A/N: I'm back once more, we're seeing even more new characters this chapter. Still have some slots open though, so if you're interested, peep my profile for details! A little less to say in the note right now, so let's get into it, shall we?


8 June X820, Phoenix Gear Guild Hall, Estrecho, Fiore. 11 AM.

The past two weeks had carried on uneventfully. Margaret's initial plan of only publishing the higher yield jobs seemed to be working, and the mages of Phoenix gear had spent the last two weeks doubling the weekly revenue of the guild. Today though, Margaret had something different in mind...

"This is odd..." Silvius muttered as he looked at the jobs that Ptarmigan had plastered to the board. There were much fewer than he had come to expect, and yet it seemed that they were higher yield. "Since when do we even get offered jobs like this?"

"Master Margaret said something about 'calling in a favor,'" Ptarmigan explained. "Something about some internal politics with the New Magic Council."

"Well, I am a bit behind on rent," Silvius sighed, as he looked through the bulletin board and eventually tore off one of the higher-yield jobs. The reward: 500,000 Jewels, minus damages, with half going to the mage or team that completed it, the other to the guild's coffer.

"You want a team? that's supposed to be a harder one," Ptarmigan mentioned, with a cursory glance. "It's almost S-Class."

"I think it's best I take this one alone. And besides, I think I could take Adenna, I may as well be S-Class."

"Hah, that's rich!" The bartender shouted out. "You wanna try?"

"Not when I've got a job this crazy today!" Silvius Shot back as he bundled up the paper and ran out the door.

With the commotion that caused, the remaining mages, save for Adenna and Grace, rushed to the lower floor. The collective began to systematically strip the bulletin board of the jobs. There weren't as many as there had been in previous weeks, but all of them paid at least twice as much as any job Phoenix Gear had receieved for as long as any of them could remember. In her office, a certain young guild master was speaking to an individual over hologram, and smirking all the while.

"Thanks for sending us all of those difficult jobs, we really need to get ourselves out of this debt..." Maragaret sighed, a little bit guilty, even as Isolde smiled.

"It's nothing, I'm one of the people making those decisions. I just changed Phoenix Gear's list to reflect the supposed strength of you new mages," Isolde explained. "You're just lucky that your guild was one of the ones I'm supposed to send requests out to."

"That's great. Here's hoping you get to go on to something more than this," Margaret muttered.

"Well yeah, I will say also though that I like the council member from Joya, he just came in after the last election, seems to really care about fixing what's broken, a wizard saint for previous work and everything. I think he goes by Rann, Rann the Hero is what they call him."

"Hey! Lazy bones!" Grace's unmistakable voice rang out, interrupting the conversation.

"Sorry Isolde, I'm going to have to call you back," Margaret said, as she logged off. "What's up?"

"What's made you so sure that this is going to help anyone?" Grace demanded.

"What do you mean?" Margaret shot back, genuinely confused about the animosity in her voice.

"We can't just throw our weight around. This is a guild meant to help a community, and you need to get your head out of your ass about it. You're not the next Mavis Vermillion!"

"And I'm sure our impending bankruptcy which is all that happens with the old ways, which you wanted to keep on going, would make us great in the eyes of the community." Margaret said, forcefully.

"And your plan is playing with lives." Grace said, indignantly, as she stormed out, joining Zavid as the two left, S-Class mission in hand.

Margaret was distraught as she made her way to the bar, noticing in turn that Silvius had left, and that Elya and Cal had picked up another job from the ground floor. Hazel and Esie had also grabbed one. It seemed like the energy she was seeking to bring to the table had permeated as she had hoped, and the mages of Phoenix Gear could and would rise and grow, Margaret felt a bit better, though still confused, as she rolled up to Adenna's domain, and began searching for a suitable drink.

"What will it be today Margaret?" Adenna asked with a smile. She noticed that over the past several weeks Margaret had been to the bar more and more. At first she thought that the young master was drinking the added stress away, but she had simultaneously noticed that Margaret seemed not to drink all that much; if anything, she seemed to be smoking her pipe more to deal with the stress. Instead, what always seemed to happen was that Margaret was there to simply talk. Adenna didn't mind, all this meant was that she would be getting a closer view of the new master.

"Give me something light, I need to keep my mind sharper," Margaret decided, as she scanned the bottles behind Adenna, and the bartender sprang into action, before settling on a pear cider. Meanwhile, Margaret took a cocktail napkin and began furiously scribbling, first sketching out a circle and drawing strange symbols, seemingly from memory.

