AngelFaux: Thanks for the reviews. Since I couldn't reply in another way, here it is.

You do make a good point. The problem is that until Fairy tail 2014 ended, all the stuff I knew about the manga came from my little brother. Which basically adds up to little pieces from the newer arcs. But no, Hope's from the present. Endymion happened to land near the area where the dragon lived with Natsu after escaping Demon Fang and Igneel found him after sensing his magic. As I'm sure you can guess, I planned this story before the chapter about the 400 year plan came out. I had an idea about the dragons but it's still a work in progress. I'm going to have to change things up somewhat. I haven't gotten that far in planning the fic yet and honestly I'm a little worried about what will happen when I do get there. I will say that I've got a couple of my own arcs planned after Tartaros and they're going to affect what happens in the following canon arcs.

I'm going to introduce a character earlier than I originally intended but he fit in pretty well. I wanted to start the Edolas arc but I need to get this chapter out of the way first, it's a prelude to the next arc. It'll be the first one that I made up completely. For the record, it'll be called the Mystic Blessing arc.

Welp, now that that's sorted, here's chapter 29, everyone. Enjoy!


Hope, Endymion, Wendy and Carla arrived at a spot near the forest's end. The young dragon slayer looked around curiously, noticing the clearing ahead.

"Oh, this is where you train, Hope-san?"

"Yeah, it was the best place for us since I needed time to get used to Endymion's power. Natsu and the others got in this and now it's routine for all of us."

'Unfortunately, that comes with its own set of problems.' Endymion remarked, confusing the three.

But then they saw the blasts of fire and ice in the air before taking note of the two people who seemed to be arguing in the clearing.

"Ah, of course. Exhibit A." An exasperated Hope sighed. Usually, they wouldn't care but it looked like those two were just butting heads instead of working out.

Carla rolled her eyes and Wendy sweatdropped before the first said "It is good that this isn't happening in the guild but how do they find so many things to fight about?"

"Another question with no answer." Hope shrugged before the three walked to their friends.


"Would you stop that?! I need to concentrate!" Lucy snapped before she tried to get back to the exercise Capricorn showed her. It would help raise her magic power.

Happy merely continued to nibble on his fish, far too used to Natsu and Gray's behavior to really care. He perked up at the sight of the new arrivals, one in particular.

"Carla!" Hearts replaced his eyes for a second before he took a fish from his bag. "Would you like one?"

"No thanks." She replied in the same tone she used around him.

Erza approached them then "Oh, Wendy. So you want to join us?"

"Yeah, I want to learn more about my magic. Natsu-san offered to help me!"

Gray blinked "You're going to do what? You'll screw the kid over."

"No I won't!" Natsu growled. "I'm a better teacher than you'll ever be."

"Yeah, right! You got that backwards, moron!"

"Why you..."

Hope decided to tune them out "Lucy, can you help her with those exercises? It did us a world of good last time."

"Sure! Come on, Wendy." The girl joined the celestial mage. "Okay, first let's meditate. You just have to breathe in and out. It'll clear your mind..."

Erza smiled as she watched them for a few moments "Hope, why don't we have a little duel? It's been so long since the last time."

He blinked "? Sure, I guess."

"Seriously? We all know how that's going to end..." Happy never got to finish because Erza smacked him on the back of his head.

"We don't need the negative commentary again." She said with a pointed look.

Hope shook his head and picked the cat up "Did you have to do that? It's not like he's wrong."

"And that's exactly why." She responded. "Besides, the whole point of training is to learn and grow stronger. You've worked very hard and are improving quite clearly."

He smiled a bit "Thanks." Hope blinked when he saw her eyebrow twitch before she raised her voice. "Natsu, Gray. Enough! You need to get serious as well!"

"A-Aye!"

Hope just sighed and Happy rolled his eyes. Carla merely seemed unimpressed as she remarked "Let's just see how long they can last."

