As the young man looked upon the Fairy Tail guild hall, a gust of wind would brush by him, bringing an uneasy feeling with it. Azrael would turn from the building and venture off to where he felt this unpleasant feeling beckoning him. A lightly armored gentleman from the Fairy Tail guild hall would notice Azrael's odd behavior and stealthily follow him.

Azrael would find himself in a dark, dead-end alley, discovering nothing but mud and wet garbage. Sighing, he would turn around to head back to Fairy Tail, only to spot a group of people blocking the way out of the alley. One of them, though it was dark, seemed familiar. Only when they spoke were Azrael's suspicions confirmed. "Oi, lookie what we have 'ere gents! It's that wind boy from Cloak's waterin' hole!" said the taller, more burly gentleman.

The burly man would approach, granting Azrael a better look at who he was speaking to, though he already knew who he was by his manner of speech. The man would push Azrael by his shoulder to knock him down. "You shocked me in the bar, that's fer sure, but I won't be caught off guard again, boy!" He stated with a hearty laugh before waving off his companions, "I'll handle 'im, boys. Y'all will get to see first-hand what happens when ya pick a fight with Cutthroat Dave! Up an' at 'em, wind boy!" The man would proceed to kick Azrael while he processed everything.

Azrael wasn't sure how he performed that feat in the bar in the first place, so his lack of confidence in taking on five at least adequately-skilled wizards was completely founded. He wasn't going to take a beating lying down however. He could feel energy swell inside him and began to focus. He wanted to take this man, Dave, by surprise, and hopefully by taking out the leader, the others would back down in tow. As Dave went to try kicking Azrael while he was down again, Azrael would take it full force, only to lift his arm under Dave's leg and shoot a strong wind blast from underneath the burly brute.

Dave would be sent flying in the air, Azrael feeling relieved that his plan of attack worked. This euphoria would only last for an instant, however, as Dave would reposition himself in mid-air and land on his feet, creating a man-sized crater in the ground underneath him. "I told ya before, didn't I..?" He growled, seeming to be even angrier than before, "Ain't a wizard in Magnolia that can scare me, you filthy runt!" Dave would rush Azrael at a speed that not even this young man would be able to keep up with and kicked him, sending Azrael crashing into a wall, cracking and breaking part of the foundation.

This throbbing sensation of pain lingered in Azrael's body, but that would only motivate him more. As Dave charged once more, a breeze would brush past Azrael, somehow… alerting him to his opponent's movement? Instinctually, Azrael would jump to the side and dodge Dave's attack, causing him to crash into the wall, instead. Knowing that would only stop him for a moment, Azrael would muster what power and focus he had to attack with a swift wind attack, creating what is essentially a blade of wind.

The wind blade would tear the burly man's skin open on his back, but didn't seem to go very deep, whatsoever. Dave would recollect himself and growl in anger, once more. "Ya know, boy… I was gonna let you outta here alive, but then you went and did somethin' like that…" Azrael could feel the man's power rise and noticed his body become significantly more rough, like his skin and hairs had become a hard surface. He would rush at Azrael at an even faster speed than before, but once again, Azrael could feel his movements in the wind and dodged his initial attack. Dave's knee would break through the wall, bursting into some poor person's home. An older couple would scream in horror as Dave shattered the wall to their home, taking him off guard for a moment.

Azrael would take full advantage of Dave's confusion to give himself at least a moment to think. He felt that he had a decent idea of how these wind abilities worked now, but knew he'd need a complex attack to take down this berserker. An idea suddenly came to mind, and Azrael knew exactly what he'd need to do in order to do it.

Azrael would begin swirling the wind around him once Dave snapped out of it. The burly man would chuckle, "What do ya think you're doin' there? Even if you focus all yer power into another one of those slashin' attacks, ain't nothin' gonna break through my defenses now!" He would proceed to charge full-speed towards Azrael, bringing a smile upon the young wizard's face.

Azrael would use a bit of the swirling wind to propel him into a front-flip over Dave's head, and then trap him in a spinning vacuum of wind, dust, and debris, ripping all the oxygen out from within. As Dave was caught off-guard, he would begin gasping for air as it was ripped away from him, until he passed out. Azrael would keep the vortex going, anger fueling his power to make sure Dave stayed down, only to be sucker-punched, quelling the wind vortex he had created.

"Right, there were more of you…" He groaned, wiping blood from his mouth as he picked himself up. Azrael would look to see who it was that sucker-punched him and only noticed one man. He would look behind this man to see where his comrades went, but only noticed four unconscious men laying in the alleyway. This obviously meant that this man didn't originally arrive with Dave and his group. The man extended a hand to Azrael. "One mustn't kill the murderer, lest they wish to become just like them. Keep that in mind, or you'll end up just like these thugs, alright?" He said with a calm tone.

Sensing that the man held no malice, Azrael would take his hand and be helped to his feet. Upon further inspection, he would notice that the man was in light armor that covered all but his head and hands. The man had red, wavy hair that spiked out in a few places as it trailed past his shoulders an inch or so. It felt as though his amber eyes pierced into Azrael's soul.

"If you're done admiring me, how about we take these men in for questioning?" He asked.

"And where would we take them in for questioning, might I ask? There's only two of us and five of them, either way. Taking them in would be a has-" Azrael was cut off as the man began to pick up two men and hoist them over one of his shoulders, on top of one another, and drag the other two by their collars. "Are you just going to stand there and gawk or do I have to carry you, too?"

Azrael would snap out of it and drag Dave by his collar, as he was a bit too heavy for him to carry normally. "So where are we taking them, then?" He asked the man, only to hear him sigh.

"A stranger comes in and saves you from not only a band of thugs, but from becoming just like them, and all you can do is ask me stupid questions?"

"I'm sorry!" Azrael apologized, "It's just… Thank you. My name is Azrael, what's your's? It'd be nice to know who so graciously saved my skin."

The man chuckled. "Smart ass…" He muttered, before stopping and turning his head towards Azrael. "The name's Kratos. Kratos Scarlet. I bear no ill will, I just want to bring these men in and ask them why they decided to cause trouble at our front doors."

"So you mean to say you're not alone?"

Kratos would grin and reveal a vibrant red brand on his right hand, before carrying on. "Of course I'm not alone! That would be boring!" He laughed, "Don't worry, I'll introduce you to some friends of mine once we're done with all the questioning and whatnot."

Azrael nodded and followed along. "So, could you tell me where we're going to question these guys and meet your friends or am I just supposed to act surprised when we get where we're going?"

"Relax. Where we're going to question these thugs and meet my friends are one and the same!"

"And where is that, exactly?" Azrael asked, growing tired of Kratos beating around the bush with his answers.

Kratos would smirk as they arrived in front of the big building that Azrael stood before all of the commotion. "Why, Fairy Tail's guild hall, of course!"

Author's Note:
Hey guys! Let me know what you guys thought of this chapter! The first couple of arcs will probably have the shortest chapters, but once the ball gets rolling, I plan to make them a bit longer and more story/action filled!

In the case of the Wayward Wizard arc, I planned to make each chapter have a good fill of action as that is what I'm best at writing. Let me know as we go through this arc which fight you like the best (obviously Azrael v Dave amirite?) If you're looking for romance, while this story won't be completely devoid of it, it's just not what I specialize in!

As for those of you who are iffy on this story having primarily OCs involved, rather than the main cast, please keep in mind the story's premise: This is more than a century in the future of the anime and manga. A lot of characters will be referenced from time to time and hell, some of these characters WILL show up, but it will be in due time!

But just for a teaser, the second major story arc will introduce one of the members of the Tenrou Team! Stay tuned and enjoy until then!