A/N: This chapter turned out a lot better than the previous one and I found a groove with it. The next coming chapters will start to break off into an altered version of canon so bear with me if there are any rough patches. Enjoy and let me know what you think.


Four months have passed since Erza had returned from that particular mission near Clover. She usually wasn't one to worry but her mind would drift back to the night she had been captured by a group of bandits and then released by a man with almost glowing silver eyes. The nature of this man's magic was still somewhat of a mystery to her. She knew that it was some kind of fire magic but had never even heard of a type that produces green flames or relies on such angry sounding incantations.

During the course of the last few months she had gone on additional jobs, some of them were solo and could easily be done in three days or less. She would invite her usual teammates for the more extended jobs, not because she couldn't handle it, but because she enjoyed the company of the people she considered to be among her closest friends. They had just returned from a mission near the Worth Woodsea that involved clearing out a group of forest vulcans that had grown too aggressive and were threatening the few human settlements in the area. Upon returning to Fairy Tail, Erza and her companions took a table in the dining hall and began to discuss the job.

"I was hoping they would have put up more of a fight. Those vulcans were barely even a challenge." Came a complaint from a man of average height, spiky pink hair and a toned athletic build. His hands were on his head adding to the boredom in his voice.

"Either way, you didn't need to go that far overboard. You destroyed three homes, Natsu. You better be glad you didn't accidentally hurt anybody." Quipped a blonde with deep brown eyes, a voluptuous figure and barely enough clothing to cover it all.

"Lucy is right. A bystander could have easily been hurt or worse. You really need to work on your control." Erza added sternly, her eyes narrowing slightly at the pink haried man.

"It wouldn't have gotten to that point if Gray actually bothered to help instead of stripping." Natsu retorted with a bored expression still on his face.

The boredom didn't last long as he was greeted with a punch to the side of the head by a man with raven hair, no shirt, and a fist encased in ice. The two men quickly started bickering, throwing insults back and forth before breaking into a full blown fist fight between not only them but several other members of Fairy Tail who happened to be standing by. The noise from the escalating brawl was grating on Erza's nerves. A lot of things had been doing that lately and she had been noticing several strange events since she had met Kazro. Most notably was the rise in dark guild activity all across Fiore. She couldn't help but think that the last job had been related to it somehow but she couldn't quite place her finger on it. The brawl surrounding her had now begun to swallow up the entire guild as the din continued to grow and was escalating to the point of several people beginning to use magic to gain an upper hand. The fight was broken up by a bolt of lightning hitting the two who started it causing everyone in the hall to stop what they were doing and face the doors leading outside to Magnolia.

"You assholes are making too much noise." Spoke a giant of a man with spiked blonde hair, a lightning shaped scar crossing his right eye, baggy olive green pants and a sleeveless black shirt that showed off his heavily muscled arms.

"Welcome back, Laxus." The man was greeted by Mira who had somehow avoided the mayhem that had swalloed the entire guildhall not even a minute ago. "How did your job go?"

"Fine. They were barely able to put of a fight. Where's gramps?" He responded without the usual irritation in his voice.

Mira motioned upstairs indicating that the guildmaster was in his office and Laxus disappeared up the stairs into the second floor. Erza could not get a clear view of his face but she had known him long enough to know something was bothering him. He had just returned from a job given directly by the council to suppress a group of slavers but Erza could sense the slightest bit of worry in his voice from what little he did say to Mira before going up to Makarov's office. Whatever it was, something had spooked the lightning mage and that rarely happened, especially after the display he put on at the Grand Magic Games where he had beaten one of the Wizard Saints in the final event. Erza's attention shifted back to the slice of cake in front of her that had somehow avoided any of the fallout from the fight.

The sun had long since vanished over the horizon and the inside of the guildhall was thriving. The majority of Fairy Tail's members were in town after having finished various jobs and were telling stories from their time spent apart from one another, cracking jokes and just enjoying the company of one another. Laxus, Erza, Natsu and several others were sitting at one of the many tables littering the hall and were trading tales and poking fun at each other lightheartedly while they ate their meals. Erza was absentmindedly twirling long strands of spaghetti with her fork, barely paying attention to the conversations around her. Her mind had continuously drifted back to her job near clover, what Master Makarov had said when she returned and the tinge of concern in Laxus' voice when he got back to the guild earlier in the day. She didn't know why, but she could feel that something was going to happen. The only question she had about it was if it would be good or bad.

As if on cue, she could feel two strong spikes in magic power somewhere off in the distance but it was close to Magnolia. Very close. Erza wasn't the only one to feel this. Natsu and Laxus both stopped their conversation their ears perked up. Natsu's eyes lit up for a second.

"Two powers that large. They both feel as strong as Gildarts. Do you think he's one of them?" Asked the pink haired man.

"I doubt it, Natsu. We would have heard bells and the town would have started to shift around to make a path for him." Laxus replied as his brow furrowed and eyes narrowed.

