Date: XX/XX/0784

Time Left: Approximately Seven Years Before Disaster

Location: Galuna Island

The sky darkened with the full moon shining near its zenith as the four Fairy Tail mages came face to face with one of the demons of Tartaros, "Well, well, well…Fairy Tail mages. How…unexpect-!" Torafuzar started to say, only for him to get cut off by Natsu pinching his nose and holding back the bile in his throat.

"Holy…you reek! You smell like you just swam through an ocean of fish carcasses!" Natsu's face turned green in nausea as he doubled over in apparent pain.

Torafuzar instantly regained the tickmark on his fin again at the insult, "You undignified brat! Don't interrupt someone when they're about to monologue!"

Natsu's expression switched unnaturally fast as he butted heads with the aquatic demon with his own look of anger, all the while pinching his nose to avoid smelling the god awful stench, "I would be more 'dignified' if you didn't smell like a week old fish market, Shark Face!"

Torafuzar pushed back with his much hardier head and yelled at the Dragon Slayer louder, "Lowly mortals like you have no place insulting me of all people! I am the Deep Dark of the abyss! The demon to drown all the light within my depths! I am one of the Nine Demon Gates of-!"

Natsu cut him off again, "I don't remember me asking, bud! Either take a shower so I don't have to smell your stank, or get the hell away from me!"

Torafuzar's eyes turned pure white in blinding rage, "That's it! You're dead!" Faster than anyone could react, or even see for that matter, the giant aquatic demon gripped Natsu by the ankles with his massive hand and threw him into the wooden gate on the other side of the village.

Gray's eyes widened slightly at the sheer power behind that throw, suddenly the ice mage was very aware of the more monstrous appearance the being in front of him had. Though what baffled him even further, was the fact he couldn't sense a lick of magic from the giant fish man in front of him, which just didn't correlate to how brutally strong he seemed.

Lucy, however, was a lot more oblivious to the threat that was in front of them, "I'm sorry for my companion's behavior, he's an idiot."

Torafuzar looked down at the blonde mage with his beady eyes and replied with a hiss through gritted teeth, "Your friend isn't the only one. It feels like this entire village has gone completely freaking crazy!"

Happy popped up from behind Gray with a tropical fish half-filling his mouth, "Are you a native here? You have the whole demon look down to a tee."

Torafuzar tsked at the comment, "No I'm not a native to this island, I'm here on very important guild business." Torafuzar suddenly slapped his lips shut as his face grew even more irritated, "Why am I even telling you this!? You lowly mortals couldn't even comprehend the tasks I was given! The best thing I can do for all of you Fairy Tail fodder…is to drown all of you within my depths!"

Gray instantly slid in front of Lucy with frost coating his sides as Torafuzar raised his gigantic arms to slam down onto the mages, "Lucy! Get behind me! Ice Make: Shield!"

Gray formed a giant barrier of ice between them and the powerful monster, the demon gritting his serrated teeth as he put most of his overwhelming strength into his fists, "This doesn't involve you! Just go back to the hovel you crawled out of and leave Tarta-!"

Just as Torafuzar was about to almost assuredly kill the two mages with his giant fists, he suddenly stopped. Gray looked around his ice barrier confused, but his attention was swiftly interrupted when all the other villagers began to grip their heads in pain, "Oh…no! The moon! The moon!"

Lucy blinked once, before looking up at the moon in the sky, and becoming utterly shocked when it shone a bright malevolent purple within the night sky, "What in the…"

Natsu waltzed right beside the still frozen Torafuzar while cricking his neck with a painful noise, "Ugh…what did I miss?"

Torafuzar's maw was slightly open, drool rolling down his lip as he kept his massive arms in the air, frozen in the middle of him swinging them down. The rest of the villagers began to give cries of pain as their bodies were coated in bright magic before transforming fully into demons. Lucy let out a shocked scream as she and Happy cowered behind Gray at the sight of an entire village of mostly normal humans transforming suddenly into grotesque demonic monsters, "What the hell just happened!?"

The chief rubbed his forehead in apparent pain before giving a sigh, "This is why we asked for your help. Every night, when the moon makes itself known, it sends down a foul purple light, and then we…well, we turn into these disgusting creatures against our will."

Natsu felt his headache grow slightly worse, though just chalked it up to being thrown across the village face first, "Wow…that really sucks Sideburns. You all look fucking cool though."

