Hello again! Here's part two of Zancrow's past story!

Just in case anyone was wondering when this story is set, it takes place AFTER the Grand Magic Games and BEFORE the Tartarus arc!

I hope that you enjoy it!


There was a horribly pregnant pause in which Zancrow simply gawped at Hades, unsure of what to say. The name 'Hades' meant absolutely nothing to him, but it wasn't that. It was more the problem of what he would say when Hades asked for his name. For you see, he had no name, his mother never bothering to give him one. He was simply known as 'the devil' or 'the demon', or something along those lines. The man known as Hades looked indifferent and unconcerned by what Zancrow thought to be a very awkward silence. Eventually, Hades posed the question.

'And what,' he inquired, 'is your name?'

Zancrow glanced downwards for a second and swept his filthy, long hair out of his face to give himself thinking time. He remembered that when he had escaped from his mother's house, she had called him 'Lucifer'. He'd never heard that word before - never heard anyone else call it him before. Perhaps it was his name? Lucifer… It sounded like a name… Attempting once again to sound cool and collected, he replied with:

'Lucifer.'

Hades' eyebrows contracted slightly, but his expression still remained rather neutral. Maybe this trip hadn't been a waste after all. From all the blood-chilling tales he had heard about the demon that tormented this town, he had been expecting something rather more frightening. But instead, it seemed that this 'devil' was simply a normal, human wizard. An unusual one with an unusual name, granted, but still a human wizard. However, perhaps his ideas of forming the Kin of Purgatory would yet come to fruition…

'Lucifer?' he questioned interestedly. 'As in Satan himself?'

The way Hades spoke of this 'Satan' was as if he fully expected even the boy he had found roaming the streets to know of him. However, Zancrow was nonplussed. Who was Satan? It would do no good to pretend that he knew, and besides – here was a wizard from the outside world, probably full of wisdom and stories from beyond his magic-hating brethren's town, and Zancrow was planning to take full advantage of that. He was sick of not knowing anything about the world– not knowing what a plough was, what a bloodline was, what a soldier was and so forth. Lifting his head but not quite meeting Hades' eye out of slight embarrassment and due to the fact he was still rather intimidated, Zancrow enquired,

'Who's… Satan?'

'You do not know who Satan or Lucifer are?'

Zancrow had begun to shake his head but Hades had already continued.

'I would have thought you of all people would have known. Or perhaps the people here do not converse with you very much?'

Zancrow had no idea what the word 'converse' meant but from the context he supposed that it must have something to do with communicating with or staying around the townspeople, which of course, he did not. He shook his head in slow, short motions, slowly beginning to look towards the stone path again, which he could see looked rather damp and uncomfortable. He was suddenly very glad of his blanket and he tugged it around himself for warmth.

Hades took slow purposeful steps towards Zancrow now, like one might do if they wished to avoid frightening a small animal, then sat carefully down next to him on a corner of the blanket that was not currently wrapped around the small blonde boy. Zancrow leaned away, wondering what the hell the man was doing. But it wasn't anything to be worried about – he was only taking a seat next to him. However, the young wizard shuffled away slightly, still wary. Zancrow was understandably apprehensive. He knew that he was vulnerable, even though he knew some magic; and this wizard was obviously incredibly powerful to be able to make his way here, avoid the townspeople and locate him. But then that raised the important questions of 'why is Hades here?' and 'how did he manage to find the only wizard in this town?' More to the point, why him at all? Hades could seek out any young wizard at all, and yet he chose to visit the 'demon' that haunted this town. Why? Perhaps he wanted to befriend him, the monster, thinking he might come in useful. Maybe he wanted his 'demon powers' (not that he had any), or something like that. Maybe Hades was sent by the people of this town to destroy him! Zancrow edged away further, eager to put some more space between them. Peeking out from behind his curtain of blanket that separated perhaps the first two wizards to meet in this town in a very long time, Zancrow waited for Hades to finally explain why he had come here.

'Satan and Lucifer are supposedly the same being. Satan is the devil. Did you know that?'

Zancrow shifted uneasily. People had called him 'devil' a lot. He knew it meant something evil or bad from the way it had been screeched at him. And now even his own name meant something awful too? Unaware of or ignoring his actions, Hades explained further.

'Lucifer was an angel who was cast out of heaven for his pride, falling to hell below and becoming Satan, to be forever tortured in the lake of fire.'

