Author's Note

Chapter 11 is here!

Ok so last chapter just decided to blow up for some reason, and I am not complaining. So to all the new faces reading the story welcome, I'm glad to have you here. And to all of our returning readers, it's good to have you back. Seriously thank you all for reading, and I hope you enjoy it.


Chapter 11

"So, you're the new guy huh?"

It had been about a half-hour since he'd sat down. He was actually enjoying the peace & quiet at the bar. But the alcoholic brunette sitting farther down had finally decided to take a break from her barrel and come talk to him. What a pain.

"So, What's your story?" she asked, taking a seat in the stool next to him.

"Don't worry about it." He said back as neutrally as he could.

"Oh, not the friendly type huh? Well, I can always figure it out myself" The woman said accepting his stonewalling as a challenge. Pulling out a deck of cards she started shuffling before drawing 5, placing them facedown on the bar. She turned over the first, and looking at the image said-

"Oh, bit of a rough childhood it seems. Maybe distant parents? daddy issues? Lord knows we have enough of that around here." She seemed to be taking this whole thing very lightheartedly.

The second card flipped The Sun "But you did eventually find your way into a family." her smile actually looked genuine while saying that.

Third The Hermit "Until… it left you." her voice grew quiet, understanding she was probably pressing on a sore subject. Even so, she continued, flipping the 4th card.

The Devil

She hesitated if only for a moment, this was a rare pick, and it normally meant...

"After that, your life was filled with violence, hate, and death... The cards won't tell me who was causing it, but your life is defined by it."

The brunette did her best not to react to what she was saying, trying to focus only on what came next.

Before showing off the last card she took a breath, and she took a moment to explain.

"The first 4 cards represent a person's past. The fifth shows their future."

Turning the final card she came face to face with "The Queen?" I guess he's gonna meet an important woman in the near future. Whether that's good for him or bad only time will tell.

Finished with her fortune the girl turned to face the man she'd very likely just upset. Only to find him staring in fascination.

"What kind of magic is this?"

"Huh? Oh, it's Card Magic," she replied. Somewhat confused by his lack of reaction to her fortune.

"What else can it do?"

"Well... it's pretty versatile. The cards themselves can store objects and even bits of magic, so offensively it's not bad. But where it really shines is in supporting roles. Fortune Telling like you just saw, communication, and even tracking."

As she explained he couldn't help but think back to what saw through Talionis earlier while looking at the girl. How she held so little magic in her body compared to what he knew she could handle. But as she elaborated more about her magic of choice all became clear.

So that was why her magic container wasn't filling all the way. She was a Holder-type. She wasn't using her own magic to attack, only relying on the cards.

A person's magic circuitry works very much like their cardiovascular system. The more it's used the more efficient the body becomes at moving and utilizing oxygen. So after training the person can handle more stress. In the same way, the more a person uses magic the better they get at using it and the more output they have.

Basically, this girl was out of shape, at least as far as magic was concerned. If she picked up a different kind of magic that forced her to exert more of her own, she would likely gain access to the rest of her container.

Regardless, she said something interesting.

"Tracking? Could you find someone for me?"

"..."

A smirk shot to her lips. "Really now? Just a minute ago you couldn't be bothered to talk to me and now you're asking for a favor? What's in it for me?" She teased.

"I'll tell you how to double your magic power within the next year." He said flatly.

All she could do was blink "...Wha?"

"Do you want it or not?" he pressed.

"Sheesh, and I was just gonna challenge you to a drinking contest. Alright, deal, who are you looking for? I need a name and a picture or personal item."

Shit, he had none of that. Well, he knew Hades' name but seriously doubted 'Hades' was his actual name.

He could try Zancrow but again he didn't have a picture or personal item.

"Is there anything else you can use, like major events that they caused, or locations that I know they've been to at specific times?" He tried.

"No, I need both a specific name and something physical to ground the spell if you want to find them." she reaffirmed.

With a sigh, he retracted his offer "Damn, there's no way, I don't have any of that."

"Then sorry but I can't help you here." She replied with a frown.

That was frustrating.

"Well, whatever…" He wasn't expecting to find any leads when he came here anyway. This was just par for the course.

"Oh right, our deal." He said, remembering he promised her something.

"Wait, you're still gonna tell me? But I didn't follow through on my end." she objected.

"I don't really care either way. If you don't wanna know I won't tell you," he said impatiently.

The girl's attitude changed rapidly, from hesitant, to acting like a puppy begging for a treat.

