Chapter 3
"Dammit, these idiots from Fairy Tail have gone too far this time! They destroyed an entire port!" A large man dressed in robes shouted, agitated by the acts of the Fairy Tail Mages.
Currently, the Magic Council is having another one of their general meetings, their main discussion being what they consider to be one of their more considerable headaches, the exploits of Fairy Tail and the destruction that follows.
"What's the matter with these fools!? Can they not destroy anything!?" Another asked.
"You know, I'm quite fond of those dimwits and their lazy-faire attitude,'' a Bluehaired member admitted.
"Yes, although they may prove to be bothersome from time to time we all have to admit they are a powerful and needed group of individuals," A short older member agreed, followed by the majority of the council.
"How about we let them be for now," The blue haired council member said, "After all, imagine how dull this world would be without them."
"I concur, although there is another thing to bring up," A Dark purple haired council member said, gaining the attention of the floor. "Apparently along with the destroyed port, the army reported that they found a total of nine dead bodies recovered, five of which were cut down via a bladed weapon, two gunned, one who suffered severe third-degree burns, and one who drowned with a shattered nose."
"What!?" Another council member yelled.
"Did Dragneel do this!?" Another asked, remembering how he was the one who caused all the damages at Hargeon.
"No," The purple haired lady said calmly, "After the army interrogated one Bora the Prominence and his crew, they said that it was the work of another person?"
"Who was this third party member?" The blue haired council member asked with interest.
"I haven't got a name yet since the crew seemed to be a bit traumatized, but I did manage to get a description. Black hair, yellow eyes, a mask hiding his face, a purple cloak and two large revolvers holstered visible on his hips
The council put this into some thought, a bit uneasy at the idea of some rogue mage out of their reach and performing such actions.
'My my, seems things are starting to get interesting,' The blue haired council member thought with a smirk.
Magnolia fairy tail guild
After two days of nonstop running, yelling, and a complimentary face punch from Strife to Natsu, the gang found themselves reaching the edge of the city of Magnolia. It was a port city similar to Hargeon, though from looking at it you could see that it was much larger but quickly just as lovely.
"Wow," Lucy breathed out as she looked over the hill, changed out of her dress and into her regular day clothes.
Strife walked up next to her to see what she was looking at and saw what had to be Magnolia in all of its glory he whistled.
It was huge in his opinion and looked to be twice the size of Novigrad, with a large blue ocean behind it with the sun rising slowly above it causing the water to sparkle.
"Looks pretty," Strife commented, admiring the view he had seen better however. "Yeah, it looks amazing."The two stood there admiring the view before Natsu walked up in front of them with a smile on his face.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go!" Natsu said as he ran down the hill. "Aye!" Happy said as he flew next to his partner. "Huh? Hey, wait up!" Lucy said as she tried to catch up to them, followed by Arthur.
After running into the city, the first thing the gang did was stop by a nearby store to get Lucy some proper clothing, which conveniently happened to be the same clothes she wore back in charge, much to her pleasure, before eventually arriving at the Fairy Tail guildhall.
It was almost breathtaking. Compared to the other elegant buildings within the city, Fairy Tail was its small castle. It was three stories tall and made from finely masoned stone, and even had its towers. A couple of banners hung over the sizable welcoming oak wood doors, each coloured differently but all were carrying the same bold symbol of the Fairy Tail guild.
Arthur and Lucy stood there, the latter in awe as she looked up at the guild of her dreams. Arthur was a bit less ecstatic, but could not help but admire the building in front of him, seeing that a lot of love and care was put into this single place.
"So, whatcha guys think?" Pinkette asked. "It's beautiful!" Lucy said ecstatically. "I Have to admit, it is impressive," Strife agreed. "Well, you guys haven't seen anything yet!" Natsu declared, before walking up to the doors, and kicking them open.
"We're back!" He and Happy yelled in unison as the doors were now wide open. Everyone in the guild saw Natsu and Happy at the door and began to welcome him back.
