Under the Shadows

…sometimes you have to jump over your own shadow in order to learn something that you will never forget for the rest of your life. Then you know you can conquer your fears. - Heidi Klum

The shadows were dark and inky in the alleyways that were close to where the Red Fox guild burned in rumble. The red and blue lights flashed on the surrounding structures as firefighters fought to put out the blaze. While police and detectives tried to make sense of what happened to West Nitespring's most prominent guildhall. People, mages and non-mages, gathered around the site. People unsure of what happened; weary of what will happen, they knew that this guild kept the darkness at bay in the city. The Red Foxes were the beacon of light that shone brightly on West Nitespring. People's fears now came to the forefront of their minds. Many questions started swirling around the bystanders watching the flames.

Hours had passed and finally the blaze was beaten and the ruins lay in coal with some burning embers. The firs responders had left after making sure there would be no flare-ups. Yellow police tape cordoned scene but that didn't stop the three shadow figures that walked into the black sooty mess. They stopped once they reached the center of the rubble. They stood in points that formed a loose triangle. The first figure pulled his hood back from his black hoodie. Green light emitted from his eyes. The area of the ruin building glowed in an eerie green for a minute then as quickly as it appeared the light dissipated. A graveled voice said, "There isn't anything 'ere. Not one soul when there should be hundreds."

The second figured raised his arms to the sky and mumbled something unintelligible to the group. She waited and waited a minute more. Nothing happened. Red magic emitted from her hands but still nothing stirred in the black charcoal. "There is nothing here for my magic either."

The third figure, the largest of the three, growled. With a flick of his hands, the trio disappeared in the shadows nothing left but the footsteps in the black coals.

Strauss Dresdan appeared in his office. He watched the fired get put out. He watched the police conduct an investigation, but the one thing that bothered him was that no bodies were removed from the scene. There were no ambulances or morgue staff members to suggest that human remains were found. "Where did they all go? That fire was not that hot." He said to no one as he walked over to his liquor cabinet, pulled out a fine bottle of scotch, and poured himself a nice serving of it into a tumbler.

The next morning The West Nitespring Journal headliner read, "FIRE DESTROYS FOXES GUILD!" Copies were all over the city. Newsstands sold out quickly. TV news stations were talking about the destruction of the famous guild. No leads to what had happened and no survivors at the time of reports. The city was buzzing with questions, unrest, and fear. The Great Tribune called an emergency meeting for the evening to discuss what the next step was in governing the city without a mage guild.

The Great Tribune consisted of seven members. No member was more important than the other. They met twice a month publicly to discuss problems and to vote on resolutions, laws, and other finance issues. Tonight though the house was packed with standing room only. Murmurs filled the grand conference room. The gavel struck to begin the meeting. Everyone went silent, eyes tracking the seven members. Ward member four started the emergency meeting, "We call this meeting to order due to the abrupt disappearance of the Red Fox guild. As everyone knows, the Foxes have been our protectors from those that wish to do harm to our city by using dark magic. We have tolerated the use of dark magic in the city to a point. That point being that no person comes to harm from the use of dark or black magic, or any business is put into jeopardy due to the meddling of said magic. Now that they are gone we fear there may be a power vacuum within the dark guilds that populate our fair city. We as your Great Tribune would like to reassure our constituents that the void that was left by the Foxes has been filled by another guild. I will give the floor over to Ward Member Seven to introduce the guild master of this new guild. Mr. Eshek."

Mr. Eshek, a portly little balding man stood up with a fake smile on his face. He had been on council for years. He was a shady man when he was young and an even shadier man now that he was older. He profited from the dark guild dealings for years. When he heard about the fire and disappearance of the Red Foxes he could hardly contain his joy at the thought of how much more he was going to profit from this. Earlier that day he was approached by a tall man with dark shoulder length hair and offered something that he thought was too good to be true, but being a shrewd politician, he negotiated his terms and a deal was struck. "Ladies and gentleman of our esteem city West Nitespring, I would like to introduce our newest guild master to serve us for our magical issues of rouge mages and dark guild uprisings, Mr. Strauss Dresdan of the Twelve Crows."

