Author's note

Ok, I just have to say, one of my favorite things about writing this story are some of the questions I get in the reviews. Over the course of the last 18 chapters I've gotten more than a few reviews asking 'could Kinzo do something like this?' or 'would his magic let him do that?' It is genuinely one of the most enjoyable things I do. It's really awesome to me that people are interested enough in the story/this character to wonder what could or couldn't happen and try to push the limits. And I have been listening and taking note of your ideas. Who knows I might just use some of them.


The Greyhound: Part 2, Old Demons

Chapter 19

There's a lot in a word, language is how we convey different ideas and concepts to one another. Oftentimes it's how we sort through our own thoughts, by writing them down or speaking them out loud. The amount of meaning that can be bottled up in just a few letters is actually quite amazing.

In Kinzo's case, the word that came to mind was 'Surprised'. Now surprised carries a number of slightly different meanings with it. "To be unexpected", "To be caught unawares or off guard", "To be shocked".

Yes those phases, that word, perfectly captured what he felt when Natsu came crashing through the ceiling and landed on hard ground.

He wasn't surprised by the action itself, no, he was more surprised by "How in the hell is this kid still alive?"

The thought was justified though. In the past two days, he had watched this guy roll down the side of a stone temple and now fall down at least a dozen stories only to land, once again, on solid stone.

"Er, frickin ice prick." and now he was moving again like nothing was wrong.

"Quite the resilient one isn't he." Zalty chimed in.

"So it would seem." was his automatic response.

Once the Salamander had actually recovered enough to notice them he briefly looked at Kinzo before his eyes immediately glued themselves to Zalty. Smiling to himself he said, "Well since Gray stole my bad guy, I'll just steal yours!" And charged the small 'man'.

Zalty seemed disinterested in the fire mage, speaking instead to the assassin. "A shame, we were just getting to know each other too." That was unsettling.

Seriously anytime she tried to be provocative while disguised as a middle-aged man it just creeped him out.

Regardless, Natsu's interruption was actually a blessing in disguise. She was a strong opponent and not someone he was confident in beating. Honestly, they'd had 3-4 fights already (depending on what you consider to be a fight.) and he still had no idea what she was fully capable of. Every time they traded attacks it always felt like she was playing with him.

Now was a great chance to push her and see where the limit was. For Ur's sake he wouldn't kill her, but that didn't mean he had to let her walk all over him. Besides gathering as much info as possible about the way she fights will give him an edge in the future.

And so he jumped in as Natsu launched his first volley of fire.

The woman in disguise didn't seem deterred about facing two opponents at all.

"Well if you're both coming at me," A smile plastered itself on 'his' face "Then there's no reason to hold back." And Magic pressure began to fill the room.


"You look like shit." Gray offered, noticing his opponent was covered from head to toe in bandages. No doubt trying to heal from the nasty burns Kinzo had given him.

"Keep joking, when this is over you won't be able to speak anymore" The dynamic-ice mage retorted.

A moment of silence rested between them, and the boy with silver hair prepared to strike.

"I'm sorry."

He just blinked, unsure if he'd heard that right. "What?"

"I'm sorry," Gray repeated. "I'm sorry for what Kinzo did to you last night. He attacked without thinking, and you were in bad shape so..."

Lyon just sat there, stupefied. Was this real? Was he serious?

"What are you, his mother? Here to apologize for your son's bad behavior?" he mocked.

Gray was getting irritated, he was bad enough at this kind of stuff to begin with. It didn't help when the person he was apologizing to started taunting him.

"Damn it Lyon, take this seriously!"

"I am taking this seriously, Gray. In fact it seems to me that you're the only one who isn't."

That set the boy off "Wha-!"

"Look at yourself Gray! Think about what you've actually accomplished since being on this island. Then compare yourself to me."

