A/N - So, um, I'm not sure what the deal is, but FFn didn't update the archives when I updated my chapter on the 14th, so chapter 3 never made it to the front page. So, for those of you watching for updates by stalking the archives like I do, this isn't an error. Chapter 3 is right over there on the previous chapter, updated and everything. FFn is just being finicky. (I think it might have had something to do with a last-minute edit I made on my phone messing with the system? Whoops.) So yeah, if you didn't read that, read that first and then come back here.

You done? Awesome. Now here's chapter four. Stuff is actually happening, holy crap!

Notes will be at the end of the chapter.

DISCLAIMER: Fairy Tail is the intellectual property of Hiro Mashima. I have no intention of monetizing my fanwork, and this is merely an enjoyable passer of time.

Chapter Four - The Snake and the Dragon

"Uuuugh…"

Brandy's face burned. That was the first thing she noticed as she came to, the agonizing itching sensation that had turned her cheeks partially numb and the subsequent itching of her skin underneath the fabric of her cloak. "Nnngh, stupid saltwater," she groaned. Why is the ocean salty, anyways? What good does that do anyone?

The second thing she noticed was that the weight pressing against her midsection. Opening her eyes, she looked down she see that she had been partially pinned underneath the rubble of what was once most likely someone's house before a yacht had landed on top of it. Because it's just not a trip with Natsu without severe property damage. Thankfully, she hadn't taken any serious damage from either the saltwater or the crash. Her cloak was even still intact, save for a few tears near the hem that were easily repairable by Magnolia's local magic tailor.

The girls who had been on the boat were largely unharmed, simply equal parts dazed and scared as they began to rouse themselves from their magically-induced slumber. Once they realized what had happened, they got to their feet and ran, tossing their heels to the side to allow them to get the hell out of dodge without snapping an ankle. A crowd had begun to form around the scene on the beachfront, and Brandy couldn't blame them. A giant wave had appeared out of nowhere and thrown a boat onto shore. That was sure to be the most interesting part of anyone's day around here. She could hear bits and pieces of the panicked words that spread throughout the growing masses.

"What happened?"

"That ship was thrown into port!"

Amidst it all, she could hear one voice clearly, splitting through the noise like a gunshot. "Natsu!"

Brandy looked up from where she was to see Lucy and Happy not too far away, running towards the wreckage of the ship. Thank goodness they both made it out okay, at least, she thought. She noticed that Lucy was looking at something on top of the ship, and turned her gaze upwards to see Natsu standing on top of the tip, steady as can be. Even from here, she could see that the spark of determination had returned to his eyes.

Of course it had. The boat had stopped moving, after all.

"So you claimed to be a member of the Fairy Tail guild," he said to someone just out of Brandy's line of sight. Not that she needed to see who he was talking to to know. That guy's still around, huh? Guess it was to much to hope that the wave might have tossed him into the ocean or something. She squirmed around until she had rolled onto her stomach and could get a better look at the scene unfolding in front of her. Sure enough, "Salamander" and his men were pulling themselves out of the rubble, looking only a bit battered for their troubles.

"What's it to you?" "Salamander" repeated. He turned to his lackeys. "What are you lot just standing around for? Get him!"

"Yes, sir, boss!" A group of the hirelings split off from the rest and charged towards the pink-haired boy. Brandy recognized one of them as the gruff lackey from the docks, the one who had talked up a big game back on the boat.

"Oh, no you don't!" she shouted, flinging her hand out. "Ink Magic: Ink Whip!" Her ink flew out from her pouches underneath her cloak and shot towards the man, wrapping itself around his waist and arms and pulling him down to the ground where she waited. "Solid Ink!" At her behest, the ink hardened and trapped the man in its midnight embrace. "'Nothing but ink,'" Brandy said as the man turned his head to glare at her furiously. "I believe that's what you said, isn't it? We have a score to settle, buddy. Don't go rushing off just yet."

"Ha! You really think dragging me down here will make a difference?" the man crowed. "Your friend with the scarf is as good as dead!"

Brandy looked up over his head. "You sure about that?"

The man craned his neck to look over his shoulder, and his jaw dropped as he watched Natsu knock the remaining hirelings away with a single swing of his hand. He had removed his crimson overcoat at some point, revealing the usual purple-gold-and-white ensemble he wore underneath. "My name is Natsu," he shouted, "and I'm a Fairy Tail wizard! And I've never seen you before!"

"Salamander" paled as his fears from earlier were realized. Even having seen Brandy's mark from under her overcloak earlier, he must have been under the impression that he could still charm his way through his con, or at least the very least make sure that she was too drugged to confront him about it. But the wrecked ship underneath his feet told a different tale.

