In eastern Fiore, a large, two story mansion stood proud and all. This was the new guild, Cosmic Star. Daryan and Magnus met in front of the guild, and began exchanging their story about the jobs they took while they walked inside. "So, you made contact with Fairy Tail as well?" Magnus asked as he and Daryan walked inside Cosmic Star.
"Oh yeah, totally…!" Daryan replied with a nod. "I even got to meet wizards from the other guilds, such as White Eclipse, and Quatro Cerberus!"
"Don't you sound excited about that," Magnus said with a faint smile, noticing that no one else was inside the guild at the time. "Hm…it seems it's just use until the other few come back…"
"Well, tell me about our encounter then!" Daryan said, latching onto the ceiling.
Magnus shook his head slowly at Daryan's feat before recalling the events of the train escort. "Ah, I met four Fairy Tail members, and two White Eclipse members. Lucy Heartfilia, Natsu Dragneel, Wendy Marvell, and Cynthia Vis-…er…she prefers Rose, my bad."
"Whoa, that's like, Team Natsu, right?" Daryan asked.
"You could say that; minus Scarlet and Fullbuster," Magnus replied. "I also met the infamous copycat mage, Luke Cloud, and his partner, Heather."
"Copycat mage?" Daryan blinked a few times, shuffling while staying latched to the ceiling.
"Yes, I despite copy cats," Magnus replied with a disgusted look. "Having to copy another's magic just so you can fight annoys me, but he is a strong mage, I suppose…but that doesn't excuse the act…"
"Yeesh, you need to chill out," Daryan replied with a shrug.
"How would you feel if he copied your magic?" Magnus asked, crossing his arms as he looked up at Daryan with a serious facial expression.
"…I'd probably eat his bones," Daryan replied in a nonchalant tone, shrugging once again after.
.
.
Who knows how long it had been seen Meredy saw any source of light at all. All she knew is that it had been a while as the door to the room opened, a bright light hitting her eyes, causing her to squint as her eyes started to readjust to the light. Her stomach growled; she hadn't been fed in a while, and perhaps that was about to change? "W-Who…?" Meredy said weakly, unable to muster too much strength from the starvation.
"Oi, she's still alive, Master Jikan," Veronica said from the top of the stairs.
"Bring her in," Jikan said from the room. "It's time…"
"Right!" Veronica grinned slightly at Meredy, lifting her hands up, using her telekinesis to lift the weakened girl into the air, pulling her forward. "You're in for a treat, girly!" Veronica said with a cheery voice, carrying Meredy upstairs, and into a large rectangular room. Upon entry, Meredy noticed a severely beaten Jellal on the ground; but he was indeed conscious; and an old lady chained by her arms and legs on a large circle propped up so everyone could see. Veronica then dropped Meredy.
"J-JELLAL!" Meredy's eyes widened at the sight of Jellal, but he cracked a small smile seeing that Meredy was okay.
"M-Meredy…you're okay…" Jellal winced from the pain, but smiled nonetheless.
"Sure took a lot to get this fucker to talk…" Bryon said with a slight groan. "It was monotonous…and I couldn't get him to say anything…"
"Not like he had anything of importance," Horoki said while taking a puff of his cigar, smirking slightly. "But it was fun to beat the mighty Jellal within an inch of his life…"
"I didn't get to have a turn," Aloysius said with slight disappointment.
"T-The influence of Zeref…" Jellal managed to say through slow, heavy breaths, "It's strong…I can feel on you two…" He said, referring to Jikan and Aloysius.
"I'm surprised you don't remember me, Jellal," Aloysius said with a disgusted face. "The Tower of Heaven really did a number on you…"
"…!" Jellal's eyes widened; he now remembered this male. "You were…!"
"That doesn't matter right now, does it?" Aloysius interrupted, turning his attention to the old woman chained up. "Who is this?"
"Oh, I'm glad you noticed," Jikan said with a faint smirk.
"It's somewhat hard not too…" Myuu said silently.
