Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or Fate Stay Night, any resemblance to any other Fairy Tail or Fate Stay Night fan fiction is coincidental and plagiarism is not intended. No flames please, constructive criticism only.
AN: First before we start, I'd like to shout out Warmachine375 and his new fic The Celestial Rune Knight, it's an interesting take on Lucy that I personally have never seen before. I recommend people take a look at it, I like how it begins personally.
[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]
There were days when Lahar, Captain of the Magic Council's fourth custody enforcement unit hated his job.
"So what are we doing?" One of the Rune Knights asked
This was one of those days.
"For the last time, we are transferring the prisoner Jellal Fernandes to the Magic Councils secure prison in Era." Lahar said forcefully motioning to the waggon they were escorting, which held both Jellal and a member of the Fiore Army, who was on loan to them due to the shortness of manpower in the Rune Knights now.
This lack of manpower was due to retraining courses that had become mandatory for most Rune Knights now due to the increasing threat of Dark Guilds, especially those subordinate to the Balam Alliance. Currently, the escort was passing through Worth Woodsea, an ancient forest that was home to the Nirvit people long ago.
Lahar, however, had done the course voluntarily long before his promotion to captain and diligently refreshed himself on the course each year and thus was free to continue his duties. Unfortunately, that meant the Rune Knights who remained were, politely speaking the bottom of the barrel.
'I hope that soldier is having a better time than I am.' Lahar thought to himself, only his years of training allowing him to keep his composure and not knock his subordinate's heads together as they asked for the fiftieth time if they were there yet.
[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]
Jellal sighed internally, he was bored. He couldn't help it, the only one with him inside this waggon was a soldier of Fiore's Royal Army, on loan to the Rune Knights due to their lack of manpower right now.
She wore the standard uniform for a soldier and had messy pink hair, and dark eyes, she was young, as though she had enlisted as soon as she was able, so she was still growing yet. If his observations were correct, she was due for a spurt in growth soon.
The problem was that he couldn't talk to her because well, she was extremely nervous. Every sudden movement whether voluntary or not, caused her to jump and slap at him with magical thorns, created by her plant magic. This had happened multiple, times and now he had several painful spots on his body where she had hit him.
Whether his movements were due to him cramping up, getting itchy or just plain bumps in the road, she slapped him with her magical thorns without fail. He didn't hate her of course; the poor girl was just very nervous. Honestly, he was surprised that she wasn't trembling in her seat.
"So what's your name?" He tried asked.
"S-shut up." She snapped trying to hide the quivering in her voice "No t-talking prisoner."
"I just wanted to make conversation." Jellal said in a reassuring tone "It's still a long way to Era after all, I thought it would be better than you trembling the whole way there."
"Y-you shut up, I am not trembling!" She shouted, "And for your information my name is Cosmos, don't you dare think that just because I'm a squire that I'm afraid of you!"
"So you're a squire? Are you aiming to become a knight?"
"A knight of the kingdom, the Rune Knights are low on manpower right now so the king needed volunteers to help them out." Cosmos explained "Others took more generic assignments, but I volunteered for this assignment, transporting one of the most dangerous criminals in Ishgar to the secure prison in Era. Even with the offer of Knighthood, no one else volunteered, especially when they heard that they would have to be inside the waggon with you. They were too scared."
"But not you."
"I may not be as brave as Knight really should be, but don't you dare think that will stop me." Cosmos seemed to have gained a fire inside her. "I will become a knight, just you watch!"
Jellal chuckled causing Cosmos to puff her cheeks out much like an angry chipmunk.
"So why do you want to become a knight?" Jellal asked
"Because as a Knight I'd get access to better training and equipment, with that I'd be better able to help protect people," Cosmos answered, her fear of him seemingly forgotten for the moment.
"It would be easier to join the Rune Knights if that's your reason, they help people."
"Are you kidding, if it wasn't for their Jutsu Shiki being able to detain criminals the Rune Knights would be basically useless," Cosmos said, having a rather low opinion of the Council's police force.
"Isn't that a bit harsh?" Jellal asked.
Cosmos simply gave him a look, one that clearly questioned his intelligence. She the tapped her ear, indicating for him to listen. He could hear the Rune Knights talking outside.
"I spy something beginning with—"
"Dirt!" A frustrated voice cut off the other.
"Damn, how'd you guess?" The first voice asked
"Because that's all that out here, is Tree's, Grass and Dirt!" The frustrated voice replied.
"….It could have been clouds."
