Chapter Four
Imprisoned?
Slowly a single lazy eyelid managed to flutter open, allowing the age old immortal to inspect his surroundings. A small metal confinement cage that had been reinforced a dozen times over with anti magic seals woven into the surface both in and outside of it.
Directly in front of him was a transparent pane that showed him that he was still near the Fairy Tail guildhall that he'd accidentally destroyed, only now he was a captive sitting inside one of the magic council's transportation prison cells that they brought along for especially powerful individuals.
His hands were also bound by thick brackets of raw magic that surged within a frame of metal handcuffs, a special kind of magic that was designed specifically to reinforce anti-magic seals.
"Smells like time magic." he mumbled to himself, getting a faint scent that lingered in the air, a scent that didn't belong to any of the Fairy Tail mages. He already knew exactly what kind of outside force had decided to influence his battle.
There was a certail degree of leeway that he gained with the dilemma revolving around his broken contract when he considered that his fight had been unfairly tipped towards Titania in the climax of the battle.
There was a lot of high power signatures all standing around his confinement cell while Master Makarov spoke to the council representative that had been sent to collect him.
"If you intend to stand in the way of the magic council and prevent us from throwing the Salamander into the deepest pit we can find then you and your entire guild will be disavowed and brandished as dark mages, so I think you should choose quite wisely as to your next actions." he heard the council representative openly threaten.
He wasn't sure what it was that Makarov had been saying to lead it to that point but he could see that it left the Fairy Tail master in a difficult position. Was he trying to stop the council from imprisoning him?
As if on cue, Makarov tilted his head towards the temporary prison cell.
"Very well," he said at last in an overly loud tone, making it clear that he wanted to be heard by all.
"No matter what happens from here on out, Fairy Tail will not step in to interrupt the goings on of the council or their business here today." he announced. Salamander could see Titania cross her arms with a mild smile on show.
Salamander's senses grew sharper with each passing second. The anti-magic bindings were starting to fail as his strength slowly returned.
"Thanks old man, but I did promise you that if you fairies could defeat me then I would flip the contract." Salamander announced from inside the prison. He could already tell that Makarov had known when he'd regained consciousness, as did potentially a few others, but now all of the council soldiers had been thrown on to high alert, weapons drawn toward the cell.
It wasn't going to make much difference in the grand scheme of things. With a moderate grunt of effort, he broke free of the anti magic bindings and raised a single fist toward the metal pane in front of him, blowing it clean off of its hinges and releasing the dreaded Salamnder from his confinement.
"To arms, all of you, stop him before he escapes!" The council representative ordered, being heard only by his armed escort. He'd been greatly expecting the Fairy Tail mages to jump in a begin a battle against the dark wizard but was stunned when none of them did anything but watch as the scene before them unfolded.
"Why would they?" Salamander asked with a quizzically raised brow, "Did you not just hear the old man promise that no matter what happened next that the Fairy Tail guild would not involve themselves on the business matters of the council?" he laughed darkly before holding up a hand covered in flames that burned so impossibly bright that many had to shield their eyes.
"If I were you, I'd run back to the council and tell them that you failed, and that whoever keeps making these anti-magic seals needs to be slapped, they're super annoying." he grunted before extinguishing the flames, though the promise of pain never deflated in the eyes of the council's people.
Accepting that there was absolutely no way that the security escort would be able to do anythign, they conceded defeat and fled from Salamander and his impending threats of a fiery death.
"Now, you and I have an outstanding matter to deal with." he said, looking Erza straight in the eyes as he approached. A few mages stepped up ready to fight but the gentle wave of Makarov's hand made them all step back as he approached the Fairy Queen.
"In that final moment before you thoroughly pushed me through the surface of the world, did everything feel like it had come to a halt?" he asked, stopping only to be inches away from her, the feeling of warmth brushing over her catching her by surprise. She knew that his element was fire but she wasn't expecting it to be literally rolling off of him in waves.
"It did," she nodded after a quick moment where she tried to get a read on him. Despite how powerful and overwhelmingly dangerous he was, she could feel no ill will inside him, no malice or anything that would suggest he wanted to hurt any of them.
"Everything stopped, I took my chance and did what I needed to do, not that it really mattered in the end, our guildhall has been totally ruined thanks to you." she responded, a harsh glare breaking across her features.
"Time magic. It leaves a horrible taste lingering in the air whenever something this large scale is ever used. Someone wanted you to beat me into the ground it seems, and under that fact, I don't feel like our fight has had a true conclusion." he told her, a brimming fire blazing within his eyes, showing a glimpse of the destructive force they held.
"I won't let you start another rampage with this many innocent people around you. You've already caused enough destruction for one day. While I truly do not believe that you are an evil man, the path that you walk is not one of light, I will step in personally if you decide to continue fighting." Makarov warned him in a voice that he reserved only for the strongest foes he found himself up against.
The seriousness of their master sent a small wave of hushed whispers echoing through the crowd.
