(Enter stage right) Kagura Mikazuchi and her lovely comrade Milianna!

Driftwood

"A beauty pageant?" Kagura Mikazuchi wondered as she and Millianna walked down the beach. The ocean kissed the sandy shore, spreading foam out along the white earth. It was quiet out here today. The only real sounds came from the squawking of seagulls and the crunching of sand underneath the two women's boots.

It had been the perfect day to train. Kagura and Millianna had recently come back from a mission, and since most of the other mages at Mermaid Heel were out on jobs of their own, they had decided to pass some time by battling it out on the beach. With the training out of the way and with no one really in the guild, tactics had turned out to walking down the beach.

Millianna crouched down to snatch a spiral seashell up from the shore. She played with it like a cat with a ball of yarn as she replied, "Yup. It's going to be held in Crocus. There are even going to be male models this time from all the guilds. I hear that Mirajane can't find a single guy in Fairy Tail to do it. I heard from Erza that her little sister, Lisanna has an idea. Remember the Lancet Prince, Urian?"

Kagura tilted her head. Yes. She did remember Urian. He was a particularly handsome man who knew just how good looking he was. Women had swooned in his presence, and men had looked on at him jealously. If Kagura remembered right, the womanizer had specialized in a form of God Slaying magic. She believed that it was ice.

Urian and Kagura had seen each other several times when they had been getting ready to go to war to liberate Lancet. It had been Mermaid Heel's job to breech the Wall dividing the kingdom and knock out guards that hadn't gone to Adamine's wedding. Neither one had gotten much time to talk to the other, but she did know that Milianna was currently nursing a crush on the male.

"So, he will represent Fairy Tail. That must be good for him. I'm sure he's enjoying it." Kagura kept her gaze straight ahead. The sun was setting to the west of Fiore. It was one of her favorite sights, and Kagura tended to make sure that she never missed it. The setting sun always gave her a quiet moment to remember her brother Simon and the sacrifice he made for Erza.

"Yeah. I want to go to the pageant to see him do male modeling. The prize is 500,000 jewel to the guild that wins. We could participate," Millianna mentioned, more so interested in seeing Urian than actually partaking in the pageant.

Kagura's eyes were still on the sunset even as she asked, "Is that all? What does the pageant entail?"

"Well, there are different rounds. There's formalwear, casual wear, swimsuit, and there's even a round on world history. The contest is open to guilds from Lancet as well. King Toma and Princess Hisui even invited King Isaac from Lancet in hopes of establishing a better view on mages for their Non-Mages. One of the guilds that I know will be coming from Lancet is called Kindred Spirit. The actual single winner of the competition gets two tickets to a private hot spring. They also get to pick from any of the contestants, and their chosen contestant has to go with them according to rules. So, there's technically four winners," Milianna explained.

Kagura finally gave a pause. She remembered King Isaac as well. They had met personally to discuss the division of groups to be assigned to the Wall. He was a very tall male. He had tattooed line eyeliner around his right eye, and his left eye was covered in a strangely shaped black and white mask. She had enjoyed talking with him. He had a sense of leadership and loyalty to him. Although she didn't know his magic, Kagura had left Lancet fully believing that he would make a fine king for the kingdom. Much like his half-brother, Isaac was also extremely handsome. It appeared looks ran in their family since Adamine was a stunning woman as well.

Without meaning for it to slip from her mouth, Kagura absentmindedly wondered, "Will King Isaac partake in the modeling?" Not that she wanted to see him model or anything of course! She was just interested in that strange mask of his!

Milianna let a playful grin cross her face. She leaned in and chimed, "I haven't heard of that yet, but he might. I hear that Hisui is debating on joining the modeling."

Now that was shocking. With what little Kagura knew of Hisui, she seemed like a quiet, reserved woman who was determined but shy with her plays. She didn't appear to act in the strongest confidence at all times, but she was confidant in her abilities with her country. It was an ironic combination.

For a short moment, Kagura pondered the possibilities of engagement between Hisui and King Isaac. The likelihood was high. Toma was a full supporter of mage freedom, and it sounded like this modeling competition was held solely for Lancet to see the truth behind mages and their behaviors, the truth that they were normal human beings. It would be a very strategic play if Isaac did marry the Celestial Spirit Mage.

Kagura made a move to turn the bend around the shore, but as soon as she did, her eyes met something curious. Something large and black had washed up on the shore. Crimson pooled around it, and that could only mean one thing: blood.

Instinctively, Kagura held her hand up to halt Milianna's chattering. "Be ready," she warned.

Milianna's feline shaped eyes went from Kagura's defensive stance then they trailed to her hand readying at her blade. The sight caused her hackles to rise. She readied her magic just in case.