"That mark on his arm!" The lackey with the eyepatch had zeroed in on the crimson Fairy Tail symbol on Natsu's right shoulder. "This guy's the real deal, Bora!"

"Don't call me that, you fool!"

So his name's Bora, huh? It certainly suited the blue-haired man better than "Salamander." An unimpressive name for a pathetically unimpressive man. Brandy actually recognized the name; she had heard the whispers floating around about how a man by that name had been unceremoniously booted from Titan Nose for bad behavior. It had been a bit surprising, as Titan Nose wasn't exactly Triad's Foresight in terms of the expectations it set for its members.

The gruff-voiced lackey turned to Brandy, his eyes narrowing as he realized exactly who he was up against. "Wait," he said, "if he's a member of Fairy Tail, then that means you…"

"Are also a member of Fairy Tail, yes. Your deductive reasoning skills are mind-blowing, really," Brandy deadpanned. "Clearly, you boss hired you for your stellar intellect."

The man gritted his teeth and immediately started to struggle against the Solid Ink. "Why you… I'm not gonna let you disrespect me like that!"

Meanwhile, Natsu had started towards Bora and his remaining goons. "I have no idea what you're up to here, buddy," he began, "and I don't care if you're a good guy, bad guy, or what. I'm not gonna let you dirty the Fairy Tail guild's name!"

"And what are you gonna do about it? Stop me?" Bora challenged with a smirk. He cast his arms out and summoned forth a giant magic circle. "Prominence Typhoon!" At his behest, a tornado of violet flames burst from the circle and engulfed Natsu, causing an explosion that sent a another shower of debris onto the terrified onlookers.

Brandy grinned. Idiot.

Bora let out a smug hrmph and turned away from the inferno. "That's the way it goes," he said. "The bigger the talk, the weaker the man." He began to walk away when-

"Augh, this is so gross!"

Eyes widening in shock, Bora whirled around to see Natsu silhouetted against the fire, sucking in the flames like a vacuum would suck up a dust bunny. "Are you sure that you're really a fire wizard?" he said through a mouthful of fire. "Because these are the nastiest flames I've ever tasted!" As Bora and his lackeys looked on, jaws practically touching the floor, Natsu swallowed the last of the flames with a belch and a sharp-toothed Natsu Grin. "Thanks for the grub, poser."

"What's going on, who is this kid?!" Bora shouted, staggering backwards in a last-ditch attempt to put as much space between him and Natsu as possible.

Natsu responded by walking forward, equaling the distance back out. "Now I've got a fire in my belly that's raging to get out!" he declared, slamming his fists together to call forth his own unique brand of magic circle, one with a fearsome depiction of a dragon's face in its center. "Fire… Dragon…" Taking a deep breath, he curled his hands and put them together to make a funnel directly in front of his mouth. "Roar!" When he exhaled, it wasn't air that left his lungs, but fire, roaring red-hot flames that hit the boat - and Bora - with the fury of the sun itself. There was a massive, brilliant explosion that forced Brandy to turn away to avoid being temporarily blinded, and when the smoke finally cleared there was hardly any of the boat left, just a pile of rubble and twitching hirelings. Unfortunately, Bora remained unharmed, having used his own fire to float out of the way of the blast.

"H-hey, Bora," one of the lackeys coughed. "I swear I've seen this guy before. The pink hair and the scaly-looking scarf… There's no doubt about it. He's gotta be the real one!"

"W-what?!" the eyepatch lackey said. "You mean that's Salamander? That kid is Fairy Tail's fire wizard?"

Good to see we're all on the same page. Now maybe we can finally wrap this up. A sound reminiscent of shattering stone caught Brandy's attention, and she turned to see that the gruff lackey had broken free of the Solid Ink confining him. "Your friend could be the king of Fiore for I care! I'm still going to kick your butt!" he shouted.

"Ooh, I'm trembling in my boots," Brandy said. "Let's just get this over with." With a flourish, she pulled her overcloak off and cast it aside, revealing what lay underneath.

Before, when the majority of her figure was concealed, Brandleif Rorche had been largely unimpressive-looking. Anyone would looked at her would have seen just another traveler, perhaps a bit mad for wearing something so heavy in the summer, but otherwise ordinary. Now, however, was a whole other matter. She was clad in a leaf-green, halter-style tank-top, cut short enough to showcase the faint lines of her abdominal muscles and lined with a dark green hem, as well as a pair of dark brown leather short-shorts that were partially obscured by a lighter belt, a dozen or so pouches attached to said belt, and a piece of dark green fabric draped over one hip in a half-skirt style. One her right forearm was a thick, ribbed brown arm warmer that ended at the crease of her thumb, and on her feet, stretching up to her mid-thighs, was a pair of dark leather boots, styled to look more like plate armor than anything else.

