Ok I have gotten my reviews of this story and that makes me happy. I hope you keep it up! As I promised this chapter will mostly be with fairy tail after the one-year time skip, so enjoy!
Normal POV
One year. It had been one year since the Fairy Tail guild was disbanded, and one year since anyone from the guild had seen each other. They have all gone their separate ways, all finding different jobs and different lives to live; either finding other jobs, joining other guilds or just falling off the map entirely. As for Lucy, she got one of her dream jobs - working for sorcerer weekly. She had also managed to publish one or two of her books. Since the disbandment, she had more time to write, mostly not having to worry about Natsu or the rest of the team barging into her room. But she was not happy. Right now, she was at the Grand Magic Games working as a reporter.
She sighed as she watched the all too predictable fights of the Blue Skull Guild, or at least that was what she thought they were called. Blue Skull was one of the weakest guilds she had ever seen. In fact, all the guilds competing in this year's games were weak. After Fairy Tail disbanded many of the big-name guilds like Sabertooth, Lamia Scale and Blue Pegasus refused to compete. Therefore, the only guilds left were ones that most people have never even heard of. But everyone watching the games still seemed to enjoy it all the same.
After the games had ended for the day she had arrived back at her apartment. The apartment was a lot smaller than the one she had in Magnolia, with a lot more people living in the same building. Walking inside and seeing the empty room she sighed. She had always hoped that Natsu would be waiting for her with Happy, eating all the food she had. Over the one year she spent here, she had often thought this whole thing was one long dream, and that when she woke up, team Natsu would be there with the rest of the guild, and they would all go on jobs again. But every time she woke up she found herself alone.
She walked into her room where on one wall had a map with a spider web of photos, newspaper articles, and pictures of the Fairy Tail members, all connected by red strings. After the disbandment, she had tried to keep track of all her friends' whereabouts and what they were up to these days… Well, except for Natsu and Gray. Gray had disappeared off the map after six months, and Natsu… Lucy had no idea where Natsu was - he had disappeared before the guild even disbanded. Lucy often wondered if Natsu knew about the guild; if he did, would Natsu be angry or would he be sad? Lucy had a feeling that if Natsu did know about the guild he would have come back and fought with the Master to get it back together. It brought a smile to her face thinking of Natsu's rash actions, and how he always knew how to brighten up everyone's spirits.
Lucy didn't realize she was lost in her thoughts until the knock at her door brought her back to reality. She walked slowly to the door, wondering who would be visiting her. When the door opened, she was met by a face full of blue hair.
"Lucy, it is so good to see you!" the blue blur squealed. Lucy froze; she knew that voice.
"Levy!?" Lucy gasped, getting up from where Levy had tackled her. "It's good to see you, Levy! It has been a long time." They both sat down on the couch and tried to catch up with each other; they were so caught up with each other's stories that they did not notice someone else walking through the open door.
"Sorry to interrupt the 'catch up', but we have work to do." came a gruff voice from behind Lucy. She turned to see Gajeel standing with his arms crossed and wearing a white cloak with the Council's sigil.
"Gajeel, you joined the council, too!" Lucy asked, not really believing it. She was aware that after the guild disbanded Levy had joined the New Magic Council to help rebuild it, but she was not aware that Gajeel had joined as well.
"Oh, right! I forgot the whole reason for coming here…" Levy chuckled sheepishly while rubbing the back of her neck. "We have found out where Gray is!"
"What?! Really? I have been checking for any information about him but I couldn't find anything." Lucy stated in excitement.
"Well, sometimes working for the Council has its advantages." But then Levy's smile faded and a more serious look appeared on her face that confused Lucy. "For the last six months, Gray has been working undercover in one of the dark guilds."
"…"
Lucy was confused. She didn't know what to think. Gray in a Dark Guild? She tried to imagine Gray acting as an evil wizard for half a year.
She couldn't. "So then, why are you telling me this? I mean, if it is supposed to be a Council secret?"