"Whatcha working on there?" Asked Adenna, noticing the slightly older woman's furious work.

"I'm attempting to create a new spell's formula. You obviously notice that kooky circle that shows up whenever you cast a spell,"

"Right," Adenna affirmed.

"Well the thing is, each representation of the spell must first be discovered, and the circle that represents it must be physically formed. Once the spell has been created, you can create a sort of reflexive way to conjure it up, that's how guild mages usually operate, but you need to understand the how of how it fits together first. The good news is that most of the makeup is consistent within magic styles, it's usually only three or four runes that are different in the same magic style. That's what I'm trying to sketch up now. I think I've found the ideal runes, I just need to model it to scale," Margaret explained.

"Well what do you need for that?"

"I need something called barrier salt, which in larger cities you can usually find at a magical supply store, I'll also need butcher paper to arrange the salt on, and even though it's not necessary, I like to mix the salt with a bit of moon drip. It dampens the magical effect, makes it safer. If something goes wrong, it won't make the guild hall explode, see?"

"Fair enough," Adenna responded, stifling a bit of a laugh.

"Actually, can you help me look for barrier salt in the back? No reason to spend money if it's already there..."


Estrecho Train Station, 11:30 AM.

"I've been meaning to see how an S-Class mission plays out, and you seem a bit more reliable than Adenna," Zavid explained, to the somewhat skeptical old woman with whom he had just left the building.

"Well, you make a compelling case," Grace sighed, as the two walked towards the train station.

"It's not so much a matter of duty, more of practicality. To be quite honest, I'd have preferred to take this job alone," Zavid explained, as he shifted slightly uncomfortably.

"Well you might talk to Margaret about that, we did have an S-Class promotion exam long ago, but it hasn't been held in years. In Ella's time, she simply named stronger mages S-Class. I was a holdover from before her time, and so was named guild ace. Ultimately though, I must admit I don't hold a candle to other aces, say Natsu Dragneel or Lyon Vastia..."

"I will once we come back. What is it we're supposed to resolve here?"

"It's fairly complicated. As it turns out, there's some kind of strange town in the mountains where time is inconsistent," Grace began.

"Inconsistent?"

"Supposedly, one can be sent through different ages, can be spit out in different years, even thousands of years past or future, and you can even remain frozen in time if you aren't careful. Fortunately, the rules are fairly easily to understand, which is why it isn't ranked SS Class. Things should go smoothly if you don't do anything stupid."

"Understood," Zavid answered, his characteristic indifference unwavering.

At the platform, the duo noticed Silvius a few platforms over, standing near a man a few inches taller than their guild mate. The two were not speaking, but it was clear that this had something to do with his mission.

"I wonder what he's up to," Zavid muttered.

"I gave the jobs a once over, and I think it's something that he's needed to do for some time," Grace said, as the two of them boarded a train bound for Crocus, to reach their ultimate destination at a hub station.


Bosco Line, Somewhere in Fiore, 12 Noon.

"And you're sure that this guy, Damon Spencer, on this train?" Silvius asked the benefactor, a steely resolve plain to see in his eyes as he held up a photograph of a man with a long black hair, and an oddly demonic smile. Slaver. Silvius knew the type all too well.

"Positive," said the man before him. He was an odd fellow, dressed in a suit and a cowboy hat, with a bushy mustache. Silvius noted that if anything, his appearance suggested he was the conductor of a train similar to this one, rather than a member of an international anti-slavery watchdog, and yet here he was, in all of his ridiculous glory.

"Now let's say these kidnappers throw you into their moon drip handcuffs. At that point you'll have no magical strength, how're you gonna handle that?"

Silvius balefully detached his hand. "I think I can handle that," he muttered, as he got up to leave the private compartment.

"Remember, be street smart!" The man called as he closed the door. Silvius cringed. He was going to blow their cover at that rate. The disassembling mage took a deep breath, and tried to maintain his resolve as he jumped cars, making his way methodically towards the dining car. He reached it in minutes, and stood before a respectable looking car, covered in gilded friezes, with a bar to his right, and booths to his left. At the bar was a pink-haired woman he did not know, and at the booth nearest the bar was a black haired man in his forties, in a strange silver cloak, and seemed to be musing over a notebook. Silvius spit on the ground, and formed a smirk. Despite the circumstances, Silvius seemed to be derriving a bit of pleasure from the proceedings.