'I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.' Endymion said dryly.


And with that, the practice duel got under way. It was as fierce as the observers expected from the fighters' level. As Happy predicted, Erza had the upper hand, both more experienced and stronger than her opponent but Hope was no slouch. He tried his best to give her a run for her money and Erza was pleased to note how much better he had gotten since last time. He even managed to knock one of her swords out of hand at the end of the fight, surprising everyone including himself.

But then she found a chance to strike, pushing Hope back and making him lose his swords in return.

Hope stopped to catch his breath. Truthfully, he was a little disappointed by this but then he expected as much. "That's that...great as always, Erza."

She returned his smile "Well, thank you. Like I said you've gotten stronger so don't sell yourself short. Why don't we join Lucy and Wendy?"

"Okay..."

Natsu got bored quickly and left. He decided to take advantage of the situation and challenge Gray to a fight. Though he agreed, the annoyed ice mage scoffed and insulted Natsu, getting them both more than ready to fight.

Erza, who had quite enough at this point, slammed their heads together and made them hurry to start. The knight mage then decided to include Hope in the fight and he complied, seeing no reason not to.

"Try this, Ice Make: Cage!"

"Lame! Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Natsu smirked at his rival. "That all you got?"

"You wish, Ice Make: Lance!"

"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"

This was followed by an icy cannon from Gray and Natsu responded by using his signature roar to deal with it.

"They're even." Carla noted.

"Nothing new there." Happy blinked when the two stopped in their place. "What happened?"

Lucy had a good guess "The morons forgot about Hope."

Erza nodded, knowing that the templar had been behind that.

Hope gave his friends a look "Well since you've both gone that far, it's my turn. Prism Rain!"

He fired several bullets from his weapons which then broke, revealing several rays of light that rained down on them. As Natsu and Gray hurried to dodge or defend themselves, Hope struck again "Luminous Tornado!"

When they could move freely, the two prepared to attack. Both were surprised to find that Hope was gone, just noticing that their spells canceled each other.

"Thanks a lot, snow flake. This worked because you got in my way!"

"Really? I'd like to say the same to you!" They were hit by a couple of soild light bullets that hit with enough force to knock them down. "Jeez, Hope!"

"Hey, you're the ones ignoring me and forgetting the entire reason we're all here. Again. I'm just giving you a reason not to. You're making this so easy. Keep in mind that I held back and didn't do worse like Endymion asked me too."

Gray had to give him that one. The training routine had started with him and the girls at first, since they started it out with meditation and some exercises they took naturally to. Gray didn't so bad in those himself but there was the fact that he and Natsu clashed like always, he wasn't sure why himself sometimes.

This was another time he was thankful Hope didn't have a temper like Erza's, they would've been so much worse off if he did. He didn't think it was a good idea to push the boy further then they already had.

After that disaster of a first time here, it took them a while to convince Erza to let them come and that was after they assured that they would try harder and take the training seriously.

Heck of a good job they were doing, huh?

"Good point, that..." He relented. Judging by Natsu's silence, he might be coming to understand that too.

But it could be also because of the glare Erza was sending their way.

"...All right, lemme give this a try. Ice Make: Cold Excalibur."

A sword of ice appeared on Gray's hand then and he attacked Hope, who defend against the strike before he stepped up.

It looked like he disappeared. Then he appeared by Gray's left and sent him reeling with his sheathed sword.

"...Okay, what the heck was that?!" Happy wanted to know.

"It's a new spell I'm working on." Hope admitted. It needed him to surround himself with magic, so he did by taking advantage of the fact that his friends were entirely too concentrated on beating each other. "Silver Impulse is supposed to last for a while but it only works once every time with me."

"I couldn't see you at all! That's a work in progress?" Natsu asked, wide-eyed.

"Yup!"

He smirked "All right, this is getting interesting. Let's keep going!"


