I do not own Fairy Tail.

Chapter 3:

Eight mages stood in a line leading to the door, all silent and serious. The rest of the guild stood at least a few yards away, their eyes trained on the nine people before them. Every member of the guild was present, the Thunder Legion and Gildarts having been informed two days ago to what would be happening. On their own will, they finished their missions quickly and came back to witness what would happen.

The woman, known as Talia, paced back and forth before the mages. They followed her moves as she scrutinized each of them one by one.

There were a few she recognized, Erza Scarlet and Natsu Dragneel being the only ones she could name. Yet, she only knew the Titania's magic. The rest, she had no idea. She knew what she was looking for though, and already knew Erza was not it.

The others, having a wide range of hair colors and attire choices, were a mystery to her. Three of them smelled very familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on what it was. Finally, she stilled and straightened her back, stopping in front of Erza.

"Erza Scarlet" She spoke evenly, a look of surprise washing over Erza's face but quickly disappeared back into her confident, even face.

"You know of me?" Erza spoke, leveling her gaze with the strange woman.

She nodded, "Of course I do. The Titania is a title known far and wide, and being an upcoming member of the Ten Wizard Saints, I must keep up with those powerful enough to also be among out ranks."

Now Erza looked surprised again, never having been told something like this. Sure, she'd seen herself becoming one but hadn't had anything confirmed by her, especially not by someone who was right at becoming one.

"I already know your magic and your reputation, you have nothing more to prove to me" Talia spoke, giving her a small smile and a nod. Erza, still surprised, bowed slightly out of respect. She could sense only a portion of this woman power, only the amount she allowed to be revealed, and even that amount rivaled her own. Just by knowing this, she knew she had a long way to go before she would be ready to be a Wizard Saint.

She moved to the next person, one of the three that had a familiar smell. Natsu Dragneel. He smelled of ash, something Talia wasn't particularly fond of.

"And you are Natsu Dragneel" She spoke, this time an amused smile gracing her face. As Natsu was about to speak, everyone in the guild willing him to not say anything stupid, she spoke again, "I helped in many reconstruction efforts to clean up damage you caused."

Everyone seemed to sigh at the same time, some slapping their hands to their foreheads. That was it, that was his legacy. Destroying everything.

"Yeah, I tend to make a mess when I get fired up" Natsu spoke, laughing awkwardly as she scratched the back of his head.

"Yes, I see that. Very destructive.." She trailed off for a moment before meeting his eyes, "One thing I have never been informed of, although, was your magic. What is it you use?"

Natsu grinned and crossed his arms over his chest proudly, "I'm a Dragon Slayer!"

Talia's eyes widened, now understanding what the smell was. It was a dragon. Interesting.

"By the scorch marks at your battle grounds I assume a fire dragon?" At Natsu's nod of affirmation, she spoke in a slightly lower tone, "Igneel's son, then."

"How do you-?" Natsu began to question before she walked on. Out of his best wishes, he bit his tongue. He could also feel her magic energy, and it dwarfed his. He desperately wanted to fight her, even knowing he would lose. But for now, he had to try and give her a good impression of him, despite her very passive-aggressive approach to his destructive tendencies.

She moved on to the next, another woman. This girl, she had not heard of.

"And your name is?" She asked, staring the girl down. The girl seemed to wither under her gaze.

"L-Lucy Heartfilia, m-ma'am" She rushed out, stumbling over her words. Talia tilted her head. Layla's daughter, it seems.

"So, a Celestial Mage then?" She asked, catching everyone by surprise.

"Um, yes. How did you know?" Lucy asked her. Instead of revealing that she knew her mother just yet, she gave a pointed gaze to the ring of keys at the girl's side. Lucy laughed nervously, not really expecting the woman to be so observant.

"May I see them?" She asked. Lucy rushed out a quick 'yes' before handing her keys over to the woman, Talia's delicate hand spreading the keys out in her palm.

"That's-" Lucy tried to tell her what each were, but was stopped by a subtle nod by the mage in front of her.

