Chapter 4

Once again we find our Hero in a perilous situation. Riding two the City Of Magnolia in a train.

"Why? Why couldn't we have just walked!" Mason groaned as he slammed down into his seat. His face turning a new shade of green.

"It really is a shame…" Makarov commented with a shake of his head. "A wizard with such incredible potential, rendered utterly useless by a bit of motion sickness. I hoped to have a conversation about magic, but that doesn't seem likely at this point."

"It's not my fault." Mason replied win a whine. "A Dragon Slayer's most vital organ is there stomach. It's how we get our power. When it's acting up, I lose all my strength."

"Hmmm…. You really do remind me of Natsu." The old man grumbled. "So why did you agree to take this assignment anyway? Wouldn't you rather be busting down dark guilds or killing monsters or something?"

"From what I've read on the files regarding Fairy Tail, if I hang around you guy." Mason looked up with a confident smirk, before immediately being overtaken by nausea. "The main reason is because of that Dragon Slayer in your guild. He's the first realm Dragon Slayer I've ever and There's so much I need to talk to him about. Plus I was friends with Erza when I was younger and seeing her again was kinda nostalgic. Plus it'd be nice to see how a Guild operates, I joined the Magic Council when I was 13 so I've never been part of a guild so this will be a nice learning experience."

"Hmmm….. I've known a few Knights in my day. Kid you don't act too much like a soldier." The Guild Master pointed out causing Mason to fall silent in thought…. Or maybe he wa just sick again.


(Fairy Tail Guild Hall… Almost)

"What happened here? This place is a wreck." Mason looked around aghast at the wreckage that was once the Fairy Tail Guild Hall. "I thought you guys were like number one guild, but this place is a- ACK!" A strong smack collided with the back of the dragon slayers head, shutting him.

"It hasn't always looked like this you idiot!" Makarov yelled as he retracted his stretched out arm back to it's normal size. "The Phantom Lord Guild attacked and destroyed our guild hall as a means to provoke us."

"Are you serious!?" Mason cried out in shock, and received a stern nod from Makarov. "Then why didn't ask the Magic Council for commissions?" Mason tilted his head confused.

Makarov just there stunned for a second. "...Huh?..."

"The council ruled that it was Phantom Lord who was responsible for starting the war between themselves and Fairy Tail. The second they attacked another official guild they technically became a Dark Guild in the eyes of the Council. And it's the Council's, more specifically, My job to deal with Dark Guilds. And if your Guild Hall was destroyed because the Council wasn't doing it's job effectively you could've requested commissions either monetary or you could've had the council send man power to help rebuild." Mason explained, robbing Makarov is his soul.

Plop! The old man fell down on his back, his entire body had gone pale. "Why?... Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"Yeah it really sucks. You totally missed your window. You should've done something while you had the Council's attention, they have a tendency of pushing financial matters to the very back of their priority list. If you tried to file for commissions now, you could be on hold for three months." Mason continued, not really helping the situation.

" Uuuugggggghhhhhh….." Makarov Groaned.

"Don't worry." Mason walked past the old wizard, a toothy grin on his face. "You don't need a bunch of council goons. You got me. I'll help you." Mason walked towards the rubble pile that was once the Fairy Tail Guild Hall. As he got closer he saw numerous wizards struggling to move broken pillars, debris, and pieces of wood. "Huh, this is gonna be harder than I thought." Mason looked around, and that's when he came across a familiar face, the smoke wizard from the other day. "Oh, hey!"

The smoke mage stopped working to address Mason. "Oh it's you, the Council's Dragon Slayer. Where you able to get the master off the hook."

"Hey!... Wacko." Mason said after pausing a bit.

"It's WAKABA!" The gentleman replied.

"Yeah, whatever." Mason said in an uninterested tone, further frustrating the brown haired man. "Yeah I got your master out trouble, but I ended up getting assigned here as an adviser. Do you know if Natsu is around?"

"Oh, well that's…. Interesting." Wakaba commented, not really knowing how to feel about essentially being assigned a babysitter by the Magic Council. "No Natsu is not here, him and his team went out to find Lucy who went missing after the Phantom battle. They left yesterday."

"Oh, that's good. I didn't want him to know about this, just in case we ever got into a fight." Mason said to himself, causing Wakaba to raise a confused eyebrow. "I'm gonna help you with this mess."

"Wait... What does that mean?" Wakaba suddenly became concerned, but it was too late.

