Chapter Two

Axel pushed open the doors to the guild, swiftly ducking as a plate flew by his head. The members of the guild were up to their usual craziness, brawling happily. The only ones relatively safe were Shawn, who was standing on the bar practicing his scales, Emer, who was quietly reading, and Echo who was safely behind said liquor counter, drying a glass. The two mages waved to the tall nephilim as he carefully skirted the massive fight.

"Hey, Axel!" Shawn said happily, pausing in his tunes. "You're late!"

Axel nodded sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah. Sorry. Yesterday's job really wore me out."

Echo hummed sympathetically. "I heard you had to save both Mal and Maverick from a spell misfire. They were both very impressed by your heroicness."

Axel blushed. "I didn't really. I just had the right charm. I'm pretty much useless."

"Eh. Don't freak, man." Shawn assured. "Nobody really knows that much about your magic anyway, you have had to teach yourself. The rest of us were all trained by someone who had already mastered the magic."

"I agree." Echo said. "I'm sure it's much trickier to teach yourself. I had my dad, Shawn had his aunt, we've all learned from someone. Don't be so hard on yourself."

Matty suddenly leaped out of the fray. "Hey Axel! Come join the fun!"

Axel shook his head. "Um, no thanks, Matty. I'd rather not. We obviously have very different ideas of fun."

Matt sighed.

"I'll come, Matt!" Shawn yelled.

"Volume, Shawn." Echo kindly corrected.

"Sorry!" He replied, a little quieter (but not much).

Matty grinned, yanked up Emer and the three dove back in to the brawl, the blunette sobbing pitifully.

Axel winced in sympathy, he and Echo waving farewell as Emer got dragged beneath the flailing bodies.

The door slammed open.

"We're ba-ack!" A high-pitched voice sang. The owner of the voice, 16-year-old Akouda Kitsame bounded in to the guild. Kitty, as she was often called, was flanked by her two team mates, 19-year-old Jade Nero, and 27-year-old Hitsumi Ito. This team was called the Shade Demon Tribe.

The three women made their way to the bar. Kashi leaped out of the brawl to greet Kitty, calling, "Kitty-chan!"

The girl (who was half cat demon) whirled around delightedly, tail twitching, throwing her arms around the brunette. "Kashi-chan!"

Jade chuckled softly. "Cute." She whispered, as the two hurried to catch the other up on life.

Hitsumi smiled and took a seat at the bar. The 27-year-old was part Raiju, or Thunder Demon, and had silvery blue wolf's ears and tail. She was also quite motherly, like Echo, and took good care of the younger members. Jade plopped down next to her, tucking a strand of brown hair behind her ear. The two began having a conversation with Echo, so Axel wandered over to the request board. Most of the money he and his friends had earned yesterday had gone to repairs, since Maverick and Mal didn't know the meaning of moderation.

"I guess I'll take a solo job this time." He muttered.

"Axel! How dare you!" Mal exclaimed, popping up next to him.

"Holy-!" Axel nearly fell over in surprise, only to be steadied by Maverick.

"Quite so, quite so." The Card Mage agreed with the girl. "Axel, you can't go gallivanting off without proper loyal companionship!"

"But I've already picked out a job and you too aren't even packed." Axel complained.

"False!" Mal held up her trusty pack, Maverick doing the same with his haversack. "We're ready when you are!"

Axel slumped in defeat. "Fine, fine. You guys can come." He made his way over to the bar and handed the request to Echo, who was today's accountant.

The Empathy Mage smiled. "Cool. I'll send a message to the client. Stay safe, you three!"

"So what is this job, anyhow?" Mal inquired. She tucked her bag into one of the overhead compartments on the train.

Axel glanced down at the paper in his hand, shoving his own bag up next to the girl's, Maverick never place his bag in the upper compartments, since he tended to forget it. "It says that the town of Harrison is under siege by a group of bandits. We just have to defeat the bandits and destroy their hide-out."

"Huh. Where's Harrison?" Mal asked.

"No clue. Maverick, do you know?"

The card mage glanced up from his cards. "Just north of Ford. It's a pretty small town, no train station. We get off at Ford and take a cab or something to Harrison."

"Cool. How far away is Ford?"

"Mm, two hours by train? Yeah, that sounds about right. 'Round two hours."

"The city of Ford!" The conductor exclaimed. "The city of Ford!" The three Lunar Haven mages dismounted the train, stretching from the long period of time they spent sitting.

"Let's find ourselves a ride." Mal said, trekking towards the station building. "I'm sure we can get info inside. Come along, boys."

The two guys hurried after her, content to let the Glass Make Mage take the lead.

They hurried up the front desk.

"How can we help you? Miss, sirs?" The lady sitting behind the desk asked, adjusting oval spectacles.

"Ah, we need some form of transportation." Mal said. "A cab or a carriage?"

"There are cab services on Canary Road. Just take a left once you exit the building."

Mal grinned. "Cool! Thanks, lady. C'mon guys!"

The three hurried off.

"So here we are." Maverick stated. "Joe's Carriage Transportation." He read off the sign. "Nifty."

"Aye!" Mal agreed, as the three stepped inside.

"Howdy, folks!" A voice with a slight western twang echoed from the shadows of the barn. A dark skinned man sporting a wide, friendly grin, stepped into the light. "I'm Joe. How kin I help ya?"

"We'd like transportation to Harrison Town." Mal said. Joe's smile vanished.

"Harrison Town?! Are ya crazy? Ain't ya heard of the dark guild that's made base their?"

"Dark guild?" All three mages cried. "The job request said it was a band of bandits sieging the town!"

Joe shook his head. "No. It's a dark guild. A nasty one at that. You sure you still want a ride?"

The team glanced at each other, then nodded.

"Yeah." Axel said. "Just drop us outside the town.

Joe shook his head. "All right. But it's your funeral."

Mal grinned cockily. "We're Lunar Haven, bud. We're stronger than we look!"

Back at the guild, the brawl had subsided. Team Emerald Arrow were perusing the request board, searching for the perfect job.

"How about this one?" Callie suggested.

"Guarding a delivery truck through a forest? Seems simple enough." Blight replied. "You up for it, Emer?"

"I'm fine with that."

"All right. Let's go.

A/N: Ooh. The bandits weren't really bandits! The beginning of this chapter originally started much different, but my computer shut down and I lost all my work. So I was like, "screw it!" and rewrote it differently.

The next few chapters will mostly be following Axel's team and Team Emerald Arrow on their jobs. Be prepared for fight scenes, Mal and Maverick doing dumb shit, and Team Emerald Arrow actually getting stuff done.

Thanks to all for reviewing and favoriting and following and sending in oc's!

Speaking of oc's, the submission is still open, but won't be for long! I need some guys, a couple minor characters for the guild, and a few enemies!

~Apple-chan out

PS: Kashi and Kitty is, in my opinion, beyond adorable. Comment if you agree!