The chief blinked at the comment, "Sideburns?"

Lucy smacked her friend on the side of the head with a sigh, "Sorry Mr. Chief sir. As you probably summarized, Natsu's an idiot."

"That's putting it lightly…" Gray added, as he walked up to the completely still form of Torafuzar cautiously, and gave him a soft tap on the shoulder, "Yo, Fish Face, you gonna kill us or…"

Suddenly Torafuzar snapped back to realization, his eyes looking around him curiously, his posture lax yet somehow still tense at the same time. The massive demon opened his lips to speak, "Master…dignity…Torafuzar…human?"

The massive demon lumbered off in a seemingly random direction, his large form pushing anyone unfortunate enough to be in his path away as he slowly exited the village. Natsu quirked an eyebrow at the weird behavior of the demon and shouted out his displeasure, "Hey! Where do you think you're going, Shark Boy!? You don't just throw a man across an entire village and not finish the fight you started! Get back here!"

If Torafuzar could hear the Dragon Slayer, he wouldn't react. The aquatic demon mumbled nonsense under his breath as he slowly disappeared into the jungle's brush. Gray looked on, confused at the demon's behavior, as did everyone else, "Where the hell is he going?"

The chief shrugged his shoulders as a response, "Perhaps Lord Torafuzar is starting the mission early. He did arrive before all of you." The chief slammed his staff into the ground to gather everyone's attention, "Now then, I just want to say that having three powerful Fairy Tail mages…and their pet cat…here to help us in our time of need is nothing short of a miracle. I fear that we are running out of time, however. You see, we just discovered that if exposed to the moon's malicious rays for too long, that we have a mental break, and go completely insane."

Happy tossed the tropical fish carcass over his shoulder directly on Lucy's face, "Sounds rough buddy, hopefully you didn't go full medieval on their asses and kill them because of some preconceived misunderstanding or something like that."

The chief lowered his head in sadness, "Unfortunately, Bobo, my own son, was a victim of this mental break. We had no other choice but to do just that to him…" The village shifted their guilty gaze over to the small tombstone decorated in flowers off to the side of the village.

Lucy's eyes widened in nervous shock, "W-wait…does that mean that the man who ferried us here was…"

Happy, who had a similar expression to the blonde, finished the sentence, "A ghost!?"

Natsu cleaned out his ear with a pinky and gave a nonchalant glance over at the chief, "That's cool and all Sideburns, but what exactly do you want us to do about it? I mean…we could sign you up for some plastic surgery jobs and all that, but it might be kinda expensive…not to mention the fact we'd also need to sign all of you up for therapy so you don't go crazy…"

The chief raised his staff and looked up into the night sky with hope-filled eyes, the rest of the village clasping their hands as if in some sort of prayer, "Oh mighty mages of Fairy Tail! There is only one way to save us from our diabolical fate! You must destroy the moon!"

There was a moment of silence as Team Natsu let the powerful words sink in, "What the fuck?"

Torafuzar wandered aimlessly through the thick jungle brush, his hardened scales making a metallic sound as they brushed against the vegetation. His vision was blurry, the intensity of which seemed to be correlated with his slowed heartbeat. The demon's breathing was shallow, but rapid. What happened to him? The moon turned purple. What was his name? Torafuzar, the Deep Dark of the abyss. W-where was he? Galuna Island, specifically in its jungle. Why was he here? Because…why was he here?

Torafuzar felt a pesky mosquito land gently on his hardy scales, foolishly looking for a meal from the aquatic demon. As if by pure instinct, Torafuzar's fist instantly jutted outward faster than the eye could see, completely evaporating the bug…as well as the dozen or so trees that were behind it.

The Etherious fell to his shaky knees as he clutched his head with his massive hands, "W-why can't I remember…who…human…demon…death…death to the creator…death to our creator!" Torafuzar let out a roar into the sky, eyes once again going white in blind rage, "Must find the creator! I must give him a dignified death! His one true wish! The reason I was made! The only reason I was dragged out from Hell! To Drown him within my murky depths! Body cold and preserved within the Deep Dark! The abyss being the true tomb to lay his smiling face to rest! Water gently sparkling as it snuffs out the light in his eyes! Dignity! A true dignified death! Where is the creator!?"

