"Faster, faster!" I heard the young Romeo Conbolt whoop in joy.

"Are you fastened tightly?" I yelled out to him, making the young boy chuckle and nod. "Well, you heard the boy, Ignis!"

The red wyvern growled lightly before diving down with enough speed to reach to hit all adrenaline spots in my brain. I heard the young boy shriek in utter joy before the g-force stole his screams. Ignis moved forward with the grace of a hawk. We dove past the buildings across Magnolia like an obstacle course, passing over their rivers, flying sideways on narrower streets, and even scaring some people. Though, it was much better than it was two weeks ago when I did my first obstacle run through the city.

Can I just say it is awesome having a wyvern as a partner? (Let's be honest, if anyone was the pet in this relationship, it would be turned to me in less than a heartbeat.)

Ignis is literally the best. He goes off to get his own food hunting the wildlife in the early morning and late night, and he washes by diving into the sea to catch more fish for him to eat. He's basically already house-trained, and I do spoil him with leftover butcher goods sometimes because he's surprisingly docile.

It's like I get all of the perks and none of the hassle!

"This. Is. AWESOME!" The black-haired kid cried out as our lap around Magnolia was drawing to a close. We ended up back at Fairy Tail's backyard near a rather moderately large stable made just for Ignis by Fairy Tail's mages. "Let's do it again!"

"Oh no, you don't!" We looked over to a worried Macao Conbolt, who ran over to us. "Kain, you said that you would take this carefully!"

I blinked as I processed the words. Before we had left, the father of Romeo had indeed warned us to be careful. He must have seen us flying at such speeds and assumed that we weren't. "Yeah, I did. I made sure Romeo was fastened on to Ignis' saddle—the one everyone pitched in to make so he could hold more people without bothering his flying—then I let him go around half of Ignis' top speed."

"That was half!?" the young mage snapped his head back at me.

I continued even after the young aspiring mage's comment. "But I do get what you were saying, Macao. I really did make sure Romeo was safe, but I knew it would also be fun if he got some taste of riding a high-speed wyvern. I'm sorry that I misunderstood you somewhat."

Romeo seemed to pout somewhat. "Dad, what are you doing? Kain and Ignis did what you said, don't be so hard on them!"

I ended up petting the boy's head. "It's really alright, Romeo. Come on, you've got to get ready for school. I have work to prepare for."

Eventually, he did relent and got off before saying goodbye to us. I dropped off Ignis and walked towards Macao.

"I really thought it would be alright."

The father of the young boy looked away and rubbed his head as he sighed. "No, I was too hard on you. You did listen to what I said, and you just wanted Romeo to enjoy his first ride."

I felt myself soften after hearing something like that. "Macao, it's alright. I know what it's like to have a dad say something mean when all he cares about is their child's safety. My dad was a lot like that. I just didn't appreciate it back when I was there."

The father sighed again as he heard that and turned to me with an honest look. "I'm sorry for bringing it up."

"No, really. I should be thanking you. I really do need to be more active in finding a way back home." I waved goodbye to Ignis as I motioned the older man back into the guild. "Come on, I'll treat you to a free non-alcoholic drink."

He seemed to raise his brow as he asked optimistically, "Care to make that non-non-alcoholic?"

"Macao, it's morning. Don't push it."

I noticed the older man roll his eyes. "Yeesh. Fine, I guess I've grown to like the new smoothies you and Mirajane added to the bar. I want two of those."

"I'll be sure to buy a third for Romeo before you bring him to school."

"Thanks. By the way, how's that?" I know what he was trying to say as I brought up my right arm to reveal the wyvern brace still stuck to my arm.

"It's still a mystery. Though I haven't really had time to check what the master said about it until today."

Ugh, just remembering what went down last week is giving me a headache.

It began after Erza, unfortunately, denied trying to cut my arm off. It now later occurs to me, I am one of the few people in the world (or cosmos?) who considers his arm not being cut off a bad thing.

After calming down, I was brought back into the guild. Everyone gathered around to stare at my arm as if it were a second head.

"So what is that?" Natsu poked it several times as if it was some kind of animal. "It looks like a gear of some kind."