A lot of the words in that sentence made little sense to Zancrow. He knew that 'heaven' was a beautiful place, a place of bliss, because he'd heard the people exclaim that pretty things or things that felt good were 'like heaven.' Hell was a bad place. According to them, he deserved a place in hell. His jaw tightened. An 'angel' was someone who showed kindness to people and were very selfless because Zancrow had heard people say that others 'were like angels' whenever they did good. As for the 'lake of fire', he had no clue. He supposed it spoke for itself, really. At least his name meant something a little pure, even if Lucifer did fall. In a sick sort of way he supposed it was kind of ironic. Lucifer was the angel who ended up in hell, and right here he was in his own little hell on earth. Lucifer snorted and looked up. Hades was still speaking.

'But that's what they call you, isn't it? Satan. Devil. Demon.'

Now how… did Hades know this? Unless he had been following him around all day, every day (which he supposed was still an option), then how did he know exactly what people had been calling him and how did he manage to find him in this remote, tucked-away place? He'd never seen Hades before in town, how had he managed to do it? He felt dark and strange…

'People call you devil and demon, but in reality you're just a wizard, aren't you? A normal human wizard.'

Zancrow nodded, far past working out how on earth land Hades knew all of this about him, and was instead feeling a little confused, not sure how to feel now he knew someone understood – he was no demon, after all.

'But I can make you more than that.'

More? What was Hades talking about? Was he finally getting to the reason why he would come all this way just to find him?

'I can make you so much more than a wizard or a devil.'

Zancrow was beginning to feel quite sceptical now, unsure of what Hades was trying to imply. More than a wizard? More than a devil, even?

'I can make you the most respected and revered wizard this world has ever seen. If you reach for the Ultimate Magic world with me, I can promise you that you will never have to hide from anyone ever again or have anyone spurn you; humans all over the world will bow before your almighty power, praising you as their god.'

Zancrow had no idea what the Ultimate Magic World was, but the thought of never having to hide again, better yet, having people revere him was the most wonderful way of life he could possibly think of. Forgetting in an instant his suspicion of Hades, he naively trusted him without question. The young wizard shuffled closer to the elder, eager to talk more with him, happy as can be.

Seeing the way his whole demeanour changed, Hades assumed that Zancrow was willing to join him in his task to reach the world which he so ardently desired. Perfect. The Kin of Purgatory had gained a new member. The name 'Lucifer' of course, had to go. It would not be wise to have one of the rulers of his new world to have such a damned name.

'In light of you now reaching towards the heavens, perhaps a new name would be in order?'

Zancrow leant forward and grinned, keen to get rid of his old name and more than a little excited to hear what Hades would suggest. Seeing his expression, Hades thought long and hard about the kind of name that would suit this young wizard. He was planning to teach this boy God Slaying Magic, a kind of magic that had died out hundreds of years ago. It was a 'Lost Magic'; lost to the ages. He intended that all of his Kin of Purgatory would learn this type of Ancient Spell. Not only would it mean a revival of magic long thought extinct – the users of these magics would be closer to the 'Essence of Magic', the source of all magic. The One Magic. It would no doubt make them almost invincible. And since this young wizard would be a God Slayer, he deserved a god name.

'What about Mars?'

Zancrow shook his head – there was something about the name he didn't like.

'Then what about Vulcan?'

Vulcan? Weren't they some sort of giant apes that caused trouble around here or something? Definitely not. He shook his head again.

'Moros?'

Sounded sad. Once more he moved his head from side to side. Hades was starting to run out of names.

'Erebus?'

A little grand for just a name. It wouldn't do.

'Thanatos?'

Very grand.

'Then how about a name that I make for you? Like… Zanguard or Zancrow or something like that?'

At these names, Zancrow nodded vigorously.

'You like Zanguard?'

Zancrow shook his head crossly.

'Zancrow?'

The little wizard laughed and rocked backwards, landing heavily on his back, pretending to be exhausted and exasperated by the fact that it took Hades so long to work out what he wanted as a name.

'Then it is settled. Your name from now on will be Zancrow.'

The boy once known as Lucifer laughed again and raised his arms in the air in celebration whilst still on his back. After his name had been decided, the night passed happily. Hades had told Zancrow that he had brought something warm with him to drink, which had turned out to be water, which Hades boiled on Zancrow's fire, some milk (Zancrow had found out what it was by dipping a finger into the liquid and licking it when Hades had not been looking), and some rather insignificant looking, small fabric bags filled with what looked to be crunchy, black leaves. Apparently, this all made 'tea', with these horrible looking 'teabags' being the pivotal ingredient.