With another sigh, he finally said "Just learn a non-Holder type magic. Could be something elemental, Crash Magic, even Speed Magic would do the trick. Anything that isn't reliant on an object. Learn it and practice every day. Not to exhaustion but close. Do that for a year and your reserves should double easily."

She seemed unimpressed until he mentioned Crash Magic, then her eyes lit up.

"But why would that work?"

"Look I don't really feel like explaining it to you, take it or leave it. But I guarantee my way is gonna be more beneficial than sitting around here trying to kill your liver." Seriously, he'd been in this guildhall less than an hour and she had already powered through several gallons of ale.

Thinking about his statement she rose from her seat. "Ya alright, I think I will." As she turned away from the bar and started walking towards the exit she paused, seeming to realize something. "I'm Cana by the way!" The girl called out. "I'll be seeing you around Kinzo, and for your sake, you better not be pullin my leg with this!"

Finally, she left the building and gave him the peace & quiet he was craving.

yes tranquil and silent.

...

"Well, that was nice of you." Oh for F*** sake.

Turning his head to the sound of a new voice, he met the gaze of the barmaid he'd noticed earlier. She was standing just to his right holding a tray table in her hands, no doubt back from delivering drinks.

"What gave you that idea?" he said sarcastically.

"Hmm, well she said it herself, you didn't get anything out of telling her all that. And I don't think I've seen Cana that motivated to train in years. She normally just sits in here all day unless a job comes up. So, I think what you did was rather thoughtful."

...She was serious right now, did she not realize he was being rhetorical? Whatever he would play nice. The bar was where he planned on spending most of his time while Makarov kept him trapped here. Best to get along with the person he'd be seeing the most of.

"I think you're a little too naive. I didn't do that because I'm nice." He met her gaze again before flashing a grin her way. "That Cana of yours owes me a favor now."

After hearing his response she just looked down at him with slightly narrowed eyes, but no hostility was in them. She was just processing. Then she flashed a grin of her own "You're pretty interesting. Kinzo was it?"

Once the response left her lips, she made her way around the bar dropping the tray in a bin on the floor. The white-haired woman didn't turn back to him after. Instead reaching under the bar and pulling out two shot glasses with a bottle of whisky. "And since you're so interesting I'd like to know more."

"Weren't you just eavesdropping on my conversation, I'm sure you heard her retellings." he tried to deflect.

"I did, but Cana's fortunes are always so vague. I want a bit more than that." pouring a shot into each glass.

Did she think alcohol would loosen his tongue? It wouldn't, he was practically immune to the stuff. Enhanced strength and reflexes also comes with a naturally higher metabolism. Bottom line, he couldn't get drunk, his mother had emphasized using that little trick to gather information in bars and brothels. While the people around him became chatty from their drinks, he was sharp as ever.

"And if I don't want to give you any more?"

"Now now, I'm sure we could help each other out here. Tell me what would it take for you to tell a few stories?"

This girl was a smooth talker, which only added to his concerns about her, but he would bite. Like he said earlier, better to be on good terms with the person serving you drinks "...I'll tell you a few stories if you tell me some in return."

She beamed at that. "Deal, and as a sign of good faith I'll let you ask first."

He took a moment to scan the guildhall again until his eyes rested on the orange-haired playboy, still surrounded by women. "Him, what can you tell me about him?"

"Hmm, Loke huh? Well, he joined the guild a few years back. He used to be really quiet and respectful actually, but as you can see nowadays he's Fairy Tail's resident womanizer. Other than that I don't know much about his back story, he's pretty tight-lipped about it. And he wasn't willing to make any trades like you."

"Well, nothing to go on from that, unfortunately." He thought in disappointment.

As the story ended, she picked up one of the shot glasses between them, before swallowing the contents and pressing it back against the table. "My turn," she said with a smile.

"Cana said you had a bit of a rough upbringing, tell me about that."

Straight to the point "...My mother was a tough woman, and hard to really get along with. It didn't help that we moved every couple days either." Picking up his own glass he downed the strong drink as well.

"... That's it? That's all I get?" She was rather irritated at his light response.

"Hate to break it to you, but that's it. Emotionally distant mother, non-existent father, and no consistent place to put down roots. That's my 'tragic' childhood. Sorry to disappoint."

"Hmm." She pouted before filling the glasses again. "Fine, your turn."

His eyes once again roamed the guild before finding a rather excitable 'MAN!' "Him, the brute throwing people around."

