This chapter's song is Monster by Skillet.

I walk to the room that held Nightshade, and my eyes widen at the turmoil held there.

Orion is unconscious, probably barely alive, and the door behind him is blown to bits. A wraith's shroud is on the floor, so I assume that she defeated it, but more to it is the fact that there's no trace of her, besides this carnage.

Kneeling, I heal Orion with a spell, making his wounds disappear and his breathing to ease. He's okay, a bit winded and he's unconscious, but otherwise okay.

I stand, looking at the wreckage and then kick some of it.

"Nightshade…." I growl out, and kneel again to pick up Orion. He'll be more comfortable in the infirmary and it'll make me feel better about it.

There's nothing left of the scene anyway. (10)

I'd be worried, but I know that any person in our Family can handle themselves. The assassin's trade is not embarked upon lightly, nor is it survived long by the unskilled and stupid.

My thoughts are rebounding around in my head, making it hard to think clearly, but it's better this way right now. I want to be lost in this fog for a while.

My feet carry me back from the Sanctuary to the road, and my head is surrounded by clouds in the same way my body is surrounded by nature. It's relaxing me, forcing me to calm down.

There was nothing I could do. I cannot overlook something as erroneous as a breach in the tenets- only a Silencer or above may break them, to retain order. It's for the sanctity of the Purification or the rooting out of a traitor.

Our brand of justice is not keeping with these weaker governments. We are the Black Hand, and our justice is as swift as an assassin's blade and as unpleasant as we want it. We need to have the tenets for our organization; without them, there would be nothing protecting us. The Tenets have guided us for centuries, and just because they seem dated does not make it so they are unapplicable, or unuseful.

This world now, it does not understand discipline. It cannot understand order without the discipline.

As I walk back towards civilization, my head is not as right as it should be, but it doesn't matter now. If I had a plan, it'd be in motion, already yielding me the results that I wished for it.

Too bad I didn't. (11)

Out of the woods and into civilization once more, I travel to the Imperial City on Arvak, and watch the looks on the faces of the people there as I don't even dismount before heading in, continuing on the flaming skeletal horse from another realm.

The guards almost want to tell me to, but there's no rule against it. Even if there was, though, it wouldn't matter. I run the world now. They are puppets, unhelpful little puppets that hope to achieve something that they cannot. (12)

I walk Arvak towards the palace, dismounting before it and watching the crowds awe-filled faces as he disappeared and the guards saluted me. With a smirk on my face that is covered by my mask, I enter the palace and get to work.

Up on the top floors, I find a messenger waiting for me, and I smile at the thought of killing him for fun. It's dismissed almost immediately- cover ups are expensive and the cost of replacing him would be higher than I want to pay. People who trust me without question are hard to come by and harder to keep.

"Here's a letter from Nightshade." the man leaves, an exemplary courier. Immediately I break the magical seal, and shield my eyes from the flash of light that accompanies it.

Instead of being alone as I was, there are now members of Fairy Tail all around me, charging up spells and letting them go, right at me as I sigh in annoyance at my daughter's mistake.

The blast obliterates my office, making me glad that nothing of interest had been moved there yet. It would've happened the next day had they not just destroyed the place that had the best view. (13)

I'm stunned, and at the orders of Laxus, I believe, I'm bound with chains made by Gajeel, the Iron Dragon Slayer, and with a few punches I'm out like a light. Even I'm not immune to that.

I come to in a wonderful little cage, surrounded by security forces with burning spells just waiting to be released. Outside the iron cage is a very, very angry Dragon Slayer, named Natsu Dragneel. Beside him is his Mate, Lisanna, who is both crying her eyes out and glaring at me. To their right is a more reasonable couple, Laxus and Lucy, both twice as formidable as they were when I had Bickslow as my apprentice.

Finding a Dragon Slayer's Mate does that to the couple. (14)

I smile at them, knowing that my mask has been ripped off and my face is fully on display. "Why, what a charming little hobble you have here! Did you do this yourselves?"

I shouldn't aggravate them.

"YOU MONSTER!" shouts Natsu, flying at the cage and wrapping his hands around the bars, shaking it. His face is twisted, as if he would love nothing more than to kill me by wrapping his hands around my neck and wringing it like you would a chicken's.

I smile, and stand up, looking at him, getting close as I can, until only the bars separate us. Then I open my mouth and hiss, letting my fangs surge out and dragon tongue to surprise the hell out of him.

"Don't aggravate me, you brat." I say, chuckling as I watch him get angrier.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" he shouts, before Lisanna falls to her knees beside him, sobbing into her hands as I watch with a smile on my face.

