A/N: Soooo… A bit sooner than I thought I would, but here's another chapter. Surprise…!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 8: Change on the Wind

May 7th, X784

Iva, Rocco and Vincent quickly darted into the foliage surrounding them after hearing Jinjo's call, Iva in particular hiding behind the tree she had taken a bite out of it, focusing her own magic into it as the missing chunk regenerated before she pulled away from the tree.

"Good thinking," Vincent whispered as Iva reached the two of them.

"See them yet?" she asked as she started to look out near the train tracks.

"Nothing yet… Wait, there," Rocco said, pointing at a figure shrouded in a black cloak coming into view.

"I'll go check to see if there any others," Vincent whispered as he turned into a cloud of sand and disappeared from view.

"Think it's one of the cultists?" Iva asked quietly.

"Dunno, the spooky robes say yes, though, but it could just be a dress code," Rocco whispered back, "Could be that's our contact."

"Dress code, really?" Iva repeated, giving Rocco a look as she did so.

"Cults really like to enforce uniformity," Rocco answered, looking back out towards the figure who was obviously looking around for something. Soon, a hand would appear floating in the air in a cloud of sand, behind the figure, but where Rocco and Iva could see, holding up just one finger before disappearing.

"Looks like it's just one then," Iva said before holding her arm out, transforming it into a vine that shot out of the foliage and wrapping around the man, who let out a shout before he was quickly dragged into the bushes with Rocco and Iva, the large man quickly grabbing the man by his collar and holding him up in the air as Vincent appeared next to him.

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" the man pleaded, "Phantom Lord!?"

"Depends who's asking," Rocco said as he held his arm up and balled his fist threateningly.

"I'm the contact! I sent the message! You gotta believe me!" the man pleaded.

"Oh? And how do we know that for sure?" Vincent asked, "For all we know, the cult found out about the request and sent you out here to lead us into a trap."

"Could leave him hanging upside-down, get all the blood rushing to his head for a while," Iva suggested.

"I like your style more than I thought I would," Vincent chuckled.

"Please don't! You can search me, take whatever you think is dangerous off of me, whatever you want, please just believe me," the man begged.

"What do you think?" Rocco asked, looking between Vincent and Iva.

"Well I… certainly wouldn't mind helping myself to his things," Vincent answered as he began to rifle through the man's pockets.

"Tell us what you know," Iva demanded, "Or else my guildmate here is gonna punch your face in and I'll leave you tied up here for the wolves."

"All right… All right, just don't hurt me. I've had enough of that lately at the hands of the cultists," the man agreed before being roughly dropped onto the ground, "You Phantom Lord mages really don't mess around, do you," he added as he looked up at the three of them, briefly scowling as he laid eyes on Vincent happily going through his wallet.

"Talk," Iva demanded.

"Right, well, first off, name's Kevin, Kevin Brown, nice to meet ya," the man said in greeting before the glares from the three mages encouraged him to start his story, "So, for several years now, we've had poor harvests, right?" the man began, the three mages listening intently, "We steadily grow poorer and hungrier each and every year it happens up until a mage and his friends come around, yeah? Uses his fancy magic to make the harvest good and things are great, but, the next harvest still doesn't look good. We go and try to find the mage again and ask him to make things better, he says we got to pay him this time, we agreed thinking it'd be find. We wouldn't be going hungry after all. So we pay him, but the next year things still aren't going great, we find him again and pay him, this time, more money. This goes on and on as his fees grow steadily larger and larger, we begin to think it's not worth as a payment leaves us just as poor and desperate as a poor harvest would and decide not to go to him anymore."

"And this would be where he goes megalomaniac, right?" Vincent asked.

"Uh… yeah," Kevin replied, "The mage shows up last year, the first year we decided not to pay him and he demands his payment, we refuse, saying we won't be buying his services anymore and he gets made, claiming that we will never have a good harvest without his help, because he cursed our fields to be fallow in the first place. Naturally, we're upset and try to kick him out of the village, but then his mage friends make an example of some of us and we have no choice but to fall in line and we've been forced to work as slaves of his cult ever since. Took a lot of guts and planning to even get our request out to you mages."