The response from the frustrated voice was a low growl.
"Case and Point…." Cosmos said sardonically looking Jellal in the eye.
Jellal for his part was unable to argue on the Rune Knights behalf any further. He could only sigh at the stupidity of the magic council for not having better screening and training procedures.
Suddenly the waggon came to an abrupt stop, causing Jellal to jolt forwards, this, in turn, surprised Cosmos who smacked him with a thorny vine again. The fallen knight ignored this and narrowed his eyes when he heard a pained cry come from outside.
[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]
Lahar placed a hand to his forehead, trying to stave off an oncoming migraine, and began sincerely hoping for something to shut these idiots up.
"Guh…" Lahar suddenly snapped to attention at the sound which came from the within the forest and signalled for the waggon to stop.
"Who's there? Identify yourself immediately!" He demanded commandingly,
A figure stumbled out of the forest, clutching his side which was stained red with blood.
"C-captain…" He collapsed onto the ground and looked up at Lahar, who recognised him as…the Knight standing behind h-
"GAH!" Lahar found him struck in the back hard, and was flying towards a trying which he hit, and heard a crack. His arm was broken, or at least sprained if the pain as any indication.
As he landed his glasses had fallen off, he desperately clawed at the ground to find them, even as his men began crying out in pain. He grasped quicker and eventually found them, however by the time he'd wiped the dirt off them it was over, all his men were lying on the ground in pools of their own blood.
Standing off to the side of the carnage were six figures with whom he was familiar, he'd seen their files, the Magic Council had files on most members of the Balam Alliance of Dark Guilds, aside from Tartoros and some of the members of Grimoire Heart.
"The Oracion Seis?" Lahar coughed out only to cry out as the woman known as Angel planted her foot on his back and began grinding it into his wound.
"This one's still alive, what should we do with him?" She asked looking over her shoulder at her fellow guild members.
"We should ransom him, I bet the magic council would pay big bucks to get a captain back, oh yeah!" A male voice suggested brightly.
"Leave him." A voice belonging to a much older man ordered as Lahar looked up only to see a man silhouetted by the sun behind him. "He can crawl back to the Council, let them know the terror that awaits them as the Light is snuffed out forever, also send Gemini out to infiltrate the meeting point, where the pathetic guilds of light are gathering to stop us."
"I'll be right on it." The woman said with a sadistic tone to her voice, Lahar, tried to move, but the last thing he saw was a feathered boot rushing towards his face before darkness took him.
[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]
"Now that's out of the way let's get down to business, shall we?" Cobra said looking at the waggon. "He's in there alright, I can hear him, he's wondering what happened to the Rune Knights."
As Racer got closer to the waggon he heard two knocks coming from inside.
"Impatient to get out are we? Well, I'll come when I'm ready." Racer said walking closer to the waggon casually.
Another pair of knocks came from the waggon again, neither faster nor slower than the last. Eventually, the dark wizard was up next to the doors of the waggon. Another pair of knocks resounded.
"Who's there?" Racer chuckled thinking he was funny.
"Hi." Jellals voice said through the door.
"Hi who?" Racer laughed as though it was the funniest thing in the world, he abruptly stopped as the doors crumpled open and a pair of cuffed hands grabbed him by the collar.
"Hi, Sawyer." Jellal greeted before fiercely headbutting the Dark Wizard into unconsciousness and allowing him to fall to the ground.
He then exerted some force and the cuffs around his wrists shattered into pieces. He promptly grabbed Racer and shoved him headfirst into the ground, planting him like a tree.
'He shattered those cuffs like they were made out of glass' Cosmos thought panicked before looking around seeing all of the Rune Knights corpses lying about. 'And all of the Rune Knights have been killed, what do I do now?'
"So it seems you didn't need our help to break free after all." Brain said stepping forward, "So why wait until now if you always could escape on your own?"
"Maybe you wanted to use us attacking this waggon to fake your death and run away?" Cobra suggested glaring at him pointedly.
"Whatever you want from me you're going to be disappointed, I'm not the person you met at the Tower of Heaven, Brain" Jellal stated, "I was being controlled at the time, so any agreements we may have outstanding are between you and Ultear now."
"Mind control, what a load of crap." Cobra snorted
"Are you hoping to dump what you did on someone else?" Angel asked clearly not believing him.
"Control or not, you still have knowledge of your time learning all these years, including the location of Nirvana." Brain laughed. "You will lead me to it."
