Warriors and paperwork have never and will never mix. Laxus Dreyar was learning this more than other people. As much as he hated the damn brat who slowed down his ability to kick out whoever he wanted, he was starting to see why his grandfather practically begged the kid to work for them. This stuff was a damn nightmare, and it seemed like that kid knew what he was doing to make it stop, or lessen the paper work greatly.
Maybe he could hire a new lawyer. Wait, who the hell actually did take up his grandfather's pile of paper work besides that brat? All the lawyers in the area expressed never wanting to work here and out of town ones were way too expensive.
Damn it, no wonder that brat was the only lawyer for this guild.
"Master Laxus," Freed came in through the door. "We have another complaint."
The blonde S-Class mage couldn't help how his snarl sounded dangerous. "Who is it this time!?"
Even the usually loyal Freed seemed surprised at the tone of Laxus. The blonde noticed how he snapped and put a hand on his head. He had found his temper easily riled up for the past weeks ever since Kain was fired. It must have been all this damn paper work and all those damn formalities.
The strongest of the Thunder Legion cleared his throat before speaking as if that didn't just happen. "This time it was Cana Alberona. Since we limited her binge drinking here, she's been drinking other city bars past their limits and forced a few last calls when the sun was still up."
"I'll deal with her after the festival." There was another frown on Laxus' face as he said this. "Just put it with the rest."
Freed did so and left the room while Laxus scratched his neck. However, the S-Class mage was so focused on the paper he was reading that he didn't notice something strange.
The paper had a few letters stand upright from the very text of the sheet. These few letters, A, N, N, O, Y, E, and D all moved like children, tumbling or hopping along without Laxus noticing and they all jumped together right into the muscular man's arm, forming a specific word of "Annoyed" before vanishing into his skin.
He wouldn't know that these secret events will be going on for the next four weeks.
"I'm gonna kick Laxus' ass for that!" The raw anger that flowed out of Natsu was both hard to ignore and understandable. Perhaps it was a good thing that most of Team Valiant was currently in the air, ridding on Ignis' back as they were en route to their destination, and thinking more, it was also a blessing that Mirajane's message reached them while still air bound.
All the more reason to suppress it. "Natsu, no." Erza gave one of her famous stares towards the Dragon Slayer. Despite how much he wanted to, the pink haired mage relented though he wasn't going to be happy about it.
"But he kicked out Kain! We can't let him get away with this!"
"I know!" That surprised Natsu that Erza actually agreed with him for once. It was more surprising for everyone else to see her clenching her fist and trembling. "I know… but Laxus is now master of this guild, and we must follow his orders as part of Fairy Tail."
Team Valiant was silent after their leader said that.
Seeing her once lively and powerful friends look so defeated sparked a look of defiance on Lucy's face. "No! Kain bought us all time! A month before the Fantasia Parade! There has to be something we can do!"
"But what can we do? Kain was the one who was an expert at legal stuff and such?" Happy raised his paw out as he asked this.
"Kain was kicked out, maybe he can still help out! We have to do something to stop Laxus from treating our friends like dirt!"
"I'm with Lucy on this one! Anything's better than just standing here and letting Laxus do whatever he wants with our guild!" Natsu was quick to jump to Lucy's side.
Seeing their spirits rise made even Erza feel confident. She owed Fairy Tail her life, but Laxus was turning the guild into something else than the place that practically saved her. "You are right. But we need to be subtle about it. Kain tried a direct confrontation and look how he turned up."
Gray folded his arms. "So what's our next move?"
"For now, we finish this S-Class mission: clearing up strange beasts overrunning the canyon near Clover City."
"Clover City huh? Wasn't that where we fought Lullaby? Man, I can't believe that was like only a few months back." Gray commented as he looked down at the train tracks they were flying over.
"Huh," Lucy brought up a map to where the canyon was said to be. "Looking at this map, it was the direction Happy tried to point us to until Kain vehemently recalled where we came form."
"I would have brought us home! Kain was being a jerk!" Happy huffed and folded his arms.
Lucy then leered towards the cat. "He was right though."
"I was too!"