The room exploded in applause. People's fears were quelled. There was a holed filled to keep them from being somehow harmed by the business doings of the dark guilds. Their children would be safe to walk to school and play on the playgrounds. Their jobs and businesses would be safe from blackmail and racketeering. Strauss smiled at the room. It was a warm smile that people mistook as a caring smile for their wellbeing when in fact all he was seeing was cannon fodder, slaves and souls for the taking.

Tis' good to be king he thought.

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Cat woke up from the same dream she had been having since they left from Hargeon. She also had a fluffy red tail tipped in white in her face. Sam was curled around her again. She took a depth breath in and almost gagged on the terrible odor coming from him. She brushed his tail out of her face, spitting and sputtering from the fluffy red fur. "Sam you stink! Either you change into a man and take a shower or…I'm carrying you into the shower as is and washing your with the girliest smelling shampoo I own." She glared her blue eyes at him. His hazel eyes met hers in a challenge. He didn't make a move. "Fine! Have it your way." She picked up the 20 pound bundle of smelly fuzz and carried it to the shower.

"I can't believe how the mighty have fallen. Reduced to this. A wet matted sulking bit of skin and bones. I guess since you're still staying in this form you won't mind me drying you off and then putting cute sparkly bows in your tail and on you head and both your ears." Cat mused trying to lure out the man who she knew was hurting. Her and Walker had talked over the past week. They had healed some of their scars. They weren't completely mended by the pain was less. They spoke about Sam. The agreed they needed to get him back into his human form in order to speak with him to help him cope with the immense lost he was feeling. Cat didn't realize how stubborn the man could be. He didn't know how determined she was either. She dried him off the best she could with the towels and left him in the cabin. She made her way to the gift shop on the large airship and bow every single pink sparkly bow they had. She made her way back to her master fox and placed him in her lap and went about brushing the little red fox until he was dry. She then placed a little bow in the middle of his head and one on each ear, and proceeded with his tail. It took her 20 minutes but she had placed several little bows through his red tail and a large bow at the end where the white and red fur met. She stood back and admired her work.

"You know what my make over deserves some pictures." She grabbed her Lphone and started taking pictures. Sam just buried his nose behind his tall. Cat looked at him and sighed. She picked up the little fox and started petting him. "I know master, but I don't speak fox and I can't help you like this. Can you please turn back into your human form so Walker and I can help you?" She continued to pet him until she fell asleep. The warmth of his little body and the repetitive motion lulled her to sleep.

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Gray was walking home from one of the local bars he liked to frequent when he didn't want to be around his guild mates. After that weird incident that happened two and a half weeks ago and his memory gap between being on the mountain and waking up in the infirmary. His demon wasn't talking to him. Natsu wouldn't say anything other than he thought Mira lost her shit over something that happened in the infirmary and wouldn't let anybody in but Piper and her two friends.

He stopped right before he was supposed to make his turn for his house but felt this odd sensation that he was being followed. He just turned around and looked down the empty street and started talking to what appeared to be no one at first, "You can come out now. I know you've been there since I left the bar, Juvia. I don't know why you keep stalking me. I think I've made it pretty damn clear that I don't want to be anything more than guild mates. Why do you keep punishing yourself by stalking me and running off every woman I TRY to have a serious relationship with?" He said in a calm tone. The water mage had been stalking him for years now. He was tired of it. She had ruin countless potential relationships because she had some notion that she was in dating him. He had went out with her one time when she first joined Fairy Tail only because Lucy and Ezra asked him to do it. They had coffee and nothing more. He didn't have any feeling for the water mage, never led her on. He treated like he did Lucy, Erza, or any other female guild mate. He was not attracted to her in anyway. Yet somehow in her mind she believed that they were dating and in a committed relationship. She would lash out towards any female thinking they were her 'love rival'. She would then be crushed when he would correct her and become a sad puddle of water of the floor thinking that he was rejecting her love.

"Gray why do you always push Juvia away? Juvia is your girlfriend. You love Juvia. Please don't abandon Juvia. Juvia can do all those things that you do with those whores at the bars and the guild." Juvia said. She started out innocent and sad but ended it in a low dangerous growl.

Gray kept his cool. He didn't want to hurt her feelings. He had always maintained his distance with her. "Juvia I've told you many times, we aren't dating. We had coffee that was it. I never said you were my girlfrie…"

"Water slicer!" she screamed. The water attack interrupted Gray. He rolled to the right. He didn't want to do this. "If Juvia can't have you then no one will have you, GRAY!" He was hit with a deluge of water sending him down the street into a building.

