(A/N) Before anything else, I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to review the last chapter. A lot of what was said was super constructive, and has been taken into great consideration. Y'all are great.

So here we are! Chapter 1 of the Eisenwald Arc. Also known as the arc that we're probably all tired of seeing over and over again lmao. Don't worry though. Because of all the stuff going on in the background during the time skip (hush hush for now), I would be hard-pressed to force things to go down the same way as canon.

In fact, a lot of what's coming up in the following arc will progress differently.

A big example of that shows up this chapter. Some of you may have picked up on the hints that alluded to this being a thing, and why it's happening in the first place.

I promise this isn't me pulling shit outta my ass. On the storyboard, there's only about 1 line written that's actually going to show up in the story for every 2 lines that go over all the changes that come up as a result of the premise. It's already a chore to tone down how confusing things will get considering how much I can't straight up say in black and white.

But that's just me rambling.

On a side note, I promise that my shameless pussyfooting around Natsu's current strength won't go on for much longer. Probably.

As usual, please enjoy the chapter, and feel free to let me know what you think.

xxxxxxx

"Speak."

The figure, cloaked in the shadows of the dimly lit room, turned away from the messenger. It didn't move beyond that, but it was clear that the figure was expecting some sort of response.

The messenger gulped. While the figure's body language wasn't overly aggressive, that could change at the drop of a hat.

"The Fairy Tail woman has taken Natsu Dragneel with her to hunt the dark guild."

"…"

The figure grinned. It was a sick, twisted thing; inhuman in every sense of the word. "Did she, now? How grand. While our plant did well to keep that lowly worm 'chatty', I was afraid that the youngling's silly human hang-ups would work against us."

"Would you like for us to intervene?"

The figure walked deeper into the darkness, now completely obscured from view. "No. For now, just follow along with whatever those 'Eisenwald' wizards are scheming. Only make a move if the opportunity presents itself."

The messenger bowed. "Of course."

xxxxxxx

"Urghhhh…"

Lucy sweatdropped. "…Are you alright, Natsu?"

"Ug… gah…"

"He says he wants someone to put him out of his misery!" translated Happy chipperly.

Natsu curled in on himself on Erza's lap. The woman patted his head pityingly. "Sorry. I'd put you to rest if I could."

The blonde went white as a sheet.

"She means actually helping him fall asleep. As in knocking him out," offered Gray in a bored tone. He kept his gaze fixed to the window.

A gulp. "Wouldn't that… hurt?"

"It's okay," reassured Erza with a nod. Her helmet was placed to the side, so her accompanying smile was in plain view. "He can take it."

Her words weren't as reassuring as she made them out to be.

"…Can he really?" muttered Lucy incredulously. These people were something else.

Erza only took the question at face value. "Hn. Unfortunately, the train might break if I hit him that hard."

"…"

"Hm?"

"The… train…?" Mumbled the rookie mage.

"I beg your pardon? You'll have to speak up."

Lucy buried her face in her hands.

"Erza," Gray called her out impatiently. "Are you going to explain why we're here or not? I really hope you have a good reason for bringing me with…"

Gray's nose crinkled. He turned away from the window for a split second to glance at the pinkette spitefully.

"What's wrong, Gray? We're all friends here. We can all get along, can't we?"

Her tone betrayed her flowery words. She matched his glare, daring him to speak up.

Gray exploded, unwittingly leaning out of his seat. "Don't fuck with me! How long are you going to keep pretending–"

"Stop!"

There was a short silence that followed Happy's intervention.

No one spoke and tension was high. It only dropped back down to bearable levels when Gray sat down.

Happy let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding. Crisis successfully averted.

Gray huffed. He whipped his head back to the side.

The redhead sighed. "I apologise. It was naïve of me to think the two of you could put this behind you for one mission. And you Lucy… I'm sorry if we came off as unprofessional."

