Chapter Two

Masa wakes up just in time to watch as the Lullaby transforms in a bright show of purple light from a strange-looking flute with a three-eyes skull for a top to something right out of a nightmare.

"What the hell?' He mutters staring up at the giant wooden monster in confusion. "What did I miss?"

Around him, numerous familiar and unfamiliar guild masters scatter in various directions, giving the most ridiculous excuses to not fight the demon. All of this meant that he somehow made it to Clover so that Dispeller Eisenwald mage must have broken the Wind Wall for the others who probably brought along his unconscious body with them when they left the train station. And while he was grateful he hadn't been left behind like dead weight, he was now left terribly confused. Why was the flute turning into a monster the size of a mountain? For that matter, where the hell was Erigor? You'd think he would be up there with the demon gloating about the success of his plan in proper villain fashion.

"I can't stand it anymore!" The former flute declares. Masa cringes, its voice sounded as if a man and a woman were speaking in unison. It was very strange. "I'll devour them myself! Your souls, that is!"

The demon leans in to observe the quivering forms of the guild masters, the creaking of its joints reminding Masa of trees bending in the wind. He got to admire Zeref, the Black Wizard might have used his powers for evil, but he really was a genius. This was some damn impressive Living magic.

"So, which one should I try first?" Asks damn impressive piece of Living magic wonders aloud.

An older man, a bit to the left from Masa, collapses in a dead faint from fright to the surprise of none. They had all noticed the magical tattoo of an open book on his exposed shoulder, the symbol of the Library guild. They were famous for their large collection of old texts and antiques, and general poor fighting skills. One went to the Librarians for translations and research, and very occasionally explorations of newly discovered ruins, not for anything combat-related. They had a bit of a cowardly reputation.

Lullaby looks up again and sends a beam of energy shooting from its mouth in the direction of a loudly charging army. They must have been the reinforcements sent after Eisenwald or something because they had no business doing here anything otherwise. Thankfully, it misses, though instead… Several more bodies joint the Librarian's on the ground while the army retreats at full speed.

"It disappeared. That thing disintegrated the whole mountain." Someone whispers fearfully.

"I think we all noticed, thanks," Masa replies drily and finally shakily climbs out of the magic four-wheeler he had awaken in. In his mind, he starts going through all the spells he knew for one that could help him fight the blasted demon. To his great irritation, he was also quickly discovering that he had absolutely nothing useful for this situation. He was well equipped against regular flesh and blood organisms, but it seemed demons of ages long past were not something his past self had seen fit to prepare himself for. If he survived this, it was the first thing he will rectify. Maybe learn a second type of magic. A couple of spells that will work on non-organic objects at least.

"Okay, I've decided!" Lullaby exclaims, and Masa's fingers begin crackling with barely contained electricity. Technically, Shock was supposed to be used for restarting hearts, but he had found it worked pretty great as an offensive move too. Though, he didn't have enough magic to fry the annoyance in front of him on a good day, let alone now, so he wasn't entirely certain why he was activating the spell. "I'm going to eat all your souls, you pitiful wizards!"

The demon starts screeching, and with the horrible noise comes this heavy pressure that made it hard to breathe. For a short moment, Masa thinks it had already begun casting its infamous Death magic and clasps his suddenly no longer sparkling hands to his ears in a futile effort to protect himself, but no one drops dead just yet.

"It's fucking toying with us." He hisses aggravated, dropping his hands back down, and watches as his guildmates emerge from another part of the forest.

Midair, Erza reequips into one of her favored forms. Called Heaven's Wheel Armor, it was a gorgeous steel dress with white wings and a circle of swords floating around her. It was one of her many armors which allowed her to truly fly.

She is followed by Natsu who was charging up his Iron Fist of the Fire Dragon and Gray who was supporting the two from the ground using his Ice-Make magic. It was all very awe-inspiring the way they delivered the beatdown to one of the most feared creations of all time.

Lullaby has to yell some more and breaks a few hills before it at long last got serious. It takes a deep breath and begins sucking out the life from nearby plants, withering them into lifeless husks in seconds in preparation for its ultimate spell. The cheerful cheering of the guild masters tapers off as they stand watching in horror. They couldn't flee – they wouldn't be able to get away far enough in time to escape the range of the death-bringing song and save themselves. Meanwhile, Masa crosses his arms on his chest with an unhappy look on his face. He'd hoped to go down fighting, not like this, waiting for the inevitable, unable to do a thing.