"Well… we came to ask for your help. You see, the guild that Gray is in, is going to murder an entire village in Malba as a sacrifice to Zeref, unless we stop them." Levy explained. Lucy's eyes widened.
"That means that you should pack your things — we have an army to fight," Gajeel ordered, joining the conversation, knowing that if he wasted any more time he might miss out on the battle. She nodded and quickly packed her things. And then the three of them left for Malba. On the way, she managed to send all the letters she wrote for the guild members but never sent; maybe this was the time to do that. After a year, the Fairy Tail guild could get back together, and they could be a family again.
With Gray a little beforehand
In the Avatar Guild, the main members were gathered for a meeting in the hall.
"Our problem isn't with the Council, but how word of our plans reached their ears." One of the members spoke while eyes that were full of suspicion, traveled to each member.
"So, what you're trying to say is that we have a spy in our ranks, right… and you are trying to point the finger at me, aren't you?" Gray asked, his arms crossed over his chest with a sour look on his face.
"Well, you did come to us from quite the Greatest Guild in the world." Another member stated as everyone turned their attention to the ice wizard.
"We have done our research on you. Your parents were killed by Deliora, a demon from the book of Zeref. Our Dark Lord was also involved in the deaths of your master and her daughter." Alok stated. The other members looked between Gray and the other members as the tension began to rise.
"Gray has faithfully served alongside us for half a year." Mary defended him.
"Yes, but he has no reason to revere Lord Zeref." Gomon pointed out as everyone was now getting suspicions of the ex-Fairy Tail member.
"Your information is a little off. Ultear is still alive, for one thing…" Gray stated, smirking.
"What drew you to our cause?" Jerome asked, wanting to believe in the ice mage.
"I joined you because I am after the book END. Is that a good enough reason for you?" Gray snapped, glaring, "That is all I want. No matter what I have to do to get it, nor who I have to go through. It will be mine." Gray hissed darkly. After a few seconds in silence, Gray calmed down and sighed, "Yeah, I used to be in that guild, but now it is gone and I have found my true calling. Now listen up closely so I don't have to repeat myself. The only thing I care about is killing END… so if you can get me there I'm with you." Gray stated before turning to walk away.
"No way a spy from the Magic Council could give off that raw dark energy!" A member reasoned, finally breaking the silence as they watched Gray disappear, all their doubts about him being gone.
Time skip
After the battle and the Dark Guild Avatar was defeated with Gajeel having a field day running around arresting everyone. Which Lucy and Levy were happily watching.
"Hey, Lucy. Long time no see!" Lucy turned to see Gray running in her direction with Juvia close behind with that stalker look on her face. Lucy smiled, knowing that something would never change. "Where's Flame Brain? Why is he not with you?" He looked surprised that his rival would miss out on a good fight as this one. Lucy's smile dropped and her mood darkened.
"No… Natsu disappeared after the fight with Tartaros. I don't think he even knows that the guild disbanded." She sighed as her thoughts went back to Natsu… was he OK? Where did he go…?
"What!?... That bastard, when I find him-" Gray started growling.
"Clam down, Gray." Lucy interjected. "He probably went on a training trip. After all, he did see Igneel die right in front of him and he couldn't do anything about it. I would understand if he would want to get stronger." Gray crossed his arms and looked away, knowing that Lucy was right, but he was still mad at his rival for having left without so much as a word.
"What about Happy, did he go with Natsu?" Lucy turned to the new voice to see Erza and Gajeel walking in their direction.
"No… Happy is with Wendy and Carla." Lucy stated, thinking of the blue cat.
"That's weird. Natsu doesn't go anywhere without Happy." Levy stated, now a little worried for their fire dragon slayer.
"I know, that's what I thought as well when I found out." Lucy sighed. After a little while of everyone catching up with each other about the last year, and everyone getting over the fact that Gajeel was part of the Council which got Levy a little mad when Gray said that it was not the real Gajeel. And for that brief moment with everyone laughing and smiling it was like the guild was back together, almost like they were never separated.