"Oh! Um… yeah." How was she supposed to respond to that? Things got really intense…

"But to answer your question, Gray…"

Erza put her helmet back on. It was an intimidating thing, sporting what could have been ram horns were they not twice the size. The visor was a metal trap, revealing nothing of her expression save for her hardened eyes shining through a simple slit.

All in all, there was very little that revealed that the one wearing the suit was a beautiful woman. The sheer size of her faulds, cuisses and pauldrons made for a hulking silhouette. It was only the feminine shape of the breastplate that gave her away.

She was ready to talk business.

"We're going after Eisenwald, a dark guild, though there's nothing outstanding about them that I can think to mention. What concerns me is the object in their possession."

Erza looked down. Natsu had finally passed out. "It's a 'demon flute', as the dark mage I overheard called it."

"A 'demon flute'? It could just be a fancy name," tried to reason the accompanying blonde. Demons didn't actually exist, did they?

Gray rose from his slouch. His back straightened, his hands with a firm grip on his lap. "We can't take that risk."

A pause. "I get it. So that's why you wanted him" –he nodded to the unconscious fire mage– "to tag along with us."

"You won't begrudge him that, I hope?" replied the redhead with a quirked brow.

"No." Gray laughed lightly, surprising Lucy. "I hate that bastard, but it might just end up working out better for everyone if he has things go his way– in this particular case, at least."

"Uhm…" Lucy interrupted them shyly. As important as it was for them to sort out their own personal issues, she was more worried about imminent events. She had long since given up on trying to read past their cryptic words, as curious as she still was. "You want us to attack Eisenwald's guildhall, right? What's the plan?"

Would they split up? Stay in a group? Split the enemy up and catch them off guard? What did they know about Eisenwald's members' magic? Nervous did not begin to describe what Lucy was feeling right now. Not in a million years did she think that being part of a guild would mean she'd have to join a raid, let alone this early in her career.

Erza slapped a fist into her open palm. The sound of colliding metal was so loud that the other passengers in the wagon turned to them with annoyed glares. Not that it phased the armor-clad woman in any capacity. "Of course! How forgetful of me."

The map on which she had pinpointed Eisenwald's guildhall was laid out as flat as possible over Natsu's not-quite corpse. She traced lines with her finger as she spoke, "The surrounding area is densely packed with large trees. It'll be easy to lose track of our targets if they escape, so let's not let any of them out of our sight and make sure to take them out all at once."

She tapped the marker, though apparently a little too hard as Natsu groaned in his sleep. "We'll arrive before sun fall. There shouldn't be more than a hundred members or so, which means we'll have to take care to not go through them too quickly during the interrogation. It wouldn't do to run out of cooperating captives before we can figure out what they plan on doing with the demon flute."

Lucy gulped. What do you mean, "go through them too quickly"?! What do you plan on doing to them?

…Hold on.

"How are we going to 'take them out' in the first place?"

The helmet tilted. "What do you mean?"

"You said there would be about a hundred dark mages, right?" confirmed Lucy. "Are we going to trap them? Cast some sort of spell they won't be able to get out of?"

It was Happy's turn to look confused. "Huh? Why would we need to trap them? We go in, watch them bleed a little, then we're done!"

Oh.

Oh.

There was no plan.

Lucy dropped her head to her lap in misery. "I want to go home…"

Idiots. She was surrounded by idiots. How the hell were four people plus a cat supposed to come out on top against a hundred? She didn't care if two of them were S-class or not!

The train stopped.

Erza looked at the two in front of her in the eye. "Ready?"

"Yeah."

"No…"

"Good," she nodded, ignoring Lucy's whining. In one smooth motion, the woman lifted Natsu off her lap and flipped him over her right pauldron. "Let's go, then. Gray, grab my bags."

To the blonde's surprise, he did just that. Weren't they both the same rank? The man didn't seem like the obedient type, despite his even temper.

…Actually, scratch that. It was an illusion. His temper was actually about as even as a seesaw.