Her eyes narrowed as she looked down on him again. "Well, that brute is my brother, Elfman, for one. Other than that little fact, which you should really keep in mind, he uses Takeover Magic. Specifically, Beast Soul, which lets hi-"

"-Him use any soul he's collected from a beast," Kinzo finished for her. He knew a Takeover mage, oh but sweet Lord he wished he didn't. Honestly, he still had 'nightmares' about her sometimes. But she was on a different continent so he was fine...

"What I'm more concerned with is why his magic is only reaching his right arm?"

"How do you know that?!" she said in surprise. Leaning forward on the bar.

"It's not hard to see he's holding back if you pay attention, now will you tell me or not?"

She considered not answering because of the sensitive subject surrounding why Elfman was restricting himself like that, but thought better of it. She wanted to know what this guy's deal was, backing down now wouldn't help with that.

"He hurt someone important to him, ever since then he's only ever done partial-takeovers. Never using more than his right arm. I think he's scared of what might happen if he fully transforms again." as she finished providing the information, another glass was emptied. She was particularly thankful for that drink.

"Alright my turn" She wanted to move on quickly.

"What family did you end up in? Cana said you found one."

He'd been thinking about Elfman's peculiar form of penance when she asked him who his family was. All he had to do was point toward a shirtless boy who was currently fighting a pink-haired hot head. "I lived with Gray for a couple of years and got to know our master Ur. But in all honesty, she was more of a mother to me than a teacher. And after I went back to my actual mother things with her got better. She was a bit more responsive emotionally, and it seemed like things would keep looking up.

She didn't need to hear anymore. She knew Gray's master was dead, it was why he'd joined Fairy Tail after all. But still, those two knew each other when they were kids? Not just that, they lived together for a few years? If that was the case she could always just ask Gray for more info later.

With his shot downed she filled them yet again.

"Now, tell me about Makarov." he prompted.

"Well he's..."

Her response was mostly arbitrary information or things he already knew so it honestly felt like a waste of a question.

Even so, she'd answered what he'd asked, so she drank.

"You lost your family. How?" she threw out, face slightly cringing from the whisky.

That was rather blunt, and he didn't exactly like her approach, but he would still answer. His curiosity pushed him forward. "Dark guild killed my mother while they were wiping out a town we were staying at, and when I went looking for Gray and Ur for help they had already moved on from our old home."

Flat and to the point. Obviously, she wanted more details but understood the difficulty of talking about loss. She let him drink.

"Makarov said something about S-class mages. Who are they?"

"Oh, well there's Erza who you already know. Mystogan who drops by every now and then. Laxus Master's grandson, Gildarts our Ace who's gone for years at a time. And of course, there's me, but I'm retired."

He'd been listening intently until she mentioned herself. She seemed to get a kick out of his reaction if the smirk she was wearing meant anything.

So this girl was S-class, one of Fairy Tail's best. If she was anything Like Erza she might be a problem.

"Well don't stop now, tell me about yourself." he pressed.

"Ah-ah, that's gonna have to wait. Maybe you could ask it next round." she teased.

"Now, Cana said your life was a violent one tell me about that."

He thought about how to answer that until it struck him "Well since you're S-class, Makorav will be explaining it to you in more detail tomorrow. So I'll give you the short version. Basically, I didn't take too kindly to what those dark mages did, so for the past few years I've been… 'dealing with them.' And I'm not exactly gentle while doing it."

The way he'd said that concerned her but if Master really was explaining the situation to her later then she could live with that answer for now.

Both glasses finished off, she filled them for a fifth time.

"You already know what I'm gonna ask," he said.

Giggling she answered. "Well my name is Mirajane Strauss, but most people call me Mira. I was an S-class mage until a couple of years ago when I retired, and now I work the bar for the place I love most in this world."

"Care to comment on why your magic is so dark?"

She grumbled.

"Hmm. There you go again saying things you shouldn't know anything about. Fine, I used to use Takeover Magic like my brother. Satan Soul to be precise."

Well, that explained why he was getting Lullaby ESC. vibes from this chick. She literally stole the power of demons.

"And is there a reason your magic is even more restricted than your brothers?"

She didn't answer that one

"I can only assume it has something to do with that tragedy you mentioned before?"

More silence.

"...sorry, I shouldn't be prying like that."

"No no, it's fine." Man, she wanted to get off of this topic and quick. Taking a moment to down her half of the alcohol a thought came to her, and oh how it made her smile.

Eyes twinkling she started to speak "Talking about your future Cana pulled 'The Queen.' Sooooo, any special lady in your life?" she'd known this man existed for less than an hour, yet already she was trying to dig into his love life. Oh boy.

