Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.
Anu: Well, it seems like you are keeping your word this time.
Authoress: *shrugs* I am good at what I do...I just get distracted.
Sawyer: *smirks* Yeah, like Sorano and her cake.
Sorano: *hits Sawyer* That's not true Sawer!
Sawyer: *yells* The claws woman! Put them away! *run away*
Chapter 2: Mountain of the Jackals
July 7th, X785
Anu's 1st P.O.V.
Four months. It had been just over four months since the five members of my guild had accepted their positions as members of my guild. While we had some rough few first days getting used to being around one another, I was now glad to say that we all trusted each other implicitly. I still remembered that issue on the second day when Sorano had gotten turned around and ended up in the washroom. That wouldn't have been so bad except Macbeth and I were washing at the time.
I still wasn't sure how Macbeth and I were the ones to end up with knots on the head.
Anyways, it had taken the six of us about three weeks to come up with our name; Jackal Fang. I wasn't so thrilled about it at first since they were naming it after the transformation I was in when they first met me, but over these three months since, I found that it was starting to stick. We had sent in our paperwork on April 2nd, and two weeks ago, the Council finally sent us a magic stamp with the guild mark that we had drawn and sent to them. We were all eager to get our stamps and it didn't take us long to get them.
Mine was gold with a black outline right in the center of my chest. I wanted to keep my guild mark close to my heart just like I would keep all my guild members close as well. Erik had his be purple and on the left side of his chest, Sawyer had his be on the right side of his neck and was colored orange, Richard's was red on his back, Sorano's was white with a silver outline on her left hip, and Macbeth's guild mark was white with a black outline on his right shoulder.
Once we had that settled, we made the decision together to have our guild have a team-based system. For now, we had four teams, but our hope was to have at least five, to represent the five first members of our guild. If there was a need for more teams later, we would add more. But, five was the goal. For now, the five teams were unnamed but everyone but Sorano and Macbeth were on their own teams. I tried to talk Sorano into making her own team, but she was steadfast in her decision to not have a team of her own. Oh well. I guess we would just have to wait for another member before we got our fifth team.
"Master Anu," I turned as Richard walked close to me.
Smiling, I stood from the chair behind my desk. "What can I do for you, Richard?" I asked the taller mage.
He motioned toward the direction of the exit before saying, "It is our turn for patrol. Sorano and Sawyer got back about twenty minutes ago."
Of course. I got so into my thoughts trying to avoid certain…duties, that I didn't realize that it was already mine and Richard's turn for patrol. We decided that, since our guild was so small, we would take regular patrols. Not only would we be able to keep an eye out for trouble, but we could also meet people who traveled through the mountains to get to and from Dawn City. Dawn City is north of our guild and we used the city as our main source of supplies. There was a branch of the Ehrlich Magic Incorporated shops in Dawn City that had decent deals on magic and non-magic items.
Nodding, I moved away from my desk quickly. "Sounds like we had better get going then." I then led Richard out of my office and down the stairs. There were three levels inside our guild that we used daily.
The third floor was carved so there were dozens of rooms that would serve to be rooms to myself and the members of the guild. I had a system planned to make sure that my guild members would not have to struggle to live outside of the guild. When our guild members took missions, eventually, half of their earnings would go toward upkeep of the guild and for buying necessities for the guild members. So far, only the six of us stayed upstairs. But, as we gained more members, I imagined those halls would be filled with the sound of our fellow future members.
The second floor was filled with offices, spare rooms, and a medical ward. The dreaded second floor. It housed my office. The office that was full of…
…off that gruesome subject.
We finally had the main floor. It was a large open space that had seating and tables along with a bar and a stage. I wanted my guild members to be able to express themselves in the best way that they thought possible. If that meant performing, then I wanted to make sure that they had a stage to do it. If they were to drink, then I wanted them to be able to.
"Master, where do you think you are going?" Sorano asked me with a knowing look. Since she had not found a magic yet, she would help with all the fine details of running the guild. She could cook, clean, and best of all, help me with all my duties as well. It was a win situation for me.
Smiling at her innocently, I motioned to the guild doors. They were a simple oak right now, but I was hoping to maybe upgrade them before too long. If the winters got bad, then we could be looking at drafts that would freeze us…and run up the heating bill. "It's our turn for patrol." I then motioned for Richard to start making his way out. Once we were technically outside the doors, I turned back to her. "Oh Sorano, if you could there is just a bit more paperwork on my desk. If you could get through some of it that would be great."
