I own nothing. All rights belong to C.S. Lewis and Hiro Mashima. :)
RIKISH
The young Calormene fidgeted restlessly behind the counter, drumming his fingers on the countertop. He hadn't seen Hull in days, and he had some seriously important information that needed to be told. He stood and strode to the window, flipping the grimy sign around so it read "CLOSED" from the outside. He didn't usually resort to actually closing down the shop—too many closings, and he'd get a visit from those stupid Paslan officers—but he couldn't keep up the energetic clerk act up today.
He jumped to sit on top of the counter, drumming his fingers faster. He was all for the Hull party and everything, but this was…well, he hadn't expected to feel like his life was in mortal danger or anything. He had just planned to be an information runner for the radicals scattered throughout Magnolia. He had not expected to host the base for Hull himself. This wasn't just a rebellious lark anymore, and Rikish didn't like it.
The bell hanging from the door clattered and Rikish jumped, landing on his feet to face the intruders defensively.
"Relax," drawled the dark-haired mage. Rikish didn't relax. He only trusted the slight figure that huddled one pace behind this muscle-bound show off. He didn't know why Hull would trust the mage either, but that was Hull's business.
"Easy for you to say," snapped Rikish, indulging his irritation for a moment. Then he turned his entire attention towards Hull, who had come forward and thrown off his hood to face the Calormene.
"What's wrong?" the radical writer asked.
"We have a problem," said Rikish. The mage groaned.
"That's the second time we've heard that today," he muttered. Rikish glared at him, but Hull ignored the brutish fellow, so Rikish would too.
"You've heard about the enemy?" he asked. Hull nodded.
"You have more information?"
"Unfortunately," replied Rikish tersely. "We didn't have much information before, but he's definitely made himself known now. He was part of a Dark Guild—apparently—but guess which Dark Guild was found razed this morning?"
"Any survivors?" asked Hull grimly. Rikish didn't miss the way the writer gripped the counter tightly with one white-knuckled hand. He sighed; he had hoped he could deliver some better news to the writer, even if it did put them both in danger.
"No. Eyewitness reports are saying it was brutal. This guy's a freakin' psychopath, completely out of control. No one even knows what he wants, but he's heading toward Magnolia—fast. He was in down by the Calormen-Archenland border, but he'll be here within days."
"What are his abilities?" asked the mage. Rikish frowned. Hull turned to face the mage himself, shaking his head.
"I'll handle this," Rikish heard him murmur softly. The mage, who now had stripped off his shirt for no apparent reason, frowned as well, but he shut his mouth and gave Hull some space.
"He's right, though," said Hull, turning back to Rikish. "Are there any clear reports?"
"Just that he used some sort of fire magic," said Rikish. Hull cringed visibly, using both hands to support himself now.
"Anything…" the writer coughed, and the dark-haired one stirred uneasily in the corner. "Anything else? What about the guild? Who were they?"
"Cyanide Blossoms," said Rikish. "Do you know anything about them?" Hull nodded, coughing. The irritating one came forward this time, laying one hand on Hull's shoulder. Rikish took a step forward, but Hull just brushed off the hand and continued hoarsely.
"They've been in power since the war, and playing both sides. I believe they provided assassination support for the Aslanic faction in the House in return for funding, and Aslanic secrets to the Tashlanian church in return for the use of any new weapons that Archenland developed," he said wearily. "I've heard they were quite powerful. Even if it was an inside job…" he shook his head, and Rikish tapped his fingers nervously against his leg. This wasn't looking good, not at all.
GRAY
"Even if it was an inside job…" trailed off Jung, and Gray watched him nervously. He wasn't even sure whether Hull or Jung was in control. The logical train of thought seemed to indicate Hull, but the lack of coherency and display of physical weakness was much more consistent with Jung's character as of late. Perhaps the kid had managed to fuse both for the sake of the current predicament.
It was definitely a predicament. It seemed they would have to protect the larger population sooner rather than later, and the only way they could do so was to have Hull help rally them, and the only way to do that was to reaffirm Hull's reputation and quash any rumors that had sprung from the bombing this morning. Gray hovered a few paces behind the kid. He didn't doubt that Hull could do it and save the day…but he was worried about just how much energy Hull would pull out of Jung in return for services rendered.
His train of thought was broken by a slew of images, and he stiffened as he recognized Warren's presence in his mind.
"Natsu and Lucy," he said, not caring if the Calormene human made the connection to Fairy Tail or not. They were way past that. "They're at the scene of the bombing."
"What have they discovered?" asked the kid, turning to face him. His eyes were intently focused, indicating his complete shift of attention to the situation at hand. He had stood up straight, his shoulders set, and his face was stern. Well, that answered the question of who was in control at the moment.
