Author's Note

Alright Here's another one.

I'm currently working on Chapter 27 and I ship off in like 8 days. So it's gonna be a bit of a time crunch to get the phantom Lord arc done, but I think it's possible however that also means I'm probably gonna be updating like every or every other day... Oh lord the amount of editing and actual writing I'm still gonna have to do. Anyway, that's my problem the only thing you guys need to worry about is enjoying the story.


The Greyhound Part 3: War of the Mind

Chapter 23

"You did what?"

"Now Master, please don't be angry. It was a necessary step towards-"

"Necessary step? It was necessary for you to hire Phantom Lord to attack Fairy Tail?"

"Ah! … yes sir, in order to keep Siegrain docile and obedient until the Tower is ready to be used."

It hadn't even been a full day since Ultear had called Saint Jose the guild master of Phantom Lord, and already Master Hades knew about it. She was really hoping for more time. She would have explained it to him herself but those idiots decided to attack the same night she hired them.

She was just sitting in her office at Era's council building when Hades called to ask for an explanation as to why two of the strongest guilds in Fiore seemed to be quarrelling. That was when she had to break the news that she may have kinda, in some small insignificant way… completely caused the event to take place.

So all that being said she was now sitting in her office, sweating bullets, while trying to explain everything to her guild master.

"Do you have any idea the amount of attention that kind of combat is going to draw? The level of investigation that will be aimed at finding out why Phantom Lord did what it did? If you're found out, the Tower plan will be a failure regardless."

"Sir I was told by Jose himself that his guild was already preparing to raid Fairy Tail anyway. They were hired by Heartfilia Industries to 'retrieve' their heiress who ran away and joined Makarov's guild."

Yes, now was the time to save face and show Hades that she had good reasons and absolute control of the situation… I mean she didn't, but he didn't need to know that.

"As for the investigation I already plan to be heading any efforts put forward by the council, and the only one aware of the deal is Jose himself, who can be easily done away with..."

The line went silent for a few seconds before the man's elderly voice rang through again starting with a long sigh "Haah, Ultear if it were anyone else there would have been severe punishment for this kind of half-hassard behavior. But since it is you, I'll trust your judgment. For now."

Mentally breathing a sigh of relief she rushed to answer. "Yes sir, thank you! I promise to be more carfu-"

"But let me make myself clear." He said cutting her off.

"If this plan of yours backfires, and you are found out… you will suffer for it." The call ended as he finished. And a sense of panic started to swell up in her chest.

"Oh no, no, no. He won't actually punish me, right? Not me, I'm his favorite after all he wouldn't do that to me. No no of course not…"

She'd seen what Hades did to those who went against him. The man's view on 'disciplining' his underlings was something she'd rather forget. Only once had a member of the Kin ever been subjected to that kind of punishment.

Kain Hikaru.

When she'd met him he was a rather strong and intelligent man, someone she acknowledged to a certain degree for his abilities. But for some foolish reason he went against one of Hades' direct orders and so was subject to 're-education'.

When he came back he was mentally destroyed. Gone was the intelligent mage she'd met and in his place was a fully grown man who acted like a confused child.

Her best guess as to what happened was that whatever Hades did to him put so much strain on his psyche that he reverted back to a child-like mental state to protect himself.

Kain had been a useful asset but he was still treated like that… would he do the same to her?

"Stop stop, calm down! Breath Ultear breath." As her body started to relax again all she felt capable of doing was dropping her head to the desk in front of her. This plan of hers had better work, because if it didn't… she didn't want to think about the consequences.


"What the hell happened to the guild!?" came Natsu's cry as he took in the sight of a demolished building. The roof was caved in, massive portions of the various walls were destroyed. Shingles and pieces lumber littered the ground and of course there were those colossal beams of iron sticking out.

Erza and Gray both remained silent only taking in the sight with angry expressions on their faces. And Lucy was just gasping.

One question on all their minds of course was "Where are the others?"

Kinzo knew but didn't bother to tell them… and it looks like he didn't need to anyway.

The front door pushed open and out popped Mirajane.

"Oh you guys are back." she said "Well you should probably come in, there's a lot to explain."


They found themselves in the basement, which was normally used for storage, but with the upper floors the way they are, Mira decided to set up a few tables down here.

