Of Jobbing, Shadows, and Job Shadowing

(Fairy Tail AU)

Chapter One: Out of the Clink, Into the Drink

The city of Era was a sprawling, bustling place, befitting of its title as the Magic Capital of Fiore. It was widely held to be true that all mages of means ought to make a trip to Era at least once in their career. This went doubly so for the Holder-type mages who relied on enchanted equipment, as Era was the hub through which all magical commerce inevitably flowed.

However thriving the city's markets might have been, however, even their impressiveness was surely dwarfed by the sprawling complex that towered over the town, looming atop a great stone hill and exuding an air that was equal parts ostentatious and ominous. Indeed, Era was not the Magic Capital for its commercial success alone, but so too for serving as the seat for Fiore's Magic Council. The Council, housed in a building that was palace and fortress alike, was the absolute authority when it came to matters of magic in the Kingdom, second only in breadth and influence to the King himself

Within that massive complex were a number of facilities, some extending even into the tower of bedrock below the surface. One such facility was the garrison of the Rune Knights, the Council's militia-cum-police force of trained battlemagi. Within this garrison, a man with untamed black hair was being escorted from his cell by a pair of Rune Knights, one male and one female. Each of them were clad in the teal, armored battle-robes and cowls of their station and both carried standard-issue enchanted spears. The silver-white ankh of the Magic Council stood out proudly on their cuirasses just as it served as the crossguards to their polearms.

The man between the knights couldn't have been further from them in appearance, clad in a nondescript grey jumpsuit and shackled hand and foot as he was. The only thing that remotely stood out about him were the stark white numbers sewn into the front and back of his jumpsuit.

116.

Despite the unkempt nature of his hair and the scruffy stubble on his chin, 116's eyes were unclouded. While all but the most basic of amenities had been denied him during his incarceration, he had caused no trouble and was thus treated with indifferent decency.

Whatever else one could say against the Rune Knights, even he had to admit they were a damn sight more professional than he'd be in their shoes. Hell, the only reason he was even shackled was because he was a dispeller, and they'd be brainless to leave his magic unsealed and lock him up behind a wall of Runes. Between that and his Shadow magic, he was lucky they'd let him stay in minimum security even after they'd slapped the Ethernano suppressing cuffs on him.

116 gave a small, bitter smile. It was better treatment than he deserved by half, after what he'd done. The massacre he'd been a single breath away from causing. If not for the words of a single, kindly old man, he'd have crossed a line that he'd have never been able to come back from.

The mage was torn from his spiral of self-impeachment when one of the two Rune Knights laid a firm hand on his shoulder. "We're here, 116. Go on in." The man of the duo had a soft voice, but one that carried a core of steel nonetheless. "The Captain has already finished your discharge paperwork, so this ought to be over and done with soon enough."

The other knight tapped the butt of her spear against the floor idly, adding, "For what it's worth, 116, you were the easiest prisoner I've ever had to deal with." She gave a shrug. "Keep your chin up and your nose clean; you'll be fine." The first knight nodded in wordless agreement with his partner's words.

116 gave a slight nod, muttering "Thanks." before pushing open the door in front of him and entering the room. It was a small office, so spartan that one could be forgiven for assuming it an interrogation chamber. A single metal table sat in the center of the room, flanked on either side by two unadorned metal chairs. The one to the far side of the table from his position was already occupied by a severe man clad in a white cloak and a much darker blue armored half-robe bearing the Council's ankh, as well as a pair of white greaves. A cowl was foregone in favor of an immaculately coiffed topknot of jet-black hair.

Lahar Guret, Captain of the 4th Custody Enforcement Unit of the Rune Knights, pushed his thin-rimmed spectacles up the bridge of his nose as he waved 116 to the empty chair, Once he'd been seated, the Captain tented his white-gloved hands and spoke, meeting the other man's eyes.

"Prisoner 116: Kageyama Chibana, age twenty-two. Former high-ranking member of the Dark Guild Eisenwald and direct subordinate to the still at-large A-Class criminal Shinigami Erigor. Charges included numerous counts of trespassing, grand larceny, assault, attempted murder, and of course, felonoius possession of the S-Class Cursed Artifact Codename: Lullaby." Lahar let out a sharp breath. "To your credit, during your stay here you have cooperated to the fullest extent required of you, and have furthermore been a model prisoner.

"However."

The Captain's gaze bored into his skull like spears of recrimination. "Even considering these factors, and the fact that you willingly surrendered yourself to capture, ordinarily you would not be released for another five years at the bare minimum."

Kageyama swallowed thickly, eyes wide. He opened his mouth to speak, to ask why, but no words came. Lahar, though, read the question straight from his face and continued.

"Fortunately for you, these are not normal circumstances." The Captain unfolded his hands and reached inside his cloak and produced a letter, sliding it across the table to the other man. The wax seal holding the envelope shut was broken, but Kageyama nonetheless immediately recognized the spiky, stylized fairy with a long, wavy tail.

"When a Wizard Saint pleads leniency," Lahar continued, "even the Council has to take notice, and thereby so do we."