The look I got from Sorano told me that she knew what was going on. "Don't worry master, there will be plenty for you to do when you get back."
…Phooey.
Oh well. I guess I wasn't getting out of paperwork this time. Hopefully, she would at least take a few of those papers and get them taken care of. I hated paperwork and I didn't want to come back to the same amount I left. Paperwork was one of the banes of being a legal guild and I now understood why Master Makarov used to complain about it all the time. It was a tedious process and half of the paperwork was putting down pointless information that the Council really didn't need.
But, I wanted to keep my guild legal and that meant that I had to do it. Thankfully, besides the startup paperwork that I had to do, the deadlines for most of the paperwork I received was in a year or two.
…That didn't stop Sorano from forcing me to get more of it done than I wanted to.
"Master," Richard started,
"Yes?" I prodded him as we reached the bottom of the steps from the guild. The members had been using the patrol rounds with me to talk to me about things and I appreciated their openness with me. Since it was just the six of us as members of the guild so far, these talks were mainly about issues that they had with me. There were a few and I was working to fix them. I wondered what I did now?
"We were all talking earlier and the five of us were curious as to what your plans were in recruiting new members?" Richard finished asking me.
So, that was the issue. I expected them to wonder about that, but I didn't think it would come so soon. I figured that I would have to wait at least six months to a year before the five of them were ready to have another guildmate come into our fold. Yes, we were always open to accepting mages into our fold. But, I hadn't been actively searching the nearby towns for any people with magical abilities to join our guild as mages. But, from the question that I was just asked, it seemed that I had read the situation wrong and they were ready to have more guildmates and I didn't see it.
It seemed like it was time to correct that. "My apologies Richard, and I will apologize to the others when we return to the guild. I wanted to make sure that you all were ready to have more people join the guild before I actively tried to recruit more members. I did not want to rush you all in being regulated in a regular guild life. I didn't have a choice in getting used to guild life when I was allowed to join Fairy Tail. I struggled and the rush in trying to assimilate to a regular guild was what probably caused me to leave Fairy Tail after those five years I was there. I didn't want you all to struggle as I did. However, since you are all ready for that sort of environment, then I will start searching for members for our guild."
In return, Richard smiled. "That would be most welcome. The others are ready to see what it will be like to have another member in our guild." He then paused and I sensed that he was activating his magic. What was going on? "Master, we aren't alone out here."
I knew that he wasn't talking about the animals around us so I paused and stayed tense. "What do you see?" I knew he was using his heaven's eye magic so I wouldn't have to wait long for an answer.
"It looks like a group of cloaked people are chasing someone. I see maybe six of them chasing the other person. We should go and help." Richard answered me.
Only seconds passed by before I spoke. "Let's go. I'll be in jackal form so be aware of that." He nodded and moved toward the position so I transformed and darted across the forested floor toward a clearing up ahead. From the way Richard's head was moving when he reported about the person being chased, they were running in that direction. So, it would be best for me to get their first and observe. Hopefully, the group would talk to the person that they were chasing.
Once I arrived at the edge of the clearing, I hunkered low into the shadows and waited. Thankfully, the wait wasn't long and soon, a girl with light brown hair that was in low pigtails, that reached her shoulders, arrived in the clearing. In her arms, she was carrying a light gray exceed with light blue eyes. They looked scared and I was pretty sure I knew who Richard and I were going to be helping.
A blast landing in front of the girl caused her to stop, and myself to tense more, and a group of mages ran into the clearing and surrounded the girl. She looked worried and I noticed that the grip that she had on her exceed was growing tighter and tighter. I had to wait for the right moment until I interfered. It would be best to take in as much of the situation as I could before jumping in. So, I stayed in a crouch, ready to leap into the girl's and her exceed's defense.
"Come on girlie. If you quit yer runnin', we'll make sure to take real good care of ya." A brown-haired man said to the girl.
She looked at the mages around her before shaking her head. "Why can't you just leave us alone?" She yelled that at them and I could see that she was angry.
The mage that looked like the leader of this group let out a chuckle before he said, "Come now, you know better than most that we can't do that, you little monster." A low growl escaped my throat and my ears flattened against my head at that. Where did he come off calling that girl a monster?
