"RAH!" Natsu swung a fire infused fist at Bryon, but he dodged, landing on a floating platform, "I can't land a hit on this guy…! Happy, go around!"
"Aye, sir!" Happy started flying in a circle around the Water Mage.
"Your silly, misguided plans won't work on me, Salamander," Byron lifted his hands up, the foot deep water shooting up large, dense pillars of water in attempt to hit the Dragon Slayer and his Exceed.
"Watch out!" Natsu then leapt from Happy's grasp, rearing a fist back, "Iron Fist of the Fire Dragon!" He threw his fist forward, using the momentum of the throw to slam his fist into Byron's face, causing him to stumble back a bit. Happy then swooped in and grabbed Natsu before he could land and suffer from motion sickness.
"Tch…" Byron shook his head, scowling, "It's time to drag you under…" A large blue magic circle appeared on the floor, "Secret Art: TIDAL WAVE!" The circle began to glow as the water started to move around restlessly, growing more violent in movement by the second; "IT'S TIME TO DROWN-" Everything Byron was doing stopped. The magic circle faded, the water calmed down almost instantly. Byron's eyes widened; he looked down, seeing a Shadow Katana had been plunged into his gut. He coughed up blood before falling over, motionless.
"N-Natsu!?" Happy looked down at his partner in confusion.
Natsu sniffed the air, his facial expression growing even more serious, "It's him…" A male with jet-black hair, and fire purple eyes walked into the room, seemingly unaffected by the slight motion of the moving platforms. The male was wearing a black, sleeveless shirt, blue jeans, and black boots.
"Salamander," The male nodded over to him before pulling out his Shadow Katana from Byron's body.
"N-Natsu…who is that?" Happy asked, somewhat worried due to the attitude Natsu had taken on.
"A Shadow Dragon Slayer…Takeru…" Natsu eyed Takeru, growling slightly, "He was mine."
"On a job, have to take him out, I don't care," Takeru said bluntly, turning around, "Only one member and the Master remains. I don't think you should place much faith in your…Titania, since she was defeated so easily."
"They ambushed Erza! She would've won otherwise!" Natsu blurted out.
"Can you say that for sure? You were having a hard time, weren't you?" Takeru said smugly.
Natsu said nothing; he started shaking, not from fear, but from anger. Takeru knew nothing, and he was just using Erza's defeat as a tool to get under his skin. All White Eclipse members had a talent for getting under his skin somehow. He would've charged Takeru at the moment, but he heard shouting from the main room. "Lucy!" Happy dropped him off and he started his way towards the main room.
Takeru's ears perked up at another voice, sighing somewhat, "Luke…" he slowly walked behind Natsu.
In the main room, Lucy was on Luke's back, pulling at his face, causing the mage to flail around as he tried to shake her off, "GET OFF OF ME!"
"NO! YOU'RE NOT INTERFERING," Lucy continued pulling at his face, a suitable distraction as Luke really wasn't making much progress.
"That guy must be strong if he can carry someone as heavy as Lucy on his back with no trouble…" Happy snickered.
"Shut up you stupid cat!" Lucy huffed, letting off a yelp as Luke tossed her off him.
"Geez…Oi, you get 'em, Tak?" Luke asked, dusting himself off.
"Easy," Takeru replied, smirking smugly.
"I see you two have taken care of some mages, eh?" Reve waltzed into the room as if he owned the mansion, Gray following behind him. "Oh, look, more Fairies." Reve snickered, "How much work did they do?"
"Pfft, not much," Luke replied.
"Natsu-san! Lucy-san! Gray-san!" Wendy ran into the room with Carla, grinning widely, "I beat one!"
"Nice job, Wendy!" Natsu grinned, giving Wendy a high five.
"You're telling me the little girl beat one and you three couldn't?" Reve chuckled mockingly.
"Only because you guys got in the way!" Natsu roared.
"Relax…" Luke sighed, "It's not our fault we did a better job than you…"
"Oh that is it…" Natsu reared his fist back, but before he could throw a punch a body crashed through the ceiling; it was Greg, the elemental mage Erza was fighting, and he was knocked out.
"Who…?" Takeru looked up, spotting Erza leaping down from the ceiling in her Black Wing Armor.
"Nice job, Erza!" Gray smirked, giving the Scarlet mage a thumbs up.
"What are they doing here?" Erza glared at the three White Eclipse members.
"Before you go flyin' off the handle, Erza," Luke started, "This is a job, is it not? We take out the guild members, and capture the master, no?"
"So let's see..." Reve began counting. "We took out three, you guys took out two? Sounds like we win this time."
"Who decided that?!" Gray snapped.
"I took one out!" Lucy objected.
"I did all the heavy lifting, so does it really count?" Luke quirked a brow. That remark got under Lucy's skin.
Erza looked at Reve. Their eyes locked and she narrowed them. "And you are?"
"They're too stubborn to leave it to us," Lucy mumbled, crossing her arms. A rumbling sound came from the back of the mansion, shaking the three story building just a little.
"What was that…?" Carla asked cautiously.
"I bet that was from Lucy walking!" Happy suggested.
"You little!" Lucy wrapped her arms around Happy's tiny neck and started strangling the poor exceed.
"Anger issues much…" Luke muttered under his breath.
"YOU'RE NEXT." Lucy blared.
"Uh-huh…" Luke rolled his eyes and completely dismissed Lucy's threat.