"What's this mages name then?" Rocco asked.

"Michael Caesar, really short and bald fella. All hunched over too," Kevin explained.

"The guy just sounds like your stereotypical depiction of a dark mage," Iva huffed.

"Yeah, well we were desperate. The farms are our livelihood after all," the farmer replied.

"M'kay, well how about something useful, like, how many cultists are there? What sorts of magic do they have?" Vincent asked.

"Around five actual mages, I think, the cloaks make it hard to tell people apart sometimes. That's counting Caesar, by the way," Kevin answered, "For magics, Caesar's got magic like your friend here, plants and such," he said, earning an eyeroll from Iva, "One's got water magic I think? One can summon weapons, one moves rocks, think the other moves things with his mind?"

"Good enough I suppose," Vincent sighed, "Well, I can't fight the Water Mage. Can probably take on the Requip Mage easily."

"We already know I'm gonna kick Caesar's ass," Iva stated proudly.

"Glad you guys are so excited, but what are we gonna do with this ass?" Rocco asked gesturing to Kevin.

"Right, can't actually risk you being a spy or something," Vincent said as the three of them surrounded Kevin, Iva's arm transforming into a vine again as Kevin looked between them in a panic.

"Now, now, folks. Ain't no reason to get worked up," he tried to reason, but would quickly find himself hanging from a tree branch, wrapped up in Iva's vines as the three mages set out for the village, discussing strategy along the way.

. : + : .

Shadows twisted and turned throughout the streets of Crocus, bending and twisting in and out of buildings undetected by the masses until they seemed to find what they were seeking, the mass of shadows quickly converging on a central point until all had returned to their origin and Alek stepped out of the shadows.

"Did you find her?" Cleo asked as Alek seemed to shake a feeling off of himself, shuddering for a moment before collecting himself.

"Yeah, yeah I did. Seems unharmed for the most part, little roughed up like I thought she'd be though," Alek answered.

"Alas! What a cruel fate that has fallen upon this poor girl! We should move urgently, yet carefully, to her rescue!" Asher declared, earning a sigh from Cleo.

"Right, well, here's the plan now that we know where she is," Cleo began, the three of them huddling in together to quietly discuss their plan before moving out towards the building where the kidnappers were holding her, Alek leading the way before fading away into the shadows again as Cleo and Asher headed towards the front door, Asher keeping his distance as Cleo approached the front door alone, forcefully opening as she stepped inside.

"And what do you want, bitch?" a man rudely greeted her as she looked around the room, seeing several armed men standing around, drawing their weapons and standing straight.

"I'm here for the girl," Cleo replied, drawing her own sword from the sheath on her back, though this only learned laughter from the kidnappers.

"Looks like we've got a volunteer to sell on the black market boys! Get her!" the apparent ringleader called out as two of the men charged a Cleo, swinging their cleavers down at her as she skillfully twisted out of the way, slashing upwards at them from the side as magic energy filled her sword.

"Sword Slicer!" she announced as a wave of magical energy shot from her blade and through the two men that had charged at her, sending them collapsing down to the ground before she resumed her fighting stance, staring down the rest of the men.

"This bitch," the ringleader cursed before looking at his men, "Well!? What are you waiting for!? An invitation!? Get over there and capture her!" he roared before three more of his men charged at Cleo as she pulled her sword back behind her, more magical energy causing the blade to glow.

"Punching Strike!" she shouted before swinging her blade again as several bursts of magic energy flew out of her blade as she swung it, sending the men flying backwards with a blunt force. Cleo took a moment to look around the room before she saw a shadow twisting and bending in a way they never would normally, Cleo letting a small smile appear on her face as she turned her attention to the next wave coming at her, but when the men reached her and swung their weapons down, they passed right through her. Confused for a moment, the men poked and prodded at her.

"It's an illusion you idiots!" the ringleader roared before a sudden realization hit him, "The girl!" he shouted before turning around and running into the next room where the girl should've been, but would find the room empty, "She's gone! Get out their and find her!" he commanded as he stepped back into the first room, his men scrambling out of the building as he followed in an attempt to find her, though, once they were all outside, they found themselves being surrounded by a large shadow before they all slowly collapsed one by one, "Damn… her…" the ringleader cursed before he collapsed the ground and was swallowed up by shadows.