Erza added her own two cents into it. "I can sense something off about it. I want to say it feels like magic, but the word doesn't feel right." At the time, I did not like how she said those words.

"Where did master go?" Gray looked back to the second floor. "I know he told us to wait, but what's he doing up there?"

As if on cue, the master jumped down from the second floor and on top of the table. I felt everyone crowd around me.

He sighed as he put down a piece of paper. "This is why I had a strange feeling from seeing it."

Everyone seemed to gasp as they saw some kind of 100-symbol stamp on the worn-out, moth-eaten piece of paper.

Mirajane looked on with absolute fear seeing the picture. "Master, are you serious!?"

Her only response was Makarov simply nodding. Everyone else began to murmur and pale while I was still confused as all heck.

"I would very much like context here, please!" I shouted out loud to snap everyone out of their stupor.

Makarov looked at me before handing me the piece of paper. "We talked about it briefly while going over some of Erza's reports, but there are what's known as S-class missions. Do you remember what I said about those?"

I nodded, recalling that only those given the rank of S-Class could take expensive and dangerous quests. Erza and four others in Fairy Tail could take this quest. On that same day, I learned two had special reasons to not take anymore.

"There are quests even above those: the SS-class, the one-year quests, decade quests, and the very top of them all: one-hundred-year quests. These quests are so dangerous not even I and the other Wizard Saints want to take them."

At that last one, I looked down at the paper he put down. It didn't take me long to figure out that the one-hundred logo I was staring at was non-other than something that even the top wizards of Fiore would have trouble dealing with.

I gulped and reached for the paper. As I did, the logo changed into a picture of five shadowy objects and text that covered the rest of the page.

Huh? The date… it's 222X?! This has been a job request for almost five hundred years!?

Seeing everyone around move closer to me, I coughed to clear my throat and began reading aloud, "To any who hear this message, listen to my plea. Legend tells of when the planet was young, a powerful entity fell from the stars and into our world. Before its final breath, the creature gave the last sparks of its life to five warriors who had ventured to its grave. The five were said to have gained powers that could crush mountains individually but together held the potential to destroy the entire planet. Countless kingdoms of old came together to stop these mad warriors. The battle was bloody dragged longer than either side wanted. But, in the end, the five warriors were defeated.

However, while the warriors themselves were defeated, their powers crystallized into strange objects that allowed anyone to use their might. These five items have caused devastation and chaos wherever they go. Yet time can sweep even the greatest of horrors as their legend faded into existence.

Many assumed this to be a simple tale, until one day in the year 98X—"

I paused from reading for a second. "Hold up a second. This was a thing even before the posted date of this quest?!"

"Hey, keep reading!" "Yeah, it was getting good!"

I rolled my eyes before continuing the tale. "On the year 98X, one man wielding a black-colored device described in legends… single-handedly decimated the kingdom of Zavkx."

"The kingdom of Zavkx… is half the size of Fiore. Or was in this case." Makarov added to give us all an idea of what was happening.

To think one of these had the potential to decimate a small country. No wonder this was beyond S-class. If any of those were real, that would mean one entire country would be endangered if just one of those were found again.

The entire guild was silent. I swallowed hard as I continued to read. "The warrior disappeared, but now it is believed that these five objects exist and have been scattered all through the world. To those willing to take this arduous task, know that you must find all five of these horrible artifacts known to drive men insane and either destroy or seal them away for good. Be warned: they are small, but by now, they are scattered all across the planet with no clue how to find them."

I stopped reading as I turned towards the device on my arms.

"Okay, Erza, cut my arm off."

"Not that again!" Lucy cried out as everyone blanched at how I said that.

Erza shook her head to my disappointment before I turned towards our celestial mage. "Lucy, the last magical item to attach to my arms was an ancient demon, an ancient demon that became smarter after possessing me, if I may remind you! Now it's a super ancient mystical weapon! I am not taking this chance!"

"While it is true this is part of a hundred-year quest," Makarov stated, making everyone look to him. "The fact remains is that this is only a theory I have. It may just be a random thing that has no relation to it whatsoever."

I sighed. "I really hope it is. The last thing I need is going more insane than I already am."

Mirajane looked down on their leader. "So master, what do we do now?"