"Come on you two, we're checking out that noise," Reve ordered. Luke and Takeru nodded and followed behind Reve. But as they left, Reve glanced back at Erza. "I'll introduce myself another time. But for now, you can think of me as the man who took charge and completed the job you couldn't."
"..." Erza didn't like that at all.
"I can't stand those guys…" Gray watched as the three White Eclipse mages walked off…
"Who are those guys…?" Wendy asked, clueless.
"We'll tell you later," Lucy sighed, rubbing her temples from having to deal with Luke. "I swear I'll get him one day…"
"Come on, let's find the master," Erza nodded, changing back into her normal suit of armor. The group traveled to the back of the mansion, taking notice of the large hole in the wall.
"W-what the…?" Gray examined the hole. He touched the sides of the hole, a faint sizzling sound attracting his fingers, "It's fresh…" He reported.
"Look!" Wendy pointed to the snow, a series of footprints having left their mark.
"I bet they found the master already…" Natsu snarled, taking the lead as he and the others followed the footsteps. After fifteen minutes of walking, the tracks ran dry, no trace.
"No way, the tracks are gone!" Lucy groaned, "But where could they have gone!"
"It's likely whoever made these tracks knew we would be following them…" Erza closed her eyes, letting off a slightly frustrated sigh.
"I can't believe this…" Gray groaned, looking around the snowy mountainside.
"What do we do now…?" Wendy asked, shivering just slightly from the cold.
"We'll look for a little while longer before heading back," Erza suggested, "I'll go by myself if you guys don't want to."
"No way!" Natsu objected to this idea immediately, "Doesn't matter where we are, I'm not gonna let that guy get away!"
"Same here!" Lucy nodded, grinning.
Erza gave a small smile before leading the group on for a few more minutes. They eventually walked into a clearing surrounded by snow-covered trees. The only footsteps around were their own, and they hadn't found a single person during their travel. "Nothing…" Erza sighed.
"What's that over there…?" Happy pointed forward at a particularly shaped lump of snow.
"…That's odd…" Gray tilted his head, walking towards the clump of snow, started wiping the snow away, jumping up with a shout after a few seconds. "WHOA!"
"What's wrong Gray-san!?" Wendy ran up to the clump of snow, her eyes widening. A young girl with long black hair passed out in the snow, covered in all sorts of marks.
"I-It's a person!?" Lucy gasped.
"How long has that person been here?" Erza demanded, only to realize that no one knew the answer to her question.
Wendy wiped the snow off the girl, placing her hands over the girl as a sea green aura started to emit from her hands, "This girl's really hurt…I hope her injuries aren't too bad…"
Carla stared at the unconscious girl, her eyes widening as she had a sudden vision of the future. It was unclear, and fast. However, she saw it. She saw a faint image of this girl holding Wendy above a cliff, a building's alarm blaring loudly. It was too quick for Carla to realize who or what was happening, but she let off a loud gasp when the vision passed through.
"Something wrong, Carla?" Happy asked.
"E-Everything's fine…" Carla replied with a nod.
"Do you need a fish to feel better?" Happy asked, suddenly holding a fish in his hands.
"…Fish isn't the answer to everything, Happy…" Carla sighed.
Wendy finished healing the girl as much as she could, then shook her slightly, "Please…wake up…" She pleaded silently.
"Found a new friend?" Luke walked up to the group, looking over at the unconscious girl.
"What are you doing here…" Lucy scowled.
"Lost track of some tracks; the guild's not too far from here so I thought I'd investigate around here a little," Luke replied. "I basically live here, you know."
The girl woke up slowly, the first thing she saw was Wendy. However, she didn't take Wendy's kind smile as a friendly thing. Instead, she jumped up, panting. "S-Stay away from me!"
"W-What?" Wendy backed away a bit, frowning deeply, "B-But we were just trying to help…!"
"Help WHO!? Them!?" The girl started breathing heavily out of pure nervousness. Who were these people? What did they want with her? She didn't want to know the answer to these question. She allowed thick red flames to surround her body as a warning, "I-I'll hurt you all! You hear me!" She was frantic.
Natsu stepped forward, his own flames flaring to match the girl's, "I don't want to hurt you, but if you lay a hand on any of them and I'll make sure you pay for it…" He said in a deep, menacing tone. Truthfully, all he wanted was for the girl to back down.
"N-Natsu!" Lucy waved her hands frantically, "B-Be careful! She's just a little girl! We don't know why she's out here…!"
"It doesn't matter if she's a child, if she lays a hand on any of our nakama, I won't hold back. But I don't want it to come to that, either." Gray stepped forward next to Natsu. The girl clearly wasn't willing to talk things out in her frantic state. She didn't look dangerous...just afraid.
"Attacking a child, are you?" Luke sighed, "You really have no bounds, do you? How about instead of scaring the already frightened girl, you act nice to her?"
"I don't want to agree with him, but let's all just calm down. You're not helping the situation, either of you." Erza said. Natsu and Gray didn't take kindly to the threats and she understood this. Being riled up by White Eclipse earlier was no help either.
Unfortunately for them, nothing could help this situation. The girl was on high alert and as far as she was concerned, the world was her enemy. "GO AWAY!" The girl reared her hand back, throwing a heavy red flame at Gray. The flame caught the Ice Make mage of guard and burned him as he tumbled back into the snow. It happened in slow motion. Nobody expected this little girl to actually attack like this.
"Gray-san!" Wendy covered her mouth from shock; the flame leaving a heavy burn on Gray's chest.
"…Well there goes the peaceful approach…" Luke blinked quickly, the girl's sudden acting surprising him.