was pacing back and forth and Romeo could tell that he was outraged about something. His lips moved but no sound seemed to escape them and the hood covered up the upper parts of his face.
"What is he trying to say?" Romeo thought before his gut fills with a strange sensation that could only be described as an ominous mixed feeling of familiarity/unfamiliarity.
Romeo moves to get a closer look and finds he can't budge whatsoever; it was like his body became a statue. He notices that the old man's head was now turned in his direction and that he was stomping toward him. But before the man could reach him, darkness engulfs the area and Romeo finds himself staring into pitch darkness.
"Hello?" Romeo calls out, but to no avail, "Is anyone there? Where am I?"
No one answered and the same feeling he had when he was trapped down in the basement seven years ago started to come rushing back.
"I need to stay calm. I'm not seven years old anymore", Romeo tells himself as he summons a fireball to give him some light and to have it at the ready in case he is not alone here. But after a few tries he realizes he couldn't summon any flames at all, he couldn't even activate his dragon-slayer mode.
"What the hell going on?", he asks himself as he is suddenly blinded by a bright bluish orange light that originated from his side a good fifty feet away. He uses his arm to shield his eyes and turns to see a gigantic orb of fire floating in darkness. It was a mixture of blue and orange flames that slowly rotated as if it were alive.
"Walk to it."
A voice spoke in Romeo's mind and slowly without thinking he walked towards the floating orb of fire. As he approached it no thoughts crossed his mind. When he was right in front of it he didn't feel any heat coming from it instead the orb gave off waves of power that lightly blew his clothes like a breeze.
"Reach out. It's yours…it always has been."
The voice spoke out again and Romeo followed its directions. He slowly stretched out his right arm in front of the orb and in response the flames flowed down his arm and wrapped around his body as the orb shrunk. The orb completely disappeared but Romeo wasn't left in darkness.
His whole body was covered in blue and orange flames that slowly flowed around him like water, rather than hurt him, they filled him with a new sensation. Romeo stared at his ignited hands and arms in shock.
"The world will soon see…that Conbolt Is Fire."
Romeo jerked his head up because the voice sounded like it was right in front of him. A sudden blast of wind forced him to close his eyes and shield his face with his arms. The fire covering his body blew out leaving him in complete darkness.
"Wake up!" Romeo shoots up all of a sudden from a blow to the head, almost colliding with Wendy on his way up. "See I told you that it would take more than just some wind to wake him up. Maybe he needs another one to set him right." His eyes focus to see Laxus right above him with lightning chop poised to hit him again while Wendy was in front of him with a concerned look on her face.
"I'm up! Gods…what was that?" He whispers under his breath as he places his hand over his heart and looks around to find himself in the same area he was in before bumping into that person. As he looks around he notices that it was only him, Wendy, and disgruntle looking Laxus. Romeo couldn't see spot anyone else.
"Romeo, are you okay?" Wendy asked.
"Where's the other person that was here?" he asks, ignoring Wendy question.
"What other person?" Laxus said.
"The person I bump into! Where are they?"
"Listen brat", Laxus spoke as he towered over Romeo, "When we turned around to see where you were, we only saw you lying here with no one else around."
Before Romeo could answer, the air is rocked by a loud explosion followed by multiple screams that caused all three of them to look toward the center of town.
"Ah great, now what?" Laxus mutters as he takes off in that direction, leaving Romeo and Wendy behind.
"We should go see what going on. People may need our help", Wendy says as she helps Romeo up, "Are you good to go?"
Romeo was trying to pieces together everything that just happen but deep down he knew that he didn't have time for that.
"Yeah, I'm good. Let's get going", he says as both he and Wendy take off down the now deserted streets toward the direction where all the commotion was coming from.
Town Square Tyure City
Romeo and Wendy arrived onto a scene of pure chaos as people were spewed out all over the ground, and a majority of the buildings in the town square were badly damaged. Romeo and Wendy both try to calm their stomachs as they saw that a good number of the people on the ground who were no doubt ever getting up again.
As Romeo examines one of the wounded more closely, he makes a startling discovery.
"These are Rune Knights, the Magic Council soldiers. What are they doing here? There must be dozens of these guys."
"Don't you brats read the paper or watch the news?" Laxus asks as he suddenly appears behind them, "There was a massive jailbreak from the Magic Council's prison three days ago. A good numbers of high-level dark mages escaped. The Rune Knights have been hunting for them ever since."
