Darkness... was a scary thing to feel, to be surrounded by such a presence, but it yielded to the light just as well as that is what flooded Alex's vision before adjusting... to the radiant blue sky high above.
He blinked in recounting his previous moments, he was making a run to the local market for a gift for a close friend of his, it was... for a birthday party and the special guest wanted some chocolate chip, so Alex volunteered and got the goods, but someone was slow on the upkeep as they brought the guest out to pick her own chocolate, ignorant on the fact they were meant to be a surprise treat along with the cake, but then...
Yeah... there was something else, a semi that was out of control and just jumped the guard line for some reason, the guest had rushed to see the chocolate and Alex... he reacted in putting the bag into the child's arm and tossing her, just before the truck slammed into him...
'...I died...'
'...I... died...?" He sprung up with a yelp as his thoughts screeched so loud that he was scared of it bursting out.
'HOLY BANANAS, I DIED!' It was not a good idea as he flopped down with a splitting headache as he grumbled. "Darn it... my skull is pounding like a drum right now." He groaned with raising a hand to the sky and blinked.
"Hmm...?" It was not a bare hand, there was now a fingerless glove on his hand as he turned it about, the texture that of a fine leather, tailored and tampered, a number of runes embroidered along the wrist of the hem with a massive one on the back, looking rather familiar to him, but he couldn't plant his mind on what exactly it meant before he slowly got up to take in more of his appearance, still intact in contrast of getting hit by a truck a hundred times his weight.
A jerkin with runes along the shoulders and similar runes at the ribs, an overcoat with the large pockets runed as well, long jeans with no runes to speak of, and a pair of texan boots, his hand settling on a decent brown Stetson beside him and he planted it on his head before getting up, fully this time before taking in the town before him. IT looked like an average port town and had a decent amount of people about, but that made no sense.
So he took a breath and marched. "Heavens knows what's going on here..." He walked and joined the other people as he listened, anything telling of this place, Hargeon was the name and...
He froze before he ran it by him again. 'Hargeon... Hargeon...!' Oh sweet mercies above, please spare this poor and grieved man from...
"Salamander is in town and he is such a smooth talker!"
"I know, right! He is so suave and wonderful!"
Alex felt his eyes twitching before he lightly groaned in musing to himself. 'Of course...' He slipped into an alleyway before going through his pockets for anything. 'Come on, Come on! Give me something, anything!' He paused again before smacking his head. 'What am I doing!? This is Magic, it is based on me and my own thoughts!'
That is just confirming his theory, but he had to take it one step at a time before he tapped one of the runes on his gloves and felt his hand grip something before pulling out a... "Holy..." There was no way he just pulled a 'Peacemaker' Colt .45 Revolver from his hand as he put it back, the rune glowing as it took back the weapon, it clearly modified to be using magic in firing, not needing ammo for some reason, before he breathed in switching to one of the jerkin runes and tapping, the glow real as he pulled and... "Ah..."
Winchester M97...
Putting it back in, he started to take it more seriously. 'Okay, I am a walking arsenal... great...' He reached into one of the overcoat pocket, a chest pocket and pulled out... yep, those are Jewels alright, he stashing them back as he breathed. "I am in Fairy Tail... I am in Hargeon Town, of Fiore... inside the world of Fairy Tail..." He blinked before he reached into one of the inner pockets before pulling out a book, brow raised to the 'Runes and Meanings' title as he didn't feel it in the pocket, but it was a hefty book in hand as he cracked it open and read, instinct also reaching into the other pocket to pull out glasses, it magically let him read it all in the span of a minute before he closed it and breathed with stashing the things back in.
"Alright then, I have Storage Runes on my clothes, fine-tuned ones that activate to me, I am a walking arsenal with only the Peacemakers, if I am reading the Runes on the gloves right, using my magic while the others use up ammo channeled with the magic, my inner pockets have both supplies to get me on the right track and explosives and the breast pockets are loaded with a decent ten million Jewels, each in both and I am just at the point where Lucy drops by to pick up a key and look into the Fairy Tail Guild..." He breathed as he told himself this one thing. "This is fine..." He nodded his head before a vein popped and he exclaimed in disbelief, his strength flaring up. "THIS IS COMPLETE BULL!" He huffed before he blinking to the obsidian arm that just smashed through a wall and pulled it back to see it recede away to his own skin. '...TWO genres I got here, that was willpower, and a strong will do I have..." He went deeper and to the other side to take a look out, finding the fake and Lucy getting charmed before he focused, his eyes showing blue as he...
"Igneel!... Who the heck are you?"
"I am the great Salamander, here is my autograph!"
Alex blinked as he spoke. "What the...!?"
"Igneel!" Natsu burst to the center before deadpanning at the fake Salamander. "Who the heck are you?" The fake yelped, breaking the Charm on Lucy, before he introduced himself.
"I am the great Salamander, here is my autograph!" Alex deadpanned as well at Natsu's own acceptance of the signed piece before he breathed with rubbing his temples.
'Oh my gosh... I saw that coming and it happened within five seconds...!' He groaned before he shook his head and rolled his arms before he got up and took to the rooftops, looking for a large, four-story yacht that had 'prick' all over it before he found it, they were clearly keeping in tone with the harbor, but they were clearly of a darker nature before he beamed with adjusting the Stetson and leaping down, closing in on the ship before he leapt, landing on the side before he chuckled with reaching into the overcoat and planting some molded stones, each one labeled and enchanted to be a medium-duty explosive, so it was set that he was going to be an excellent Runes Master, he needed to experiment with the various elements to be sure what does work with him before he leapt off, landing on stone as no one else... seemed to him noticed to his confusion before he slipped into the alley again and pulled off the Stetson, looking inside to a deadpan frown at the Rune inside. 'Of course, the hat is also enchanted, 'Rune of Stealth'... That's a Rune that uses the shadows to hide me for a decent minute before warding off. That explains why no one else seemed to notice my bombs...'