"Hmm, I should probably tell the council. But even then, they probably don't know what to do. This quest was posted on a country on the opposite side of the planet, Gorandor, over five hundred years ago and has spread out ever since. No one knows how to approach it with updating a quest that's been around for a long time as the council has."

"That's really weird, but if it really is one of these five weapons, what was it doing in Ignis' stomach?" Macao was the one who asked this.

I rubbed my head. "I really don't want to think about it."

I found myself rubbing my head again even after remembering that.

After the event, I tried to study the thing. I did everything: I tried to open it up—only to break every tool that attempted to open it. I then endeavored to get it to work and see if it was like an actual Morpher from Power Rangers. While there was a button, nothing seemed to activate it, making it nothing more than some fancy bracelet. Lastly, I even tried asking Ignis about it. Yeah, I was better off talking to my own reflection. I got absolutely nothing.

"Hey, you remember when Erza and Natsu had their fight right after that?" Macao half laughed as he said this. I could tell he was trying to change the topic from something else that didn't bother me. The problem was that he choose the worst subject to change into.

"Yeah, that didn't really help me considering I tried to be Erza's lawyer to put up some defense." I then narrowed my eyes on the mage with a five o clock shadow. "I seem to recall you allowing Natsu to make a fool out of ourselves."

And by fool, I mean storm the council room, break near everything within ten feet of him, and claim he was Erza while dressed in the most foolish get up imaginable. It was horrific. Funny if you weren't in our situation, but horrific. Because I tried to defend Erza legally, I was thrown into the brig with them.

The older mage scratched his chin nervously at my glare. "I-I owed him a favor."

You choose then to repay it?! Luckily, I said nothing more about that.

"I was put in magic jail because of that." There were luckily no dementors in there but still. "Magic. Jail. And I wasn't even a mage!"

The fire mage nervously laughed. "At least you got out?"

"Yeah, at least." Not even a month in, and I went into this world's jail. That has got to be some kind of record if we're talking about people sent into different worlds. That does make me wonder if those types of stories are real if it also happened to me?

As we got back in and ordered some drinks, I heard someone saying Natsu and Lucy were returning from a job. Nervously, I got up and headed towards my room.

"I'm going to go pack up for my new job. I'll see you later tonight, boss!" I told Mirajane as I left.

"Ah!? Kain!?"

I didn't really want to wait for her and went ahead.

Macao watched as Kain left for his room at the back before Natsu came in, arguing with Gray.

"Is Kain still avoiding Natsu?" The fire mage asked. "I thought Natsu must have scared the poor kid off, but nothing like this."

The white-haired beauty sighed. "Natsu's been in a slump after noticing Kain's been avoiding him a few days. Whenever he and Happy try to bring him on a quest, Kain has been making excuses in not going and taking new simpler jobs around Magnolia to escape talking for too long with Natsu."

"What? But Kain seems like a nice guy. I'm sure he would forgive Natsu."

Mirajane shook her head. "I don't think it's Natsu that's the problem. Ever since the Lullaby Incident, Kain's been sluggish at almost everything he does. I'm getting worried about him too."

There was a gasp as both Macao and Mirajane looked towards their right to see Makarov finishing a drink. "It's rude to gossip about your own friends."

"Ahh, right! Sorry," Macao admitted nervously. But as he looked back, he saw Natsu and Gray still fighting. The sight made him worry about something else. "But, do you know what's with Kain?"

The old man paused before he relaxed and placed a hand on his head. "The poor boy seems to be blaming himself for Lullaby escaping."

"What? No way! That's not his fault!"

Makarov looked back to Macao. "What do you think I've tried to say to him? But then he fears whatever horror Lullaby is causing out there right now, it'll be on his hands." The master placed a hand on his head. "Just thinking about the conversation gives me a headache. I tried to talk him out of it, but I had forgotten he was our lawyer. He had ."

"I… I didn't know Lullaby has still been bothering Kain." The older fire mage seemed to worry at the thought.

"I'm sure it'll end soon. Though it might take a push here and there." Makarov then had a look of sudden realization wash over him. He then looked over to Mirajane. "That reminds me, what job has he taken today to get out of Fairy Tail?"

"He said it was charity work," Then, the entire guild heard the sound of Ignis taking off and leaving the guild, meaning Kain was leaving already.