"Hello there!" The bartender said, seemingly excited to be serving clients other than the two currently there. "What can I get for you?"

"I'll just take a cola. I need to stay sharp, I've got some business to attend to once we're in Bosco," Silvius explained.

"Fair enough sir," The man said, as he poured a soda and slid it over to Silvius, who grabbed it with his currently attached hand, sipped it once, and set it on the table. He then took the opportunity to zero in on the man sitting at the booth: Damon Spencer.

"Sir, may I discuss some... sensitive business?" Silvius asked, as he stood and meandered towards the booth.

"Certainly, step into my office," the older man said as Silvius did just that, sure to hide the missing hand on his right arm behind his back.

"All right, now I understand you're selling some rather unique bits of livestock," Silvius said, unable to fight back his smirk. The plan was coming together.

Damon saw his smirk, and moreover observed the powerful magic energy emanating from his client. There was no slave in his possession that could profit him as much as selling such a strong mage to Bosco's elite. As far as he could tell, this specimen was some form of guild mage playing hero. A perfect target to catch in his own web. He glanced briefly at the woman seated at the bar, who dropped a bead into Silvius' drink. "Well sir, I think it's best that any transactions be kept at bay until we reach Bosco, but we can negotiate some of the details now.

"Sounds excellent, I'll just grab my drink," Silvius said, ignorant of the trap being laid for him.

"Very well."

Silvius took another substantial sip, and as he turned around, ready to fake out his quarry with an attack, fell to the floor.


IAR Borderlands, 12:15 PM

"Wait, who is the target here exactly?" Esie asked, as he read the mission description for the fifth time.

"Supposedly, we're after a dark mage posing as a courier. She's hired an independent mage as a body guard, and it's our job to stop them before they reach the Ishvan Autonomous Region. This road is just the most likely," Hazel explained. "It isn't clear how much the body guard knows, so whether or not we bring them in too all depends."

"Okay, but what if they both attack us, shouldn't we have backup?" Esie asked, shaking a bit.

"This was the most we could put together today, blame Margaret's whole mission selection if you want to blame anyone," Hazel responded, more interested in finishing the job than anything else.

"Maybe I will," Esie sighed. "Maybe I will..."


Estrecho, 1 PM.

"I need about six feet of that paper," Margaret said, as she pointed to the roll of white paper on the butcher's wall.

"That will be..." The young man began.

Adenna winked in his direction, and the young man blushed, clearly remembering another incident.

"Free..." He sighed, as he cut six feet off, as requested, handing it to Margaret.

"You know that guy?" Margaret asked, curious about Adenna's seeming acumen as a lover. It wasn't necessarily surprising, it was just that Margaret was only just getting to know Adenna, and so most, if not all things, came as a surprise.

"He and I have been lovers here and there," Adenna muttered, figuring that Margaret wouldn't be interested in the entire story as the two walked out onto the cobbled street of Estrecho's former shopping district. Margaret couldn't help but notice the general failing state of the buildings around them. As she had seen when coming into the town, the shops were largely boarded up, restaurants, hotels, and apartment buildings seemed to be left fallow, and the once fertile grounds of business were barren as the soil of the desert just south of them.

"Do you know if there was ever a time that Estrecho was doing better?" Margaret asked, gazing at the ruined street ahead of them.

"I've only lived here a year, so I couldn't tell you, but I do know Master Marcus founded this guild in hopes that it would make his home town more vibrant. This might be a carryover from the guild's early days.

"So it never delivered on the promise then?" Margaret asked.

"More or less," Adenna agreed.

The two broke their conversation as they entered the magic store. It was a bit more vibrant than the butcher's shop, as magic items seemed to be in higher demand. A shorter blonde woman was the cashier, and the items seemed to line the wiry shelves with no rhyme or reason. Maybe a bit obstructive, but Margaret couldn't exactly choose a venue. "Adenna, can you-" Margaret was cut off by her companion sweet-talking the cashier.

"So are we on for tomorrow night?" She asked the cashier, who blushed.

"O-of course!" the cashier said, with a glisten in her eyes. Meanwhile, Margaret scanned the shelves for moon drip, found a jar, and walked to the counter.

"Excuse me," Margaret said, sincerely.

"Yes ma'm?" The cashier responded in kind.

