Vali sighed, downing the rest of his drink as the guild hall once again descended into Chaos, bar stools and tables flying everywhere, people using the wooden seats as impromptu weapons to batter each other, magic shooting at one another, bodies being flung across the hall in every which was.
A couple months had passed since Vali's S-Class trial and honestly life had never been better, when it was announced that he, a 14 year old, had been made Fairy Tails newest S-Class people flocked to the guild, interviews flying much like it had been when Vali reveal his Sea God Slaying magic, except this time people were asking much more personal questions, trying to get to know Fairy Tails 'Seraphim'
'God I hate that nickname, I don't know much about the bible apart from the basic stuff but Seraphim's were angels weren't they? I'm literally a Pagan Demigod, they'd probably be insulted by me being called a Seraphim
Sighing once again Vali stood up, moving from the sofa on the second floor to look down at the raging guild hall as he leant over the bannister, surprisingly the instigators of this days brawl hadn't been Natsu and Gray but Erza and Mirajane, the two had as much of a rivalry as the two boys even if they completely denied it
'Honestly the hypocrisy is kinda funny, they'll scold or make fun of Natsu and Gray for fighting and then immediately go at it. Then again it is usually Mira who starts the fight, I kinda miss the quiet girl she was before, but eh, people change'
Pushing off the balcony he twisted his head to the S-Class exam board, unlike the one downstairs for the A-Class and below, the S-Class board looks extremely fancy, a large brown, decorative board that is set off into its own area of the hall, adorned by velvet curtains, which are tied with golden tassels, the S-Class requests are made with a special kind of paper, making the usually light brown paper a whiter colour
Tilting his head Vali debated taking one of the jobs, it had been a while since he took on a S-Class request so he might as well, plus he could take Erza on a S-Class so she can get some experience, no doubt in his mind that the slightly younger redhead would become S-Class Mage in the X780 Trial
Silently weighing his options Vali pushed himself forward, hands shooting into the pocket of his brand new hoodie - his last one being destroyed by that bastard Gildarts - as he walked over, the board currently held 5 requests, the lowest reward being the 7,000,000 Jewels to… destroy the moon?
'Lady Lianna won't be happy with that, wonder what the moon did to offend these people'
Scanning through the requests his eyes paused on the one furthest left, moving over he grabbed the request, pulling it down from the board as he scanned the request
Hitman.
An envoy from the country of Sin was targeted by a hitman from an assassination guild possibly located in the Capital City of Sin, Pride, or somewhere in Fiore. In the attack the Sin Envoy was killed alongside her guards from both Sin and Fiore
With the attack negotiations of alliance between Fiore and Sin have become tense and talk of War has started brewing, to prevent a potential war and establish peace, locate and take out the hitman, exposing the Hitman and their buyer for their injustice
Requester: Darton Frazer, Minister of Defence
Location: Mercurius Castle, Crocus
Reward: 8,000,000 Jewels
"What the- Why's this here, a request like this… it shouldn't be put around the guilds but contained in the Castle, what the fuck" Tightening his hold on the request he jogged over to the bannister, vaulting over it and down to the first floor, Vali's eyes widened slightly as he landed straight on one of his fellow guild members heads!
Ignoring the sudden 'attack' Vali stepped off his fellow mages downed body, eyes scanning the chaos to find the guild master, scowling slightly when he couldn't find him. Walking over to the bar he grabbed the attention of the waitress
"Where's Master Makarov?"
"Oh, Vali. Master's in Clover Town for the Guild Master Conference, why?"
"Shit." Slamming the request on the table he covered it with his hand, hiding the majority of the text as he did "You got a piece of paper, I'm taking this request. Oh, you wouldn't happen to know where Laxus is? I know Gildarts left a while ago?"
"No, Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe went on an A-Class this morning, sorry Vali" The barmaid didn't say anything about his frantic behaviour, simply grabbing a piece of paper and a pen, sliding it across to him, answering him as he wrote a quick note to the Master telling him to get in contact with the Magic Council and to see why the fuck this request was put out
"Give this to Master when he comes back, I don't know how long I'll be gone." The Barmaid nodded her head, grabbing the folded paper and tucking it into her pocket as he turned away, eyes latching onto a certain Redhead
"Erza!" Luckily the redhead heard him over the chaos in the guild, the actions of his fellow members quiet eerily reflecting his mood right now "Grab your shit and meet me at the Train Station as soon as possible, we're going on an S-Class, It's urgent to hurry."