But the most notable part of her appearance, standing out against the acorn-brown hues of her skin, was the spring green mark on the right side of her neck, the signature mark of the Fairy Tail guild and its inhabitants... and the ragged, ugly pink scar that split it right in half.

"Don't do it!" one of the lackeys shouted to his brazen comrade, who was unfazed by Brandy's display. "Don't you get it? Those yellow eyes, the scarred guild mark, that outfit… if that guy up there is Fairy Tail's Salamander, then she must be Fairy Tail's Snake Charmer!"

"You think I care about that?!" the gruff man retorted. "This girl's been insulting me since the start, I'm not gonna let her get away with that."

"Oh, frailty, thy name is the masculine ego," Brandy sighed before calling forth the ink in her pouches. "I hope you enjoyed that peek back on the docks, because that's the last you'll see of any woman in a long time. Ink Splash!" She tossed her ink forward, shouting out "Solid Ink!" just as it hit the ground and splashed up around the man's feet, trapping him once more. "Now for the finishing touch." She raised her hand to her chest and pressed her fingers at the spot just below the hollow of her throat. "Magic Concealment Ink: Dispell." The patch of skin underneath her fingers began to glow as a dark image became visible, a swirling, elaborate tattoo of a wolf stretching across her chest. As Brandy concentrated her energy, a magic circle began to form, as black as ink and spinning rapidly around her fingers. "Construction Focus: Ink Tattoos! Come forth, Fenrir the Winter Wolf!"

And lo, out from her skin burst a giant white wolf that landed on the pile of rubble with its hackles raised and its teeth bared into a snarl. Brandy could feel Lucy's stunned gaze on her, but she ignored it, choosing instead to focus on the more pressing matter of the man in front of her. His demeanor had done a complete one-eighty; instead of his previous cockiness, he was now staring at her in abject horror. "H-how did you do that?" he said.

"It's called 'magic,' you idiot," Brandy said. "This is what happens when you try to pick a fight with a Fairy Tail wizard." She tilted her head. "Fenrir?"

She didn't need to say anything more. Her Construction was tied to her subconscious, driven by her will and her will alone. Fenrir tipped his head back and let out a mighty howl before charging at the screaming lackey. He lacked his jaws around the man's ankle, shattering the Solid Ink in the process, and tossed him into the air. The man's hollering as he soared through the sky only spurred the Construction further, and Fenrir leapt into the air after him. As both man and wolf reached the peak of their arc, Fenrir drove his paws into the man's chest and pushed him down, the two hitting the ground once with enough force to send rubble flying everywhere. This last attacked knocked the man out cold, his breath leaving his lungs as a dazed wheeze.

"That should do the trick," Brandy said. "Fenrir, return!" The wolf complied, stepping away and turning to ribbons of ink that flew to Brandy's chest and sank into her skin, shaping themselves back into the tattoo they had originally been. She gritted her teeth against the painful sensation; returning a Construction to her body was never easy. "Magic Concealment Ink: Activate." The ink faded away, leaving only a faint redness to her skin where the ink had penetrated it. She liked to keep all her tattoos concealed; it gave her the element of surprise. She looked down at the quivering form of the lackey in front of her, lips twisting into a sneer. "Well, you were all talk, no action. Oh well, like boss, like goon." She turned a ferocious yellow glare on the lackeys who had been watching, her eyes glowing in the firelight. "Anyone else want to give that a shot?"

The men recoiled under the intensity of her gaze. "N-no, ma'am!" one of them replied.

"Smart man. You'll go far with that attitude."

While she had been dealing with her opponent, Natsu was waging a fight of his own against Bora. "I hope you guys are paying attention," he said, calling forth flames to engulf his clenched fists. "This is what a Fairy Tail wizard can do! Here I come!"

He charged forth, dodging each and every blast from Bora's panicked scattering of fire blasts, before using his own fire to propel himself into the air and drive his fist into Bora's face hard enough to send him flying into the town below. Credit where credit was due, Bora got up quickly, shaking off the remains of the house he had landed on and facing Natsu as the latter landed on a nearby roof. "Hell Prominence!" he shouted, pushing himself skywards with his flames and casting a massive ray of fire that carved a massive path of destruction across the length of Hargeon.

In his desperation, he missed Natsu by a good few feet, and the Dragon Slayer took advantage of this, catching and devouring Bora's follow-up attack. "Now that was a hefty meal!" he remarked. "You're not doing too bad, but I'm about to cook you like a smoked fish!"

"You're gonna do what to me?!"