"Shit, girl's went and lost her damn mind!" He didn't want to fight her. He didn't want her injured but he didn't want to feed into her delusions. Fuck, I have to do this this one time. He thought as he stood up. He waited for the next attack but it didn't come. He breathed a sigh of relief because that attack made his should ache. He straightened his water logged clothes out and made a delicate ice rose and held it out for Juvia as a peace offering to show he wasn't going to fight.

With hearts in her eyes, her anger melted away, "Oh Gray, Juvia knew that you loved her." She walked over to take the rose from him. He grabbed her wrist and looked in the eyes and said, "I'm sorry, Juvia but you need help." Terror in her eyes realized what he was doing he froze her water body just enough that she was encased and couldn't use her magic.

Gray felt bad for what he did but she was either going to hurt herself or someone else. He pulled out his Lphone and call Laxus. He knew this wasn't going to be a pleasant conversation. He was surprised by the voice that answered the phone, "Hello?"

"Uh, Laxus?" Gray answered. He knew Laxus was married but never really spoke to his husband personally because he was the guild master of the White Sea of Bosco. He seen him in the guild a few times that was all. He heard a melodious laugh on the other end of the line. Gray knew that it definitely was not Laxus.

"No. This is Kaleb. Laxus is asleep. Is there something I can help you with?" Kaleb explained.

"Well…" Gray started but didn't know where to start. He felt a little push in his mind, nothing malevolent. It's Kaleb Gray. Don't worry. It's easier to show me the memories. Gray showed Kaleb all his memories of what Juvia had been doing since she joined Fairy Tail. He never once lead her one, but she got some weird idea that they were dating at just having coffee when he explicitly told her he just wanted to be friends and a guild mates nothing more.

"Bring her to the infirmary. I'll meet you there." Kaleb told Gray in a gentle tone.

Gray hated what he done to his guild mate and someone he thought of as a friend. He lessened his magic to where Juvia would be chilly but not frozen. "Juves, I'm gonna trust you to walk with me to the guild hall, ok."

The water woman shivering just shook her head and walked silently alongside the ice mage.

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Piper stretched out in her bed only to be greeted by a warm solid defiantly male body. Her eyes popped open and quickly did an internal body check. Nothing felt out of the ordinary. She had her clothes on. She didn't have a hangover. She looked over the mountain of muscle in her bed. He had his clothes on and was on top of the duvet on her bed. She racked her brain on how this moss colored haired man was on her bed. She was about to point the sleeping giant when a voice went off in her head, 'Momma! You're awake!' as Flick flittered over to her and wound up her arms and nuzzled her.

Startled , Piper said in a low whisper, "Flick was that you I heard in my head just now?" She gave the Havati serpent a wry look. 'Yes Mama. It was me. You can hear me now. Isn't it wonderful. We can talk now without speaking.' He nuzzled some more. She nuzzled back and kissed him on his snout. 'So what about big and muscly here? Know why he's in momma's bed?'

Flick flicked his tongue out and slithered up around Piper's neck and peak around the other side. 'Something about being your guardian, but that's what I've been doing.'

'Flick how have you been my guardian? I've been taking care of you since you were an egg.' She giggled. That elicited a muffled groan as the man rolled over curled up around Piper, pulling her tight against his chest even though he was above the duvet.

Flick giggled back at his momma due to her predicament. He arched up and flew off out the window to go hunting.

Beck rolled over and curled up against a rather surprisingly soft curvy bed partner. He pulled her tight to his chest and took in a deep breath of her hair. It had a faint scent of stardust in it. His sleep addled brain started putting pieces together that he was not in Bosco and his bedmate was not a sexy fun time partner but his charge he was to be training and protecting. He opened his eyes and released Piper. "Sorry about that. I was dreaming." He sat up and stretched. He popped his back and shoulders. Beck knew about the uptight Fiorian culture in the bedroom, but he didn't know about the Sinese culture.

"Hehe. You're fine. I was awake already. Just a bit confused. It's been awhile since I've woken up with a man in my bed. So why are you in my bed, not that I mind."

"You told me too. Because the floor was hard and uncomfortable." He laughed.

