Natsu lifted his head into the air, sniffing out for the scent of the assassin. For some reason, the scent had a hint of familiarity to it, but Natsu couldn't put his finger on it. Had he met the person before? No, it didn't seem likely. Had they been in a place he had been to before? That was probably it, and to Natsu, it seemed like the only explanation. Natsu continued this search until he arrived at the base of a familiar mountain. "Why is the scent leading me…" Natsu asked himself before shaking his head, continuing up the mountain.
On the same mountain, Takeru was out, gathering his thoughts as he thought back to Arc sacrificing himself so Takeru could continue living. "We were like brothers…" Takeru said to himself, before he eventually ran into Natsu, snapping him back into his senses. "Salamander?!"
"Takeru!?" Natsu temporarily forgot about what he was doing once he took sight of Takeru. "What are you doing here?!"
"No, what are YOU doing here?! This is the mountain White Eclipse is on, after all!" Takeru replied, cutting his eyes at Natsu.
Natsu then shook his head, remembering why he even bothered to be in the vicinity of anything White Eclipse. "The assassin."
"The what?" Takeru blinked, almost clueless.
"The assassin!" Natsu shouted. "The one going around killing people!"
"Oh, I've heard about that…." Takeru replied. "But, what's that have to do with you being here?"
"I fought the assassin in town, and they escaped, but I got their scent and it led me right to here!" Natsu replied. "What do you have to say about that!?"
"I'd say you're crazy if you insist on suggestion someone from White Eclispe did it," Takeru replied to Natsu with a scowl forming on his lips, the two now circling each other as Natsu lit his hand in flames, and Takeru lit his in shadows. Before either of the dragon slayers could go any farther, a trail of stalagmites rushed towards the pair of dragon slayers. Before the stalagmites hit, Takeru instinctively used the shadows around his hand to push Natsu out of the way, and he rolled back, springing up into a crouched position.
Tobias emerged from the shadows, starting a sarcastic slow clap. "Well, well…look what I ran into on my way back home…"
Natsu stood next to Takeru, his hand lit in flames as he glared at the dark mage. "What do you want!?"
"To have some fun," Tobias said with a sly smirk.
.
.
The sunlight entered Skye's room, causing the young requip mage to stir before waking up, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "Mmm…" Skye stretched and looked around her room. "That was a weird dream last night…" She shrugged, and then exited her room, entering the main room, seeing that things were just about as lively as before.
"Skye-chan!" Saeko said with a bright smile and wave. "Good morning!"
"Good morning, Saeko!" Skye said with a wave. "How did you sleep?"
"I overslept!" Saeko replied. "How about you!"
"I slept great…but I had a weird dream…" Skye merely shrugged.
"Has anyone see Tak?" Selene asked with a hint of worry in her voice. "He hasn't come back…"
"The better question is…" Luke started as he rubbed his head. "Did anyone feel that tremor last night…?"
"I fell off my bed because of it…" Heather replied, blowing air out of her lips to move a strand of her vanilla blonde hair out of her face.
"I wonder what even caused that…" Aira said while rubbing the back of her head. "Tremors in the mountains aren't that common…especially around here…"
"I hope Tak is alright…" Selene said with a slight frown.
"He's Tak, he'll be fine," Luke nodded.
"Skye, come here…" Sidney said, motioning for Skye to come over.
"Hm?" Skye skipped over to Sidney, but the ghost mage shook his head.
"No, go back, and walk over to me like a big girl," Sidney said as he pointed back to where Skye walked from. Skye sighed, walked back, and then walked back to Sidney. "Good. Now then, Skye, you've heard of the assassin, right?"
"Yeah…" Skye nodded. "Saeko just told me that several more people were assassinated last night…"
"Yes, that is rather unfortunate…but, Skye, I've been watching you as you sleep. You sleep walk, or something to that degree, as you leave your room in the middle of the night." Sidney replied as he looked at Skye, whose facial expression went from cheerful to somewhat worried. "And, you leave around the time those deaths are recorded…"
"W-What are you saying…?" Skye asked.
"I'm not saying you're the assassin, as I can't be sure of that yet, but I'm just letting you know of your actions late at night," Sidney replied.
Skye nodded slowly, sighing softly to herself. "I…I see…"
.
.
Tobias walked inside the Tartaros castle, a slight limp in his step as he tried to walk without showing it, but Sora and Ur caught onto Tobias as soon as he walked past him. "Tobias!" Sora said with a cheeky grin.
"Shit…" Tobias thought, but he looked to Sora with a slight smile. "Oh, hello, Sora…and Ur…"
"What the hell happened to you?" Ur asked as she crossed her arms. "You look like you've taken a beating."
"I just fought Salamander and some White Eclipse mage…" Tobias said while waving a dismissive hand.