Erza's eyes widened slightly. One of the spikes felt very similar to something she had felt several months earlier but it was dramatically stronger. A look of worry spread across her face. Powers that large and this close to Magnolia could easily wipe out the town if they got any closer. Makarov was sitting on the bar and set his drink down beside him. He had felt the surges as well but was able to hide his concern from the rest of those around him. He hopped down and made his way to the table where Erza, Laxus and Natsu were sitting.

"Laxus. I want you and Erza to find out whatever the hell that was. Stay hidden and avoid a fight as much as you can. I don't need you taking any unnecessary risks." Makarov ordered.

"Why not me, gramps?" Asked Natsu who was clearly hoping for a break from the boredom he had been feeling all day.

"Because I said so, brat!" Makarov ended the conversation then and there as Natsu slumped back down in his chair. He hated being left out of anything that could lead to a good fight, but he wouldn't dare disobey Makarov when he could tell something was eating away at the guild master.

Laxus and Erza rose from their seats and made their way outside to be greeted by a rumble of thunder in the distance. They would have to be quick if they wanted to avoid a storm that was beginning to approach from the west. They looked around to try and pinpoint where exactly they had felt the two sharp rises in magic power and their gazes immediately shifted to the forest east of town. The two mages immediately broke into a sprint and made it to the edge of town where they started moving as silently as they could, minds still focused on trying to keep track of the two powers they were sent to investigate.

As they drew closer to the sources, the two Fairy Tale mages could faintly hear incantations being yelled over the storm which had overtaken them. The skies opened up and heavy rain began to bombard not only Magnolia, but the forests surrounding the small town. Laxus and Erza reached a clearing in the forest made up of trees that had recently fallen. Jagged stumps mixed with the charred remains of what used to be some of the larger trees nearby. Erza looked at the destruction in front of her and noticed one of the downed trees was still smoldering with green embers. Laxus noticed what had caught his companion's attention and raised an eyebrow.

"Green fire? That's not something you see every day." He said, almost a whisper.

Their attention on the oddity was interrupted by the sounds of several shockwaves and bone chilling roar almost directly overhead. The two looked up to see what had caused the noise and instinctively sought refuge behind one of the larger stumps that still allowed them to have a line of sight on the skies above. A bolt of lightning streaked across the sky and strobed several times, illuminating two figures hovering in the air almost fifty feet from each other. One of the figures looked normal enough. Laxus was barely able to make out any distinctive features but could tell it was a man with medium length blonde hair that had streaks of red. The man was wearing the tattered remains of a blue button up shirt with one of the sleeves ripped off and a large chunk of the material was missing from near his right ribcage, showing a gash that looked like it had been hastily sealed with some kind of magic. The other figure in the air opposite the blonde man almost cause both Laxus and Erza to freeze in place. Another charge of electricity flashed brilliantly against the clouds giving the two another look at what they thought was a demon. It possessed wild shoulder length hair that emerald green with streaks of blood caked into it, dark gray skin with tiger like stripes that matched its hair, large bat-like wings protruded from its back with a blood red membrane and two horns on its head that swept forwards. At the ends of both arms were what looked like clawed hands, the tips of which were glowing with an almost ghostly shade of pale green.

The two figures in the sky lunged at each other and closed the distance between them instanly then begain going blow for blow in the air with each one generating a flash of light and a shockwave of sound and air. Both of the combatants seemed to be completely oblivious to the storm raging above. Over the sound of thunder and the almost deafening blasts from the two making contact, Erza could hear a vaguely familiar voice shouting incantations in a strange language that sounded twisted and almost painful. She looked over at Laxus who had hardened his face and kept his eyes on the battle above.

"Holy shit. These two are monsters. They could probably give Gildarts a run for his money." Laxus said out loud, half to himself and half to Erza as if trying to confirm that the redhead was seeing the same thing he was.

When Erza's attention turned back to the two figures fighting she gasped. The demonic looking figure had the blonde man's neck in its left hand and what looked like a ball of green fire pulsing in its right as the two were heading for the ground. The two locked in combat collided with the ground thirty feet from the two mages from Fairy Tail, throwing up mud, rocks and the splintered remains of the trees that had not completely burned away. What followed next was a voice that Erza recognized instantly.

"Molag zul amur!"

It was Kazro. It had to have been. Before Erza and Laxus could react to the voice, a pillar of brilliant green fire shot through the air and punched a gaping hole into the storm clouds overhead. The hole in the clouds sealed shut and the rain resumed falling as if trying to silence any challengers to the storm's wrath. Erza and Laxus cautiously made their way to the edge of the newly formed crater when the column of fire had dispersed and were greeted by a sight that startled the two of them. In the crater was the demonic figure standing over smoldering remains of a human skeleton that still sporadically pulsed with a green color. The demon looked up at the sky, tensed up and let out a roar that began to sound much more human than what Erza and Laxus had heard just moments before. The figure began to glow brightly and looked as if it was fading away, its wings and horns turning into ash. When the glow faded, all that remained in the crater was a man on all fours and a skeleton that looked as if it had just been unearthed. The pulsing green energy had since faded since the demon disappeared.