"If that's true, then why haven't we seen any bounty posters?" Romeo asked.
"The Magic Council obviously doesn't want to pay someone else to fix their mistake. They been officially stating how they have everything under control and that their Rune Knights can easily apprehend the escaped convicts. They also been controlling the media to keep the news of this breakout to a minimum, rarely stating that it has occurred and not even mentioning which convicts escaped.", Laxus explains, "I was hoping they eventually put some bounties out cause I'm short on cash and that the only reason I took this school gig."
"Hey Wendy, think you could heal some of these guys?" Romeo asks to which Wendy nods her head and began treating the closest injure knight.
"You two stay here, I'm going on ahead", Laxus orders and takes off before Romeo even has time to argue.
"You think he was the guild master with the way he ordered us around just now", Romeo grumbles to himself as he starts looking through the rubble, searching for survivors.
"This is bad. These dark mages must be pretty powerful to mess up this many Rune Knights in such a short amount of time. I wondered if Laxus can handle them all", Romeo thinks to himself as he moves and burns away rubble in order to make a clear path for when help eventually arrives. He also used his fire magic to cauterize bleeding wounds on some of the wounded. While it did cause them pain, it would allow them to live a little bit longer until either Wendy or someone else got to them.
But at the back of his mind, the visions he recently had still plague him.
"What was all that about? What could it mean?" Romeo thinks before shaking his head, "There will be time to worry about that later. For now, people need my help."
A little while later he goes to check up on Wendy, who was already healing her eleventh injured soldier.
"Don't overdo it Wendy", Romeo tells her, "You're not going to help anyone if you pass out from overusing your magic."
"I'm fine, really", Wendy replies, "But Romeo, my magic can only do so much. Most of these guys need professional medical attention fast."
"That might be hard to do with dark mages on the loose in the city", Romeo admits, "The sooner Laxus deals with the dark mages, the sooner these guys can get better medical help."
"Really wish Chelia could have come along though, we could really use a second healer right now", Romeo thought to himself.
"I hope he hurries up then", Wendy confesses as she does all she can for the Rune Knight she was currently healing up and looks for another. She spots one on the other side of the square and starts to move toward him.
Romeo was watching her go when something suddenly caught his eye from atop of nearby roof. The next thing he knows he is sprinting toward Wendy and barely tackles her out of the way in time as a deadly stream of poison hits the very spot was she was a moment ago. Luckily the spray didn't hit either of them as a voice rings throughout the square.
"Well I must say, you're quite fast for a little brat!", a man on top of a voice laughs as he jumps down and lands a couple yards away from the pair, "To think you could outrun my roar is truly something!"
The man was sporting a white coat with a red undershirt and wearing a matching pair of crimson pants. The feature that stuck out the most for Romeo though was that his arms were covered in crimson scales.
"He have use the stench of the bodies to hide his presence", Wendy tells Romeo as she recovers from the sudden impact, "That must be why I didn't notice him."
"No one blaming you Wendy", Romeo assures her.
"Romeo", Wendy tells Romeo in a slightly trembling voice, "That man is someone that we shouldn't fight right now, especially with all the wounded surrounded us."
"You know who he is?" Romeo asks as he and Wendy get up and prepare for a fight.
"His name is Cobra and he's the Poison Dragon-Slayer. Me and Team Natsu face him seven years ago during the whole Nirvana incident when I was part of Cait Shelter. He went toe-to-toe against Natsu and even Erza and held his own. Natsu couldn't even defeat him in hand-to-hand, it took a scream for him to win."
"A scream?" Romeo asks as the two of them back up away from the approaching Cobra.
"If I remember correctly he has highly sensitive hearing, even for a dragon slayer", Wendy answers, "Even then he got right back up and was going to fight Natsu once more before he got shot by his own ally."
"You know I can hear you, right?" Cobra says as he continues walking toward them, "I can hear your every thought as well. Both of you are afraid, as though you should be. What better way to get my revenge on the guild that helped put me in prison then to send them the heads of two of their very own members?"
Cobra launches himself at the two who prepare for his onslaught.
"Crap, if this guy gave Natsu-nii and Erza trouble, what chance do we have?" Romeo thinks.
Just as Cobra was almost on top of them, a lightning charge foot collides with his face, sending flying into the nearby town square water fountain.