"When I found out Ur was here, keeping Deliora locked away, I devoted my life to freeing the beast. Gave everything for the chance to kill the demon once and for all. It doesn't matter to me who tries to get in the way or who gets hurt, I will prove myself and cut down anyone who opposes me! That's how serious I am."

"And take a look at Kinzo. Once he found out what I was doing to Ur he took it seriously, to the point where he nearly killed me. Make no mistake, I detest that fool, and I'll kill him for what he did; but at least he has some conviction."

"What about you Gray? In comparison to the extremes the two of us are willing to go, I'd say you don't take this situation seriously at all. No, I detest that fool Kinzo for standing against me, but it's people like you I hate the most! Unwilling to actually dedicate themselves to a cause, unable to risk themselves or their precious sense of morality for something greater! You're all just sheep waiting to be slaughtered or exploited, it makes me sick!"

"I despise Kinzo, but at least I can respect his devotion to Ur. I can't really say the same about you now can I. You already killed her once as a child, and now you're going to kill her again by doing nothing. You don't have the strength of will to strike me down, even for her… well, even if you could bring yourself to do it, you don't have the strength to begin with."

"Ice-Make: Lance!"

"Ice-Make: Shield!" The student's of Ur cried.

With his attack blocked Gray's anger only grew. How could one of Ur's students spout such bullshit? But there was also a bit of truth to his words.

"You don't have the strength of will to strike me down, even for her."

Those words reminded him of something else he'd heard.

"...enjoy watching everyone you care about die in front of you because you can't bring yourself to do what needs to be done!"

"I'm going to save her whatever the cost. If you don't have the stomach for it then just leave. It's not like you've ever done anything useful anyway."

They were so similar, Lyon and Kinzo. Both willing to do the unspeakable, just for opposing reasons. And as far as he was concerned both needed some serious help. He felt terribly under-qualified to be the one trying to fix this little dysfunctional family, but no one else seemed to be stepping up to the plate.

Lyon was right in front of him, so he was going to do something. And if he could help Lyon, maybe he could help Kinzo too.

"You talk about murder as though it were a virtue! Ice-Make: Hammer!" bringing the mallet down on Lyon's head.

"Being willing to kill for what you believe is a virtue." Gray's hammer shattered as it struck something, that wasn't his opponent.

The ape Lyon had made during his fight with Natsu came back once more to defend its master, destroying itself and pushing the attacker back in the process.

Gray landed on his feet but when he took in his surroundings his back was nearly up against a wall.

"That's insane Lyon. You don't have the right to decide who lives and who dies!"

"Haha, says the fool who won't even try to stop me. Those who get in my way have already forfeited their lives. The strong choose their own fate, and sheep die at the whim of wolves."

"Ice-Make: Snow Dragon!"

As the serpent approached him he had to think fast. He knew this thing would be tough to break since Kinzo had to use an explosive lacrima to take it out the night before.

"Ice-Make: Spear!" Solidifying the weapon in his hands he readied himself.

When the snake opened its jaws to crush him, that was when he struck. Raising the spear up and pressing the back of the pole against the wall behind him he lined up the point. And as the creature's fangs were about to rip into him that was when he rolled away.

But, while he had escaped safely the dragon ran mouth first into the spear he'd left behind. Crashing into the wall and jamming the point far into it's frigid skull before finally shattering.

"Enough of this Lyon!"

"You won't stop me Gray! I'll slaughter anyone who gets in my way!"

"Ice-Make: Snow Tiger!" shaping the predator he sent it after his old sparring partner.

A quick jump into the air and one spell was all it took "Ice-Make: Prison!" trapping the frozen animal in an intricate cage and anding on the container's roof himself.

"Do you even hear yourself? You're acting like some caged animal lashing out at anyone who gets too close! No, that doesn't even cover it. You're acting like some petty god, like you have the divine right to do as you please in this world!"

"I do have the right to do as I please! Because I have strength! To those with power all is permitted, and the weak are only to be crushed or exploited!"