"PHANTOM DRIVE!" Massive amounts of Magic Energy began to erupt from Mason's body, clouding him in purple light, whipping up his hair and making his cloak float upwards with the magic current. The surge of magic energy got the attention of all the members of Fairy Tail, the Drive wasn't the most refined power boosting technique, but it was certainly effective for drawing out magic power. "Dragon Slayer Forbidden Art: Poltergeist!" With that, Mason's magic aura transformed itself into ten Arms, made of magic energy that stretched out from under his black coat.

Mason used his new arms to pick up large piles of wood and stacks of debris with ease. As the members of Fairy Tail just stood back watching. "Uh, hey… Where do these go." Mason said awkwardly.

"Over there…. I guess." A brown haired man with a bowl cut pointed to a upright wall that looked to have survived the battle against phantom.

"Okay, got it." Mason nodded, and with the help of his magic purple arms moved the building materials against the wall, and that was the limits of his magic power. The arms faded and Mason dropped to his knee to catch his breath.

"THAT'S IT! ALL THAT POWER AND HE ONLY MANAGED TO MOVE SOME WOOD AROUND!" The Guild Wizards erupted in unison.

"Leave me alone guys…." Mason said as he slowly regained his breath. "Those arms are good for more than just moving wood around. They can rip someone's mortal soul away from their body." Mason's face grew dark and serious, sending chills down the other wizard's spines. "Allegedly.." Mason smirked. 'Plus I'm still low on energy from my fight with Brosnan. Today really has been a long day' The dragon slayer monologued.

"Thank you." A kind voice called down to the kneeling Dragon Slayer. Mason looked up to see a bright smile, long white hair and an…. Ample bust. "You're the Rune Knight that helped us out against Jose right? Thanks for bringing our master back safe and sound." The beautiful woman reached her hand down to lift the fallen wizard back to his feet.

"And you look…. Familiar." Mason commented, as he took the woman's hand.

"Hi, I'm Mirajane Strauss. And this is my brother Elfman." Mirajane stepped back and introduced a large muscular man with spiky white hair.

"Hi, Mason Alastor. Something something captain of the whatever, just know I'm with the Magic Council." Mason grabbed Elfman by the hand and gave it a firm shake. "A pleasure to meet both of you."

"Woah you're a captain! So manly!" The large spiky haired man marveled at Mason's title.

"What brings you two Magnolia? Not that we don't appreciate you lending a helping hand." Mirajane asked with another bright smile.

Mason moved to speak, but was cut off by Master Makarov. "He's here to keep an eye on us. Apparently the council has had it with our reckless behavior and has assigned to watch us diligently and report on our every move." Makarov sounded slightly saddened and the rest of the guild had lowered their heads, as if they were puppies who had been told no for the first time.

"Yeah, but screw that!" Mason spoke up, shocking the members of Fairy Tail. That's when Mason pulled a white piece of paper. "AHEM! Captain Alastor will be charged with submitting a detailed weekly report to the Council with notes the day to day dealings of the Fairy Tail Guild." Mason finished reading the paper, crumpled it up and threw it away. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm not really much for paperwork. I'll just make something up for my report every week. You guys just do your thing, I won't interfere." Mason said with a smile, but the other wizards remained aghast.

…..

"Okay, you kids heard him. Get back to what you were doing, let's get this guild hall back in shape!" Makarov cried out, breaking the tension.

"RIGHT!" The rest of the Fairy Tail Guild cried out in unison.

"I'll help too!" Mason called out. "Just let me see the blueprints."

"I got them right here." Mira said, pulling a hand drawn piece of paper seemingly out of nowhere.

"Uhhh… Master, do you really think we can trust this guy." The hulking Elfman whispered to his master.

"Well….." Makarov looked on as Mason tried to read Mira's blueprints.

"Oh! So the fountain goes next to the giant fish statue." Mason spoke up, as he struggled to read the cryptic artwork.

"Exactly! You're the first person to get that." Mira said happily.

"Oh and is this a rope bridge between the two buildings?" Mason continued to study the drawing. "How fun."

"I don't think he's planning to rat us out, he doesn't have feel untrustworthy." Master Makarov continued. "He's another dumb kid. Like the rest of you."


(Later that day, Erza's POV)

'It's been a long day. We went to rescue Lucy from what we assumed was her overbearing father, but as it turned out Lucy had saved herself and didn't need us. Still after being away from your friends and your home, it's always nice to return to familiar…. Faces….' "What are you doing here!"


