Gildarts, Sidney, Evanee, and Roy made their way through the deserted ruins the Council ordered them to go investigate. The ruins were quite old, and just the slightest touch would turn the ancient ruins into dust. "So, Sidney...I got a question for ya." Gildarts asked. Sidney didn't respond, so he asked anyway. "What exactly are ghosts?"
"That's the question?" Evanee replied with a deadpanned expression.
"I think it's a fair one!" Roy pointed out.
Sidney was quiet for a moment longer. Gildarts and Roy's annoying stares at him made him relent. "Ghosts come in different forms. The ones that people are most common are spirits. Spirits are the souls of the departed that temporarily 'return' for one reason or another."
"Return?" Gildarts lifted a brow.
"Unfinished business." Sidney replied. It was such a broad and vague response, yet it made sense coming from the expert. "Be it they awaken from a slumber because they have been disturbed, or because they died with regrets. Those spirits are often the most common form of ghosts you'll see."
"Huh..." Roy crossed his arms. That was an insightful lesson. Evanee just rolled her eyes; she would've preferred to stay in silence, but alas.
Eventually, the four aces came to an impasse in the form of a large wall. "…It looks like a dead end." Evanee stated while looking around for any potential ways around the wall.
"I say we just break the wall." Gildarts suggested while raising a hand, though it was quickly slapped down by Sidney.
"Don't be an idiot." Sidney scoffed. "These ruins are falling apart just by the energy we're unintentionally letting off. So just imagine what would happen if you merely added force."
"He's right," Roy said while inspecting the wall. "This place would crumble right on top of us, and I don't think the Council would be very happy with us if that happened..." Roy gently placed his gloved hand on the sensitive wall, gliding it across the smooth surface carefully. "But...there's a trick to these kinds of walls."
"A trick…?" Evanee showed some interest in Roy's words; more so the tone he said it in. "And what kind of trick would that be?"
"These kinds of walls always have some sort of secret…" Roy replied while his eyes shone a bright yellow; the activation of his Sight Magic. This allowed Roy to see things the naked eye and even the highly trained eye couldn't. "Ah…" Roy moved his hand to a section of the wall, gently pressing his hand on it. Said section moved down, and a click sound occurred shortly after. The wall then split open, revealing a new path to the four aces. "Like a hidden passage."
"…Impressive…" Sidney gave a slight nod while tugging on his scarf just a little bit to show Roy some respect.
"Not bad, Roy," Gildarts gave a nod before rubbing the back of his head, giving a sheepish grin. "Guess we wouldn't have found that if I hit it, eh?"
"Not at all…" Roy replied while ushering for the others to follow him down the path. "I'll lead the way. I can see through the incoming darkness."
"Don't get us lost…" Evanee said while following Roy with Gildarts and Sidney.
Seconds after the aces walked down the path, Daityas and Arc appeared before the pathway. "Heh…" Daityas grinned widely as a set of runes appeared, sealing the entrance to the pathway. "Tobias didn't fuck up for once…perfect."
"Where are the others?" Arc asked while licking his lips; he really couldn't want to get action in.
"Just a little farther down…it won't be too long before the plan fully sets into motion, don't worry." Dait nodded before the blue flame appeared around him and Arc once again, teleporting them away.
.
.
"Make me real, Jellal." Siegrain almost demanded as he stood before Jella, Ultear, and Meredy.
"Make you real?" Jellal raised a brow at his thought projection's statement. "Is that why you hunted us down?"
"You would be correct…" Siegrain said as he folded his arms behind his back, now slowly walking around Jellal in a circle. "I'm tired of being just a thought projection…"
"Jellal, don't do it…" Meredy whispered.
"She's right…who knows what he may do if you actually find a way to do this…" Ultear whispered after Meredy did.
Jellal heard the two females, though he kept his eyes around his circling thought projection. "Is that so? Give me a reason why I should even consider making you real."
"I'm the only thing holding the Council together, for starters," Siegrain replied. "You may be off doing your repentance, which I commend you for doing, but I have a heavy weight on my shoulders, something I cannot even begin to fully work with unless I have a body of my own. Think about how it may help you as well."
"The Council sees me as a criminal," Jellal stated after Siegrain spoke. "Not only me, but my family as well. Yet, they see you, a mirror image of me, a hero."
"Not just a hero…" Siegrain started as a grin appeared on his face. "A wizard saint who is the chairman of the Magic Council…Serving Justice Where It's Needed. The Council would collapse without me, and then where would we be?"
"I don't think it's a good idea…" Meredy said while chewing the inside of her cheek, quite nervous at the thought of Jellal considering it.