"I really do miss the times like these." Lucy sighed happily as she watched her friends laughing and smiling. It was like they were never separated.
"Yeah, but it still feels a little off without Natsu." Erza stated, which again brought the mood down a little.
"Don't worry, we will find him." Gray spoke with determination and a little anger in his voice, thinking that Natsu was the one causing his friends to worry.
When the group made it back to Magnolia out of habit, they saw that nothing had really changed; they were half expecting ruins and scarred earth but instead, they saw a mostly rebuilt city and a bunch of people laughing and smiling. They also saw a lot of familiar faces. It seemed that Lucy's letters had reached everyone, and they too were helping rebuild Magnolia; Lucy put her hands to her mouth as tears of joy ran down her face, knowing that Fairy Tail was never really gone. It felt so natural for everyone to be together again, like a real family.
After that, as the guild members were helping build Fairy Tail guild back up, they named Erza as a temporary Guild Master, just for now, until they find Makarov or when Gildarts would show up. Just then, Mest made his appearance and then took Erza downstairs, just under the Fairy Tail Guild, unknowingly bringing a few of them as well. When they saw the body of the First Master, and after having found the uninvited guests, he shared with them his own memories of being in the Guild; his special mission and what happened after the fight with Tartaros. He also informed the guild why the Master disbanded the guild and where he was. They then decided that they were going to save him from Alvarez and protect Lumen Histoire, no matter what. Fairy Tail would always protect their own and come out on top as a family again.
So, Team Natsu, minus their leader, departed to save their beloved master. And Gajeel, having exceptional hearing, also heard what was discussed downstairs, then decided that he was going to find Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe members. And hopefully, find Natsu and bring him back to the Guild.
Time skip
As soon as a plan was formed Gray, Mest, Erza, Lucy and Wendy headed for Alvarez Empire to save their master.
Ever since the battle with Tartaros, Wendy had started to feel motion sickness just like the other dragon slayers, but no one had the heart to knock her out like they did for Natsu. So Gray took her below deck to relax but when he came back up all he had on were his boxers which naturally got Lucy to argue with him.
"What's on your mind, Erza?" asked Mest when he noticed the stoic look on her face as she looked out to sea, "Or should I call you Master?"
She turned to face him, "Erza is fine. I was just thinking of our situation…" she turned back to face the open ocean. "Makarov went as far as disbanding the guild to keep us safe, and all this time he has been hiding the Lumen Histoire from an outside force. But what is perplexing is why he felt he had to go to such extreme lengths…" at this time both Gray and Lucy stopped their arguing and turned to listen in on Erza's conversation "Perhaps if I knew what the Lumen Histoire actually is I could make sense of it." she sighed.
"Honestly, I'm as in the dark as you are… but I believe it is some kind of weapon." Mest said.
"I had heard a rumor that Gramps actually considered activating it to stop the faces." Gray said, walking up towards them. Erza turned around again since their conversation attracted more listeners.
"I had heard the same thing. But for some reason he ultimately decided not to." Lucy stated as she also walked closer to the group.
"Are you saying that if he did activate it, it would've been powerful enough to counteract all of those faces?" Carla asked.
"Maybe. The biggest mystery is the First Master's body…" Erza pondered as she put her hand to her chin in thought.
"Why is she in there? Is she alive, or dead?" Gray asked.
"Yes, it is certainly odd, especially since we have interacted with projections of her from time to time." Carla stated, remembering Tenrou Island and the Grand Magic Games where their first master appeared.
"There are so many unanswered questions…" Gray sighed, leaning against the railing.
"Hopefully Master Makarov will shed more light on everything once he is safe and sound." Lucy spoke trying to put an end to the conversation since none of them knew much - they were just coming up with more questions and no answers.
