Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail
It took three whole days before everyone gathered together, with Mirajane's group being the slowest. In the meantime, I told Meredy and Jellal the results of Natsu's tour to deal with the extra waiting time. Now, we were gathered back in Master Makarov's office, which somehow managed to accumulate even more clutter, making a meeting between six people seem more like canned food factory. The one taking control, is of course, the elder sitting behind his desk.
"I'm glad you two returned safely," Master Makarov said, "I was starting to worry, are you sure you don't want a day first?"
"We're fine, we just followed a lead that didn't get anywhere." Mirajane answered for the two. "Please start."
Jellal cut in, "I'll start with what I've found. If you've found the same information, just omit it." We all nodded. "I went to Edelweiss mines," flashing a look at Erza, only receiving a shrug, "unfortunately, I didn't find too much useful information. They call themselves Rectifiers, a dark guild formed not too long ago. However, they are gathering members at a scary pace. I couldn't find the exact figures, the one I interrogated taunted me about it. He said that his guild doubled in size within two weeks. That does give us an idea on the forces we're going to be dealing with.
"Mining has accelerated, though while the lacrimas are being transported, they get raided, that's how they levy lacrimas from governed mines. I have no idea where they are taking them however."
"In that case, I'll go next." I suggested. Getting no opposition, I spoke my mind. "The mountain also didn't yield much, I know they plan on transporting everything to Westpine. And in two weeks their next phase starts. While it might be a stretch, we can say that Westpine is their base, or at least a crucial place in their plans."
Through the meeting, we managed to find a few things:
1. We have about two weeks until their next phase
2. We need to act fast or numbers will overwhelm us
3. After Fairy Tail, they'll be going for Saber Tooth, until, all the major guilds are taken down
4. The leader is someone called Kent, a former member of Morning Griffon
5. Their base is in Westpine.
"Thank you all for helping us, we'll take the rest from here." Jellal said.
"You can't expect us to bail out after what you told us," Erza interjected, "we're going to see this through to the end." Pain was evident in Jellal's eyes, one that was gone in a flash, taken over by a sigh and eyes that held annoyance.
"I already told you, let us handle it. Why can't you understand this?" My teammate held his head and stared at Erza. Seeing that this conversation could easily devolve into an hour-long argument—the kind that doesn't go anywhere—I stepped in.
"Jellal, now isn't the time for this." I placed a hand on his shoulder.
Thankfully, I wasn't alone, "She's right," The Guild Master said, "the truth is that these idiots are after Fairy Tail, I'm not about to sit here and let people knock down my family without doing anything. I appreciate your reasonings, but I'm not so frail as to let someone else take care of guild problems." Seeing that Erza's victorious smirk wasn't helping in easing Jellal's nerves, I hoped changing the subject would give him some breathing room.
"In this case, attacking their base at once would be more effective, how much time would you like to prepare? Us three are always ready, we've done this for years now, raiding a base at a moments notice is no less foreign to us than our own magic."
"Sorry for having you to match with us," Master Makarov closed his eyes, humming slowly, "I think I can get a few teams ready by next week." I was hoping for two days, not seven. I hid my gripes and nodded. "Would it be fine if I send three teams of three?"
"I don't mind but, I'd prefer not to have members that aren't too destructive. If they are transporting incredible amounts of lacrima, having volatile people in this mission would be dangerous." The last thing I want is to have an entire building collapse on us because of a moron that doesn't know self-restraint. "One more thing, I want them to follow our lead, we have more experience in these kinds of things, so if you're sending out three teams, would it be fine with you if we're leading one team each?"
"That's fine by me, in fact, why don't you pick out the people you want?"
"A tempting offer." Being able to create a squad to complement mine own weaknesses or fill it with utility would be fantastic. "However, I don't know your members well enough, it'll be best if we leave it up to you." More than anything, having good teamwork is more crucial than anything I could come up with.
"Come back in three days, I'll have your team members in that time."
"Any complaints?" I looked to Jellal, who's just resigned to his fate, you can tell from his slouched shoulders, hesitation to face anyone in the eye or just the lack of vocalisation from him.
"You don't need to ask me, do you?" A dry, low tone answered back. If you don't know him as well, one would think that sound is coming from hate. But no, he's sulking, much like how a child would if he didn't get his way.
"Meredy?"
"None." She replied. We put back on our disguise; I dragged Jellal by the arm; Meredy gathered up her notes.