The widening eyes of the girl and opening of her mouth probably meant she was trying to ask him something but Vali was already out of the door, rushing through Magnolia to get back to his apartment, throwing the door open he grabbed his Emergency Suitcase - filled with all the stuff he needs for impromptu quests like this, clothes, food for him, food for Raijin, a couple of med packs, the usually stuff.
"Raijin, come." He gave a sharp whistle as he rushed back out of his room, making sure to grab his headphones and storage lacrima as he did, the only sound telling him that Raijin heard him being the small boom of thunder as Raijin shot from his perch, landing with a loud 'caw' on his shoulder
Giving his pet/companion a small scratch under his chin Vali rushed down his stars and out of the building, dodging and weaving the civilians in the town as he rushed towards the Train Station just in time to see Erza arrive as well
"Vali! Can you actually tell me what's going on yet?"
"I'll tell you on the train"
"Private Room" Turning to one of the staff in the station he dropped a couple jewels into his hands, paying off the fare for an enclosed room before rushing towards the train, Erza following behind him, still completely shocked.
Once they were finally on the train and in the booth, their luggage tucked away above their seats, the curtains around them drawn completely ensuring complete privacy for the pair
"Are you finally going to explain Vali?" His partner's voice told him how irritated she was and if that didn't do it the twitching of her eyebrow certainly did, still she waited for him to completely settle before pressing him for answers
"Decided to look at the S-Class Missions when I saw this." Grabbing the paper he slid it across the desk, continued explaining as she read it over "A political envoy from Sin was killed and peace talks are going south so we've been asked to find and bring in the killer, the thing is-"
"This type of request shouldn't be given to the public and kept secret, so why is it in our guild" Luckily his partner immediately understood his rush, her body tensing in her seat, the paper that caused so much distress sitting innocently in the middle of the table
"Hey, no need to worry I've left a note for Master asking him to look into it." Reaching over he grabbed her hands, wrapping his slightly larger ones around her own, smiling lightly to try ease her tension
"For now we just need to get to Crocus and meet with Darton to find out what's going on, hopefully this can all be sorted quickly" Despite his words and smile a pit formed in his gut at those words, a sinking feeling that something wasn't going to go right
'God I hope I won't regret this'
-/-
The duo ended up trying to distract themselves from the potentially fatal meeting they're about to go on, Vali distracting Erza with the news of his up and coming album, even allowing the girl to listen to his new songs through his headphones as they rode the train, much like Levy the scarlet haired girl was thoroughly amazed by his voice, praising his singing ability and expressing her approval of his music as she did
'Who would've thought that Erza would be a fan of Panic! At The Disco, or would it be that she's a fan of Valentine Mizushima since I'm technically the creator of the song in the world? Eh, I'll stick with her liking the song over the singer for my own sanity's sake'
After listening to his songs a few times the redhead proposed a game of chess between the two which lasted a couple of hours right up until they were due to arrive at Crocus Train Station, a smug Erza walking alongside a grumbling Vali as she 'humbly' accepted her first victory over him in the board game
Before the two knew it they had wandered their way through Crocus, winding up standing outside of the Mercurius Castle where they were supposed to meet with their Requestor inside, after explaining quietly to a few Rune Knights who were even more on edge than normal Vali and Erza were quickly escorted inside the castle, being rushed through the castle until they were standing outside a pair of large dark oak doors, a quiet request form their escort to remain outside
The duo stood outside of the large oak doors in silence, the two men inside most likely whispering about the quest Vali and his redhaired partner had arrived for, eventually though the man returned, a slightly pale look on his face as he ushered the two of them in, sending a wary glance around the hallway just in case anyone was following behind them
'Not that they could, they'd have to be a master at suppressing their magic presence to escape me or have no magic at all and while it's definitely possible to have a magicless assassin… it's not likely'
The inside of the room was dark, the large window that sat behind who he could only assume to be the Minister of Defence being covered by large curtains, the fabric preventing most light from entering the room, the dark office of the man only being illuminated by candles he had lit along the walls, completely neglecting the Lighting lacrima implanted in the rooms ceiling
"I thank you for coming Asura, Titania." Vali raised an eyebrow at the titles handed to him and Erza, while his own was one that had definitely caught on quickly the title of Titania had only started coming up recently for Erza, when she becomes S-Class it might stick more but as of now it wasn't her 'official' alias