"Yo!" Said one
"What's up!" Said another
"Welcome back!" A third said
Strife and Lucy walked into the building and were amazed there were so many members in Fairy Tail.
Then a slime man with dark hair that was pointing upward and had a rodent tooth shape for his upper central tooth spoke to Natsu, "There you go again making trouble. You destroyed half of Har-."
Soon the man was sent flying and crashed into a table. From his crash he destroyed the entire table with a few chairs with it. Natsu raised a fist into the air and shouted in anger, "The salamander info you gave was a lie, wasn't it Krov?!"
Krov got up with a pissed off tone, "How the hell would I know? All I did was just tell some rumors I heard that have been going around, you damn idiot!"
"What did you say?!" Natsu angrily demanded, "You wanna go?"
Soon the two began to fight each other around the guild causing everyone to be in a piss mood. Now every single member of the guild began fighting each other causing more damage than needed to.
Lucy was still in her happy, surprised mood, "Wow, I have actually made it to Fairy Tail!"
Strife however almost sweat dropped and softly muttered, "Natsu was right about being quite the crowd, hell their almost as rowdy as me and my sibling"
Then a spiky black haired teen with dark blue eyes got up revealing his dark blue Fairy Tail mark on his right pectoral muscle. He has a tight six pack with a necklace that is shaped like a sword with a stone in it and a metal bracelet and he was just wearing his boxer. The teen growled with rage, "Natsu is back?" He walked over to the fight while yelling, 'It is time that we finish what we started, Natsu!'
Then a brunette lady with brown eyes was looking over to the almost naked teen. She was wearing a few bracelets on each wrist, two bands on each of her upper arms, a blue bikini top, brown pants, and high heels. She finished her glass of wine before she spoke, "Gray, your clothes."
Gray turned around with a surprised pose, "oh crap when did this happen!", "how do you not realize when you strip?" Strife thought.
The lady sighed, "This is why all these men have no class." She then started to drink from a keg which caused Lucy to be extremely shocked.
Gray kicked a table and yelled to Natsu, "Let's do this!"
"Put on some damn clothes first!" Natsu yelled
"All this crying and whining before noon is not manly at all. What a bunch of babies!" Lucy turned to see who spoke and saw a tall muscular tan skin man with white waved spike up hair and dark eyes. He had a stitched scar running downward to the right from his right eye. He was wearing a dark blue Japanese high-school hooligan outfit with a kanji symbol behind his jacket. He raised one of his fists and shouted, "Real men talk with their fists!"
Strife thought he and war would get along well. Then Natsu and Gray turned to him and punched him into the air, "Stay out of this Elfman!"
"Man how noisy it is," said an orange-haired teen who was wearing clear sunglasses wearing a green coat with a wide collar and had white fur on it wrapping his arms around two hot chicks. He was wearing a light red t-shirt with a black skull that had a metal x on it while its mouth was open, black pants, and brown shoes. For jewelry he had three earrings on his left ear and a couple rings on his left hand. Then he was hit by a bottle and became angry. He got up and made a cool boy pose to the girls, "I'm going to mix it up just for you two."
The two girls answered him sweetly, "Good luck Loke."
Lucy turned to Strife and commented, "Man this guild is crazy don't you think Strife?" "You're telling me" he nodded to Lucy.
Then a sweet calm voice appeared behind them, "Welcome you two are you two here to join our guild?"
The two turned around to see a white long-haired girl with a small ponytail on her head in a red dress with a pink bow on the chest part and her waist and she was wearing high heels. She also had a pendant that had an oval blue gem around her neck. The gem's color matches the color of her eyes.
"It's Mirajane!" Lucy said in awe.
'That girl from the magazine?' Strife thought, he just thought those pictures were edited with magic but this girl was every bit as beautiful as in the picture. Damn.
"Yes, it's nice to meet you both. Are you two here to join Fairy Tail?" She asked with an ever so sweet smile.
"Oh, uh yes!" Lucy answered quickly, trying her best to regain her composure to make an excellent first impression.