Zancrow wrapped himself up further in his blanket now, sitting up straight, interestedly watching Hades prepare this 'tea'. Firstly, he put a teabag into each mug and poured the hot water over it, making the water turn a strange reddish colour which rapidly grew darker, the dark stain seeping out from the teabag. Then Hades pulled out a spoon, stirring the two teabags around their mugs, apparently to make the tea taste stronger. Tapping the sides of the mugs with the spoon to shake the water off, Hades handed Zancrow one, telling him that it was hot. It was comfortingly warm, and Zancrow shoved his cheek against the side, enjoying the heat. According to Hades, milk should also be added to the mixture, but Zancrow wasn't sure how that would taste. However, he let Hades pour in a little, making the tea turn dark beige. Zancrow eyed it disbelievingly. Surely it couldn't taste any good? He sniffed the mug. It smelt faintly warm and milky, but that was about it. He had just raised it to his lips when Hades called,

'You'll probably want sugar in that.'

Zancrow obediently lowered his mug and grabbed what looked like the bag of sugar. Not knowing that he was supposed to use a spoon to transfer some from the bag to the mug, Zancrow picked up the whole thing and began to dump liberal amounts of sugar into his tea, making it more sugar than anything else. Hades, however, merely let him get on with it, making his own tea.

Once he was satisfied with the severely sweetened concoction, Zancrow returned to the safety of his blanket, using it to cover his head and pulling it around him. Hades also joined him, raising his tea to his lips which prompted Zancrow to try some. Oddly enough, once he got over the first mouthful (which tasted a bit strange), it was rather a nice drink. He tipped his head back and began to drain his whole mug, even though it was piping hot. Hades cleared his throat to make him stop, but Zancrow didn't know what that meant and continued to slurp the whole lot in one. A sudden firm hand jerking the mug downwards caused him to finally get the message.

'Tea is not meant to be drunk like that. Sip it.'

Zancrow huffed irritably but followed instruction, only bringing the mug up to take small gulps. Over the course of the night, Hades slowly attempted to try and coax Zancrow to talk. He had realised that the boy was extremely reluctant to speak, most likely because he had a deep-seated mistrust of people, and also because of the fact that it was likely no one had ever tried to have a conversation with him before. He was probably not used to it. He began by telling Zancrow that it had been him that had left him the blanket, to give him a chance to say 'thank you' but all he did was look shy and glanced downwards, which Hades took to mean that he was grateful. He tried lots of tricks like this to try to make Zancrow elicit more than a couple of words each time he spoke, but nothing worked. Eventually, Hades decided to try a topic of conversation he was sure Zancrow could not ignore.

'But about your eyes. I think I know why they are the way that they are.'

This caught Zancrow's attention utterly. His red eyes were boring right into his one exposed one. He was sat, leaning forwards, not moving a muscle. Hades made him wait like this for a while, trying to make him impatient enough to ask but Zancrow still did not speak. He was probably very accustomed to waiting for long periods to get what he wanted. Hades expanded.

'I think it's likely that you're a kind of albino.'

It was highly unlikely that Zancrow had ever heard the word 'albino', and it was much less likely that he knew what it meant. Hades waited again. It paid off – Zancrow finally spoke.

'…What's an albino? Tell me.'

Pleased that Zancrow had finally said more than two words, Hades explained.

'An individual affected by albinism produces little or none of the chemical called melanin. Melanin makes the colours you see in people's hair, skin and eyes.'

The boy nodded slowly, clearly confused. Hades decided to explain it more simplistically.

'So if you do not have any melanin, you end up being very pale because you don't have any colouring. People with the type of albinism that affects the hair, skin and eyes will have white hair, extremely pale skin and reddish eyes.'

Hades paused here, hoping that Zancrow would point out that he didn't have exceptionally pale skin or white hair, but he unfortunately did not.

'I believe that you have the kind of albinism that affects just the eyes, called 'ocular albinism'. You don't create any melanin at all in your eyes, which means that they end up looking red, because of all the blood vessels there. Am I right in thinking that you get dazzled by bright light?'

Zancrow nodded, and unexpectedly spoke up.

'…So, I'm not a demon?'

