I have a few chapters stored up, so I guess I'll just edit and post them when I have the time. This is the next chapter to this series, and I'm excited to hear how you guys/gals are liking it so far! There will be a lot of character developments going on in this story, and there are future pairings as well... Enjoy!
The blinding light softened, and everyone squinted their eyes as an attempt to clear their vision. Birds were chirping, the sound of gentle breezes rattled tree branches against each other. An orange sunset painted the sky, blending its colors with pastel pink and yellow. The smell of sweet flowers filled the air, and the team could see countless amounts of vibrant flowers decorating the garden in front of them. Standing tall, the majestical mansion loomed over the forest clearing, it's striking appearance made known to all who laid eyes on it. The team could not believe their eyes; astonished of the transformation the mansion went through.
"Woah! This place is nearly as big as my mansion!" Lucy exclaimed, causing Gray and Natsu to drop their jaws. Nearly?! Then just how big IS her house?! They mulled. Erza turned to Louis, clearly amazed by his place. "Your home looks astonishing! You will have it back in no time." She assured.
Louis gave a sincere smile. "I… never thought that I would see this place again. Thank you Fairy Tail. I knew I could trust you all to help me with this mission." He looked at his watch. "Alright! The thieves should be around the house at this time, so I'll stay here until you all complete the mission! Once you're ready, I'll send us back to the present." The team nodded, showing that they understood the plan.
Gray spotted a small gazebo that was in the garden. "Mr. Blackwood, I recommend that you hide while we handle these robbers, and also so you won't make contact with your past self. We'll meet you there once we're done."
"Good idea." The man said, already waddling to the seated pavilion. Natsu nudged Happy and nodded to Louis. "Happy, mind watching over grandpa while we're gone? It'll be quick."
Happy saluted before dashing off to Louis. "Aye, sir!"
"Be safe, young mages!" Louis shouted, wishing them luck.
"Don't worry, old man! We'll be back in no time!" Natsu waved him goodbye before taking off to catch up with the rest of his running team.
The mages bursted through the front doors, jumping into their prepared fighting positions. The open hallway was empty, with the tall glass windows broken and expensive vases shattered across the floor. Tables that lined the walls had their drawers pulled out, and all of its belongings seemed to be scavenged around.
Natsu sniffed the air as he looked around. "It smells like they were here just a few minutes ago…"
Suddenly, an ear-piercing screech was heard, coming from the second floor.
"Let's go!" Gray shouted, already running up the stairs.
The team followed in pursuit, chasing down the distressed scream they heard moments ago.
They barged into the room, finding it to be a massive bedroom with a king-sized bed in the center. A vanity on one side of the wall had a cracked mirror. A brunette woman in a short, navy dress was digging into its drawers, it's jewelry and accessories scraped clean from its precious materials. In the center of the room, an older woman, who seemed to be in her early 50's, was helplessly trying to escape the grasp of a hand clasping her hair, holding her hostage. She let out muffled whimpers as tears escaped her eyes. A man with short, black hair and piercing blue eyes were towering over her. The intruders wrecked the room, especially the woman, who was ravaging the place from its materialistic commodities.
"Look, you're gonna tell us where you keep all you're little cash, if you don't want your family to get hurt…" The man taunted, pulling back her hair so his eyes could meet hers.
"Wait, I recognize that woman… That's Louis Blackwood's wife, Ida!" Lucy blurted, averting her teammates' attention to the woman in distress.
The thieves looked up, now just noticing the newcomers who entered the room.
The brunette woman who was scavenging the vanity had shiny new accessories on; a pearl necklace with diamond earrings and a fancy hair clip. She drew closer, sizing up their new opponents as if they were outfits in a clothing department store. The man in the center released his hold of Ida, receiving a yelp from her as she fell onto the floor. His eyes gazed upon the Fairytail members, seemingly interested of their arrival.
"Oh? And who might you all be?" The man asked, his nonchalant voice could fool anyone to thinking that he was a perfectly sane guy if it wasn't for the act they witnessed a moment earlier.