Romeo and Wendy stare in shock at their savior who began slowly walking toward Cobra, who was pushing rubble off of his body and shaking the water out of his dark red hair.
"Personally I couldn't give two shits about what you do to these brats", Laxus says as electric dances around his body, "But I know for a fact that while the old man can forgive me for a lot of things, but there's no way he would ever forgive me if I allow these two to get hurt while I just stood by and watch."
"Well now, isn't this a surprise?" Cobra chuckles as he stands straight up, "Laxus Dreyar, grandson of Makarov Dreyar and the Lightning Dragon-Slayer. I've heard all about you."
"And I've heard all about you, Cobra, a former member of the disbanded dark guild Oracion Seis, and the Poison Dragon Slayer", Laxus smirked, "I always wondered if I would ever get to face you and see which one of us was the stronger lacrima-infused Dragon-Slayer."
"Well, what do you know? I have had those same thoughts myself ever since I heard about you", Cobra smiles as he readies his claws.
"Well let's stop talking about it and do something about it!" Laxus roars as he throws his jacket off and rushes Cobra with a lightning charge fist at the ready.
Cobra answers this with a poison encase fist of his own and takes off in a sprint toward the oncoming mage.
Both mages get within arm's reach of one another and threw their punches straight into the others. A large explosion rocks the town square once again as the duel between the two Second Generation Dragon-Slayers commenced.
Romeo and Wendy were flung back by the sheer amount of magic that was release upon Cobra and Laxus punches colliding. As poison and lightning flew soar through the sky and landed on top of buildings and the stone streets, it nothing short of a miracle that none of the still breathing Rune Knights were hit by them.
As for Wendy and Romeo, the two of them were flown back into a building, with Romeo hitting the building wall first and Wendy flying back into him afterward.
"Ahhhh!" Romeo yells out as he absorbs most of the impact allowing Wendy to come out of the ordeal relatively unharmed.
Upon them falling to the ground Wendy immediately turns around starts healing Romeo with her magic, focusing on his ribs.
"I'll be fine; you should save your magic for someone who really needs it!" Romeo tells her as he struggles to stand up.
"But you're hurt!" Wendy tries to tell him.
"Like I said, I'll be fine." Romeo repeats as he points toward the Rune Knights lying on the ground, "But I'm more worried that they won't be."
Wendy looks over at the Rune Knights to see that a good number of them are still teetering on the brink of death and the explosion cause by Cobra and Laxus didn't really help matters.
"Laxus' and Cobra's fight is moving them further into the city away from us", Romeo starts to explain as the sounds of battle echoes further down the street from them, "We should use this opportunity to help those still injured while they're away. You start healing all the people you can and I'll start cauterizing their wounds to prevent any further bleeding."
Wendy gives him a nod and begins moving to heal the nearest Rune Knights who was inside of a nearby building while Romeo set about doing his part in closing up the wounds. As he was fixing up the first one, his mind was a jumble mess of thoughts.
"I sure hope help arrives soon. Most of these guys will be dead unless they get treated. I mean the slashes on these guys are pre-", Romeo stops mid-thought as something occurs to him. He quickly moved to the nearest Rune Knight to see if he was right.
"Wait a minute", he tells himself as he takes a closer look at the slash on the Rune Knight's chest, "There's a single slash across this guy's torso, but Cobra has clawed hands and I doubt he struck these guys using one finger. Besides he has poison magic as well."
Romeo looks up and examines the remaining bodies that lay scatter throughout the area. Among the dead and wounded Romeo noticed that while some of them bare the mark of Cobra's poison magic, others didn't. In fact, the remainder had long singular cuts on multiple parts of their bodies. Romeo also noticed that some of the damage buildings were cut clean in some areas.
"Something's not right, that was definitely made by a weapon."
He then noticed that the man that he had been helping a moment ago was struggling to say something.
"He's the only one to regain consciousness since we got here", Romeo thinks, "Hey, are you okay there?"
The man seems to ignore his question and he struggle to say a single word.
"E-Er-Eri"
Suddenly all the hair on the back of his neck stand up and out of the corner of his right eye he catches the sunlight reflecting off something that was coming toward his head.
Using agility that was enhance by Natsu's training, Romeo back flips away and lands a couple yards away from the assailant who appear to be a tall, lightly muscular bare-chested man with silver hair and what seem like a torn hakama that covered his lower body. In his right hand he held a scythe that had giant jagged blade, with a light-colored cutting edge. It was mounted on a gnarled staff, curving lightly before the blade itself.
