A/N: Hmm... choice number one or number two... then again there's number 3... Ah forget it! Chapter 7 is here for you today/tonight! Whenever it might be for you.
In case you were wondering what I was debating about, I was trying to decide what decision to make in the Fate/Stay Night visual novel, but as I am an incredibly indecisive person, I didn't make much progress... as in none at all.
Anyways, moving on from that slice of life, since we've gotten past the first arc I'd like to thank those of you who have favorited (is that a word?) the story thus far. So I'd like to thank Hawk725, LightandDarkHeart, M-anonymous, MyDearWatson, PhantomvZero, PrinceOfTheMatrix88, Red Bishop, Saiyan-Styles, SphereShadow, Stormhawk99, Taliaem, WaterDragonMaverick, WrittenWhim, potentialauthor18, and writtenmindset. Thank you all so much for favoriting (is that a word?) the story!
Now then, I'd like to thank Saiyan-Styles, WrittenWhim, Falling Lanterns, WaterDragonMaverick, lexlovesya, MyDearWatson, PhantomvZero, PrinceOfTheMatrix88, Reitzel-chan, LightandDarkHeart, Joshua1277, QueenKazza, UnderTheDeepBlue, Hikari, ViennaxSky, and potentialauthor18 for their reviews! They really help keep me going at times, they especially helped after the second chapter was posted since I was really struggling with whether or not I really wanted to keep doing this, so it's cause of all of you guys that I keep going!
Saiyan-Styles- I'm happy that you found the last chapter amusing, I hope this new arc can prove to be even better than the last!
WrittenWhim- Yes! We finally get to see the missions and all the action that comes with them! But just remember, that just cause someone isn't a Slayer, doesn't mean that they can't be as big as a hazard to what's around them as a Slayer would be, hehe.
Falling Lanterns- Well I'm glad to hear that the format I chose to use worked out well, but I really don't think that could even hope to introduce every character in one chapter. Although there were some points that I just briefly introduced a character, but I always tried to come back to them in the next chapter or so, but I really hope to give each character a real chance to shine this arc. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
WaterDragonMaverick- You got a profile pic! And it's Jack Frost from Persona, my favorite game series! Anyways, yep, the various teams like Team Camille that have already embarked on their missions will be the first ones up to shine. But yeah, I'm hoping to be able to show some variation between Hikari and Sting, but I'll figure that out as I go.
lexlovesya- Missions! Action! Explosions! Hopefully I'll be able to get all of those things in this arc. Anyways, thanks for sending in that idea of yours, I'll be sure to figure out when exactly to use it.
MyDearWatson- Well Hello Once Again MyDearWatson! I'm glad that you liked Jezabelle, and it's definitely a good thing for her to go on a mission with Jayne and Roseala. Aye! Ajax, Reno, and Leon are all going on their first mission of the story and it's good to hear that I'm still doing a good job writing them. It's good to hear that you think that both Kiyeda and Kaiyo are interesting characters, as for what Kiyeda was doing, you'll just have to wait and see! I'm glad that you liked the scene between Jace, Fareth, and Malon! It was actually the scene that I had the easiest time with last time. And I'm happy to hear that the last three characters were interesting, I had a really hard time figuring out what to do with that scene, so it's good to hear something positive about it. But yeah, the characters are all pretty fun and interesting, so it'll be exciting to see where I take this from here.
PhantomvZero- I'm glad that you like everything so far, and I hope that you can continue to keep on liking every bit of the story!
PrinceOfTheMatrix88- I'm happy to hear that you liked the chapter, as well as the bromance between Jace and Fareth. And Jezabelle is a fairly interesting character as well, with her magic being quite interesting. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Reitzel-chan- Yes! We're finally moving on to missions! And I'm glad that you like the way that those three interacted with each other, cause they'll be sticking together for a little while at least. Also, is it strange that I listen to "This Is Halloween" whenever I write Malon? I just find it fitting for reason. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
LightandDarkHeart- Yep, all of the magics are pretty interesting, and we'll finally be able to start seeing some of them in action finally! So I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Joshua1277- All of the mages are pretty interesting in their own ways, and each one is unique in their own way as well. But we'll see some of those magic types in action soon!
QueenKazza- I'm glad that you liked Jezabelle so much, and she is fairly protective of the younger girls in the guild like an older sister would be. And thanks for the compliment, but I don't think that I'm that good of a writer, at least not yet (although you did manage to inflate my ego a bit), I always figured myself more of an ideas guy that can come up with fairly good ideas and characters. Anyways, plenty of missions, action, and magic to come in the next few weeks, starting with this one!