Natsu ignited his flames, shooting death stares at the dark mages. "You better lay off that innocent act if you don't want to be burned to a crisp!" The man rose an eyebrow towards Natsu. "Hmm, being cocky, aren't we?" He asked, the disgust suddenly laced within his voice.
Erza stepped forward, withdrawing her sword to hold it out in front of her. "Give up now, thieves, or you will face the wrath of— us mages." She knew not to give any insight of their guild, just for the sake of keeping Fairy Tail safe in the future. Who knows, saying the name of their guild could make the thieves hold a grudge against them in the future, and Fairy Tail already has enough dark guilds to deal with.
The black-haired man stepped forward. "Very well, then. I guess we will have to end this quickly, given that we have a timed schedule. Ruby, dear, how much time do we have left?"
The woman approached behind him, checking her golden rimmed watched laced with crystal rhinestones. "I'll say approximately 48 minutes before my explosives are set off. Maxim and Seph are still searching, but they said that they'll come when they're ready.
Maxim and Seph… So their's four dark mages in total? Gray reckoned, preparing into a combat stance.
Ruby turned her head to Gray, her looks softening into a smile. "Aren't you all just adorable?" She giggled. "Sorry, for the trouble! You know how it is; us mages just wanted to have a little fun. These rich spoiled brats shouldn't hoard it all to themselves, don't you agree?" Her foot hit the side of Ida when she said this, causing her to curl up in pain. Erza lunged forward, her hands wrapped around the handle of her sword as she leaped towards Ruby. Not a second later, the man outstretched his arm, a magic circle forming around it.
"Metal Manipulation: Folding Iron!" Like the commands he spoke, the sword Ezra held bent, like an accordion, into a flat stub of metal. She stopped her movements, shocked at the counter-attack that rendered her weapon useless. What type of magic is this? He can wield metal?
"You're swords are futile against my power. I can change the shape of any type of metal, and use it to my own liking."
Erza knew that she was at a disadvantage point, due to the fact that swordsmanship was her expertise. But that wasn't going to stop her from kicking their butts. "Then try this!" She materializes a long staff, with a metal spear a the top of it. She lunges towards Ruby again, with the man shaking his head disapprovingly of it.
"When will you learn that your attacks are pointless?" He lifted up his arm to use his powers, shriveling up the blade of the spear, but Erza didn't stop this time. She whipped around in the air right before approaching Ruby, the end of the long spear coming around and whacking her side with full force, flinging her to the window. "Ruby, dear!" The man yelped, watching in fear as her head hit the wall, knocking her unconscious.
Lucy gulped, noticing the atmosphere thin around them. The man slowly turned his head towards the Fairy Tail mages, his cold stare bearing into their souls. "You'll pay for that…" He said through gritted teeth. The man held out both hands, and yelled, "Metal Manipulation: FULL CONTROL!" The floor began to shake beneath them, and metal beams began to uproot themselves from the wooden floor, like a tectonic disturbance that causes earthquakes to occur. Natsu held his stomach, forcing his insides to stay inside his body. Everyone else held their grounds, dodging the large metals that erupted at random locations.
Lucy lunged forward, grabbing Ida who was fearfully trembling with the floor beneath her. Just when she moved her, a sharp metal bean jutted out from the floor. "Are you alright?" She asked the woman, who nervously nodded her head in response.
Gray stabilized himself and outstretched his arms in front of him. "Ice-Make: Battle hammer!" He shouted, forming a large weapon out of ice, plummeting it onto the man. This attack made him lose focus, causing the moving metal to stop so he could dodge the hammer instead.
With his upset stomach settling, Natsu jumped forward, taking the distracted man as an advantage. "Hey, Metal-head #2! Get some of this!" Natsu swung out his leg, kicking the man just as he crosses his arms in front of his face in defense. "Fire Dragon's Claw!" The man skidded back, burnt marks on his arms as a smirk escapes his face. "I don't know who you all are, but you all seem very powerful. How did you find out about our plans?"