"Does this store carry barrier salt? I need it for a bit of a personal project," the guild master explained, as she also placed the jar of moon drip on the table and side eyed Adenna, who gave a confused look in kind.

"Well, we may it's not an especially popular item, but we do have a few occasional buyers. We can stock it without much trouble, because it never goes bad," the cashier explained, as she went back into what must have been a stock room.

"Adenna," Margaret began, when the door closed.

"What's up?" The S-Class mage asked.

"Why are you cheating on the butcher?" She demanded, with a disapproving look.

Adenna looked confused for half a second, before a slight smile of realization crept onto her face. "Oh, it's not cheating, I'm polyamorous," she explained.

"Polyamorous?"

"Sarai, she's the cashier, and Victor, the butcher, both know that I'm dating the other, and they're okay with it, the way I operate is that I just find people I like, and if they like me, I'll date them. It doesn't really matter to me how many I have at once, and if they overlap, and the people I overlap with are okay with it, then so be it," Adenna explained.

"Oh, I don't think I've ever encountered that..." Margaret said, slightly confused.

"It's all right, you were probably taught that you needed to stay with one person, and so you thought I was breaking an unspoken rule. I never keep my partners in the dark, so it works," Adenna explained further.

"That makes sense," Margaret said. She hadn't quite processed it, but she supposed Adenna wasn't really hurting anyone with this. As such, she decided to change the subject "Hey Adenna?"

"Yes?"

"I've just been thinking, and I realize Grace doesn't seem to like me much, and I'm just wondering if you might know why..." She sighed.

"Well I think it should be obvious. She believes you're putting a lot of undue danger and stress on the guild," Adenna said, matter of factly.

"I mean, I gathered that part, but how is a guild supposed to work without the danger?" Margaret demanded.

"Think a little more about Grace," Adenna led the master on.

"Well she's been here since the guild's founding, she knows all the mages that would have came and went, judging by the small membership numbers we've had in the past..."

"Right, and she was very close with Ella," Adenna finished.

"How does that tie in?" asked a confused Margaret.

"I don't think we've ever told you how Ella died," Said Adenna.

"How did it happen?"

"Well, towards the end of her time here, she came up with a similar strategy, and she promised some information to some kind of NGO. I'm not sure of the details, but the mission went sour somehow. The benefactor was so angry that they walked right into the guild hall, killed Ella where she stood, and left. That was around four months ago," exposited Adenna.

"I-I had no idea..." Margaret sighed. She supposed that Ella wasn't that different from her, maybe that was what this was about. "So does she see much of Ella in me?"

"I doubt it, Ella actually thought things through, Adenna said in a mocking tone, with a wink.

Margaret stuck out her tongue. "Well I doubt Ella could manage this!" She declared, catching on as the two entered the guild hall and Margaret cleared away several chairs, and then rolled out the butcher paper, weighing it down with the nearest chairs available.


Oasis Roadside Buffet, south of Estrecho, 2 PM.

"We can't afford to always stop at restaurants like this," Cal sighed, as he followed Elya into the establishment.

"I'm sorry," the woman muttered. "I just think we need to be hydrated and full if we're going into the desert..." argumentation was wholly absent from her voice, she was clearly worried and ashamed, and genuinely meant no offense.

Cal's expression brightened. "Hey, on the other hand, what's to say the job won't cover it?" He said with a smile. "'sides, weird food like this is the spice of life!"

The restaurant's dining room was a bit dank, and consisted of ancient carpet, faux-leather booths with a few tables, and lighting only from neon signs interspersed with the light exposing the buffet itself. It wasn't the most appealing setup, but it was what could be accrued at this time. There were a few people seated at a booth across the room, a couple with two children.

"All right, so we kill this giant lizard and we get out of here?" Asked Cal.

"Something like that, but I've also heard rumors about a map being stolen by a bandit family in this area, I think the map might be something I need," Elya explained.

At this, it seemed that the family there grew a bit nervous, and immediately walked out. "You think they're bandits?" Cal asked.

"No doubt," agreed Elya. "Tell you what, I'll tail them and catch up to you with that sand lizard business."

"Sounds good," Cal answered, as the two bolted out the doors, one running towards the family, the other towards the desert.


Elya followed in the shadows, something that turned out to be easier than expected for her. As far as she could tell, the family were moving away from the desert, into the forest. That only made it easier. Thankfully, their hideout was a mere few yards into the forest, and so the chase ended with Elya listening intently outside of a small wooden hut.