Ready, Lullaby opens its grotesque mouth, hand clasped by its face and… nothing but wheezing comes out.

Masa blinks and releases a relieved laugh. Lullaby was made of wood, an inherently fragile material when faced with the full might of a Fairy Tail wizard. Erza's, Natsu's, and Gray's attacks had created holes all over its body, and now it couldn't play its song properly anymore.

"What's with this noise?!" It cries in despair. "What happened to my beautiful sound?!"

In anger, the demon kicks down another row of hills. Soon, the formerly hilly area was going to become a flat prairie if no one stopped it from continuing destroying everything in its sight. Something makes it focus back on them again, and it sends a jet of Fire magic in their direction. Fortunately, Gray was there to save the panicking guild masters with a shield of ice shaped like flower petals, impressing them with his cast speed. Natsu arrives after him to swallow the remaining flames.

They observe as Erza attack Lullaby once more, clad in her Black Wing Armor – in appearance the complete opposite of her previous mail. Natsu assists her, powered up by his meal. He's the one to make the final blow, throwing a giant ball of fire at Lullaby. It explodes amidst renewed cheering, sending a pillar of light into the dark evening sky, which then scatters into glittering flakes that drift down on everyone like snow.

Hands in his pockets, Masa calmly ambles towards his companions, relaxed now that the crisis was over. True, he didn't do much. It would have bothered him several years earlier, but he had since come to terms with what he could and couldn't do. Bringing a person back from the dead? That he could. Fighting ginormous monsters? He'll give it a pass, thanks. His skills lay with healing, not in wide-scale destruction in contrast with the rest of Fairy Tail.

He stops to watch Erza chase after the escaping soul of their guild master along the edge of the crater that had formed where the meeting hall used to stand in barely concealed amusement. The poor man must have been thinking of the next pile of paperwork by the Magic Council will send.

"We need to go." The Master whimpers. "Before anyone else sees this. They can't know we were here."

"Bit late for that, Master." He replies with a growing smile. "Also, the trains shouldn't be running for a while after Eisenwald's take over Oshibana Station and Erza blew up the magic four-wheeler's lacrima when she pushed it too hard. It was smoking pretty badly last I saw it."

"We'll walk." The old man decides, and Masa's mouth drops open in shock. He couldn't be serious!

"Walk?! But that'll take days!" Lucy protests.

"Then what are you waiting for? Go on." Makarov encourages them, waving his hands in a shooing motion. "The longer you dilly-dally, the longer it'll take. You're young, in the midst of your strength. A little walk won't hurt you."

And that's how they ended up lost in the Clover Canyon several days later. More specifically, the Web Valley, a place known for its innumerable fissures from an ancient earthquake and the many, many people who entered its arid lands only to be never seen again.

"I'm starving…" Natsu moans.

"Stop reminding me! It's only making me hungrier!" Gray snarls back, and they are back at arguing with each other. A similar conversation between those two idiots happened every five minutes.

Erza attempts to intervene, but her stomach growls loudly instead.

Masa snickers and Lucy advances angrily on him. "You don't look hungry! You've got food, don't you?!"

He opens his mouth to reply, but his stomach growls even louder than Erza's before he can get a word in, and he grins ruefully with a shrug. Yeah, he was starving.

Lucy huffs in frustration, turning away. "What use are your pockets if you don't have food in them?" She grumbles under her breath.

Bandages, antibiotics, thread and needles, lacrima… He carried plenty of things that saw regular use in his cargo pants' pockets, actually. It wasn't his fault he was recruited into a mission before he could replenish his snacks.

"AH!" Happy gasps joyfully. "Natsu, look at that!"

Masa approaches the fissure the blue cat was pointing into and curiously leans over the edge to glance down. Whatever had Happy so excited must have been special.

"Flying fish?" He marvels at the giant blue and yellow fish with wings instead of fins. If those winged delicacies really lived in the depths of the Web Canyon it would explain why they were so rare they were considered legendary. According to Yajima, every self-respecting chef wanted to serve a Winged Fish at their table at least once in their life.