"Get ready! Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" Natsu charged upwards, his hand catching alight with a fire so intense it could only have come from the teachings of a dragon, and struck Bora hard enough to send him flying. The indigo-haired wizard crashed into the ground with such force that he bounced right back up, landing in the belltower of the town hall. Specifically landing in the bell portion, the resounding gong signaling his defeat to all who were around to listen.

As the last echoes of the now-won battle quieted, Brandy headed over to where Lucy and Happy were standing. "Don't be silly, Natsu," Happy was saying. "Everyone knows you smoke food with smoke, not fire."

"Oh wow… that was amazing," Lucy said. "But he overdid it!"

Sure enough, a good portion of the town was in flames, and yet another part had been completely demolished. Just another trip with Natsu. "That's about the way of it," Brandy said. "Still wanna join Fairy Tail?"

"Well, yeah, of course, but… hey, wait a minute!" Lucy rounded on Brandy. "Why didn't you tell me you were in Fairy Tail? And what was with that wolf-thing?"

Brandy placed her hands on her hips, the corners of her lips tugging downwards in a fake offended frown. "By the time I knew it was relevant, you'd already gone off with that imposter," she said matter-of-factly. "As for that 'wolf-thing,' his name is Fenrir."

"I know that! I mean why is it in your skin?!"

"Uh, because that's where tattoos are supposed to be? Where else am I gonna put a tattoo, my boots?" She knew what Lucy meant, but it was fun to tease.

"No, I mean… ugh!" Lucy rubbed at her forehead with her hands. "And here I thought you were the sane one, but you're just as crazy as he is!"

"Hey, hey, hey, I take offense to that! I kept my carnage to one dude who was pissing me off, look at what Natsu did!" Brandy gestured at the rest of the town. As if to emphasize her point, there was the sound of metal boots colliding against cobblestone, and Brandy glanced over to see a group of soldiers from the Fioran army marching down the street in formation. "Oh, hey, the army."

"What?!" Lucy exclaimed.

A pale hand wrapped itself around the back of Brandy's halter strap, with its twin grabbing at Lucy's wrist and Natsu dragged the both of them along at a breakneck pace. "Holycrapwegottagetouttahere!" he shouted. Happy flew overhead, easily able to keep up with his Aera magic.

"Hey!" Lucy cried out. "Where the heck are you taking me?"

"Just come on! You just said you wanted to join the Fairy Tail guild, didn't ya?" As Lucy stared at him with large, awestruck eyes, Natsu beamed. "So let's go!"

After a moment, Lucy returned the smile. "All right!" she exclaimed.

So it was with light hearts that the four wizards, three by land and one by air, fled Hargeon, leaving only the burning ruins of the yacht behind them.

They were a half-mile out from Hargeon when Brandy realized something dreadfully important. "Stop!" she exclaimed. The others screeched to a halt and turned to face her, their gazes questioning.

She ran a hand through her hair. "We forgot our luggage!"

A/N - So remember how in the prologue, Brandy said she was studying Construction with a focus in ink, and not straight-up ink magic?

Yup. Brandy studies two different but very closely intertwined forms of magic; her classic ink magic that she uses to make the ink copy and the Solid Ink, and ink-focused Construction. I'll go more into detail on what exactly Construction is and how it relates to Brandy's tattoo thing in later chapters, but in the meantime, I'd love to see some speculation on what the other tattoos she mentioned are! Hint: she has six total, including Fenrir the Winter Wolf.

Speaking of, one of the biggest parts of figuring out this fic was figuring out when exactly to reveal the tattoo thing. At first I was going to have it happen on Mt. Hakobe (the original mini-arc hadn't been a thing yet), but then I was planning on having it happen at Everlue's mansion, but then I just settled on having it happen after the boat crash. I've got a lot of things I want to build up to, but this was a card I could afford to play early without messing up anything else.

So let's talk about names! Mostly Brandleif's name; I bounced around with her name for a bit (her first name was Charmeen Rorche, and not Brandleif), but I eventually went with something that sounded a bit more Norse-inspired, to go with the theme that you can see with Fenrir. That's also where the "Brand" part comes in; I know tattoos and brands aren't the same thing, but they're both permanent marks in the skin, and "Tattooleif" is just silly.

I also added a couple lines of dialogue meant to smooth over a plot hole; I don't know if it was just a dubbing error or what, but Lucy never mentioned wanting to join Fairy Tail in Natsu's presence, so him knowing about that at the end is weird. Thus the dialogue between Lucy and Brandy about it. (Which was also really fun to right; Brandy, you snarky little wizard.)

Chapter five will be up soon! In the meantime, feel free to favorite and leave a review (on both this chapter and the last!)

-Diana "Nocte"