As if on a wild rampage, Torafuzar charged forward blindly. The trees and brush splintered against his body as if they weren't even there, as the Deep Dark ripped apart the island long into the night. The Etherious flailed around like a shark in a frenzy as he desperately, maniacally searched for his creator, the Black Wizard Zeref long into the night. Shadowed by the purple glow of the moon that hung high above.

"Destroy the moon, huh?" Natsu wondered as he laid down onto the comfy futon the villagers had given them. He thought for a few seconds, before furrowing his brow, "I wonder how many Fire Dragon Iron Fist's it would take to do that…"

Natsu felt a fluffy pillow slam at mach speeds into his face as Lucy gave him an irritated look, "Don't be stupid! Even an S-class mage, of which we are not, wouldn't be able to destroy the freaking moon!"

Gray laid down on the futon next to Natsu, already, and unintentionally, undressed down to his boxers, "Yeah Natsu…you'd have a lot better time burning it to ash anyways. Punching it would take far too long."

Natsu stroked his chin and hummed at Gray's proposal, "I suppose you're right my dear comrade. Burning things to ash is usually so much more effective than simply punching them. Your hands do hurt after a while after all."

Gray nodded his head in agreement, "Indeed my dearest friend and confidant. Though we know very little of the glowing rock that appears in the night sky. I assure you that if we were to truly destroy it, destructive magic like yours would be the most effective way to do so."

Natsu nodded back, "Indeed."

Gray continued to nod along with his fellow mage, "Indeed."

"Indeed."

"Indeed."

"Indeed."

"Indeed."

"Indeed."

"Indeed."

Happy curled up onto Natsu's chest and gave a smile, "…indeed."

Lucy felt a migraine come on as she turned off the lights and frustratingly fell down onto her futon. The young mage massaged her temples as she tried to lull herself to sleep. No need to get herself worked up now, not when she needed all the sleep she could get before they inevitably woke up early next morning.

Though little to the now sleeping group of mages, Natsu tossed and turned something fierce as he tried, and failed, to go to sleep like the others. The Dragon Slayer stared up into the ceiling and let a grimace morph his mouth as his constant headache kept him from getting a wink of sleep. Natsu quietly suffered to himself as he fought the urge to bash his own head in to relieve the pressure that had built up in his head. Ever since they got into this freaking village, his headache had only gotten worse and worse.

A lone tear rolled down Natsu's cheek from the pain as he shut his eyes tight, fighting against the metaphorical nail that drove itself deeper in his mind to finally get some sleep. Natsu let out a small breath as he gritted his teeth further, threatening to crack them from the pressure.

…he really needed a drink.

"So uhm…what are we doing again? I thought we decided to blow up the moon last night?" Gray asked from behind Natsu and Lucy, hands folded neatly behind his head as the four mages trekked down the jungle path.

Lucy looked up from the map she was reading, "Obviously we're not blowing up the moon Gray. I'm not even sure if that's even possible." Lucy clicked her tongue before going back to reading the map, "So instead, we need to figure out what's turning the moon purple at night…and only on this island as well."

Happy chimed in from behind Natsu with a half-eaten fish carcass hanging from his mouth, "Aye sir! That's why we're heading towards that big ominous temple off in the distance! If there's any weird magic crap going on, it's bound to be there!"

Natsu gave a yawn and massaged the bags under his eyes before giving his partner a smile, "Ah man…here I was hoping to give that big ball in the sky a good wallop. Eh, maybe next time."

Lucy slowed her pace as she gave Natsu a weird glance, "Next time? Are you planning to fight the moon in the future or something?"

Natsu shrugged his sluggish shoulders, "If the opportunity presents its-!" Natsu's half-lidded eyes suddenly shot open as his nose picked up a whiff in the air, "Lucy, get down!" Out of nowhere, a giant fucking rat in a maid outfit charged out of the jungle brush and attempted to take a bite from the Celestial Spirit mage. Time slowed as the rat's jaws grew closer and closer to their target, Lucy unable to do anything, or even react fast enough to move away from the beast, "Oh no you don't!" Natsu appeared in a blur to wrench the massive rodents jaws from clamping down on his friend, holding it in place with his sheer strength, "Holy…fuck you're ugly!"