"Thank you again for helping us, we'll see you in three days." Giving our final comment, we left to join a loud environment. "Since we're going to be in-charge of a team each, we can be a bit more flexible compared to our three-person raids. So how about this, we'll have one team cause a distraction, once most combat forces are drawn away, we'll have another team round up the leaders while our final team would make sure they can't use the lacrimas in the fight."
"Then who is doing what?" Meredy asked.
"We can have the strongest team cause the distraction." Jellal stepped in, snapping back to his old self. "Ultear, you'll go take care of the lacrima, your magic can be used more defensively. Either I or Meredy can swap roles." I nodded to his plans and Meredy didn't seem to have anything else to add; battling a lot of people is always a pain, seemly endless bodies coming after you are the worst. I wish our planning were this smooth when we first started out, disagreements were flying across the room, scaring our other members in the process.
"We'll go with that."
"I just hope Master Makarov doesn't include Erza in this."
I delivered a quick chop to Jellal's head. "You can be so overprotective sometimes."
"I don't want to hear that from you." He mumbled, eyeing Meredy.
"At least I'm trying to cut back. You, on the other hand, didn't learned a thing." I pushed opened the guild doors.
"Leave him alone," Meredy said, deciding to defend him, "there's nothing that he can do about it now. Even if he could, he would just bend to Erza's will."
"Speaking of which, I didn't take you as a pushover Jellal, why are never that like a puppet when dealing with us?" I put on a grin. "Are you suddenly a kid trying to get the attention of his crush in any way possible?"
"It's nothing like that." Jellal slowed down his steps, "I've caused her so much trouble and pain in past, it's another part of redeeming myself. I'm determined to set things right." And there it is; he's possibly the only one that can surpass me in this journey of redemption—in terms of being stubborn.
"And when will that be?" I threw back, getting rid of all joking.
"I don't know…" one step, "I guess…" another, "until she finds happiness." He looked back at the guild building for a second, then sped up pace for the lost time.
"That won't happen." He stopped. "You know a part of her grieve is that you're still in pain— still fighting. She hides it well but, you know this. As long as you're with us, she won't be fully satisfied. You already know the answer, she worries for her friends."
"Are you trying to get rid of me?"
"Not in the slightest. I'm just reminding you, once you're in peace, she will too."
"I know." Jellal turned back on me with a wry smile. "In some regards, Meredy is like Erza."
I returned the look. "Yeah." Her form of happiness is my happiness. We know when they'll be at peace. For us; we have no clue. Until we find out, we'll keep fighting.
It was time for us to meet our temporary teammates. The three-day wait was hard on us, me especially, I had to hold in my urge to head out ahead of schedule while suppressing Jellal's too. Meredy was the final leash to our original plans, she's always been the support for the two of us. I'm not sure how useful the support will end up being. Everything was under wraps essentially, I didn't know who they are, what skills they have, the amount of experience they have in covert operations that can easily translate to full-on assaults, all I can do is believe in the Guild Master's opinions. That being said, while I do respect the Guild Master, that doesn't lift the heavy feeling I have. I was wearing casual clothes, just a white shirt and a pair of jeans. For the actual trip, I'm going for darker clothing. We'll arrive at Westpine in the evening where we'll wait until night before our mission starts. Honestly, all this waiting around is killing me. Jellal does have a few points in being quicker, hence why we are bringing in more people to counteract the increasing number of people.
We arrived early in terms of the guild's schedule—nine o'clock exactly. I could see much fewer people in the guild, which made finding a tiny old man that much easier. He was sitting at the back, holding a frown that held a bit of worry. Beside him were people I've seen before, most had their strengths not in power, but flexibility. And like he said, our new team members stood in groups of three.
"You're here," the elder jumped off his seat, "though I'm sure know who these people are, I'll have them introduce themselves anyway." He said, taking into account for our disguises.
The group on the right stepped forward, consisting of Lisanna, Wendy and Levy. "I'm Lisanna Strauss, look forward to working with you!"
"W—wendy Marvell, please go easy on me!" The Dragon Slayer added with a bow.
"Levy McGarden here, though you three already know who I am."
Then the group in the middle stepped forward, more familiar faces, one in particular—armour clinking with each step—triggered Jellal's worry switch. "Erza Scarlet," she crossed her arms, "you don't have to worry a thing when I'm here." She made eye contact with Jellal, smirked, and left the rest to her teammates. The next one, I can relate to, she was holding a child in her arms, whispering how she needs to behave while she's gone. The child seems to have more interest in playing with her mother's green hair, tugging on it all the while absently nodding her head along. Beside the mother, was a young man that was basically repeating what the mother was saying.