"And lost," Ur stated, not giving Tobias any time to come up with a lie. "Dait's not going to be happy with you, but lucky for you; his attention is on other matters right now."
"It was a draw! You think I look bad? You should see those two!" Tobias huffed. "Other…matters?" Tobias blinked a few times, knowing he was nowhere near in the clear because of the punishment Daityas was going to give him for losing to two legal mages.
"Matters that require all the members present," Ur said, walking behind Tobias and kicking his rear, causing him to stumble forward. "Come on, get your ass in gear, idiot," Ur continued this as she led Tobias into the main room, with Sora happily following behind. Eventually, the three made it into the main room, where Kiora, Maggie, Mithril, Rugal, Ruika, Zancrow, Rustyrose, and Daityas himself were all gathered.
"Your punishment will come after the ceremony," Daityas said with his back turned to Tobias.
"How does word get out so fast…!?" Tobias groaned.
"Hi," Ruika waved to Tobias, an innocent smile on her face. She could corroborate Tobias' story, but she decided not to.
"I hate you…" Tobias groaned.
"And after I decided to bandage you up when you passed out? So rude." Ruika rolled her eyes.
"Shut up, Tobias," Maggie said as she looked to Daityas. "So, what's the big deal?"
"Simple, first off…" Daityas walked over to Mithril. "Mithril, my friend, you've been a part of this guild almost as long as I have, correct?"
The "man" nodded, a smirk drawn on his lips. "I guess so…been a while…heh…"
"Because of this, I dub you, Mithril, the SS class mage of Tartaros," Daityas said with a nod.
"We don't need guild ranks..." Kiora rolled her eyes.
"But what's wrong with a bit of fun?" Daityas said with a grin. There was no need for this, but he wanted to enjoy himself and properly establish a threat of Tartarus. "Besides, this is a better way of establishing a threat than being called the Nine Demon Gates. People will take us more seriously."
"Yay Mithril!" Sora said with a grin.
"SS class dragon…" Rustyrose said with a sense of shock.
"Rustyrose, what did we talk about?" Kiora asked, cutting her eyes at Rusty.
"Never talk unless you say so…" Rustyrose growled a bit under his breath, but Kiora merely smirked.
"Ha…bitch made…" Zancrow couldn't help but snicker, but Maggie looked over to Zancrow, and he immediately shut up.
"And that leads me into the next thing," Daityas smirked slightly as he walked over to Maggie and Kiora. "Since you two were formerly S class mages in your old guilds, I'm restoring your status as S classes."
"What…? That's not fair…" Ruika complained.
"Yeah, what about me?" Tobias almost shouted.
"You lost to a pair of legal mages so what about you?" Ur asked rather sharply.
"Ah, yes, and as for you, Ur," Daityas said with a slight grin. "Since you were a candidate for the Ten Wizard Saints before you died, you are also going to be named an S class for Tartaros."
"Three S classes…?" Rugal raised a brow in interest. "And one SS class. By legal guild standards, we're becoming more formidable by the second…."
"Playing legal guilds?" A voice came from behind them. It belonged to one of the Nine Demon Gates...Silver.
"Who are you?" Ur lifted a brow. She could sense that something about Silver was familiar. Too familiar.
"Ugh, what do you want, Silver?" Maggie crossed her arms, rolling her eyes at him.
"I just came to see what all the fuss was about. Jackal said you guys were causing quite the stir." Silver said with a small laugh. His eyes then glanced at Ur. "Hm...? Have we met before?"
"We're busy. Unless the killjoy has something he wants from us, you can buzz right off." Kiora said while waving her hand, attempting to shoo Silver away.
"Fine, fine. I can tell when I'm not wanted." Silver shrugged his shoulders, but turned and started to walk off. His appearance was sudden and unusual, but it did catch Ur's attention.
"...Silver..." Ur repeated his name quietly. Was there a chance that...? It was going to bother her now. She had to find out more.
.
.
Natsu groaned as he woke up slowly, flinching as he sat up. "Ugh, what happened…" Natsu looked around, noticing he was covered in bandages. But when he saw Takeru, he noticed that the shadow dragon slayer was mostly, if not all, covered in bandages. "Whoa…"
"Tch, you're awake…" Takeru said as he stood up, his voice muffled due to the bandages. "That Tobias guy was something else…where'd he go?"
"No idea...why are we in bandages? How'd we get here?" Natsu asked. He felt like he could vaguely recall a woman nearby, but he wasn't sure. The battle took its toll on him.
"You tell me." Takeru grunted. "This sucks..."
"No kidding…" Natsu replied with a groan, standing up. "I lost the scent of the assassin for now…I guess I better go back…" Natsu then turned to Takeru, but the shadow dragon slayer already left the undisclosed location, leaving Natsu alone. "Hey….wait! Get back here!"