It felt like the floor had dropped out from beneath him. The shackled mage's chest heaved as he opened the letter with shaky fingers and slowly read it.

'Old man…all of this...why? Why for someone like me?'

Tears poured down Kageyama's face as he grasped the letter like it was a ticket made of spun gold. His shoulders shook with silent sobs of gratitude and shame alike.

Lahar sat silently and politely averted his eyes with the casual calm of one accustomed to such outbursts.

After a few minutes, Kageyama managed to collect himself, taking the tissue Lahar had produced from somewhere on his person with a grateful nod.

The Captain, for his part, continued where he'd left off as though there had been no interruption. "Regardless of the particulars, the fact remains that you are being released. The only thing left to handle is your part of the paperwork, which ultimately amounts to me getting your signature once I have returned your personal belongings and given you the mandated per diem stipend."

As Lahar spoke, he got to his feet and walked around the side of the table, producing a small Lacrima crystal from within his cloak and waving it in a particular pattern. With a loud thunk, the shackles binding Kageyama's limbs and magic fell to the ground. The shadow mage rubbed at his wrists even as his hair stood on end from the rush of Ethernano finally being allowed to enter his body and refill his reserves.

While Kageyama was reacquainting himself with his magic, the Captain gathered up the shackles with a practiced ease. Lahar then made a particular hand gesture, opening a silvery-grey magic circle to his personal Requip space and shoved them through. Another gesture had a box dropping out of the same circle into his waiting hands, though he was quick to set it down in front of Kageyama.

"Please verify that all of your non-illicit personal possessions are present," Lahar recited placidly, setting a piece of parchment and a quill on the table beside the box, "then sign on the line indicated by the red checkmark." Once Kageyama had done just that, Lahar swapped the signed document for another, additionally setting down a thin envelope beside it.

Again the Captain mechanically spoke lines he'd given dozens of times before, exactly as he'd given them each time before. "Please verify that your stipend contains the mandated eight-thousand, five hundred Jewel, as well as a single ticket for the Fiore Intra-Kingdom Railway, valid for a one-way journey to any single station within the kingdom, then sign on the line indicated by the red checkmark.." Professional or not, it was difficult to not sound bored of such dull, repetitive lines.

Kageyama arched an eyebrow as he counted out the money. "Gotta admit, when I heard I was gettin' a stipend, I didn't expect this much. Could get at least a week or two's stay at a crap hotel with this, meals and all."

Lahar adjusted his glasses as he replied, "It is the policy of the Magic Council as well as that of the Royal Family that those who have served their sentences and been discharged from incarceration are provided with sufficient resources as to regain their footing in society before they are forced to provide for themselves."

Seeing that Kageyama had finished tallying the stipend and had signed the parchment, the Captain retrieved the document and placed it into his Requip space with the others. "After all," he continued, "if a former incarceree was forced to turn once more to crime because he was thrown back into the world with no support, that would be as though nothing at all had been accomplished with all the time, effort, and resources poured into rehabilitation."

"And this?" Kageyama waved the ticket back and forth. "Money I get, but a ticket like this ain't cheap, or essential."

Lahar's face took on a carefully neutral expression. "I could scarcely say. I could not speculate on the nature of that part of the stipend, and I certainly could not imply that the Magic Council has any ulterior motives regarding the continued presence of an ex-incarceree in Era."

Kageyama nodded slowly. "Well, if you can't speculate, I guess it'll have to be a mystery, huh?"

"Quite," Lahar replied, his glasses glinting as he readjusted them. "If you have no further questions, Mr. Chibana, I do believe that you are free to go."

"Actually…" Kageyama let out an embarrassed chuckle and pinched the collar of his jumpsuit between thumb and forefinger.

"Do you have somewhere I can change?"

-x-x-x-

Some thirty-odd minutes later, Kageyama found himself in the yard just outside the garrison, clad in far more comfortable attire. He'd managed to wrangle his hair into a ponytail after quite a bit of effort, though he knew he'd be needing to pick up some product once he'd gotten his hands on a source of income.

He felt like a new man, clad as he was in his usual attire of a pair of nondescript slacks and boots, maroon undershirt, and high-collared white coat. The coat had a symbol on the back that the clothier he'd bought it from assured him had meant "Shadow" in some dead language or another, but he'd never cared enough to check. He'd just bought it because he thought it looked cool. Hell, he still thought it looked cool.

Kageyama stuffed his hands in his pockets as he began the long trek down the fuckmassive hill that the stuffy old goats of the Council thought it would be a bright idea to build on. After a few moments, though, he stopped in his tracks and let out a laugh. He'd really been without his magic for too long if he'd forgotten such an obvious solution.

A dark grey magic circle appeared beneath his feet, and in the span of a few seconds, the dark-haired man had sunk into his own shadow. A couple dozen seconds passed, before he re-emerged from the shadows of an alleyway nearly half a kilometer away. Kageyama rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck, before exiting the alley and crossing the lane to Era's railway station.

He didn't know where he was gonna end up, but he could agree with the Council on one thing: he didn't want to be anywhere near Era right now.