"I must thank you for your haste in answering my request, as unofficial as it is" That had Vali's eyebrow raising further, quests are only 'unofficial' if they weren't sorted by the Magic Council and put out
'Actually that makes sense, the Magic Council is slow and full of potential spies despite how much they wish to say it isn't, a request like this wouldn't stay quiet for long'
"I was more worried about the quest either being a fake of some kind so I rushed out as soon as possible, while Gildarts is out on a different S-Class and Laxus is taking a dismantling quest with the Thunder Legion I do hope that Erza and myself will be enough, the Titania is definitely S-Class material so we shouldn't face much trouble unless they're around Wizard Saint level" The Minister sighed, nodding his head in acceptance of his words, interlocking his fingers no his desk, eyes narrowing not in suspicion but in thought
"While I had indeed hoped for Gildarts Clive to accept my request or for yourself and Laxus Dreyer to arrive this will have to do, I only hope it'll be enough" Despite the words the man didn't mean it in a condescending way, more so he just seemed worried about what could go wrong.
Despite Fiore's neutral nature and Sins more isolated nature both countries have their share of people interested in a war with people willing to do anything for a quick profit, the fact that a hitman was hired only further shows that it was a third party who wants this war to happen, a war which neither country wants
"The request said that it was a hitman who killed the envoy and the guards, I take it that at least something was collected from the site." The old man nodded his head, reaching into a draw he pulled out a folder full of paper, a symbol on the front displaying half of the Fiore Emblem and the Sin Emblem, placing it on the table Vali took a step forward grabbing the folder and opening it
Inside the paper were reports of guards on duty - both Fiorian and Sinned - the route travelled, where the carriage was found, pictures of the scene, basically everything you could get from a crime scene report. One thing in particular stood out to Vali though, a picture taken of the carriage displayed something interesting
Narrowing his eyes, he flipped forwards a few pages trying to get a better look at the symbol before coming across of it, the symbol was simple in nature, a money bag with the symbol for Sin's currency labelled on it with multiple daggers sticking out of the bag, coins dripping from it
"Erza, this is a guild symbol" The redhead snapped to attention, stepping closer to him as he moved the folder, showing her the symbol. Like him the redhead narrowed her eyes, taking the folder from him to get a closer look, eyes clouding over for a minute as she tried to remember if she'd seen it before
"It's an Assassins guild for sure, none of the normal dark guilds would take a job like this, It's not Eisenwald or any of the Assassin Guilds I recognise though, so maybe it's from Sin?" Vali's eyes widened, snatching back the folder he looked over the symbol again, eyes widening as he made the connection
"Shit." turning to look at Darton, who remained silent until that point, sending him a concerned but aware look "Each of the main cities in Sin are named after the Seven Deadly sins and their towns and villages are typically named after emotions, if I had to guess from the symbol then we're dealing with a hitman from Greed City, maybe someplace else around it."
The three of them stood in silence, the information sinking in as they processed his words before Darton sat forward, a steel glint in his eyes as he leaned towards them from his chair
"I see… Valentine Mizushima, Erza Scarlet" The two of them came to attention instantly, backs straightening as they faced the man with calm faces "On behalf of the King and the Nation of Fiore will you venture to the country of Sin and dismantle the guild that attacked the Sinner Envoy, revealing the plot to dismantle the peace talks between Sin and Fiore, in response to this request the reward will be increased due to the international state of the mission request"
Vali sent a glance at Erza, the both of them stood silent, talking to each other with their eyes in face of the Minister's request. Neither of them were sure about the request, while it's not unusual for S-Class mages to dismantle dark guilds it's usually with a partner of S-Class material or a Group of A-Class mages, while Vali himself is S-Class he'd only wore the title for a couple of months and Erza was ready to become one it was still a daunting task
Despite this, they came to an agreement, nodding at one another Vali took a step forward, as the leader of their partnership and the higher ranking mage of the two he took control of the talk, like he had been doing since they entered the room
"On behalf of Fairy Tail we, Valentine Mizushima and Erza Scarlet, accept this quest" The older man let out a relieved sigh, relaxing in his chair almost immediately "We'll leave tomorrow morning, the quickest way there will be getting a boat to Minstrel and hoping on a train from Cadenza Town to somewhere south-east, we should be able to get on a boat to Sin from there, we'll spend the rest of today preparing unless there's anything else?"