"He said you pointed in the opposite direction, and he was right! In fact, I also recall after the Everlue mission, Kain actually new more about the landscape back to Fairy Tail than you did! And he said he was form another world!"
"He cheated and used a map!"
"How is using a map cheating!?"
The argument between the blonde, celestial mage and a talking cat was amusing to everyone involved. It was nice to fall back into this type of banter when back at the guild it was severely lacking.
For now, Team Valiant's mission would be easier than one would expect. It seemed like their luck may have finally changed somewhat after all their hard fought battles.
"Man can our luck get any worse?" Macao spoke out as the first thing he noticed was one side of the guild empty, along with all the quest jobs.
"Some of the local jobs aren't paying as much as they could. And it's getting harder to get jewels." Wakaba added in with a sigh along with his best friend.
"Gah! We need proper quest jobs!"
As soon as Macao said this, to the surprise of the two men, and even some of the other Original Members around them, around a dozen paper airplanes started flying towards them, unfolded mid air, and landed right in front of their table, all revealing that they were job requests that Elpton had stolen.
Everyone was silent and followed the sight of where the paper airplanes came from.
To many's surprise, they wondered how they missed the white clown in an empty part of the guild hall that was just making his way out.
…
The days continued like that. When Elpton's group was long gone with stolen missions, a little later Paper Airplanes would fly and unfold themselves into the desks of the members of the Old Fairy Tail, giving them a proper chance to get good jobs again. And each time, even if they prepared for it, they could only catch the white clown leaving through the open doors of the guild.
It may not be the best, but it was something. Macao Conbolt felt like there should be more. So during that period, one of those times, the older fire mage was paying special attention towards the door.
When he heard the sound of his friends being surprised at the paper air planes, the fire mage stayed true to part of his last name and bolted out of his seat towards the clown walking away.
"Hey!" Macao ran up towards the white clown who only turned at him in silence.
"Thanks for giving us back some of those quests. It really helped us out."
The masked mage only nodded once before trying to walk away again. Macao, wanting more than just that reaction, spoke out again. "You're a lot better than all those jerks."
Not a lot of people can say they made a clown laugh. But the way the clown was laughing at Macao's comment seemed to be more sad than funny. "Trust me when I say that I am far worse than all of them put together."
"What! No way!" The older fire dismissed the comment. "You helped us out when you could have taken those jobs instead. That's a pretty good thing in my book!"
Macao really couldn't get a read on the clown's face with that eerie smiling mask he always kept on. His body language was also very controlled, not even a slight twitch or anything. "Simply because you see someone do good deeds doesn't make them a good person."
"Well, regardless, thanks. We appreciate it a lot." Macao noted that for once there was a pause on the white clown after hearing that. He then decided to ask, "I'm Macao Conbolt, what's your name?"
"… It's Kero Pierre, I mostly go by Pierre." The clown gave out after a pause. "Goodbye then."
With that, the clown started to move. However, Macao did notice that he was walking at a much slower pace than before.
The next day, no air planes came down. Instead, Pierre walked up to a table and just put the fliers down.
"Hey come on, Pierre, stay with us!" Macao called out before looking towards the others.
"Yeah! You're alright on our book!" Wakaba also exclaimed and was soon followed by a large majority of people in the guild. It was obvious Macao started talking to them about him.
Soon, they were able to get Pierre to stay with them and start talking about certain things. However, Pierre was adamant to keep the mask on no matter what.
For now though, their mysterious friend seemed to be on their side.
No one but Pierre felt a pair of eyes boring into his skull from somewhere in the guild.
…
A little later, when the clown was all alone and walking in the dead of night, he stopped and turned into an alleyway not unlike how Kain did earlier some time ago.
"So?" A voice called out from the darkness.
The clown said nothing before speaking, "The one known as Macao Conbolt is a fire color mage with slightly above mediocre skills and magic. He has boasted on besting a zombified version of the famous cartographer/explorer of Bison Gomez, though it is more than likely that is the only feat he can express."
Pierre went on, listing more and more about the Fairy Tail mages, their names, their magic, and odd quirks they had.