"One second," Gray said, closing his eyes to decipher the message. "Warren can't connect to you directly! I had forgotten about that…but I think I can transmit the messages to you. This might hurt though, since you don't have magic." He opened his eyes to find the kid had already moved directly in front of him. Hull nodded sharply, and Gray cradled the kid's head gently, two fingers on either side of his warm brown eyes.
He took a deep breath. He had only had rudimentary training in this technique once from Warren, and he wasn't at all sure he was capable of delivering any message at all, let alone do so without hurting the kid terribly. He closed his eyes and focused his magic inwards, trying to remember the mental strategies, so different from his normal ice-make magic. It wasn't a specialized skill, by any means, but far subtler than the methods Gray was used to employing.
Ju—Hull—stiffened under Gray's hands. He was seeing something, that much was sure. Gray focused on the images coming from Warren.
"The dragon slayer identified traces of the primary incendiary element," murmured Hull. "It belongs to one of the Dark Guilds on the outskirts of town. They have definite ties to the Aslanic faction, ties even the public has caught rumor of. They were careless to use such a method; in their haste to discredit Hull, they have compromised their own operation."
Gray winced as images of Natsu's reaction started coming through, and Jung—Hull—whoever, pulled away with a swift intake of breath. Gray opened his eyes. The kid was hunched over, hands on knees. So much for attempting not to hurt him.
"I am unable to sustain the connection," Hull said, straightening slowly. "Was the Celestial mage able to use her connections within the newspaper office?"
Gray nodded as the last of the message came through.
"Yes. And the Master is using his influence to make sure her article goes out ASAP. The story will be out within the hour."
"You're working with Fairy Tail?" The young Calormene's voice somehow managed to convey incredulity and worry at the same time. "Isn't this going to put you in more danger?" Hull ignored the question entirely.
"Thank you for the information," he said stiffly, giving a slight bow to the Calormene. "I will have a trusted source deliver my pamphlets within a few hours. They must be copied and distributed immediately." Then he turned on his heel, pulling up his hood as he went. Gray followed in his wake, leaving the nervous Radical informer behind them.
LEVY
"Warren's on his way, and Hibiki will be here shortly," said the Master.
"About time," grunted Gajeel, and Levy gave him a frown. Everything was going according to the plan, even faster than they had expected.
"Everything's perfect so far," she said briskly, trying to reassure him.
"Don't jinx it, Shrimp," he warned ominously. "It's going too well. This isn't over, not by a long shot. Don't tell me you've forgotten about the great psychopath we just learned about." They were sitting in the main hall of the guild, along with most of the guild members, who were uncharacteristically silent as they waited for news, ready to support their nakama at a moment's notice.
"I haven't forgotten anything," said Levy indignantly. "I'm just saying that it's going well." She gave him a pointed glance, indicating the anxious faces around her. It wouldn't hurt to give everyone a morale boost, and vague warnings certainly weren't helping in that department.
"Too well," repeated Gajeel stubbornly. As if to back up his words, the Master stood abruptly. A new message from Warren was coming in.
"They've been attacked. Hull is hurt—and Happy, apparently," he reported. He opened his eyes and promptly began giving orders.
"Wendy and Charle, report to the apartment HQ. They'll need your help immediately; only minor injuries, but Hull needs to be intact. Erza, please go with them and help guard the perimeter. Natsu and Lucy are already there." Levy stood, ready to offer her help, before she remembered what she needed to do. She sat back down, running her hands through her tangled blue hair. Gajeel was right.
"You didn't actually jinx it," the dragonslayer in question muttered into her ear, and she jumped. He knew her far too well. "Don't worry about the bean kid—if Gray is there, whoever hurt the kid is long dead by now, and Gray is doing everything short of healing magic to help him. He'll be fine." Levy smiled weakly, reassured. She put her own small hand in Gajeel's for a moment, drawing strength from his presence.
As the guild doors slammed back to let a raging Titania out, a sparkling Hibiki slid in.
"Hibiki!" exclaimed Levy. She ran to meet him, Gajeel in her wake. The womanizer was (for once) not womanizing, taking in the situation with a worried glance.
"Go," said the Master, and the three ran out as well. As they drew closer to the courthouse, they were forced to slow down. Levy tried to bury her impatience, pasting a smile on her face. The streets were packed with people, a great many of which were clustered around the newspaper office where Lucy worked.
"HULL FRAMED BY TREACHEROUS HOUSE MEMBERS" Lucy read over someone's shoulder. She grinned wickedly. Lucy certainly knew how to whip up a crowd. That girl had serious writing skills; she had been able to get this article out, then make it to the HQ in the span of two hours. Her grin soon faded, however. Trying to make their way through the crowd was proving difficult, not without drawing attention to themselves.
