A/N: Another one! Forgot to mention this, but I started a writing challenge with MyDearWatson this week in which they have to match me chapter for chapter with one for any of their stories. My part of the challenge ends on Monday, the 1st, so for every chapter I write through that day, they have to write one to match it within 2 weeks, so by the 15th. The count after this chapter will be four.

I don't own Fairy Tail!

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 10: Declaration of War! Fairy Tail vs. Phantom Lord

May 8th, X784

"So that's that, then. The rest of the art was destroyed by the witches, but at least the sword was saved," Baldwin sighed as he spoke with the mages from Phantom Lord, looking between the four of them though, he could tell at least most of them were remorseful about it, "Not to worry though, you completed the main goal of the mission so no complaints will be submitted nor will the original agreed upon reward be diminished," he added as a collective sigh could be seen occurring throughout the group.

"Really sorry about that again," Emrys said, repeating himself from earlier, "We thought we had a good plan to save all the stuff, but it didn't pan out."

"We're really, really sorry," Layla added as she handed the sword over to Baldwin, the man giving her a polite smile as he took it from her.

"It really isn't a bother. We knew this would be a possibility when it was first stolen, so we were prepared for it. My masters already considered the art to be lost in fact, so even to just have this precious family heirloom back will lift their spirits greatly."

"Where are the lords and masters of this castle anyways?" Connor asked after he had finished taking a swig of whiskey, "Not even gonna bother saying thank you, are they?"

"Unfortunately, the Count and the Duke are away on business, negotiating with a local noble here elsewhere in the city," Baldwin explained before they heard the door to the meeting room open.

"Baldwin," they heard a young boy call out, the four mages turning to see a young man in his early teens with dark red hair and blue eyes standing in the doorway, "Are you done talking with the mages yet?"

"Nearly, young master," Baldwin replied, "Pardon the intrusion, my dear guests," Baldwin said in apology as the boy entered the room, "But it appears that the one remaining Lord of the Castle wishes to make himself known."

"A brat?" Connor practically spat.

"That's Alexander Hamilton Fiore Ealdwine to you," the boy spat back before taking the sword from Baldwin and fixing it to the holster on his belt, "But I suppose I owe you my thanks for retrieving my sword."

"It was your sword, then?" Jaku asked, "We thought it was a family heirloom."

"Oh, it is. This sword belonged to my father, his father and his father and so on and so forth. But right now, it's mine," Alexander explained.

"You're a bit young to be swinging a sword around, aren't you?" Layla asked as the boy rolled his eyes in response.

"The young master has been trained in swordplay since he was quite young," Baldwin explained, "I'd wager he might have been training to use a sword longer than some of you have been mages."

"Family tradition dictates that all male born members of House Ealdwine receive military training and join the Fioran Army," Alexander added, a bit of a forlorn look in his eyes, "But, as I am the first member of House Ealdwine to be born with the ability to use magic, I am to join the Rune Knights instead."

"You don't seem very happy about that," Emrys noted as the boy seemed to flinch under his words.

"I… don't want to join any sort of army, to be honest. I want to be a mage, like you guys," Alexander admitted, "But my father and mother would never allow it."

"So leave," Connor replied gruffly, "To hell with what they want you to do and do what you want to do."

"Connor!" Jaku hissed, "You can't talk about them like that under their roof!"

"No! It's okay," Alexander called out before a fight could start between them, "He's right, in a way. But I can't."

"Why not?" Layla asked, worry etched on her face for the boy.

"It's my sister, Evelyn. If I leave, they'll make her do it. She's got magic too," Alexander explained, "And she's happy here. I can't just uproot her own life because I want to be selfish."

"But that's not fair to you!" Layla suddenly shouted, then, realizing what she said, quickly covered her mouth while the curious eyes of everyone fell onto her before she grabbed onto the brim of her pointy witch's hat and pulled it down over her eyes.

"Layla," Emrys sighed, "It's not our place to tell the nobles what their business is."

"No. I want to hear what she has to say," Alexander said before looking at Layla, "Please? Won't you tell me?"