If someone was there, they would have wondered why the white dressed clown was speaking to darkness, what they wouldn't notice were a bunch of mages hidden in the shadows, listening intently to every word the clown spoke behind his mask.
"Is that all?" The first voice asked.
"For now, I don't have any clear weaknesses other than the magic counters I suggested."
Out of the shadows, Elpton stepped out and pushed the smaller clown into the ground. "You idiot! You were supposed to get their weaknesses!"
The clown silently got up and noticed a pair of glowing red eyes. "You get one more try. Get us those proper weaknesses, or else." After saying that threat, the figures in the shadow vanished.
The white clown was simply silent and stood back up to clean himself and walk away. One could start to figure out why he always wore a mask if his 'allies' were like that.
From above the rooftops, someone silently watched that event unfold, still watching even from earlier that day.
One could suppose that compared to before, things were looking up.
"Here you go, miss, enjoy your meal." And with a smile on his face and positive, almost sing-song voice, Kain Reynolds left the booth and hurried back towards the counter where a man was waiting in front of the cash register. "Are you ready to pay sir?"
The man nodded and brought out some jewels as he did, the young man heard the sound of the bell and noticed a tray of meals being placed on the counter between the dinning area and the kitchen. After seeing that, the boy went back to the cash register. "That will be… 27.45 total."
The man raised his brow as he heard another bell ring and saw another tray put down by the cook. He looked around the restaurant he ate, the food was great, but so far, he had only seen… "Hey, kid, are you the only waiter here?"
"So far? Yes. But not to worry, I can take strenuous tasks," Kain thought back to battling demons and how this by far was easier than all those crazy battles.
"Seems kinda dumb to have a grand opening with only one waiter and a cook."
"The cook is a mage. It helps a lot, and while I don't have magic, there are a few tools of the trade I can use that make this job much easier." Kain briefly glanced at his morpher and for good measure, fidgeted his feet that had his magic enhanced shoes that he still kept around. "Still, the boss sounded pretty determined to open this up as it was his dream job some time ago."
The man nodded before leaving a small tip for the waiter. "Here, I know what it was like working tables when I was your age."
Kain gave a warm smile, "Thank you sir, come again!" And with the transaction finished, the young man quickly got to work on the cued up trays.
There was a bell on the door that made Kain, who was holding two trays on his arms and balancing one on his head, turn around.
"Welcome to 8-Island, home of exotic and home made meal specials! Please give me a minute before I seat your..." The smiled slowly died as Kain realized he was looking at Natsu, Happy, Lucy, Erza, and Gray all walking through the door.
The pink haired dragon slayer seemed to brighten up and lift up a hand. "Yo, Kain!"
A much more genuine smile appeared on Kain's face that replaced his work smile when seeing his friends of this world. "Gimme a sec guys, And I'll be right back."
It took a while before the lunch rush died down and Kain was free enough to meet with his friends.
"So Hargeon huh?" Erza began as the boy came to sit down on the large booth he gave them.
"It's a nice place, and it's not too far considering the train ride is thirty minutes at best from Magnolia." Kain raised his brow when he notice Natsu lurch at the mention of a train. "I actually found a pretty cheap apartment near the bay, it smells bad, but it's quaint." The lack of magic in this town was also a plus, less chance of something coming up and bothering him.
"Ahh this place brings back memories. It's where I first met Natsu, Kain, and Happy," Lucy sighed before her face seemed to lurch, a sign that a rather unpleasant memory came back up. "It was also where I met that jerk, Bora."
The other three Lucy mentioned thought back to that guy, and all the other events that transpired.
"Natsu and Kain dressed like women!" Happy was quick to point that out, just as quick as Kain's retaliation.
"And you were barfed on by Natsu." The way Kain said that with such monotone, but with the smallest glints of smugness, made Happy be the first to lose his cool.
"That was all your fault! Why did you hand me over to him!?"
"Don't feel so bad, you were the second person he barfed on that night."
"He did what?"
"Oi! Don't talk about that!"
As soon as Erza asked about it, Natsu immediately tried to change the subject. It's too bad Gray seemed determined to milk whatever embarrassing story he could out of his magical counterpart.