"Try." I whisper, and then Laxus steps in.

"Enough. I want answers." he demands, and I laugh, moving off to the lone window, also barred, and sit on the ledge there.

"Answers? You want answers? What kind? I want them too, you know, but they've probably been inside my head the whole time."

Lucy's brow furrows, and she looks at me while Laxus growls and moves in closer. "What did you do to Bickslow all those years ago?"

"I saved him. My turn. Why did you capture me?"

"That's not how it works. You answer our questions, you don't get to ask them." he growls, low in his throat.

I chuckle again. "That might be enough to scare any other person here, but not me. I've gone up against enemies that make you look like nothing but an overrated outlaw."

Lucy hasn't moved, but does look concerned. Laxus just looks at me, his teeth bared, and he smirks, finally. "We can just kill you, you know."

"You can't. First of all, you'd have to get into this cage with me, and I'd kill you before you could release a single spell. Secondly, I have too many contingency plans in place. If I die, the economy crashes, thieves will loot everything they wish, my assassins will roam the streets looking for my killers, and if the dragon comes back, this world, will end."

Laxus and Lucy are walking towards the exit, him dismissing me as a minor threat now that I'm restrained and locked up. Lisanna and Natsu are ahead of them, hobbling down the hallway already.

"Did I mention that Bickslow will eventually go insane? If he's not already of course; it is affecting me much more than him, I'd imagine." the walking of the pair stops, and immediately they're back at my cage.

"What do you mean?"

"You have no manners, Laxus. Lucy, will you answer the question I asked your Mate? That'd be much nicer than having to make either of you talk when you're trying to breath through the sobs as you watch your Mate get torn apart and eviscerated and dissected."

The couple looks at me, horrified. I simply smile at them, my hands between my knees, up on the windowsill.

Lucy takes in a breath, evenly, calmly, and responds. "We wanted to know about your plans, and what you want with Bickslow, as well as stopping you. Will you answer ours now?"

I consider the request and the answer, finally inclining my head. "Yes, if you're both civil. Could you repeat your question?"

Lucy looks at Laxus, whose gaze only flickers back and forth, between us. He smiles at her, nodding his head a little. He trusts her.

How nice. My gaze softens as I look at the couple, but I turn back to the outside before they notice. It's an old tower, crumbling and weak, but still strong with supports. It dates back to the Third Era, I believe. I doubt they care about it's history. A hundred battles have filled these walls, and a hundred prisoners or more have stayed where I am, right now.

A prison. Befitting a royal monarch, but not one of the Dragon Blood, the Dovah Sos.

I am part God, after all.

Lucy's voice chimes in over my thoughts. "What did you mean about Bickslow going insane?"

"It happens, when Dragon Slayers don't claim their Mates quickly enough. There have been rampages by those that knew their Mates, but they could not bond to them, due to marriage or something else. Those that have dead ones, they are the worst off out of any who lose theirs somehow. Irrevocably, they go ever so slowly insane, an incurable process and quite horrifying if you know them. One day they seem perfectly fine, the next they jump you with a rusty butter knife and try to eat your intestines."

"Really?"

"It'll be worse for him, though. The process takes years, although with the power levels you have now, it's quicker, and, keying in the vampire part," I pause, making some quick calculations. "He'll be completely insane in, oh, I'd say, a year or two."

"A year?" asks Laxus.

I nod, smiling faintly. "Give or take a few weeks. Of course, he'll survive, but he'll be a shadow of himself, nothing but a shell. No life, until he dies. Not even magic can help that."

I pause, and then resume talking. "My turn. How did you find me?"

"A woman named Nightshade heard us listening in the woods, approached us, and told us what to do. We didn't see her, though." answered Laxus, watching me.

I stopped listening.

'Nightshade'

'Nightshade.'

'Nightshade.'

I let out a roar, breaking the chains binding my hands together and the shackles on my ankles, my Dragon Shout armor already forming on my body. I surprise Lucy and Laxus, who are thrown against the wall. Instantly, I summon Lucien and Cicero, who know my wishes and guide me in my rage, telling me what Sithis desires. I carve for Him the rock that shapes this tower, and at once the remaining people in here come up to try and get me under bars again.

A Lightning beam hits the newcomers, and Lucien and Cicero quickly bring them to me, bound and gagged, unconscious and barely alive, letting me send them merrily to another pocket dimension, so I can retrieve them at a later time.

This is going to be fun, I say to myself, until I believe it. The rock underneath my feet trembles at my touch, and my eyes begin to glow as I find my gear, wielding it almost automatically as I make a skull out of a tower and it's garrisons. The dungeons are fine, and would make for a nice home. A public entrance, here, I think.