"Heeh, all that happened?" Rebecca tilted her head a little. "You think I can join you guys next time? I want to try."

"Sure, why not?" Lucy responded.

They were on a train heading to the destination of their next job. Rebecca had come along, deciding to help out. Gray had left with Team Shadow Gear after a bet he made with Jet earlier that day.

This let her take time to get to know the team some more and it was also when she was told about Endymion. To her credit, Rebecca took it rather well. Though she couldn't help but admit that she never thought such a thing was possible. Shrugging the thought off, she started treating Endymion like a friend.

"Still..." She glanced at Natsu, who was walking around the train. "...someone's excited, huh?"

"That's one part I didn't tell you. Dragon slayers get really motion sick for some reason, so Natsu's never really seen any transportation right before. Wendy's magic can fix his sense of equilibirum."

"Oh, cool!" She nodded, appreciating how useful the girl's powers were.

"There was a shard in the woodsea?" Erza repeated, surprised.

'There might have been.' Endymion informed. 'The pendant reacted again but it just stopped so quickly. I'm still not sure what to think of that.'

"That is strange..."

Hope turned to the door as it opened, revealing Natsu. "So, enjoyed your tour?"

"Meh, it was okay." He shrugged. "I still don't see what's so good about transportation. Can we go eat now?"

"After I explain more about the job." Lucy promised.

"Go ahead then."

And she did just that.

Recently, there had been a strange case of disappearances in some towns and cities. Some guilds worked on investigating this, with Fairy tail and Lamia Scale being the most recent. Alzack and Bisca had gone themselves and found the people after some effort. While this was good news, there was more to it. The people didn't remember anything, almost as if they had been sleeping before they vanished. Also they seemed rather tired and a number of them were understandably scared, so the mages helped calm them down.

Two odd things remained about this.

The first was powerful golems appearing in those same places and going on a rampage. They vanished without a trace too.

The second was the fact that every missing person was a mage.

The group was going to one of the cities where the golems appeared more than once to deal with the issue.

"I wonder why this happened..." Wendy trailed off.

"This all seems strange." Carla remarked, crossing her arms.

"Agreed, but that's why we're going. There's definitely more to this than meets the eye." Erza blinked at the odd sound that reached her ears, rolling her eyes when she knew what it was. "Natsu..."

"Hey, I can't help it! You're the one who insisted that we go early to make sure we don't miss the train. That's why I missed breakfast."

"Well, it's not like we can go about this with empty stomachs. Let's go." Rebecca chipped in helpfully, earning a grateful look from him.

"I'm still getting used to the fact that you're actually okay enough to eat on transportation." Hope remarked.

"That makes two of us. Wendy rocks!" Natsu grinned.


The city was mostly quiet, with the damage the golems caused clear for anyone to see. The incident was clearly fresh in people's minds and they were merely hoping they would be safe in their homes.

"Oh, you're from Fairy tail..." A merchant said, noticing the mark on Natsu's shoulder. "...Here to investigate those attacks, right?"

"Yeah, we want to stop them too while we're at it. Can you tell us anything you know?" Rebecca asked.

"Hm, let's see...well, a couple of the people are actually some of my regular customers. They couldn't remember anything like the rest, mind you. But one of them said she might have seen something, a pretty creepy house from her description. She was pretty out of it though, so we're not sure yet."

"Oh well, thanks."

"Sure, good..."

"Hey, old man, you mentioned Fairy tail?" A male voice as someone stepped up from the building next to the merchant's store.

The merchant blinked "Eh? Well, it's those kids..."

"Really?" The speaker came into light then. "So...oh!" A wide grin settled on his face when he saw the group. "Yo, guys!"

"Gildarts!" Natsu and Happy exclaimed, looking just as glad to see him.


Wendy looked confused "Who's your friend, Happy?"

"He's Gildarts, Fairy Tail's strongest mage!"

The merchant blinked "Oh, so he's one of you..."