It was fun really, all of them talking and enjoying themselves, but after a while, Kain felt like he needed to address the elephant in the room.
"So guys, lay it to me straight, how bad is it?"
Lucy was the one to speak up. "Horrible. Laxus group has been vicious. Elpton has some kind of speed magic and he keeps stealing whatever high paying job from the others, and Laxus has turned a blind eye to that harassment."
On one hand, he half expected that, on the other Kain was a little surprised that Laxus was still allowing those other mages to bully the first ones. "I thought I made it so that Laxus couldn't kick you guys out for not meeting the quota he made?"
"As brilliant as your plan was Kain," Erza spoke out. "You only prevented us from getting kicked out by Laxus temporarily. It seems like he's doing his best to make everyone miserable. Some have already quit because of it."
Kain sighed as he placed two fingers on the bridge of his nose. "So basically, he is now practically harassing everyone to the point where they want to quit. I thought I actually got him with the Survey Inclusion."
Gray was quick to speak. "Don't be hard on yourself, you're one of the people left who can still stop the guy. Laxus and his new mages out number us. If we make a complaint of any kind, no one would believe us because the other half of the guild would say against that. The only chance we have of getting the guild back to normal now is a legal battle, and you're the best one we've got."
"I'm afraid it's not a simple as a court case." To Team Vailant's surprise, Yajima, former Magic Council Member, current owner of the restaurant, 8-Island, and Fairy Tail Alumni was the one talking and walking up to them. "Legal wise, Guilds are technically miniature kingdoms or states. The Magic Council supervises guilds around Fiore and less around Ishgar, but the rules are written in a way that as long they uphold the standard codes, such as no accepting of assassination jobs and such, legal guilds are free to operate how they wish. I've talked to Kain about this, he wants to help, but by official standards, Laxus has obviously done his homework enough that it's not possible to get him kicked out of the guild unless he does something public and scandalous."
The ones still in Fairy Tail seemed to feel bad hearing that from another person who obviously knew their way around the political machinations of the Magic Council.
"This sucks!" Natsu gripped his fist so hard it was trembling. "Everyone is so miserable, it's not even home anymore!"
Kain, for the briefest seconds, twitched. There was so much he wanted to say, so much he wanted to tell them. But thankfully, everyone was too distracted to notice that twitch as nothing as more than Kain sitting into his seat.
"Then let me pay for your meals. It's the least I can do for you guys for now."
There was so much the boy wanted to say…
"Whoa, whoa!" some days ago, Kain shook his head in disbelief at what he was hearing.
Mystogan raised his hand as if to explain his point. "It's true. I may not have solid proof, but there is a strong possibility of criminals and dark mages hiding among the people recruited by Laxus."
"Huh? No, I had a feeling they were," Wait he did? But everyone else was a little confused as to why Kain was now looking flushed as he rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, it's just… I never properly heard your voice before now so I was really caught off guard. It's like as cool as I imagined it."
If one was a very trained person, they would have noticed Mystogan twitch in surprise for the faintest of seconds before freezing in bewilderment in how to answer such a left field comment. (That's what surprises him!? My voice!?)
"Actually, now that he says it, Mystogan does sound super cool..." The S-Class mage actually glanced around as some of the old Fairy Tail members did look at him with equal amounts of awe and agreement. Some females even commented that behind the mask that he must be some kind of hunk.
Thankfully, the mask hid the fact his cheeks were turning pink from everyone else. "Can we please focus back on topic?"
"Ah, right. Sorry." The Lawyer agreed before inhaling deeply and calming himself down. "But yes, what bothered me was the fact I could barely find any info on the newcomers that Laxus brought in. I know we practically let people in if they asked, but no matter how much I could look up, I couldn't find much on some notable members of Laxus' pick."
"I have a little more luck in my investigations." Mystogan's eyes narrowed. "However, the information speaks for itself when a majority of my leads end up already long dead."
Kain noted how everyone else seemed disturbed. But already relaxed from him implying the obvious. Perhaps he already told them up front?
"So what is your plan? I'm no longer a part of Fairy Tail as long as Laxus is currently in that mind set."