"No kidding…" Byron added on. "Espeically when I've been sitting here for days making sure this woman didn't escape somehow…"
"Your work was most excellent, Byron," Jikan said with a nod. "Capturing Jellal and Meredy was also rather fine work. It will make this next event all the more sweeter."
"Who is this woman though?" Veronica asked while tapping her chin. "She doesn't look the least bit familiar…and I don't see why Horoki and I went through all the trouble of capturing her…"
"Oh, allow me to introduce you then…" Jikan walked in front of the woman, spreading his arms out as a colorless magic circle resembling a clock appeared. "There's a reason I wanted you two to hunt down this particular woman," Jikan said as the hour hand and the minute hand on the magic circle started to move slowly in a counterclockwise motion. "It's even better that I have you two here, Jellal Frenandes and Meredy." As Jikan spoke, the wrinkles on the woman slowly started to disappear, turning into soft, smooth skin. The gray hair on the woman's head turned lush, black, falling down to her waist. After the reversal was finished, Jellal and Meredy stood with widened eyes. "Ah…Silent Sanctum…I present to you…Ultear Milkovich."
"U-ULTEAR!" Meredy's eyes widened as she scrambled to her feet, attempting to run over to Ultear, but she was stopped by a telekinetic wall created by Veronica.
"Ultear…!" Jellal gasped as his eyes went as wide as Meredy's.
"Jellal…Meredy…" Ultear frowned over to the pair of mages who had been tortured. That was her fault. They got caught in the crossfire...
"Well, well…" Byron smirked slightly. "I didn't know about that…"
"W-What are you doing with Ultear!?" Meredy screamed.
"Oh, the original intention was to surprise you," Jikan said with a devious smirk. "But, since you two are here, I figured I might as well show you."
"Let Ultear go!" Meredy scream out once again, tears flowing down her eyes from a mix of emotions. She was so happy to see Ultear, yet she was frustrated and everything else because of the current situation.
"Oh, don't worry…I will, in time," Jikan responded.
"In time?" Horoki blinked, looking over towards his master, and then Ultear, who was currently unable to do anything.
"This is the reason I was gone for so long…" Jikan said, pulling out a pitch black lacrima from seemingly nowhere. "Was because I needed to create this…"
"W-What's that…!?" Jellal asked.
"This, is a lacrima, my dear Jellal," Jikan responded. "Not just an ordinary Lacrima, no; I plan on using this to bring back that sadistic Ultear; the one who lead the 7 Kin of Purgatory."
Ultear's eyes widened at Jikan's statement, causing her to frantically shake her head. "N-No! Don't do that…Anything but that…!"
"Oh, I could do a lot of things to you right now, Ultear," Jikan said with a smirk that grew darker and wider by the second. "But I think this is the appropriate course of action."
"B-But…!" Ultear started to object; the fear of going down the path of darkness starting to get to her. "I-I just washed away all of my sins…!"
"Do you really believe that?" Jikan interrupted. "I know it was you who turned the clock back when the dragons attacked."
"U-Ultear did what…?!" Meredy looked over at Ultear.
"She what…?" Jellal groaned slightly before sitting up, looking up at Ultear.
"H-How did you…" Ultear looked over at Jikan in shock as the Silent Sanctum members just watched.
"You are not the only time manipulator in Fiore, Ultear," Jikan said with a faint yawn, quickly growing bored of the current conversation. "I could feel the change in time, obviously...and I must say, even with your attempt at atonement, you were only able to turn the clock back a minute…just sixty seconds…a shame, isn't it…?"
"Stop talking to her like that!" Meredy shouted.
"I..." Ultear glanced down, shamefully. It felt like she was just about to escape her sins, but everything came crawling back so fast, she didn't even have the time to enjoy her repentance.
Jikan ignored Meredy as he allowed the lacrima to float closer Ultear, causing the time magic to attempt to break out of her restraints, failing to do so. "Oh, don't worry…this shouldn't hurt too much…"
"S-Stop…!" Ultear's eyes widened as the lacrima entered her body, causing black sparks to erupt from everywhere. There was a piercing scream escaping her the whole time.