"Ice-Make: Birds!" using one of his oldest spells, Lyon lashed out.

In response Gray started to sprint along the top of the cage, and once he'd reached the end he jumped. Vaulting over the attack and landing just in front of his opponent, and well within his guard. But he didn't stop there.

No Gray had an Idea and all Lyon could do was panic.

Using the momentum from the jump Gray pressed on and buried his fist in the already bandaged boy's stomach.

If the two had a chance to watch the fight over, they would say it seemed familiar to them. Lyon especially would recall being beaten by someone in a similar way when they were kids.

As the blow registered his eyes widened and he nearly dropped to his knees. Gray had just landed a strike on his already very sensitive/ burnt skin. But the Fullbuster was far from done.

A punch to the face made him step back.

A kick to the back of the head made his knees buckle.

And a knee to the chin made him fall to his back.

Gray was kneeling over top of him the moment he was down and pulled him up by his shirt collar. Getting in one last punch. He could feel blood pooling in his mouth from the onslaught.

"Do you get it now!? Do you see now that strength isn't everything!?" the boy on top of him roared.

"Power is... all that matters-" he grunted out.

"You know that isn't true! Do you even see how far you've fallen, how much you've strayed from what Ur's taught us? You don't believe anything you've said is actually true, because if it was what use would Ur have had for us? If strength is all that matters why did she take us in?"

That gave him pause. He'd never questioned why Ur agreed to train him, only accepted that she had. And for a moment he didn't have an answer, but then it clicked in his warped mind.

"Because… She saw what I could become. That I could be, strong." gargling the words as he spat out blood.

"Because you were 'special'? You think she took you in because she saw something 'special' in you?" Gray spat in disbelief.

"It wasn't because we were special, God knows how much we screwed up as kids! And if Ur was really picking her disciples based on strength then she should have just gotten rid of us the moment Kinzo showed up because he was stronger!"

He could see it, even Lyon with all his issues and stubbornness could see the contradictions in the way he was thinking. I mean after all Kinzo had nearly killed him last night, and Gray had just beaten him now. If strength was all that mattered then Gray was right Ur should have gotten rid of-!

"No, don't try tricking me with your pointless words! Ur took me in because… because-"

"Because she cared about you! Don't try shifting this around. The reason she raised us, trained us, taught us how to live was because she cared about us! Damn it Lyon you were there, you were there when she gave up everything to stop Deliora! She did that because we were there, because she had to protect us!"

Gray's voice was growing coarse from how much he was screaming, and tears were beginning to fall from his eyes.

The boy he was trying to get through to didn't look much better.

"I, I have to be strong, I have to prove myself. Prove I was worthy of being her disciple-"

"You don't have to prove anything to her Lyon! She already saw you as a worthy student, as her own son!"

"But I, I have to- need. I just want her to..."

He didn't know what to say. Even if he did, he wouldn't know how to say it. But still he fought against Gray's words. They couldn't be true, because if they were then the last 4 years on this island were pointless and all the terrible things he'd done, the people he'd hurt, it was all for nothing. If Ur already acknowledged him then why was he doing all of this?

Seeing his friend still fighting against the truth, Gray just put his head down in defeat.

"She loved you Lyon, how can you not see that?"

Those words broke him, and suddenly any argument he tried to come up with just fell short in his mind.

"She loved you... but you're killing her."

And that made him weep.

"I know." Was all he managed to get out, before his tears came.

All he could do was grit his teeth, and think of how disappointed she'd be in him.

...

"Don't pity yourself."

His teary eyes widened, looking up at the man who'd beaten him.

Several minutes had passed in silence before his attacker spoke, but when he did Gray's words rang in his ears.

"You've made a mess Lyon. Feeling sorry for yourself won't help anything. But if you wanna try cleaning up your act start now."