"Of all the dead ends, some literal, some figurative, or even both, there is a common denominator among them all: Jewels. Wether stolen, blackmailed, or swindled, most of my leads lost money of some kind, all of them in large amounts. I'm willing to bet they're planning something during the Fantasia Parade."
The boy from another universe sighed. He had heard nothing but fun and amazing thing about the festival. A shame that his very first one might already be threatened by the scum of humanity.
Mystogan continued. "It's a simple plan, everyone is on standby in case they make their move. But we cannot tell those still inside about this, we don't want to tip their hand and force them to do something drastic if they are found out. Until then, we must remain vigilant." The masked mage turned towards the displaced boy. "Kain, more than likely, Team Valiant will continue visiting you even after they find out about your recent actions. Keep asking about the state of the guild and pay close attention to what the actions of the others are doing."
Kain could keep secrets, it's just he always felt bad about them if they involved friends over strangers.
After a bit, and with meeting Ignis who brought them to Hargeon, Kain had to say goodbye to Team Valiant as they left. The Harvest Festival was ending, so hopefully they would see him again in the Fantasia Parade—one of the few things the original members can still positively be excited to do.
As they left, there was a glow coming from Kain's side pocket. Instead of acknowledging it, the young man went to a hidden corner in the alleyway of Yajima's restaurant and opened it up when he was sure he was in the clear.
The young man brought out a base-ball sized crystal orb that started to glow faintly. "Kain?"
"Yes, Mystogan?"
Days passed. Eventually even Macao eased up to Pierre so much that he invited him for a job to take down some bandits. The job was fairly easy in that there was a group of thieves on top of a mountain that was harassing a town some distance away. All it took was the two to handle the crooks and their leader and send them packing and making sure that they would stay unconscious and trapped until the authorities came for them.
While going down the mountain, "Man, kid, you've got some moves!" The older fire mage complimented as the two walked down towards the town they came from. "I don't think I even saw your magic!"
"You did," Pierre returned in a lighter tone than when they had first met. "My magic is more subtle than most."
"Subtle battle magic? I have never heard of that before." Macao rubbed his chin. "What is it specifically anyway?"
"It's the same as McGarden, Script Magic. Although I put my own personal style in it."
Macao thought back to the small blue haired team leader of Shadow Gear. Her magic was summoning words that summoned the same elements as the words to attack. Pierre was using Script Magic that entire fight? But all he did was jump around and punch and kick those lackeys. Wait, their boss seemed a bit weird after Pierre simply touched the guy, he seemed afraid of something to the point of huddling into a dark corner and crying there. It was… unsettling, but it made the quest so much easier.
"I've never seen or heard of Script Magic used like yours."
The clown swung his hand behind his back and tilted his mask up towards the sky. "I simply apply a bit of science in magic and tend to experiment with things beyond that of the text in written books. To me, my magic is different because I realize that certain parts of each build up of a spell can be used interchangeably. If you know your own magic well enough, it's not hard to figure out how to create your own magic."
"Wow that sounds super smart! Creating your own spells from pieces of what you already know? Sounds like those toy building blocks my kid plays with."
Pierre looked back down towards Macao. "That is a rather perfect way of explaining it really. Magic spells are constructs that everyone knows. My magic is simply taking those same 'blocks' and making new spells with them after rearranging them."
"Man that sounds great! Come on though, I'd like to get back to Magnolia before the day ends so tomorrow we can all do the Fantasia Parade."
Despite how he said this, Pierre suddenly stopped. Even though he was wearing a mask, Macao knew something was wrong.
"Pierre?" The clown didn't even respond to his own name, which worried the older fire mage. It was then that he saw the fists of the clown forming and starting to tremble. "Hey what's wrong!?"
Being worried at how he wasn't responding, Macao tried something else. "Come on, you can tell me! We're friends!"
"Friends? Really?" The masked mage asked softly? "You really shouldn't treat me so nicely. I'm not… what you think I am."
Macao laughed. "You've been helping us these past few days haven't you? And we've already welcomed you into our group! You're definitely a great material for Fairy Tail than those others that came in with you!" Macao cried out with a smile, obviously proud to have the guy's presence in the guild with the remainder of his friends in the guild.