They produce fishing rods from Natsu's bag and settle down to fish. It wasn't one of Masa's favorite activities, though it was a necessary one for many mages. They often found themselves in the wilderness where food was scarce, and the only option of surviving was either fishing or hunting.

Unfortunately, the Winged Fish prove to be wilier than they expected. Just when they think they hooked one, it's gone.

"It's like they are taunting us." Masa complaints after another failure.

Happy is, of course, the first to give up. However much he wanted to try one of the fishes, he didn't have the willpower to sit there for hours.

Eventually, they catch one. Natsu cooks it, and they unanimously agree to let Happy have it. He wanted it the most, it would make them hungrier if they spilt it, and considering the amount of time it took them to catch that single fish it simply wasn't worth it fishing for more. They'd be there for days. Plus, it looked like they avoided eating something extremely gross since even Happy, the one who loved fish more than anything else, swore to never eat another Winged Fish for as long as he lived.

They get back on the road, walking into a randomly picked direction until by some chance they find a village.

Their delight in finding somewhere there could be food quickly cools.

The village had weird mushroom decorations all over the place, and more importantly, it was entirely empty. Not a single soul in sight. When no one replies to their cries, Masa separates from his companions to glance into one of the houses.

"How strange." He murmurs. "The front door is unlocked, and the food laid out on the table is still warm."

It looked like people were enjoying their lunch only seconds before he entered their abode, and yet it was empty of anyone.

He picks up a piece of bread and sniffs it carefully. Though it smelled and looked perfectly normal, and he was able to cure almost any kind of poison, some instinct had him put it back even as his stomach loudly protested.

When they had entered the village, he had spotted a nearby forest. It was bound to have something edible there, he decides, setting off toward it.

And it did. Although he didn't spot any animals, it was full of various strange mushrooms, many of which he didn't recognize.

"This is Master's fault." He laments, picking a particularly vivid pink specimen from the ground.

Masa contemplates the monstrosity in his hand – it had small blue dots on its cap, and its foot was red. For all he knew, it could kill him painfully. Or it could just make him ill for a while. Then there was the chance it could be perfectly safe. 50:50 really.

With a shrug, he bites into it.

Slowly, he chews, nose wrinkling in disgust. The texture, the flavor, everything was horrid. There were few things he hated more than mushrooms.

He spits out the half-chewed piece and drops the rest back into the grass. He wasn't that desperate to eat just yet.

In the distance, he hears Natsu and Grey yelling at each other. He gets up from his crouch, and the world swims in front of his eyes. Masa takes a wobbly step, one arm reaching out to steady him against a tree trunk, the other glowing green with a Purge –

"They're here! Run, run!"

His father is running in their direction, his sword drawn and already dripping precious red liquid down onto the hot sand. It wasn't his. It couldn't be his. He was the best swordsman in the entire clan. No one could defeat him.

Smoke is thick in the air and screams echoed from every direction. Masa's heart thundered in his chest like the drums during Bonfire Night. He's frozen stiff. No matter how much he begs his legs to move, they refuse to budge.

There is a flash of silver, his father stumbles.

"Daddy!" He lurches –

Must have been poisonous, after all –

The ball spins high above their heads. For a short second, the sun blinds them, then it's falling back down.

Masa moves, jumps and he's the one holding the ball when he emerges from the wrestling pile of children.

"C'mon, throw!" Darima calls to him. His cheeks are rosy, and his eyes bright. (Pale skin, glassy eyes, dead)

He tosses the toy, and it's back to spinning high in the cloudless sky –

Hallucinogenic –

"Magic is everywhere, boy. It is in you, it is in me. It is in the air, in the water, and in the ground. Birds have it, fish have it, pigs have it. Trees, flowers, grass. You must close your eyes, boy, and feel." Instructs –

Wasn't working –

"They killed –"

"No way out –"

"Think of the children –"

Why wasn't it working –

"The prince defeated the big scary dragon and rescued the princess. Together they returned home where they finally got married as they had promised so long ago on that clearing by the castle. It was a beautiful wedding full of magic and joy and absolutely everyone, from the royalty of nearby kingdoms to the poorest little children who didn't have homes or parents, was invited –"

Maybe it was a magical mushroom –

"Grandma Hama taught me some spells today." He extends his hands towards the thin woman in the bed to show her the flickering green light that surrounded them. She had been a great beauty once with many suitors that came from far and wide, but time and sickness have taken their toll. "She says I'll be better than her one day if I continue to work hard. She wants to make me her successor. Would that be okay, Mommy? I'd really like that. Maybe I'll be the one to cure you."