Mest just listened to them speculate he was in the dark on most of what was going on as well. After that meeting several months ago he had lost contact with Fairy tails master. He wanted to talk to him about his investigating into the destroyed mountain peaks but ended up having to go looking for the master instead. Right now, was not the time to tell fairy tail about the other problems they might be facing in the future not when they just got back together not when their beloved master was in danger not when they were still missing a important member of their guild.
"How long will it take to get to Alvarez?" Erza asked, turning her attention to Mest, and bring him out of his darkening thoughts.
"We're sailing for 10 days, and then several more on land." Mest replied.
"That is quite a journey." Erza sighed, looking away from the group as her mind drifted to their Master, and what could be happening to him in enemy territory since they couldn't get there faster.
"I am worried about him as well… but we can't be hasty. We will need to make a stop on Caracole Island to stock up on provisions." Mest stated, having read Erza's expression. Erza just nodded.
"A place not named for a plant or flower…" Lucy breathed, a frown forming on her face.
"That is one way to know you're outside of Fiore." Gray stated, catching on to what Lucy was thinking about, since every town or city in Fiore were named after a plant or flower.
"Are you sure we have time to make a stop?" Erza asked, her urgency to save their master evident in her voice.
"I did say we can't be hasty. This kind of infiltration mission requires a lot of preparation…" Mest stated, giving the group a knowing smile, and hiding the fact he was also worried.
"What do you mean by that?" Erza asked, looking confused at the ex-Council spy.
"We will be meeting up with an intelligence agent while we are there. They will tell us how we can sneak into the Empire." Mest explained, his smile growing wider.
8 days later
"There it is, Caracole Island." Mest stated, as they came up on a green island that looked like it had a spiral of rocks.
"Great. Let's get ready to disembark." Gray stated, ready to go down below deck to get ready.
Erza stopped him, "Wait, I think something is wrong." Just then Gray noticed it, too. Two massive black and purple ships with the Alverez crest on them were docked on the harbor.
"That is the crest of the Alvarez military!" Mest gasped.
"What are they doing way out here?" Happy asked. He was in his human form - he had the same height as Carla, with blue hair and blue cat ears on his head. His green backpack was enlarged and still hung around his neck. He wore a white shirt under light brown jacket and green patch work shorts. He was leaning over the side to get a better look at the ships, his blue tail swishing back and forth nervously.
"That's a good question, since Caracole Island isn't in their territory." Carla stated, also shocked to see the two massive warships.
"It appears that they are forming an inspection at the harbor." Mest spoke as he took a closer look at the Island through a telescope.
"How the hell are we going to get on that island now?" Gray grumbled in frustration.
"They might be trying to catch a spy, but from what I can tell they haven't caught them yet…" Wendy groaned as she laid over the railing.
"Hold on! You can hear them from this far away?" Lucy asked the young dragon slayer.
"Oh yeah, but just barely." Wendy groaned again, then she threw up over the side of the boat.
"So, what now?" Mest asked, tuning to face Erza.
"We are going to have to make contact with our agent quickly while we can." Erza sighed. Once they reached the dock they could hear the Alvarez soldiers shouting orders to the people.
"This is a restricted zone. Form a line!"
"Be prepared to show identification and submit to a search before entering or exiting the area!"
They could also hear many of the civilians grumbling at the inconvenience as they shuffled through the line.
"I guess it is a good thing Natsu isn't here or he might cause a mess…" Gray whispered, but the group gave a little laugh, imagining the hotheaded dragon slayer just beating up the guards, having no concept for stealth and infiltration. But the mention of their missing friend also made their hearts ache. Just then they were up next. The girls did most of the talking, while Mest was praying that they didn't blow their cover.
"Is that a guild crest on your hand?" one of them asked Lucy, pointing to the pink guild mark on her hand.
"Yes, sir. We are wizards from the Cait Shelter guild." she spoke brightly, showing off her altered guild mark. The other girls also showed off their marks while smiling sweetly at the guards.
"I have never heard of that one before." The first soldier commented, turning to his partner.
