Disclaimer: I do not own 'Fairy Tail' or the backdrop this story is based off of, and neither do I own any characters that might appear in this story that wasn't created by me.

Acknowledgement: This story is based off a fanfic for 'Fairy tail' called 'That's a bit optimistic' written by 'InsertDecentNameHere', whom I would like to thank for giving me permission to write this story.

WARNING: Since this story is a separate project, spoilers to 'The Phantom' may or may not be present.

Chapter four: Memories make you suffer

[Imagine cool song]

"Under siege? How? Why? Who?" Marvin asked in shock.

"The imperial armada of Coriea! Apparently we insulted their princess when we nodded to the comment that she was beautiful. It seems that in their customs, nodding means 'give me a break, like that's even remotely true'!" Lawrence said in all seriousness.

They stared at each other for a few more minutes to let the words sink in, before Marvin broke the silence by arching and eyebrow, "Really? Insult their princess? That the best you could come up with?"

"Hey, I thought the imperial armada thing was quite... what was it teenagers say these days... ah right, cool; don't you think?" replied Lawrence with a grin.

Marvin shock his head in dismay, "Fooling aside, what's really happening?"

Lawrence sigh and set back in his leather chair, "One of our villages is being targeted."

Marvin frowns. The guild may be a dark guild, but the people here had families as well. As such, the guild had a few villages which were comprised mostly of guild family members. Because of this, such villages were protected by the guild, but they were also clear targets for any rival guild.

"Who's attacking?" he asked.

"That's the problem. It's Manticore."

After it computed in Marvin's mind, which took a minute or two, his golden eyes widen with surprise, "Manticore? Why would they attack? We've never had a reason to fight before!"

Lawrence shock his head, "Not anymore. I received a letter from their master two days ago." As he said this, he handed Marvin one of the papers on his desk. It was amazing he even knew which paper was which.

Marvin read the letter and his frown deepen.

Dear daggers:

Lawrence, I know how thy despises a long and tedious letter, so let me get straight to the point. Apologies, but I fear that in order for Manticore to reach its maxima potentia, your guild of thieves can no longer exist. Consider this a declaration of war between us. Again, you have my deepest condolences.

Yours truly, Styl Alta, Master of Manticore thorn
'Insert a lion with a scorpion's tail symbol here'

"Well that's nice." Mumbled Marvin. Manticore thorn was an emerging dark guild in the region. They were a nasty bunch, but up till now, there hasn't been any reason for his guild and theirs to go to war. And if he could, he was sure Lawrence would have liked to prevent such a war.

"They attacked one of our more remote villages last night. We managed to chase them off, but 15 villagers were killed before we got there."

Marvin's face darkens with rage. No matter what happened, you don't kill. That was his rule. He was a thief, not a murderer, so the idea of killing had always repulsed him. Yes, he knew that most, if not all of his guild mates have killed before, but the casualties were always those of law enforcers, not innocent villagers.

He gave Lawrence back to letter and turned to leave.

"... Marvin, what are you going to do?" Asked Lawrence.

"What do you think?"

"... Take Hilda." Said Lawrence after a moment's consideration. He knew that look well. When Marvin had that look on him, there was no stopping him.

Sigh, he's so different from his family, thought Lawrence.

Marvin nodded, and went out the room.

Lawrence waited patiently. He didn't have to wait long, as Marvin walked back in almost immediately after.

"So, um. Where did you say they were going to attack next?"

Lawrence tried, he really tried, but he just couldn't stop himself from laughing.

...

After Lawrence told him that their scouts saw an advancing party riding towards Meadow deep, he took his exit immediately.

He would first pack, then meditate for a minute to recover his mana supply before heading out... sorry, make that 2 minutes, no 3... 5, yes. 5 minutes sounds about right... 10?

Sigh, 1 hour it is... why not 2... fine, 5! There, happy?

Guess I'm sleeping tonight after all, thought Marvin disheartedly as he snuff another yawn. After all, it would take 2 more days for Manticore to arrive in Meadow deep.

As he walked back towards his room, he noticed a hooded figure in front of him, walking his way.

About 10 feet apart, they both stopped. As was so often when they met, Marvin spoke first, "Vermilion." He said in greeting.

"… Fortune." Came the reply, her voice void of emotion, as always.

Marvin sighs. He had first met his guilds most powerful mage when he was 8. She was as imposing a figure back then as she was now: a jet black cloak that covered her entire body, complete with a hood that she seemed to always have on. Its darkness was so eerie that if you stared at it long enough, you could swear that the fabric moved like an ocean of black.

Her eyes, a bright crimson, were the only visible colours on her. Heck, they were the only visible features on her. The only reason anyone knew she was female was from her voice; a comely but cold whisper.

Because of her bizarre appearance, there were plenty of rumours about her. Some say that she's a 100 year old witch, others a fallen queen of a far away kingdom. Some even claim that she's a demoness from the underworld.

Marvin knew better. He was perhaps one of only a hand full of people that knew what she looks like. He would never forget that day.