He thought over those words and figured he was right. If he actually wanted to change then there's no time like the present. Maybe if he hurried then he could stop the ritual from happeni-

"RAAAAAAAAH!" came a blood chilling roar.

No he was too late.

Gray was already sprinting for the lower levels, and Lyon stood, hauling his broken body down as quickly as he could.


"Fire Dragon's Talon!" Natsu moved in on Zalty with a flurry of powerful kicks. Each One packing enough power to break bones… if he could ever get them to connect.

As his legs drew closer to hitting his target, the man would just weave through them like they were moving in slow motion. Well, actually they kind of were.

The fire mage didn't really know how to explain it, but moving around felt harder than normal. It was like he was trying to move through water, everything was slower and took more energy to do.

It started when the fight did. Before he fell down here things were fine but ever since he started taking swings at this mask dude everything felt wrong.

As his thoughts came to a close so did his kicks, and before he even had both feet back on the ground an orb buried itself in his gut. With eyes practically popping out of his skull he was sent flying into a nearby wall.

"Hehehe." Zalty chuckled to himself. It was always so fun when 'he' let 'his' magic out. Spreading his Magic power over the area like a mist. Doing it had a couple of effects actually. One was throwing people off their game, which is what was happening to the Salamander.

Ultear had taken the time to 'interview' some of the people who'd been on the receiving end of this particular ability and the most common answer was "it felt like moving through water." It seemed that victims thought her magic was somehow slowing them down, but that wasn't the case.

No, in fact the thing slowing them down was their bodies natural response. When met with danger the body will engage what is commonly referred to as "fight or flight" mode. By gradually releasing her magic into the area around them, she could force the human body into what she called a "Soft-Flight response."

When the other mage's body feels the magic around them it senses danger, but by spreading her magic thin enough a person's mind doesn't catch on. It's similar to when one's body reacts to being watched even when the person themselves doesn't know someone is spying on them.

Basically a person's body, their physiology, is in "flight mode" it wants to run. But their mind doesn't see any reason to run and instead tries to fight. This results in the body limiting itself, holding back/ conserving as much energy as possible just in case they need to make a break for it. The final result being, the person is much less effective in combat.

This was only possible due to her massive reserves, and the subtlety she used when deploying her magic. Truly it was a powerful tool that gave her a massive advantage over other combatants. Which is why she was so concerned when Kinzo's attacks didn't slow down at all.

Punches, kicks, even the way he ran was completely unaltered, like she wasn't having any effect on him at all.

"You didn't think something like this would actually stop me did you?" Said the man in question coming in for another round of strikes.

Jumping over a low kick she heard him continue "Don't get me wrong, it's an impressive trick, but it's gonna take more than that to phase me."

Smirking in her disguise she responded "I knew I liked you for a reason."

… Hell, that sounded so creepy coming from Zalty's voice.

No time to focus on the weird exchange Kinzo was forced to deal with more orbs coming his way. He didn't even bother forging weapons. Unless he had her distracted she would just age them out of existence. Instead, he drew his pistol and started shooting, shattering orbs left and right.

Now you might be thinking "Oh Kinzo can move normally because his metal is just absorbing the magic," but no, silly reader, that isn't the case. The reason he seemed unaffected was simply because he'd experienced this kind of thing before.

One time when he accidentally pissed off Brandish by… you know it's not really that important actually. The point is when she let her Magic get out of control it made it difficult to move. And since that was such a glaring weakness he decided to find a way around it.

The answer was exposure therapy, simply by experiencing the feeling long enough he developed a kind of immunity. His body simply got used to the constant feeling of danger and started letting him move normally again.

He would have to give Ultear credit though. When Brandish did this it was unintentional, just the result of her getting mad, but Ultear was doing this deliberately. She knew how the average person would physically react and was using it to her advantage in combat, it was genius.