'You are no more a demon than I am.'

The boy sighed in relief.

'Thank god.'

Suddenly dizzy from relief and exhaustion, Zancrow looked down, swaying slightly as one does when they're about to fall asleep. He slumped in his seat, slowly nearing unconsciousness. The day had been so wearing on one so young, but at last – he was going to finally be free of this town. Hades had promised to take Zancrow with him, and so he would begin his new life, his new adventure. He fell asleep, unconcerned, as he felt himself being lifted gently in someone's arms.


The now-adult Zancrow's eyes snapped open. The first thing he noticed was that his back was on the wooden floor (because it felt cold), and that his legs were in the air, still on top of the bed. He must have fallen off the bed in the night, but it was still a strange position to wake up in. The second thing he noticed was that he was completely tangled in his blanket and sheets. He tried to untangle himself, but he ended up making it worse. Next he tried standing up, but he fell right onto his face. Cursing viciously, he finally managed to rip the blankets off, freeing himself. Replacing them on the bed and brushing himself down, he looked up at the clock and saw that it was ten o'clock. Oh yeah, he needed to be down at the guild for his first mission, right? What time was he supposed to turn up again? Eight o'clock? Wait. Eight o'clock. Zancrow snapped his head up to look at the clock again. He was late! He should have been there two hours ago! Bounding to the other end of the room, now very alert, he looked in the mirror, deciding straight away that he was definitely not suitable to go on his first mission like this. He had gone to sleep in his clothes, without bothering to get changed, still with his boots on. Thankfully, he had removed his coat, but his shirt and trousers were creased and beginning to smell. His hair was incredibly knotty and was fast approaching 'afro' status. Running a hand through the bird's nest to hopefully try and tame it slightly, Zancrow knew that even though he really didn't have any time, he needed to get washed and changed. However, there didn't seem to be any kind of room at all joint onto his bedroom, and he was sure that the guild would not have neglected to put in something as important as a bathroom.

Poking his head out of the bedroom door, looking left and right, he found that the doors in the corridor alternated between doors with locks on and doors without. This, he supposed, meant that each of those locked doors was most likely a bathroom intended for each guild member that rented a room here. So, the door to his left with the lock on must be his. There was just one, tiny, little problem. Where was the key?! Mirajane must have forgotten to tell him…

Returning back inside his bedroom, he flung open every draw and cupboard he could find, looking desperately for this little key. At last, in the bottom draw in his chest of drawers, right at the back, he found it. It was thin and made of a gleaming silver metal. It looked like a perfect fit for the lock next door.

Sure enough, when he inserted the key into the matching lock, it turned smoothly and the door swung open, revealing a neat little bathroom complete with a toilet, sink and bathtub. Zancrow gave a small sigh and went to grab a new change of clothes.

Within ten minutes his hair no longer looked like a prime nesting spot for an albatross, his clothes were no longer creased nor smelt, and he was finally ready to go to the Fairy Tail guild, despite being over two hours late. Snatching a tin of… something from his backpack and stowing it in his trouser pocket, then pulling on his cloak and raising the hood, he exited his room and sprinted down the stairs. The dorm was absolutely derelict – there was no one here, everyone must already be at the guild taking jobs. Zancrow sped up, hoping he wouldn't be reprimanded too sharply. As he wrenched open the heavy door that was the exit to the dormitory with one hand, he tore the top off his tin of "something" with the other. It tasted slightly meaty, but Zancrow was in far too much of a rush to even take notice of what he was eating, or to even take a look at the side of the can.

Out in the streets now, his cloaked head looking downwards as he strode along, Zancrow reflected on what Mirajane had told him last night. Apparently, no one made that much of a fuss if you were a bit late. But he was a whole two hours late. It didn't make for a very good first impression, and Zancrow needed this money…

He was utterly lost in his thoughts, head down, still eating his breakfast, when suddenly he walked straight into someone. Hard. Stumbling back, he murmured a quick 'sorry' and carried on, bending forwards slightly and making sure his hood was pulled down far enough so that whoever he had bumped into would not be able to see his face. When he was a few steps away, curiosity gripped him and he quickly turned to have a look at the receding stranger. Oddly enough, they were also cloaked, trying to hide their own face. Zancrow had gotten a very brief glimpse when he had unfortunately walked into them, and he saw that it had been a man, with a shock of blue hair, but they were the only details he had spotted. It seemed very bizarre to Zancrow that there was someone walking around this town (that was well known for being friendly) doing their best to make sure that their face would not be seen. But then he supposed that he couldn't talk. Though, what were the chances that there was someone else in Magnolia in exactly the same situation as him? It smelt fishy to Zancrow. He would keep an eye out for this stranger and assumed that they would do the same.