The harsh scent of medicine tickles his nose, and he disregards it with practiced ease. The tent always smelled of bitter herbs nowadays. He almost didn't notice it anymore.

Masa's eyebrows furrow. "Mommy?" He asks worriedly. She never ignored him. Why wasn't she answering? She couldn't be sleeping; her eyes were open. "Mommy! Wake up! Wake –"

It hurt –

Drums beat into the night. A large fire crackled in the middle of their circle. A song rises from a hundred throats in unison.

"Like shooting stars, they come

Burning bright, soaring high

On wings of bone and scale

Their call of death heard by all

To those wretched beasts of destruction

No mercy we will show

It is their time of reckoning

The horns of war were blown

In this land where dragons rule

A land we have defended

With our fists, swords, and magic

Spilling our blood for generations –"

It hurt so bad –

His hands are permanently stained red. Never in a hundred years could he have imagined the battlefield would be like this. He wished, he wished… But he had a duty. Duty to his people, to his clan. His friends and family, they counted on him –

His head was splitting apart –

"Did you hear? Some of them are fighting for us!"

"Why?!"

"Who knows what they're thinking."

Masa turns –

PURGE! –

A voice echoing in the dark of a cave. Fear pooling deep in his gut.

"You've caused us a lot of trouble, Healer. Luckily, that ends now." –

He said PURGE!

There is an explosion of green light as Masa forcefully overloads himself with his magic.

He lowers his hand back down and takes a moment to just breathe. It wasn't often he met something that could resist his healing like that. With his luck, he had probably picked the only magic resistant mushroom in the entire forest.

Finally, Masa coughs once and uncurls from the fetal position he had folded himself into in the roots of a tree. Trembling, he sits up, and he pulls his book out from the pocket he always kept it in before he frantically starts working. He had to do this before the memories faded from his mind. Before he forgot again.

His pencil flies across the blank pages, words and sketches forming underneath it. The pictures of the people and places he's seen under the influence of the mushroom were drawn rough and quick, and he hoped he could later go back and fill them out properly. Nevertheless, as unfinished as they were, they were still exquisitely done. Reedus had taught him well.

Eventually, he gets up and makes his way back to the village. The sky was starting to darken, and they should get back on the road If they wanted to get home sometime this century.

To his surprise, he doesn't find his companions alone. Instead of waiting for him in the village as he had expected, they were standing in front of the main entrance, surrounded by a group of other wizards.

Masa frowns at the sight, guessing that he must have missed something again. This was becoming a regular occurrence, and he wasn't liking it. Why was it always him who was left confused?

"What happened?" He asks once he was close enough to be heard without yelling.

"Masa!" Happy cries and attaches himself to his foot. "I was chased by a chair! No one would help me!"

He pauses incredulously, staring down at the blue cat. "Some kind of Animation magic?" He inquires hesitantly.

"The inhabitants here were a Dark Guild who summoned a monster and were Taken Over by it." Lucy takes pity on him and explains. "That's why there was no one in the village when we got here. The Magic Circle somehow broke and released them from its spell, so they turned back into humans."

"Right." He drawls and glances at the repentant dark wizards with a raised eyebrow. Whatever, it wasn't his problem. "Are we going or what? The mushrooms here are inedible."

"Did something happen?" Their Master asks, looking meaningfully at the notebook he was still clutching in his hand.

Masa shakes his head. "Nothing concrete. Bits and pieces like always."

"Very well." Makarov nods in understanding. "I'll go over the new stuff with you later."

"Yes, Master." He agrees and steps back when the old man advances on the dark wizards who suddenly looked very worried for themselves.

Despite his tiny size, he loomed over the strangers as if he had taken his Giant form. "Now, who thinks those nice people here could point us the way back to Magnolia? Oh, and feed us while we're at it!"

I don't own Fairy Tail. Anything you recognize is from the manga or anime.