He blinked before beaming. 'Oh... so they would look like hard-to-scrape barnacles before they go and that fake... that Bora will be trying to scramble in finding out what even happened before long...' He planted the hat back on and suddenly, everything started to fall into place... 'I am a gosh darn bounty hunter... Cool...'
Alex took the time to go over his rounds before the show started, the giggle was a clear sign before he smiled with aiming a pointer finger at the yacht. "Bang." With that, the ship blew up, the whole crew dropped in yelps and exclaims while the girls were snapped out of it right quick before Alex moved.
The first goon didn't see it coming when a stock slammed into his jaw as a teal magic sigil formed at the barrel before Alex smirked in firing, the round flying and slamming into another that quickly froze him before swept under with one-handing the shotgun, a light green magic sigil formed before he fired again, this time the shot blasting Bora into rolling and his coat shredded as Alex stepped forward with a flick of the hat. "You don't look like Salamander, the guy's got pink for hair, the Fairy Tail mark on his right shoulder, and is also accompanied by a blue cat that is still considered his kid from the past." He rested the barrel on his shoulder as he chuckled. "Now, Mr. Bora of Prominence, this is how this is going to work..." He shifted with blocking a wild punch before roundabout with a punch, checking the goon out before picking off three more with Fire rounds before spinning it and resting it on his shoulder again as he glanced to the blasted Bora.
"You are going to admit your crime, you are going to let these girls leave perfectly fine..." Bora glanced up to the barrel planting itself onto his forehead as the youth continued. "...And you are going to renounce being a Wizard, renegades and convicts don't get second chances in my books, so the better question is..." Alex smiled as he spoke. "Do ya feel lucky?" Alex kicked himself at what happened next.
Natsu barreled right on in, slamming into Alex yelling before Alex rolled with Bora somehow catching the shotgun and spoke with a smirk. "I am feeling lucky, see ya!" He fired and Alex flared with pushing Natsu out of the way, all agape at the intense fireball brought to a halt in midair as Alex smirked in his head while he bore a furious glare at the projectile.
'Telekinesis... Looks like I have a handle on that right quick...!' He shot it up before grabbing Natsu and shouting. "You darn flame lizard, eat your fill!" Empowering his arm, he hurled Natsu right at the fireball before he dashed right into Bora, drilling a kick into his neck and snatching the shotgun back before, using the same left hand in hurling Natsu, he hurled Bora into the air as well. "You want to be Salamander!? Then do us a favor and meet the real Salamander of Fairy Tail!" Once more, there goes someone into the waning sky and Natsu easily consumed the Fireball before he adjusting in seeing another person flying right at him and delivering him justice.
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Bora couldn't avoid the attack as it plowed right into his face and both came as a fast projectile before the impact erupted, taking out a decent amount of stone before Natsu ran for it with Lucy in hand, the Rune Knights rushing past as Alex peered out and smiled, having slipped into one of the alleys to hide out and blend in before he emerged from the town on another side of it.
'Leave it to that numbskull to cause a scene, but less of the town was wrecked in the aftermath, so no real harm done, now...' Alex hummed as he rubbed his chin in thought. "What should I do, I could just go wandering for adventure, I could stick around here and protect it a bit easier, or I could join a guild to get proper requests...' That opened up a world of possibilities for him to think on, if he wandered, then he could settle some requests before any of the guilds could handle them...
No, that was terrible, finishing the requests would draw attention and he was not a registered member, so it would be considered being a rogue in the system, not a good plan if he wanted the Rune Knights to leave him be.
What about sticking around Hargeon, that could work and he could get a bit of work with...
No, still unregistered wizard and he couldn't just do that without drawing some more ire his way in the Council or otherwise, business would not accept him around if what happened this night was any sign of his workmanship.
He hummed in thinking a bit more before he mentally gave in with the Guild idea and started to list through the available Guilds to use...
Mermaid Heel... Female-only, no go.
Cait Sith... Need to find that and otherwise be dragged into a real headache, denied.
Blue Pegasus... MEN! 'nough said
Lamia Scale... Could do that, but not with some spin-obsessed 'maiden', so no go.
Quadro Puppy... Loud, rampant, and booze'd, a waste of Jewels.
Phantom Lord... Wide-spread and could work with that, but the guild master is nuts in rivalry, fat goose egg.
Fairy Tail... Loud to a limit, honest endlessly, noble in their goal, and consider each other family...
'Okay... Fairy Tail it is...' He looked up to scale up the building to see that Natsu had a head-start on getting back to Magnolia, he could catch up, but that would take a few hours of doing so and avoiding the army. A screech above drew his attention and he yelped as something just slammed into the roof with a landing and he looked to find a large drake that eyed him before bending forward and lowering itself to the saddle on its back before Alex spoke with pointing. "Another one of my 'bonuses' in this world?"
The creature bobbed its head as Alex breathed with a smile before he mounted up and patted the draconic creature on the neck and rubbed its head when it glanced to him. "Just another day in the world of Magic, I guess." He took the reins and the drake took flight, soaring high above to avoid giving the members below a chance to see them...
It was brief, just a second, but Natsu, pausing for a second, smelled in the air the scent of a dragon or something close to a dragon. He didn't know what it was nor why it would be hovering near Hargeon Town toward the end of his search into the fake Salamander, but the scent had shift, it changed from being downwind of him, Happy, and the newly-found Laffy to upwind of them, heading for Magnolia.
He didn't mind waiting up for the other two, if that creature that he smelled was heading for Magnolia, then they had all of the chance to find out what it could be when they returned to Fairy Tail...