White Eclipse

Chapter 24

[Flashback]
The near empty White Eclipse guild; Reve and Jack sat at a table. Reve was sitting on the top while Jack actually took a seat, eating his meal. Sidney was on the floor next to the table doing pushups with Zalen on his back while the toddler was laughing and having a good time. Over near the broken down bar counter, the older, black haired man was opening a letter. The title of the letter read "Official starting guild rules." He began skimming through the letter. "Okay, we have that, and that. The things I do for these brats, I don't even want to be a guild master, but I had to stumble across homeless mages." He keeps skimming through the letter until he comes across the S and SS class rules. "Hm? S class?" The older man begins to read aloud quietly. "Each guild must have at least one S class mage, but be warned of the responsibilities and dangers posing as an S class mage can bring." The older man shuffles through his hair. "S class mage huh? Sounds like someone who's plenty strong. But if I was to choose which one of these preteen runts would be my S class mage, who would it be?" He turns and looks at Reve, who was twirling a pistol in his hands. He then looks over at Jack, who was happily yet slowly chowing down on his already meager portions. Finally, he turns to Sidney, who was now doing pull-ups while having Zalen hold on to his back. "Well he is the oldest of them all, even if it's only a few years past Jack and Reve. Hey, Sidney." The older man called out.
"Yo." Sidney responded, still continuing with his pull-ups.
"How would you like to be considered an S class mage?"
"S class, what's that?" Reve quickly asked making sure he wasn't missing out on anything. The older man smirked, already knowing what was about to happen once he explained. "An S class mage is a mage that is ranked higher than the regulars due to his strength usually, along with other intangibles. There's also missions you can go on that only people from your rank can do. In other words, you'll be a higher authority than everyone else here."
Sidney hops down and takes Zalen off his back. "In that case, I accept, Master Calium."
"Don't call me that, I'm not even seventy yet, I don't need to sound old."
"Hold on!" Reve shouted, while slamming his hands on the table, causing Jack's plate to go flying off the table. Reve completely ignored it while Jack watched the plate and food go flying everywhere all in one slow motion. "If anyone here is going to be an S class mage first, it's me! Reve Volver, and no one else!"
"I figured this would happen, and I've read what to do in this situation. So in this case, we're going to have a challenge. It's called the S class exam, and don't worry, there's no paper work. It'll be Sidney Castle, vs Reve"
Before Calium could finish, Jack stands, and shoves Reve off of his feet, causing the young mage to hit the ground. "Hey! What was that for!?"
"Not only are you clumsy, you're rude as hell and wasteful!" Jack shouted pointing to the food on the ground. Reve looks over at the wasted rations and then back at Jack as he dusted himself off. "One, don't push your future S class mage again; and two, Screw your food, you've been eating that small plate of nothing for the past hour. Be a man and finish like the rest of us, card boy."
"You think you're bad because you have like, three guns in your stupid arsenal?! They're all pistols!" Jack and Reve were now forehead to forehead snarling at each other.
"One is a magnum! And it'll blow you to pieces! So go shuffle your stupid deck somewhere else before you get hurt! I have an exam to win!"
"Exam huh?" Jack turns to Calium and raises his hand. "Old man,"
"I'm not an old man!" Calium shouted.
"I, Jack Royal, throw my name in the S class exam!"
"He can't do that can he!?" Reve shouted.
"What's the matter pistol popper?" Jack taunted. "Afraid of losing?"
Reve snarls. "I'm not losing to a future black jack dealer!"
"You wanna go right now!?"
"I thought you'd never ask!"
Calium couldn't do anything but smile as both Jack and Reve deck each other right in the nose. Both of them stumble back. They both were about to come again until the door swings open with little Waiston and Kuro carrying a body over their shoulders.
"Help!"