The body of Pierre froze abruptly then started trembling horribly. The memories of the weeks passed by, of cruel allies and kind victims. It seemed like, something was going to erupt from the usually secretive man. "You shouldn't be thanking me for that! I was told to help you!" The masked clown cried out. He suddenly gasped, realization that he shouldn't have said that.
Macao blinked., shock written on his face when he heard such a thing. "W-What did you say?"
The clown tilted his head downward, it looked like he just seemed to be giving up. "Elpton and the others… they're planning a coup. On the day of the Fantasia Parade, they're going to attack your friends and the guild master while your on the floats. You'll all be overwhelmed, especially since they now know what all of your magic is like."
"Y-You're joking, right?!" Macao looked at the clown who had his head tilted down.
"He isn't." The older mage turned and to his utter shock, Mystogan was standing there right behind him! How did he—when did he get there?! "I've been watching him these past few weeks. He's been reporting back to Elpton on yours and everyone else's whereabouts and places where they live and what they do. At first he tried telling them the wrong info, but they smartened up and he then had no choice but to give out the real info."
Macao couldn't believe what he was hearing, but with how Mystogan himself was here, and with how Pierre was acting, it was hard for him to deny it. "B-But why are you here?" The man asked the S-Class mage.
"I was originally stalking him." The other masked mage pointed over to the clown. "If anyone knew what Elpton was up to, it would have been him. I had a feeling that he was planning to attack during the Fantasia Parade, but I wasn't sure until now. We'd be hard press to fight off attackers and defend all civilians if they chose to attack then."
"Elpton wants to steal the riches of the town during the confusion. With Fairy Tail at less than half of it's strength in numbers and moral, even the strongest guild would be vulnerable to an attack." Pierre openly admitted before turning towards Macao. "You and Fairy Tail where the only ones ever nice to me. I… I couldn't let Elpton get away with what he was about to do."
"Then we gotta stop him! Let's get back to the guild and warn everyone!"
"Wait," Mystogan held a hand out. "We need to be coordinated. Elpton's group still outnumbers all of you. I've asked a certain group of people to help out and if you give us at sundown later today, we can all stop Elpton's group then and there. Macao, I need you to spread the message as discreetly as possible. They can't know about us learning of their plan."
Macao nodded and gripped his fist. "I never liked those jerks. I knew they were all bad to the bone! Laxus really screwed things over with this!"
"But how can you get there fast enough?" Pierre moved his mask towards Mystogan. "We're a few hours by train ride at least after climbing down this mountain."
"From my battle with Voyu, I've decided to learn portal magic myself. It's complex, and I in no way can match the Lord of the North." He pointed two fingers out and a portal showing the Fairy Tail guild's backyard appeared. "But I find it's easier opening portals to places I've been before."
"That's great!" Macao was pumped enough and looked behind him. "Come on, Pi—huh?" Both Fairy Tail mages noticed Pierre walking away. "Hey! What are you doing?"
The fire mage ran up towards the clown who turned around to him. "I… I can't go back. I was lying to all of you."
"Well yeah… but you tried to make it right!" Macao, now more determined, put both his hands on the shoulders of the clown. "Pierre, the fact you care and feel this guilty means you deserve to be in Fairy Tail, someone that cares for others is a sign of a great Fairy Tail member, not our magical power despite what Laxus thinks. Please, stay and help us. We can truly be friends when this is all over."
"Do you..." The clown asked carefully. "Do you mean that?" His voice sounded almost hopeful but obviously hesitant.
"Yes." Macao said firmly. "You should come with—"
SHING! SPLATTER!
Faster than a blink of an eye, Pierre somehow stole Macao's sword and stabbed him in the chest in one motion.
Mystogan didn't understand what was going on, but he rushed for the two. However, Pierre suddenly twisted Macao's blade, pulled it out, and expertly put the taller man into his knees and into a choke lock with his own sword near his right eye.