"Don't look at me. I only know a handful of guilds from Ishgar." the second one deflected, which made Wendy sad to know that no one knew of her beloved ex-guild. The two soldiers waved over another soldier and they turned to whisper to each other.
"What should we do about this? We were ordered to be extra thorough with wizards." the second soldier asked his comrades.
"I don't know. Do you think the spy's contact would waltz in here showing off their guild marks?" the third one asked.
Getting tired of waiting Erza and Lucy began to try and seduce the soldiers, showing off as much cleavage as they could, which got the soldiers to totally forget their conversation and waved them through.
"Nicely done, ladies." Gray complimented the girls while thinking, 'Never underestimate the power of women.' As they walked through the area, he could see that there were soldiers everywhere he looked. "Man, this whole place is practically crawling with those Alverez soldiers." he remarked.
Just then they heard crying and turned to see four soldiers surrounding a small boy who was tugging on one of the soldiers' gloves and pleading that they bring his daddy back. The mages watched, resisting the urge to jump in and save the child. Just then, the soldier, as if annoyed by the wails, drew his sword and prepared to slice down on the boy. A second later all four soldiers were on the ground as they were knocked down by Erza, Gray, Lucy and Wendy with Happy and Carla in human form holding onto the child.
"Man, we are so screwed." Mest stammered as they saw more soldiers running in their direction.
"I promise we will find your daddy." Wendy comforted the kid.
"Yeah, Wendy has a really good sense of smell! She will have no problem sniffing him out." Happy cheered in support. They split up; Happy, Carla and Wendy went with the boy to look for his father. Mest disappeared on a mission to try and find the spy while Gray, Erza and Lucy 'distracted' the soldiers by knocking them down, and destroying the area in the process.
"Well, that was easy. I don't see why Gramps thought these jokers were so scary." Gray stated as he looked at all the soldiers they just took out
"One thing is for certain - they will be sending reinforcements" Erza sighed, remembering how large the two ships were at the docks. Erza went to a gelato stand and started eating, and they began talking to the stall owner and he was talking about raising money because it was his dream to move to Ishgar to open his store, and Erza wished him luck. Just then, the stand exploded.
"You are an A+!" a new voice complimented.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Erza shouted in annoyance, getting up and facing their attacker.
"Oh, that fire in your eyes is delicious, yeah! A++ maybe!" he congratulated again. Now that they got a good look at the man, he had black hair and was wearing a purple suit. He bowed. "My name is Marin Hollow. I am a member of the Alvarez Imperial Army, the Brandish Division."
"All my hopes and dreams! They're ruined!" The small shop owner cried in dejection.
"Take that and run." Lucy ordered, giving him a bag of jewels while facing the new enemy.
"Sorry about this, man. I know it is not much, but it should help a little." Gray added, his back turned to the shop owner.
"I will avenge your Star Mangos. I promise you." Erza hissed in fury. Marin just started clapping and praising them with a sweet smile on his face. This annoyed her further. "I have had enough of your nonsense. You will pay dearly for destroying my sweets." Her magic power started rising, but when she tried to requip, nothing happened. Her magic was cut off.
"Smash him now!" Gray shouted. Erza just looked at her hands in shock.
"I can't requip." she stammered.
"No, you can't. Because I am the Master of Space… all space magic is completely ineffective against me." Marin smiled.
"In that case, take this! Open the Gate of the Archer, Sagittarius!" Lucy shouted, bringing out one of her Gold Keys. But again, nothing happened.
"Celestial Spirit magic! Sorry, but that is spatial magic, too." He chuckled with false sympathy.
"No way." Lucy breathed, her body shaking in fear.
"Oh, by the way, there is one detail I should mention. Whoever breaks the Law of Space in my presence…"
"Wait, what's going on!" Erza shouted as her and Lucy began to disappear in white bubbles.
"There's no need to get fussy, ladies. I am sending you to my chill out space." he said with a smile.
