A/N: Now I'm not sure if I'll give this the same attention I did with The Dragon of Night Raid but I will work on it when I can.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail and/or Akame Ga Kill. They belong to their original owners.

The Assassins of Fairy Tail

Job Two: Leone's Infiltration

Leone and the rest of the group she was with were sitting around in the middle of the forest. All of them were having a discussion about the group they were about to confront. Happy was the first to ask about the subject. "What's this Avatar thing that Rogue was supposed to go after?"

Natsu, of course, didn't have the slightest clue. "Dunno."

Thankfully for them, Lucy knew a little about them. "Apparently, it's a cult filled with Zeref's followers that have been on the rise ever since the fall of the dark guilds."

The name caught the fire dragon slayer's interest. "Zeref?"

Hearing the name certainly rang a bell to Leone. "I've heard of them before. Akame and the rest of us were thinking of tackling them sometime soon. Never thought it would be this soon."

Natsu was still a little unsure about the enemy. "Well, I don't know if he himself has anything to with it but…"

Lucy didn't think the same about that. "They all worship him like he's some kind of god there."

Leone groaned at the detail. "Great…so they're that kind of people."

Natsu smiled at the opportunity they were given. "Zeref's underlings huh? Alright, I'm all fired up!"

Lucy didn't share the same enthusiasm as him. In fact, she was still wondering why they were here in the first place. "That aside, how'd Rogue's job have anything to do with Gray's whereabouts?"

Happy wondered the same thing. "Yeah…what's that about?"

Natsu pondered the question and stood up. He walked over to a tree still in thought and placed his hand on it. It was quite the surprise to both Happy and Lucy. "Huh. He's using his brains for a change."

"So he really can't tell us."

Leone was getting a slight kick out of this. "He's a lot more entertaining in person."

The fire dragon slayer came to his conclusion. "Hmm…I think I'll tell you anyway. Future Rogue told me so."

Lucy was surprised to hear that from him. "Future Rogue?"

Leone shuddered a little at the name. "That guy huh?" She remembered him all too well from seeing Wendy's experience way back then.

Natsu continued to explain. "A year after the Grand Magic Games…which means somewhere around now. We'll be meeting Gray but as an enemy."

Lucy didn't like the sound of that one bit. "An enemy?!"

This certainly wasn't what Leone thought in meeting Gray for the first time. "That's why it's got me thinking, 'hey, maybe we'll meet him there.' You know…where Rogue's supposed to be."

It was surprising for Lucy to see Natsu plan this out which was so unlike him. There was something about this that didn't make sense. "But the future from where Future Rogue came should've changed by now. How can the same thing happen here now?" Confusing as it is, Lucy had to accept the fact. "Well, if you're saying that then I really can't be that sure but this is all we've got for now. But an enemy?"

Natsu had a small theory about that. "Remember what Juvia said? About him getting dark marks on himself? He had those on him when battling Mard Geer. It could've been because he had to learn how to use his demon slayer magic quickly as possible. Maybe he let some of that evil stuff get inside of him as well."

Leone was beginning to find out how heavy all of this was becoming. "That's just great. If worst comes to worst…" She didn't want to finish that thought as she knew what the end result was.

Lucy was finding this a little hard to believe. "No way…" Now she was feeling a little concerned about this whole thing. "Why did he keep it from us all this time? So Natsu knows what'll happen if Gray fights Rogue…and that's why…"

Natsu placed his hand on the blonde's head and smiled. "Don't worry. Gray's still our friend, no matter what happens."

Lucy smiled at the words as they brought a little comfort to her. "Yeah."

Happy raised both his arms looking determined. "Aye sir!"

While all of them were feeling confident about this, Leone still had her doubts. "I hope you're right about this because if this turns out like I think…I wouldn't be able to face Wendy again. And all of you."

B

Within the Avatar headquarters, Arlock was preoccupied preaching to his so called god in the altar. "Our lord Zeref, please accept this humble sacrifice of ours…the day of Purification draws near! Destroy this defiled world and rebuild it once more…and lead us from the top of the world of magic!"

"Master Priest" Arlock looked back to see Jerome and Briar enter the altar. "Are we to go along with the plans for the Purification Ritual then? There's a high chance that the council's caught on to us."

Arlock continued to stare at Jerome. Briar wasn't too worried about the Magic Council. "That's why I'm telling you we should remove the root of our anxiety right away. Think Shaggy, think." She whispered that last.

Jerome caught it regardless. "Shaggy…" Arlock was still looking at the two. "Shaggy huh…"

The priest looked back at the statue in front of him. "In the middle of my prayers. Please leave for now." With that order, the two did as they were told.