It was when he was 14. It was late one night when he couldn't sleep. Seeking a place to just stop and relax, he went to out to the summit of the guild's mountain.

To his surprise, Valkyrie was there. She had her hood down, and he was surprised to see that she had shoulder length hair that was as white as his. Her face was sharp, her skin a pearl-like white with a pinkish hue to it. Her red eyes shone with a radiance that looked more sad then eerie. All in all, she was quite beautiful, and it took his a while before he remembered to get out of there.

Before he could retreat though, she had used her hand to beckon him to sit down next to her.

Reluctantly, he had complied. After a few moments of starring into the star infected night sky, however, he discovered that Valkyrie wasn't as unpleasant to be with as he had thought.

They had talked for a while after that, and he noticed that her voice had more mirth in it than usual.

It wasn't until later when he realised that she spoke with more life in her when they were alone.

They had been friends ever since, or so Marvin liked to think.

After an awkward moment of silence, Marvin spoke, "Well, I've got an important mission to get ready for tomorrow so I'll be heading back first."

Just as he passed her, she said, "... I know... "

Marvin stopped and stared at her strangely.

"About... your magic... and its weakness..." she clarified.

Now Marvin panicked. For some reason, he had never mustered enough courage to tell Lawrence about his illusion magic. As a result, nobody knew about that secondary magic of his. So for Valkyrie to just casually say she knew about his magic, much less it's weakness... well, let's just say that got his attention.

"What do you mean?" he tried to cover.

After looking around to make sure nobody else was there, she drew closer and whispered into his ear, "Playing dumb? You know that won't work."

Before Marvin could reply, she took out a pair of glasses. They were tinted, and looked quite stylish.

"These glasses have been treated with an anti-lie spell coating. You know what that means?"

Slowly, he nodded. It was an enchantment design to block out anything that tricked the mind of the wearer. While this means that the wearer of these items could not be lied to, there was another use for these objects.

Illusions, or more accurately, they allowed the wearer to see through illusions.

Magic like this was rare, but he had heard of it before. The reason was simple: he wanted this magic for himself. Why? Because his illusions were area base, affecting the minds of anyone in the immediate vicinity.

In short, even he wasn't immune to his own illusions.

With those glasses, however, his illusions were useless on Valkyrie.

He swallowed, "What do you want?"

She tiled her head, "I think you misunderstand. I'm not threatening you with blackmail; though that is an interesting prospect, I can handle my own problems. No, these glasses are for you."

His eyes opened wide, "For me?"

She nodded, and he started to reach out for them. He then stopped and looked at her, "What's the catch?"

"What makes you think there is a catch? Do I look that untrustworthy to you?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"Err, scratch that thought. Look, just think of this as an early birthday present."

Once more, Marvin reached out for the glasses. When he touched them and she didn't retract her hand, he tentatively took the glasses and examined them.

"Thanks," he managed to force out. He wasn't accustom to receiving gifts from anyone, so he wasn't sure what he was supposed to say.

Apparently, that was enough, as Valkyrie nodded and stepped back, "Good luck on your mission. Who's going with you?"

When he told her Hilda was, he wasn't sure of it, but it seemed like she frowned, "Just Hilda? No offence Marvin, but as good as you are, you can't guard a village on your own."

"I'm not; Lawrence said that there were other members there as well."

"Okay, no offence to them, but I don't think that's enough."

Marvin tiled his head to a side and thought for a second, "Well, there is one more person I could ask, but..."

"... But what?"

"Well, his mother might worry..."

"His mother?"

He brushed it off, "I'll just have to come up with an excuse, then. Don't worry about it." He then proceeded to walk off.

"Wait," Valkyrie called, "This person, is he good?"

Marvin stopped and turned towards her, "You know that guild called Golems Fist?"

"Ya, sure. They are rumoured to be one of the toughest dark guilds to have existed. Before their downfall, they had at least 120 members. They were quite formidable"

"Who do you think was responsible for their downfall?"

Valkyrie's eyes widened, "He was a part of the group that took them down?"

Marvin grinned, "Group? I wouldn't call a company of two a 'group', would you?" And with that, he walked away, leaving a very stunned Valkyrie behind.

...

Greg Stonehearts was currently sitting in his house in the middle of a mountain range, cleaning one of his many swords. It was cold here all year round, so the fire place was lit. It had been a full month since he had a job, and frankly, he was bored out of his usually cool mind.

If I don't do something soon I'll die of boredom, he thought, but didn't say. He was a man of many thoughts, but few words. As one of his few friends had once said, "I swear, you are like the ocean; so full of riches inside, yet at the surface, so damn quiet!"

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

His mother was out at town shopping, so he lazily stood up and walked towards the door. Lazily in normal people sense. In truth, that walk of 2 feet per second was twice as fast as his normal speed.

He was so bored that he would talk to anyone, even if that anyone was the only one doing the talking.

When he opened the door, his eyes widened a millimetre; imperceptible to anyone else... but this wasn't just anyone.

Two people stood at the door. Further back was a girl with brown hair tied into a ponytail. He was interested, however, in the guy standing in front of him.

