Familiar Faces and A Kindred Spirit

"Okay, if I remember correctly, Natsu and his team should be around here on this beach." Shadow said as he and Rouge are walking to meet up with Natsu to see how the training is going.

"And it'll also double as break time from all the three months of training, you nearly made me sweat like a pig." Rouge complained.

"I had to make sure you haven't been slacking off and stealing things from others, like you always do." Shadow pointed out.

"Hey, I have you know that I haven't stolen anything as you were with me all this time." Rouge protested.

"You stole a woman's jeweled-pendent yesterday, and I had to make you return it too." Shadow reminded her.

"Okay, but can you blame a girl like me for being attracted to beauty jewelry?" Rouge asked sarcastically.

Shadow let out a sigh knowing full well how Rouge is when it comes to shiny jewels and gems like a girl wanting to buy them at a jewelry store, except the bat woman takes them just because she wants it. Even becoming one of the good guys back home, Rogue could never resist the old itch of her thief-self, yet Shadow couldn't exactly blame her because she had stolen his heart years ago which led them into becoming a couple.

"Uh, is that Jet and Droy?" Shadow spotted to familiar men wearing swimming trucks and having white-colored guildmarks of Fairy Tail.

"Hey, guys!" Shadow called out getting their attention.

"Oh, hey Shadow, we weren't expecting you to visit." Jet greeted.

"Decided to check on everyone progress of their training. Oh, and this our newest member, Rouge, she just joined a little three months ago." Shadow introduced his girlfriend to them.

"Hey there, thanks for taking care of my man, he can be such a handful these days." Rouge teased, kiss Shadow on the cheek and wink at the two best friends making them blush.

"W-Wow, Shadow, you never told us you found yourself a girlfriend." Droy amazed of Rogue's beauty, but he and Jet are still loyal to Levy.

"That's because she's from the same world as I am." Shadow revealed shocking the boys.

"ARE YOU FOR REAL?!" Jet and Droy gasped.

"I'll explain about it later. How are Natsu and the others doing with their training?" Shadow asked, this cause the boys to flinch a little.

"Oh, huh, the first day a success." Jet said nervous.

"Umm, I get the feeling that something happened with the training." Rouge guessed.

"You could say that." Jet responded.

"What happened?" Shadow asked curious.

"You'll see this for yourself." Droy gestured to follow him and Jet.

They lead Shadow and Rouge to where Team Natsu is, and their surprise finding them laying on the sand and leaning against a large rock all looking pale, not from exhaustion of physical training but from depression.

"What the… Natsu, guys, why are you all depress like that?" Shadow asked as he walks to them.

"Shadow said that this group is the wildest bunch in the guild, but they look a bunch of sad clowns instead." Rouge pointed out.

"That's because they were at the Celestial Spirit World for one day, but here it's been three months." Droy informed sadly.

"What?" Shadow shocked.

"One day, we only spent one day hanging out with the Celestial Spirits… and now three months is gone." Natsu exclaimed.

"Okay, okay, okay, just explain to me what happened." Shadow said wanting to hear the full story.

They explained that one of Lucy's spirit, a maid named Virgo, invited them to the Celestial Spirit World while wearing some clothing made from there so that humans can survive there, for a party of their return. But when they got back, three months have passed even though they only been in the Spirit World for a day.

"And none of you even bother to ask the time difference in each world?" Shadow asked.

"We didn't think it would matter." Wendy winced.

"Wow, now that's what I call an 'un-timing' call. I'm Rogue by the way, same world as Shadow and his girlfriend." Rouge introduced herself to them as they became shock a little.

"Whoa, for real? You're from the same world as Shadow?" Natsu gasped.

"I was anthro too, a bat to be exact." Rouge said showing her wings.

"Wow, now that's what I call a 'batty' meet." Happy joked.

"(At least that cheer those two up a bit.)" Shadow thought.

"Let us remind you guys that we only have five days left until the games!" Droy reminded them as he eats a sliced watermelon. "How are we supposed to win?"

"Well, you aren't doing much by stuffing your face." Jet said.

"I guess we'll be sitting on the sideline while everyone else competes in the games." Levy said sad as Juvia sigh.

"Oh man, I wanted to least be little stronger close to Lilly's strength." Happy cried shocking Wendy and Carla.

"I didn't even know you care that!" Carla said.

"No! It's not too late! We still have five days to train! It'll be Hell-on-Eeath, so prepare yourselves! You may not survive!" Erza determined emitting a red aura around herself, scaring Lucy and Gray.

"I didn't live this long just to die from a workout!" Gray protested.

"Sounds good to me! Do your worst, Erza! I'm ready to feel the burn!" Natsu agreed emitting his flame-like aura.

"But aren't already burning?" Shadow asked.

"Haha, okay now I can see why this group is the wildest bunch." Rouge laughed a bit.