UnderTheDeepBlue- The chapters will hopefully grow larger bit by bit from here on out, so you'll see plenty of it in the future for certain. I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Hikari- I'm glad that I got Light down perfectly so far, we'll see if I can keep it up. I chose to put the scene on the beach simply because there hadn't been a scene on the beach so far, so I'm happy to hear it turned out well (especially since I had such a hard time with that scene). *Adds Exceed to profile collection. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
ViennaxSky- I hope I'm portraying all of the characters well (and to anyone who reads through all of these responses, please politely tell me if my portrayal of your character is off a bit), anyways here's the next chapter for your reading pleasure.
potentialauthor18- I'm happy to hear that I've gotten you pumped up for this chapter, I just hope I can pull it off since this is my first time doing anything like this. So I hope the chapter lives up to your expectations!
Now before I begin, I'd like to send a shout out to lexlovesya for starting up their own original guild fic called Phoenix Refuge. If you haven't already checked it out, go and give it a try and a review. Although I'm not sure if they're still accepting characters or not. While I'm on the topic, check out and leave reviews for Thunder Stone by MyDearWatson and Dragon's Dogma by Cat the Alien, both are really good original guild fics so far and you may be able to learn some more about Beanie Guy ahead of time if you read Thunder Stone.
Now just one more thing, there will be a rather important announcement at the end of the chapter, nothing bad mind you, I just want to make sure you all see it.
I DON'T OWN FAIRY TAIL!
I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Arc 2: The First Mission Arc
Chapter 7
"Quit dodging the question Alistar!" Camille shouted as she stepped off of the train, "Why are you even here?"
"You said I could come," he answered as he stretched after being cramped up on the train ride to Acalypha Town, "What? You don't remember? Miriam and Rayner can vouch for me if that's the case."
"You did," Rayner affirmed with a smirk as Camille looked over at him.
"Although you were drunk at the time," Miriam added with a sigh.
"Drunk?" Camille questioned, "But if that's the case you can't hold me accountable for what I said!" suddenly remembering her anger towards the man, while poking him in the chest for emphasis.
"Don't worry, I won't take any of the reward money," he said in an attempt to calm down the angry woman, "I just want to see how strong you three are. Especially since you've added a new team member since that one time"
Camille's eyes went wide as she remembered how Alistar had beat herself and Rayner in the guild's first S-Class exams last year, "Why you..."
"That one time?" Miriam asked with a puzzled expression crossing her face.
"It was before you joined the guild," Rayner answered, "Alistar beat us in the guild's first actual S-Class exams last year, we'll tell you about it later," he said as he walked over to Camille and Alistar in order to stop them before they had an impromptu rematch in the train station, "All right! That's enough ladies," he said loudly as he clapped his hands to get their attention.
"Ladies?" Alistar mumbled with a puzzled look as both he and Camille turned their attention towards the young man.
"You two can save your cat fight for after the mission, after all, you didn't let me have my rematch with the glass bastard back at the guild," Rayner continued as he had managed to catch their attention, "So it isn't fair if you can have your rematch if I couldn't have mine," he finished with a smirk, feeling rather proud of himself for coming up with he thought was a convincing argument.
Camille sighed as she stepped away from Alistar and calmed down, "You're right Rayner, I was being immature and selfish," she said as she bowed deeply in apology before straightening back up, "Come on, we have a mission to do."
"I can't believe that worked," Miriam said in astonishment.
"Hey, I have my moments," Rayner responded while still retaining his smirk, "And besides, all you have to do is say that something she did was unfair and have a good reason for saying it and she backs down."
"Rayner! Miriam! Hurry up!" Camille yelled from the entrance of the train station.
"Coming!" Rayner yelled in response, "C'mon let's go," he said as took off towards the entrance with Miriam right behind him.
As the group walked through the town, they noticed a severe lack of stock in the stores scattered throughout the town, an obvious sign of the thieves raiding the shipments, and it only got worse the closer they got to the merchant's guild that hired them: Love & Lucky.
"This is a pretty big merchant's guild," Miriam said quietly to herself as she looked up at the tall white building that was decorating with a large, pink sign that had the name of the guild on it.