"Yeah," A red-haired mage on the other side of the leader started. "you're a monster and you fetch a really high price on the markets…bonus jewel for the little cat thing there in your arms."
That got a negative reaction out of the girl as she growled and narrowed her eyes at the red-haired man. "You'll have to go over my cold corpse before you touch Pitch."
"Since you are just as valuable dead, I think we can arrange that." The leader smirked. Okay, I had heard enough. This girl needed support and I wanted to make sure that she knew that she had it.
With a snarl, I pounced and jumped over the circle of mages before taking a protective stance in front of the girl and her exceed, letting a low growl come out of my throat. The red-haired mage from before laughed at my entrance, which ruffled my fur a bit, before he spoke. "Aw, did the monster get another one to come and help her. What a waste. We have a mage with us that can take out familiars simply."
Before the girl could make a comment, I started to let out a chuckled…which seemed to scare them since I was still in my jackal form, before I morphed back into myself. Once I was standing upright, I turned my head to the girl and gave her a comforting smile. "Don't worry, we are here to help you."
She seemed slightly hesitant before she nodded once. With the confirmation, I turned back to the mages as their leader, who seemed nervous, began to speak. "Who the hell are you? This is our business and you are just going to get yourself hurt. My suggestion is to turn back into that mutt form of yours and get out of here." Well, that man seemed to have some nerve calling me a mutt.
In return to his ridiculous request, I placed my hands on my sides and shook my head before staring at the man. "Unfortunately for you, rodent, you have made this my business. This land, which you so happen to be on, belongs to my guild and so whatever happens on our soil is most certainly my business." I then narrowed my eyes at him. "And I am not a mutt. The correct term of that form is a jackal, and I suggest you remember it."
The leader held my glare for a few seconds before he started to laugh. "Oh, that is rich. Even if what you say is true, you are severely outnumbered. You and the girl have no hope of taking out our numbers. And just what guild are you a part of so I can laugh at it later?"
My eyebrow twitched at his blatant disrespect of our guild. How dare he disrespect our guild! "Please…" I turned my gaze, calmed down of course, to the girl, as she tugged at my sleeve and spoke. "I don't want you to get hurt for us. I can keep them distracted while you get away."
I gave her a soft smile before I shook my head. "Don't worry. Just trust us and I know we will get out of this alright and on top."
"But," She started.
However, I needed to keep this moving and I was sure that Richard was waiting for a sign from me for him to make his entrance. I had a feeling that he alone would make these mages think twice. About doing anything. So, I interrupted her by talking to the leader. "You will do no such thing against my guild. We are Jackal Fang and, while we are a relatively new guild, I assure you that our name will be spread and we will be known as one of the strongest guilds since Fairy Tail was on top." I then slipped a smirk. "Oh, but I'm afraid that I forgot to introduce us. My name is Anu Biskaln, guild master of the Jackal Fang guild." I showed them my guild mark after I finished speaking. While the leader, or the two that had spoken so far, hadn't shown any reaction to my name, I noticed a handful of the mages surrounding the girl and me were nervous…as they should be, when it came out of my mouth.
However, all the mages jumped when the Earth behind me lifted and the mages that were standing there were thrown around and knocked unconscious. Not much stamina to them. The rest of the conscious mages gathered around their leader as Richard walked up to stand next to me, and I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Eden was following his movements. Once he stopped next to me, he spoke. "I am Richard, a member of team Heavenly Terra, a team of the Jackal Fang guild."
His introduction caused a reaction with everyone in front of us and the leader seemed afraid as he pointed to Richard. "You…your Hoteye from the Oracion Seis!"
Richard shook his head at that. "The Oracion Seis is no more. I am a member of the Jackal Fang guild. We do not approve of your actions on our land and we request that you leave here. We do not want to hurt you but we will if you do not listen."
Instead of listening to what we had to say and getting off our land, the leader gave of a smirk before saying, "Say, we only came here after the monster and her pet, but can you imagine the reward we would get for taking down one of the past members of one of the greatest dark guilds to ever exist?" Those simple words seem to encourage the conscious members of the group and then nodded before the remaining eight mages leaped at us.
Richard's 1st P.O.V.