"Really, oh that's fantastic, we're always happy to have new members join the guild!" Mira chirped, happy to have some new members join.
"Uh what about them?" Strife asked, Mira smiled and answered, "They're always like this. It is better to leave them alone besides," she then was hit by the thrown Elfman. She smiled happily while a huge bump appeared on her head, "Isn't it more fun like this?" Then she was knocked out from the crash.
Strife decided enough was enough and that this riot was getting a little too far, Though Mirajane said that they are usually like this, he cannot accept that an innocent member being hurt. He turned to the crowd, drawing redemption out of its holster and aimed carefully to the center of the crowd and was targeting the hardwood floor.
He fired his gun at the ground which caused a little explosion of wood and splinter, one shot could kill anyone giving it the right spot. Everyone turned to see who fired and saw Strife in a real piss mood. Everyone only sees those kinds of eyes from either the Master or Erza. Each of them gulped a little when he started to speak.
"I get that you people usually get into a row, but doing it where other members had no part of it is wrong. I may be a stranger to all of you and many of you might be thinking 'oh I shouldn't get involved' but when I see something like this happening" Strife gestured to Lucy reviving Mirajane "I know that things have gone too far and that it needs to be stopped. If you people have problems with each other, then settle it outside where there are no innocent people involved!. Got it? Don't make me make an example out of someone!"
The members watched him holster his gun and glare at them Intensely, "yes sir" each of them cowardly said, Mirajane got up and was impressed that the newcomer could silence the guild so easily without using the full power of his magic. Normally new members get into the fight and start beating any one they come across. She then looked at Happy who was quite shocked for some reasons. She kneeled down to him and rubbed his head, "What is wrong, Happy?"
"Strife is like Erza in every way except for not being serious all the time and he is a male." Happy replied. Mirajane gave Happy a confused expression, "Strife?"
Happy pointed at the masked man with the guns holstered on his hips "His name is Strife and want to be a member of our guild. Oh he is also a good swordsman and gunslinger and really strong like Erza."
Mirajane turned to him and saw his shiny blue eyes. She couldn't believe that Happy was saying that he was like Erza in some ways and he was on Erza's level of power. She walked over to him which caused Striffe's attention. She bowed her head with a smile, "Thank you for stopping the fight. My name is Mirajane Strauss. What is yours?"
"Strife and your welcome." Strife replied "That is an interesting name. I heard that you want to join our guild?" Mirajane said
"Yes me and Lucy were hoping to become members of your guild," he extended his hand to reveal the blonde who was waving her hand to them, "so what do we have to do in order to get in?"
"Oh so you want to join Fairy tail do ya" said an unknown voice to the two, "uh hello?" Strife said looking around but couldn't find the source, "down here" Strife looked down as told and found an old short man in an orange and blue jester outfit standing in front of them.
"Thank you for stopping the fight by the way" the old man said, "hello Master didn't see you there" Mira said, "wait a shorty like hims the master?" Strife asked, "yes that is correct" the master said then turned back to the crowd still slightly scared from Strife's speech and gunplay.
He then jumped onto the railing of an indoor balcony and tore them a new one, "You did it again, your brats!" The Master said as he took out a rather large stack of papers, "Look at this! Not even a month and already I have too many complaints from the Magic Council!"
The Master then flipped through the various sheets, calling out each person in the guild and listing off all the 'stupid shit' they had done, at least that's what it seemed, just was starting to wondering if this was the guild for him until the Master suddenly changed his tune.
"Honestly, do you all know what the things the Magic Council has to say about all of you?" Everyone in the guild looked down, a small bit of shame flowing through everyone, "But you know what?" The Master then burned the stack with his magic, before throwing it over the edge before it was gobbled up by Natsu. "I say screw the magic council! Who cares if those old farts think we're too wild! Never let them or anyone else tell you otherwise, cause we're Fairy Tail!".