"Oh yeah, we're crazy to even destroy stuff by accident!" Happy mentioned proudly.

"Don't make it sound like we're proud of that!" Carla scolded.

Then everyone notices a bird has landed on top of Erza's head and see a foldup piece of paper tired on its leg, they took it to read the letter while the bird is still on Erza's head which she doesn't mind for some reason.

"Hey Fairy Tail, you better come to the broken suspension bridge on the western hill!" Happy read the letter out loud.

"Dumb note, it's not the boss of us!" Natsu said mad.

"No kidding, I don't care for their tone. Not one bit" Gray said.

"What should we do?" Wendy asked.

"Why ignore it, of course!" Carla suggested.

"Actually, I was thinking we should meet whoever wrote this." Rouge suggested.

"Yes, I was thinking the same." Erza nodded.

"You know, this sounds more like a trap." Levy pointed out.

"Levy's right, this has "trap" written all over it." Lucy agreed.

"I don't know, my gut is telling that whoever wrote this knows about the guild, more specifically Team Natsu." Shadow pointed.

"You think so?" Juvia wondered.

"We'll have to see it for ourselves." Erza said.

(Later)

The Fairy Tail group have made their way to the bridge where it says to go there, only to find there's no bridge or least any longer a bridge there anymore.

"It looks like this bridge broke years ago, still we should be able to meet the mystery writer here." Shadow said.

"I hope they're strong." Natsu excited.

"Why are you always looking for a fight?" Wendy questioned Natsu's thirst for battle.

"I don't know, this could be a prank." Gray said.

Then suddenly, right before their eyes the broken bridge is literally pulling itself back together like its new.

"Well, that's a first." Gray surprised.

"That bridge… it fixed itself!" Levy said.

"It would seem the one who sent that letter want to meet us on the other side." Erza stated.

"Then we better get going." Shadow said going first to cross the bridge, once he got to the other side he let everyone know it's safe to cross.

They walk through the forest wondering who would want to meet them in person, though Natsu and Erza more focus on training and hopes that the mystery person is a strong fighter for training, then they spotted three people wearing blue hooded cloaks.

"This smell!" Natsu recognized as everyone brace themselves.

"You came." The one in the middle said and the three take off their hoods to reveal themselves.

"It's nice to see you again."

One is a young man whose most prominent features are his blue hair and a red tattoo above and under his right eye. Under the blue cloak, he wears a dark green coat with heart like designs running down the sleeves and sides of the coat. Beneath this, wears plated armor, which covers his abdomen, and dark pants bearing a guild symbol of some kind.

The second person is a young woman with red eyes and pink hair reaches down to the middle of her back, is a quite wavy ponytail, and is accompanied by a dark brown set of earmuffs. Her outfit after consists of a red dress with a golden trim around a deep neckline that exposes a large amount of her cleavage with a short skirt and a belt with a yellow ribbon tied around her waist and black colored stockings and brown boots. Breasts sizes: E-cup.

The third person is an older woman with pale skin and dark purple hair with a white ribbon and brown eyes. She wears a little more than a tabard-like garment that exposes her back. The attire is open on both sides of her body except for a small attachment at her waist, and she dons long black boots that leave her upper thighs bare. Breasts sizes: H-cup.

The whole group gaps upon seeing those three except for Shadow and Rogue who never seen them before but can tell from the looks on their guildmates that they have met before probably before the S-Rank Wizard exam.

"You haven't changed, Erza. I take it word of my prison break reached you some time ago?" The blue hair man asked.

"Yes." Erza said firm.

"Just so you know, I never intended on escaping." The blue hair man said.

"But Meldy and I didn't gave him much of a choice." The dark-purple hair woman said.

"That was all you, Ultear! Don't lump me into your criminal behavior." The girl named Meredy stated.

"Meldy." Juvia shocked to see the little girl she knew seven years ago on the island.

"Long time, no see, Juvia!" Meldy smiled at the water mage which she smiles back.

"(She's grown into a beautiful and happy young woman.)" Juvia thought.

"Should I be worry about those three because it looks like you guys didn't have a good history together." Rouge asked.

"Don't worry, they're not our enemies anymore." Gray assured.

"Isn't that right?" Gray asked Ultear.

"Yes. I committed many sins as a member of Grimoire Heart. So many, I doubt I could ever atone for all of them, so I've dedicated myself to bringing some measure of peace to the people I've hurt. Til the day I die." Ultear explained her resolve.

"(These people, they're like how I was wanting nothing but revenge on earth for the death of Maria and I almost killed so many lives too.)" Shadow thought as he recalled the time when he was the bad guy and hearing Jellal having memory lost also reminds him of that.

"I could either spend the rest of my life in prison or lose my life and be done with it. Whatever happens at least my penance would have been paid." Jellal stated.