The rat's eyes squinted at the insult, before it thrashed its head upwards and began swinging the Dragon Slayer around wildly in an attempt to fling him loose from its maw. Gray slid in to protect Lucy from the giant rodent and placed his hands in his famous stance, "Ice Make: Hammer!"

With an impressive show of strength, Gray lifted the giant ice hammer and slammed it directly into the rat's side, sending it skidding off to the side with Natsu still prying open its mouth. Lucy's eyes steeled as she pulled a golden key from her ring and stuck it into an invisible keyhole on the ground, summoning a bright yellow light beneath her, "Open the Gate of the Golden Bull! Taurus!"

Hearing the call, the giant form of Taurus broke free from the ground and swung his massive ax threateningly in preparation for battle…before immediately switching to ogling Lucy's breasts, "Mooo, howdy Lucy! It's always a pleasure to see you and your wonderful, bountiful-!"

Lucy cut off the pervy spirit with an irritated tone, "Now's not the time Taurus! I need you to help Natsu and Gray to clobber that big rat!"

Taurus' heart-shaped eyes instantly shifted to a steely glare as he tightened his grip on the giant ax he wielded, "Can do…"

Gray and Taurus worked together as if they'd rehearsed for hours, Gray's hammer strikes and Taurus' ax swings utterly demolishing the oversized rodent in a flurry of powerful attacks. Natsu let out a laugh as he saw up close the look of panic and worry in the big creature's eyes, "Ha, how'd you like that you engorged sewer rat!?"

The rodent's eyes turned angry, before a large blast of green mist spewed from its mouth, completely engulfing Natsu before it directed its attack towards the Taurus and Gray. Just a whiff of his snout and Taurus almost hurled, the smell was…well there was no other way to describe it other than unholy, "Lucy! We gotta get you and your breasts outta here!"

With impressive speed, Taurus snatched Lucy into his arms and ran as far as he could away from the green fog that had formed around the beast. Lucy reached around Taurus towards the fallen forms of Gray and Natsu and let out a cry, "Wait! What about Natsu and Gray!"

Taurus kept his eyes straight and gritted his giant teeth, "They're powerful all by themselves, I'm sure they can take down the creature!"

Happy popped up from behind Taurus' head and held onto the spirit's horns to keep from falling off, "Aye sir! This isn't the first time Natsu fought a giant, toxin spewing rat! And it most won't be the last either!"

Lucy felt only a little comforted by those words as she kept her eyes glued to where she had left her comrades behind, "If you say so…"

Gray tried to breath through his nose, he felt like vomiting from the stench. He instead tried to breath from his mouth, his throat reflexively shut before he could. He couldn't breathe. The ice mage looked over towards his rival with hope, only to falter when he saw Natsu convulsing slightly on the ground. Natsu was a Dragon Slayer, and if he, a regular mage, was reacting to the nasty smog so badly, he could only imagine what Natsu's enhanced senses were picking up. Gray held his breath and stood up to take his casting stance again, "Ice Make: Lance!"

The giant rodent chittered as it was assaulted by a dozen icicle projectiles, allowing Gray to swiftly pick up Natsu and begin jogging out of the toxic fumes. Natsu continued to convulse on Gray's shoulder as warm saliva spilled uncontrollably from his lips and his left eye began to twitch violently. Natsu whimpered like a beaten dog as visions of fire and brimstone flickered in his vision like before, "N-no…not again…please…"

Gray raised an eyebrow in confusion at Natsu's whispers as the two finally escaped the fog, giant rat galloping after them like a horse, "What are you talking about Flame Breath!? Just hold on, we're almost to the temple!"

Natsu felt his eye roll back into his socket as black tendrils crawled from underneath his lids to cover the edges of his vision, "I-I-I-I-I…" Natsu let out a wide smile as he suddenly jumped from Gray's shoulder and landed on all fours on the jungle path.

Gray skidded to a halt as concern came over his face, "Natsu, what are you doing!? We have to-!"