The flashback ends as Jack and Reve stand across from each other in the front yard. Every new member was around watching since they've never seen the two go at it, even though it was just a spar. A smirk creeps up on both of their faces, as if they were having the same memories of each other and knew it.
"Go Reve!" Skye randomly shouted while standing around with the other newer members.
"Been a while." Reve stated.
"So let's make it count." Jack replied. With his response, he flashes two cards and flings them towards Reve. Out of the cards, fire a funnel of wind and fire, causing the fire to grow exponentially as it rushed towards Reve. Reve started to run to the right, but just then, a wall of earth shot out into the air, blocking Reve's trail. This didn't stop Reve though, as he began running up the wall a bit and flips off of it. While upside down on the flip, Reve requips two pistols into his hands and begins firing off small but piercing bullets of magic towards the tipsy mage. Due to the drunken style of movement Jack has adapted over the years, he swayed his body in an intoxicated motion, a movement that seemed sloppy, yet it cleared him of the incoming bullets until Jack summoned a magic circle, bringing up a wall of earth in front of him to block the bullets. He then extends his arm forward, pushing the rock wall towards Reve while the first one he summoned swings behind him, now looking to sandwich the guns mage in. With his precision eyes he sees what's going on and quickly requips into a single sawn of shotgun and runs towards Jack and the new rock wall. With a giant leap, he clears half of the rock wall. He then plants his feet and wall jumps off of the giant plated earth, just reaching over the two walls as they slam together and smash into smaller, but still well sized pieces. Reve was taking aim at Jack in this moment, but he was taken off guard as the broken pieces of earth began to swirl around in place, blocking the view of Jack as he began jumping from boulder to boulder until he reached Reve with a downward kick to the chest. He follows by flinging a card down towards Reve. The card glows as it fires out another pile of boulders.
"He's making the field his advantage." Kai stated. "If he keeps this up, Reve will have nowhere to go.
"Reve is fine!" Skye shouted.
Reve flips onto an incoming boulder that shot out from the card, he then begins dodging and hopping from boulder to boulder. Jack comes rushing towards Reve as well, and swings a left straight at the guns mage's head, but Reve beats him to the attack as a small magic circle appears under his gun, swinging it forward at a blinding speed. As the gun points against Jack's stomach, Reve open fires a point blank burst shot, causing Jack to go flying and then falling back before he flips onto a rising plateau he just created. Now, with Jack on the plateau, and Reve on a floating boulder, the two stare each other down with grins on their faces.
"Intense." Kai whispers.
"I'm sure we're done with the warmups?" Reve asked.
"Just waiting on you, Reve." Jack slides out two more cards and throws them to opposite sides. A giant whirlpool begins rushing from the left towards Reve. From the right, bolts of lightning combine with the whirlpool as it picks up speed, destroying the boulders in the way in the process. Reve smirks and requips again, this time another shotgun appears in his free hand. A long white jacket appears over his body, the coat tails hanging down to his feet. He hops up to a higher boulder and crouches. He then leaps even higher as he spreads his arms and legs, hovering over the giant electric whirlpool. Reve flips back to the ground and immediately charges the plateau Jack was standing on. When in his gun's range, he opens fire alternately with both guns, forcing Jack of the plateau. But as Jack jumps off, the plateau breaks into decent sized rocks and fire towards Reve. He takes a step back, only to feel a rock wall rising up behind him, giving Reve nowhere to go. Reve growls and begins letting loose everything he had at the incoming swarm of boulders. He took out most of them before dropping his two guns and reaches in his closed jacket to pull out two more. He fires them off again, shattering the boulders into pieces, just barely surviving the onslaught of boulders before they could do any damage.
"He shot them all down!?" Kairi looked on, amazed yet puzzled.
"Go Reve!" Skye shouted.
"Keep it up Jack!" Kai shouted as well, just to keep the fan base even.
Reve charges Jack. Jack charges Reve. They begin exchanging punches and kicks, both seemingly evenly matched. Reve throws a straight, but Jack ducks it and grabs Reve's arm, flipping him over and down to the ground. On the way down, Reve requips into his magnum. As he hits the ground, Reve holds onto Jack's collar and holds the gun to Jack's temple. At the same time, Jack had summoned to small but rock hard pillars on opposite sides of Reve's head; a mere inch away from squashing his head in.
Kairi looks on. "A stalemate?"
Reve and Jack begin chuckling. "Some things never change huh?" Jack asked while helping Reve to his feet. "Unfortunately no." Reve replied as he dusts the snow off him. "But they will one day, for better or worse.
Jack smiles. "Come on let's go inside and get a drink. On me."
Reve narrows his eyes. "The drinks are free, Jack. Since we already bought them."

.
.