B

All of the Avatar members met up in one of the hallways discussing what Jerome had said before. Mary thought it was funny. "Well, grandpa is kinda stubborn in some ways. Why won't he just die already? Ha ha."

Briar failed the see humor in all of this. "Shut up you wicked little thing."

Mary didn't take that very well and pouted. "That's mean Briar! You always give people terrible nicknames too don't you? And most of the time it's tasteless. Such a shame!"

Goumon was taking this subject very seriously. "Hmm…if the Council's already caught wind of our plans…then that means we'll be in a mesh."

Mary giggled at his misuse of words. "Hey, didn't you mean 'in a mess'? Now that's one hilarious mistake right there. Ha ha."

"Now where will fate lead us…" D-6 spoke.

Abel was busy playing with a certain doll. "As long as it's gonna be fun, we're all good."

The issue was more much serious for Jerome and had to discuss it. "The council itself isn't the problem. What's really the problem is how exactly they find out about it."

Everyone looked over at Gray who had his arms crossed leaning against the wall and was smiling smugly at all of them. "We've got a spy amongst us and of course, you all think it's me."

All of them leered at the newest member. "Ice…" Briar spoke.

Mary had stars in her eyes. "Well, he did come from the 'best' guild on the continent."

Jerome had good reason to suspect Gray. "We've done our research on you…Gray Fullbuster. Your entire familiar was killed by a demon from the book of Zeref and to top it off, your teacher and her daughter too, died just by getting involved. And at the very least, you don't have anything that would prove that you worship Zeref."

"We've all been together for at least half a year, excluding you." D-6 commented.

Briar narrowed her eyes. "Huh…there's no other explanation then."

Gray just closed his eyes at all the accusations. "That's incomplete research right there Mr. Blade-of-Darkness. Ul's daughter, Ultear isn't dead."

Jerome was still suspicious of him. "I don't see why you'd be here."

Briar leered at Jerome. "Stop it Shaggy."

Gray didn't mind explaining his true intentions to all of them. At least it would get them off his back. "It's okay Briar. I'll make things clear since that's what he wants." He his eyes and pointed his finger at Jerome. "I'm here for the Book of E.N.D. That's my reason and purpose." Everyone was surprised to hear that from him. "As long as I've…" He had mad look on his face. "As long as I've got that book…I don't give a damn about anything else."

Briar felt a little unnerved seeing this side of Gray. "Such darkness."

"I've long forgotten about the guild. All I want…no…need to do is…destroy E.N.D. That's my whole reason for living. And to do that, I'll do whatever it takes. Even if it means using the lot of you." Gray started to walk away from the rest of the group. "So until then, we'll be comrades." He continued to walk without looking back.

Seeing all that was enough to convince Briar and everyone else. "The thirst for revenge has covered his mind and body in darkness."

Mary was relieved that Gray was strongly on their side. "There's no way someone that evil is a spy for the council. But it was kinda cool." She muttered those last words."

Jerome had other thoughts. "I wonder, though." He turned to Briar. "I've been thinking Briar." She wondered what he had to say. "I quite like Shaggy." She did not expect him to say that.

B

Outside of the Avatar headquarters, Natsu and the rest of the group saw it straight across from them. "I see it there!"

Their headquarters wasn't what Lucy expected it to be. "It looks like an old abandoned church."

Leone didn't show it but she was itching for some action. "What do we do now Natsu?" Happy asked.

The fire dragon slayer grinned at the question. "Attack, of course."

B

In a far off rocky location, a squadron was making their way to the Avatar headquarters being led by none other than Panther Lily and Gajeel. "Captain. We'll be reaching Mikage Forest soon. The Avatar's main base is located there."

Gajeel looked slightly back at one of the soldiers. "Yeah?"

The soldier obviously had some concerns. "However, sir…we have word that Gray Fullbuster is currently in that cult as well."

That was a name Gajeel hadn't heard in a while. "Gray?" He grinned at the opportunity. "Like I give a damn. We'll arrest them all! That's what we do don't we? We're the Council's Detention Enforcement Unit!"

B

Natsu dropped his bag and was ready for action. "Attack!"

Happy joined him. "Aye sir!"

However, Natsu was pulled back by the scarf by Lucy and Leone grabbed Happy. "Wait/hold it!" The fire dragon slayer slipped up and fell to the ground bringing Lucy down with him.

Natsu sat up glared at the two blondes. "What the hell you two?"

Lucy glared back at him. "We don't even know who we're up against this time. We can't just barge in like that."

Natsu was about say something but was interrupted by Leone. "She has a point." Both Natsu and Happy looked at her. "Take it from me, charging into an enemy base is the last thing we want to do. There are too many unknown factors that could play out. One of them is alerting the enemy, including Gray and then what? No, the best course of action would have to be the element of surprise. That's why it's better to think things through. After that, then we can beat the crap out of them."