Kageyama flinched as he walked into the corridor. His trail was coming up, and to be honest, the charges stacked against him were looking bad. I mean, it was not as bad as he was making it out to be. Considering all he did, he should be glad he was eventually going to get out in a reasonable time.

Still, he wanted to be selfish and not get the maximum sentence of two years in prison.

However, who called him out of his cell? And why now when he was still worrying over a lawyer to get?

When he was led into a room, his eyes widened. "What? No way…"

Sitting down on the table was none other than Kain Reynolds, wearing a suit and a smile on his face.

"Whassup?" Kageyama was not expecting such a relaxed statement coming from someone he beat to near death.

"K-Kain!?"

The brunette wearing a suit relaxed into his seat and offered Kage to sit across from him. "Do you know any other Kain? If so, please tell me. I always thought it was fun to meet people with the same name."

Kage, slowly and in disbelief, sat down and stared. "H-How? Why are you here?"

The brown haired boy laughed. "I'm the lawyer that volunteered for your case. Apparently, it's easier to become a lawyer in this world than it is in mine. And I'm here to shorten your sentence."

The previously dark mage could not believe it. "What!? Y-You're helping me?!" After everything he did to him, heck, after that sucker punch to his nose! He still was going to help him?

"Well, for one, I was given a second chance, so it's only fair to make sure you do well with yours too. Secondly, this is a great way to earn more money while not having to take dangerous missions all the time." The young man listed.

Kage seemed to pause for a second. He finally got his bearings straight after getting over the initial shock to notice something was off.

"There's a third reason, isn't there? Why else would we be in a soundproof room?" He spoke as he noticed where they were.

"Well, lawyers and their clients are allowed privacy. It's in the rules I've learned." But then Kain's smile lessened. "But you are right. There is another reason I thought I could do besides helping you."

With a more serious tone, Kain asked, "Where did you guys get the wyvern?"

The former dark guild mage blinked. He certainly wasn't expecting that question. "That creature? Why?"

Kain explained, "It grew to like me and follows me around. But most wyverns are found in high mountains or low valleys. How did Eisenwald come across him?"

The shadow mage seemed to absorb that. There was obviously something else, but the shadow mage knew it wasn't a good idea to make enemies with someone who held his future in their hands. "We didn't. We bought from another dark guild: Preator Hunters."

"That guild… they're wanted for hunting endangered species, aren't they?" Kain recalled seeing them briefly among the wanted posters when he was collecting Erigor's reward.

Kageyama nodded. "They had caught the beast somewhere they didn't usually find wyverns in and thought to enslave it. No matter what they did, it always resisted, and they grew tired of trying to break it. We thought we could break it in for them, so we bought him. But why are you curious about it?"

"Something really weird happened," Kain responded simply.

"Does it have something to do with that weird thing attached to your wrist?" Despite Kain wearing long sleeves to hide it, Kage did notice the red device.

Seeing no choice but to tell the truth, Kain admitted, "Yeah, it won't come off no matter how hard I pull."

Kage was a bit surprised he would answer honestly, but then again, he had a hard time reading the younger man in front of him. "I don't know what that is. So other than what I told you, I don't know a thing. Preator Hunters are a mobile dark guild. I still think Eisenwald is more powerful, but almost no one knows where they're going to be."

"Thanks anyway. Now, let's talk about your case." Kain took out a folder as he began with what he was really here for.

After reviewing Kage's case, I flew back to the guild.

As I walked in through the back door, I was greeted by Lucy.

"Hey, Kain! Why are you wearing a suit?"

"I'm applying to be an official lawyer here in this world. It's so much easier than my world, and the rules are a lot simpler." I answered politely.

"I see." She said as she looked behind her.

My eyes instinctively narrowed. "You're waiting for Natsu, aren't you?" I saw her flinch, but not only her, but some other people as well. "Look, guys, I don't hate Natsu. I just… I just don't want to go on quests anymore."

"Why not?"

As I looked around, I noticed the others also paying a lot of attention to me.

My eyes fell on Macao, who quickly broke eye contact with me to stare at an old musty wall that caught his attention. God dang it. He let it slip, didn't he?

I opened my mouth.