"This guild is famed for producing very successful businessmen and women," Camille stated as she noticed that Miriam was looking up at the building, "The most recent one being Jude Heartfilia, who up until X784, owned the Heartfilia Konzern before it was dissolved."
"You're pretty knowledgeable about stuff like this aren't you?" Miriam asked as she looked back down at Camille.
"Yes, but we shouldn't keep the client waiting anymore," she said as she walked into the building with Alistar and Rayner behind her, "Excuse me," Camille said as she approached the receptionist desk inside the building.
The small middle-aged woman behind the desk looked up upon hearing Camille speak, "Welcome to Love & Lucky, how may I help you," she said in a bored tone, as if this was simply a routine.
"We're from the Mage's Guild, Undine's Cove, we've come to accept your job regarding the shipment raids," Camille answered while pulling off her right glove in order to show her burgundy guild mark to the woman.
The woman's eyes went wide upon hearing that, "Please come with me," she said as she stood up and lead the group further into the guild before coming to an office, "The man inside will fully explain the mission to you and answer any questions you might have. Please, help the guild," she pleaded with a deep bow.
"Of course," Camille answered with a kind smile as she watched the woman head back to the reception desk before knocking on the office door and entering it upon hearing a muffled 'come in'.
As the group walked into the office they saw a tall, middle-aged man wearing an expensive suit with neatly trimmed blond hair and mustache, standing behind his desk while looking out the window.
"Ah, you must be here for the mission I posted," the man said as he turned around and saw the four mages, "My name is Jude Heartfilia, please, have a seat," he said as he gestured towards the four leather chairs in front of his desk.
"Thank you for your hospitality," Camille said with a small polite bow before she and her teammates took their seats, "My name is Camille Arturia and these are my teammates, Rayner Casimir and Miriam Krozenbell."
"How do you do?" Rayner nodded, "Don't mind Miriam's poor manners, she doesn't like people much," he added when he noticed that she wasn't saying anything.
"Shut up you idiot!" Miriam hissed before Camille sent both of them a hard stare that told them to behave themselves in front of the client.
"And I'm Alistar Thorn, I'm not part of the team, but I am tagging along for the mission."
"Well then, let's move on to the business at hand then," Jude suggested as he sat down in his own chair and bringing his hands up to his chin, "As you know, Love & Lucky has been plagued by thieves as of late. There hasn't been one shipment to or from the guild that hasn't been raided by them yet. So I wish for you four to accompany the next shipment out and stop the thieves however you can," he explained before standing back up and walking back to the window, "Not only does the welfare of the guild depend on your success, but also all of Acalypha Town's livelihood depends on it."
"We understand, may I ask some questions?" Camille asked as she looked up at the tall man.
"Of course," he answered simply as he turned around to face them again.
"What can you tell me about the thieves? How many are there?"
"As the request form mentioned, many of them are mages, but only a handful of them seem to be outstanding in any way," he explained, "Also, given their numbers and thoroughness, we believe that they are an organized Thieves Guild."
Camille sat there and took in all of the information, with her teammates watching her think as she processed the information, "One more thing," she spoke up as she came out of her thoughts, "Is there anything that they might be after specifically?"
Jude's eyes went wide as he realized something, "There is something that they might be after," he said as he opened a hidden compartment in his office floor, "A friend of mine recently left this here and he asked me to find a way to seal it away," he explained as he pulled out a long suitcase.
"What is it?" Miriam asked as curiosity got the best of her as all four of them leaned in towards the box Jude had placed on his desk.
"I dare not open this case, but all you need to know is that inside of this box is a dangerous magical artifact and it would be disastrous if it fell into the wrong hands."
"How bad are we talking here?" Alistar asked as he thought about the possibilities.
"The end of the world," Jude answered flatly with a hard stare.
"We understand," Camille responded, "When does the next shipment leave?"
"Within the hour, the receptionist will take you to it," he answered before he watched the group of mages get up to find the receptionist again.
Rayner watched the other three exit the room before him, but he suddenly stopped walking as he felt a strong pain in his chest and gasped, "Dammit," he cursed as he fell down to one knee and grabbed his chest, "Why now?" he asked as he began coughing.
"Are you alright?!" Jude asked as he ran over to Rayner's side and kneeled down next to him.
Rayner continued coughing as he felt his tattoo burn along his face and chest before the pain stopped suddenly, "I'm fine now," he said in a tired voice as he struggled to stand back up.