.
.
In the town of Magnolia, Correll was examining the destruction left from the night before, seeing how people were quite unhappy with the damages. "Hm…"
"What the hell happened here?" Gray asked as he pushed his way through a few people, looking around at the mostly destroyed rooftops of the town.
At the sound of Gray's voice, Correll turned around with a sly smirk, his arms crossed as he spoke out to the ice make mage. "That's what I want to know, Fairy Tail mage."
"Oi, what's with that tone of voice?" Gray asked as he narrowed his eyes at Correll.
"Oh, I don't know, you tell me," Correll said as he approached Gray. "It seems as though there was quite a bit of property damage last night, would you care to explain what that's all about?"
"Are you blaming me for this just because I'm in Fairy Tail?" Gray asked, his expression slowly turning more into a serious one, while Correll just maintained his smirk, knowing Gray knew that he couldn't do anything without serious consequences.
"Well, Fairy Tail is the only guild in this town, so it only makes sense," Correll nodded.
"I was at the guild last night, you can ask Mirajane, Alzack, or the master," Gray replied as he stripped his shirt and pants off unknowingly, now standing before the council captain in only his black boxers. "Oh, and probably Juvia.'
"Put your shirt back on before I arrest you for indecent exposure," Correll said in a slightly irritated tone at Gray's habit to strip.
"What are you…?" Gray looked down; jumping once he realized his clothes were gone. "Dammit…why does that always happen?!"
"Just put your clothes back on, dammit!" Correll shouted. "Before I arrest you! You have three seconds, Fullbuster! ONE!"
"Oi, what's goin' on out here…?" Bacchus asked as he walked from the bar, rubbing his head with his gourd in hand.
"Bacchus?" Correll turned at the sound of the voice, only to see the S class drunken falcon of Qautro Cerberus. "How long have you been in there?"
"Me…? Uh…" Bacchus looked at his gourd for a second, and then rubbed the back of his head when it suddenly came back to him. "Ah…guess I was here all night…" Bacchus said with a nod.
"Did you happen to see anything while you were out there?" Correll asked, almost as though he were interrogating the mage.
"I heard a lotta noise outside, so I went to go take a quick peak," Bacchus continued. "And I think I saw Salamander, Erza, that celestial mage, and perhaps a few others. They seemed to be chasing someone, however."
"I see…that's all I needed to hear, thank you Bacchus," Correll said with a smirk.
"Not a problem," Bacchus nodded, turning around after, and proceeded to walk off, but as he did so, he held his hand up, a smirk now appearing on his face. "Better luck next time, Nee-chan."
"Eh…?" Gray looked around to see who Bacchus was referring to, and seconds later, a near hung-over Cana stumbled out of the bar.
"The only crime that fairy is guilty of is destruction of her kidneys…" Correll merely shrugged after, then turned to Gray. "So, you won't mind if I accompany you back to Fairy Tail, do you?"
Gray walked over to Cana first, supporting the drunken mage, looking over to Correll after. "Depends on what you want from us."
"I just want to ask some questions, that's all," Correll replied.
Gray didn't trust Correll at all, but he knew he couldn't deny Correll's request, as he knew the councilman would use and abuse his power, so he complied, despite how much he didn't want to. "Tch…"
"I'll take that as a yes," Correll smirked. "Good choice too, it would've been a shame if I had to arrest you for something other than indecent exposure."
From around the corner, Daryan, and Alex were watching the situation with some interest. "So…Fairy Tail still can't get their act together, eh?"
"Why are we snooping around in the first place, Daryan…?" Alex asked while looking towards the fellow S class.
"I just wanted to see what was going on with the strongest guild in Fiore, that's all…Plus your sister is here, right?" Daryan asked without even looking back.
"Cynthia…yes!" Alex's eyes lit up excitedly, but her hair quickly flashed white, her personality changing for a split second before she turned to normal. "Can we go to Fairy Tail, Daryan? Pleasssse!?"
"Yeah yeah, we're going, don't worry!" Daryan replied. "I wanna see how this plays out…"
Just behind Daryan and Alex, Rylo of Twilight Zone used his thief magic to camouflage with the building, while Flynn his in a trash can. "Why are we snooping around...?" Flynn asked in a hushed whisper.
"We're doing recon, of course," Rylo replied in a whisper. "Evanee wants us to keep an eye on the red head as well, and it seems she's caught interest in Fairy Tail..."
"I have to admit, I'm curious about what's going on there..." Fylnn whispered.
Rylo gave a nod of agreement. "Same here, and it doesn't look like we can do our mission without seeing what happens, so keep quiet, and let's focus on our mission."