Lucy had to admit the other blonde was right and smiled. "And I got just the plan." She brought out one of her golden gate keys. "We'll sneak in from underneath with Virgo's help." Natsu was impressed by her idea as was Leone. Lucy pulled back her arm. "Alright then Virgo." The key glowed brightly. "Gate of the Maiden, I open thee! Vir…Go?" Virgo did appear before the blonde but not quite she expected. Virgo appeared being tied up and lying on the ground. Both Lucy and Natsu didn't know what to think of it. Leone, on the other hand, was cracking up.

Lucy rushed to the Celestial Spirit's aid. "H-Hey! What happened? Are you okay?"

Natsu was a little pissed about this whole thing. "Who did this to you?"

Virgo looked at them like what happened to her was no big deal. "Don't mind me." She sat up and smiled at Lucy. "I had some free time so I decided to punish myself."

Sometimes the blonde wondered what was going through her spirit's head. "What's wrong with you?"

After untying Virgo, the spirit stood up. Natsu was somewhat impressed by her. "Wow. You Celestial Spirits sure are profound."

"Aye."

Virgo smiled at the fire dragon slayer. "It's been a long time Natsu, Happy."

Leone took some time in observing the spirit maid. "So this is a Celestial Spirit. This is the first time I'm actually meeting one."

Virgo noticed her and smiled. "Hello there. I don't think we've met before. I am Virgo."

The second blonde smiled at the other girl. "Nice to meet you. I'm Leone."

The name was familiar to the maid spirit. "Leone? I remember big brother Loke talking about you before. He said you could transform into a lion." Leone smiled at that little fact.

Now the formalities were done, Lucy readied her next move. "And now…" A bright light emitted from her body. When it quickly faded, she was wearing a completely different outfit. "Star Dress: Virgo Form!"

Both Natsu and Lucy were surprised seeing Lucy could do that. "She transformed?"

"Huh. She kinda reminds me of a certain scary armored figure."

Virgo smiled at Happy's comparison. "This dress enables her to use part of my powers and raise her own magic as well."

Leone whistled at the transformation. "Nice maid outfit there." Now Leone couldn't help but imagine how Akame would look wearing a maid outfit. The idea excited her.

Lucy was ready to start their little operation. "Let's go, Virgo!"

"Very well Princess!"

B

In the basement of the Avatar headquarters, a hole suddenly appeared out of the ground and Virgo jumped out of it. Lucy was the next to crawl out of it. "We've successfully made it in."

Virgo was looking around the room to know where they ended up. "We're in the basement?"

Behind Lucy was Natsu who wasn't all too happy the blonde was taking her time. "Hey, move your ass aside!"

Happy giggled at what he was seeing. "Look Natsu. You can see Lucy's underwear from here."

As soon as all of them were out, Leone was very impressed with how quickly Virgo was at digging into the earth. "Damn. She would've been useful digging that tunnel to the Path of Peace headquarters back in Kyoroch. She could've saved a lot of time."

It was so far so good for the group but they still had to be careful. "We need to find out more about Gray while keeping out of sight." Lucy advised.

Natsu took a quick look around before taking in a deep breath. "GRAY! I KNOW YOU'RE HERE! COME OUT WHERE EVER YOU ARE!"

His shout alerted everyone within the building. "From inside the church?" D-6 wondered.

Abel was curious about this. "Intruders? Interesting."

Gray, in particular, knew that voice all too well. "Natsu?"

Thanks to Natsu's shout, their cover was blown. Leone could only groan at this predicament. "Well, there goes our element of surprise."

Lucy grabbed Natsu's cheeks and pushed them in while being a little angry at him for what he did. "Why did you do that!? Don't you understand we're supposed to be sneaking in! In S-N-E-A-K-I-N-G!"

"It's time for punishment, isn't Princess?" Virgo gestured at a wooden torture device shaped as a dragon. "Please try this out on me then."

The blonde didn't have time for any of that. "Shush!"

Leone was beginning to question Virgo's fascination with torture devices. "Is she a masochist or something?"

"He's here." Everyone turned to Natsu. "I can smell him. He's here."

Lucy felt a little nervous. "Gray's here?"

"Gray's here?" Happy asked.

"Hey, what are you doing in our base?" All of them looked up to see where the voice was coming from. They saw Abel sitting in front of a barred window playing with a doll. "This fun for you? Is that even fun?"

"An enemy?" Lucy saw the doll Abel was playing with and recognized it. "That doll…"

Happy freaked out as he recognized it too. "It's Mr. Cursey!"