"The Lion, The Water Bearer, The Goat, The Scorpion, The Ram, The Twins, The Archer, The Maiden, The Giant Crab and The Golden Bull" She named off each gold key, ignoring the silver ones from the fact that she didn't know all of their names, "You seem to only be missing two."

Lucy nodded, "The Paired Fish and Heavenly Scales, Pisces and Libra. And the 13th key as well" Talia gave a look of surprise at her knowledge of the 13th key, but then nodded.

"I'm sure you treat them well, your mother would roll over in her grave if you didn't" Talia spoke quietly, with a fond smile. Lucy stared at her, confused as to why she spoke of her mother. Before Lucy could question her, as she did to Natsu, she moved on.

"And you?" She asked the next person.

"Gray Fullbuster, ma'am, Ice Make Magic" He filled in for her, answering both questions at once.

"Ice Make? So you were one of Ur's students?" He nodded, not bothering to try and ask from how successful Natsu and Lucy ended up being at that. She nodded and moved on.

The next was a bit taller than her, causing her to incline her head to meet his face. Her eyes scanned his face, taking in the metal that jutted out in different places. The man's red eyes watched her, her finally seeing someone who didn't have an ounce of fear in them when they looked at her. She almost grinned, so he wasn't even intimidated by her?

She nodded, silencing asking him to speak.

"Gajeel Redfox" He paused, watching her as she watched him expectantly, "Iron Dragon Slayer."

She looked down, shielding most of her face from him as a wicked smile stretched across it. Another one? This was getting even better as she went on.

"Another one? Interesting.." She vocalized, almost silently. The Slayer picked up on her words, already having seen her smile. He put her on edge more ever before, feeling such an aura off her mixed with the magic he could feel. He almost swallowed nervously as he realized, if it called for it, he wasn't sure who there was in that guild that could best her in a fight. She was only on par with Makarov, maybe Laxus possibly. By the looks on everyone else's faces, he knew they realized it too.

She moved to the next, a slight smile tugging at her lips. If those two were slayers, that explained their smell. That meant this girl was also.

"I'm Wendy Marvell, the S-sky dragon slayer" Little Wendy spoke, trying to seem confident. She'd already argued with Carla to let her do this, insisting she needed to. She eventually won, taking both of the days to convince her.

Talia smiled a bit and patted Wendy's head, making a few people in the guild go rigid for touching her, "It's alright, don't be nervous." Wendy nodded, trying to take her advice.

The next spoke before Talia could really look her over, "Juvia Lockser, Juvia is a water mage."

Talia gave her a pointed look, a bit annoyed that she spoke without giving Talia enough time to evaluate her. She nodded and moved on without another look.

She glanced at the last person in the line. She could feel the anxiousness of the people that before her, and she stared at the woman before her with a terrified look.

At once, the girl regretted volunteering to take this job, knowing that compared to the others, she wouldn't measure up. She only decided to because of a certain dragon slayer who also wanted the job, hoping to go on it with him. But now, watching the mysterious stranger stand before her with such an aura of importance made her feel small. She flinched as the woman asked for her name, trying to find words.

"L-Lisanna Strauss. I'm an animal take over mage" She said quietly, hoping she was heard, afraid that if she had to repeat her words, she wouldn't be able to.

She finally made eye contact with her, immediately seeing how the woman felt about her. She could see that the woman had already made her decision before she even got to her. She could've cried then, knowing it was hopeless. But at the same time, she had to hold out hope that Natsu was chosen, wanting the best for the dragon slayer that held her interests.

Talia Sequen turned her back on the group and walked to where Makarov sat, smiling as she approached. Makarov knew she had made her decision as well.

Well this is chapter 3, and the start of my longer chapters. Just as a note, I hope no one gets uppity about Talia mentioning Igneel, Lucy's mother, and Ur. Igneel and Layla have to do with the character's history and the plot (sort of). And Ur was very well known by anyone having to do with the Wizard Saints (remember it was mentioned if she was still alive, she would have been one) so anyone keeping up with potentialSaints would know of her. But that's as far as Talia's involvement with Ur goes. I may explain this in the story later on, also. Maybe whenever Gray comes in at some point.

Anyway, I hope you're enjoying it and please review and give me some feedback please?