Gray couldn't finish his sentence before Natsu let out an unhinged laugh and ignited his body in bright violent flames, "You…" Natsu pointed towards the galloping rat as the two grew closer and closer to each other. Natsu spewed a shower of spit and embers from his mouth as he cackled at the rapidly approaching rodent, before he looked straight ahead with a wide smile, "I'm gonna r̴i̷p̴ ̷̤͠ý̵̰ō̶̘û̶͚ ̷̮́̐͜a̴̟̤̓p̵̮̺̊̀a̷̫̾r̶̺̀t̸̫̱́!̸͖̬̈́̚" Faster than the eye could track, Natsu's fist was enveloped in flames and struck the rat in the chin, sending it spiraling backwards in the air from the strength behind the blow, "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Natsu didn't let up. The Dragon Slayer rocketed up with flaming feet and met his prey in midair before bringing his feet down onto the beast's head, "Fire Dragon's Talons!"

Gray watched in surprise and slight awe as Natsu used previously unknown strength to completely decimate the rodent. The ice mage made a scoff as Natsu's heaving form landed right in front of him, "I could've handled that beast all by myself Ash Head. I just needed-!"

Gray was cut off as Natsu charged forward again with a snarl and landed a flurry of flaming whips onto the downed creature, sending deep burns all across its body as it let out a pained scream, "Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"

Natsu flipped back to the ground, hunched body twitching as his knuckles dragged against the jungle floor. Gray blinked a few times at his comrade before looking off with a nervous sweatdrop rolling down his cheek, "Overkill much? The things down Natsu, you didn't have too-!"

Natsu once again charged forward and slammed himself into his prey, gripping its maid outfit in one hand as his other was engulfed in powerful flames. The rodent screamed out a horrid scream as its snout was pummeled by the flaming fist, "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"

Gray's eyes no longer hid their concern as the ice mage yelled out at Natsu in clear shock and concern, "Natsu! What the hell are you doing! It's defeated! Let it be!"

Natsu roared out defiantly as he raised his flaming fist once more, before bringing it down twice as hard, "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" The rat let out a horrendous shriek as boiling blood began to fly out from the wounds Natsu inflicted.

Gray was at a loss for words as his eyes grew wide at the brutal display Natsu put on in front of him. Every punch was followed by a horrible scream. Red hot blood and roasted rat chunks flew. Natsu kept adding more fire and strength behind his punches as he hit again, and again, and again…

"N-Natsu?" Gray asked in a slightly scared tone as the screams turned into loud whimpers, before turning into struggling gurgles.

"Fire-Fire Dragon's…Fire Dragon's I̵͖̎r̷̫͈̓õ̸̪͖n̵̛̻̖ ̶̣͒̊F̸̬̀͂i̶̲̙̊̕s̷̘͠t̵̹̍!̸̢͋͝ͅ" Natsu landed one final punch with a roar. The head of the rat exploded in blood and gore as the scent of copper and death permeated around the jungle area.

Natsu's eye twitched once more, before returning back to normal as the Dragon Slayer heaved heavy breaths. The young mage looked down at his blood-covered fist and let out a shaky breath, before looking at the gory sight in front of him and letting out a few fearful noises from his throat. Gray walked carefully up to his guildmate and let his shock and horror spread across his face, "Natsu! What the hell is wrong with you!?"

The Dragon Slayer turned his head and stared at Gray with wide, scared eyes, "G-Gray…what happened?"

The ice mage took a step back as he looked around nervously, "Dammit Lizard Brains…we don't have time for you to have a mental breakdown right now." Gray looked at the gory sight in front of him and quickly averted his gaze. At least it was just some rat. It really wasn't any different then the monster extermination quests they got from the guild all the time. Gray gave Natsu a careful glare as the Dragon Slayer began to burn the chunks of flesh and splatters of blood off his form. Still, it was brutal, far too brutal. Was this how Natsu fought all the time? They didn't necessarily go on that many missions together, it was possible that he simply didn't feel the rat deserved a better death.

"Let's go…" Natsu mumbled, mouth tucked underneath his scaly white scarf. Gray followed closely behind, face still morphed in slight concern as the two made their way up to the giant temple in the distance.

Lucy looked out from the safety of the temple's door and watched as her two comrades came shuffling up the hill towards her. Her smile at their arrival was quickly replaced with a look of concern as it was very clear from the two's body language that something had happened, "Hey guys, what's up? Where's that rat thing?"

Gray crossed his arms and turned away from the blonde, as Natsu let a nervous drop of sweat fall down his face, "It's dealt with. It won't be bothering us anymore."

Lucy wasn't really sure how to react to that, "Oh…well good, one less monster to roam the island."