The man smiled "Erza, Hope, been a while, huh?"

"Mmhm, you look well." The first replied while the latter smiled back.

"Yeah!" he looked at the newer girls. "I see we got some cute members here. Hey there, I'm Gildarts Clive."

Introductions followed this, with the new arrival admitting his surprise to see Carla, and they went to take some seats in the park.

Gildarts eyed the group with curiosity "Well, you guys got stronger. Nice."

"Hey, what do you expect? You've been gone for three years." Natsu grinned. "On that note, Fire Dragon's Crushing Fang!"

The newer members of Fairy tail freaked out when Gildarts punched him, slamming the dragon slayer into the ground.

"Whoa!"

Sighing, Hope cast Athena's veil on the teen as Endymion spoke 'Why you still keep doing that is completely beyond me, Natsu.'

Gildarts merely looked on, bemused. "Nice to se...ah, I mean hear from you, big guy."

'The same to you.' Endymion returned. 'What're you doing here?'

"Oh, I was actually heading back to Magnolia. But then I heard about those weird disappearances and attacks. I figured why not help if I can."

"That's totally like you." Hope remarked.

"Heh, guess so. That's one thing we have in common, huh?" He responded, ruffling his hair and getting a laugh out of him.

He leaned back "So, you all got room for one more?"

"Aye!" Happy chirped.

"All righty, let's get to work." Everyone agreed and they followed the man deeper into the city.


They tried talking to the merchant's regular customers only to learn that they definitely didn't remember a thing, only that they had awakened in a dark, bleary room with a lot of devices. But the machinery seemed to be far too damaged for anyone to know its purpose. The one thing the two seemed to agree on was that they had been invited somewhere, but they couldn't remember the place or the sender of the invitation.

"I don't know about you but it sounds like we just got a whole load of nothing." Lucy sighed.

"Just when I thought this couldn't be more confusing..." Gildarts scratched his head.

"So what do we do now?" Natsu asked the group.

"Well, that's the best is play it by the ear and see what happens." Erza replied and they headed to the inn.

Now that he had a chance, Gildarts decided to catch up with his guild mates "So how's everyone doing back home?"

"Pretty good! The guild got totaled so we rebuilt it, you wouldn't believe how much it changed." Happy told him.

This peaked his interest "Really now?"

"Aye, it was after the war..." So with some input from Erza and Endymion, he started telling the S-class mage about recent events.

"Oh, so you know how to make magic items like they sell in shops?" Natsu asked.

"Yeah, which reminds me...Hope, I know you asked for some lessons before but Gray said you know how to do it." Rebecca recalled.

"Not exactly, I only started learning to synthesize items recently. I just used basics and depended a lot on magic to make it work. It helped me shape the item last time." He explained.

"Wait, you can do that?" She blurted. "I know templars came up with some methods for synthesis but I never heard of this. Usually, using too much would just wreck the item."

"I wouldn't say it's a good thing. The ones I got right still fell apart after one use."

"Huh..." She thought this over. "...Okay, how about we start lessons after we get back?"

"That'd be great, thanks." Hope replied.

"This stuff sounds boring." Natsu remarked, looking between them."

Rebecca gave him an amused look "I thought you'd say that. There's a lot of details involved but it's also this stuff that would let me try to make something to help with your motion sickness."

This gained his interest at once "You can do that?!"

"I can try."

"That sounds awesome!"

"Wendy, you think Carla would like this fish?" Happy asked, producing the fish he had bought on their way here.

Glancing at her cat, who was currently talking to Erza "Well, she's a little picky but I don't think she likes raw fish."

"Oh! I'll keep that in mind."

"You're still at this?" Natsu asked.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Happy giving fish away?" Gildarts spoke before the cat could respond. That was quite a rare event as far as he knew.

Lucy snickered "Put simply, it's love at first sight."

"Ah." Gildarts grinned, noting the group's interactions with interest. "Didn't see that coming..."