"Your travel costs will be reimbursed by the Crown so don't worry about the cost so long as this is done as soon as possible, a guard will escort you to a hotel near the Castle who'll meet you tomorrow with a long distance communication lacrima. Thank you for doing this Asura, Titania, if there's anything we can do just let us know." Vali nodded his head as the Minister of Defence stood, pushing his hand out to Vali who reciprocate the gesture, shaking the mans hand with a firm grip
"As of now the only thing I can think of is informing our guild master that we'll be on a mission for a while, while I left a note explaining our disappearance It'll be relieving to know that he's been informed of the situation" The old man nodded his head as he sat down once again, with just a ew more words passing between them the two teenage mages left the room, a sigh escaping both of them as they shared a tired look
"Let's just get to the hotel and relax, I'll find a shop selling maps when we've got out room so we can make a proper plan" The red haired mage nodded her head confidently but Vali saw through her in an instant, reaching over he put his arm around her shoulder, ignoring the sudden tension as he brought her close to him in a hug
"Don't worry about it now, we have a lot of time before we make it to Sin which means a lot of time planning, by the time we're there we''ll be completely ready alright?"
As promised Vali had set out from their hotel to find a shop selling maps, he had quickly located a bookshop which he bought an Atlas from, taking the book to their hotel he invited Erza into his room for the night, the two of them going over the Atlas to find out more about the country they were about to… infiltrate
As Vali pointed out during their meeting with Darton the Cities and Towns were named after emotions with the main cities being named after the seven deadly sins, each city representing just what their name suggested
Pride City sat directly in the middle of the country, as the countries capital it's where the royal family live, not only that but it's typically the home of the higher class, filled with different companies it's the home of the wealthy
Greed City - their destination - is, ironically, the wealthiest part of the country, located at the east most part of the country, Greed City is filled with merchant guilds, shops, casinos and is all around the heart and soul of the economy in Sin. If you want to buy something you can find it in Greed City, if not in the legal stores then definitely in it's black market
Wrath City is the most militarised of the lot of them, filled with gyms, fighting guilds, dojo's, tournaments if you want to become stronger then finding a village or town around Wrath City is the lace to go if you can't fight your way into the city itself. It's typically where the soldiers are born, Capital One of Panem, The Saiyan Race from Dragon Ball Z, the Uchiha or Senju Clans from Naruto, you get the idea
Lust City is pretty self explanatory, kinda. Located at the Southernmost point of the country it's more than likely to be the first city they'll see in their travel. Lust City isn't just filled with prostitutes, strip clubs and brothels, no that's for the underground part of the coyote, the place where people can let loose outside of the 'city's watch', no Lust City is mainly a tourist attraction for Couples, filled with amusements parts, cafe's, dinners, hotels, etc
Gluttony City is located at the footsteps of the Lilith Mountain and is the place where all the big restaurants come from, you can't walk a foot down the street without seeing at least five restaurants or so the books says
Envy city is the place where models live, it's the Los Angeles of Sin, the place where all the big shots stay. Actors, Singers, Famous Mages, CEO's of billion Dragon companies live in this place, sitting on the coast between Sin and Desierto
Finally Sloth City is located between Sin and Enca, the place is basically the living district of the country, filled with houses and family restaurants it's also the biggest drug distributor in the continent, not that it's a public or 'real' thing, much like most of the underground stuff going on in Sin, even if it is true that basically everyone knows about it
The smaller places on the map weren't necessarily sins though, typically just negative emotions and their place name didn't really contribute to what the place is like, Hate Town, for example, creates and consumes the most alcohol in the country despite it being located near Wrath City and not Gluttony City
'Basically, unless it's the main cities, you can't judge a place by its name over there'
Sighing Vali reached into his bag, pulling out a small tub of berries as he began feeding Raijin, looking out the window of their train ride as it took them down to Hargeon town, glancing at the redhead across from him a smile slipped on his face
'Looks like it's just gonna be us for a while Erza so we should definitely make the most of it, hopefully nothing too bad will happen on this trip'
If anything, the sinking feeling in his stomach should have told him that he shouldn't have thought that and that Murphy was gonna have fun kicking his ass and then if that weren't enough then the suddenly crackling sky definitely should have.