"Don't move." Pierre's voice suddenly sounded utterly lifeless and cold, the eerie calmness made even someone as stoic as Mystogan feel on gaurd. "Right now, my magic has paused him from bleeding. Make any move, and I kill him here and now." He tightened his hold on Macao's neck, causing the older man to cough up blood.
To the credit of the S-class mage, he didn't show any signs of reaction. But in his mind he was wondering what the hell was going on.
"I was acting." Pierre spoke as if answering the man's thoughts. "We all knew about how you, Mystogan, were recruiting previous members and were following after our trail. My mission, my real mission was not to befriend the Fairy Tail members, it was to draw you out."
The S-Class mage inwardly swore. All this time, he thought he was being careful, but had Elpton already discovered him and his plans?!
Suddenly, Mystogan turned back, and saw that the portal he made towards Fairy Tail suddenly dispersed without his will. The sound of Macao weakly choking made the S-Class mage turn back.
"W-Wha Pierre!?" Macao gasped some words. However, he noticed his arms and legs weren't responding to his commands anymore. More so, there was some kind of black shadow swallowing his hands and the rest of his body under his clothes.
"Silence, the truly important people are speaking." Pierre didn't even look down on the man who actually did care for him.
"Those meetings..." Mystogan spoke out, his eyes widening as he said this. "I never questioned why it was so easy to track all of you. Those were all false meetings to throw me off, weren't they?"
"Did you believe that we would simply meet in an empty alley way?"
That was one of the most obvious ways of confirming him without saying yes. "But that means…! The way they treated you!"
"It had to be convincing. I was the only one in the group that didn't care what happened to me. But I cannot blame you for letting your guard around me; everyone does adore the underdog, and I rather think that experience is one that I will cherish for time to come." Unlike a while ago, his voice now sounded so cold, uncaring, and calculating, a far cry from a while ago that seemed to care so much… was that really all a lie?
It was indeed a ploy, and he had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker.
Mystogan's eyes sharpened and the air around him started to shimmer. "I admit I was played, but what makes you think I can't stop you?"
"Because I have a hostage." To emphasize this fact, Pierre cut the skin of Macao's cheek, making him scream before more of the darkness started to cover his neck. "You wouldn't risk your 'friend' will you?"
Mystogan really wanted to. The lives of the many far outweighed the lives of a few. However, if he did that, then he would be no better than a certain someone in his real home...
"I won't." The S-Class mage relaxed against his will and his magical power was greatly lessened.
Pierre stood in silence. Mystogan wondered what the clown was planning with this hostage situation, they played him on the meetings, but besides Macao, this situation couldn't really stop him for long—
His eyes widened. "You're not attacking during the Fantasia Parade."
The masked S-Class mage could only notice the eerie silence coming from the masked clown. "You're attacking today! It's the only reason why you're playing the hostage hand right now, to distract me from helping those in the guild!"
Macao's heart fell after hearing that. Everyone back home, Wakaba, Natsu, and all the others, they were being attacked!?
There was no time, Mystogan had to act fast— sadly, no matter how fast he was, Pierre acted before he could.
Macao cried out in pain as his stab wound suddenly burst and reopened and then Pierre kicked him off the mountain ledge. Mystogan didn't hesitate and dove after Macao, bringing out one of his staves and using it to stretch and grab onto the falling man. The S-Class mage grabbed another staff with his free hand and—wait. His magic wasn't channeling properly!?
The masked S-Class mage turned back, the darkness swallowing Macao had spread on to his staff and was absorbing his arm! It was some kind of curse that prevented either of them from using magic! Did Pierre plan this?! Did he somehow jinx Macao so when Mystogan tried to save him, he would also be jinxed to not use his magic!?
Mystogan could only panic as both he and Macao started falling from the mountain without any of their magic powers….
But he'd be damned if that was the only thing he relied on! Mystogan raced with his free hand and reached for a cube like object. He threw it on the ground beneath them and as it made contact, it turned into a giant cube with giant stubby square legs. When both mages fell on the creature, they both actually fell deeper into the cube, revealing that it was spongey and soft enough to absorb the impact of their fall and keep them safe.
However, during the fall, all the darkness eating Macao had spread to Mystogan, and the S-Class mage found himself unable to use any of his magic, especially the portal back to Fairy Tail.