Let's make myself known as the ruler of this world.

I laugh maniacally as the rock falls around me and my spectral companions, whose eyes have seen me at my worst and at my best, everywhere in between. However, this, I think, is when they, and everyone else, realized.

I'm.

Fucking.

Crazy.

Without my Mate.

Let's start the manhunt, shall we?

After the skull is formed and the rest of the fort that I could not shape has sunk beneath the earth, I rest upon a throne, looking down over the entrance where the teeth would be. I smile, looking over the people I've captured from Fairy Tail, the precious guild of Fiore, it's poster child. I brought them out of the pocket dimension- if you leave alive things in there too long, they can go crazy from looking at nothing. It's happened before. (15)

The few that are conscious look at me with wide, fearful eyes, except for the more ferocious ones, but, thankfully, they're unconscious. Most have wounds, or are covered with burns from Lightning spells.

I smile once more, my mask hiding it, then it falters.

Why did I do this?

I want to answer myself in a calm, rational manner, but there is no calm way to talk about this, even with myself.

I glare at Laxus, his slumped form enough to tell me he's under and won't be surfacing soon, but I don't want anything resembling a battle going on in here, my newly remodeled space. What should I call it?

Ah, yes. Templum.

A true standing of my faith in the Night Mother and the Dread Father.

I'd better get to work.

"Cicero, Lucien, please watch the prisoners, and knock out the Dragon Slayers should they wake up."

The pair of spectral assassins nod, and I get off the throne, jumping off the banister of the new balcony and landing solidly on the floor of the newest fixture of my new world.

I head under the overhanging balcony, and pull out the Blade of Woe, and my spells of Lightning and Blood Magic, infused. A little trick for carving out new places I want to imbue with Blood Magic.

Let the new era begin.

After 45 minutes, I've exhausted my magicka, and carved out a special chamber for myself, as well as an underground sanctuary for sleep and food. A meeting hall with a stone table sits above it, black as night and practically exuding death. I'll think about sacrificing someone on it later.

I've finished, for now, and smile at my work, knowing I've been going at it like a fiend.

Once I turn around, though, I'm hit by a force that's not allowing me to go anywhere, or even stand up.

Gravity magic.

I wonder who it could be?

I raise my head tentatively, stretching the bounds of my own magic, feeling for any cracks in the spellcasting. The overall weave of the spell is sound, a solid construction. Couldn't do better myself.

Which means, of course, that it's only one person.

My smile stretches across my face as I overpower the spell, breaking through it with sheer force of magicka (16), and standing up.

"Well, Bickslow, I haven't met you in quite some time." I say, dusting myself off in a mocking fashion. "I'm sorry to say you didn't greet me properly. We can amend that later."

Two screams rebound through the chamber, and I perk up. One of them is Cicero's, one that's of pain. The spectrality of him limits pain, but there is nothing that stops it completely. He's being attacked.

The second scream is… different.

I hurry to climb the stairs, sprinting up them and finding Bickslow standing over the quickly dematerializing essence of Cicero.

"Do you know how long that takes to clean up?" I growl, and power up spells in both hands. Thankfully, Lucien is still alive, and it looks like he moved the prisoners. Thank Sithis for my dear, deceased Brother.

"Where are my guildmates?" he asks, his tone serious.

I chuckle at him, still holding onto the spells. "You think I'm going to tell you?"

"WHERE ARE THEY?" he yells, and I grimace under my mask. Ouch. (17)

His puppets float out around his head, and they're glowing with green power, while his hands are obviously holding onto some sort of different magic. Most likely, it's destructive, hard to control, powerful, and deadly. It's probably all true.

"Why don't we take this outside? I just carved this place." I joke, and he growls again, the only indicator that he's started to attack.

His 5 original puppets form a Baryon formation, while the others (18) lay down cover fire. His hands, however, remain still, likely charging up power.

I don't move, but focus myself, accessing my natural power of Highborn, and when I open my eyes, they glow, through the darkness and through my mask, Konahrik. "You asked for this."

I send out a pulse, my arms weaving themselves into vessels for a complex incantation. "Nocte tempus impii surgit. Die exitus aeternum, numquam redire. Nocte regnat aeternum."

With my incantation, the whole light balance in the room surges, and a wave of black crashes out as soon as I've finished saying the spell. The spell is powerful, almost enough to kill me, but not quite. I'm on the ground, trying to stand up, staggering backwards and feeling the haze from my eyes disappear again as my eyesight returns to normal, the leaking magic from it that turned red fading.