Spoiler: It didn't.
Shorter chapter this time but it officially marks the beginning of the 'Seven Sins Arc'. I hope this chapter sets up the feel for how this arcs gonna go but if not then I hope the next chapter will, and because I know I'll get hate or questioned for a couple things let me explain:
1) That quest was sent out by Darton on behalf of the king, it was only sent to Fairy Tail in the hopes that Gildarts would take it and if not then Laxus and Vali could do it, as of now Fairy Tail is probably the top guild in the country with Phantom Lord coming in second - The Elemental Four and Gajeel probably aren't up to their canon strength yet.
2) It wasn't sent to the Magic Council because of spies and shit, they were worried that the issue would become global if they did so they sent it to a guild they trusted with power, the fact that Laxus and Gildarts were on a quest when Vali took it was chance
3) If none of that explains or clears up anything then fuck off, I really don't care. This is a fucking fictional world and while yes I do want things to be at least slightly realistic, if Acnologia can come along and eat time and space then Vali can become a ninja!
I hope I did a… decent job in explaining Sin right now, I did want to make the cities stereotypical for what a country named Sin would be like, this time instead of it being some fucked up land it's mainly just corrupt instead, the people there aren't all gonna be barbarians or whatever, they'll just be normal people like in Fiore.
Also, Fantasy world, so i don't care if it's 'not realistic' or something, you wanna know what's unrealistic? Natsu one punching a literal war god that can create valleys with a single swing of his sword but being unable to beat Erza who can probably cut a small trench or something
Oh, I decided to start writing small Oneshots at the end of each chapter to show Vali's Musical Career and origin as an Author kick off, his books and music will be referred to in the actual plot but him recording songs, publishing them, doing concerts, writing books and shit will be done mainly in small omakes.
So uhh, leave recommendations for what you'd like to see in them I guess?
Anyways,
Peace out!
Neo!
P.S. Darton is a real Character as well, I didn't just make him up, look him up on the Fairy Tail wiki if you want aha
Omake (Canon) - The Start of a Journey
"It's nice to finally meet you Valentine." Vali closed his eyes, rolling them behind his eyelids as he reached out and grabbed the older mans offered hand, a firm handshake lasting a few moments before Vali let go, dropping himself into the small one seater sofa chair with a grace he usually wouldn't bother keeping up
'Guess all those meetings with Master were useful for something after all, don't want to be like Natsu who doesn't even know common decency'
"A pleasure Mr. Silius" He put a polite smile on his face, ignoring the stars that entered the man's eyes at being recognised by the famous mage across from him even as he tried to hide his excitement and joy at seeing the Seraphim himself!
'God I hate that nickname, why do they keep calling me that! I don't even have wings!'