Natsu gave a small smile at that remark, "Yeah…yeah! You're right! We helped out, didn't we!?"

Happy plopped himself down onto Natsu's shoulder and let out a cheery smile, "Aye sir! Nobody has anything to fear as long as Natsu is here!"

Natsu gave Happy a fistbump at the comment before stepping further into the temple with a curious glance, "Huh…this place is pretty old isn't it?"

Lucy made a face before stroking her chin in thought, "Yep, if I remember correctly, this place used to be used for holy rituals."

"Rituals?" Gray asked, halfway in the middle of pulling his pants off.

Lucy nodded, "It was built a long time ago to purify…something…I'm sorry, I only read about this place in passing. But I know that in the past, this place was built with the express purpose of breaking some sort of demonic artifact."

"Maybe that's why the villagers are turning into demons!" Happy added.

Though Lucy pursed her lips and tried her hardest to think, "Maybe…but I'm not sure…"

Natsu stamped the ground a couple times and narrowed his gaze at the weird sound it made, "Huh, sounds hollow…" Natsu's gaze widened as a small crack formed under his foot, and then more cracks, and then the entire floor disintegrated under the mages feet.

Natsu, Happy, Lucy, and Gray all tumbled down the long cylindrical hole at incredible speeds. Lucy, face full of rage, gripped Natsu's throat tightly and shook him violently as they fell, "You idiot! How dumb can one man be!?"

Natsu choked out an apology as the group exited the massive tunnel into a large open area, before landing with a thud on the hard stone ground. Natsu felt his mind spin from the impact, his headache worsening from the twisting scenery his eyes saw, "Ugh, my fucking head!" Being marginally more durable than his team, Natsu was the first to recover from the fall before cracking his neck to pop the sharp pain he felt in it, "Where are we? Some kind of cave?"

Gray sat up with a scowl, "No shit Lizard Brains! Where the hell else would we be!?"

Lucy dusted off her outfit with a similar scowl to Gray's, "I swear Natsu…you do this every time! Whenever we get ourselves out of a skillet, you proceed to throw us full force into a fire!"

Natsu lowered his head in shame at the insult, "Sorry Luce…I didn't mean it…"

Gray stretched out his aching muscles and turned around to face the center of the cave, "Anyway…might as well look for a way-!"

Gray's eyes went from unamused to pure unbridled shock as his gaze fell onto the massive crystalline structure in the center of the room. Natsu blinked at his friend's expression, before turning to find the same structure for himself, "Oh, didn't see that when I came in…cool."

Happy floated next to Natsu with a contemplative face, "Looks like a big slab of ice…think you can melt it Natsu?"

Natsu shrugged his shoulders, "With enough time, anything can melt."

Lucy looked hard at the iceberg with a hard gaze and gave a confused expression after noticing something Natsu and Happy had not, "Wait…is that a demon in there!?"

Sure enough, if Natsu and Happy squint hard enough, they could make out the shadow of a giant demonic figure in the block of ice, frozen in the middle of letting out what would have been an earth-splitting roar. Happy blinked a few times at the figure, before poking Natsu's head with a smirk, "Okay, you have to melt this thing now!"

Natsu let out a wide toothy grin and ignited a hand in violent flames, "Hell yeah! I can't wait to fight this thing!"

Before Natsu even took a step forward, Gray appeared in a flash to block Natsu and anyone else from getting any closer. His face a cacophony of emotions as he splayed his form out wide to act as a half-naked barrier to the iceberg behind him, "No! Don't take another step forward or else!"

Natsu took a step back at the intense tone in Gray's voice as the flame that engulfed his fist extinguished, "Geez Ice Nards. Why're you acting like a maniac all the sudden?"

Gray took a few deep breaths, his pupils pinpricks as old mental scars made themselves known once more. The ice mage needed a few seconds before he was able to formulate a rudimentary sentence, "I-its my teacher…"

Natsu looked up at the iceberg, back at Gray, and back to the iceberg again with an unsure expression, "Your teacher was a giant demon?"

Gray shook his head with a scoff, "No you idiot! My teacher is the ice trapping the demon!"

Natsu didn't have an expression for a moment, before his face morphed in confusion and irritation, "That's even more confusing you icicle prick having pansy!"