"I feel sleepy."

But then I closed it as we all looked to Makarov, who was the one who had just said that.

I was about to ask what he meant before Mirajane suddenly fell to the ground asleep, followed by Lucy, then everyone. I even spotted Natsu in the distance fall asleep as well as he just came in.

Makarov then looked over to me. "How curious, it doesn't affect you at all."

Curious, I obviously asked. "What do you mean?"

"He's here." Following Master's gaze, I looked over to see a man covered in heavy clothing to the point I couldn't even see his eyes. Though, as he walked straight through the quest board to get one job, he seemed to glance towards me.

I felt a chill in my bones in what felt like days, but as one second passed, he looked back to Master Makarov before the small old man had asked him to lift the sleeping spell.

As he left, everyone but Natsu seemed to get back up from slumber.

"Aww man, was that Mystogan?" I heard Droy speak up about that along with several others as they slowly got back up.

Before I could ask who the heck that was, I overheard Gray and Elfman explain to Lucy who the man was. His name was Mystogan, and I remember some of his job files that Makarov helped me through. Man, the guy is just as mysterious in person as he is in the reports.

I also heard something about him being called Fairy Tail's strongest mage. But I heard from Makarov that Gildarts Clive was considered their strongest. Then again, he left for a hundred-year quest that looked harder than the one my armlet was from.

Then, I heard the voice of someone else. Laxus Dreyar, the grandson of the master. I've seen his files, and he is quite the powerhouse. It's rather amazing to finally meet the guy.

Unfortunately, the guy's kind of a dick with how he's showing himself off and calling everyone weak.

Natsu got up from hearing the man's voice and quickly challenged him to a fight. Unfortunately, he was shot down by the master for trying to head towards the second floor.

I quickly realized that everyone was no longer paying attention to me at this moment. I then snuck away and closed the door behind me before I heard someone ask where I had slipped into.

I felt bad again for avoiding Natsu.

God, I'm a coward.

Fighting the thoughts away, I just fell into my bed, and in no time at all, I fell asleep…

"Kain! Kain! Wake up!"

My eyes snapped open as I reached for a small lamp lacrima near my bed. As the light opened, I saw Natsu and happy staring excitedly at me while holding up a job request with an obvious S-class marking on it.

I glanced over to my door, seeing that it was wide open. Apparently, I did not lock the door behind me before entering here.

Whatever time it is right now is too early and/or late for this.

"Hey, Kain! We got an S-class mission!" Oh no. I wasn't dreaming. "We should take it with Lucy and show Gramps we can totally take one no problem!"

It was the moment I was dreading. Looking at that S-class mark made me think of a skull with crossbones. "I-I can't."

"Aww, come on, why not? You haven't been going to any of the other jobs I tried to ask you on."

Before Happy could agree, I blurted out. "Natsu, I can't go. Not anymore."

"Huh?" That surprised both of them. "Why not?"

I sat up from the bed and inhaled deeply. "Natsu, I almost died during the Lullaby quest. If the S-Class quest is at least just as dangerous, I don't think I should go…"

"What? What makes you think that?"

I looked at him hard before I noticed the pink-haired mage was unusually nervous. "I don't have any magic, Natsu. Even when I prepared, I still ended up being a burden than an asset. I'll just get in the way."

"Hell no! You weren't in the way at all! Lullaby was annoying, but you were the one who came up with a plan to get us to defeat him!" Happy instantly agreed with Natsu.

Even though his voice was getting louder, I did notice the outside looked dark. It must have been when the guild was closed that he snuck back in to get me.

"Yeah, but that was after I had messed up in the first place." I countered as I noticed him getting angrier.

"You don't know that! He could have escaped even if you weren't there!" It didn't take much to figure that at this rate, Natsu would probably drag me along with him whether I liked it or not.

Before he could, I just decided to say what I've really been fearing. "Natsu, I… I can't fight."

"So?!"

"I might die."

Instantly, both of them seemed to be silent after hearing that.

"I was lucky throughout our adventures. Even in the Lullaby one, I was close to dying, but by stupid luck, I was kept alive by Lullaby. Natsu, I really do appreciate everything you've done for me, but I think it's best if I just stay and do desk jobs here in the guild. These adventures are getting more and more dangerous, and eventually… I just feel like I'll die if this rate keeps up."