"Um… I… That is… Okay… Deep breaths, Layla," the girl muttered, pumping her arms back and forth as she tried to work up her courage, earning an eye roll from Connor, "Well, I guess, what I mean is… Um… How should I say it? It's just not fair. Someone else chose how you're supposed to live your life for you. If your sister loves you, I hope she'd understand. Or maybe she'd be willing to go and be a mage with you? I don't know, I'm sorry!" Layla quickly added in apology as Baldwin chuckled in the background.

"Don't be sorry, you've given me a lot to think about," Alexander stated, before bowing slightly, "Thank you for your advice," he said before turning around to Baldwin, "Baldwin! I want you to give these mages the bonus they were promised."

"But we didn't," Emrys started to say before he was elbowed in the side by Jaku.

"Quiet before he changes his mind," Jaku whispered.

"Of course, sir," Baldwin replied before heading over to a closet, unlocking it with a key he kept in his pocket and pulling out four rather sizable bags on a platter, "Each of these bags contain a sum of 100,000 Jewels, a total of 400,000. The remaining 600,000 Jewels shall be sent to your guild through the official channels, as per usual."

"Please, take them, as thanks for your advice," Alexander requested after he noticed three of them hesitating for just a moment while Connor quickly took his, shrugging beforehand.

"Thank you," Jaku said as he grabbed his, Layla and Emrys quickly saying their thanks as well before they were escorted out of the keep by a servant waiting for them.

"You aren't going to tell my father, are you?" Alexander asked, looking up at his trusted butler.

"Hm? Tell him what, Master Alexander? I'm afraid I seem to have blanked out for the past few minutes. How uncharacteristic of me," Baldwin chuckled as a soft smile appeared on the young man's face.

"Always on the ball, Baldwin," he muttered.

"Always, my young master," Baldwin replied.

. : + : .

May 10th, X784

Sasha nervously swallowed as she set her eyes on a young man, barely taller than her, with long, silvery hair with streaks of black in it tied into a slicked back ponytail. She had been nervously hovering near him ever since she had returned from Oxalis Town with Lillian and Zeke.

"Ugh… What do you want already?" she heard the man, JV ask, annoyance dripping like venom from his words, "If you have something to say to me, just get in my face and say it instead of skulking around like this."

"Sorry," Sasha apologized as she finally stepped forward.

"Quit apologizing and tell me what you want," JV demanded, his scowl growing harsher with each and every moment Sasha wasted.

"Um… I heard you were a Celestial Spirit Mage," Sasha stated as JV rolled his eyes.

"What of it?" he asked.

"I'm also a Celestial Spirit Mage and I was wondering if maybe you'd… help me get stronger?" Sasha requested, pausing to nervously swallow before finishing her request.

"You want me… To help you?" JV repeated, a bewildered look on his face before he burst into a mocking laughter.

"What? What's so funny?" Sasha demanded to know.

"I guess no one ever told you the memo about being a Celestial Spirit Mage. We're competitors fighting over control over the other's keys. I'm well within my rights to fight you and take all your worthless silver keys for myself," JV stated, a cruel smile on his face as he pointed at the keyring hanging off of her belt as she moved her hand over it defensively, "Don't worry, I'm not going to waste my time with trash like those keys. Not when I have Thanatos."

"Thanatos?" Sasha repeated.

"That's right. The Gatekeeper of Death," JV replied as he held out a gold and white key in front of Sasha, "I'm not surprised that a pathetic excuse for a Celestial Spirit Mage like you hasn't heard of the Gatekeeper Set when you're happy to settle for Silver Key trash."

"They're not trash! They're my friends!" Sasha retorted as a crowd of mages gathered around to watch the exchange between them.