"I did not intend for your guildhall to be damaged at all, let alone what I caused, and for this I offer you an apology, something that I haven't done in… Well, a very long time. I am prepared to make reparations to return your building to what it was before." his words sent even more gasps and murmurings through the mages of Fairy Tail.
Had they really heard that right? The infamous dark mage Salamander had just promised to help them rebuild the guildhall that he'd personally burned down.
"And how would you go about doing this?" Makarov asked skeptically, a single brow raised at the young-looking mage.
"Estimate the cost of constructing a new guildhall, I will pay you for the damage I have caused, under one condition." he said with a growing grin.
"You dare to add stipulations after what you've done?" Erza asked with her own dark aura beginning to grow.
"Yes, I do." he shot back, seemingly getting even closer to her as the pressure began to build between them, making some of the weaker mages of the guild have to take a few steps back.
"What would a monster like you want from us?" she asked, cooling off slightly as she crossed her arms in indignation.
"You and I are going to enter into a contract." he said at last, folding his own arms in what appeared more like a victory stance.
"Elabourate." she demanded through a gaze that could melt steel.
"I destroyed your guildhall, and yet you defeated me which is a contradiction of the offer I made you all when I first stepped into your guild, something that to someone like me is of the highest importance and brings with it some serious consequences." he began to explain, speaking to all of them yet never taking his eyes off of her.
"You defeated me though you were unwittingly aided by an outside source. I do not see this as a breach on your part of the deal, but for this exact reason I do not see it as a breach on my part either. The other outstanding piece of the deal was that I would flip the contract on those who wanted you all dead, which is what I shall be leaving to do very shortly, but once I finish with my business we will forever turn the page on what happened here today." he said confidently.
"You would be willing to just forget everything and leave Fairy Tail behind you?" Makarov asked, surprised at how well thought out this all seemed to be.
"No." the dark mage answered immediately, "I said that we would turn the page, but that doesn't mean the story ends there. I will pay for the damages to your guildhall and I will destroy the dark guild that ordered your deaths, this in of itself seals away the consequences of a failed contract, my destruction of your guildhall need only be a memory of a bad day, but there very much remains something important."
"You want to fight again." Erza stated, gaining a wide grin from the Salamander, greatly appreciating that she'd caught on so quickly.
"Tell me, Titania, do you believe that if the world hadn't halted in your favour that the outcome would have remained unchanged?" he asked, grinning wildly.
"Honestly… I don't know." she admitted.
"Then I will say it again; I want a contract that when you are ready, when you feel that you can beat me without any outside interference, that you will summon me and our real fight will commence, and should your victory be at hand you will not hesitate to slay me." he told her, holding his palm out inbetween them. Blazing fire belched into the air above showing a molten insignia, a showcase of what their contract would stand to represent.
As it slowly rotated in the air, all of the mages gathered could easily see its features. A dragon's head backed by a pair of Fairy Tail styled wings at either side.
"You want me to end your life?" Erza stepped back in absolute shock.
"I want you to try. The only way I can be at peace is if you can defeat me when I am at my worst, and there's no way you'd ever be able to do that unless you have the killing intent burning through your veins, something that I know only too well." he said with a solemn smile.
"Creating a pact or contract of any kind with you will throw the reputation of our guild into the fire, so to speak. The council will brand us as a dark guild, I cannot accept your terms." she told him adamantly.
"I'm disappointed in you, Titania." he said with a deep sigh, "I really thought for a moment during our fight that you might finally be the one, but even I can be wrong sometimes." he said at last.
"If you should change your mind," he lifted the burning palm and gently placed it on the breastplate of her now scuffed armor, right above the heart. Leaving everyone watching in suspense as the flames slowly disappeared. Erza had adopted a slight orange glow that lasted no more than a few seconds. "You will be able to summon me directly with this."
"I will destroy the Herries Gunn guild as I promised that I would, and I will send someone along with payment for your guild hall, but that will be the end of my involvement, lest the circumstances change." he told them as he turned heel to begin on the path that would take him out of Magnolia and toward the long road north back to Herries Gunn.
"But if we ever cross paths again, I won't be pulling my punches next time." he muttered knowing that a few of him were close enough to hear his words. They all watched for a tense few moments as he slowly disappeared from their sight and their senses.
"I was afraid that I'd have to do something drastic in order to contain him." Gray admitted, speaking of the forbidden Iced Shell spell that only few knew of.
"I don't think it would come to that, the boy never had any intentions to really harm any of us." Makarov jutted in, speaking his mind again.
"Do you think he'll honour his word and pay for the guild hall to be rebuilt?" Levy asked, being one of the last to remain standing there as they watched the distant heatwaves slowly recede.
"Yes, his word once given was so important to him that he's about to wipe a dark guild from the face of the Earth because he was beaten in our fight. If he says that he's going to pay for our guildhall to be rebuilt, he will." Erza told them, turning heel to walk back into Magnolia and away from the still smouldering ruins of the guild hall.
It didn't take long before the sun had set and everyone had left, hoping that tomorrow would a brighter day.
A/N: Review?