"I'll even throw in a bonus…" Siegrain said with his back turned to Jellal. "If you make me my own person, I'll throw the Council off your trail for a while. I'll let you think about it for a while, Jellal…just remember what your choice will bring in the long run…" With that, Siegrain walked off.
"You're not actually considering it, are you?" Ultear asked while raising a brow. "Because I'll kill you a third time if you are."
"Even if I was, I'm not sure such a magic exist…but the least I can do is look into it. I'm afraid to wonder what he'll do if I don't comply to his commands…" Jellal replied.
.
.
Black Phoenix was now fully repaired after the incident with Hyde. Tristan was walking around on his own, checking over everything to make sure it was all alright. When he turned around, he jumped a bit because he was face to face with Hikaru now. "H-Hikaru-san…!"
"Hi," Hikaru replied while giving a slight smile. "You do know the Council did ask for some SS class mages for a mission, right?"
"They did…?" Tristan blinked a few times, eventually shaking his head. "I was not aware of this…Is it too late for me to go and join the others?"
"I don't recommend that you do." Hikaru responded while chewing on an ice pop now.
"Why is that…?" Tristan was now perplexed at Hikaru's response…and why she suddenly had an ice pop in her hands now.
"Because I have a bad feeling about it," Hikaru replied. "I don't think those who went are going to be okay, and even though I know you can handle yourself, I'd rather not see you take a chance such as this."
"I see…" Tristan gave a nod, a slight smile crossing his face. "Thank you for your concern, Hikaru-san."
"TrisKaru…" Lucina snickered from around the corner, watching the two mages with a sly grin.
.
.
"Guys, guys!" Cynthia exclaimed as she, Wendy, and Carla bursts through the doors of Fairy Tail, all three of them panting heavily.
"Eh…?" Erza raised a brow at the sudden entrance by the trio. "What's wrong, you three?"
"G-Gray-san and Juvia-san have been kidnapped..!" Wendy shouted, immediately catching the attention of everyone within the guild.
"WHAT?!" Makarov spit out his beer, immediately standing up. "By who!?"
"We don't know…" Carla replied while looking down at the ground. "It all happened so quickly…"
"I'm gonna kick Gray's ass once we find him…!" Natsu said while slamming a fist into an open palm, scowling heavily.
"We need to find them as soon as possible…" Erza said while walking towards the front doors. "Let's work in groups."
"I have a bad feeling about all of this…" Lucy grumbled before standing up.
"You wouldn't be wrong in that feeling…" A voice said, echoing throughout the Fairy Tail guild hall.
"Who was that!?" Romeo asked while looking around. Seconds later, spheres of light began to form in front of Erza, who immediately backed away and requipped a sword.
"Here it comes…" Natsu said while preparing himself to jump. Seconds later, the spheres of light formed into a person. An attractive, older woman with long black hair, and sky blue eyes who wore a long dress as her attire. She held quite the striking resemblance to Cynthia. "Huh…?"
"A woman…?" Kinana blinked a few times before looking at the woman, then to Cynthia, repeating the process a few times.
"M-M-M-MOMMY!" Cynthia's eyes immediately welled up with tears as she ran forward, tackle hugging the spirit of her mother, which she was surprisingly able to do.
"What's this…?" Makarov raised a brow.
"Ssh…" Vanessa hugged her crying daughter tightly, gently stroking the back of her head for comfort. "It's okay, Cynthia…"
"I-I thought…!" Cynthia sniffed, hardly able to contain herself from crying.
"She's not alive, baby…" Bickslow said in a soft tone, trying not to crush the current mood. "There's no soul, per se…" (No soul! No soul!)
"The soul does live on, even after death, no?" Vanessa asked Bickslow while giving a soft smile.
"Guess I can't say 'no' to that." Bickslow would know better than anyone.
"So, you're Cynthia's mother?" Mirajane asked while approaching the spirit. "She's talked quite highly about you…" Mirajane's classic smile appeared on her face as she greeted the spirit.
"Mhm…" Vanessa nodded while cradling Cynthia to the best of her ability. "But…I see I've dropped in at an inconvenient time…"
"Two of our members have been captured…" Lucy replied. "We were just about to go look for them…"
"I see…" Vanessa looked down at her daughter, who just held on as tightly as humanly possible. "Cynthia, don't you think you should go look for your family…?"
"I don't want to let go…" Cynthia replied while her sobbing calmed down. "You're gonna leave again, aren't you…"
"I'm always with you…" Vanessa replied. "But, I came to warn Fairy Tail about the incoming danger…I can't exactly describe what it is, though…I just saw glimpses. Something that stirred me forward..."