"Friends, huh? There's your next mistake. Celestial Spirits are powerful and dangerous magical tools, not friends. You shouldn't rely on them to have your back when their contract forbids you to summon them. They'll leave you high and dry to die so they have one less contract to worry about," JV scoffed as it appeared Sasha grew closer and closer to tears, "I'll give you one piece of advice though. Don't rely on anyone to help you. The only person you can count on to help you grow stronger is yourself. Not your guildmates, not your Celestial Spirits. No one but yourself. The moment you choose to rely on anyone else is the moment that damns you to being weak for the rest of your life," JV finished as Sasha was now helplessly crying after his barrage of harsh and cruel words. A smug look appeared on his face before he turned to walk away, "Now quit wasting my time."

"You really don't hold back, do you?" Kord asked as JV walked past him.

"Why on earth should I?" JV asked, "The girl is likely to get herself killed unless someone sets her straight. Might as well be me. You got a problem with how I handled that or something?"

"No. It's not my place to intervene in something like that," Kord admitted, "Can't say she's too happy about it though," he added, pointing over his shoulder up at Nika who watched from atop the balcony overlooking the bar area they were in.

"She ain't the guild master," JV scoffed before walking off before he crossed paths with Nika as she walked down the stairs, most of the rank and file scattering at her approach due to the angry look on her face, the woman quickly swooping in and wrapping an arm around Sasha before leading her off and up the stairs to her office, quickly ushering her in and seating her in one of the chairs in front of her desk.

"Coffee?" Nika offered as she held out a mug of the hot beverage to Sasha, the younger girl nodding slowly as she took it, slowly sipping on it as she calmed down, "Are you going to be alright?" she asked as Sasha slowly nodded her head while wiping away her tears.

"Is he always like that?" Sasha questioned before sipping on her coffee again.

"Usually he's not so bad. I think it's just because you share magics that he's in such a bad mood," Nika replied, "But you shouldn't take his words to heart too much. He just has a chip on his shoulder."

"But… I think he might have been right about some things," Sasha sighed, "I've got to count on myself to grow stronger. Not be looking for handouts."

"Well, a bit of self-determination tends to go a long way," Nika said, a bit of a solemn look on her face, "It is part of the guild mantra to always be looking to grow stronger after all."

"Phantom Lord fights to be the number one guild, right?" Sasha said, repeating a line she had heard from when she joined the guild, Nika sighing before looking at the girl and letting a small smile appear on her face.

"Right."

"Then I need to get stronger!" Sasha declared, a smile finally appearing on her face, "That means I need to go on another mission soon!"

"Just don't work yourself too hard, please," Nika sighed as the girl got up, thanked her for the coffee and her words before leaving, "Did I do the right thing? Enforcing the guild's way of thinking in that poor young girl?"

. : + : .

July 21st, X784

It had been over two months since Iva had been demoted to the Jaborosa Branch. Each and every day made the reality that she wouldn't be seeing the Main Branch, or even the Oak Town Branch, any time soon sink in deeper and deeper. The Dragon Slayer let out a sigh as she looked around her room, which she had slowly begun to decorate in shades of green, black and grey while several potted plants and even one or two dragon figurines now decorated her room. She rolled over in her bed and opened up July's edition of the Sorcerer's Magazine up that she had picked up out of boredom, scowling as her eyes immediately landed on a picture of the Fire Dragon Slayer, Natsu Dragneel, the Salamander.

"Never even met the guy and just looking at him pisses me off," Iva growled, "Is that just because he's a Fairy Tail Mage? Or because of all that damn fire?" she wondered aloud before shutting the magazine and rolling back over in her bed to look up at her ceiling, "Tomorrow's the day… the day that he died," Iva sighed as she reached her hand out towards the ceiling, her hand quickly becoming covered in wooden claws before going back to normal, "Dad would be pissed if he saw me laying around like this… Might as well go see what's happening in the guildhall," she said to herself before crawling out of bed and getting dressed for the day.

As Iva walked through the hallway towards the main room of the guild, she could see a crowd forming inside it and quickly ran over to see what was going on, the girl looking back and forth before she heard her name being called out.

"Oi! Iva! Over here!" she heard Vincent call out to her, the girl quickly working her way over to him through the crowd.

"The hell is going on?" Iva asked as she continued to look around.