Not at all, so to say.

xxxxxxx

Erigor, the ace of Eisenwald, hummed as he held the peculiar flute in front of him.

"So this is it?"

Kageyama nodded eagerly. "Yeah! I had a bit of trouble finding it at first but–"

Erigor's disinterested glare shut him up. He addressed the man who was accompanying the black-haired wizard, "And you. Did you manage to make yourself useful, new guy?"

It was Kageyama who answered for the plain-looking individual. "He came just as advertised. Undid the seals on the damn thing quickly– quicker than I could have, at least."

The individual in question grinned sheepishly. I told you I specialize in sealing magic, didn't I?"

"Say, Erigor…" Kageyama fidgeted. His expression flipped, now sounding a little nervous. "Have you heard anything from… those people?"

The dark mage scoffed. "Bah. For such bigshots, I expected them to try and throw their weight around a lot more than they have. Bunch of hermits, really. Not a peep from them since they gave us the quest."

And what a strange quest it was. They'd be coughing up nearly half a billion jewels, and for what? All they asked was that they caused a bit of a commotion with the flute before attacking the Guild Masters.

Not like they weren't going to do that anyway.

"Our apologies for being uncommunicative."

Erigor turned with a start. "You-you're here," he stuttered.

It was a tall, cloaked man. Under the shadows cast by his hood, not much else could be seen other than his prominent bearded jaw.

At his back was a militia of sorts, though admittedly it was a strange one. Their uniform was an armor set that covered the entirety of the body; nothing could be seen of the one who wore it.

As they were, they didn't look like real people.

The hooded man flared his arm to the side. "As an added precaution, we'll lend you a small force to ensure that no one will interfere. Is that acceptable?"

Despite himself, Erigor felt a cold sweat go down his back.

These guys were the worst. He, Death God Erigor, was strong! He feared no man! Yes… he was in charge here. They were just the client. It didn't matter who they were.

"That's fine, but make sure they don't get in my way."

The bearded figure was wholly unimpressed by the threat. "I'll be off then."

"Wait!" called out Eisenwald's ace without thinking. "You're just going to leave?"

"Don't act as if much has been asked of you." The man continued to walk away. "Just make sure you succeed in activating Lullaby's curse, and be visible when you do it."

Erigor grit his teeth. "Got it."

The white-haired man was left with Kageyama, the new recruit, and a bunch of blank-faced creeps he wanted nothing to do with.

"Tch. Kageyama."

Being addressed by name, he was snapped out of his silence. "Yes!"

"Gather the guild. We're attacking the station first."

xxxxxxx

The deeper into the forest they trekked, the more uneasy Lucy felt. Who would build anything here, let alone a guildhall? Even the trees were creepy.

Gross. That one looked like it had a face.

"Are we there yet?" asked Natsu in a bored tone. He evidently didn't share any of her fears.

"You've just asked that a little while ago," complained Happy. Surprisingly, his patience was being drawn just as thin by the pinkette as hers.

Erza, who led their group, suddenly stopped and lifted a fist over her shoulder.

Once she got all of their attention, she pointed.

"Here we are."

Eisenwald's guildhall was frightening, in a word. Admittedly, some would just call it run down, but Lucy was too far taken by the environment and their situation to worry about the guild's state of disrepair.

The blonde's heart thumped heavily in her chest. Were they going to pull this off, were they going to die a painful, horrible death?

She'd just have to find out, much to her chagrin.

"Lucy."

The armor-clad leader's sudden call of her name startled her a little. "Y– yes?"

"Stay behind us for now. We'll show you Fairy Tail's true strength."

Both Gray and Natsu walked forward to flank the older woman on each side. Happy flew off his partner's head and landed on Lucy's.

The girl wasn't expecting the added weight. "Hey, cat! What are you–"

"Just watch," spoke the blue feline mysteriously. "You're about to see something incredible."

The three marched forward with purpose. Their backs were straight, and their heads held high.