"Sounds like someone I know." Rouge whispered to Shadow.

"Shadow, it's an honor to meet you. I am Jellal Fernandes. I heard much about you; I hope we can be allies." Jellal said.

"To be honest, you and I have a lot more in common than we realize." Shadow smiled as the Fairy Tail group recall Shadow telling them about his past.

"I found a purpose, but I'm sure that I'd call it completely positive." Jellal said.

"The three of us have formed a guild of our own. It's an independent guild, neither officially recognized nor aligned with anyone. Its name is Crime Sorciere or "witch's crime"." Ultear revealed.

"An Independent guild?" Levy confused.

"What does that mean?" Happy asked.

"You're not affiliated with any alliances?" Carla asked too.

"Do you guys know that name?" Rouge asked Droy and Jet.

"Yeah, we've heard of them before." Droy answered.

"You guys have taken down a bunch of dark guilds over the past few years." Jet mentioned.

"Unfortunately, our one true goal eludes us." Ultear said.

"Zeref." Jellal revealed shocking most.

"Dark guilds and any evil force in the world that seeks to destroy the lives of innocents. We'll purge every one of them so no wizard will be possessed by his darkness again." Jellal explained.

"That's a seriously righteous cause!" Lucy commented.

"With all the good you've done, I'm surprised the Magic Council won't accept you." Gray said.

"I am a still a criminal to them." Jellal said.

"And Ultear and I used to be in Grimoire Hear." Meldy added.

"Besides, if we were to become official, we wouldn't be able to go after dark guilds anymore because of the Inter-Guild-Conflict Ban Treaty. We're far more useful if we remain as we are now." Jellal explained.

"As much as I love hear your stories and all, you asked us to here for something, right?" Shadow asked.

"That's right. Is it true you'll be entering the Grand Magic Games this year?" Ultear asked.

"Yeah, why?" Natsu answered.

"We can't get near the coliseum without trouble. If all of you are willing, we'd like you to do something while you're there." Ultear said.

"You guys want some autographs." Natsu guessed.

"No, Natsu, I'm pretty sure is more important than that." Shadow said.

"He's right, every year we sense unusual magic power during the games. We want you to find out what's behind it." Jellal informed.

"Are you guys for real?" Natsu asked shock.

"Guilds from all over Fiore gather for the game; the place is full of magic." Lucy pointed out.

"Don't you think you're being a bit paranoid?" Levy asked.

"Never judge a book by its cover, ladies. Shadow and I have dealt with serious trouble back at our old world and this might have serious trouble." Rogue stated.

"She's right, the power we've been sensing is not only evil but reminiscent of Zeref." Jellal mentioned shocking the others as he and others had a history to sense Zeref over the years.

"Now do you understand, ascertaining the truth is paramount?" Ultear said.

"If you can track down the source of the mysterious energy, it may help us locate him." Jellal added.

"And you'll be compensated, just like any other job." Meldy mentioned.

"Try to act like nothing happen, we don't want the culprit to know that we're on to them. So, we'll be rooting for you from behind the scene." She added.

"Sounds like a wild goose chase, but we'll do it." Erza accepted the job much the three's relief.

"You sure about this, Erza?" Gray asked.

"We don't have much choice. Guilds from all over Fiore will be gather around that power, it could be trouble for us." Erza stated.

"I can also help you guys with something." Ultear said holding out her crystal ball.

"I've had years to improve upon my Arc of Time Magic and can use it to enhance your abilities. A power up you could call it, though it's not entirely accurate." Ultear started explaining about wizards having a container for their magic and discover there's another one called Second Origin which she can open to make the Fairy Tail wizards stronger than before.

"Well, at least they'll be able to make for missing three months of training." Rouge said glad the team is getting something good out of this.

"I wonder if unlocking a Second Origin is painful?" Shadow asked.

(Later)

Yep, the process of unlocking the Second Origin is indeed painfully as Natsu and others including Levy are cover in some red markings while scream and groaning in unbelievable pain, even Droy and Jet are going through with it because Shadow force them to since they were supposed to help them train. Rouge is also with them in the pain train as she wanted to see if she can do magic too and Shadow is just watching them as his Chaos Power will be enough for him.

"This is going to be a long night for this." Shadow commented.


KO a new chapter is done and hope you all enjoy it!

Things almost looked hopeless for Natsu and others since they missed three months of training, but luckily for them, they met with old friends who were once their enemies and Shadow felt connected to them since he also did bad things in the past too. Now it's onto the Grand Magic Games for Fairy Tail to claim back the title as number 1 in all of Fiore, also while on the hunt for this mysterious magic power for Crime Sorcière.

As for what kind of magic power will Rouge get, you'll have to wait and see.

KO comment, favorite, and follow through of how this story will go!