"YAH!" Everyone yelled in agreement, Strife new he would like this guild that did not care for the words of the higher ups
As the cheering began to die down, the Master jumped down from his spot back onto the first floor, where he walked over to the two new arrivals. "Apologies for all that. Things tend to get more than a bit crazy," He began, "Anyway, I'm Master Makarov, the current Guildmaster of this place."
"It's nice to meet you," Lucy began with a bit of a stutter, "My name's Lucy, and this here's my friend Arthur." "So you're looking to join Fairy Tail, is that Right?" Makarov asked. "Y-yes, sir! It's always been my dream to join," Lucy said, praying to everything right now that she would be accepted.
Images of the many trials and challenges she would have to overcome plagued her mind. Just seeing Natsu and what he could do, only what possible tests must one go through to join such a prestigious gui- "Okay, welcome aboard." Makarov said "Eh?" Lucy went, stopping her train of thought.
"I said welcome aboard. We'd be happy to have you join," The tiny Master said casually with a small welcoming smile. "Seriously? That's it?" Strife asked, "No harsh trials? or challenges to overcome?, no initiation?, just like that?"
"Now why would we do such a thing like that?" Makarov asked, "Here at Fairy Tail we welcome all wizards, no matter what magic they use or how powerful they are. Our guild is not about just having the strongest wizards of all time, but about bringing individuals together in hopes to expand our family and help those individuals to realize their true potential and build bonds with one another."
"So that means-" Lucy asked with a girlish scream "That we'd be happy to welcome you to our guild!" The Master confirmed. Lucy let out a girlish scream and knelt to shake the small Master's hand rapidly while expressing her thanks over and over again. "So huh anyway, Master, can I talk to you about something in private?" Strife asked the old man.
Following the master through the guild, many members giving Strife weary but welcoming expressions, Strife was led into the Masters office with a large oak desk sitting in the middle of the room with a seat up front and a bookshelf on one side of the room, Strife sat down in the chair while the master hopped onto his own dress.
"So young man, what do you want to talk about?" Makarov asked, Strife jumped straight in and told him that he was a killer plane and simple as well as his three siblings, he explained that the four of them used to uphold the balance and law, until those they served grew corrupt, put his brother in chains for something he didn't do, nearly killed his sister, sent his brother on a wild goose chase and that he himself had been banished from his far-away land by a fellow wizard.
Strife's home was already a desolate kingdom now after a war from another nation, and that he had no way of going back, that he knew of, and many of the survivors were now being looked after by his Sister. Much of the information was true enough and after all the most believable lies were once with truth in them.
Makarov couldn't turn down grabbing the hand of a child in need and helping them to there feet, "i see Strife, i'm sorry to hear of your siblings, if you need help me and my guild will be here for you and i appreciate you telling the truth about yourself" Makarov said, "you sure you can trust me?" Strife asked, "Yes Strife, I can see it in your eyes, ' ' Makarov said.
"You have seen things in your life that would cause people to kill themselves, you have seen the true horror of destruction and will do anything to stop it, those eyes of your show that you will protect those you care about no matter the cost", "thank you Master" Strife said gratefully, "it is no trouble Strife now let's go introduce you to the rest of the guild." Makarov said.
Pretty soon they were standing on the upper floor of the guild and looked over the railing, "LISTEN UP YOU BRATS" Makarov yelled getting the entire guilds attention, "we have another new member today, how about that?, so let's welcome him in Fairy Tail Style". The entire guild gave a wild cheat, happy to have a new member, even if he had some traits that scared them a little.
Drinks were brought out along with food, all in double time no less as everyone was excited to welcome the new member of their family, Strife walked slightly gingerly down the stairs, "this is happening" he said, "not one for celebration?" Makarov asked, "not ones that I haven't crashed" Strife replied, causing a snigger from the master.
"Well this is how we do things in Fairy tail" Makarov said with pride, "now why don't you go get your guild mark I'm sure everyone's dying to meet you", "I might die myself if I don't get a drink first" Strife threatened, no really it was a threat, "that was a threat by the way" Strife clarified.