An aura emanated from them. Lucy could've sworn it was tangible; that it pressed on her shoulders.

Erza's armor glowed, and it slowly withered away. Something new took its place as it disappeared.

It was beautiful.

Wings of silver crafted with a masterful and ornate design protruded from the back of what shared more in common with a dress than with a regular suit of armour. Instead of her intimidating horned helmet, a winged circlet rested upon her head.

Rather than a regular, if not imposing knight, she looked the part of a Valkyrie right out of a child's most imaginative and fantastical dream.

Twin greatswords were held in her hands. Pointing one in front of her, she ordered calmly, "Attack."

Natsu took a step forward.

Two.

His pace as he made his way to the guildhall's doors were unhurried. It was only once he was within arm's reach that he tensed.

BOOM

Few could track the fist that rose to obliterate the front of the building. One couldn't even call it a hole, for all that remained was the rear half a structure, a pile of rubble and lumber, and hundreds of shocked dark mages who were trying to understand what was going on.

He didn't even use magic.

"Gray."

The knight spurred the ice mage into action. Wordlessly, he slapped the ground with the palms of his hands.

Now that Eisenwald didn't have walls anymore, they needed to look elsewhere to keep the dark mages contained. As such, a twenty-meter ice barrier erupted from the earth, trapping everyone present in a contained circle courtesy of Gray's magic.

Eisenwald's mages were panicked.

"D– damn you!"

"You won't get away with this!"

"Bastards!"

"We'll kill you!"

With nowhere else to go, the army of men charged at the small group, vengeance for their guildhall at the forefront of their minds.

"Blumenblatt."

The armor-clad woman buried her two blades into the earth at her feet.

She wouldn't need them.

Ten… twenty… fifty… a hundred… an innumerable quantity of weapons –axes, swords, spears– appeared over her head with an unmistakable shine of magic. They hummed, filled to the brim with energy; with the intent to strike down the enemy.

It rained.

Screams of terror –of hopelessness– sounded within the ice trap. With nowhere to go, the dark mages could do nothing but face the inevitable fate of being pincushioned to the surface they stood on.

Luckily –or maybe it was the result of skill– none of them died. Injured, wounded both in pride and body, but not dead.

"Done!" chirped Happy, still sprawled on top of Lucy's head.

The girl in question was caught open-mouthed.

How?

Was this something a human being could do?

No. It couldn't be. She saw it happen before her eyes, and yet…

Happy was right. It was done. It was done before it had even started. The dark mages stood no chance against the three that hunted them.

For it wasn't a fight. It was a hunt. It was a massacre. A thorough annihilation.

All Natsu needed to tear apart that massive building was his bare hands.

Gray made a fortress in an instant– no one could escape.

And Erza…

Lucy still couldn't take her eyes off the armor that seemed to glitter no matter the light.

Erza was a monster.

No… all three of them were monsters.

The blonde cut her thoughts short. She tracked the redhead as she marched forward towards the closest dark mage.

"Where is the demon flute."

"I won't–"

A backhand had him out like a light. On to the next one, then.

"Where is the demon flute."

"Go–"

He was down even faster than the first.

"Where is the demon flute."

Her third victim wasn't even fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to utter a syllable. She knocked him out before she even finished her question.

Lucy had no words. Was this supposed to be some sort of interrogation?

…Suddenly, it was as if her earlier questions had answered themselves. It was made clear why Erza was afraid of running out of people to interrogate.

"Wait! Hold on!" howled a fourth victim before the monster in human skin could even reach him. "I'll tell you everything you want to know! Just don't hurt me!"

Erza froze. "Then why didn't you say so sooner? Don't waste my time again."

"Y– yes."

The newest Fairy Tail mage trembled despite not even being on the receiving end of the tough treatment. On second thought, maybe you didn't need to be all that great at interrogating people if you were scary enough.

"Erigor –our ace– has it!" started the frightened man. "Or at least, he should. A couple of our guys went to grab it, but they were supposed to bring it to Erigor right after."