Bickslow is on the floor, his puppets fallen to the ground as the spell cut off his magic for the time being. He's trapped in a shadow case, a power of the night. It's very useful, of course, and even more so considering that it's almost capable of killing me. My health is returning, of course, but I'm hesitant to do much right now.

Luckily, Lucien has returned from the hiding place, handing me a spectral key to the astral plane he put them on. He normally would put them in the Void, but they aren't victims, nor Brothers or Sisters, so it is inaccurate to do so there. It's also much easier to do this without angering the Dread Father.

I lean on the balcony of black ebony, and sigh, looking at the encased aura of my Mate.

How did this happen?

I sigh as the newest Sanctuary, my height of power here in Fiore, retreats into the distance. My forces will use it at their discretion, with the highest security available and several Dark Guilds employed in keeping order and watch. They will be overseen, of course, by Rustyrose and Erigor, with Rustyrose travelling a lot in the near future.

Lucien by my side, I conjure up Arvak and toss Bickslow's shadow encased body on his back, in front of where I shall be sitting, and swinging up in almost the same heartbeat.

The Spectral Assassin follows me, whispering with his deathly-still voice and making me relax with his familiarity. I brought along Bickslow's dolls as well, thinking that... well. I did.

My thoughts consume me as I travel from there to the Palace of Shadows, my newly redecorated seat of power here. It will do nicely for this.

Deep in the dungeons of my new palace in Fiore, I set down my Mate in one cell, a magically protective one, capable of containing an explosion the size of a dragon's firepower. Considering that he doesn't know Dragon Slayer magic or above that, I'd say it's good. Even I'd have a hard time breaking out of there, although I do have a few tricks, of course.

The rest of the Fairy Tail members are easily transported out of the dimension they were in back to this one. All are in a very deep state of unconscious, quite luckily. Being awake in a different dimension can drive people insane.

Just in case, though, I place them in the cell adjacent, except for the Celestial Mage, Lucy. I don't really want to harm her, mainly because the spirits in the Celestial World would eventually figure it out and get very angry with me, so If I can, I'll avoid it. I doubt that Bickslow would let one of his guildmates be hurt anyway.

With a deep breath, I summon up the words for the spell again, breaking the enchantment just by thinking about the phrase. It's much easier to do so than to repeat the incantation the way it's supposed to. (19)

Groggily, he gets up, and I'm suddenly very glad that I still have his puppets with me. With the cell's magic interfering with his own, he can't use them, making him a lot weaker and a lot easier to convince to go along with my plan. (20)

My Mate stands up, at once seeing me and leaping into an attack position, charging up spells. "What is going on here?"

I smile, my mask hiding the lower portion of my face. I thought it best to leave Konahrik off for this part, so that he can see my eyes. They're quite serious.

"I'm here to make you a deal. Do you see the cell to your left? Your comrades are in there, all unconscious and easy prey for someone like me to kill them. Do you want that?"

"Let them go!"

"I said, do you want that?" I repeat myself, my eyes narrowing and glaring at my Mate.

"Your feud is with me and me alone!" he roars, firing the spells at where I am, with his face shocked at how easily the magic disappears on the barrier.

"ANSWER THE QUESTION!" I shout, the ground shaking as I slam my hand onto the bars of the cage, denting it a bit even though it's good solid steel.

Bickslow jumps like a kitten, and looks taken aback a bit. His eyebrows narrow, and he growls out, "No."

"Good. Then, if you don't want this one to die, then you'll obviously do as I say."

"What do you want me to do?" he asks, concern etched into his voice. (21)

"It's all very simple."

"In exchange for their lives, you stay with me, in every building I want you to be with me, in my presence, as frequently as I want." I state, searching him for any signs of discontent. I thought there would be more.

He sighs through his nose, and thinks about it for a minute. All the while, I think about how I should really be holding a blade to Miss Lucy's neck to convince him, slowly pressing down every second he spends indecisive.

"Okay. I'll do it."

I smile under my mask, but look at him incredulously. "I will, of course, need to make sure of this."

"You're going to continue holding my friends here?" he asks, bristling with anger.

"No, I'll merely plant a device in them to help make sure that your decision is final. Because if you betray me, or do anything that I don't allow, I'll make sure to blow their pretty little brains all over wherever they are." I say with gusto, and he practically seethes with barely restrained fury over my proposition.

"As long as I behave, they won't be harmed?"

"Not a hair on their head will be touched by my people." I promise, and he spends a tense moment deciding again, giving one short, curt nod to me.