"Good timing with the illusion, Asher," Cleo said as she finished running to catch up with Asher and the girl.

"I thought the dramatic flair suited the situation well!" Asher said proudly, "Surrounded and struck! Yet standing still and untouched!"

Cleo then looked to towards a blob of shadows that formed into Alek, though he seemed out of sorts as he stepped out of them, "You all right?" Cleo asked.

"Fine… Fine… Just… A bit of a headache," Alek huffed, "But more importantly, are you all right?" he asked, turning to the girl, "All that happened a bit quickly and without warning, huh?"

"Oh, yes, but I'm fine, thank you," the girl replied, "I'm more concerned about all of you."

"It's always hairy fighting lots of armed enemies, but I got out without a scratch," Cleo answered.

"Just a bit tired," Alek said, shaking his head again before pinching his forehead, "Really, I'm fine," he said again trying to dismiss the three other's worried looks.

"If you insist," Cleo relented, "Let's get you home," she said, looking to the girl again before escorting her back home.

. : + : .

May 8th, X784

Lillian stepped quietly through the dark, moonlit streets of Oxalis Town, the woman seemingly fading away into the shadows whenever someone drew too close to her or whenever someone cast their gaze towards her direction. She quietly stalked the streets as she drew closer and closer to her target, small, rundown building with loud music pumping out of it. She briefly looked up to the rooftops, seeing Zeke jumping across the rooftops while carrying Sasha on his back. Trusting them to have her back when it was time, Lillian quietly snuck up to the building, slipping into one of the open windows.

'Damn it', she cursed to herself as she noticed a man standing nearby, she took a moment to look around for anyone else, feeling relief when she saw no one else around before shadows appeared around her hands before they reached out and connected to one another before she quickly and forcefully pulled them against the man's throat, dragging him towards the window as the loud music drowned out the sounds of his struggling until his movements stopped and she set him down before carrying on, finding the main room where the gangsters were gathered in, drinking booze and partying in the loud music.

Lillian took a moment to catch her breath and steady herself before she found the source of the music and took aim, pointing a finger at it before a small orb of shadow shot out from her fingertip and destroyed the boombox, leaving the men inside in a confused state before a tall woman with purple hair and shackles and chains attached to her wrists crashed through the ceiling, lashing out at several of the men with the chains before Lillian shot up, whips of shadows extending from her own hands as her and who she knew to be one of Sasha's Celestial Spirits spun about with their chains and shadow whips, striking each and every one of the gangsters close to them.

"Some of them are getting away!" Lillian heard Sasha shout from above her and moved to head outdoors to chase them down, but saw that Zeke had jumped down from the roof to cut them off, one of the gangsters quickly letting out a frightened roar and charging at him, his friends quickly following him, punching and kicking and swinging wildly at Zeke, who was narrowly dodging each and every strike before he twisted around down low, sweeping one of their legs out from under them before quickly moving to knee another one of them in the gut as he immediately moved to dodge another strike that ended up hitting the man he kneed instead. Zeke took a moment to stare back at Lillian, who was in shock at Zeke's quick movements before he spun around and kicked the last man in the face, sending him toppling into the ground.

"Look who's standing around doing nothing now," Zeke said as a smug look appeared on his face as a look of irritation appeared on Lillian's.

"Mistress Sasha," they heard the Celestial Spirit, Andromeda, call out to Sasha on the roof as she stepped out of the building, "All enemies within have been dealt with."

"Thank you Andromeda!" Sasha called out, waving down at the spirit before she disappeared in a brilliant light.

Lillian let out a sigh as she tried to ignore Zeke's smug look, but noticed it quickly disappeared as it turned into a long yawn as he started stretching out again, "I just hope this shows at least some of the gangs what happens when they take things too far," Lillian stated.

"Probably not," Zeke mumbled, "They'll probably all just laugh at what happened to them," he added before walking over to the side of the building before quickly scrambling up its side to rejoin Sasha, "Need some help down?"