"And you will be sorely disappointed Brain." Jellal replied, "I have no intention of leading you to such a dangerous magic."
"Who said you have a choice?!" Cobra yelled suddenly at Jellals side, a cloud of poison covering his fist.
However his fist was caught by a gauntlet-clad one, and he found himself staring into Jellal's eyes, a hard look in them.
"I do remember those years I spent learning magic from Brain, which means I also know your magic, and its weaknesses," Jellal said before beginning to whistle, increasing the pitch rapidly higher and higher.
Naturally, this caused Cobra great pain and forced him to cover his ears to try and block out the terrible noise. He suddenly found him in the air with Jellal. Suddenly he was upside down and rapidly approaching the ground again
"Oh shi-" Cobra never finished as Jellal piledrove him into the ground, planting him up to his waist next to Racer, joining his friend in unconsciousness
"I'm two for two, any other takers?" Jellal asked "Sorano? Richard? Macbeth?"
Angel gulped, as Jellals gaze ran over her, Richard stood his ground, One of Midnight's eyebrows twitched in his sleep.
"We're freeing you and this is the thanks we get?" Angel asked nervously "What do you want to go to prison?"
"That was the plan yes until Ultear is caught" Jellal replied, "It was going well until you all showed up."
"What do you feel bad about what happened at the Tower of Heaven? well if this Ultear is really responsible, you could be waiting years to be set free or even until you die in prison if she's never caught." Richard pointed out.
"If that's what it takes then I'll accept that," Jellal replied
"Self-righteous bastard!" Angel yelled angrily preparing to fight. "Open, Gate of the Chisel, Cae-"
Angel was cut off as Jellals gauntlet clad hand wrapped around her throat and lifted her into the air, cutting off her attempted summoning.
Suddenly he leapt up into the air, avoiding the earth which began to liquefy beneath him, then with great force, he tossed Angel at the sneak attacker, Richard a.k.a Hoteye. The collision sent them both to the ground.
"So, four down two to go." Jellal said as he landed in front of Brain and Midnight "Care to keep testing me? Or are you going to just give up and leave?"
"L-let go of me you Gah!" "Better idea." Jellal turned to see Cobra had recovered, and his snake had just bitten Cosmos. "How about you give up and do as we say?"
Jellal took a step towards the Poison Dragon Slayer, a glare on his face. A single opening was all he would need to save her and take Cobra down for good.
"Cool your jets, Cubellios venom is now inside your little friend here." Cobra laughed "Lucky or unlucky for her this variation of Cubellios venom is slow acting and extremely painful. So if you want her to live you'll need me to get the anti-venom. Now I'm not stupid, so I'll give you enough to keep her alive but not save her completely, not until we're done with you that is."
Jellal glowered, but saw no way out. If he fought there was no doubt he'd win but he'd never be able to save Cosmos life in time, not without the full anti-venom.
"Good work Cobra." Brain said approvingly. "So what will it be Jellal, your service for the life of this little girl?"
"…Fine, but know this Erik, the instant she dies, there will be nothing stopping me from beating you all to death."
"Make all the threats you want, it makes no difference," Angel said having recovered from hitting Hoteye.
"That wasn't a threat, that was a promise," Jellal vowed.
"Yeah, well I promise that you won't get the chance carry out your promise," Cobra replied. "Now come on, we'll get back to the hideout then you can start leading us to Nirvana."
Begrudgingly, Jellal began following the Seis, Cosmos was wrapped up by Cubellios and was still crying out in pain as the venom coursed through her body. What none of them noticed, however, was one body was missing, in the commotion Lahar had crawled away.
[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]
(Suggest playing Persona 5 OST 13 – Awakening)
Lahar growled as he stumbled through the forest, he tried using a tree to support himself only to lose his grip and fall face first into the dirt. Frustration built up inside him, his thoughts drifted to the dead rookies who had been assigned to him, frustration became white hot fury at how the Seis had mercilessly killed them.
He hated the situation, he hated the Seis, for what they had done. Dark Wizards always had some complaint, they thought that because something happened in their past it justified their freedom, rights, there was always some stupid excuse for what they did.
On top of that, his head was throbbing like his brain was attempting to escape from his skull with a sledgehammer. He pounded at the ground, as he did his migraine throbbed and unseen to him his eyes flashed, briefly flickering from purple to a greyish green.
'Hmph, after all this is this how our justice ends, with us lying face down in the dirt?' A familiar voice spoke in his head. 'Protecting the innocent, bringing scum to justice was it all just talk?'