(Normal POV)

"What are you doing here!" Erza's face was flushed red as she pointed at Mason who sat chugging a mug of beer at the newly constructed bar.

"GO! GO! GO! GO!" The guild members cheered on as Mason finished mug.

"HAHA! I think that's a new record." Mason smiled, a red blush appeared on his face due to the alcohol.

The scantily clad Wizard Cana Alberona took the seat next to the white haired mage. "Way to go Soldier Boy. You can really hold your Liquor. So what else do you like to do for fun?" The brunette leaned in a bit closer.

Mason grinned back at the young woman. "I think another round might be fun, how about you?"

"I think that you and I are going to get along swimmingly." Kana said, inching closer still.

"HEY!" Erza roared at the two of them. "QUIT IGNORING ME! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!" The red haired yelled so loud that Mason sobered up.

"What? Erza, when did you get back?" Mason jumped out of his seat. "Is Natsu with you?" Mason looked around over the the girls shoulder, looking for his fellow Dragon Slayer.

"Natsu? He went to take Lucy back to her house, why do you need natsu?" Erza realized she was getting sidetracked and quickly refocused. "That's not important, what are you doing here Mason? Don't tell me you joined Fairy Tail?"

"Not quite." Mason smirked. "The Fairy Tail Guild has been causing trouble for the Council for years now. Legends of the mighty Salamander and the terrifying Titania fuel the nightmares of my soldiers and even some of us in command are afraid of dealing with you lunetics. So I was assigned to keep an eye on you. I would've never guessed how much fun it would be to be in a guild."

"Well I'm glad you're having fun, but we need to talk." Erza said, now in serious mode. Mason responded with a confused raise of his eyebrow. "About the tower. How did you escape? And what about the others?"

Mason immediately went pale, well paler. "Uh… Well I don't really like talking about it…." Mason flipped his hood back up, concealing his face, but Erza stood strong determined to get her answer. "I guess you deserve to know…. The Council bought me an apartment up town, come by sometime and I'll tell you then. But I want to do it somewhere private."

Erza stood firm, but gave Mason a nod. "I understand. But I expect to here everything then."

"I'll tell you my life story if you want, except for the classified parts." Mason forced a smile. "Well I'll see you later fairy tail!" He called back to the out door bar.

"Wait!" Erza broke her serious mode. "You're leaving already? But I just got here, I figured we could catch up or something?"

"Maybe some other time. It's been a long day, I'd better call it a night." As he said that, Mason vanished in thin air using his invisibility.

The makeshift guild hall fell quiet until Mira turned to Erza and spoke up. "He seems really nice, but kinda awkward."

Erza slouched over and let out a sigh.


(Later, In Mason's apartment)

CLICK! The sound of a key opening the apartment door for the first time filled the young Mage's ear. "Home sweet home." Mason said as he swung the door open, holding a brown paper bag. "Woah… This place is nice." Mason entered the apartment and confirmed his statement.

The apartment was in the nicer part of Magnolia, It had one bedroom an Hybri Kitchen/Living room with all the top of the line magic appliances including a 60 inch magic television. The bedroom was connected to the large full bath that had a separate shower and tub. Mason through his luggage to the corner of the bedroom and plopped down face first on the massive bed.

"So soft…" Mason mutter as before eventually turning over onto his back. "The Council really went all out with this place." Mason sat up and lept out of bed, and picked the brown paper bag of the floor and took it to the kitchen. "Plus it's only a few blocks away from what sorcerer weekly dubbed the best cake shop in Fiore." He said putting the brown bag full of delicious cakes into the magic refrigerator. "Screw mess hall gruel, I'm having cake for breakfast."

"The first time five years I'll be able to sleep without listening to Tyson's terrible snoring, or Lahar's late night make out sessions with his pillow. I can't lie I don't remember the last time I was excited about sleeping." As Mason said this, he almost immediately triggered a memory.


(Flashback, 5 years earlier)

A young Mason, about thirteen years old, sheepishly followed a slightly younger looking Tyson Hammer through the halls of the Rune Knight's Barracks. He wore dirty clothes and his Magic cloak was tattered and torn and the young boy looked totally uncomfortable and suspicious of the new surroundings, but Tyson tried his best to comfort him.

"Don't worry kid, we're almost there. You'll be able to take shower and have good rest." The grey haired man said in a positive, booming voice.