I looked back up after my speech. Natsu looked like he wanted to argue, but it was obvious the memory of me being near death was a very good staple to my argument.

"I won't tell Master you stole the S-class quest. I really do hope you succeed though."

I went back to bed. Half of me expected Natsu to ignore me and bring me along after all he was the kind of person to believe in the best in people. Maybe he would think by bringing me along, it would make me realize that I did belong here.

"Come on, Happy, let's go."

…

By the sound of the door closing behind me, I guess I was wrong.

…

I should be happy that I'm not going on quests anymore.

…

So why don't I feel any better?

The morning afterward felt like a blur. I didn't even seem fazed when Gray offered to bring back Natsu and Lucy.

However, when he left, I felt other eyes go towards me. I even overheard rumors about why I wasn't going with them.

"Hahaha!" I turned my gaze up to Laxus Dreyar laughing as he seemingly was looking at me. "This kid here gets it! The weak should know their place!"

"Laxus!" Mirajane snapped darkly when he tried to talk to me.

However, I looked back at him and stared.

"Oh, what? What can you do? Stare at me to death?" He gave a cocky smile as he looked back at me.

I seemed to have caught everyone's attention as everyone noticed how I seemingly glared back at Laxus. Yet, I wasn't really bothered by him insulting me. In fact, I was sad considering what little I heard from the master when I went over his cases.

"You of all people should understand what it means to be weak."

In less than a second, before people could even gasp, Laxus appeared in front of me in a flash of lightning. Words like anger and wrath could not describe the look on his face at that moment.

"What did you just say!?" He barked right in front of me. The air around him was actually popping, and I saw traces of electricity dancing around him as he towered over me.

"Laxus!"

Makarov barked with a darker undertone that made the blonde S-class mage relent. He begrudgingly turned back to his grandpa before he looked back at me.

It was strange. Last night I feared for my life, and I just said no to a call to adventure that could potentially kill me. Yet here I was messing with someone who could kill me in an instant, but I felt nothing. Not even anger or hatred towards someone who laughed and belittled me.

Laxus still glared at me angrily, gritting his teeth. "You're not worth it."

As he started walking away from me, I felt the need to say something else. "I don't think you're as mean as you pretend to be."

Again, my mouth had silenced the entire guild as Laxus stopped walking and looked back at me with something like an unreadable face.

I shrugged my shoulders. "To me, you seem a lot nicer than you let on."

"Nice?" He scoffed and turned away. "There is no room for nice in the strongest guild."

"I thought the strongest make the rules. Wouldn't strong people be able to do anything they want without thinking what others say about them?" I automatically pointed out.

Laxus started moving back towards the second stairs, seemingly not responding to my last comment. "God, you're more annoying than Natsu. Shut up, will you?"

Laxus and Makarov shared a look as the S-class mage stood in front of the stairs.

"You told him?" Rather than a question, he just sounded surprised.

"The boy is our lawyer. He gets a hold of all job request reports from all our members. I help answer some of his questions, and you came up some times," He took a drink. "It's not my fault he picks up things faster than most people in this guild."

Laxus seemed to grunt at the passive answer of his grandfather and went up.

I sighed as I went back to sweeping the floors. It took a while, but everyone seemed to go back to normal. But I felt now and then people were looking at me weirdly. No doubt I was now the topic for gossip.

Mirajane walked over to Master Makarov. "Sir, I think it's getting worse."

"I don't know. Laxus did need a good slap in the head. It would make sense that Kain would win in a battle of words and wit though."

"Master," Mirajane folded her hands. "you know what I mean."

The small Wizard Saint grunted. "Bah. I hate seeing people down too much. … I heard that Erza is coming back later today."

Mirajane seemed to light up at the thought. "Do you think…?"

"He should have one more chance. Otherwise, this might get messy fast." To fight a coming headache, Makarov continued to drink.

It didn't help at all. He just now was having a headache even while drunk.

As the day went on, I left to go and help Kage with his court hearing. However, when I came back with Ignis, I was greeted by Erza of all people who seemed to return from another quest.

"Kain."