"I'm sorry!" The mysterious mage looked back to Macao who was crying tears and drooling blood. "I… I fell for it!" He then started coughing violently.
Mystogan quickly ran up to him on the cube golem. He couldn't use natural magic, but this cube golem proved that magical items can still be accessed. "Don't speak, Macao, we need to get you medical attention."
"They're going to kill them!" Macao managed to shout before coughing violently.
"We still have something..." Mystogan brought out a small crystal orb. "All throughout that conversation, I made sure this crystal orb was active the one on the end heard every word and more than likely is almost back at the guild."
All though he was told to be quiet, Mystogan knew Macao was mentally asking, "Who was at the other end of that?"
I will apologize to Yajima for running out later, Fairy Tail is danger! I've never used the armor for long distances, but that's what I get for leaving Ignis back at Fairy Tail!
I ran up the hill overlooking Magnolia, and despite my best to be courageous, I could only gape in horror.
Even from where I was, I could spot the Fairy Tail Guild was on fire and what remained of the Thunder Palace was now stationed in the sky.
I shook my head, I needed to get to the guild first before the cathedral. The fact the fires were still there must have meant that Natsu and Gray must be incapacitated somehow… I hope it's incapacitated.
As I made one step forward, my senses told me to back off. I jumped back, no sooner than I did, something crashed hard in front of me. I drew a blade and got ready as something came out of the crater: a scary looking demon with wings—wait. Why does it feel like I know this demon? And now that I take a closer look, why is this demon so banged up?
A little later after asking this, there was a light that covered the demon, and to my surprise, it was Freed Justine, leader of the Thunder Legion who looked horribly beaten up. This guy was Laxus' second in command, and he got beat up this badly!?
Freed seemed to look at me in surprise and took a step forward. However, as soon as he did so, he fell forward and I caught him.
"Freed, are you alright?"
"K-Kain?" I was slightly surprised he recalled my name, but I ignored it, especially since he now looked worried. "Y-You need to get out of here! I only had enough power to lead him away from the others!" He then winced, obviously his injuries were worse than it looked.
Him? "Who?"
I got my answer when a horribly familiar crash of thunder struck the side of the hill not to far from me and Freed and made the ground tremble hard.
"Those bastards..." Freed cursed as I tried to help him up and prayed to the gods that it wasn't who I thought it was.
Out of the smoke, my prayers went unanswered again as Laxus Dreyar stepped out of the second crater with even more electricity circulating around him with his eyes trembling uncontrollably and him breathing erratically. However, he was looking at the two of us as if we just killed his parents or something.
Despite what my eyes were seeing, I was futilely still praying that this was an illusion attack, a really good illusion attack.
Freed was very kind to bring me back to reality even though he didn't mean to. "They somehow mind-controlled Laxus."
"Of-freaking-course." I managed to gasp out before the crazed Laxus attacked us both.
{Author Notes}
So here's the next chapter. I haven't had time to look it all over, so there may be more mistakes than usual.
There's a lot of jumping around because I couldn't find a way to string events together properly. I hope that it's good enough.
Now excuse the technical talk for some Fairy Tail news: Apparently, Fairy Tail has a new artwork for future characters/children.
I am both Excited and Disappointed for this!
Disappointed since Mishima's story telling isn't known to be very good, there's a chance this story is going to be kinda bad if it does become an anime. Which is a shame because I do love the characters, heck this story was made to give the characters a plot and hopefully a world worthy of an epic guild.
But I am excited since it gives us writers new material. I'm probably the only person waiting for the one dimensional villains so I can put them in this story as younger versions and give them a whole new twist to their existing characters. You know, what I tried to do in this story?
Still, holding out on the chance that maybe someone is actually going to help Mishima on the world-building and storytelling front if this does become an anime. I do hope the anime get enough funding for better writing staff than into the animation. Early Fairy Tail sagas and his work in Rave Master have shown he is a competent story writer, so I guess I'm just hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.
I hope you all enjoy this 'slightly' new take on an existing arc. Like before, expect some really unexpected twists.