"Oh yeah. I'm really sorry. I just don't understand why you need to be with me is all. This is all still so new to me. I feel like I'm dreaming. I can hear Flick talk to me, every seems amplified to the max, my vision is sharper, and…and well I'm not sure how to explain this last part without embarrassing myself, but you smell so divinely masculine…I just wanna…" Piper couldn't finish the sentence. She bit her lower lip and looked away. She didn't want to talked about the fact that she was imaging him naked in her bed right now. She wasn't a virgin by any means. She had had boyfriends and a few one-night stands, but this magic that was awakened in her it made everything she felt, saw, heard, smelled so much more. Piper knew that the man was Boscan. All she had to do was ask and it would be like having coffee with him. She weeded through her hormones and her rational side. She came to the conclusion that there was one man that she wanted and didn't feel that it would be fair to take advantage of the one in front of her even if he did smell like leather and spices, spices she couldn't name.

Beck watched his charge carefully. He seen and felt in her spirit her warring with herself over what she wanted. He wasn't upset in the least by what she was going through. He was told that she had never had magic growing up and now she had all these sensations running through her body on top of the kitsune abilities that manifested. She was on sensory overload. This is why he said he would stay with her to help her unravel her magic her senses her instincts. He chuckled a little, "It's ok star shine. I'm Boscan. If you want to do that we can. Just not right now. You are having a lot of wild/feral instincts influence you. Let's get up and get breakfast, head to the guild hall and get all this energy put to use." He kissed her temple.

After Beck left her bedroom, Piper slide out of bed and went to the bathroom that was attached to her room. She looked at herself in the mirror as she brushed her teeth. She looked the same. Her eyes still a shiny yellow; she did notice a faint golden cluster of stars just below her left eye. They seemed to form a pattern. She made a mental note to ask Lucy about it since stars were her thing. She finished brushing her teeth and started on her hair. She didn't remember her hair being so long or so pink on the ends. Her hair was still a dark purple at the roots but it lightened towards the ends into a peachy pink that reminded Piper of the sky just after sunset. Plus, it was down to her butt. Great I wonder what else changed she thought. She looked down at her chest. The girls were still the same size, thank the Gods. She smiled, shit I look like a freaking vampire. Ok another mental note on my teeth. She got dressed. She pulled on her blue compression pants that she jogged in and a matching sports bra. She looked around for her sneakers and thought 'Fuck it bare foot it is.'

Piper made it down stairs to where her Papa and Lucas were sitting having coffee with the beast master. "Morning Papa, Dad." She gave them kisses on their heads. She looked over at the green hair man, "Ah, Beck, umm, I have a question about my teeth." She started with a weariness in her voice. She was feeling a little silly asking.

"What about them?" He said sipping his coffee as he put down his Lphone.

"Well you see I was brushing them this morning and…well…Ilooklikeavampire." She muffled the last sentence.

"I'm sorry you what? Look like a vampire? Oh you mean your canines are longer. That's normal. Mine are longer as well because of my magic." He reassured her and flashed her a huge smile showing off his elongate canines. "And go put some shoes on and either pulled your hair up in a ponytail or a braid. I'm not trying to be bossy and tell you what to do, but you know those wild/feral instincts we talked about? Yeah no shoes and unkempt hair is part of it. Just looking out for you."

They had made it to the guildhall. It wasn't the easiest walk there. Piper was distracted by every bakery shop on the way whether she saw the shop or not. Beck had to use his magic to reach out to all the squirrels and other small fuzzy creatures on the way to the guildhall to stay in their dwellings so Piper wouldn't be so distracted. They walked into the guildhall, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Piper looked up at Beck then over toward the blonde sitting at the bar. An unheard conversation took place as Piper left the beast master for the bar as he made his way up the stairs.

Piper walked toward Lucy who was sitting on one of the well-worn barstools drinking her signature strawberry smoothies. Mira was at her regular spot behind the bar wiping the spotless bar down. It was still fairly early. Piper had this deep seeded instinct to stalk Lucy since she hadn't been detected by the blonde. Lucy still none the wiser of Piper's presence, felt her hair being played with. She turned around to find Piper with a lock in her hand smelling it. Lucy started laughing, "Piper what the hell are you doing?"