He got his drink and then went over to get his guild mark, Mira was waiting for him, "so where do you want your mark and what color ?" She asked, "just here and in purple please" Strife said pointing to the left side of his armored chest.
"Do you want to take your Armor off to get your guild mark in the same place?" Mira asked, "no thanks I don't really take my Armor off like at all" Stride said, "okay then" Mira said and simply stamped the purple mark on his Armor.
"Welcome to fairy tail" Mira said, "great now can I get another drink?" Strife asked, "of course" Mira said going to the kitchen while Strife sat at the bar.
Immediately he was bombarded with questions, "So what kind of magic do you use?" Asked a man with a pipe named Wakaba
"Why do you wear that Armor?" Asked someone in Aztec style clothes, this was Nab.
"Wanna join our team? We could use another gunslinger?" Asked a green haired cowgirl named Bisca with her partner Alzack, "Are you a man?" Asked Elfman, "Are you single?" A purple haired girl named Kinana asked
"Alright everyone, no need to crowd the guy," The Brunette from earlier called out, shooing away everyone crowding around since they were also in her 'drinking space'.
"Uh thanks' ' Strife said to the woman, "Don't worry about them. They just get excited when someone new joins. We rarely get a newbie in the guild, especially one so cute even with that mask," She said in a sultry tone.
"Now now Cana, no need to tease the new guy already," Mira said as she returned with a tray of food and drink.
"Come on now, Mira, I'm just making conversation," Cana said with a wave, "I just want to get to know the newbie a bit more.", "Hm, that was fast", Strife Commented as he saw the plate of food Mira brought.
"Well, it helps to be prepared when the guild gets like this," Mira said as she placed the tray in front of Strife, "I hope you enjoy it."
"Gladly," Strife said as dove right in, his mask had a special mechanism that allowed him to eat and drink through it. Not that a horseman needed to but it helped him blend in when he was watching over the humans for the council. "Damn, this is good."
While diving into his well-made meal, the Horseman soon realized something, or rather some people were missing. Taking a look around the hall, Strife noticed the absence of one dragonslayer and one blonde girl.
"Excuse me, Mira," Strife said, getting the barmaid's attention, "What happened to Lucy and Natsu?", "Oh, you weren't here since you were with the Master, but one of our own Macao went to go on a job and hasn't been back for a while. His son was starting to worry, so Natsu went to help and Lucy followed."
So they won't be back for a while then? That was the summary of it.
"Where'd they go?" Strife asked curiously "Over to Mt Hakabai far away from here. Don't worry, though. I'm sure they can handle whatever happens, especially Natsu knowing him."
"Well, if you say so," Strife said as he went back to his food, hoping that Lucy and Natsu would be okay as for Happy? Maybe.
While waiting for Lucy and Natsu to return from their little search and rescue, Strife got to meet everyone in the guild.
He already met Mira, the buxom barmaid/poster girl for the guild, as well as Cana, the luscious card mage and resident heavy drinker, who seemed always to have some heavy liquor nearby.
There was also Elfman, aka the white-haired male that was sent flying when he first arrived here, who strangely enough commented on him stopping the fight, saying it was 'A manly speech,' as well as having 'Manly armor and magic', whatever the hell that meant.
Then there was Team Shadowgear, made up of a bluenette bookworm named Levy, a fast speed mage named Jet, and a plant magic user by the name of Droy, who each welcomed the Horseman with open arms.
There were also plenty of other mages and staff who all came along trying to meet the new member, with a few of the ladies giving him bedroom eyes.
It was pleasant. Good food and drink, and an all-out pleasant atmosphere. Though he wishes they would tone down on the fight which happened to have gone down again about twenty or so minutes into it. He thought the Master would put a stop to it, but instead, he was on the bar drunk and seemed to be crying at his 'precious guild' being destroyed by a 'bunch of brats' as he put it.