Bacchus, Erza and Kagura go sliding back from the massive Wyvern's roar. All three now panting from the struggle they're having against the giant beast.
"This thing is insane." Bacchus stated.
"It's quick for its size too." Kagura chimed in.
Erza begins to glow a golden light. The light disperses, revealing her in her soaring armor. "Alright, let's try this again."
As the three mages charge the Wyvern once again, above them, off to the right, on a mountain side stood two familiar faces. Maggie and Kiora stood with a male with shortd black hair. All three of them watched the action going on.
"You know, we could have retrieved the piece by now if you wouldn't have sent Sora down there to get it." Tobias claimed.
"Shut your hole, wanker. Sora is way stronger than you are. That kid will murder you before you could get close." Maggie retorted while not taking her eyes off the brown haired girl in the nest.
"Tch. Anyways, why did she change her hair?"
"Tobias, don't be an idiot." Kiora said while sitting off the edge of the mountain cliff. "It wouldn't be smart for those three clowns down there to remember her real appearance."
"Damn you're so stupid." Maggie snorted.
"Really stupid actually." Kiora added.
"I never met such a retarded ninny in my life I swear it."
"Mithril has a bigger brain than you and he can't spell."
Tobias crossed his arms. "I hate you both, stop jumping people all the time."
"We're a team, it's what we do." As Kiora made her last statement, the brown haired Sora began shuffling through the nest as if she was looking for something.
"Hurry up Sora, before those wankers actually beat that Wyvern." Maggie now watched on the edge with Kiora. Sora shuffles through the nest some more until she stops, and holds up what seems to be a vase piece with a dark red magic circle on it. She waves to the three dark mages on the mountain.
"Holy. She got it!" Kiora jumped up. Her and Maggie dance around in a circle laughing happily as they hold hands.
"…..Two of the most feared mages here everybody." Tobias stated.
"Wow who are you talking to?" Kiora asked.
"Hot damn you're a weird one aint ya Tobias?"
"Weird as shit."
"Talking to nobody and shit, damn wanker lost his mind I bet."
Tobias, clearly annoyed, just huffs as he looks back down at Sora. Sora, after waving, drops the piece into her shadow, causing it to "disappear." Her shadow then disconnects from her feet and begins making its way up the mountain side until it reaches Maggie. It then hands over the vase piece. Maggie holds it up in the light and examines it. "Alright, so, we currently have four out of the five pieces needed thanks to those clowns down there. Now we wait on Ruika to retrieve the last piece from those idiot dragon slayers."
"Oh my god Tobias shut up!" Kiora gave him a serious stare, but then quickly turned to Maggie with a giddy look on her face. "Okay we have four pieces and all we need is for Ruika to hurry up with the last piece and we have the vase!"
"I just said that." Tobias mumbled.
"I know girl, we are great yeah?" Maggie had the same identical look as Kiora. "We should make sure Sora doesn't get into any trouble while those mages are down there."
They all turn back to the fight scene as Erza and Kagura had gotten behind the Wyvern. Kagura made a beeline to Sora, while Erza jumped onto the beast's back and ran up to its head. At this time, Bacchus kept its attention by attacking and dodging, working on the legs of the wyvern. After a concentrated attack to its right hind leg, Bacchus caused the wyvern to fall to one knee. "All yours Scarlet!" He yelled out as he rolled away from the wyvern. Erza jumps into the air and requips one last time. Her chest now covered by bandages as she wielded two swords. She spun past the wyvern as a slicing sound was heard. As Erza lands, the wyvern stands still for a few seconds, and then collapses on the ground white eyed. She stands back up and she requips back to her normal armor and exchanges grins with Bacchus. "Just like old times neh?"
Bacchus laughs. "Except that we'd be fighting right now."
"There's always time." Erza smirked.
Back at the nest Kagura comes over to the teary eyed brown haired girl. "It's okay, they're all gone now. How did you get stuck here in the first place?" Instead of answering, Sora cradles herself into Kagura and sobs quietly. "Aw, I'm sure you live in Stone Heart, let's get you….home." Kagura notices something strange about the girl she was holding. She didn't have a shadow. She checks again, but no shadow was there. "That's odd." She looks at her own shadow, to make sure it wasn't just Sora, but her shadow was there. She turns back to Sora, only to notice that a shadow was now visible under the girl. "…..I need sleep."
"Holy shit that was close!" Kiora let out a sigh of relief.
"Hmph. Almost blew it. See you two back at the guild." Tobias took a step, and Kiora trips him. He quickly gets up and towers over Kiora in anger, but she just gives an innocent look as she leans away from him and whistles.
"Stop playing around so much!" Tobias yelled.
Tobias stepped away from Kiora, only to be tripped by Maggie. They both burst out laughing.
"Damn homie you fell for that! Get it!? Fell!? Because…shut up and let's get Sora." Maggie keeps laughing as Tobias stands and walks off.
"Idiots."
"I heard that! We know where you sleep Tobias!"

