Erza woke up in a room that looked strangely like the one she had stayed in the night before, noticing minor differences in the paintings that were hung on the walls. She raised her hand up to rub her head and could tell in the light from the overcast sky filtering through the curtains there were wrappings covering bruises on her wrists.
'So I guess wasn't a dream after all.' She thought to herself.
Her thoughts drifted back to the outpost. A group of bandits, possibly a dark guild judging by the cloaks most of them wore, were holed up there. She had been knocked out by some potion they injected into her neck. Underhanded, even for a dark guild. Her mind forwarded to the events that transpired between that one man and the entire group of bandits. What stuck out most were his eyes. They were full of hatred and his voice was full of anger as he cut a swath of destruction in his wake. There couldn't be any doubt. He had killed all of them, including their leader. The scarlet haired mage's thoughts were interrupted when she heard a sharp inhale come from the other side of the room. Her eyes found the source; a figure slumped over in a chair with a simple blanket covering everything except for legs and a head covered in long black hair.
"Kazro?" Erza called out to the figure, half expecting something resembling a response.
The figure shifted, pushed the blanket off and stood. After stretching and pushing his hair out of his face, Kazro faced the woman lying in bed.
"Morning, Erza. How are your wrists feeling?"
"Fine, thank you. Are we back in Clover?" She asked, still unsure of how she ended up in a bed without her armor.
"Yep. You were out cold about ten minutes before we got to the room. Your breastplate is over there." He replied as he walked to the bathroom and motioned to a table on the far side of the room from Erza.
When the requip mage heard the bathroom door shut and water being drawn, she made her way to the table. The plate had been placed there neatly and it had a sheen to it that wasn't there the previous day. It must have been polished. It wasn't quite as good as if she had done it herself, but the gesture was appreciated nonetheless. She couldn't help but chuckle softly at how helpless she was during yesterday's events and was unable to recall the last time she was in that kind of situation.
Kazro lowered himself into the bath and let out a grunt as the almost scalding water swallowed his body. He could feel the water lap against the cuts and bruises and popped his neck. A sigh escaped his mouth as he threw his head back and stared at the ceiling. The man had to admit he caught slightly off-guard by the previous night's events. Ansil was walking trash that didn't deserve to live but Kazro didn't think the now dead man would take a prisoner, let alone leave someone alive.
"Bastard must have been trying to go for some kind of ransom. Nah. He would have done much worse, especially to a woman." He thought out loud. "But still. What the hell was she even doing there? Whatever. They're dead now and that leaves just a small handful of them."
Tracking them down was going to be a pain. It had taken Kazro three months to get even a hint of the trail Ansil and his cadre had left and another four to finally pin down where they were hiding. To make matters worse, a good deal of the people he relied on for information had left Fiore, most of them seeking their fortunes in Bosco or Minstrel. He sighed again, this time one of frustration. Kazro finished cleaning himself, climbed out of the tub and dried himself. A grimace crossed his face. He had left a clean shirt laying on the back of the chair he slept in. He had been with women before but that didn't stop him from trying to maintain some level of modesty when he wasn't training or in combat. He walked out of the bathroom, still drying his long hair. Erza was pulled out of her daydream, looked Kazro over and let her eyes repeatedly coming back to the same thing: the mark she had barely caught a glimpse of the previous night.
"So you're able to walk, huh? Tub's open if you need it." Kazro's words interrupted her train of thought as they made eye contact.
No anger in his eyes. No hatred. No hint that last night he had singlehandedly annihilated a fortress crawling with bandits in under fifteen minutes. Nothing even indicating that he was a magic user, let alone belonged to a guild except for the green fractured skull covering a large part of his ribcage but a level of quiet intensity was still there. Erza smiled slightly, nodded then made her way into the bathroom. The dust that had been kicked up the previous night was still in her thick red hair and the sooner it was washed out, the better.
When Erza exited the bathroom, Kazro was nowhere in the room. She quickly got dressed, donning the newly shined breastplate then made her way downstairs and found the long haired man sitting at the inn's bar, conversing with the barkeep while swirling a glass of whiskey. She couldn't make out what they were saying but it was obvious they had at least met some time in the past. The barkeep leaned in close to Kazro and said something no one but the two of them could hear. What ever was said quickly made the two of them chuckle. As if on cue, Kazro finished his drink, placed some money on the bar then stood up and faced Erza.
"You ready to head out? I'll walk you to the train station." Kazro offered with a friendly smile tugging at his face.
"Yes. And thank you. That would be nice." Erza replied while returning the smile.
The two exited the inn and made their way to the train station in the middle of Clover, taking in the sights and sounds as they walked along the rows of shops and stalls. They passed through a quieter part of town covered with a canopy made up of maple and cherry trees with some leaves still holding on, as if trying to deny the coming of the colder months ahead. The sound of train horns and bells could be heard ahead and steadily grew louder as they approached the station. Neither of them talked much aside from pointing out something they found interesting along their path.
"So where is you guildhall located?" Kazro asked in an attempt to break an almost uncomfortable silence.
"Magnolia. It's a couple hours away from here if there aren't any delays." Erza answered.
"Magnolia, huh? I haven't been there in several years. I think Twilight Ogre was the main guild in town at the time." The black haired man stated while rubbing the stubble on his chin. "I could be wrong though." He added.
"They were, but we regained our footing after winning the games. The townspeople were even nice enough to let us have our old building back." She stated with a reflective smile. "You should stop by next time in the area. I'm sure the master would like to meet you."