The man had three parallel scars running across his back, tattered pants ending just past his knees. His body was covered in cuts, bruises and several wounds that were dripping with blood and a mark on his ribcage that Erza instantly recognized. An emerald green skull covered in fractures. In an instant, Erza bounded over the lip of the crater and slid down the wall, paying little attention to the small fragments of rock bouncing off her armor that were still falling from the sky. Laxus had little time to react before the redhead was at the side of the man still in the crater and a hint of worry could be heard in his voice.

"Be careful, Erza. His power might have died down but he's still dangerous." He said in hopes to get his partner away from whatever it was in the crater, himself not being sure if the man was even human.

"I'll be fine." She replied and her attention shifted to the bleeding man doubled over in front of her. "Kazro? Is that you?"

The man shifted his weight into a sitting position and looked towards the redhead who was now beside him. Through a curtain of hair that was matted from rain and caked with blood, Erza saw a pale glow subside from what should have been the man's eyes that were replaced with a stark shade of silver. It definitely was Kazro, the same man who had saved Erza from a group of bandits several months earlier but his skin was flushed and his breathing was ragged.

He greeted her with a smile, then placed a hand over one of his bleeding wounds while muttering a spell. A glow appeared between his hand and the wound and the bleeding stopped, causing Kazro to let out a small hiss.

"The hell are you doing here?" He hoarsely asked before falling over and passing out from a mixture of exhaustion and blood loss.

"Oh shit. Laxus, we need to get him out of here now!" She exclaimed while grabbing Kazro's arm and not even waiting on a reply from the man sent with her.

Laxus nodded and grabbed Kazro's other arm, hoisting the man off the ground with his feet just barely dragging against the ground. It had taken Erza and Laxus almost fifteen minutes to reach the clearing in the East Forest but since they were carrying a man on the verge of death, time had now become their enemy. The only thing on their minds now was making it back to the guild in time and hoping that their resident healer hadn't gone to her room in the dormitory.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kazro shifted and groaned. His eyes opened to find himself in a room he had never been in before. He was the sole occupant in what looked to be an infirmary based on the presence of other beds and curtains hanging from the ceiling. Slowly, he adjusted to the dim morning light peeking in through the window behind his bed. He couldn't turn to look but he could tell the skies were overcast and cloudy. His silver orbs scanned the room once again. Slumped over with crossed arms in a simple wooden chair to his right was a scarlet haired mage wearing a simple sleeveless button-up shirt and he could clearly see a blue mark resembling a fairy on her left arm. Her lower body was covered by a heavy blanket that barely reached the floor and left her feet bare on the cold wood.

'Erza?' He thought to himself before looking around again. 'Just where the fuck am I?'

He reached up to rub his head and noticed that his left arm was heavily bandaged and he found the same material wrapping around over his eyes. He tried shifting into a sitting position only to be met by a stabbing sensation and a sharp hiss of pain. Several ribs had been broken in that fight in the forest. He swung his feet off the side of the bed and noticed he was wearing a pair of black shorts that weren't his with bandages covering his right leg from the knee down. He placed his feet on the floor and gingerly rose from the bed, trying not to wake the slumbering redhead beside him. He limped across the infirmary to the door, opening and closing it silently behind him.

On the other side, he found himself on an indoor balcony of sorts that wrapped around all sides of the building before descending down a staircase behind a bar. He leaned on the railing and took in the sight. Heavy wooden tables were scattered throughout the large room, some of them were occupied by varying numbers of people who were engaged in conversation with the sporadic sounds of laughter reaching up to him. His eyes trailed to the far side of the hall just above a bar and he saw a red banner with a white crest that looked identical to the one he saw on Erza's arm.

'So this must be Fairy Tail. Was I really this close to Magnolia?' He asked himself as his brow furrowed.

His thoughts were interrupted by the approaching sound of footsteps. He slowly turned and rested his eyes on a dwarf of a man with gray hair on the sides of his head and pronounced eyebrows. The expression on the approaching man's face reminded him of a grandfather, stern but warm and loving.

"I see you're finally awake. My name is Makarov and I am the master of Fairy Tail." The man greeted warmly. "Follow me, please." He added with a wave.

Kazro nodded and followed Makarov across the indoor balcony and was led into a room with a large mahogany desk with matching wooden chairs on either side of it. Makarov took a seat behind the desk and motioned for Kazro to do the same. Kazro complied and eased into one of the chairs on the opposite side of the desk, letting out a small grunt as he tried to ignore the pain shooting up his right leg. After a moment of awkward silence between the two, Makarov's face hardened and changed the entire mood of the room.

"Just who the hell are you and why did you kill someone in the East Forest?"