You see the reason why Vali was meeting with this man was simple. Around about a week after he passed his S-Class exam he was confronted by Levy - who had since woken up and celebrated his success with him - about finished his song with her, obviously he complied finishing the song and showing her the music
Deciding that then was as good a time as ever Vali asked her for some help in finding a good record label so he could put his music out there and get it fully produced and well, his Blue Haired friend was all for it, eventually word got out that Vali was looking for a place to record music and offers started flying in
As much as he hates his infamy he does see the uses of it, of course with dozens of offers coming in he and Levy enlisted the help of a couple their guild members to sort through them all and help him pick out the right one which is what led him here, to the 'Borealis Record Label'
After exchanging a few letters - which had been double checked multiple times by his Guild Master - they eventually set up a date for Vali to meet, with Vali departing on the train and heading to the Capital City of Fiore and the Flower Blooming Capital, Crocus, to meet with the head of the label
"In your letters you already said you have a few songs already written and ready to go, if you give me a moment we can head over to the booth where you can meet Lisa and can show us what you've got." Vali bobbed his head in agreement, taking a moment to glance around the room as the older man finished filling in some paperwork, slipping the letters in different folders and files
All in all it took them about 10 minutes to get everything sorted, Vali receiving a small tour around the building before eventually making it to the room where he exchanged a small greeting with Lisa - exasperatedly giving her an autograph - before getting himself set up in the booth, his Music Storage Lacrima getting attached to a small device somewhere in the room so they could all listen to the music he created at home
Slipping the headphones over his ears he approached the microphone, sighing to himself as he hyped himself up a bit, listening half-heartedly to Lisa as she explained what he needed to do, giving a small thumbs up when she asked if he was ready
"Which track do you want us to run Valentine?"
"Uhh, let's go with track 6"
Vali didn't receive any verbal confirmation, just watching through the glass as the young woman pressed a couple of things, giving him another thumbs up - which he replicated a moment later - to ask if he was ready
Play: Don't Threaten Me With A Good Time by Panic! At The Disco
"~Alright, alright
Alright, alright
Alright, alright, it's a Hell of a feeling though
It's a Hell of a feeling though
Alright, alright, it's a Hell of a feeling though
It's a Hell of a feeling though
Who are these people?
I just woke up in my underwear
No liquor left on the shelf
I should probably introduce myself
You shoulda' seen what I wore
I had a cane and a party hat
I was the king of this hologram
Where there's no such thing as getting out of hand
Memories tend to just pop up
Drunk pre-meds and some rubber gloves
Five-thousand people with designer drugs
Don't think I'll ever get enough
(Don't think I'll ever get enough)
Champagne, cocaine, gasoline
And most things in between
I roam the city in a shopping cart
A pack of camels and a smoke alarm
This night is heating up
Raise Hell and turn it up
Saying "If you go on, you might pass out in a drain pipe"
Oh yeah, don't threaten me with a good time
It's a Hell of a feeling though
It's a Hell of a feeling though
Alright, alright
It's a Hell of a feeling though
It's a Hell of a feeling though
What are these footprints?
They don't look very human-like
Now I wish that I could find my clothes
Bedsheets and a morning rose
I wanna wake up
Can't even tell if this is a dream
How did we end up in my neighbor's pool
Upside-down with a perfect view?
Bar to bar at the speed of sound
Fancy feet dancing through this town
Lost my mind in a wedding gown
Don't think I'll ever get it now
(Don't think I'll ever get it now)
Champagne, cocaine, gasoline
And most things in between
I roam the city in a shopping cart
A pack of camels and a smoke alarm
This night is heating up
Raise Hell and turn it up
Saying "If you go all out you might pass out in a drain pipe"
Oh yeah, don't threaten me with a good time
I'm a scholar and a gentleman
And I usually don't fall when I try to stand
I lost a bet to a guy in a Chiffon skirt
But I make these high heels work
I told you time and time again
I'm not as think as you drunk I am
And we all fell down
When the sun came up
I think we've had enough
Alright, alright, it's a Hell of a feeling though
It's a Hell of a feeling though
Alright, alright, it's a Hell of a feeling though
It's a Hell of a feeling though
Champagne, cocaine, gasoline
And most things in between
I roam the city in a shopping cart
A pack of camels and a smoke alarm
This night is heating up
Raise Hell and turn it up
Saying "If you go all out you might pass out in a drain pipe"
Oh yeah, don't threaten me with a good time"
The music cut out softly, ending the impromptu audition as Vali finished his song, taking the headphones off and opening his eyes as he turned to the only other people in the building, struggling to hide his smirk at the wide-eyed, shocked faces of both the older man and younger woman
Leaning into the microphone he asked a simple question
"So, whaddya think?"
Silence raised for a few moments as the man and woman broke out of their shock before finally Mr. Silius leaned over the desk, pressing down on the button that connected their speakers
"When do you sign?"
And that's the story of how Vali joined the music industry.