"Of course not," Lahar growled pounding the ground again as another migraine assaulted him. "I won't let them get away, I won't let them do as they please!"
His tied up and neatly done hair broke free, becoming messy and taking on a shade of orange.
'And how will you do that, you saw how they killed all our men and left us here like trash. They're too strong, we don't have the power to oppose them directly.'
The migraine got worse, Lahar honestly began to think his head was on the verge of exploding, he punched a rock, shattering it, but it did nothing to relieve the stress.
"Then I'll strike from the shadows, if I can't fight them directly then I'll just take them down by shooting them in the back, I'll trap them, poison them, whatever it takes!"
'But why? If we do that then we'll be called a coward, a knave though some might praise us, most will curse us as a coward.'
"So what I didn't become a Rune Knight…..to be loved, or for rewards." Lahar gasped out sweat dripping from his brow.
'Then why?'
"For Justice, because if I don't oppose these scum, then who will? What I've always wanted is to be the one who will stand up for the weak and the defenceless, I want to stop people like the Oracion Seis from doing whatever they please to the innocent!" Lahar roared with determination, his eye colour finally settling on a greyish green colour, magic energy became spreading over his body, like a green flame.
'Just what I thought, come on then, we're not here to be praised, we're here to deliver justice, SO LET'S GIVE THESE BASTARDS A TASTE OF OUR JUSTICE!'
Lahar let out a scream as the pain erupted over his entire body which was engulfed by the magic energy which shot into the sky like a flaming pillar, causing the minor dark guilds in the area to look at it in wonder, but strangely, the forest and all of the creatures within remained calm as if the magic energy and the power of the forest were one and the same.
[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]
Meanwhile, Lucy, Erza, Gray, Natsu and Happy had arrived at a manor house owned by Blue Pegasus. They had been ordered by Makarov to join up with three other guilds in an alliance to take down the Oracion Seis who had begun making noise recently. Apparently, they'd been responsible for breaking into the Magic Councils archives and stealing some as of yet unidentified information.
"This place is the second home of Blue Pegasus' master, Bob." Erza explained.
"Oh, him..." Gray thought in a mix of fear and disgust. "He's a complete weirdo."
"Gray be nice," Erza said, although her tone told everyone she was struggling not to agree with him. "He may be a little eccentric but he still deserves our respect."
"Are we there yet?" Natsu asked.
"Yes, they're here at last." A voice said, confusing them. A spotlight shone in front of the steps, revealing three men in suits. "We're so glad you came. We are the Blue Pegasus elite; The Trimens."
"Hundred Night Hibiki." The dirty blonde introduced himself.
"Holy Knight Eve." The pure blonde greeted them.
"Still Night Ren." The black haired one said.
The three had struck poses before surrounding Erza and started flirting with her. They pulled out a couch and set it up before pulling out a table and leading Erza over to it. Though she stopped short and shoved them away from her, she could tell that Lucy was getting more and more jealous.
"Calm down men." A new voice said as the man walked down the stairs. "Give these ladies some breathing room."
"That voice." Erza glared into the darkness.
"Yes, Ichiya sir." Ren said back.
"Ichiya..." Erza grumbled
"It's been too long, my dear Erza." The man said.
"Yes... a long time," Erza said back. "I didn't think you would be here..."
"Who's he calling, 'his' dear?" Lucy grumbled with annoyance.
"How I've longed to see you, my honey." The ugly man said. "Worry not, Ichiya is here you."
"My honey!" Happy yelled in shock.
"We didn't know she was your girlfriend, Ichiya." The playboys said. "We're so sorry, please forgive us our rudeness."
"You idiots!" The fourth Pegasus member shouted. "We have work to do!" The three picked up the couch and table and carried it away. "I've heard all about you people, Erza, Lucy, and the other two."
"Me too..." Erza said walking away. "I'd never choose to work with him. But he is a gifted wizard."
"Word to the wise you three would be smart to keep your hands off these ladies, we clear?"
"Crystal." Ichiya jumped and landed in front of the Trimens. "Now take your leave."
The arrogance tricked Gray off even more.
"Thanks for dropping by." The trio said giving a slight bow to the boys.
"We're here on some serious business you know!" Gray yelled angrily "Can you pretty boys even fight?"
"Wanna find out?" Ren asked.
"Yeah, we're real tough pal." Even said earning a snort of amusement from Lucy.
"Well, all least we won't short on jesters to keep us entertained I suppose." She commented. Lucy understood killing the four would likely upset Erza, so for the sake of gaining her affection, she was holding back, only just though.