"What, those Phantom bastards actually attacked us!?" Natsu and Gray roared in unison.

"Indeed." came the reply of Makarov.

"We need to teach those punks a lesson!"

"Flame brain said it, we should go flatten the pricks!" The two enjoying a rare moment of agreement, and eager to get some payback.

"NO!" their master roared.

...

"Master, you intend to let them get away with this?" Erza asked.

The old man just rubbed his head in irritation before sighing.

"Haah, what have they really done? They busted up a building, but it was in the middle of the night when no one was here. If they want to be petty then fine let them be, we can just have the council sort things out. But I won't be starting a guild war over a building."

The boys seemed to calm down, and while they didn't like the answer they would accept it. Erza and Mirajane just nodded their heads, apparently in agreement with the old man's decision, and of course Lucy just looked uncertain.

That was all fine and dandy, until Makarov asked him what he thought.

"Kinzo, you look like you have something to say." he prompted.

An irritated glance was the only thing he sent the old man's way. He certainly did not have anything to say. But his elder's expectant glance told him he didn't really have a choice. "Look it's none of my concern what you do about your building, but what I can say is your plan to just let things go won't work against a dark guild."

"I used to see it all the time when I did infiltrations. One guild does something to another, just to test the water, and if they don't react then something more extreme happens. Eventually it would escalate to the point of full-blown warfare. So my advice is not to be passive in this. A battle is likely to break out eventually anyway, so I advise crushing your enemy before they can do anything worse to you."

The stomping of a metal boot drew his attention.

"That kind of thinking doesn't apply here." Erza challenged "Phantom Lord isn't a dark guild."

Kinzo just looked at her with a raised eyebrow, somewhat confused by her aggressive tone, before responding "But aren't they acting like one?"

She had nothing to say to that. And silence overtook the group for a time.

...

"Hey Kinzo!" Picking up on someone yelling his name he glanced back only to see Cana walking towards them.

"Hey you're back, how did the mission go?"

Everyone from their little venture seemed to tense a bit… well everyone except Natsu, I don't think anything really gets to him.

"It wasn't what I was expecting," he said dismissively.

"Oh? Well maybe you can tell me about it while we walk, I need to borrow you for a bit." She said while grabbing his arm and pulling him towards the stairs.

He considered putting up a fight but after thinking for a moment just shrugged his shoulders and said "Ya why not, I got nothing else going on today."

The Brunette beamed at his words as she continued to drag him toward the exit… Erza was having none of that.

"Kinzo I do not permit you to leave! We still need to debrief Master about what happened on Galuna Island, and you have plenty to answer for! Don't think you can just run off!"

"Shove it Scarlet, I don't care if you go telling on me to 'Gramps.'" He mocked. And boy oh boy did she look pissed at that comment.

Clenching both fists she took a step forwa-

"Let him go, Erza." the Dreyar said.

The armored mage was about to protest but he held up his hand to quiet her, and she obeyed while holding on to that angry expression.

The small Saint moved to lock eyes with the rogue.

"Feel free to go Kinzo, though I do hope we can talk tomorrow about whatever happened on your mission, once you're back."

He would let the boy go for now despite not knowing everything. After all, if he could get him to make friends with Cana then he may have some additional ties to the guild besides just Gray… and if the ice mage's glare was anything to go by he would need it.

"That's fine, I'll see you then." he said, before turning away.

"Oh and Kinzo." He stopped and their eyes met again.

"After what happened to the guild I'm advising members to sleep in groups tonight."

Looking back at Cana he understood. "Relax old man, I'll make sure she gets to wherever she needs to go." He said dismissively.

"I wasn't just talking about her, you know."

He had to smirk at that one, this old man's attempts to make him feel 'included' almost seemed genuine.

"I'm sure you weren't."

With the last line said he finally let the brunette pull him up the stairs, and off to wherever she had in mind.

"That was unwise Master, if you would have waited until I explained everything you would know he has been displaying irrational bursts of anger and violent tendencies toward enemies and allies alike. He nearly killed someone on the island."

Mira's eyes lit up upon hearing that and she looked about ready to chase after the two, if only to get that beast away from Cana.

"You said almost so I can assume that means he didn't actually take anyone's life?" Makarov asked.

"That's not the point Master, even if he didn't he is still acting in a manner that puts those around him in danger!"