"Well, at least patrol wasn't without some excitement today." I commented as I finished off tying up the group of mages. The fighting between our groups didn't go in their favor and Master had just finished calling the Rune Knights at Old Fort to come to pick up these rogues. It was a system that we had set up with the knights when we had first started to set up the guild with Master Anu, though this was the first time that we were using it. I attached the beacon to the bound mages before I stood and looked at the girl, who was talking to the exceed in her arms. She had been quiet after we had fought the mages and I knew that Master was going to want to talk to her.
"Alright, the rune knights are on their way." Anu spoke before he motioned in the direction of our guild. "I know that you do not know us well but it might be more comfortable for you to walk with us while you answer our questions. Is that alright?"
The girl looked nervous at first but then her exceed spoke. "They seem nice. Let's go with them." He spoke in a whisper to her but we heard him well enough.
With a nod, the girl moved on and walked in-between Anu and me as we moved toward the guild's location. "I guess we should start with introductions," Anu started with a motion to himself.
But, the girl laughed and interrupted him. "I'm not deaf Master Biskaln. I heard both of your introductions to those creeps earlier." She then motioned to herself. "But, you guys don't know who we are. I am Eden Flint and this is my exceed Pitch."
"It is nice to meet both of you." I responded to her introduction of both. They seemed like nice beings and it made me wonder why the mages we left for the rune knights were after them.
"It is nice to meet you both as well." Master Anu responded as well. We all talked about small topics as we walked toward the guild as he continued. "Eden, do you mind if I ask you why you were being chased by those mages when we found you? They called you a monster and, while from what I have seen that does not seem to be the case, I would like to understand why they would call you such a thing."
This Eden seemed hesitant in her speech at first and even stopped...causing us to stop before she continued. "I...I'm a mage who was taught a very rare magic...by a very close family member." She then squeezed her exceed closer to herself.
"When I was in my jackal form, back in the clearing with the mages who had been chasing you, I smelled an animalistic smell from you. But, I had not wanted to jump to any conclusions about you. But, with you having an exceed...there was one conclusion that I could make quite readily. Eden, are you a dragon slayer? Add that to you having Pitch, an exceed, which dragon slayers are known to have and it was a safe assumption. I was just waiting for you to open a bit." Master asked her.
Eden looked at us suspiciously but her exceed, Pitch, seemed to trust us and nodded. "Yes, sir. Eden is an earth dragon slayer."
The now known earth dragon slayer stared at her exceed in shock. "Pitch! Why are you telling these guys that? We don't know them."
To her, Pitch shook his head. "But they are nice Eden. Plus, we can trust them." He then looked back to us. "Eden was taught by an old dragon named Geb. He died a few years back and we've been on the road looking for a couple friends of ours. Another dragon slayer and exceed pair."
"But, we don't want to say too much about them." Eden interrupted. Even though she looked like she had given up on keeping information about herself from us, she seemed nervous when Pitch started to talk about their dragon slayer friend and their exceed. "We haven't seen either of them in a few years since right before Geb died, and last we heard they were attacked and that attacked killed their dragon, Setophis. But, we don't want to put them in danger."
"That is understandable." I added with a nod. "You would want to protect your friend and make sure that they were kept safe until you found them."
We had continued moving a few minutes ago and Eden seemed to relax more since I said that. And I meant what I said. We wouldn't want to endanger this friend of Eden's. She seemed like a nice girl and…
"Eden," She turned to Anu with a curious look before he continued. "I know that you have just met us, but as I am sure you heard earlier, I am the guild master of a new guild. As of now, there are five members, six if you include me. You don't have to agree, but I was wondering if you would possibly join our guild?"
Master Anu's 1st P.O.V.
Eden took a glance at me as we continued to walk toward the guild, which was near the pass to continue on to Old Fort and eventually, Dawn City. I could see that she was torn about something. Eden took a second and glanced down at Pitch, who looked up at her and shrugged. Once he did, Eden let out a sigh. "I'm not sure. You said that there were four members besides Richard. Can I meet the others first?"
I smiled and nodded, but it was Richard who answered. "Of course. I'm sure the others would like to meet you." Well, glad we were in agreement. He then stopped and I realized that we were back at the base of the mountain that held our base. "The doors to our base are up there."
Instead of looking nervous like I thought, however, Eden looked more relaxed. "Caves. I can deal with those." That's right. Being an earth dragon slayer, Eden would have an advantage just in case we weren't on the up and up. I knew we were on the up, but this would make her feel better.