"A fight!?" Natsu yelled suddenly fired up. "Count me in!"
"Everyone, please calm down," Erza ordered, only to freeze when Ichiya started sniffing her, Lucy was ready to attack, only for Erza to do it by sending Ichiya flying with a solid right hook.
He flew into the extended hand of a familiar man at the door who froze his head solid. It was Gray's counterpart Lyon Vastia.
"You dare to greet us with this flying buffoon?" Lyon Vastia asked. "Lamia Scale deserves more respect we insist on it."
"It's you." Gray and Lyon exclaimed at the same time upon seeing each other.
"So you went and joined a guild?" Natsu asked with a smile. The ice make wizard threw Ichiya at Gray and he ducked, Ichiya complained about his face.
"What is wrong with you?" Gray asked.
"He attacked me, Gray." Lyon said back.
"That's our boss you're talking about," Ren said.
"You and your men should just turn and leave," Hibiki added.
"Does that mean women can stay?" A voice asked as the carpet started to move. "Marionette Attack: Carpet Doll!"
The carpet doll, however, was immediately torn to shreds by several swords from the Gate of Babylon.
"I was hoping you Fairies hadn't forgotten us," Sherry said with a chuckle. "But do try to forget who I was. I have been reborn by the power of love."
"Oh look, the fourth-rate guild has deigned to show up," Lucy remarked snidely.
"Who are you calling fourth rate?" Sherry demanded.
"Obviously Lamia Scale, even then, you're only fourth because of Jura being a member of yurt guild." Lucy replied casually, infuriating Lyon and Sherry further.
"Wait so what about us?" Ren asked.
"Blue Pegasus is a third rate, you get extra points for the theatrics if nothing else," Lucy replied.
"So what, Fairy Tail is the best is that what you're saying?" Eve demanded.
"Any guild that has me as a member is obviously the best, how can it possibly be any other way?" Lucy asked.
"Wait, so whose second?" Hibiki inquired.
"I'm reserving second place for a guild that catches my eye and right now none of you clowns do."
"WHAT DID YOU SAY!" "ALRIGHT I'VE HAD ENOUGH TIME TO TAKE YOU DOWN A PEG!" "WE'LL SHOW YOU THIRD/ FOURTH RATE!" The other wizards began yelling, though Lyon was suddenly challenged by Gray. Erza was about to try and calm everything down but found herself having to fend off Ichiya again.
"Let's go, Lyon," Gray growled through his teeth.
"My pleasure." His rival said back.
"Let's go..." Natsu egged on the Trimen who glared at him.
"I could never love you..." Sherry said to Lucy who simply ignored her in favour fo glaring at Ichiya who was once again bother Erza.
Tensions were high in the room until a staff slammed onto the ground.
"Enough!" Everyone turned to the entrance to a bald man in scaled clothing. "We're here to work together as a group to destroy the Oración Seis. This is not the time for us to fight amongst ourselves!"
"Yes, Jura..." Lyon acknowledged with a nod.
"Jura?" Erza echoed the name.
"Who?" Natsu asked.
"Iron Rock Jura, he's ranked seventh amongst the Ten Wizard Saints." Lucy replied.
"Ms Lucy, It's a pleasure to see you again, I made a visit to Lady Layla's grave the other day to pay my respects," Jura said inclining his head.
"As you should, you are only in this position because of what she taught you," Lucy replied.
"So four from Fairy Tail, four from Blue Pegasus and three from Lamia Scale." Sherry bragged at the numbers. "Funny our guild only needed to send three members."
"A fourth-rate guild incapable of taking an operation seriously? Well somebody stop the presses." Lucy stated angering Sherry more.
"Three guilds have shown up," Jura said trying to keep order. "The members from Cait Shelter have yet to show up."
"About that, I've heard they're only sending one," Ichiya told them.
"Just one?" Erza wondered.
"A single wizard!?" Gray asked shocked. "We're up against a powerful group and they're only sending one member!?"
A short cry caught everyone's attention. They turned to the door and stared at a girl with long blue hair who was lying face down on the ground having tripped and fell. She suddenly stood up and brushed herself off.
"Hi, Sorry, I'm late." She nervously said. "I come from the Cait Shelter guild. My name is Wendy Marvell. It's nice to meet you all."
There was long stunned silence, which was broken, by the sound of Lucy who suddenly burst out laughing like she'd been told the funniest joke in the world.