If all these people were here when that psychopath showed up, they would have a whole city of messy casualties on their hands. They needed to get the proof that Hull needed, sooner rather than later.
JUNG
"I'm so sorry," Jung whispered, bowing towards a distraught Natsu. He winced as the movement aggravated the gash running up the side of his ribs and he stumbled.
"Sit down, idiot. You're losing too much blood," said Gray firmly. He sat Jung down in a kitchen chair, holding a cloth to the injury. Jung barely registered his own spasm of pain that resulted. His eyes were fixed on the blue Exceed on the table. While the winged cat wasn't bleeding, he was definitely out cold, and Natsu was not happy about it.
"I'm sorry," he muttered again. He'd know that this would happen. He'd known that people would get hurt. "I'm so sorry." Natsu didn't even bother to speak, merely giving Jung an accusatory glare before turning back to his friend. Jung shrunk away. They were all going to die at his hands.
"Jung," said Gray. "Look at me. Focus, OK? Happy's going to fine. He's just knocked out." Jung shook his head, grimacing as Gray put more pressure on the wound. They had met Natsu, Happy, and Lucy on the way back from Chake Coffee. The assailants, apparently made desperate by the recent news release, had attacked in broad daylight. Happy had taken Jung while the three mages made quick work of the attackers.
That, unfortunately, had been the point of the exercise. The diversion had held the three mages up just long enough for the spell to knock Happy out of the sky and send Jung right into the waiting knife blade of the second team. Jung was reasonably sure that both groups of assailants were now unable to move, if alive at all. But it had been all his fault, again. It always was. Just like when the sea ate one two brothers, it was all his fault.
"Jung! I need you to focus." Gray's voice was insistent, and Jung reluctantly opened his eyes to meet Gray's worried face.
"I'm here." A short bob of blue hair appeared swimmingly in front of Jung's vision and he blinked. He felt the familiar tug of magic, and the pain disappeared from his side. His vision didn't clear, though, even when he felt the magic release.
"He lost a lot of blood. Get some fluids and food in him," came the unfamiliar voice and the blue hair moved away. There was a lot of noise by the table, but Gray wouldn't let him look.
"Look at me, Jung. That's it. Drink this." He swallowed the water obediently and Gray's dark eyes came into focus. "There you go." Jung looked at Happy, who was now sitting up straight and chattering excitedly to Charle.
"How are you feeling?" asked Gray.
"Fine," said Jung, finding his voice and standing swiftly.
"Whoa there," said Gray, swiftly supporting him as he swayed on his feet once again. "You lost a lot of blood."
"I need to get pamphlets out," Jung ground out, standing determinedly. "They need to hear it from Hull himself."
"You can do that sitting down," retorted Gray, turning him back to the chair. Jung acquiesced reluctantly, drawing his paper and pen towards him with shaking hands. He started to write, but almost immediately turned to Gray.
"I can't focus when you're so close," he admitted in a whisper.
"Right, right," said Gray, smirking and winking at Jung. Jung just scowled, turning to his work with a rather vicious energy. He really needed to stop admitting weakness, turn everyone away…but it was Gray.
GAJEEL
"We're in!" announced Hibiki. Gajeel glared at him.
"Be louder, will ya? We're trying not to draw attention to ourselves." He turned away from the mage, who had started regaining that creepy Blue Pegasus enthusiasm. The courthouse was nearly deserted; all the government workers had their hands full with the bombing incident, for which Gajeel was thankful. They had been able to find a government MI lacryma fairly easily.
"Get started," he ordered gruffly. Hibiki saluted.
"What are we looking for though?" the mage asked a moment later, not looking up. "I can break in, but I need to know where to go from here."
"I'll connect to Gray," said Warren, speaking up for the first time. Gajeel eyed him carefully. The mage looked tired, but not exhausted. He'd be able to help for a long time yet. Gajeel let himself grin, just a little. Of course Warren would hold out—he was a member of Fairy Tail.
"You can't connect to Hull directly?" Gajeel asked a moment later. "That would make things faster, that's for sure."
"Hull doesn't have magic," explained Levy. "Besides, Warren has never met him."
"How is this supposed to work then?" grumbled Gajeel. "How did Bunny girl do it?"
"Gray is sending the images directly to Hull somehow," answered Levy. "I don't really understand how he's doing that, to be honest. Hull doesn't have magic, and Gray doesn't have telepathic magic."
"I taught him a little once," murmured Warren, his eyes fixed on the lacryma and his fingers to his temple. "It's a fairly rudimentary technique, but I'm surprised that Gray was able to connect as well. The two must have a connection of some sort." Gajeel wasn't given time to consider the implications of that statement, for Hibiki exclaimed (annoyingly loudly, as per the norm) a moment later.