The Giant paused for a moment, taking a hit from his pipe before continuing.

"Erza you and everyone else here is familiar with that boy's past, yes?"

He took their silence as an affirmative.

"Tell me, were you all expecting him to suddenly start behaving like one of us overnight?"

The group looked at him quizzically.

"I wonder what the situation would have looked like if he hadn't, as you yourself admit, restrained himself from killing. I'm not asking you to like the way he operates, what I am asking of you is to accept my decision to take him in. I have expectations for how he should be progressing in terms of his level of violence used on jobs, but I don't expect him to drop years' worth of learned behavior and habits in only a few days."

All was quiet.

The group seemed to accept his words but most of them were still off-put by the boy they'd dealt with.

"Regardless, Erza, I believe you have a report to give."

...

"Yes Master. I arrived on the Isla-"


"So are you gonna tell me what that was about?" Cana asked as they moved away from Magnolia and into the woods.

Glancing down he raised an eyebrow "Depends, are you gonna give me my arm back?"

She just smirked at him before releasing the limb "There, happy?"

"That's better, yes." She started to pout at that.

"Quit being an ass, and tell me how your job went. Did it go well?"

"In some ways yes, in other ways no..." he replied vaguely.

"Sweet Lord Kinzo, would it kill you to share a few details? It feels like I'm pulling teeth with you." she joked. "Come on, give me something here."

He took a moment to gather his thoughts, taking in the scenery. The sound of his boots moving along the dirt path. The sight of large oak trees overhead. The warm feeling he got everytime the sun broke through the canopy. It relaxed him, and helped him summarize how he felt.

"Haah, part of me wishes I hadn't gone, but another part of me knows it would have been worse if I didn't. I ran into a few people I knew and things didn't exactly go smoothly with any of them." That was an understatement.

Cana took some time herself to think about a response "Hmm, regrets about the mission huh? Well knowing him if I ask a direct question he'll either deflect or just ignore me so maybe something a little less pointed."

"Well, what would you have changed if you could go back?" she asked him, trying to fish for more details while also giving him something to reflect on.

Kinzo didn't even need to think about it. He already knew the answer.

"I would have had more self-control. Thought things through more before acting."

It probably shouldn't have but that answer made her chuckle a little bit. "You needed more self-control? You, Mr. stoic?" she joked.

"... Can we move to a different topic?" he asked.

"Ya…" She said soberly, "Well shit, hope I didn't piss him off."

"We're basically here anyway." She said pointing further into the forest.

Moving off the path and heading into the brush for about 60 meters revealed a clearing… well kind of. There very obviously was a clearing there but it looked almost artificial. Like trees had been there recently but for whatever reason were gone now. In their place was a collection of deformed stumps. It looked like random pieces of them had been ripped or blown out.

"Since you were the one that convinced me to learn a new kind of magic I figured you might want to see how I'm progressing," she said.

"Which roughly translates to: come train me for the day with no compensation." he chimed in.

"Hey now who said anything about not compensating you? You get to spend the afternoon with a bombshell like me, that should be plenty of compensation for a guy like you." It was meant as a joke… but he wasn't laughing.

"... Is this some kind of reverse-psychology trick where you insult me and then expect me to do what you want anyway?"

She had the decency to blush "heh heh, too much?" she asked while scratching her cheek.

"Whatever, I'm already here. What kind of magic did you pick up anyway?" he asked.

Recovering quickly a cocky smile appeared on her face. And raising a hand she placed it against a nearby tree. One second all was calm, and in the next the tree exploded.

"Take a guess."


The day had gone and the sun had set on Fairy Tail. Most members were already asleep, or about to be. All except one.

"Natsu! What are you doing in my bed!?" Came the cry of one Lucy Heartfilia. She had just showered and changed into her pajamas. Walking out of her bathroom only to find the dragon slayer and Happy doing crunches on her bed.

"What is wrong with you? You'll get sweat everywhere! … Wait, how did you get into my house to begin with!?" She cried while throwing the boy to the floor.

"Ow. Oh come oh Luce. Gramps said we needed to stay in groups so we decided to come keep you safe." he beamed.

Looking down at his childish smile, she couldn't help but smile back. "Oh, that's actually kinda sweet-… wait a second."

"And you think that gives you the right to break into my house!?" She screamed once again while throwing the boy out of her room. Crashing through the door she sent him flying onto the living room rug.