I nodded and led the way up the stairs that were cut out of the mountain. The climb seemed longer, now that Richard and I were bringing a new person into our fold...maybe. It all depended on her and if she accepted being in our guild. It would not be a choice that we would force on her, but we would be honored to have her.
Once we arrived at the doors, I motioned toward them before saying, "Eden Flint and Pitch; welcome to the Jackal Fang guild hall." I then pushed open the doors.
"Damn it Erik give me back my notebook! I need it to keep track of the guild's expenses!" Sorano yelled at Erik as was standing on a table keeping said notebook away from Sorano. Macbeth was behind the counter making himself a drink since Sorano was obviously preoccupied with Erik, and Sawyer was laughing at the two who were fighting over the notebook while eating something that Sorano must have prepared for him earlier...by the looks of it, he was eating chicken alfredo.
Well, at least she could tell we didn't somehow call ahead.
Richard let out a few chuckles as I let out a sigh. I swear, I was almost afraid to get new members if this was all four out of five could do. Imagine having twenty or thirty of them. This base might not last a week. But, I guess if we ever got that many mages in our guild it would be worth it.
Before I could say anything, Eden let out a laugh that caused the other four in the room to look toward us three and they were staring at us in confusion. I turned to Eden, as did Richard, as Eden continued to laugh for a few more seconds before finally explaining herself. "Sorry...I just didn't expect this when coming in here."
I looked at her confused and, thankfully, I wasn't the only one confused about this. "Eden, what do you mean?" Richard asked our hopefully soon-to-be new guild member.
Finally, Eden calmed down and put Pitch on her shoulder before saying, "I have a confession to make Anu. Once you introduced Richard here and said you had four other members of your guild besides the two of you, I had a feeling that the other members were past members of the Oracion Seis." The five mentioned members of my guild flinched slightly as Eden said that before she continued. "But, I don't let the pasts of others define who they are. Trust me, if I did that, I would have never trusted Geb to teach me."
"Who is Geb?" Macbeth asked Eden.
She smiled and said, "He was my dragon. I'm the earth dragon slayer. Geb wasn't a dragon to hold back and he told me about everything he did in his past that I might hear about and it was enough to give even you all chills. So, when Anu and Richard both let it know that I was wanted as a member of your guild, I wanted to give you all a chance. I knew that you all weren't as bad as you once were, given how Master Anu and Richard helped me out. But, I wanted to see how you all really acted here in the guild." She then smiled widely and turned back to me. "Master Anu, I think we have made our decision."
I had a feeling I knew what the decision would be but raised an eyebrow anyways. "Oh? And what is that Eden?"
She then stood in front of us, with Pitch flying into the air before she spoke. "Master Anu, it would be mine and Pitch's privilege to join Jackal Fang."
Smiling back, I responded. "Well then, Eden Flint and Pitch, as the guild master of this guild, allow me to officially welcome you as members of Jackal Fang."
Eden: *smiles* This guild looks like it is going to be so much fun!
Anu: *nods* I am glad that you think so. Hopefully, Jackal Fang will continue to grow this nicely.
Sorano: *yells* Anu! Get your ass in here and get this paperwork done!
Anu: *yelps* Got to go! *runs with Sorano chasing him*
AN: And here is the next chapter! While this isn't long after the last chapter, I have a little bit more to talk about! Another OCs for the guild and she is a dragon slayer! Now, with Eden, her dragon was one of the rebellious ones and didn't leave Earthland when told to and instead stayed in hiding, picking up Eden along the way and training her. So, Eden had full training with her dragon before he died (and he was really old when he kicked the dust). Pitch is her exceed and he is a quieter exceed for the most part. But, he can be pretty curious if something gets him curious. Also, about Geb, he really wasn't a good dragon for most of his life and so those stories he told Eden were pretty brutal. Since she grew up with these stories, the fact that she was around the past Seis doesn't really bother her.
Well, that's all for now. So, here are the names of the next two chapters.
Chapter 3: The Weakness of the Siren's Song
Chapter 4: Death
Chapter 5: ...(find out next time!)
Okay, so here is everything, leave a review if you wish, even to say hi! Until next time, TTYL! *surprised that the word for dungeon comes from a word meaning tower, not hole!*