"Are you sure?" Jude asked as he noticed that the tattoo on Rayner's face seemed like it had grown larger, "What happened?
"It's nothing," Rayner answered quickly, "I have to go find my team," he said quietly as walked out of the office, limping slightly.
. : + : .
Ajax, Reno, and Leon walked through Hargeon's port as they looked for the ship mentioned in the request form.
"Shit..." Ajax cursed quietly, "Why do there have to be so many ships around?" The port was filled to the brim with various ships and vessels of all kinds of shapes and sizes, it made finding one specific ship a nearly impossible job, "Hey Leon, why don't you look from the air? Remember, you're looking for the 'Free Spirit'."
"Got it," Leon answered as he activated Aera and took off to find the ship.
"So what do we do?" Reno asked as she looked at Ajax with a bored look.
"We wait here so he can find us easier after he finds the ship," Ajax answered as he sat down on a nearby bench.
Reno's expression quickly changed to one of disappointment and boredom as she continued looking at Ajax, "But couldn't he just sniff us out? He is a cat after all," she huffed.
"Everything smells like salt and fish, even I couldn't sniff someone out in all of this," Ajax answered, "I've already lost track of Leon so we're going to sit here and wait for him."
"But that's boring," Reno whined.
"So find a barrel," Ajax answered flatly, knowing that that would give her something to do.
Reno's face instantly brightened at the mention of barrels, "Roger!" she shouted excitedly as she ran off to find a barrel.
Ajax spent the next 10 minutes reading a book that he kept in his back pocket, he was enjoying himself until he heard what sounded like an angry mob.
The Dragon Slayer sighed as he put away his book and stood up, "Now what?" he asked as he looked around, seeing an angry mob chasing Reno, who was surfing on a barrel straight towards him.
"Ajax! Over here!" Reno called out as she surfed towards him with an expression on her face that showed she was enjoying herself.
"What did you do this time!?" he yelled as he started running away from the mob, trying to keep pace with the barrel that Reno was surfing on.
"I dunno!" Reno answered happily, "I think it had something to do with a stack of crates."
"Of course, you destroyed a shipment didn't you?" he asked as Reno merely laughed in response, she was clearly having too much fun to care.
"Ajax! Reno!" they heard Leon call out as he came down from the sky and flew next to them, "I found the ship!"
"Great!" Ajax answered, "Take us there!" he yelled as they continued to outrun the mob through the large port, eventually finding the ship.
As Reno approached the ship, she leaped off of the barrel and onto the large vessel, letting the barrel roll into the ocean.
"Hey!" one of the crew yelled as Reno landed on the deck.
Ajax ran up to the captain, who was standing near the boarding ramp, "We're mages from Undine's Cove," he said in between breaths, "Are you ready to weigh anchor?"
"I suppose," the captain answered, a bit taken aback by Ajax's sudden question.
"Good, cause you might want to do that," he said as he and Leon boarded the vessel after pointing towards the mob.
The captain turned and looked at the mob before quickly following Ajax up the ramp, "Weigh anchor! Set sail quickly!" he ordered loudly as the crew began the preparations to prepare to set sail.
A little while after the boat was out on the open sea, the captain walked over to the two mages, "Name's Nils Crow, Captain Nils Crow," the man said while emphasizing the captain part of his introduction.
Ajax and Reno looked at the man, who appeared to be in his thirties. He had black shaggy, shoulder-length hair, and a scraggy beard. He was wearing a long black coat over a white, button up shirt with brown pants and black boots. He was also wearing what appeared to be a pirate hat, but it had a gold anchor on it instead of a skull and crossbones.
"My name's Reno Lozier!" she said happily, "And this is Ajax and Leon!" she said while gesturing to the two of them.
"Wait a moment, Lozier? As in Ricardo Lozier?" Captain Nils asked.
"Yep! That's my dad!" Reno answered, "Do you know him?"
"How can any Sea Captain not know who Ricardo Lozier is? He's protected these seas dozens of times with his Water Magic!" he stated in astonishment, "Just knowing that I have his daughter here fills me with confidence that those monsters don't stand a chance."
"So exactly what are we dealing with?" Ajax asked.
"Ah, right, we'll be headed west for a while, to where several vessels have disappeared from. The reports say it could be one of two things: A nest of sea serpents or the home of a kraken," Nils explained, "Either way, it'll be one hell of a fight."
"Are there any mages aboard besides us?"