Now it probably wouldn't work on someone like Makarov who had a ton of magic himself, and it had no effect on someone like him who'd experienced and gotten used to the effects, but people like Natsu's who weren't used to it and didn't have stupid levels of magic... Well lets just say it was a good thing Kinzo was here to make sure the woman didn't hurt him too badly.

As he finished firing a half dozen shots, stopping her attack from reaching him, the girl in disguise spoke. "Well if that doesn't do it for you, maybe this will."

The air started to shimmer around her, and he jumped to the left as the ground he was standing on nearly exploded.

The average person would have just seen the ground shatter for no reason, but he saw differently. Thanks to Talionis he knew what she was doing. It wasn't a traditional attack or spell, it was pure magic. No elements or affinities, no time manipulation, it was just pure magic that she was swinging around like a club. Ok this was new.

He'd never seen something like this before. I mean sure he'd seen people use plain old magic to affect the world around them but this was just insane. I mean how much magic do you have to have to crack a stone floor when you send it out? He was seriously lucky to have his eye because otherwise the attacks would be practically invisible and carry enough force to turn him into a bloody paste.

"Oh, you dodged that? … You know I've been meaning to ask how it is that you always see my attacks coming. It's almost like you have a 6th sense when it comes to magic, but my reports don't mention anything like that."

Ok she was way to perspective, it actually kinda scared him how quickly she picked up on things. "You're overthinking it," he said before rushing her.

She sent two more waves of magic his way, cracking the earth as they traveled closer, but this time he was ready for it "Metal-Make: swords!"

Taking up two blades he let the attacks hit them, absorbing the energy, before sending it back at her. Zalty wasn't even phased, just sending out more bursts of power to cancel out his counter attack.

As the waves met they slammed against each other kicking up dust and destroying large portions of the cavern. The smokescreen was something he was grateful for as it would let him get close to her undetected, and from there he could do some real damage.

He moved silently.

In seconds he was only feet from her, and her back was already up against a wall. "Metal-Make: Black Mace!"

"Kyaaaa!"


Ultear was in some ways enjoying herself and in other ways not so much. It really was nice to actually let her magic out, she was so rarely allowed to do so, and in a few more minutes the moon would be high enough in the sky to start the Moon-Drip (she would need to fix the temple before that.)

The positives ended there though because for the last several days she had been in this 'Zalty' disguise and she really didn't like pretending to be a man. Taking off the mask for a few minutes last night to torment Kinzo had been a much needed break. And speaking of Kinzo he was making things kind of annoying at the moment since he'd covered the area in dust. She could barely see anything.

Taking a step backward she ran into the cave wall, well at least she knew which way she couldn't go now. Uhhh she was practically a sitting duck right now, that needed to change. So she sent out a soft pulse of magic and used it to locate what was around her. She only just noticed there was someone right in front of her when it was already too late.

"Metal-Make: Black Mace!" She registered a massive spiked club heading right for her face before she dropped to her butt and let out the most embarrassing shriek of her life.

"Kyaaa!" she squealed as the club buried itself in the wall above her.

Once the panic left, she briefly looked up only to see Kinzo smirking down at her. "I'm counting that as a win for me," he said.


"I'm counting that as a win for me," he let himself say, and she reacted about how he expected.

Lashing out with more magic waves she forced him to take a step back, and once he was out of reach Zalty jumped up on a stone pile to look down on him. "That's going to cost you, boy."

"Oh I'm sure." he agreed "But it was definitely worth it."

'He' just got more irritated. "You seem awfully satisfied about missing."

"Heh, I suppose you did dodge." He chuckled, "But I promise, you won't dodge this one." His words suddenly becoming serious.

"Oh please, you're kidding yourse-" "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"

From her left the pink-haired menace shot out of the rubble she'd put him in earlier. Fire on his fist, and a nasty glare on his face. But she wasn't worried.

Under normal circumstances he may have been able to reach her, but her magic was still slowing him down. All she had to do was send an orb out to intercept him.