"I saw that woman in my vision…" Carla mumbled to herself.
"I don't want to keep you any longer on your search…" Vanessa then turned to Wendy, giving a smile. "Oh, and you must be Wendy…thank you for taking care of my daughter…" She then patted Cynthia on the head slowly, and the young girl reluctantly released her grip. "I'll be in touch…" With that, Vanessa slowly vanished.
"I..." Wendy was at a loss for words.
"Interesting…" Makarov said while standing on the bar counter.
"What are we standing here for?" Levy said while raising her pen into the air. "We have to find Gray and Juvia!"
"Aye!" Happy exclaimed before looking around, noticing a certain dragon slayer was missing. "…Where's Gajeel?"
"He already left." Laxus replied while pointing to the doors that were swaying left to right. "His cat did too."
.
.
Gajeel was now in the general area where Gray and Juvia were captured (using his sense of smell to get there of course). Pantherlily was right behind him, scouting out the area in case someone happened to attack. "Tch…" Gajeel grunted and stood up straight. "No scent was left behind…whatever that guy did must've erased it all…"
"This'll just make things more troublesome…" Pantherlily said while looking from left to right.
On a rooftop a decent distance away, Ace and Lisanna were scouting out Gajeel and Pantherlily. "Gajeel Redfox…" Ace began while using his visor to scan the Iron Dragon. "Iron Dragon slayer…former member of Phantom Lord – S class." Ace then turned to Lisanna after the brief scan. "And you say he has the power to cut through diamonds?"
"That's right…" Lisanna nodded. "A year ago, he fought a Diamond Dragon slayer. Though it took work, he was eventually able to crack her diamonds. He's gotten stronger since."
"I wonder if he's met Diamond…" Ace thought aloud before requipping into standardized armor. Black Ace, similar in style to his Lightning Flame Armor, the only difference was that the armor was black instead of red and yellow. "This should do just fine…" With that, Ace leapt off the roof and lunged for Gajeel headfirst, his sword drawn.
"Hm…?" Gajeel turned, only just in time to jump back as Ace slashed at him. While Gajeel made it through the attack unharmed, the ground shattered under the force Ace put in his swing. "Found 'em…"
"That's the one…" Pantherlily said while drawing his Musica Sword, just in case Gajeel needed the backup later.
"Pleasure to meet you…name's Black Ace…" Ace said while standing upright. "I already know of you, Black Steel."
"Black Ace?" Gajeel let out a silent groan before a green magic seal appeared under his feet, coating his body in his infamous iron scales. "Damn, you Dealer punks are persistent…"
"Heh…" Was Ace's only reply.
Gajeel took Ace's reply and his still movement as a sign that he was going to move first, and that he did. Gajeel rushed forward while cocking an arm back. He jumped into the air, throwing his fist towards Ace. "Iron Dragon's Hard Fist!"
Ace jumped back quite a few feet, leaving space between him and Gajeel. Once Gajeel's fist impacted the ground (and left a crater) Ace brought his gun forward, shooting off a large wave of water towards Black Steel. "Eat this!"
As soon as Gajeel's fist hit the ground, he morphed his arm into an iron pole, using that to push himself into the air with a flip, avoiding Ace's attack completely. As Black Steel flipped, the very same arm morphed once again into a blade with jagged edges, spinning around in a chainsaw-like manner, swinging it towards Ace. "Iron Dragon's Sword!"
"Not bad…" Ace mumbled before pulling out his sword once again, clashing with Gajeel's rotating one. The two blades held strong for about ten seconds before both parties jumped back, skidding across the ground with smirks. "Not bad at all, Black Steel…"
"Flattery won't stop me from kicking your ass." Gajeel replied as his sword now changed into an iron lance, which he pointed at Ace, a green magic seal appearing at the very tip of the lance. "Iron Dragon's Lance! Demon Logs!" From the seal, multiple iron lances rocketed out and hurtled towards Ace.
"Squall!" Ace pointed his gun forward, clicking the trigger. From his pistol, a green cyclone of wind appeared and rushed towards Gajeel, sucking in the Iron Lances coming his way.
"Tch…!" Gajeel dug his leg into the ground, changing it into an iron pole as the cyclone engulfed him. It was a powerful cyclone indeed, but Black Steel managed to prevent himself from being swept up by the raging tornado. When it faded, his Iron Scales were damaged, along with himself.
"Fire Dance!" Ace exclaimed while spinning around, sending a cyclone of fire racing towards Gajeel.