"I'm in!" Hibiki was triumphant, hands manipulating a complex array over the lacryma keyboard. "What information do we need?" Gajeel turned to Warren.
"Well?"
"A moment…" said Warren. He shut his eyes tight in concentration. "OK. Three different groups of information. First: information about a fire manipulation mage who wiped out a Dark Guild called Cyanide Blossoms this morning. Second: any and all communication between the Tashlanian church and Archenland, especially dating from the Silent War. Third: Inter-House memos exchanged between House members, especially those with a suspected Aslanic connection. Focus on any communication relating to the bombing."
"That's it?" asked Gajeel skeptically. Well, that was a lot, but didn't the bean kid need more to overthrow the Paslan or whatever the hell he was going to do? He looked to Levy, but she shrugged and looked at Warren.
"…that's all he can do for now," said Warren, having apparently asked the question already. "That's all we have time for, I guess. His main goal…is trying to get everybody evacuated before this enemy shows up."
"Hikir," Hibiki piped up suddenly. "That's our psychopath."
"Hi-keer?" questioned Gajeel. "What kind of a name is that?"
"As compared to Gajeel?" asked Levy pointedly. "When will he be here, Hibiki?"
"Tomorrow. I need to download this information. With Gray's help, I might be able to place it in Jung's mind directly. In any case, there's too much information to transmit now. I'll download as much as I can, then I need to get to Gray and Hull." Gajeel sighed. This was getting more and more complicated by the minute. Getting Hibiki safely to the HQ was just another problem on top of the substantial heap of problems they already had.
HULL
…as you can see, all of us have been betrayed, not only by the churches, but by the very government that swore to protect us. Now we, the people of Magnolia especially, are the ones in danger as a result. Hikir is on his way here, destroying everything in his path.
I must urge every citizen to evacuate, and evacuate immediately. Hikir will reach Magnolia by tomorrow evening, and you do not want to be here when he does. Let me say again: this is the work of both the Aslanic faction within the House and the Tashlanian radicals. The Aslanic church has been bribing and corrupting officials behind a complacent Paslan's back. The Tashlanian church has been funding Archenland weapon development. Both sides have caused enough trouble on their own to bring about turmoil, but the two combined have brought about catastrophe.
The proof I have included is undeniable; you can see the government ID stamped clearly at the top of every document. First, despite the government's attempts to suppress the news, Hikir is most definitely on his way. He seems to have no other motive besides mindless destruction. The House has backed away, denying any claims and accusing me of causing 'panic.' Panic? Your very lives are at stake. You must leave, and you must do so now. The government integrated the North by force, did it not? Then let the government make use of it, and provide the people of Magnolia with some much-needed asylum.
Second, not only has the Aslanic church been funding the Dark Guilds that remain a persistent problem, but they have now resorted to brutal violence against their own members, simply to spread a rumor about me. Are we to remain passive and silent under such a government? I think not. Third, the Tashlanian church has largely absorbed almost every weapons manufacturing facility in the country. The weapons from the Silent War, fused with enough black magic to wipe out cities, have not been destroyed. No, they remain with the Tashlanian church, as you can see by the communication between the two parties.
We were in an age of peace, or so or government claimed. Did they get tired of the war that they started? It is almost certain that in 29 A.D., the Aslanic government killed 39 of their own civilians to jumpstart a war with Archenland, a war that killed thousands of soldiers and mages and lasted four long years. With this bloodshed as a precedent, it should not come as a surprise that they would turn upon the members of their own party. Peace? No. We have not been at peace since the mythical Golden Age of the four Kings and Queens. The government and the churches have ensured that Narnia has known nothing but war, and the government and churches have both prospered as a result. They see war as a profit, and care nothing for the people.
I must conclude by once again emphasizing the need to escape. Fairy Tail and Blue Pegasus guild members will assist you in this regard. For not only will you need protection from Dark Guilds, but perhaps from your own government as well. We cannot blame the Paslan—to do so would be like blaming a doll. The Paslan is a figurehead whom the people admire (or maybe now, admired), but he is relatively useless. The fight to save Magnolia and Narnia comes down to us, and your job is to escape. Get out now, while you can. I suggest the same to the few loyal House members. Let us hope that your services will be needed in the near future.
I will stay. I will fight the evil from all sides to the best of my ability. I ask for neither help nor advice. The guilds are acting of their own accord; I, as always, work alone. I will keep you informed. I will support what legitimacy remains within our constitutional monarchy. I will stand alone, if need be, and protect the people from all sides. The storm is coming. I suggest you prepare for it.