Kazro chuckled, not out of sarcasm but genuine humor. Erza caught a glance of him out of the side of her peripheral vision. He was smiling again and his eyes had softened considerably. This didn't even seem like the same man she had met the previous night. He almost seemed happy or content at the very least.
"So where are you going to go next?" The red haired beauty inquired with a look of restrained curiosity playing across her face.
"Honestly, I don't know. I'm trying to find the rest of the group those mages from last night belonged to but it took me damn near nine months to track down Ansil and his subordinates. Who knows. Maybe I'll get lucky and run into some more in a week." Kazro replied while furrowing his brow and sighing. "But yeah, sure. I'll try to stop by if I end up near Magnolia in the future." He added. The concern and frustration that were on his face had vanished.
When they arrived at the station, they entered and Kazro bought two tickets. One for Erza to Magnolia and the other for Kazro to Crocus. He still had an information broker in the capital city and he wasn't about to try losing any ground to the rest of the men he was pursuing. The two of them waited around an hour for Erza's train to arrive. When she had boarded, Kazro offered a wave and a smile which was returned by the armored redhead. When Erza's train had left, Kazro's smile was instead replaced by a look of grim determination. He would find the rest of Twilight Flare and he would turn all of them into ash and scatter the remains to the wind. He exhaled, pulled a cigarette out of a pants pocket and smoked it while he waited for his train to Crocus.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Erza pushed open the large doors leading into the Fairy Tail guildhall. It was a lot emptier than usual. No pink haired dragon slayer, or any of the other dragon slayers for that matter. No blonde celestial mage and no half-clothed ice mage. She reasoned that they must have all been out getting something to eat or hanging out at the celestial mage's apartment. She was instead greeted by an attractive woman with sapphire eyes, thick ghostly white hair landing at the small of her back, pale skin and a deep crimson dress that showed off a great deal of her curves including her ample chest.
"Welcome back, Erza. How did the job go?" She greeted with a warm smile.
"It went, Mira." Erza replied then looked around the hall. "Is Master in his office?"
"Mmhmm. He just got back from his meeting with the council about an hour ago." Mira replied while still holding her friendly expression.
Erza nodded then made her way up the steps leading to the guild master's office, taking in the uncharacteristically empty guildhall as she ascended to the second floor of the building. She reached the open door leading into the office of Makarov Dreyar and knocked on the threshold before entering. Erza then walked in and sat in a simple wooden chair opposite a desk from a short old man who had long since lost any hair covering the top of his head. The man placed whatever papers he was perusing on the desk and greeted the redhead with a smile that would match the warmth any parent would give.
"Welcome back, Erza. That took a lot shorter than I thought it would, even for you." He stated as the loving smile lingered on his face. So, tell me. How did you finish it so quickly?"
"I ran into a bit of a problem while I was out." Erza said as the smile faded from the man's face and was replaced by a raised eyebrow.
Erza gave Master Makarov a full and thorough report on what had happened on the job she had just returned from, including being subdued and waking up chained to a wall in a cell. Upon hearing this part of the story, a flash of anger appeared and disappeared from the face of the Fairy Tail master. Erza noticed the change of expression, but continued knowing that Makarov would wait to hear every little detail before coming to any kind of conclusion. Erza was greeted with a line of questions after finishing her verbal report.
"This man that wiped out the bandits in the compound. Did he have a guild mark on him?" Makarov asked.
"Yes."
"It was a skull with fractures running over it."
Makarov's brow furrowed and mixture of worry and disbelief made itself apparent. He had thought the guild owning that mark had been completely wiped out almost two months before the Grand Magic Games. The Fairy Tail master knew it was an independent guild and details about that type of guild were few and far between, but this particular one had drawn passing notice of even the most powerful legal guilds in Fiore and some of the neighboring countries. Enough of a notice that even the Council in Era was mulling over making an attempt to keep tabs on the guild.
"Did he tell you the name of his guild?" Makarov continued.
"I think he said it was called 'Shattered Grin.'" Erza answered with a questioning look in his eyes. Something she had said was worrying the master but had no idea what it was.
Upon hearing this, Makarov raised a hand to his face and rubbed his eyes. That last statement from the scarlet haired mage confirmed it. It explained everything related to the incident near Clover, but mostly it explained how one man was able to completely destroy anyone and anything that was there in a matter of mere minutes.
"What do you know of Shattered Grin?" Makarov asked, his usual jovial disposition replaced by one of sternness that he rarely used. He was answered by Erza shaking her head. "Simply put," He continued. "Shattered Grin was one the most powerful guilds up until shortly after we returned from Tenrou Island."
Makarov explained the extent of Shattered Grin's power and how they had risen to notoriety. During the course of the conversation Erza learned that the now defunct guild made a name for itself by weeding out cults dedicated to Zeref and going toe to toe, and winning, against some of the strongest dark guilds in Fiore. What caught Erza almost completely off-guard, however, were the rumors surrounding the number of members in the guild. According to Makarov, that number was twenty-five to thirty members at most. The conversation finished and Erza saw herself out of Makarov's office and went back downstairs to sit at a table and order a slice of strawberry cake. She had almost as many questions racing around her mind but she couldn't quite put them into words. There was one thing that was solidified in her mind, though. The last surviving member of Shattered Grin was definitely one of the strongest mages she had ever met and a twinge of fear clawed at her mind as she thought about whatever group that managed to draw his ire.
A/N: Ok so this chapter kind of irritated me sense I couldn't quite figure out how I wanted it to flow and end but I'm pretty sure I'll have most of it sorted out in the third chapter because I have a solid idea of how I want it to progress. Thanks for reading and sorry for how short this chapter is.