The guy was slightly shorter then he was, with a black outfit that was clearly made for both comfort and combat. His neck was covered by said clothes, but Greg knew that an S shaped dagger was there.

His most notable features, however, were his hair and his eyes. Indeed, they contradicted each other completely.

His hair was a silvery white, whilst his eyes were a brilliant gold.

It was the same guy who had likened him to the ocean.

"Marvin," he greeted.

"Hello Greg," 'the phantom', as he was more widely known, bowed in an extravagant fashion.

"What?" he simply asked.

There were a million answers to that simple question, and anybody else would have asked back, "What do you mean?"

Marvin, however, simply said, "I have a job for you..."

Before he could continue with "the pay's good", Greg held up a hand and slammed the door.

A few minutes later, Greg reappeared, fully dressed for battle.

When Marvin raised his eyebrows, Greg answered while locking his door, "Mom, market. Left note."

They turned to leave, but Marvin was still curious, "Yes, but you seem more eager than usual to help me. Why is that?"

He looked at Marvin and uttered just one word.

"Bored."

That one word was enough to freeze Marvin in his tracks.

After all, a normal Greg could destroy an entire dark guild... at their headquarters. He had seen him do so before, albeit most of the members were out. Still, it was him against 80 or so mages, and he annihilated them.

If that was what a normal Greg could do, what would a bored-out-of-his-mind Greg do to ease the stress?

Suddenly, he wasn't so sure about bringing Greg along.

...

Thanks to Hilda, they managed to get to Meadow deep in record time.

Once there, they regrouped with the rest of their guild members. There were a total of 7 guild members here, excluding Greg who was a mercenary.

After explaining the situation to Greg, they discussed defensive strategies, but even Greg, who was the best strategist Marvin had ever met, could not come up with a good enough plan that covered the entire village.

The place was just not build to withstand an attack.

The only lead they had was that the Manticore's were coming from the east, and even that was useless information, as any sound attack party would stop half a mile away and change directions to attack, meaning they could come from anywhere.

So they decided the best thing to do was to just rest and wait for the enemy to come. When they did, they would remove the treat as best they could.

In the mean time, for their own safety, Hilda would evacuate the villagers to a remote location.

...

That night, Marvin and Greg were out for a stroll. The Manticore's were not expected to arrive until tomorrow night, so they were just relaxing.

After a long silence, Marvin asked, "How's your mom?"

Greg looked at him and said, "Worried."

Marvin nodded. Greg's mom was the kind to worry if he didn't answer her when she called, even if he just went for a walk around their house.

"Insisting I join a guild." He continued.

Marvin turned to look at him, "I hope you are not thinking of joining this guild. You are better off at a legitimate guild, not a dark one like mine."

"Not sure..." Greg said.

Marvin knew what he meant. Greg was always a lone wolf. Joining a guild went against his very nature.

Before he could ask what he was going to do, Greg stopped walking.

Marvin stopped two stepped ahead of his friend, "Greg, what's wrong?"

Greg shot him a look, "My left. 2."

Marvin sighed, "I know, they make so much noise. Now, the 3 behind me, they are better."

Just as he finished, five hooded figures shot out into the air from the trees, each of them wielding a weapon.

Marvin stuck his hands into his pockets and closed his eyes, "Earth break?" he asked Greg.

In response, Greg placed both of his hands perpendicular to each other, his right hand in his left's palm. He closed his right hand into a fist and a bright light radiated from his palm. The light was so bright that it blinded their attackers, forcing them to close their eyes.

Marvin took the opportunity to activate the Tarot card in his pocket, "Illusionary Tarot card: Earth break!"

Just as their assailants regained their vision, they lost their balance as the ground around them shifted and changed, rising and falling in constant flux.

The sudden temper of the earth caused all of their would-be attackers to leap into the air, where they would be unaffected by the changing landscape.

Just as they planned.

It was at that moment that Greg activated his magic, "Requip: Hypersonic!"

As he said that, he pulled out a green handle from his left palm. He continued to pull, revealing a slightly curved green sword.

Somehow, Greg managed to plant his foot firmly on the unstable earth, and before anyone could react, he shot up straight into one of the attackers. He caught him by surprise, and managed to put in three consecutive strikes to the head before using the fallen guys body as a platform to jump off of. He repeated the process with the other four attackers, and when he landed, Marvin had cancelled his spell, and all five assailants were lying on the ground, unconscious.

All of this happened in under 5 seconds.

Greg sheathe his sword, and looked to Marvin, who was examining the fallen attackers. There was alion with a scorpion's tailtattoo on each and every one of them.

Just then, an explosion rocketed the entire area. Both Marvin and Greg turned to see a huge sea of flames engulfing the village.

"Early." Greg commented.

Marvin nodded. Apparently, the Manticore's had arrived sooner than expected.

[Imagine cool song]

Oh, the pains of moving can be such a drag. I didn't even have the motivation to write! I am so sorry for not posting this sooner. Please forgive me… please… (Begging with pussy dog eyes… sob…)