"Bisca, and that's my husband Alzack, this is Asuka." The woman hurried, "come on sweetie, I'll be back soon, until then, Granddaddy will play with you okay?" While the couple was explaining to their child. The final group introduced themselves.
A blonde reluctantly stepped forwards; golden keys that hung around her waist jingled. "How did I end up here? Master just called me after Laki's birthday ended…why—" the girl met my eyes, "I'm Lucy Heartfilia, nice to meet you." I nodded.
Next was a woman equally as hesitant, though she hid it much better with a curtain of wavy-blue hair in the way. "If it's for the sake of the guild, Juvia would give up her time with Gray." This one worried me the most, I don't want to deal with a love-struck maiden, seeing Meredy's reaction, I'm guessing she wants to be with Juvia.
"It'll be fine you two!" A woman wrapped her arms around the two. From here, I could smell a crushing concentration of alcohol. "We'll just go back to doing whatever after this is over!" For some reason, she's wearing minimal clothing at the top, but a pair of jeans excellently hid her bottom half. I can't say that her slightly tan skin doesn't go well with her dark hair however. "I'm Cana Alberona by the way!" She took a massive swig out of her bottle of what I assume to be alcohol.
"Now that you know who you team members are," Master Makarov started, "go ahead and choose which team you want to go with."
"But Master! We don't even know who these people are, at least have them introduce themselves."
"I'm sure they will once you have your strategy meeting."
"In that case." Jellal's finger was on his way to Lisanna's group.
"We're with you." Erza declared. "I'm not done with what we talked about."
"Wait a sec!" Bisca cried. "Erza, you know these people?"
"Of course."
"Absolutely not!" Jellal snapped. "I'm not dealing with someone as stubborn as you."
Me and Meredy exchanged looks—we're of course going to mess with him! Plus, the team I want would help with my task. "I'm going with Juvia's group." Meredy said.
"And I'll go with Lisanna's team." I sealed Jellal's fate. He jerked his head towards us; we stuck our tongues out.
"I owe you two," Erza grabbed Jellal by the arm—ignoring his protests—and looked towards the parents, "follow me."
"You really can't tell who's supposed to be the leader huh? Well, we might as well get going. Master Makarov, we're going to borrow your office for a while."
"I don't mind." He replied.
"Come with me." I gave my team a friendly smile; their nerves eased somewhat, I'm sure after I lose the disguise, they'll be able to trust me a bit more. Once everyone was in, I locked the doors and took off my disguise, a wave of gasps flooded the room. "Now you know how serious this incident can become right?"
"So that's why you smelled so familiar." Wendy said.
"Master Makarov gave the details on what this job is about correct?"
"Um…that's right."
"That makes things easier. Our main goal this time, is of course, to stop the madman trying to attack guilds. By the time we reach Westpine, it'll be in the evening, we wait until night time before we begin. In the meantime, we need to gather information such as: where exactly their base is. When everything is done, we'll begin our attack. When we're inside, I want us to focus on two things: find out where the lacrimas are. To do that, just wring the answer out of people. However, do it discreetly. Next, we'll make sure no one will have access to the lacirma."
"But we're not great at fighting!" Levy shouted. "Wouldn't it be better if we have Erza's team do it?"
"We decided this beforehand: the strongest team will cause a distraction; one will take out the leader; the remaining one will secure the lacrima. Think about it, most of our magic can be used effectively when hunkering down."
"I guess…then, what about Lisanna?"
"She and I will be the frontline, you'll provide support and Wendy can jump between the two roles."
"What do we do if the enemy finds out we're there? While we're trying to find the lacrima I mean." Wendy asked with a hand raised.
"Then we give up on hiding and force our way through, not an elegant solution but, Jellal would be drawing away most of the enemy, so it won't be too hard."
"B—but I'm not as strong as the others." I've heard about her lack of confidence in terms of combat but, it was more than I thought. I suppose I can do them some service.
"It'll be fine Wendy!" Lisanna wrapped an arm around her. "We're here to help you."
"That does bring me to my next question, how well are you three in terms of teamwork?"
"We've been on a job together many times, so we're pretty tight!"
"After this, I want to go out to the field for a bit, I want all of us to familiarise ourselves with what we can do. Well, I mainly want to see for myself first-hand of your capabilities. Also, you three might as well do the same with me." They nodded. "Finally, consider this a team bonding exercise, I want us all to get along okay?"
We moved to the middle of a forest, which, according to Lisanna, is far away from Natsu's house so he shouldn't be walking in on our exercise. It didn't stop me from learning that he lives in the middle of a forest, I can't think of anything else that would fit him more—except maybe living in a cave.