He looked at her in bewilderment for a moment before opening his mouth "I don'-"

"Hey Mira sorry to cut in, but I need to steal him for a bit." Gray had stepped in at a great time.

"No way he was just getting to the good stuff!" She replied excitedly.

"Mira, please. We really need to talk." The Ice mage re-stated.

Looking into his eyes she knew he was serious "Uhhh, fine!" she relented before locking eyes with Kinzo and pointing an accusatory finger his way "But we aren't done, Mister." Before finally walking away from the bar to take more orders.

"You're a lifesaver Gray" he joked.

"Ya, Mira can be a bit intense. But really, we should talk. 6 years to catch up on and all."

"I'm all ears."

So they sat for some time trading stories. Gray, of his time in Fairy Tail and the friends he'd made along the way. Kinzo, of his travels around Ishgar and Alveraz. He mentioned some of the dark guild infiltrations he'd done, but kept it PG for his friend's sake.

"...and that's how I cleaned up a lot of dark guilds in Bosco."

"Wait wait wait, you used explosive lacrima? What about the people still inside?"

"What about them?"

"You're just killing them?! That's not how things are supposed to work! What about trials, due process, making sure you have the right guy? You should have been reporting them to the local authorities not acting like you have the right to play executioner!"

"The local authorities?" he asked with a humorless laugh.

"You don't think I tried that? The city guards were on their payroll! The mayor was in their pocket!" He emphasized while trying to control his volume.

"On my first ever dark guild stakeout, all I did was gather intel. Then I took what I knew and scheduled a meeting with the mayor. All he did was laugh! The next thing I knew every guard in the whole city was out for my head."

Gray couldn't have expected to hear that. Sure he'd met plenty of sleazy nobles and mayors out on jobs, but… for a whole city to be under a dark guild's thumb. That was unheard of, but his friend's story was far from over.

"That happened to me 4 damn times before I finally wised up. After that, I just started blowing the dark guilds to high hell and killing off the mayors and noblemen that were working with them. It was better than doing nothing. And since I didn't feel like cleaning up afterward I always let the military know what was goin down. A little note with coordinates and a date. They send a squad to check it out and find what's left of my work."

The ice mage was horrified yet couldn't help but debate what should have been done instead. Was there a better alternative? Then it hit him.

"Wait, you said the military would come right? So they can't be under dark guild control, why not work with them?" That had to be a good option right?

"Come on Gray, think a little. Who has direct control over what the military does, and where it goes?"

"Uh?... the magic council-!" He couldn't be serious. The corruption went that high?

"Would you believe me if I told you the council has detailed records on the locations of over 80% of Ishgar's dark guilds? They know where they are, what they're doing, and have more than enough firepower to stop it all. Yet still, they do nothing. So no, despite knowing some great people in the military I can't work with something totally controlled by the council."

This wasn't real, no way "Are you telling me the entire council is corrupt?" He whispered.

"No. I haven't bothered checking who's on it in 2 or 3 years, but last I saw a few respectable people had seats. But they were a minority, so any attempt to take action would just be outvoted."

Hell, both sides of this made him sick. The idea of leaders across the continent selling out the people they were supposed to be protecting made him queasy. Even so, Kinzo's methods left him feeling just as uneasy.

...

Gray looked like he was gonna be sick, so he decided to change topics for a while. And slowly the conversation became more casual.

Finally after about an hour more of catching up Kinzo asked something he'd contemplated since he found out about it.

"What happened to Ur?" it didn't make any sense that she was dead. That woman was strong, she had more magic in her than most Rune Knight Battalions had between all their soldiers.

At first, Gray just dropped his head, but eventually, he built up the nerve to tell a story.

"... Deliora was spotted, just a few towns away from us. He was so close, two days walk at most."

He knew how much Deliora had taken from his friend, and the beast being so close was bound to mess with anyone's head. But, how did that tie into Ur? They were still living at the top of a mountain. Deliora wouldn't bother trying to climb it just to get to them, would he?

"We were fighting tooth and nail, but in the end it was hopeless. Even after years of training with Ur, I couldn't land a scratch on it. Lyon was already unconscious, and Ur… that thing took one of her legs. In the end, she made a trade, her life for ours. That's the only reason I'm still here."

What, she went out fighting a demon? That didn't sound like Ur at all. "Gray that makes no sense. Ur wouldn't just leave the safety of her mountain to go fight some monster. She sure as hell wouldn't risk you and Lyon by letting you tag along. Why was she out there to begin with?"

His confusion and anger at the story was building. He refused to believe that his mothe- … master threw away her life to go fight some demon. Especially with her disciples in tow. She wouldn't do that.