"Dunno. Nika called for a Branch Meeting this morning. Something big is happening for sure though," Vincent answered as a quizzical look appeared on Iva's face, "Hey! Here she is now," Vincent pointed out as Nika appeared on the balcony above them, flanked by Rocco and Lillian.

"Members of the Jaborosa Branch!" Nika began, calling their attention to her, "An important, guild-wide mission has been issued to the entire guild directly by Master Jose himself. All branches of Phantom Lord shall be participating in this mission!"

"The hell could be so important?" Vincent wondered aloud, Iva looking around and knowing the same question was going through everyone's minds.

"We are to recover one Lucy Heartfilia and return her to her father," Nika continued, holding up a mission flier with the girl's face on it, "However, it has come to our attention that Lucy, earlier this month, joined Fairy Tail as a mage."

"Fairy Tail…" Iva repeated as a vicious sneer appeared on her face, many of the mages around her sharing her sentiment.

"Thusly, Master Jose has declared a Guild War against the Fairies! We are to join up with the Main Branch and assault the Fairy Tail Guildhall in Magnolia Town to crush Fairy Tail once and for all!" Nika declared, a loud roar of a cheer sounding off throughout the guildhall, "Everyone! Make preparations! We depart at 0700 hours tomorrow! For Phantom Lord!" she roared in conclusion, the cheers and roars of the crowd growing louder before they scrambled to begin preparations.

"Are you alright?" Raoul asked quietly as he and Lillian stepped closer to Nika, who now seemed lost in thought now that she was facing away from the rest of the mages.

"No… I didn't tell them everything," Nika admitted, "Jose started the war without us. The Fairy Tail guildhall has already been attacked by Gajeel. Jose doesn't really care about the mission, he just wants to destroy Fairy Tail, even though this war is technically illegal and could ruin the guild. He's letting his grudge potentially drag us all down with him."

"We always knew something like this would happen deep down, I think," Lillian sighed, "The man's not exactly subtle, you know?"

"I know. I just didn't think it would be this sudden," Nika replied, "Things were normal up until last night when he gave the order to Gajeel… I heard Juvia and Monsieur Sol were deployed to Magnolia Town as well."

"Probably to hunt for the rich chick then," Raoul reasoned, "Sol's sneakier than you'd think with that awful personality of his and Juvia could capture pretty much anyone with her magic."

"Isn't this what we've been waiting for though?" Lillian suggested, "Think about it, we get in there, fight as many Fairy Tail bigwigs as we can and boom, we're back in Master Jose's good graces and back into the Main Branch."

Nika let out a nervous sigh before looking to Lillian, "You're right. We've got to prove ourselves to him and what better way than by crushing his most hated enemies for him?"

"Attagirl," Raoul said as a small smile appeared on his face as Nika steeled her resolve. But something still didn't quite sit right with him, something was on the horizon.

. : + : .

As the sun set over Jaborosa Town, the Phantom Lord Mages running to and fro throughout the town, one man watched over the city from a distance, shrouded from head to toe in a dark blue cloak, his arms and legs covered in bandages while his hair was hidden away by a dark blue bandana with a silver, metal plate on it and his face obscured by a green mask while on his back was a plethora of magic staves. Grasped in his hand was a rope, a rope that had the flags of dozens of Phantom Lord flags tied to it, trophies claimed from his fights throughout the day.

"Tomorrow, mages of the Jaborosa Branch," the masked figure mused as he placed his free hand over his right pectoral, where his Fairy Tail guild mark was hidden away underneath his clothes.

A/N: One more chapter down! Tomorrow, the chapter I've been waiting to write literally since before I posted the prologue!

Like I said earlier, all these chapters are being written partially because of a writing challenge I'm doing with MyDearWatson, also partially because I'm really excited to get to this next chapter. So thus why you've gotten two chapters in one day twice this week for a total of four chapters written this week alone.

Anyways, I'd like to thank Benthino, Grimnack and MyDearWatson for the reviews for last chapter, they are all appreciated!

That's all for now!

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Dreadburner94.