Upon spotting the oddly familiar looking cyclone of flames, Gajeel puffed his cheeks out, a green magic seal appearing before him. "Iron Dragon's Roar!" Gajeel threw his head forward, unleashing his signature roar to match with Ace's Fire Dance, which surprisingly managed to hold it off and result in an explosion, smoke now covering the area. "Not so fast." Gajeel threw his arm forward, changing it into an iron pole. "Iron Dragon's Club!" The rushing iron pole slammed into Ace's chest, pushing him away by half a foot. "Got'cha…"
"Hmph…" Ace grunted, feeling little to no real damage from Gajeel's attack. What came next had Ace smirking. As the smoke cleared, Ace was seen standing perfectly still, waiting for Gajeel to make another move. "Stealth Laser…"
"What…?" Gajeel blinked at the name, confused when he didn't see a frontal attack.
"Gajeel, behind you!" Panther Lily exclaimed, pointing at the small UFO behind Gajeel. But Lily's words came in too late as the UFO shot out two pairs of three electric beams, striking Gajeel in the back. Since Gajeel had his iron scales on, the damage was cut, but the paralyzing effect was doubled. Gajeel fell on the ground, motionless as sparks danced around his body. "Damn…"
"Not so fast…" Ace said while his shoulders unleashed a Stealth Laser of their own, striking Pantherlily before he had the chance to move. The exceed met the same fate as Gajeel, lying on the ground in literal shock. "That could've gotten ugly quickly…" Ace snapped his fingers, creating a magic seal under Gajeel and Pantherlily, teleporting them away somewhere.
"At least your keeping your minimal damage promise…" Lisanna said from above while letting out a sigh. "I don't like to see them being hurt…"
"I know, I know…" Ace replied while exiting his armor, now rubbing the back of his head. "I can't help it if things get too intense now…"
Lisanna frowned slightly. "You should really keep your amount of battles in check…you know what could happen to your body…"
"Tch…" Ace scoffed, turning his back as he began to walk off, now well aware that Fairy Tail was about to begin the search for their members within the hour. "Don't worry about me, you know I can handle myself just fine."
"That's not what I'm worried about…" Lisanna mumbled under her breath as Ace went off. But, it was time for her to think about herself; she had to keep herself out of sight from any and all Fairy Tail members for the time being. Something she hated doing with every fiber of her being, but for now, she had to.
.
.
"Ho ho ho…" King grinned as he watched the video Tia and Jack collected from the Black Phoenix tournament. "Very impressive, Tia…Jack…did you two collect this data by yourselves?"
"That's correct." Tia said with a nod.
"You can tell a lot about a person by the way they move in battle." Jack replied while crossing his arms behind his head. "Now we have data on mages we haven't had conflict with yet."
"Look at you two, staying ahead of the game," Spade chuckled slightly.
"Not bad…" Heartless gave a slow nod.
"So, what do we do with this information?" Strong asked while scratching his head.
"For now, we hold onto it." King said while turning around in his chair. "In the meantime, Tia, I have a mission for you. Go back to Fairy Tail and observe them one more time."
"Again with Fairy Tail…?" Diamond mumbled.
"He didn't speak to you, Diamond." Joker said in his usual tone, causing Diamond to straighten up.
"Dismissed." King said.
A few minutes after everyone dispersed, Jack and Tia were the only ones left standing in the room. With a grin on his face, Jack walked over to Tia. "Heh, should we rowdy up the Fairies again? I'm sure they're feeling better after winning that tournament, don't you think, Sis?"
Tia remained silent for a few moments before taking a single step forward, not bothering to look at Jack just yet. "Jack…I think it would be better if you stayed behind this time."
"W-What?!" Jack's eyes immediately went wide in surprise at Tia's words. He then played off the shock with a laugh of denial. "Ha! That's a good one, Sis!"
"I'm being completely serious." Tia replied with her stern tone, the one that could usually get Jack to straighten up without delay; this time was no exception, though the effect only lasted for a few seconds as Jack complained.
"W-Why not?! We always go on missions together!" Jack protested, letting out a rare childish whine. "Why does this time have to be different!?"
"Trust me, Jack…" Tia said as she began to walk off, her voice echoing throughout the room. "You don't want to tag along with me on this mission…"
"Why?!" Jack shouted at the top of his lungs, but his shouting fell on deaf ears as Tia already left. Feeling angered, Jack punched a hole into the nearest wall, heaving heavily from frustration. "What are you planning, Sis!? Why can't I come…?!"
As Tia left the room, she then made her way to the exit, thinking to herself. "You can't fool me, Ace...I know you've been watching…for how long, I can't say…but I know you were there at the tournament." Tia's usually calm expression changed into a glare of intense hatred as she made her way out of the door. "I don't know what you're planning now…but the next time I see you, I will kill you…"