As the crystal ball came up to defend her she just smiled, was this fire breathing punk really what Kinzo was banking on? Her smile would soon leave though, as the glass sphere exploded and the Salamander's knuckles were only inches away from her face.

Her eyes had just enough time to glance over at the black-haired boy beneath her… he was holding his gun "He shot my orb?"

As the thought finished she had enough time to scream "Damn it-!" before Natsu sent her flying, with a hard right hook.

Both boys were left thinking just how satisfying it felt to land a hit on the otherwise untouchable 'Zalty.'

Rising from the dirt with a growl the 'man' spoke. "What are you two so happy about? All that effort for one hit, and you thought that would be enough to bring me down?" Glaring at the two she was about to continue when she spotted something through the slanted ceiling, the moon was out.

"Heh, well no matter. Enjoy that small victory in your minds, because in the end I still win. Arc of Time!"

With the spell cast, the broken temple started to reassemble itself. All the damage from their fight and all the effort Natsu had put into destroying the supports so the building couldn't let in moonlight was undone.

And the moonlight did come in, and Ur's ice did start to melt.

"Oi, what the hell!" Natsu cried in frustration.

Zalty was already running away.

"Hey get back here!" but the 'man' was gone.

"Damn, what the heck do we do now-?" the dragon slayer stopped in his tracks as he glanced at Kinzo. The man looked like he was gonna lose it.

Inside Kinzo's mind he was playing over scenarios to stop the Moon-Drip from taking effect but nothing seemed to work.

"What the hell was I thinking? She was just distracting me, how could I be so stupid?"

He briefly recalled that there were people on top of the temple last night, maybe they needed to be there for it to work. So he just started shooting.

His bullets were pointless. The piercing rounds would either hit the walls or fly through the opening and hit nothing. Even his flashbang rounds seemed to do nothing to stop it. He could try throwing explosive lacrima but even with his enhanced strength he wasn't sure he could reach the ceiling.

In desperation, he turned to the boy next to him. "Natsu can your flames reach the top!?"

Said boy was taken off guard by the panic in his voice. "Uh, ya probably?"

"Hit it!"

"...What?"

"Hit it with a roar, a fireball, something!" he said while gripping his companions' scarf.

"Are you crazy!?"

"Just do it!"

"Kinzo, if I do that the whole temple could collapse! I'm not gonna drop a building on us!" The pinkett said in a rare moment of forethought.

In frustration he pushed the boy away and turned toward Ur, only to watch her ice collapse in on itself.

As large pieces of her fell away a stream of water began to flow out, and everything in his mind went blank.

"Ur?" he asked to empty air.

He felt light like he was in a dream. Ya, that's what it was, a dream. He would wake up soon, back at her cabin in the mountains.

He always woke up before Gray and Lyon because he could hear Ur moving around in her little kitchen. She would make hot chocolate for him in the morning while she made herself coffee, and they would just talk while waiting for the other two to wake up. She would tell him funny stories about Ultear when she was a kid, or old war stories about his mother.

Ya, that's what was going on. This was all just a nightmare, but he would wake up soon.

"RAAAAAAAAH!"

A roar shook him from the trance, and he was forced to realize this was all too real.

Moving around, now free after 5 years of imprisonment, was Deliora. And the beast was out for blood.

As Kinzo looked up at the demon he felt his body shake from it's movements, but soon he started shaking for a different reason.

Gone was the sadness, the shock of what had happened to Ur. He didn't feel sorrow or remorse, though he was sure those feelings would come. No, right now there was only one thing filling his thoughts, one emotion that swallowed up his being.

Anger.


Author's note

Alrighty folks that's all she wrote for now. I'm about 3 chapters ahead of you guys and just finished the first chapter of Part 3 this morning. I have about 3ish weeks before I ship out so if I really try I should be able to get through the Phantom Lord arc before I take off. Anyway be sure to tell me what you thought, And thanks for reading.


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 no armor just items/weapons

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.