.

"Holy Shadow Ray." Takeru fires a mixture of light and shadows towards Tresh, and just like everything else, he manipulates it away; but as he was occupied with that, in an instant, Takeru slides behind the bandit and slams a punch to his jaw. Tresh goes sliding across the floor until he finally came to a stop. "It seems you can only manipulate one thing at a time. How unfortunate." Takeru stalks Tresh as Natsu and Sting look on. "Ugh. That still won't stop me." Tresh takes off running, but Takeru cuts him off. He tries to turn around but Sting and Natsu also stand in his way. Sting feigns a punch, causing Tresh to be on guard. Takeru takes that opportunity to snatch the vase piece off his neck. "Hey! What the!?" Tresh was completely open. "Iron fist, of the Fire Dragon!" As Takeru clears the area, Natsu slams his fiery fist into the wide open bandit's chin, sending him flying through the wall and instantly KO'ed.
Sting walks up to and stands beside Natsu as they look at Tresh. "That wasn't so bad once we worked together huh Natsu-San?"
"I'll say." Natsu nodded in agreement. "Great work, especially you Takeru! Takeru…" Natsu and Sting looked around frantically until the both shouted simultaneously. "HE DITCHED US AGAIN!"

Back at the museum Takeru stood with a panting Sting and Natsu as they received their equal share of the reward.
"Thank you thank you!" The caretaker shouted, holding up the piece of vase. "I am so grateful."
"Just doing our job!" Sting exclaimed as he smiled. "You guys ready to go? We might as well head back together, since we're all the same stop.
"Whatever." Takeru stated. "Might as well not be the only one who's sick on a train."
"Oi..don't remind me."
Natsu holds his stomach as he walks with the others away from the museum. As the leave they caretaker's sight, his appearance starts to change, as well as the museum behind him. As the illusion fades, the actual museum shows to be a little more ways behind where the illusion was. The caretaker was now Ruika and Batto. Ruika stood, holding Batto's key.
"That took a lot of magic. I'm beat." Ruika sighed out.
"Magic? What magic? I did all the work." Batto stated. "You just stood there doing a bad impression of a man."
Ruika narrows her eyes at Batto and force closes the gate. "Annoying. Now, to get back to Tartaros."
Out of the gate, Orion appears, cradling Ruika bridal style, catching her off guard. "I'll carry you home my love. Your feet should never have to touch the filthy ground for they are-"
Ruika slams a fist into Orion's head and lands on the ground, now scolding Orion. "I didn't call for you now did I!?"
As Orion disappears Ruika begins her walk back to Tartaros.

A small time skip later, the mages of Tartaros all stand in front of Daityas as he stood in front of the vase. Daityas holds out the two pieces as they begin to float towards the incomplete vase that was sitting on the table. The incomplete vase already held a dark yellow, dark green and a dark blue magic circle. The black and dark red magic circle then connects to complete the vase of demons. Daityas then carefully picks it up and begins laughing.
"…..So what flowers are we gonna put in it?" Kiora says. Her and Maggie start to snicker. Even Ruika joins in until Daityas turns around.
"Oh you three, always the riot. This vase, is the vase of demons. It has the ability to bring anyone from the dead, and under your control, to a certain extent."
"Okay?" The puzzled Mithril looks on. "And who died?"
"No one yet. But oh someone is going to." Daityas turns to the pictures on the wall. The pictures were of each mage in Tartaros. He eye's two pictures that have been shaded out. "Isn't that right, Tayakata and Arcturus?"
Sora jumps up and down clapping.
"Arcy is coming home!"
"Yes Sora, Arcy is coming home."