"Hello, Erza. How are you?" I gave a polite smile as I landed with Ignis.

She nodded at me. "You need to come with me to bring back Natsu, Lucy, and Happy." The red-haired woman… wait a second.

"What?" I looked confused before I looked back to see master Makarov and Mirajane looking at me from the back door.

Did they have something to do with this?

"Gray hasn't returned with Natsu yet. At this rate, all three of them are now at Galuna Island, and the fastest way there would be for you to fly me there with Ignis." She stated plainly.

I couldn't really see myself saying no to Erza, so I sighed. "Sure, just let me change, and I'll be out in five to ten minutes."

"Very well. Do hurry."

The flight would still take a while from the guild to Galuna, according to the map. That left a quiet and awkward flight period as I flew Ignis over to the island where Natsu left.

… "Did… Master Makarov ask you to bring me?"

After a second, she answered. "Of course. Ignis listens to you most of all. I was told to use both of you to get to Natsu and the others. Similarly, you should try to convince them to return before I stepped in."

She paused as she looked at me. "But that was not the only reason."

Here it comes.

"I've been told you've been feeling guilty since the Lullaby incident."

God. That's one way to put it. "On one hand, yes. But I'm mostly terrified now. I guess I'm just… too afraid to die since I don't have any magic to defend myself."

"Magic doesn't define your worth." Erza looked out in the distance as she said that. She seemed to have the same look Mirajane once had when she spoke about past tragedies. It was vacant and distant. "You can do great things even without it: the fact you helped us with Lullaby strengthens this fact. Just because you cannot fight doesn't mean in any way possible that you mean less than anyone in the guild."

"I don't really feel like that—ow!" I felt my head sting as something metal hit me hard on the head.

"Apologizes, you're being stupid." She said simply.

Even rubbing my head, I didn't really feel better. "I feel stupid too, but I don't feel any better about it."

"You really shouldn't be saying such things. Do you really think that the guild allowed you to join because you had magic?"

"Well, no…" I deflated as I did realize that. I was welcomed to the guild even with my bizarre circumstances.

"Exactly, if anything, you deserve that crest in your arm for everything that you did do." That made me turn back to her with surprise before Erza started talking. "You helped an utter stranger save a village; you stopped dozens of women from being kidnapped; you helped a man finally honor his father's legacy; you stood up to a mad man even without powers, and not only inspired others but gave them the courage to fight back and help you. And lastly, I will not stop admitting that we only won against Lullaby thanks to your quick thinking. Our guild is proud to have someone with a strong sense of compassion regardless of their magical ability."

I had forgotten about all the good I had done. It was hard to remember that when I was focusing only on the bad.

I then felt Erza's hand on my head again, but not as a punch, but as a light pat on the head. "I actually envy you in many ways. Even while captured, injured, and without magic… you inspired people all by yourself and changed them even after fighting. You are very, very strong in that regard." There was something in her voice. It almost sounded like envy and… nostalgia? I had the feeling that I might have reminded her of someone she knew before Fairy Tail, but I decided not to pry.

The kind words were… really touching. I felt like blood was rushing to my cheeks as she said that.

"Are you sure though, it's that amazing? I mean, what is that compared to shooting fire, ice, or having an arsenal of powerful weapons?"

"Our magic is a tool. What you have: courage and kindness? Those make you more important than a mage without them." She smiled as she patted the back of the flying wyvern. "Ignis is proof that there is more to you than just magic."

The wyvern roared that echoed through the night sky in response to that.

Erza gave a small chuckle at the sound. "See? Ignis feels the same as I."

"… Thanks…" As her words settled, I felt a lot better. "I really was being stupid, wasn't I?"

I felt Erza rubbing my hair messily as if I was something like a little brother. "It's alright. Our guild is full of idiots in the first place."

Man, I guess I really was being stupid. I owe Natsu an apology then.

I looked up as Ignis started to growl. In the distance, we saw an island as the sun was starting to set.

Even though I felt better, a small part of me was still afraid.

How long can I keep myself from dying in such a dangerous place?

{Author Notes.}

Hey guys. A small chapter dedicated to character growth. Sorry if it's not plot or joke heavy like some other chapters.

I thought it would be a good idea to show some character development for Kain since he really doesn't have any magic.