"You're certainly are quite nimble, aren't you kid?", the man jokes as he twirls the bladed weapon in the air above his head with one head and then points it at Romeo, "I might be able to have a little warm-up with you."
"Death God Erigor of the former Dark Guild Eisenwald", Romeo says as he takes a stance, "Totomaru-sensei told me all about you and how he's the sole reason why you don't have a perfect assassination streak."
The sinister smile that was on Erigor's face soon turn into a snarl as the Wind Mage started giving off a massive aura of killer intent.
"Totomaru-sensei huh? You're a student of that bastard?" he growls.
"Former student, it's a long story", Romeo tells him.
"And this will be a quick end to your life", Erigor snaps as he swings his scythe and a powerful gale comes rushing toward Romeo who leans back in time to have it fly a few inches over his face. He back flips once again to put more ground between him and that scythe.
"But that doesn't do anything to help me against his wind magic", Romeo thought as he suddenly has to jump back to once jump back once again to dodge a one-handed slash for the dark mage.
"Not this time kid", Erigor says and he launches a blast of wind from his free hand, catching Romeo off-guard and sending him tumbling in mid-air.
As he lands on the ground with a heavy thump, Erigor vaults into the air with his scythe held high, determine to end Romeo's life here and now.
"Don't worry kid! I'll send that blue-haired fairy fly to see you in the afterlife real soon!" He yells as he brings the blade down on top of Romeo's head.
CLANG!
The sound of metal hitting metal echoes throughout the empty streets as Romeo is stun to see that a katana has stop the scythe. He was even more stun to see that the man holding the sword was none other than Totomaru-sensei himself with a fierce look on his face.
"First I defeated you, then that foul demon Dragon-Slayer defeated you, and yet you still continue to your fiendish ways", the Rainbow Fire master tells Erigor before parrying the scythe away and aiming a thrust at his face.
Erigor moves his head out of the in time to have the sword go past him and jumps back using his winds to help him land on a roof.
"Ah Totomaru bastard, it has been too long since we last met!"
"I was already prepared for that rematch you promise me as you ran from me with your tail between your legs. I waited and waited, but you never came", Totomaru taunted as he slid his sword back into its sheath.
"Totomaru-sensei, what are you doing here?" Romeo asks as he got himself up off the ground.
"I was scouting the town looking for a good location to open up a branch school for magic teaching when I heard all the commotion ", Totomaru said while never taking his eyes off Erigor.
"That's right, I told Wendy about that on the train", Romeo remembered, "Wait a minute! Why hasn't Wendy come back yet?! She must have heard the commotion!"
"Your friend's facing off against the third dark mage who has come to Tyure. You should go provide her with aid", Totomaru says all of a sudden.
"Wendy's fighting?! Where?"
"Down that road", Totomaru pointed behind him, "Now go. Erigor and I have a score to settle."
"That we do you flaming bastard!" Erigor called out, "Tell me, does that scar down your chest still bother you?"
"About as much as those scars on your arms do", Totomaru replied, "Romeo, get going!"
"But what about you?" he asked.
"Romeo", Totomaru says, "I was fighting in life or death situations like this long before you were even born. I think I'll be fine."
Romeo takes one last look at both Erigor and his former teacher before taking off toward Wendy leaving the two weapons master alone as Erigor starts to gather the winds around him and orange flames began to dance around Totomaru.
Meanwhile…
"SKY DRAGON'S ROAR!" Wendy screams as she sends a sprawling hurricane thru the army of lizardmen that ambushed her a few moments ago while she was trying to heal the wounded Rune Knight she found behind a building. She led the first group of lizardmen that attacked her away from the main road where most of the wounded were, but just when she thought she was a good enough distance to fight them in the town large park, she was ambushed by a second group and their leader, Daphne, herself.
"Well ain't this a surprise!" The woman yelled with a thick country accent from atop of a playground slide, "Never thought I get to see the Sky Dragon-Slayer again, especially after I heard about Tenrou!"
Wendy didn't have time to response as one of the hundred lizardmen, using Loke's Regulus magic, send the spell Regulus' Impact at her.
As she jumps into the air to dodge the attack, she sends a Sky Dragon's Claw at the lizardman, scoring a direct hit and causing it to dispel and vanish.
Daphne merely snaps her fingers and ten more lizardmen appear out of nowhere in the very spot the last one vanish from.