"Yes please," she meekly answered as she climbed atop the man's back again before he jumped back down before letting her off onto solid ground, "How did you two get so strong?" she asked, looking between the two older mages.

"Eh? I dunno, just kind of happened, I guess. It's what happens when you run with Raoul and Nika for as long as I have," Lillian answered, scratching at her cheek as a small blush appeared on it.

"I ran a lot," Zeke answered shortly as he began to walk off.

"That can't be all there is to it," Sasha pouted as she and Lillian began to follow him.

"Look, there's a lot of different reasons as to how and why people get stronger. I can't say I really know how I did it other than it happened, but I'm sure other people have better advice about it than I do," Lillian said before stopping, "Though I am pretty sure there's one other Celestial Spirit Mage at the Jabarosa Branch, he might be able to help you."

"Really? What's his name?" Sasha asked eagerly.

"JV or something like that, can't say I know him too well," Lillian admitted as Sasha burned the name into her brain.

'JV… He can help me get stronger then," Sasha thought to herself as they continued on their way.

. : + : .

The morning sun rose over Jaborosa Town as Raoul was once again leaning back in his chair, his feet up on the banister as held a newspaper in his hand, the man perusing the articles as one caught his attention.

"Heiress of the Heartfilia Konzern still missing after ten months," Raoul read aloud as he looked at the picture in the paper, "Lucy Heartfilia, eh? Sounds like she's a bit of a runaway to me rather than missing. Wonder why her father hasn't put out a missing person's request yet?"

"Anything interesting?" he heard Nika ask from behind him before she let out a yawn, a mug of coffee in her hand as she leaned over his shoulder to look at the newspaper, "Runaway rich girl? Sounds familiar," Nika sighed.

"Bit too on the nose for ya?" Raoul chuckled.

"I'm hardly a runaway, just a disappointment, thank you," Nika scoffed as she took a sip of her coffee.

"Any insight on why her father hasn't put out a request to bring her home yet then?" Raoul asked.

"Probably thinks she'll come home on her own once she realizes how tough the world actually is now that she's spat out the silver spoon from her mouth," Nika stated harshly.

"No mercy for the runaway, eh?" Raoul chuckled.

"None at all," Nika said as she took a seat next to Raoul, "Still though. It does sound like the sort of job Jose would love for the guild to take if it gets sent to the guild. Rich client means a rich reward and a lot of clout after all."

"Sounds like him," Raoul agreed as he flipped to the next page, "And of course… That Salamander smashed up another town."

"That's hardly interesting news, Raoul," Nika sighed as she took another sip.

"I know, Veronika, I know," Raoul huffed before he was smacked upside the head for using her full name, the man letting out a small chuckle afterward before looking out to the road in front of the guild.

"What is it?" Nika asked after she caught him staring into the distance.

"Nothing… Just… It feels like something big is about to happen. Got a feeling in my gut that things are about to change is all," Raoul explained as Nika let out a hum.

"I just hope it's a good change then," Nika replied, staring out in the distance as well before standing back up, "All right! We've got the day off from training Miyako, so you're coming with me!"

"And where would that be to?" Raoul asked as Nika reached out with her free hand to pull him up out of his chair.

"To help move stacks of paperwork of course!" Nika answered cheerfully as all excitement drained from Raoul's face.

"And here you were getting my hopes up," Raoul sighed.

"For what?" Nika asked, staring the man in the eyes as a smug smirk appeared on Raoul's face.

"Guess we'll never know," he chuckled before walking around Nika and into the guildhall.

"What!? You can't just say something like that and not answer! Raoul!" Nika called out after him as she chased him inside, the man laughing all the way.

Credits:

Andromeda – wjolix98

A/N: So… two in basically one day, it's a bit after midnight here right now, but it's only been like 8 hours, so… yeah. I was inspired. Still might write more chapters this week though.

Nothing real special to say other than that the end of this first prologue arc is soon coming to a close! Like, 4 or 5 chapters left I think! Maybe less, maybe one more than that! Who knows?

Anyways, I'd like to thank Benthino, Eternal Rain Spirit, Grimnack, XLil MEkoX, MyDearWatson and musicaldreams89 for the reviews! They are all appreciated!

That's all for now!

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Dreadburner94.