"Lucy! Erza!" Gray shouted as he tried to grab them, but they were gone.
"Those two ladies are both A+ honeys, so they will be somewhere nice…" Marin smiled, but then his expression did a complete 180 once he set his eyes upon Gray. "But then, you are an F- loser! A dumbass that just needs to die!" his eyes had switched to a darker crazed look, and his aura grew dark as well.
"What the hell!" Gray shouted. Marin snapped his fingers and a wounded Mest appeared on the ground in front of him.
"Mest!" Gray called out, but he couldn't run to the fallen mage with Marin standing above him.
"This piece of crap also tried to use space magic around me… Do you know what I think of that? F-… this loser makes me want to puke my guts out." Marin growled. Gray tried to attack, Marin dodged and appeared behind Gray, kicking him in the back, causing Gray to stumble landing face first in the dirt.
"What the-! How-? I didn't even see him." Gray grunted as he looked around for the spatial mage.
"You should know better than to mess with a guy like me, because your kind will never win." Marin laughed from behind him on the roof of another building. Gray turned to face the mage, ready for a fight.
"That's enough play time, Marin." Gray turned back around at the new voice, his eyes widening.
'Oh, her power level is freakin' insane!' he screamed in his head as he stared at the girl in a bikini costume, with green hair and a fur lined open coat.
"Brandish, my lady! You are an A+++!" Marin quickly complimented loudly, appearing next to her and giving a couple small bows and then rubbing the back of his head, smiling nervously.
"I would appreciate it if you stopped with the boot licking." the newly named Brandish spoke, then she turned to stare at Gray with blank eyes.
'What is this, how can anyone have such a level of magic power… it's unreal!' Gray thought, his body frozen in shock and fear.
"I have a craving for some star mango gelato." she stated and turned to face the ruined shop, ignoring Gray completely. "The shop is totally in pieces! Who could have done this!" she cried mournfully.
"It was him!" Marin smiled, pointing at Gray.
"The whole thing was your fault!" Gray shot back, getting out of his frozen shock at the woman's power level.
"Oh, and I really wanted some, too." she sighed forlornly as she turned around and began walking away. "Let's go." She told her subordinate.
"Lady Brandish, please wait!" he called and tried to explain why the shop was destroyed, "And I think the only reason they are here is to contact the spy."
"I don't care. Now go ahead and give them back their A+ girls." she said quietly, still crying over the destroyed gelato shop.
"What! But, they are some of the best in my collection… you gave the whole idea your blessing! You remember, don't you?" He stated. Brandish stepped sharply onto the ground; her tears gone as the ground began to shake.
"What's happening? Is it an earthquake?" Gray asked no one in particular as he was the only one around, and Mest was still unconscious.
"Marin, did you not hear what I said." she spoke in a stern voice, turning back to face the man.
"Right!" he squeaked in fear, snapping his hand right to his face in a hand salute.
'I have never seen this kind of magic,' Gray thought as his early fear returned, then Erza and Lucy appeared in a heap on the ground.
"That sucked." Lucy groaned as she sat up, rubbing her head.
"I didn't hurt them. I set them to a place where they could chill out." Marin spoke, trying to ease the tension in the air.
"Where were we just now? That place was absolutely horrible." Erza asked as she sat up, her body still shaking.
"Who is that?" Lucy asked as she noticed Brandish standing a little ways away, 'Her magic power is off the charts. I don't even know how to describe how strong it feels!' Lucy screamed in her head, her eyes widening as well as she felt the overwhelming magic power.
'She's more powerful than Gramps.' Gray thought. He couldn't control how much his body shook in fear.
"Umm… Lady Brandish, don't forget that we were set all the way out here on a mission to capture the spy and their associates." Marin carefully spoke.
"Whatever we choose to do, I doubt Ishgar would be stupid enough to mess with Alvarez." Brandish stated in a bored tone, still not facing the group. 'These people… they were once the Prince's friends.' She was having a hard time believing that the Prince would have such weak friends. She wondered if that was why he left. Then she banished the thought from her mind. The Prince didn't seem to care about people's standing or level of magic power. She was brought out of her thought when she noticed Marin was still talking.