"Do you like my lizardmen v4.5?" Daphne asked while laughing, "It only took me less than two days to create them and the ability to replicate them at will."
"What are you planning to do?" Wendy questions her as she dodges a sword strike from a lizardman who was using Requip magic to brandish dual swords.
"Why what else would I do now that I'm out of jail?" Daphne laughed before her face took on a darken expression, "I'm going to burn Fairy Tail and Magnolia to the ground, and then I'm going to take your fellow dragon-slayers and use them for my painful experiments."
Daphne claps her hands and a dozen more lizardmen appear in front of her while the rest of them clear a path directly to Wendy.
"But don't worry. Because you didn't have a direct hand in the destruction of my Dragonoid I'll grant you a quick and painless death", the scientist said as she pointed at her, "Minions! Purple Rain!"
The dozens lizardmen summons Purple Flare magic circle in front of them and unleash a barrage of fiery bullets at Wendy.
"Sky Dragon's Roar!", Wendy casts at the onslaught in an attempt to intercept them but since Purple Flare isn't affect by neither water nor wind, the ones that were not in the direct path of her roar kept coming toward her and she didn't have the time to perform another attack.
"This is bad!" is all she had time to think before a figure dashed in front of her.
"Purple Flare Dome!" Romeo slammed his palms together and violet dome of fire formed around the two. The Purple Flare bullet storm battered against the dome but they were only making it stronger as the dome grew outwards engulfing the nearby lizardmen. As they begun to dispel from the damage, Daphne merely tilts her head in the confusion at who this new wizard was.
"I don't know how you know my dad's magic but now I'm seriously pissed off." The dome swirls down revealing a perfectly fine Romeo and Wendy. The woman narrowed her eyes at Romeo before pulling out a snack on a stick and chews on it. "Hmmm…nope I don't see it. I don't remember who I got this magic from. Must have been a nobody huh?" She spoke with her mouth full while continuing to eat her snack.
"A nobody…my dad isn't some nobody." Romeo steps forward in anger with his right hand set ablaze. The army of lizardmen immediately shifts to protect their leader. "HooWhew! You sure are a little firecracker huh?" Daphne claps her hands in mock applause then pulls the empty snack stick out her mouth and tosses it away.
"I'm going to make you eat those words. Wendy! Are you ready?" He looks behind him to see her with her hands balled into fists by her sides. "Of course I am." Romeo slams his fist into his palm and gives Daphne a smirk.
"You messed with the wrong team! If it's a clone fight you want, then it's a clone fight you're going to get!" Several red spell circles appeared on the ground around the two and immediately several fire clones of Romeo appeared with the same smirk on their face as they stared off against the army of lizardmen.
"Humph", she grunts a little, surprise at the sheer number of clones he was able to suddenly create, "I was hoping for the fire bastard who destroyed my marvelous creation, but I guess I'll have to settle for you two for now."
The lizardmen army closes in as the Fairy Tail mages stand side by side.
"Unfortunately my lizardmen still can't seem to copy slayer magic due to its special properties", Daphne explained, "No matter though, against these numbers it wouldn't have made a difference in the outcome."
Daphne snaps her fingers and the hoard advances on the two as Romeo's clones rush towards them in a clash. The two armies fought while Daphne's lizardmen used a variety of magic to destroy Romeo's clones, Romeo's clones just fought to stay alive and get as close as they could to the lizardmen.
"You know what Wendy?" He turned his head towards her and had a smile on his face even though they were in the middle of a fight.
"I'm all fired up!" Romeo turns his head back towards the clashing armies with his smile still in place. He makes a hand sign and the clones who were grappling with lizardmen smirked as their power swelled and their hair began to sizzle with indigo flames.
"Ignite."
A/N: So yeah, Laxus is fighting Cobra, (I always wanted to see how a fight between them would play out, seeing it seem to be that the second generation Dragon-Slayer are the strongest). Totomaru is fighting Erigor and more of their history will be reveal as the fight goes on. And Wendy and Romeo are facing Daphne and her lizardmen army. Thumbs up to anyone who gets the author note at the beginning of the chapter. Also, is Mira reasoning justified? What's going to happen to Elfman?
Next Chapter: Lightning vs Poison, Fire vs Wind, Two vs a Army.
The city of Tyure is about to become a battleground.
Please Review, Fav, or Follow, if you want. Though some feedback would be appreciated.