The next morning came quickly and as the fairy tail team was about to leave the inn, they were surprised by the sound of screaming coming from outside.

"What's going on?"

Erza frowned "Don't tell me..."

Natsu scowled, having the same thought "Let's go!"


Four golems the color of marble were attacking the city. People were running everywhere, trying to get away as much as possible. Some of them had managed to keep calm enough to help others escape. But in all the chaos, no one noticed one of the golems firing a blast from its mouth towards them...

"Crushing Evil, Spreading the truth: Empyrean!"

The blast was stopped and the observers were shocked to see a man send one of the golems flying high with a single punch.

"You go, Gildarts!" Happy exclaimed.

Wendy stopped in her tracks "Amazing!"

"Get going already!" Carla told the observers irritably.

"Y-yeah, thanks!" A man replied before they started leaving.

Lucy grabbed one of her keys "Gate of the Golden Bull, I open thee! Taurus!"

The powerful bull came out of the light with a cocky grin, looking ready to battle. "Lucy-san, as always it's such a treat to see you!"

"Yeah, yeah, get serious would you!? We're in a battle!" She noticed Gildarts watching the scene with a bemused look and sighed. "Please don't ask."

Wendy and Carla had been flying above the enemies. The first told the former to let her down and she agreed. Wendy surprised her by taking advantage of her increased momentum and pushed one of the golems back with her newly learned Sky Dragon's Wing Attack.

"Good shot, Wendy! Fire Dragon's Storm!" At first it looked like he was using an Iron Fist but the flames were much stronger. The next second, a fierce stream of fire shot up and melted a hole in the golem his fellow dragon slayer had targeted. They followed it up with a couple of more spells to destroy it.

Lucy dodged the punch coming her way and bound the attacking golem's fist with her whip. She struggled to keep steady as the golem began to move.

"Sonic Wing!" Hope dashed out, using his new spell. He disappeared for a few moments and appeared before Lucy, who couldn't help but stare when the golem's arm broke apart in pieces. She only realized her friend sliced it when she saw his swords drawn, the blades shining with magic. Taurus, who had been trying to dodge the last golem in his haste to help his master, arrived in time to hack its other arm off.

The golem stepped back and prepared to fire a blast, but it was already vulnerable and this just made it easier. Taurus proceeded to make use of the chance by putting his power behind his next strike, creating a large scar in the golem's chest. Hope cast Star Gladius to finish it off.

"Thanks you two." Lucy turned to Hope. "I'm with Natsu, if this Silver Impulse is a work in progress then I want to see the end result." Hope just smiled in response.

Rebecca watched Erza square off against the golem in her Black Wing Armor, once again awed by the knight mage's strength. She acted when the golem stepped back "Cluster blast!"

A number of stones gathered around the golem before they shot at its head. But Rebecca wasn't done "For a follow up, Diamond Strike!"

A large opaque spear struck the golem's back, sending it reeling. Erza attacked then, destroying the golem with her powerful sword play.

She smiled at Rebecca "Nicely done."

The girl responded by giving her a thumbs up sign.

Gildarts watched this with a grin "Damn, I barely got to do a thing. Look how strong they've gotten."


Rebecca noticed a piece of what had been their enemies, looking in decent shape for the most part. "Hey, guys, do you think we can give this to the council?"

Happy perked up "Good idea, then maybe they can figure out who or what made those things."

"Okay, then..." She placed it in her pocket dimension.

"I didn't expect this job to be easy with how mysterious it all was, but we still never found a thing..." Carla mused.

Wendy nodded, frowning "I guess the best thing we can do is give them that piece and see what happens."

"We'll just have to play it by ear until then."


They went to check up on the people, only to be relieved that there hadn't much serious injuries. Wendy had been able to heal them quickly and the team debated their next step again.

Gildarts couldn't help but note that one of them had been too quiet. "What's up, Hope? I thought you'd at least try to help Wendy now."