That brief lock of blonde hair Jellal had seen before it had been sharply whisked away under his hood and the gruff 'sorry' told him right away who was lurking underneath that cloak. Ultear and Meredy had told him about him often enough. It seemed impossible, but here he was. Zancrow was alive, and not only that, he was living in Magnolia. He knew full well that this town was where Fairy Tail was situated, and as far as Zancrow was concerned, Fairy Tail was Grimoire Heart's enemy. What was he doing here?

Perhaps he was living nearby in order to take revenge, but according to Ultear that wasn't Zancrow's normal behaviour. Despite being an incredibly powerful wizard and a rather impulsive one, Zancrow rarely worked alone, and it was rarer still that he'd organise and carry out something himself. Perhaps there was a whole group of Grimoire Heart wizards living here, though that was unlikely. They wouldn't be ignorant enough to gather here, right under the nose of the most powerful guild in Fiore, especially since they'd just gotten all their core members back. That must mean that here at least, Zancrow was alone, so why was he here? It would do no good to puzzle the mystery here – he would have to get out of Magnolia before he was spotted. Perhaps he and Meredy would be able to work something out. Jellal knew however, that had Ultear been here, she would have been reluctant to involve Meredy. Zancrow had hurt Meredy terribly the very last time they had met, revealing to her the terrible secrets of her past that everyone in the Seven Kin of Purgatory had promised not to speak of: that Ultear along with a few other members had destroyed her very own village. He may have felt betrayed himself at the time, but it was this last act of unkindness that had caused Ultear to nurture a strong distaste for Zancrow throughout these last seven years. Apparently, she'd never particularly liked him, even when he was young. For a while when Hades was still gathering members for the Seven Kin, it had just been those two. Ultear had been the first member, and the eldest, whilst Zancrow had been the second. Jellal still remembered the time when Ultear had told him about the first time that they had met.


'He's scared of people.'

A young blonde boy peered out tentatively from behind Hades. He was rather small and scrawny, the very top of his head barely reaching Hades' waist. Judging by his size, he had to be a couple of years younger than Ultear, perhaps about eight years old. Ultear noticed that even though he was trying as best as he could to hide as much of his body as possible behind Hades, he was fixing her with the most intense stare she had ever seen, as if he'd never seen a girl before. So, this was the famous 'demon' that Master Hades had been looking for? He didn't look like much, but he must have had a lot of potential for Hades to bring him back with him.

Breaking his eye contact to look up at Hades, the boy spoke in a slightly cross voice, but it was still rather quiet.

'I'm not scared.'

Then he crossed his arms petulantly and stepped out from behind the old wizard to prove that he really, really wasn't scared in any way at all.

Ultear was reluctant to make the first move, but it looked like this boy wasn't going to any time soon, no matter what he said. Fixing him with a calculating glare of her own, she asked,

'So what's your name?'

Surreptitiously beginning to sneak behind Hades again, he replied,

'Zancrow-sama.'

Ultear blinked at his blatant vanity and took an instant dislike to him, not saying anything in return. Turning her back to him slightly, she heard a noise that sounded like a quiet slap and a small squeak.

'Other people call you Zancrow-sama. You refer to yourself as Zancrow. Otherwise you will sound conceited.'

Ultear turned around. Hades had reprimanded him with a small hit to the back of the head. She could tell Hades had barely hurt him at all but Zancrow had his arms flung over his head and his teeth gritted as if he expected Hades to do him some real damage. In this position he muttered very quickly,

'I'm-very-sorry-Master-Hades-it-won't-happen-again.'

He then chanced to open his eyes when he found that no one was walloping him, then straightened up. Ultear withheld a chuckle with difficulty. If he wasn't scared of people, then pigs could fly.

Noticing her expression and looking slightly offended, Zancrow puffed his chest up slightly and crossed his arms again.

'Well, what's your name?'

'Ultear Milkovich, an Arc of Time mage.'

'I'm going to be a God Slayer. I got told we both use Lost Magic.'

'All of us will.'