Strife then broke up the fighting when Cana got hit in the forehead on accident, by shooting at the roof and demanded that they take the fighting outside, he had to often break up fights between War and Fury so breaking up a guild fight was nothing.
None less he could already tell that his time in this guild would be a memorable one for sure, but he had yet decided if those memories would be pleasant or not.
Hours passed, and the sun began to set as many of the guild members started to pack up and leave for the day, hoping to get some rest before coming back tomorrow and starting the new day.
Strife walked out of the hall and stretched his arms out with a small yawn, the festivities getting to him as well as the excellent food that Mira cooked up. She was one hell of a cook that was for sure, as everything she made seemed to taste better than the last.
Walking down the street, Strife saw the forms of Lucy and Natsu, making their way over to him. "Hey, Strife!" Lucy called out as she quickened her pace. "Hey, good to see you guys back. Are you all okay?"
"We're fine, thanks. Sorry we left without telling you, something came up," Lucy apologized, remembering how they just left him there at the guild.
"It's fine, Mira told me about it after I got done talking with the master."
"So you joined the guild?"Lucy asked, "hell yeah I did" Strife said showing the two his guild mark, "hey man welcome to the family" Natsu said, "family" Strife thought, the only family he had known were his siblings.
Perhaps he could think of this lot as cousins in a way.
"Well, I'm beat," Natsu said as he stretched his arms out, tired from all the excitement. "Aye, we should get home, Natsu," Happy said as he floated next to the pinkette.
"Yeah, you're right," Natsu said as he turned and began to walk away, "See you guys tomorrow!" He said before he and Happy ran off, Lucy and Arthur gave the duo a wave as they left.
"So, how'd the little search and rescue go?" Arthur asked as he walked up to the blonde while putting his gauntlet back on.
"It went well surprisingly," Lucy began, "We managed to find Macao after fighting a bunch of these Vulcan things, which he managed to destroy over nineteen before the last one used a Take Over spell on him."
"Take over?" Strife asked, unfamiliar with the term. "It's a type of magic which allows the user to take over someone's body," Lucy explained. "So like some sort of possession?" Strife asked, getting a nod from the blonde.
"Yeah, it's creepy," Lucy said with a sigh before looking over at the setting sun, "Shoot, it is getting late, and I don't have a place to stay."
"Well good luck finding somewhere to stay. I'm gonna go camp out somewhere" Strife said, "okay see you tomorrow" Lucy waved cheerily as Strife left.
That night
Strife had found himself a place to sleep in the woods, and he dreamt of that insect figure playing the spider web like a banjo again, this time the image was more clear, a skinny figure covered in a ragged robe and hood with 3 pairs of spider legs instead of arms.
But then it seemed to turn to him and Strife saw nothing under the hood but a bluish flame that moved like a mist inside it, and it hovered like a ghost as it had no human legs, "Strife…" said a voice and Strife instantly woke himself up and pointed redemption at whatever it was, "argh don't shoot?" it said covering its face for protection.
It was a Watcher, "uh i'm sorry what?" Strife asked as he studied the watcher, it was an unusual watcher, it or rather he was white and gold instead of the tradition black and blue, but he gonna be in a second if he didn't explain what the hell a watcher was doing watching him, "you working for the council?" Strife demanded not lowering his gun holding arm.
"No i work for Raziel he wanted me to help you in any way i can, after all he's doesn't want anyone to notice him and suspect somethings up" the Watcher said, "i'm pretty sure anyone would suspect somethings wrong when they realize a horsemans here" Strife countered, "true but i just do my job" the Watcher said.
Just then Huginn and Muninn flew down, "sounds like that idiot Natsu is trying to break into Lucy's home" the Watcher said, "you can understand them" Strife said, "of course it's one of the reasons i'm here" the Watcher said, "okay you can join me on the journey, but i'm not going to introduce you to Fairy Tail just yet, they might freak out a little" Strife said.
"Oh very well" the Watcher said as it disappeared, "golden Watchers" Strife chuckled, "what's next?"