"Oh, I guess I've been spacing out. Sorry..."

Wendy looked at him "It's okay. Gildarts-san is right though, something on your mind?"

"I've been thinking, those attacks are definitely weird." He began.

Natsu raised an eye "Yeah, you're going to have to be more specific, Hope. We already cleared that up."

Hope shook his head. "That's the thing...I don't think they're random. I checked the information about those attacks with Grandpa before we left. This is the third time they appear in the exact same place. For all their rampage, a lot of places were actually left aside. One of the citizens who talked to the council knights told me. With this attack, the only thing the targeted towns and cities have in common is that they have rich history or large stores of information."

Endymion's eyes narrowed as he caught on 'I see...you think the one pulling the strings here is looking for something.'

"And the golems were either a distraction or an attempt to destroy those places." Lucy added, placing a hand under her chin. Hope nodded to this. "Maybe they found what they wanted and let those things loose so no would find out what they're after..."

Carla crossed her arms "I suppose this is why the mage teams never found specific information when they rescued the people. Whoever is behind this is very careful, they ensured to clear everything up and disappear. That could be why the council didn't look as they should have into this mystery at first, this would help lower their guard."

"Wait but then, could the culprit be nearby?" Erza wondered.

"Let's find out." Natsu and Wendy shared a look and nodded before using their enhanced senses to see if they could find that person. Hope started using his scan to help.


This lead to them finding someone near the train station. They were standing in the shadows, and so no one could see their face. Green and black monstrous looking armor covered their body, with a broadsword strapped to the back. They could faintly see the form of a helmet near the shoulders.

"I'm surprised you found me. My little creations need some fine tuning, but you're not so bad, mages of Fairy Tail." The voice was a little distorted, so no one could discern the speaker's gender.

"Who are you?" Happy demanded.

The speaker chuckled "Do you think I'd tell so easily? You came this far, why don't you try and find out?"

Erza looked like she wanted to attack but then the person dropped something, and it released a blinding flash of light. When they could see again, the person was gone.


Happy sighed as he recalled this. They were heading back to Magnolia, having sent the golem piece with one of the citizens.

"I can't believe we were that close..."

"No use crying over spilled milk. We'll figure this out when we can." Gildarts shrugged.

"True but it is frustrating." Erza leaned back. "Come to think of it, we never did ask about your job. How did that go?"

"Ah, wait until we get home. I'll tell you all then."

'Just to clarify, you took that hundred year quest, right?' Endymion wanted to know.

"Yup, for now I'll just say that I ran into something I never would've expected."

"What's a hundred year quest?" Lucy wanted to know.

'They're extremely difficult jobs that could take that many years to finish.'

"Whoa..."

"I remember Natsu wanting to take one..." Happy trailed off.

Carla blinked "You what?"

He rolled his eyes "Big deal. I only asked because the ones we had were collecting dust. I didn't even know what it was but I bet I could do it!"

"You're not ready. Don't even think about it." Erza gave him a stern look that made him stiffen.

"A-aye..."

Gildarts chuckled "With how you've all grown, I can't wait to see the others."

"Well, you're in for some surprises." Hope informed.

"All the more better!"


Well, that's the end of that.

How was it? I just thought of introducing Gildarts when I planned the chapter. Sorry if it seems rushed but I couldn't think of anything else. Besides, I wanted to save any information I could have added for the arc I mentioned before. That's when I'll clear all the mystery.

Ever since I started writing this, the two most troublesome parts were Edolas and the 7 year gap. This is especially annoying because I've got a bunch of ideas for some of the other arcs, especially Tenrou and the Grand Magic Games, even Tartaros. I've got Edolas kind of figured out now but the time skip...I was thinking maybe I should just keep it the same since it's such a big deal and all but I'm still not sure. Do you think I should?

Thanks for reading the chapter and please review!