Gray hesitated, no he was practically frozen in place. Kinzo was right, Ur would never do something like that, normally.

"I...She didn't want to fight it… but she had to. T-to save me." It took a moment but he managed to force it out.

"Gray you're not making any sense, why would she have to save you if you were with her on the mountain?"

The boy's next words were barely audible, even with his enhanced hearing.

"Because… I left. I went to fight it on my own."

Everything clicked, and he practically threw his stool out from under him as he reached for the younger boy's collar. Dragging him to his feet as well.

"You Did What?" he sheathed.

"You mean to tell me that Ur, the woman who practically raised us, is dead! And for what? So you could run off AND COMMIT SUICIDE!?" His screech had attracted the attention of the rest of the guild but he didn't care. Neither did Gray.

"You think I don't know that!" he roared back. "You think there isn't a day that goes by where I wish I had been the one to die that day?" Despite the volume and anger in the youth's voice, he was obviously close to tears.

"You think I don't wanna go back, to have just one more minute, with her, with you and Lyon? On that mountain... I, I wou-, I would tra-… trade any..." He couldn't keep it up anymore, the anger, the regret. There was no room left for them, it just hurt.

Tears fell, as his throat started to seize and sobs tried to escape. He was so drowned in his own sorrow, he almost didn't notice. Something was pulling him forward and squeezing him.

It took a few seconds to recognize, but he was hugging him, Kinzo was hugging him.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be yelling at you... I wasn't thinking, I forgot you lost her too that day."

As he spoke, Gray felt the need to dig his head further into his brother's shoulder "She's gone, I'm the reason she's gone. I killed her." he whimpered.

"Stop, don't say things like that."

"It's true! She's dead beca-"

"She's gone because she saw you as more important! You already said it yourself, she traded her life for yours. She did that knowingly. She did that because she wanted to, because she thought you were worth it. Don't pretend for a second that she blames you, or that she hates you. Ur knew exactly what she was doing, and if it meant you were safe she'd do it a thousand times over."

The older boy's words seemed to silence any dark thoughts Gray was having, and he thought that would be the end of it. But sadly that wasn't the case. The ice mage still had more to say, he still had to tell him how Ur died.

"But she use- she used... Iced Shell."

...

Oh no, no no please no.

He still remembered the day they found that spell, in an old book under Ur's bed. At the time they'd read it with fascination, but now. Now it was a true nightmare.

Ur had turned her body into ice to seal away Deliora. She would live out the rest of eternity as some glacier. But the spell was very clear that the caster would still be alive after transforming, still conscious of the things around them. Ur would forever be trapped and forced to watch as the world around her changed and the years went by. Unable to communicate with anyone outside herself. Until either the end of days came, or her mind cracked under the strain.

There was nothing he could say to ease that pain. To know that the woman they cared for would suffer far more than she ever deserved to. No, all he could do was hold his family close.


Author's Note

And done. Ok everyone I'm guessing you guys are hungry for a fight scene and I promise next chapter is stacked. In the meantime, I hope these three character interactions were to your liking. As always If you guys have any critiques feel free to let me know, I'm always looking to make the story better.

For future reference, I'm not really sure what I want to do with Cana as a character in this story so I'm open to suggestions. She will be stronger as mentioned earlier in this chapter. It always struck me as odd that she was Guildart's kid but seemed pretty average in terms of strength for the series (though I guess she could use Fairy-Glitter) I'll be doing this a fair bit actually where I change a character's strength-level/abilities because something about the series just didn't make sense to me. I have some ideas about how to use her in the story but I'd like to hear what you guys think.


Magic

1) Metal-Make Magic like ice make... but with metal

2) Speed Magic (Potential energy magic- p.s. I made this up so you won't find it on a wiki... I think.) so any time you see Conversion Leap (speed boost) or Kinetic Decay (stealing something else's speed and trapping it in place)

3) Telekinesis lifting things with one's mind etc.

4) Re-Quip

Tools

1) His Revolver- Iron Maiden (two types of ammo revealed. Puncture rounds and Flashbang rounds)

2) The rings his mother gave him - can be molded into other objects and when spun together replay a recorded message.

3) The magic absorbing metal - He can choose to make his weapons out of this or other kinds of normal metal (iron, steel, etc.)

4) The Eye of Talionis - replacing his right eye, it allows the user to see magic (Ethernano)

5) Isacc Colt's journals - three journals belonging to his father

6) metal woven into his hair - this will not play a major role for most of the story but I may as well mention it so people don't forget.