In her 'anger' she almost missed her other uninvited guest.

To her right sitting in her chair, her favorite chair, was Gray… wearing only his boxers.

"What the hell are YOU doing!? What kind of creep strips in someone else's house!" she cried at the second intruder, and Gray, seeing she was about to hit him, tried to defend himself.

"Hey hey, wait a second!" he said. And she paused for a moment, while still seething on the inside.

"In my defense… I was naked when I got here." She lost it, gripping his hair and throwing him to the ground next to Natsu.

"Ahhhh! My chair!" She cried. Now she would always have the mental image of a practically 'bare' Gray sitting on it. "Damn it, now I have to buy a different one!"

Turning to glare at the ice mage she continued tearing into him verbally "You! I'm half a mind to tell the Guild that you snuck into a girl's house, and sick Erza on your ass!"

"You called?" a voice rang out behind her.

"Eeep!" the girl cried before turning around and coming face to face with the redhead. She was wearing a pair of purple pajamas, and helping herself to some chocolate cake… cake that Lucy was pretty sure was from her fridge.

"Oh, Erza… so good to see you." she said in defeat.

"You as well Lucy." the knight replied while continuing to look around her apartment and rummage through her drawers.

"Ya that's fine just help yourselves, I didn't care about my privacy anyway." the blonde mumbled with a depressed air around her.

"What was that Lucy?"

"Haah, nothing."

As everyone settled in ready for bed Erza decided she needed to speak her mind at least to them.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I think Master was wrong to bring Kinzo to Fairy Tail. That boy needs serious help, and I do not feel we are qualified to provide it. Not to mention the danger he poses to the other guild members."

Gray was the next to chime in. "Haaah I hate to say it but maybe you're right. I keep thinking of him like he's the same kid I used to know, but clearly that's not the case. Maybe it would have been better to just let him walk off after the Lullaby incident."

"Nah I think you guys are overthinking it. The guy goes a little overboard sometimes, but I do the same. And I've never seen him do something to endanger one of us since Gramps brought him in." Natsu countered.

The three just looked at each other before-

"What do you think, Lucy?" Erza asked her.

"Eh? You want my opinion?... Um, well." Where to start?

"He scares me, he really does." Turning toward Erza she continued

"When he had you trapped back at Oshibana's train station, when he was about to land the last blow, you could see this dead look in his eyes. It was like he had no emotion at all, almost like he could stop being human on command. And if I'm being honest, I don't like being around someone like that."

Erza and Gray both nodded in agreement while Natsu just listened.

"I couldn't agree mor-"

"But I will say that's not the full story." Erza had to look up when she was cut off. Clearly, Lucy had more to say.

"As scary as he is, it's not like he's actually any less human than the rest of us." Looking to Gray next she carried on.

"And despite that scary look he has, his eyes light up any time he sees you. Listening to you two swap stories at the guild, and seeing the way he was looking out for you when you started grieving over Ur. That helped me see that, if nothing else, he really does care about you."

Gray had to stop and think about her words. "Kinzo cares about me huh?"

"And as for how he was acting on Galuna, I can't say I agree with his methods. Even so, I don't think we were seeing him at his best."

"Gray when you realized that it was Ur they were attacking you were clearly emotional, and determined to stop Lyon in his tracks. I can only imagine it was just as stressful for Kinzo. And when you take a guy who's used to solving all his problems with bullets and throw him into a highly emotional situation, I'm not surprised there were a couple of close calls."

With her piece said she let herself relax and took in her audience's reactions. Erza looked perplexed, mulling over her words. Gray looked conflicted, unsure how to respond. And Natsu was just smiling at her.

"See, I knew you'd get it." The Salamander beamed.

Releasing a heavy sigh she decided to end things there. "Alright everyone, I'm headed to bed. If you guys need anything just let me know."

And she was off to the warm embrace of her covers.


"Hah! Hah! Hah!" the sound of Cana's labored breaths filled the clearing as she leaned against her knees. The sight of a newly demolished section of forest right behind her.

"Hah! Hah! How- haaaah! How was that?" she asked him.

Kinzo was busy studying her magic container. He was impressed. She'd only been training for two days and already her container capacity had increased by about 5 percent. Crash Magic was also a very difficult magic to train and very taxing on one's reserves, but she was adjusting pretty well. He was impressed… and jealous.