Date: XX/XX/0784

Time Left: Approximately Seven Years Before Disaster

Location: Miles Off The Coast of Galuna Island

The pirate crew kept their eyes low and hunched over themselves as they worked as fast as they could to sail to the cursed island off the port of Hargeon. They were silent as they worked, only the faint pitter-patter of boots on old wood and the whispers of orders being the only thing to break the quiet. The captain, if his impressive pirate hat and beard was anything to go by, kept his gaze forward as he stood directly next to the madwoman who had commandeered their vessel. Nervous sweat dripped steadily from his brow, a few drops rolling across his eyepatch, as it took every ounce of bravery in his gut to catch a glance at the armor-clad woman that barked out orders as if she'd been sailing this vessel and commanding the crew for years. Her hands laid firmly on her hips, an intense and frustrated look piercing from her eyes as her flowing scarlet hair blew elegantly in the wind.

It had been a day like any other, the captain and his crew were sailing on the high seas, looking for booty to plunder, and 'booty' to plunder, when out of fucking nowhere, the lady in black winged armor swooped in from Hargeon's port before singlehandedly swashbuckling her way through all his men. Her sword swings beautiful and elegant, her armor glistening in the sunlight, her skill more akin to a brutal dance than anything else. The most incredible fact in the captain's opinion, was that she was able to completely take control of this ship, without having to kill a single one of his men.

Now here they were, crazy knight lady and all, heading straight towards the infamous island that turned all who strayed too close into bloodthirsty demons…still a better fate than defying her though. The captain swallowed all of his nervous fear before opening his mouth to speak, "A-are you s-sure you wanna go to that island lass? Legend tells that scallywags turn into demons on that plot of land…argh."

The scarlet-haired woman kept her intense gaze straight as she responded, "Yes, I've just received an order from Fairy Tail to track down and apprehend a group of ne'er do wells that have broken one of my guild's sacred rules." Erza's eyes almost ignited with how powerful her gaze got, "Even though they are some of my dearest friends and confidants, I cannot let rulebreakers within my guild go unpunished. I will bring them to justice, even if I have to drag them kicking and screaming to do that."

The captain let out a sigh he didn't know he was holding at that response. She was from Fairy Tail, that was good. After all, even pirates like him knew that Fairy Tail doesn't kill, "Surely someone as strong and capable as you shouldn't have to lower herself to dealing with a few rulebreakers, aye?"

Erza crossed her arms across her chest plate with a huff, "If I'm not going to do it, who will!" Her increase in tone made every member of the crew stop what they were doing to look at her, eyes wide as the sunlight hit her armor just right to where it looked like she was giving off an aura of light, "Fairy Tail is loud, rambunctious, rowdy, unfiltered, raw, and above all else, disorderly!" Erza swiped her gauntlet in an act of defiance, "The master is far too kind to be the voice of reason the guild needs! Gildarts is rarely ever at the guild to make the boundaries as well! Laxus!? Fat chance!" Erza shook her head, as the entire crew looked upon her with a sense of adoration rather than the fear they had been feeling for the past few hours, "No, it falls on my shoulder's to make sure that Fairy Tail is kept in line! To make sure that the rules are followed! To make sure my friends and family don't ruin the reputation our guild fought so hard to build! That is why I must do this! Because if I don't, there is nothing stopping reckless copycats from getting themselves killed for no good reason in the future! And because I care!"

The pirate captain let a tear flow from his one good eye at those words. Such authority, such righteous thinking, she truly embodied the role of a knight, a protector and bringer of justice, "Aye, aye lass! Hey you scallywags! Get your sorry behinds to work and set a course straight to Galuna Island! We have some no good, trouble makers to deal with!"

"Aye sir!" The crew responded reflexively, working twice as hard as before as a small smile made itself of Erza's face.

The Titania of Fairy Tail let her smile hold for a few seconds, before slowly letting it fade from her gorgeous features. Her mind returned to the conversation she and Natsu had not to long ago, a sad yet angry frown marring her face as she recalled the promise the Dragon Slayer had given her, a promise he had chosen to break not even a day after making it, "Dammit Natsu…" A tear fell from Erza's eye as she clenched her fist in somber anger, "You told me you wouldn't do anything reckless…why couldn't you do that one stupid thing?" She asked herself quietly, as the sun glimmered beautifully on the open waves. Next stop, Galuna Island.