The doors burst open, with two mages running in. One had shorts and a hoodie on, with shoulder-length blonde hair, and next to him stood a taller and more muscular man with an ax strapped to his back.
"What's going on over here, Diesel? We didn't expect any visitors." The blonde questioned, looking at Natsu and his teammates with outrage.
Diesel straightened himself, looking from his teammates to the Fairy Tail mages. "It seems to me that these nuisances have become a problem to our plans." He turned his head to glance at Ruby, his eyes hardening with anger. "And now that Ruby dear is out, then that means the magic explosion encirclements will no longer work." He looks at Seph with expectancy. "The riches?"
Seph nodded, answering his question. "Yes. We've already teleported them out."
Erza pointed her jagged spear towards Diesel, her intent eyes staring him down. To those who doubt the amount of damage she could do with that broken stick, they would be greatly mistaken. "Tell me, Diesel. This, Ruby, you speak of, is capable of creating explosives and setting times for them to blow up? So she rigged this place up with bombs for you to destroy this place once you rob it clean?" She questioned, although it sounded more like a statement.
"Such a sharp girl!" He snapped, whipping his head towards Ezra. "And now that you knocked her unconscious, our plan has come to a halt! This filthy rich place won't get to be blown up!" Diesel was exaggerated on his arm movements, flailing them around as his anger spiked. He turned towards his two standing teammates. "Seph, get Ruby out of here. And Maxim, show these fools what they deserve for interfering with us." Maxim growled, pulling out his ax as he stepped towards his opponents. He seemed like the hound of the group; his jutted-out bottom jaw with sharp, pointy teeth, and his tendency to only listen to commands and to communicate with grunts. Seph teleported in front of Ruby, carefully scooping her up within his arms. He and Diesel exchanged a nod before disappearing out of plain sight, teleporting into another location.
"Shoot. We have to hurry up, they're escaping." Ezra scolded.
Lucy, who was previously holding Ida safely in her arms, guided her to the closet and hid her there. "Stay here until this is all over, 'kay?"
The older lady choked out sobs of gratitude as she shrunk into the safety of her closet. "Thank you… T-th-thank you…"
Assured that she was safe, Lucy joined the battle of the mages, Maxim swinging his ax at Gray while Erza and Natsu tackled Diesel. "Gate of the Golden Bull, I open Thee, Taurus!" The muscular bull appears, and Lucy can't help but notice how similar the two opponents looked. Except for their personalities, of course. "Heyyyyyyya, Looocy! It's nice to see your bodddd again!"
"Taurus!" She shouts, pointing towards Maxim. "Fight now, talk later!"
"Riiiight on!" He sings, clashing his ax against the latter.
"Thanks for pitching in," Gray breathes, relieved for the break from Maxim's overwhelming (and relentless) strength.
Diesel molds the metal sticking out of the floor into weapons, hurling them towards Natsu and Erza as they swiftly dodged them and took turns attacking. Gray had made an ice sword for Erza, giving her access to her swordsmanship towards Diesel.
Flames licked Natsu's fists as he threw punches on Diesel, as he returned powered punches back, metal molded onto his own fists.
"You're going down, Weasel! You and all you're friends!" Natsu bawled, blocking all of his attacks before swinging another arm.
"You're attitude must be what sparks your fire. I can see that they grow from the same flare. That is certainly interesting, although it can be annoying at times…"
"Hey! Stop analyzing me! That's creepy, man." Natsu fussed, before throwing another "Fire Dragon Iron fist" on him.
Suddenly, Seph reappeared, getting everyone's attention.
Natsu angrily looks at Seph before stomping towards him. "Hey! You better not be a coward and run off again like that! Not when we're—"
"Sorry." He interrupted. "But we got what we came for." He walks towards Diesel and Maxim, placing a hand on them both. "So I hope you'll all understand."
Natsu's eyes widen, and he rushes towards them. "No, wait!"
"I bid you farewell." They all disappear, leaving no trace behind.