Piper wide eyed and frozen at being caught in her weird behavior, "I don't know. I felt this need to stalk you and then smell your hair for some reason. It smells like strawberries and stardust. Can we…uh…never mention this." All three women started laughing. "I'm really sorry. I have these urges to do some weird stuff. Beck has been helping tremendously but some of them are feel so overwhelming." She started sniffing again but this time she stayed in her seat. Piper turned to Mira, "Why do you smell like sulfur, Mira? I don't want to hurt your feelings but it just every so faint like a hint on the edges of your perfume."

Mira giggled a little, "I have demon souls. You may smell them. Apparently my Sitri soul has very active."

"That makes sense. Oh! Lucy I woke up this morning with these markings under my left eyes I was hoping you would know what they are?" Piper asked pointing at the golden start cluster at her left eye.

Lucy turned to the purplette and examined the new little cluster of star markings at her left eye that formed an angle. It framed her outer corner of her eye. Lucy looked at it and crossed her arms under her chest with one hand resting a finger on her chin. She was thinking. "It looks like a constellation of sorts. Let's go down to the guild library and find a book with the star charts in it." The two women got up and waved at Mira as they left for the library.

It was still fairly early in the morning. Not many mages in the guild were present or awake. Erza walked in. She was not in her usual armor attire. She was in her white top and blue skirt. Mira gave her a look. The look of 'Who are you and what did you do with Erza?' She was still pale and looked like she lost a little bit of weight. "Good morning, Mira. Is Laxus in yet? I need to speak with him."

"Uh…yeah Erza he's upstairs in his office. Are you ok?" She asked with a looked of disbelief of how terrible the red head looked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just been fighting off the flu." Erza explained as she disappeared upstairs.

Laxus was sitting in his office talking via mental link with Kaleb who was in Pelerno. Kaleb was relaying to him what had happened last night between Juvia and Gray. He had taken the water mage to Pelerno for psychiatric therapy. Laxus was happy something finally happened with the water mage. She hadn't done anything yet that warranted this until last night when she tried to kill Gray. His thoughts were interrupted at the knock on his door. He grunted to acknowledge the person on the other side of the door to come in. What he wasn't ready for was a pale and thin looking Erza Scarlet. He had a sharp intake of breath at the sight of the power warrior woman. His bluntness was felt through his question, "Erza what the fuck happened to you?"

Erza blushed as red as her hair and fiddled with the hem of her shirt. She looked down unable to make eye contact with Laxus. She was embarrassed yet excited over what was 'wrong' with her. She looked up at the dragon slayer. She had a small smile on her face when she saw his nose twitch. "Do I need to say it or have you figured it out yet?" She said in a voice that was not her normal bravado but an overjoyed tone.

Laxus smelled the change in the requip mage. He saw the slight glow in her pale appearance. He heard the joyousness in her voice. He remembered back to when he and Kaleb were with the surrogate that gave them their Ila. All the pieces fell into place and the little light bulb went off, "How long have you known now? And when are you due? You know you can't do any jobs especially with that team of yours." He said flatly.

Erza smiled at him, "I'm about three months. I know I can't go on jobs. I'll talk to Natsu. Should be a Christmas baby. I'm over the moon, Laxus. You know how much I've wanted to be a mother." Her smiled was so big she couldn't contain her happiness. Laxus had even smiled back at her. He knew how much she wanted to be a mom. "I know Tatiana. Now go home and get some rest and that's an order. You look like shit."

Erza knew that was Laxus's way of showing that he cared. She went downstairs to tell Mira. She had to tell the demoness. She was probably gonna pass out and go overboard with the detail of a baby shower. Erza knew that they had their differences in the past but they were best friends now.

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Shadows lurked in Magnolia around a certain brownstone house. Dark inky tendrils started to reach for the lighter shadows that were grower near the front door. Wine colored eyes flashed, "Ah Ah Aw. Naughty shades. You don't belong here." A smooth voice called out to through the shadows as a void gate opened under the darker shades that were lurking in the surface shadows made by the sun setting. Hissing and guttural sounds were made but no one else heard them but the owner of the wine colored eyes.

Vander sauntered out of the alleyway that was across from his older brother's brownstone. He had a smirk on his face. He had an idea of what was coming now that he vanquished those specials shades. He wasn't going to let Magnolia fall under those shadows. It was time to put down this shadow master.