"-that may be the case, but if we say we couldn't even find them, then we will get a huge F-. And who would want that?" Marin finished, pretty happy with his speech.
"Honestly, I don't really care." She sighed and began walking away again. But Marin kept talking. She then stopped walking and raised her hand, and Marin disappeared, seemingly into thin air. The Ishgar group gasped, Lucy covering her mouth in shock and horror at the thought that Brandish just 'killed' one of her own men.
"That was for your fallen comrade. Now we are even… does that make things better?" she asked, still not turning to face them. "I hate dealing with this. There is so much else I'd rather be doing." she sighed as an image of Natsu's smiling face appeared in her head. She quickly brushed the thought out of her head and spoke again "It is so much easier if I tell everyone I got rid of the spy and her little friends, so do yourself a favor and stay away from Alakitasia… OK?" At the last part she turned her head to look at the mages with a bored expression on her face.
'Wait, how could she know why we are here?' Erza thought, her eyes widening.
"Makarov's alive, by the way. But if you guys don't behave yourself, that could easily change… " she turned the rest of the way around to fully face them, "so this is your warning. You better run along home, or else." The ground started shaking violently again. They then found themselves in the water along with everyone that was on the Island, with Brandish now standing on the smaller version of the Island. "Alvarez has 11 other wizards just as powerful as I am. Wait, make that 12. So, don't be stupid and start a fight. You can't win. Got that, Fairy Tail?"
'There are that many like her?!' Lucy gasped in thought at 12 people being just as terrifying.
'They already got our whole mission figured out?' Gray thought, eyes wide and body shaking.
'We can't beat or fool them.' Erza thought, trying to stop her body shaking. Desperately trying to think of a way out of this.
"Oh, and I should mention the 12th one is more powerful than the 11, myself included, and someone to definitely look out for. But then again, if you are smart, you will never have to run into him." Then Brandish disappeared from the small Island and went onto one of the two Alvarez warships, the two started sailing back to Alakitasia.
All the Islanders began coming onto the boats… their ship as well as the fishing ships that were in the area. Everyone was shocked that the whole Island seemed to have just vanished. But the Fairy Tail group didn't stay on the ship for long, as they were whisked away to an underwater ship with the spy who they were supposed to meet. The underwater ship was now on its way to Alvarez.
Time skip another two days later
They reached Alakitasia without any further issues or interference from Alvarez. But the whole time, they were running Brandish's words around their heads, and what had happened on the Island were never far from their thoughts. Then they reached land, which Wendy was happy about. When the trip was finally over Sorano gave them instructions on how to sneak into Alvarez, but she also warned them not to get too close to the City because they would stand out as outsiders. They thanked the once dark mage and disembarked. They walked for another two and a half days to get to the outskirts of the Alvarez Empire.
"Is that thing the Castle?" Lucy asked, seeing the massive fortress in the distance that dominated the skyline.
"Yeah. That is probably where the Master is being held…" Erza stated as her eyes narrowed, trying to look into the distance.
"It will take several jumps there and back." Mest theorized as he sighed, not really wanting to use that much magic. But they had agreed that they wouldn't get too close, since they weren't looking for a fight. Their plan was just to get their Master back and get out of this country, that was it.
"Even from here, that place looks massive. How are you going to find him?" Wendy asked.
"Don't worry about that. I have a plan." Mest stated. 'Well, half a plan.' He finished in his head. He started walking. He was going to use as little magic as he could, so if he could cut the distance he would do it.
Ok, after the one-year time skip. I hope you liked it! Please review with ideas or pointer to improve my story
Also many have requested I do a chapter about Natsu running the country and I would like to ask, would you like it as a flashback when Natsu came back from his trip and before Zeref got back from his or would you like it somewhere later on in the story?