.
.
Within the depths of Hell itself, Tartaros had their own plans in which they were discussing. Maggie, Kiora, Ruika, Tobias, and Rugal, a member who hadn't been seen during the Fiore's End crisis, were discussing their plan of action along with the guild master of Tartaros, Daityas. "How is it you two can fail a mission and get off just fine but when I were to fail a mission I get hell for it!?" Tobias shouted at Maggie and Kiora.
"First off," Kiora started. "No one likes you. And second off…WHO THE FUCK SAID YOU COULD SPEAK, TOBIAS?" Tobias went quietly instantly after that comment.
"That's what I thought," Kiora said with a slight smirk.
"That mission wasn't critical anyway," Daityas said to answer Tobias' question. "We can still do what I have planned with or without that magical sphere; it will just take a while longer. But as long as it gets done, it doesn't matter to me."
Rugal was a tall male with green hair, and a green beard. He also had a katana strapped to his back, which he did use in combat. "If I may ask," Rugal started, looking over towards Daityas.
"Simple," Daityas started. "I am looking for those who were and still are a part of Grimore Heart."
"Grimore Heart?" Ruika raised a brow, crossing her arms as she looked towards Daityas. "Wasn't that the guild that ended up losing to Fairy Tail?"
"Why not revive something like the Oracion Seis?" Maggie asked.
"All of their members were defeated by Fairy Tail, twice I might add," Daityas said. "Not to mention that their members have scattered, or are in prison. Don't really feel like breaking them out right now, they aren't that useful. Grimore Heart, however…"
"What purpose could finding those bloody nutters have?" Maggie asked, obviously curious along with the rest of the Tartaros members.
"You'll see in time," Daityas replied. "Either way, there are only three members of the guild who are still a part of it and who are still alive."
"That would be Rustyrose, Kain Hikaru, and Bluenote Stinger, yes?" Rugal asked.
"That is correct," Daityas nodded. "The ones who currently deceased are Zancrow and Azuma…"
"They died on the island, however…" Rugal responded.
"And finally, there's Meredy and Ultear, but I doubt they'll be returning to Grimore Heart," Daiyas continued, scratching those two off the list.
"A few things…" Tobias said, speaking quickly so he wouldn't be forced to shut up once more. "First, there has been no sign of Rustyrose, Kain, or Bluenote just after Tenoru Island was destroyed…And Tenoru Island has gone dark after the Tenoru Team returned from their 7 year stasis…"
"I am aware of this…" Daityas said. "However, this doesn't mean we won't be able to retrieve the bodies."
"Yes…" Rugal said with a smirk forming on his lips. "Allow me to assist with this operation…no matter how well hidden an island may be…it cannot hide from the Dimensional Mage…"
"Ah…excellent…" A confident smirk appeared on Daityas' lips. "I will entrust the objective of finding Zancrow and Azuma to you then, Rugal. As for finding the other three…I will give that mission to Mithril, and Ruika."
"Mithril's gonna eat them if given the chance…" Ruika replied. "But, it is being better than being paired with Tobias…"
"Okay you know what…" Tobias started.
"SHUT UP, TOBIAS!" Everyone but Rugal screamed, causing Tobias to go quiet once again, just about instantly this time.
"Moving onto more important matters…" Daityas started. "Once you find those members of Grimore Heart, bring them here, by force if need be, obviously. And if any of you happen to run into Ultear and Meredy, feel free to bring them back here as well, I can do something about their disgusting change to the light…does everyone understand their missions?"
"I will start looking as soon as possible," Rugal nodded.
"Cook dinner first, wanker," Maggie ordered.
"Right after I cook dinner…" Rugal nodded, put on an apron, and went over into the kitchen, beginning to cook dinner.
"I will awaken Mithril from his slumber to tell him what is happening soon," Daityas nodded, leaving the main area, which was the castle, and went towards one of the towers. He opened the door slowly, and behind the doors was nothing surprising to him; just a slumbering dragon, who was no doubt going to be hungry once he woke. "Mithril, rise; I have a job for you."