'All of us?' Zancrow looked up to Master Hades for guidance. Seeing that Zancrow didn't understand yet, Hades explained.

'Our aim is to create a team of elite wizards, each of them knowing a type of Lost Magic. In this way, each of them will be closer to the Essence of Magic. The One Magic. In this way, we should find it easier to create our Ultimate Magic World.'

Zancrow looked confused but eager at the same time.

'How many of us are there going to be, Master Hades? We have three already, right?'

He held his arms out, gesturing to everyone in the room. Hades elaborated further.

'Only the two of you will be in the elite team. You will be my guard. I believe we will amass around seven or eight members in total.'

'We have a name too.' Ultear added.

Zancrow whipped his head around to stare at her again, interested.

'We'll be called the 'Kin of Purgatory'. It will either be the Seven Kin of Purgatory or the Eight Kin of Purgatory depending on how many members we gain.'

She saw him mouth 'Kin of Purgatory', looking impressed.

Placing a hand on Zancrow's back to guide him out of the room, Hades had decided that this meeting was at an end. Waving as he left the room, the blonde wizard looked back over his shoulder and gave Ultear a small smile.


It was odd to think that skinny little boy from all those years ago was the man Jellal saw before him today. Over the years he must have really grown, in body and in ego. It disturbed him to think what he might be planning, and resolved to hurry back to Meredy as soon as possible. He had just been to speak with Fairy Tail about the matter of the guilds in the Balam Alliance, which was why he had been in Magnolia. It had been a recent worry that Tartarus might begin an attack. Grimoire Heart had barely come up in the meeting at all. Obviously Fairy Tail was not aware that one of its key members was living so close. Should he warn them? He looked back but could not see Zancrow anymore. Who knew where he might be going? Perhaps he should warn Fairy Tail… No. For now it would be best to get out of Magnolia, to get to somewhere safe where he could think about how best to handle this issue.

Jellal swept his own cloak more tightly around him and lengthened his strides, hoping to reach the rest of Crime Sorcière before Zancrow could cause any damage.


Recovering quickly from his brief surprise, Zancrow had finally located the guild hall. He had been incredibly tired last night, but he still vaguely remembered the way. Pausing outside of the guild, out of sight, he pulled himself up to his full (and not so impressive) height, and strode inside as if he wasn't late at all.

Thankfully, the guild was still rife with noise when he entered – Mirajane was right, no one appeared to care if you were late. Lowering his hood and casting his eye around the hall, he noticed right away that the members were once again keeping a considerable distance away from him, remembering his behaviour from yesterday. Some of their looks were considerably incredulous, as if they could not believe that he was still here. Ignoring this, Zancrow headed straight for the bar as Mirajane was standing there, filling mugs with ale. Hopefully she'd tell him what to do as he realised at this point he had no idea. He was only allowed to take one mission a week yet he was supposed to turn up every day excluding Sunday. What else did this guild have planned for him?

Smiling sweetly as he made his way over, Mira wished him a good morning, which Zancrow returned, stammering, slightly surprised.

'Today,' she began, 'will be when you take your weekly mission. If you remember what the Master said yesterday, then you'll remember that he told you that you're only allowed to take a request under the surveillance of an S-Class mage, no matter how big your team is.'

Zancrow nodded slowly. He knew what an S-Class wizard was. Seeing this, Mira continued.

'There are currently four S-Class mages in Fairy Tail.' She held up four fingers.

'But one is on an extended mission.' She lowered one finger.

'One has already left with his own team.' She put down another finger.

'And one is standing right in front of you!'

Zancrow's jaw dropped. She's an S-Class mage?! She's an elite, probably the same strength as himself, maybe even stronger!

Mirajane smiled softly at his expression. It took Zancrow a moment or two to realise due to the revelation that had just taken place, but there was one more S-Class wizard.

'So… What about the last wizard?'

'Oh! That's Erza!'

Erza? Her name rang a bell. Ah, she was the red-haired woman from yesterday, wasn't she? The other wizard the Master had called in when they had been talking? He remembered her formidable personality and thought to himself that it was going to be a lonely mission if he was with a mage who probably wouldn't even talk to him. Well, at least Natsu wouldn't be there, he had that going for him.