"Why are you being so nice to me." The boy said haughtily. "Weren't we enemies just a little while ago, shouldn't you arrest me or something."

"Arrest you? Nonsense you're just a kid, what a waste of potential it would be if I arrested you." The hulking captain said back with a smile. "You could be a great soldier someday, all you need is some proper nurturing."

The two continued their walk until they came to their destination. A door without a knob or handle to open it. Tyson waved his hand in front of the door, his palm creating a red magic circle. The door generated a circle of it's own that matched the Head Captain's before opening automatically.

The two entered to find a large decorated room with two sets of bunk beds lining each of the walls. "You can stay here tonight. First you should get cleaned up their's a shower over…"

"Haaaaahhhhh…." Before Tyson could even finish, Mason had already selected a bed and fell asleep in a curled up ball. "Ssshhhhuuuhhhhh….."

"Hmmmm… Well goodnight kid."


(End of flashback)

Mason stood silently, still caught up reminiscing about the past when suddenly.

DING! DONG!

The doorbell went off, waking the Dragon Slayer from his trance. "What?!"

DING! DONG! DING! DONG! DING! DONG!

The bell began ringing faster and faster when Mason finally realized what was happening. "Hold on a second, I'm coming!"

DING! DONG! DING! DONG! DING! DONG! DING! DONG! DING! DONG!

The bell continued to ring as Mason made his way over to the door and slammed it open. "What do you want!?" In the doorway stood an armor clad Redhead, impatiently tapping her foot on the ground.

"Alright, I'm here like you asked. Now you'll tell me what happened at the tower right?" Erza said her arms crossed and her eyes closed.

"You know… I think I'm over the whole Hot Girl in Armor thing. I don't even really know why it's a thing, but it doesn't matter. After today I'm over it." Mason said as he stepped aside to let the girl in.

Erza marched into the apartment and took a look around. "Nice place." Her body started to emit a bright yellow light and when it faded her clothes had changed, she was now wearing light purple pajamas decorated with hot pink crosses.

"Um… What are you wearing." Mason asked in mixture of annoyance and tired acceptance.

"Pajamas. Proper sleepover attire." She spun around slowly, showing off her requip. "They're cute huh?"

"Sleep over? So much for my night alone." Mason said as he slowly marched over to the kitchen. "I'll make tea…" Mason quickly boiled a poured to classes of hot tea as Erza sat patiently on the couch, when the boy remembered something. "Oh yeah, I just moved in so I don't have much in terms of food, but would you like a slice of cake?" Mason asked, pulling the cake out of his fridge. When he turned around Erza was staring back at him with hungry, but confused eyes.

"Cake?" The Fairy Tail mage asked.

"Yeah, it's from the shop a few blocks away." Mason smiled as he cut and plated two pieces of the dessert.

"The best in the country." Erza started to drool as Mason dropped the piece in her lap before taking a seat next to her.

"That's what I've heard." Mason smirked at this reaction.

"Wait! We can't eat cake this late, it's already after dark." Despite what she said, Erza refused to put the cake down.

"I won't say anything." Mason said, stabbing a bite of cake on his fork then scooped it into his mouth.

Erza looked down at the cake and slowly, scooped a piece onto her own fork and slowly lifted it into her mouth. "Mmmmm…"

"Okay that was fun, but you wanted to know how I got out of the tower? I'm ready to tell you now." So Mason re-lived his escape from the tower of heaven as Erza listened intently. "And that's it. I just left. I went to chase a Dragon and it's been Seven years and I'm any closer to finding him than the day he left me. At the same time I left my friends when they needed me most, I should've stayed. I could've stayed and helped Jellal, his soul smelled tainted and rancid, but he wasn't too far gone."

"HAAHH!" Erza yawned, the cake and hot tea had taken its toll. "It's not your fault." Erza said as she tried to keep her eyes open. "It was too late for either of us. Something poisonous entered his heart and completely took over. Neither of us should feel… guilt…" And that's when Erza closed her eyes completely and drifted off.

"Well it was nice talking to you Erza." Mason used his telekinesis to move the sleeping woman from the couch into the bedroom and onto his bed. "Looks like you're gonna be sleeping in my new bed before me." The white haired boy laid down on the couch and stared up at the night's sky. "I better get some sleep too, tomorrow is gonna be a big day. You better be ready Natsu."


(END)