My smile reaches my eyes for a moment before I shut it down, and I pick up Miss Lucy from the ground, carrying her like a princess up the stairs.

"Where are you going?"

"To make sure you stick to your promise." I chuckle as I ascend the stairs, his roars echoing after me.

One by one, I sent for the others down in the dungeons that were not my Mate, and implanted a tracking chip in them, letting me know their movements everywhere there was Ethernano, or Magicka. Using the inherent magic of the floating particles, I could effectively kill them by manipulating it into the tracker, absorbing enough magic that it would eventually kill them. Most likely, they'd have to use all their magic simultaneously, on repeat, every second for it to not kill them. Even if it doesn't quite do so, they'd be effectively brain dead. The device can transmit Ethernano particles directly to the brain and cause a cascade failure, so to speak, in their nervous system, allowing for minimal brain activity. They'd still be alive, but they'd just be a shell of who they were. It would be easier just to kill them, and much less cruel.

At last, the Fairy Tail Team that captured me previously is all but pacified, still unawakened, and I may go collect my prize.

"There." I say, hitting a button with my knuckles that releases both the cage door and the barrier.

"I wish to say goodbye to my friends." He says, not looking at me directly, and not moving from where he stood before.

Just gazing at him, I know it would be best for him to do so. "Very well. They're this way." I turn around, leading him up the stairs and I hear his hesitant first steps out of the cell. (22)(23)

I know he knows that he is stepping out, freeing his friends, but trapping himself. It's a big thing to do.

A piece of my heart twinges because of this. Whether it's because of the fact that my Mate just did something heroic, I did something horrible, or the simple relief that soon I won't have to wonder whether I'm truly crazy or not. It'll just be me and my thoughts in my head.

My guilt-ridden thoughts. Great.

Since when did I have feelings?

10- Another wave of red vision occurs, though; this time it's Nightshade dead, with Orion standing over her body, panting, his eyes black, his self possessed, out of control. He smiles at me and says, "She suffered for her sins, and fell at the hands of the Wrath of Sithis." It fades away after a blink of my eyelids. 11- Not entirely true, but definitely at least part true. The indisputable truth of the matter was that I had something in my brain, but not sure if it was a good plan or something that just appeared there and wouldn't let go. 12- Even if they wanted a revolution to be rid of me, it would be futile and useless, as well as counterproductive. I like having happy citizens; it keeps me from dying most of the time due to suspicion. Any time that a country can somehow rise up against a ruler is a time that the ruler has lost control. I won't interfere with much, but rights and regulations will be reviewed and added to. Such nonsense that these mortals have, what is wrong with them? Any priest of Mara would marry any two lovers; why is it such a big difference to have two people who love each other get to spend the rest of their lives together? What's the controversy? 13- Not too high, nor too low, it was perfect. I could still see the people and their activities, albeit a bit less clearly, but still enough to know if it was wrong- and close enough to interfere, if I had to. 14- Occasionally, of course, it's not unusual to find a Dragon Slayer who is exceptionally powerful, usually female, and can have several Mates. They are mostly other Slayers, and one normal mage, not a Slayer of any type. The weirder the magic, or the more rare, the easier it is to become a Mate. It's never a sure thing, though. 15- Several times, when I was trying to capture some people, ransoming them or something like that. I don't really remember. But, it was, however, useful in experimentation, especially since Neloth wound up not touching them after I reported back to him what had happened. It left it to me. I liked the usefulness. Items can be stored without question, but some things... have expirations. 16- Though nowhere near as rejuvenated as it needs to be- I just happen to have a lot. 17- Sensitive hearing, remember? 18- I notice that the ones I gave him are still with him. Intriguing. 19- It's generally a good idea to speak the reverse incantation, though, if it's your first few times practicing it, or if you don't want to make mistakes. I've been doing magic for a very long time; you can understand why I wouldn't. 20- I'm quite desperate at this point. I'm not thinking. It's hard to right now, even this is causing quite a bit of, uh, disorder, that's the word, in my mind. Hard to put together things that would be quick in everything else, things keep getting in the way like cheese and string. What is it with those two anyway? I mean, a mouse likes cheese, but a cat likes string. Why can't they like each other too? 21- Be it for his friends or for himself, I don't know. I don't care, either. I'm close to getting what I want, so I really don't care. I'll be sane again and not have such stupid thoughts in my head like why is that cornucopia yellow instead of polka dotted pink and purple? 22- To be strictly honest, it's not my best move, but let's face it, I am going crazy. I need to have contact with my Mate. It happens. All Dragon Slayers are the same way, as well as Vampire Lords. I've explained this before. 23- Haven't I?