"What does it do? What's your plan?" asked Natsu.

"Heh. Like I would know. Erigor said it would let us get revenge on you damn legal guilds," he spat venomously. "I don't really care about the details."

With a bored yawn, Gray dug his heel into the man's wounded side. The pained scream said all that needed to be said about how much that was appreciated. "Like we care about your delusions of how legal guilds have wronged you. Just spit out where this Erigor guy is."

"…"

The wound started to freeze over, causing the screams to get louder. "Damnit! I don't know! But Kageyama should be back at any time now to bring us to him!"

The Fairy Tail mages didn't know who "Kageyama" was supposed to be, but knowing that someone knew where the flute was would have to do for now.

"Gah!"

Another grunt of pain from their poor victim. The sword pinning him to the ground was telekinetically ripped from his body and repositioned threateningly under his throat. The sword's wielder pushed with faked politeness, "Might you have a more specific hour of the day in mind? We're on a tight schedule."

"I swear, he should've–"

Natsu tuned out the noise. He sniffed the air.

He was gone in a blur.

"Whoa…" whispered Lucy, not expecting such speed.

"Natsu must have smelled something," mused Happy idly.

The pinkette wasn't gone longer than an instant. He rejoined the group with a new face in tow.

Literally. He was dragging the poor sap by the top of the head.

"Found him hiding nearby."

"Kageyama!"

Their first captive's outburst told them who their newcomer was easily enough.

Erza stared at the man. "You. I recognize you."

Kageyama's eyes widened. "The hot chick from the bar! You're–"

The redhead grabbed him by the face and pulled him up to eye level. Natsu was forced to relinquish his grip on the man's cranium.

Lucy chuckled nervously from the sidelines. No one could accuse these three of being soft on their captives.

"You'll take us to Erigor," ordered Erza.

"Get bent, you– owowowowowow!"

The metal gauntlet holding his face tightened its grip.

"You'll take us to him," she repeated.

"Yes! Okay! Let go already!" he pleaded. Though muffled, his voice was still audible.

Kageyama was unceremoniously dropped on the ground.

Ominously, frost started to form at the Eisenwald wizard's feet.

"Well?" pressured Gray.

"He's hiding out in town, near the train station. He wants us to back him up."

Erza crossed her arms. "For what?"

The man's nervous scowl fell, an ill-intentioned smirk taking its place. "We're going to play Lullaby over the speaker system and Erigor doesn't want anyone getting in the way. The whole town will fall to its curse."

Natsu's eyes hardened when he mentioned the curse. "Lullaby… so that's what the flute is called, then."

Kageyama's composure seemed to slip away from him. "Ha! Hahaha! That's right… it's the demon flue, Lullaby! It's a death magic. Anyone who hears its melody will drop like a fly!"

The Fairy Tail mages showed varying degrees of shock.

Gnashing her teeth together, Erza allowed her armor to revert to its original state to hide the distress clearly present on her face. "Countless innocent people will die."

"Tch. Like I care. Those so-called 'innocent people' haven't done anything for us, now have they?"

She was starting to understand what he was trying to say. He felt betrayed by the world once his guild was exiled from the "light". They were abandoned, their rights and place in society revoked.

How moronic. A true fool.

But still… was that reason enough to commit mass murder in his eyes?

"Why."

"For the money, obviously. We were hired."

Lucy felt her chest tighten.

Oh no.

This was bad.

Even she knew what that meant for the quest. This wasn't about a single dark guild anymore, as much as she thought that was bad enough.

It ran deeper than that. There was a higher power –an unidentified authority– that was using the services of a dark guild to commit atrocities. Their objective was unknown.

Kageyama laughed in the face of three powerful mages exerting their magical power. "It's no use. I won't talk no matter what you do to me, and I know for a fact that none of you are going to kill me. Honestly?"

He looked them all in the eye. He was dead serious. "I'm more scared of them than I am of you."