"I think a few mages are on to us," one of the voices said.

"Does this mean we need to lay low for a while?" Asked a different masculine voice.

"How can we? That kid we took in all those years ago can barely go a day without clearing out the market's stock," a more feminine voice sighed.

"Don't talk about him like that, he's one of us, keeps the people busy, entertains," said the first voice.

"Either way, we could call someone from The Hand in, especially if we're going to have a legal guild on our hands; this is techinically part of their operations, after all," the feminine voice noted.

"Very well..." The first voice sighed. "Now about this map."

Elya gasped.

"Hey, who's there?" Demanded the second voice as the three exited the cabin, Elya in full view.


"Oh shit oh shit oh shit!" A voice rang out as its owner crawled out of the mirage-tinged distance. It was a boy, probably in his mid teens by Cal's observation. He was short, at only three inches above five feet, and had blonde hair. His frame was slim, and was partially exposed by his bandaged chest, with an open yellow vest over it. His shorts also puffed out. Despite the many dangers that may lurk under the sand, the boy was barefoot, but the two things that stood out most were his monkey tail and heterochromatic eyes, one green, one red.

"What's up, mate?" Cal said, more confused than anything else. The youth stopped as he encountered Cal.

"Well I decided to fight a big monster, and it turns out it's kind of solar powered," he said, as he tried to run off, but Cal grabbed his vest and pulled him back in.

"What was this thing? Uh..." Cal realized he didn't know the youth's name.

"Lunick, and I guess it was kind of like a lizard..." He managed.

As Lunick spoke, the beast emerged. As it happened, it was Cal's mark.

"All right kid, here's what's going to happen, because my compatriot isn't back yet, we're going to fight this thing together."


Phoenix Gear Hall, 2:30 PM

"All right, it's done!" Margaret announced as she finished painting the butcher paper with the last of the magenta paste made from the salt and moon drip. The magic circle before the two mages was more complicated than any Adenna had seen, and the runes themselves were not any the tall redhead recognized.

"I don't think I've ever seen those runes," Adenna noted, a bit confused by their presence.

"That's because they represent the shape another universe's particles take," Margaret explained, as she placed her hand on two points of the circle.

"So your magic comes from another universe?" Adenna asked, intrigued.

"Yep, planar magic takes a variety of forms, but basically it involves forcing parallel particles from other plains into this one, through small amounts found in the air. Different plains have different properties.

"I don't know too much about Thaumaturgical Science, I'll admit, I studied business, magic is more of a hobby," Adenna conceded.

"I could show you a bit, like I'm doing right now," Margaret said, not fully sure of why she seemed so friendly now of all times. As she spoke, the circle started glowing and turned dark blue, as it rose above the paper and coalesseced into a dark blue mirrored surface. "Go ahead, hit it with a spell," She said.

Adenna complied. "Rose Thorn Rush!" She shouted, as a sharp vine protruded from her hand, firing at high speed towards the surface. It hit home, and seemed to sink into it, though the surface itself kept its tension. A second later, a thorn bush sprang from it, everything on it dark blue.

"I made this to temporarily copy a spell that it gets hit with," explained Margaret. "It runs out after one use, and this version is weaker, so it won't hurt anything," as if on cue, the bust crumbled to ash. "And by the way, thanks for putting up with me all day," Margaret finished, as she extended her hand.

"It was my pleasure," Adenna responded, and in a weird way it was. It was like everything went right with this new master around. She just had to wait and see what else this crazy woman would cook up, she owed it to herself at this point.

"I just want to thank you. I think I'll cook dinner tonight," the guild master declared, with an almost devilish look.

In some versions of this scenario, Adenna would have backed away, maybe a bit fearful, but here, she took it in stride, waiting to see what strange thing Margaret was going to do next.


A/N: Sorry for all the cliffhangers. Originally, Chapter 3 was going to be about twice as long and resolve all but one of the jobs, but because I'm busy all the rest of this week, and wanted to get something out before then, I ended up splitting what was originally going to be Chapter 3 into Chapters 3 and 4. I promise that many more OCs will get introduced then, plus a few more surprises. And if you want to see your OC be among Phoenix Gear, don't forget to check my profile for updates on availability and the bio. Until next time!

Lunick created by MaMcMu