"As the leader, I'll start first." I summoned my orb. "I use time magic as my main way of attacking." I pulled two more orbs. "Depending on how I use it, I can make copies of my orb by summoning them from different times. I made one zip around the three in circles; another bobbing up and down slowly; the final one orbiting me at normal speeds. "As you can see, I can affect the timeline of an individual object as well."
"That's pretty useful." Lisanna muttered. I made my extra orb disappear.
"Of course, I can do much more with my magic but, the basics are those two. Also," an ice bud grew from the ground, expanding to a rose bush, "Ice-make serves as a back-up."
"It's the same as Gray."
"Well, we're influenced by the same person. Next up is Levy."
"Leave it to me!" The petite girl stepped up while the other two gave moral support.
I wonder if it's because of me or the if it's them, aside from when they first met me, they weren't tense at all, we're about to invade a dark guild's base, where danger is high and uncertainty not lagging far behind in the slightest. It's all smiles for them. I guess this is another part of Fairy Tail that makes them so special. Depending on friends to help you. This isn't a foreign concept to me at all, over the years, I've learned the hard way. And yet, despite me being ahead for some years, their spirit of friendship, is better honed than mine. By sacrificing efficiency for relationships, they shattered the barrier of friendship and became family.
It was finally time, I was just about near my breaking point; I made sure to rest up on the night before and prepared everything under sheer impatience. My enthusiasm didn't translate to the others however. There's something about gathering at a train station at seven in the morning that seems brutal for people that aren't used to it. Jellal picked this time, I assume it has something to do with arrival time, he does like timing things perfectly. Knowing him, he'll give us two to three hours to gather some information, which means we'll arrive at around six. If the yawning is anything to go by, this trip to Westpine will involve a lot less strategy meetings than I would like.
The Fairy Tail members shuffled in a train cart while we followed behind them, some rubbing their eyes, others slapped their cheeks or pinched them. The train cart opened to a narrow corridor with doors leading to different compartments. A soft red carpet sunk to my footsteps and a fresh smell was in the air like the train was cleaned recently.
"Jellal," I patted his shoulders, "I think we should sit with our teams this time. We do have different roles." Jellal just smiled.
"I was about to say the same thing."
"Don't get too mad alright?" I started to follow Wendy's direction.
"It's fine, Erza and I had a talk."
"I look forward to hearing about it." I closed the door to my compartment. On both sides of the box, were comfortable-looking seats that could fit three people on each side. "Now girls," I took a seat across the three, Wendy was the closest to the door, Lisanna in the middle, Levy by the window, "do you want to talk about what we're going to do first, or would you like to sleep?"
"I'll sleep…" groaned Lisanna, "last night was too busy at the guild, I didn't have much to rest." She leaned against Wendy, who was already asleep.
"Me too." Levy added, lying on Lisanna's lap. "I can't pay attention…" a yawn "if I'm sleepy."
"Rest well then." I smiled and took out a book—not opening it yet, but rather using it as a place to rest my hands. I was once more taking a final look at Magnolia, the lake picking up sunlight, Fairy Tail ever the beacon.
Thanks for reading! I'm finally getting there, this arc is taking longer than I thought it would. Sorry if this chapter seemed a bit jumpy at times. In hindsight, the best course of action would to be splitting this chapter into three bits, I find the jumps a bit jarring, and I'm not good enough to write a better solution. Which does lead me to an important question, would you guys prefer that? It doesn't really hurt me in anyway, if I am to split chapters whenever I feel like I should, I can either throw it all up in one day, or upload the parts daily until the parts are all uploaded.
If anyone asks why most of the Fairy Tail members I picked are girls, that's one part laziness, and another part by design. A lot of the guys are very combat focused, but I wanted people that aren't hence why Mirajane isn't there. While I did shoehorned Erza in, that's mainly for Jellal's character. There are male mages that aren't combat focused, such as Warren, Reedus and I guess Droy? I don't know too much about them though—both personality wise and magic wise—and I couldn't be assed to do some research on which male wizards are more suitable for this job. So in conclusion: I'm just really lazy.
Not a lot of funny stuff going on this chapter, I did put a decent amount of character development(I think). At this point, I think we can get into the more fun stuff after this arc. That being said, I basically lose my excuse for Ultear and crew to be in Magnolia, so I have to think of another excuse...I'll work on that. But I digress, I think that this story is going more on the side of serious side rather than a light-hearted story like I wanted. Maybe I shouldn't have picked a former dark guild member to write stories like that. But gosh darn it, I'll pull in back the balance one way or another.
For now, I hope you enjoyed, and have a nice day!