Brown eyes surveyed the scene around her. The large, black object was surrounded by flotsam that had washed ashore, and upon closer inspection, Kagura acknowledged that the black mass wasn't just a black mass. It was large wings lined thickly with raven dark feathers. In the dusk light they glistened blue.

They were beautiful feathers, but Kagura couldn't see what lay beneath them. There were no large birds that stalked the western shore of Fiore. If anyone had seen a bird with wings that spanned longer than she was tall, surely he or she would have reported it.

With her sword at the ready, Kagura stepped closer. Her sheath eased forward to pull up one of the heavy extensions, and what she saw froze her in her tracks.

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. Well, in this case it was speak of a king, and he shall appear. As sure as they had been talking about him, King Isaac Grigori Von Kaiser was laid out beneath those massive wings.

His face was ruined. Blood washed the entire side of it from what she could see, and his wings, as beautiful as they were, had been mangled to such an extent that there was no way they weren't broken. The more Kagura perused his unconscious form, the more wounds she noticed on Isaac's body.

"Milianna, go to the guild. We need to get him inside quickly," she barked, voice full of concern for the man atop her blade.

Milianna gave a quick salute before pouncing back towards the guild.

Still, Kagura couldn't leave him. She dropped to her knees, feeling them sink into the pearl white sand. Her mind was full of questions. How had he washed up in southern Fiore when Lancet was straight west? What was his body doing drifting in the ocean? Had another war begun?

It had been months since they believed they'd liberated Lancet. Perhaps, the Normans had a secret weapon up their sleeve?

Either way, Kagura lightly gripped Isaac's giant wings. Was he a Take Over mage like the Take Over Siblings? If that was the case then why didn't he shift forms when he was rendered unconscious?

She had no clue. Take Over Mages were supposed to go back to their original forms after being defeated. Isaac had not. She'd never heard of such magic, and when she finally got him flipped onto his back, those massive wings weren't the only things she stared out.

Isaac's lips were parted, and he didn't just have sharp canines. Isaac had legitimate fangs, two pairs of them!

Kagura found herself enchanted by them. If she had to be honest, she found herself enchanted by all of him from his majestic, broken wings to his strange mask that had somehow remained on his face. He looked like a beautiful leopard in a cage, all sleek and dark but meant not to touch. No matter how hard your fingers itched to run through that silken fur.

As if she couldn't help herself, Kagura reached up towards his mask. She had never seen him without it. Even out of battle, Isaac kept the masquerade mask atop his pale skin.

Her fingertips smoothed across the hand crafted piece of artwork over his left eye. The mask was wonderful. It ran in sharp angles and melded perfectly to his face. Whoever had crafted this piece had done so solely for their king.

Kagura's hand slipped the mask askew on his face, and when the skin that was always hidden from her finally appeared, she couldn't keep from sliding the piece fully away from his face. What she saw there took her breath.

Three claw marks ran down the length of his face. They ruined the skin of his eyelid and ran all the way down before connecting with the corner of his sculpted lips.

"So, this is what you're hiding," Kagura mentioned, still glancing about Isaac's face. With his hair and mask not in the way, she noted that he had matching piercings on either ear. Two met at the top of his ear's cartilage. The other two matched at his earlobes. She wondered just where else King Isaac was pierced at.

As soon as she heard footsteps charging in from behind her, Kagura slipped his mask right back where she'd found it. She didn't know why, but the thought of the others seeing him without his mask on didn't feel honorable. The fact that she had peeked wasn't honorable either, but she'd been doing so to check for any battle wounds. Yes. That was all. There was no other reason she wanted to see what he hid.

Suddenly ashamed at herself, Kagura turned to see her teammates dashing towards her. "Is that who I think it is?" Risley commented after one look at the large heap of mangled wings and black that was King Isaac.

"There's no way," Araña mentioned. Her hand came up to her lips, and she stared in shock at the sight of proud King Isaac draped out on the beach like driftwood.

"We have to get him to the guild," Kagura explained. She got down and lifted, well tried to lift, Isaac from the sand. If it wasn't for the dead weight of his wings, she probably could have done it. Quickly enough, Risley changed her body shape with her magic. The woman snagged Isaac's other side, and the two of them proceeded to haul him off in the direction of the guild.

A metallic clanking caught Araña's ears, and when she glanced to the ground, she noted Isaac's flask. How that thing had survived whatever had gotten the king sent here was beyond her. Despite it all, she snatched it up and walked behind her guild mates towards. In the few, fleeting times she'd seen Isaac, he'd never had his flask too far away. She could at least bring him something familiar.

Just curious, how do you feel about our lovely demon king needing to drink blood to survive? I feel as if it goes hand in hand with his fallen angel looks and doubled up canines. Tell me what you think.