Dragonheart
Chapter 2: Sky Labyrinth

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of the characters involved except the members of Dragonheart

Later, as night began to settle on the city of Crocus, Slicer was sitting in the windowsill of his room looking up at the sky, the stars reflecting in his eyes, when he heard a sound behind him. Turning his head he spotted a middle aged woman leaning against the doorway with a smile on her face.

"Anna, what is it?" Slicer asked.

"Nothing, just came to see what you were up to," Anna said as he stood up and walked into the room.

Anna was a beautiful woman in her late twenties, she wore a simple white dress and boots, the dress had long black sleeves and a light gray stripe down the middle that came down to her ankles that was slit down both sides from the hip and had a hole to expose some of her cleavage. Her hair was long and a dull red in color and her green eyes hid an intelligence that betrayed her age.

She walked over to Slicer and leaned over, placing her elbows onto the windowsill and resting her chin in her hands. Slicer waited a few seconds before returning his gaze to the stars in the sky.

"Do you think they're ready?" She asked after a moment of silence.

Slicer didn't look at her as he replied, "No, but I don't want them to know that. I want them to give their best and that's all I can ask,"

Anna closed her eyes and smiled to herself. "You're really cut out for this you know,"

"What do you mean?"

"You're not overbearing, but you still reign everyone in enough to be able to command their respect when you need to. I like it, that personality is probably why I agreed to join you,"

Slicer looked down at her but she stood up and turned around, strolling toward the door. "Whatever happens master, I want you to know that everyone's looking for your approval,"

Slicer didn't answer as he looked down at the gloved hand that was resting in his lap.

Suddenly a blaring horn echoed across the city.

"What's that?" Anna asked.

Slicer sighed and turned his gaze back to the sky, "You may want to come see for yourself,"

"Master? What are you-?" Anna gasped as she walked back to the window and looked up.

What she saw looked like the aftermath of an explosion or a tornado that had rampaged through a city: a field of debris floated above the rooftops of crocus, and as soon as it had appeared bridges of debris began to form leading up to it, each descending down to the various inns and residences of Crocus.

"The games have begun," Slicer said looking to Anna.

"You knew about this?"

He nodded, "The Masters of each guild were informed that the event would be tonight, but beyond that we weren't told much else,"

Anna looked to him in surprise.

"So… what do we do?"

"Sit back and watch," Slicer answered as he pointed his thumb at the bridge that had extended to the floor below them. Anna's gaze followed it and saw five figures rushing up the bridge.

"Kids!" She shouted.

The five figures stopped and turned to face her "What is it Miss Anna?" Albin called.

"Be careful, and do your best ok?" She called back to them.

They each gave her a thumbs up before turning back up the bridge.

"Are you sure that team will work?" She asked.

"I'm positive," Slicer replied looking up at the floating debris field.

"Good evening everyone and welcome to the preliminary event of the Grand Magic Games!" A high-pitched voice echoed over Crocus.

"Allow me to explain the rules of this event! As you may have heard there are one-hundred and sixteen teams that registered for the games this year, but we can't have all of you participate. So this event, Sky Labyrinth, was designed to whittle that number down to eight! So, the first eight teams to make their way through the labyrinth and reach the arena will be allowed to participate in the games!"

"Eight teams!" Anna shouted in surprise upon hearing the announcement.

Slicer nodded, "They really wanted to cut it down, which doesn't make sense given what rule they added this year,"

"What rule was that?" Anna asked skeptically.

"It didn't really matter to use since we aren't large enough, but guilds with enough members were allowed to submit multiple teams this year, a first compared to previous games,"

"So… there aren't one-hundred and sixteen guilds this year?"

"Just that many teams," Slicer replied.

"And you chose our most inexperienced members to represent us?"

Slicer smiled to himself, tilting his head so that the brim of his hat hid his face.

"I wouldn't say they're the most inexperienced,"

Meanwhile, the team in the Sky Labyrinth reached the entrance point. Albin looked around at his team and nodded, everyone was accounted for: Reina and three others.

The first was a younger man with short blonde hair that was almost completely hidden under a bandana. His features were also hidden under a multitude of layers and different articles of clothing. On his waist was a small, gray, metal rod.

The second was an identical young man to the first, he wore a simple white fluffed tunic with a red overcoat and brown trousers with black boots. Running across his chest was the strap of a sheathe for a sword on his back.

The third was a man in his early twenties, he wore a white shirt with a red sweatshirt and had short black hair with a large lock dripping down between his eyes. His pants were a light gray color that darkened as they got closer to his ankles, he wore plain red shoes and kept his arms hidden inside a black cloak that draped from his shoulders.

"What's the plan Albin?" Reina asked.

"I… I don't know. If we have to find our way to the arena then we should start heading in that direction," Albin replied looking around.

"That'll be hard considering we can't tell which direction is which here," The red-clad twin asked.

"Yeah… good point, Mantra, do you have any way of giving us directions in here?" Albin asked the cloaked twin.

He shook his head without saying a word.

"That's not good,"

"Well we can't keep standing around here, we should get moving and figure it out as we go," the vocal twin stated.

"Yeah, good thinking Redd, let's move," Albin led the way into the labyrinth of his team.

Slicer meanwhile watched as his guildmates disappeared into the mass of floating debris.

"Good luck guys,"