It was kind of funny though the more he watched her the more she reminded him of a mage he had a run-in with a couple years back. An absolute monster of a man with a massive container who threw Crash Magic around like it was nothing. Screw that guy.

"Good. From now on train to this point 3 or 4 times a week with rest days in between. Keep in mind that you're not supposed to be training to failure, I want you working at about 90 percent of what you're capable of. Going to failure will put too much stress on the body and take longer to recover from. You'll get better results by holding back a little bit and recovering more quickly."

"Hah! Gotcha… how did you learn all this stuff anyway?" She questioned.

"... my mother taught me." He answered.

… She wasn't really sure where to go from there. I mean she knew his mother was dead from her fortune-telling but that didn't mean she wanted to bring it up in conversation.

"Oh? You know I never asked, what kind of magic do you use?"

That almost made him laugh. A week ago he would have told someone asking what kind of magic he uses to piss off but now he was about to just give that information away. But what choice did he have, if she really wanted to know she could just ask anyone from Gray's team.

So molding magic into his hand he made a playing card out of metal. The Queen of Hearts. Intricate engravings decorated both the top and bottom. He took in the details before tossing it to the girl.

"Metal-Make," he told her.

Catching the card she took in the detail running her fingers along the intricate piece. "Did your mother teach you that too?"

"Ya she did."

The two sat in silence for a moment before Kinzo figured he may as well sate his curiosity. "Tell me. Why did you pick Crash Magic? There are other more easily mastered styles you could have picked."

She grew quiet, and looked down.

"Hey, I know I'm kinda being a hypocrite here but is it okay if I don't tell you?" she asked with uncertainty.

That made him raise an eyebrow "Listen kid, I hope you realize you don't owe me anything. If you don't want to tell me your reasons you don't have to."

She glanced up, somewhat surprised by the answer but then she laughed because that response was so in character for him "Hehe, you know I'm older than you right? So don't call me kid." she jested.

He offered a half-smile in return before looking toward the sky. "It's gonna be dark soon," he told her. "We should get you back."

Noticing for herself that the sun was setting she agreed "Ya, suppose you're right." She moved to stand next to him, and they made their way back to the path.

When their feet found it she moved a half step closer to him. "Hey, Kinzo. I know I'm being unfair tonight but would you… your mother, would you tell me about her?"

He mulled that question over in his mind for some time, debating back and forth if he had any reason to share anything with her. He'd already told her how to grow stronger and had even coached her for a day while getting nothing in return. He had absolutely no reason to tell her anything, and yet he was considering doing just that.

Why? He wondered. Why did he feel like he wanted to tell her? Maybe it was just the opportunity that intrigued him. He hadn't met someone who really wanted to know anything about him in a long time. Normally it was just people trying to dig up dirt, or find a way to get at him by using his past.

The idea of someone wanting to know about him, just because, was kind of charming in a way. So maybe that was why, maybe he actually wanted someone to listen.

"What do you wanna know?"


The moon was high in the sky and the light glow it gave off provided all the sight anyone walking at this hour would need to get home.

Three Fairy Tail mages were depending on that light as they strolled past a local park on their way.

"Jet, Droy, I already told you guys you shouldn't feel like you need to walk me home." Said a short blue-haired girl to the men behind her.

"Oh don't worry about it Levy!" one replied. "Ya, we gotta make sure those Phantom Creeps don't try anything!" The other said.

"Well alright, thanks guys." The now named Levy replied.

As the trio moved past a large tree in the middle of the park Jet stopped, and swiftly scanned the area.

"Huh? Jet is something wrong?" the others asked. After a moment longer he answered with a grin.

"Nah just thought I heard something."

Levy visibly relaxed and Droy gave him a hard time "Come on man do put us on edge like that!" he complained.

"Right right, sorry my bad," he said bashfully while rubbing his neck. The three didn't waste much more time though, everyone wanting to be inside, and so they kept moving.

As they prepared to march all three stopped in their tracks as they heard the unmistakable sound of someone behind them.

...

"Gihihi."


Author's note

Alright, not much action this time around but don't worry about that. The next few chapters are packed full with it. Hope you enjoyed and... I'll probably see you guys again tomorrow.


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.