As fun as people believe it to be to go to Fairy Tail, it's surprisingly dangerous for any normal human to be in. Even Lucy is potentially superhuman with her durability: remember episode one? I'm sure that tsunami would have broken any normal person's bones or killed them by the pressure or made them drown.

Yet not even one of the goons died. All of them were just shaken up by a tsunami.

Kain is a lot like a normal person. Because of this, his death is really, really easy without powers or magic of some kind. (I mean think about it: there really are so many things that can easily kill a guy like Kain thrice over.)

But what I tried to make it so that Kain has a lot of the same old traits we love to see in heroes: empathy for others and heroic bravery. He just sometimes doesn't let something like being powerless get in the way of doing the right thing. (though at the rate things are going, being powerless might be the end for him.)

Anyway, thank you all for taking your time to read, follow, and favorite this story. It feeds my ego even though it means nothing in my social or economic life. #TotallyALoser.

Deleted Scene #1.

(Context: I actually did try to write out the part where Erza and Natsu's first fight was interrupted, but thinking it over, I felt like I wasn't really adding much to that story at all and decided to scrap it. When I reedited this chapter, I just skimmed over it completely since it was just basically the same as the anime and manga with only Kain being there. However, there was at least one part of the old work that I did think was worth showing to you guys since this chapter was a little somber.)

(It begins while Kain and Erza are waiting for the S-class mage's sentence.)

Later on, as we went into the courtroom after a strange meeting with one of the council members, I finally got what they were doing and sighed in relief.

It looked like it was just going to be a staged arrest, nothing really worth worrying over. The council was just doing something official so these guys wouldn't lose face. I'd have to contact everyone later to tell them about this.

But it's good to see I was worrying for nothing.

BOOM!

Why was there an explosion behind Erza? Why was Natsu here wearing a fake Erza costume? Why was he destroying the place?!

…

Why do I suddenly have the urge to spill blood?

Everyone stared in befuddlement as Natsu started throwing fire blasts claiming he was the one who did everything wrong. However, they all then noticed Erza's lawyer, Kain Reynolds, walk up to the imposter with a rather uncanny and forced-looking smile on his face.

"Erza?" He emphasized this word carefully as the faker suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"Could you look there for a second?" He pointed to nothing in particular.

"Huh? What are you talking about KaARRKK!?"

In one motion, the young man had kicked the back of one of Natsu's knees, causing him to bend backward so that Kain could grab the guy by the neck and put him into a chokehold. Natsu started coughing and was having a surprising amount of trouble getting out of said hold by the slightly smaller boy.

"Shhhhhhhh." Everyone started to feel a cold chill from the brown haired young man as he whispered like the wind flying through hollow dead trees on a dark night. "Go to sleep, Natsu."

"…Kain?" Erza coughed to get his attention.

When Kain turned around, the magic council saw how his right eyelid was twitching furiously and how the veins in his eyes were vivid and noticeable.

"Please let him go."

"Do I have to? I'm sure he's close to losing consciousness." He pulled harder, making Natsu's trashing much slower and his gasps much louder.

Erza sighed and bowed to the courtroom. "I am so sorry for this."

After a second of stunned silence, minus Natsu's attempt and threats to kick Kain's butt for this, they ordered Fairy Tail to be locked up.

(End of Scene.)

(Context: As funny as I thought this was, I did later try to explain that while Kain was 'broken' he doesn't angrily rage like Natsu. His revenge and anger are cold, calculating, and sometimes maniacal. Even though Natsu is far stronger than Kain, I explained in the first draft that he could do it because he made sure to aim for pressure points since he subconsciously recalled that in this version of the Daybreak Mission, Master Zash aimed for Natsu's lungs and that translated that even someone like Natsu is vulnerable to the right pressure hits. The second reason, and one that is more likely: Kain was still healing from the Lullaby Mission and while Natsu doesn't really hold back, he doesn't want to purposely injure friends who can't fight back. So if you read this, those are the reasons why Kain could do those things.)

(Anywho, thanks for reading. The Deliora Arc here is shortened, but thankfully right after is the first attempt at an Original Arc after a small filler chapter. I thank you all for taking the time to read this. And do support this story with favorites and likes.)