Abel was surprised they knew about the doll. "Oh! You know Mr. Cursey. Now that's interesting." He jumped down to the floor. "This doll was a gift from some bigwig at Grimoire Heart." He showed off the cursed doll to all of them. "The world's full of really interesting…black magic."

Lucy shuddered at the mere sight of the doll as she remembered what it did to her before back on Tenrou Island. "Urgh…this brings back bad memories."

Only Virgo seemed to take their small enemy seriously. "Be careful. His powers are not to be trifled with despite looking like that."

Before Abel could make a move, Natsu was suddenly in front of him with his hand above Abel's head. His hand ignited and instantly struck Abel down to the ground. Everyone was surprised by this as he took out one of their enemies so quickly and easily. "Sorry but the one only I have a beef with right now is Gray."

"Abel!" Natsu looked to the side to see Goumon rushing into the room. He saw his comrade on the ground unconscious and groaned. "Ochaaa!" Goumon waved his arm across and various torture devices floated around him. "How dare you do this to Abel intruders! However, for you to appear in my training room, it must be my lucky day! Prepare for a never ending torture session!" He sent all the torture devices right at Natsu. "Ochachachachachacha!" Natsu backflip a few times avoiding the attacks while enjoying himself.

Speaking of enjoying themselves, Virgo had stars in her eyes with seeing the different kinds of torture devices. Lucy didn't quite understand why. "Why are you getting so excited over it?"

A passing thought came to Leone. "Now that I think about it, never thought I would see the day I would meet someone who may actually enjoy Esdeath's torture techniques."

Goumon extended his arm forward. "Wooden Dragon!" He sent the wooden dragon torture device at Natsu.

Natsu stopped the device with his foot. "You call this piece of crap a dragon?"

Goumon moved his hand several times. "And…eat this!" The dragon transformed into something different. "It's actually an iron maiden!"

Lucy was instantly worried about the fire dragon slayer. "Natsu!"

Leone could only think up of one thought about this. "Oh crap."

Natsu saw the doors quickly closing in on him. "What the hell's this? It looks like it'll hur-"

The iron maiden closed entrapping the fire dragon slayer. "Punishment complete. Ocha." Before Goumon could celebrate his victory, the eye of the iron maiden was starting to drip for some reason. His eyes opened all the way and saw the hole where the eye was becoming larger. Natsu was smiling behind it. Lucy smiled as she was happy the fire dragon slayer was okay. Goumon, not so much. "The metal's melting…?" Natsu melted through the iron maiden and punched Goumon straight to the face. "Ochaa!"

He sent him crashing into the wall. "Number two."

D-6 came out of nowhere behind Natsu and was about to attack him. Natsu smiled as he was about to counterattack. Or at least he would if Leone hadn't drop kicked D-6 from the side in her beast form. "I don't think so!" Her attack sent the Avatar member into the wall as well.

Natsu wasn't all too happy Leone intervened. "What the hell? I had him! And why do you look different all of a sudden?!"

Leone scoffed at him ignoring his second question. "As if I'm going to let you have all the fun."

D-6 groaned as he stood up and looked at the second blonde. "How dare you strike me like that!" He ran over to Leone with his arm pulled back. "I'll make you pay for that!" D-6 sent over his punch right at Leone. However, in a surprise twist, Leone caught the attack with her left bare hand or rather claw with ease. D-6 struggled to continue his attack but it was completely stopped cold. "W-What the…?"

Leone wasn't all too impressed and was looking a little bored. "You're kidding me? This is the best you got? I'm kinda disappointed in you Avatar guys." She tightened her grip and D-6 grunted in pain. Soon the second blonde's hold brought him down to one knee. "And you call that a punch? Please." She threw down the hand she held on and came in close to D-6. Leone pulled back her arm while grinning wickedly. "This is what you call a punch!" She punched D-6 right in the face and sent him crashing through the wall. A couple of walls actually.

This time, it was Natsu's turn to be impressed. "Whoa…"

He wasn't the only one. Virgo had similar thoughts. "So what big brother Loke said was true after all. She can transform into a lion. Miss Leone is quite strong; don't you think so Princess?"

Lucy nodded slowly in agreement. "Yeah…" She still wondered what kind of friends Wendy made in the world she was in before.

Goumon groaned as he couldn't believe this was happening. "Im-Impossible. We're all powerful black wizards. How could brats like these…"

"One of them isn't someone that be defeated by the likes of you." Everyone looked over at the top of the staircase and saw Gray leering at Natsu. "I'll deal with this one myself."

Natsu grinned at the ice mage. "Yo. You been doing well?"

Now Leone was meeting Gray for the time and like she thought, it wasn't like she thought it would be. "So this is Gray."