"Well there's me, I know Lightning Magic, and then there's my son down below deck, but he's a good-for-nothing that gets sea sick easily," the captain answered.
Ajax looked out to sea as walked towards the edge of the boat, "I though I smelled something familiar..."
. : + : .
"That was unpleasant," Fareth groaned as he stepped off of the boat with Jace supporting him.
"You said that you didn't want me to get rid of your motion sickness for the ride here," Jace answered with a small snicker as he watched Fareth's face pale a bit.
"Ugh... I couldn't trust it to not be some sort of prank like last time," Fareth responded, "But where did Malon go?"
"I'm not sure," Jace answered as he sat Fareth down on a bench.
"I can smell her around here somewhere though, onii-chan," Rave said as he sniffed the air.
"Hey is he alright?" a man said as he walked up to the two of them, "I know a little cure for things like sea sickness if that's what's wrong," he said before he felt someone tap him on the shoulder, "Huh, what is it?" he asked as he saw Malon behind him, "Can I help you?"
"Would you like to see something strange?" she asked before she walked straight through him while laughing, causing the man to run off screaming.
"Damn you... Malon," Fareth groaned as she continued to laugh at the poor man.
"So where's the client supposed to meet us?" Jace asked the girl as she calmed down.
"Oh, him? He's supposed to meet us here with a carriage," she answered with a creepy smile as Willow laughed at Fareth's misfortune as he paled even more.
"Dammit all," Fareth cursed again, "Fine, you can use your spell on me when the carriage gets here Jace."
"Glad you saw reason Fareth," Jace said as he watched Fareth continue to squirm in pain.
"Nooo," Malon whined, "The only reason I wanted Dragon Slayers was to watch you squirm on the transports. You'll ruin all of the fun!"
Both Jace and Fareth gave the girl a blank stare, "Are you kidding?" Jace finally asked, "No wait, of course you're serious. You enjoy this kind of thing."
"Excuse me," they heard what sounded to be the voice of an elderly man behind them, "You three wouldn't happen to be from Undine's Cove would you?"
The three of them turned their attention to the source of the voice, revealing it to belong to a tall elderly man who had white hair and a white handlebar mustache. He was wearing a tan trench coat with black pants and brown loafers, and he wore a brown cowboy hat on his head.
"That would be us," Jace answered quickly before Malon had the chance to do something strange.
"My name is Jeorge Sanders," the elderly man stated, "I take it you three know what you've been hired for."
"Yep!" Malon answered as Willow cooed along with her, "The Woodsea is plagued with monsters, spirits, possibly a mage or two, or maybe even all at once!"
"You certainly seem excited," Jeorge said with a slight sweatdrop, "But if it's spirits then it's something probably best left to an exorcist."
"Don't you worry about that, Malon's an expert when it comes to things like spirits," Jace said with confidence.
"If you're certain," Jeorge sighed, "Well come on, the horse and buggy are just outside the port. I'll be taking you to the edge of the Woodsea."
"Alright then," Jace nodded before helping Fareth off of the bench, "Come on, I'll use the spell on you when we get there."
"There better not be any funny business involved," Fareth groaned as Jace slung his arm over his shoulder.
"Don't worry about," Jace smiled in assurance.
"No funny business at all," Rave added with a devious smile.
A/N: Well there's the first chapter of the second arc! I hope you enjoyed it!
Anyways, on to the little announcement. I've come to the decision that I will be doing omake chapters every now and then. I'll be using them to touch on certain character's past, to fit in scenes that otherwise wouldn't fit into the story, and to just overall sit back and have fun with the characters. The first omake will be about Camille and it'll happen before the X790 GMG's as a historical omake. When I do a historical one, it'll be before or after a part of the story that focuses on the character and since Camille has history in the city of Crocus, I'll be doing an omake chapter to expose some of her childhood. The other two types of omake chapters will appear when I feel like making one, with the ones that don't fit into the story otherwise will appear after Fairy Tail returns since most of them have to do with the missing members. So what do you think of that? Yea? Nay? Meh? Have an idea?
Now there's one more thing that I'd like from those of you who have submitted members of Undine's Cove. I'd like for you all to create a winter wear outfit for your character for when I eventually get to winter in the story, which won't be for a while, but I'd like to have them ahead of time.
Well, I hope you all liked the chapter! Please remember to leave a review and to check out the stories I mentioned!
Your Host,
dreadburner94.