Pointing over to the left hand corner, Mirajane told Zancrow that Erza and her team would be waiting there for him. Erza's team would be coming with them also and they had already picked a mission for them to go on. Zancrow followed to where Mira was pointing and spied Erza right away, her scarlet hair gleaming in the morning light. He could see that she was sitting with a group of other people who Zancrow assumed to be her team mates. Wondering who he would be working with, the God Slayer looked over to his soon-to-be acquaintances, then his eyes roved over to… Natsu. Oh god, please don't tell me I'm going with him, too, Zancrow thought frantically, but he was already resigned to the truth. Natsu himself had caught sight of him, and was looking at him as if he wanted nothing more than to lean forward and smash his face on the table. And then possibly smash Zancrow's face on the table too. Fortunately, there were two other members who would be going with them too. Zancrow saw with a spark of something like relief that Gray was also part of the team, but he looked a little conflicted when he saw that Zancrow would be coming too. Of course, Gray must still be thinking of his behaviour yesterday… He lost control for one minute and people were going to hold it over him for the rest of his life? There was another girl, a blonde, sitting at the table next to Natsu, deep in conversation, but the moment she spotted Zancrow, she stopped mid-sentence to give him a brief horrified stare. Realising that he'd seen her, she hurriedly went back to her conversation, her body language giving her away as extremely nervous. Zancrow's face was starting to look quite dark and stormy. He hadn't even said 'hello' yet. But by the way her and Natsu were sitting so closely to each other, they looked to Zancrow to be a thing. Natsu would probably murder Zancrow for even looking in her direction. Zancrow restrained himself from groaning, hiding his face in the crook of his elbow and sinking onto the floor in a puddle of despair. So, here he was in a team where to each one of them he was either a psychopath, a creep, a murderer or… he didn't even know what. Mira seemed completely oblivious to their anguish.

With the eyes of a desperate man, Zancrow clutched the edge of the bar tightly and leaned over the counter, making a frantically whispered request.

'D'ya think I could go with you instead? I mean, you're an S-Class, right?'

Mrajane's response was to be expected, but it didn't exactly help to alleviate any of his struggle.

'Of course I can't! Who else would look after the bar?'

Reluctantly, accepting his fate, Zancrow stumped over to the team (who looked equally resigned), to tell Erza that he was ready to go if they were. He looked childishly sulky, and Erza regarded him haughtily for a second before telling him that they were in fact ready to go and thrusting a piece of parchment into his hands. Zancrow looked down at what she'd presented him with. It was their job request. According to this, their mission was to flush out a dark guild that went by the name 'Steel Wits', just to the west of here. Apparently their crimes had begun to influence the village nearby, and the locals couldn't stand it any longer. The name seemed slightly familiar to Zancrow, and obviously he had been staring at the job request for too long because Erza snatched it out of his hands and stowed it back inside her pocket without a word.

Not really that offended, beginning already to get used to Erza'a brisk ways, Zancrow thought that perhaps going to clear out a dark guild was perhaps not the best idea, considering that he himself had once been a member of a guild in the 'Balam Alliance'. He didn't know entirely what that meant, but from the way Rustyrose had said it, it sounded like Grimoire Heart was extremely influential. Surely someone in Steel Wits was bound to know of him?

Seeing his expression, Erza sharply jabbed her finger at his cloak, almost taking his eye out.

'If you're careful enough with that cloak, no one will recognise you.'

And that was that. Zancrow shrugged and pulled his hood up, the rest of the team standing up as he did so. Zancrow waited for them to walk a little way ahead then trailed behind, head low under his cloak hood. When they finally left the guild hall, Zancrow hung back and looked inside. It was still raucously loud despite the fact that by now, everyone should be on some sort of mission or another. One thing that bothered him ever so slightly was the fact that no one had mentioned anything about having his guild mark removed. He could see that everyone in Fairy Tail had that mark one way or another, and yet he still had his Grimoire Heart mark. It felt to Zancrow that even though the master said that he could stay 'as long as he wanted to', this would come to an end all too soon. Reprimanding himself on dwelling on little details – he was here for money after all – Zancrow stopping brooding and turned towards his new team, making sure that he didn't lose sight of them. His cloak trailed out behind him as he drew it closer to himself and marched purposefully after them, making sure his face was well hidden from the populace.


I hope that you enjoyed this chapter! Next chapter we'll find out how Zancrow's first mission with Fairy Tail goes!

Oh yes, and all of the names Hades suggested at first really were god names! They were intentionally meant to be a little grand, I just had a feeling that Hades would behave that way. Well, see you next chapter!