Chapter Nine

Equivalent Exchange

"He did what!?" Makarov gasped, eyes bulging out at the sheer incredulity of it all. He stood there, flanked by Laxus who was merely enjoying the show, in front of the assembled magic council.

"That's right, we have several dozen accounts in our archives that all state that after a hearing of property damage gone wrong, the Salamander took the proceedings personally and after an interestingly one sided battle with a few platoons of rune knights, decided that the magic council should no longer exist." Siegrain explained, casually resting his head against his hand, showing how little he cared to be in this particular meeting.

"If it makes you feel any better, he levelled our building as well, like eight hours ago." Laxus added with a small shrug, unsure of what the problem there was.

"It does not." Ultear responded flatly.

"You aren't helping, boy." Makarov grumbled with a glare before turning back to the councillors, "I am sure that you're all aware that I wouldn't request this meeting without having my own personal staked interest in this." he began, stepping up again once his surprise at the Salamander's actions had been contained.

"You see, my grandson spoke the truth, he did attack my family due to a contract he had taken from a dark guild, but upon seeing that none of my brats were bad people, he challenged one of our strongest mages to a battle, one where upon his defeat he would flip his contract on the dark guild that hired him, and I'm sure that I don't need to point out that there's now a crater along the coast north of Magnolia." Makarov told them, trying to find a balance between the outright truth and the things he could get away with dismissing.

"Yes…" a wizened voice called out, "We were actually tracking his movements from the moment he had a minor altercation with one of our representatives that had been sent to collect him for an imprisonment hearing, so naturally, we watched first hand as he wiped the dark guild known as Herries Gunn off of the face of the world." the old councillor stated, noting something down in front of him as he did so.

"Councillors, I am an old man, as are most of you, so I remember when this very council building was rebuilt, are you sure that this was the same mage? The boy looks to be no more than two dozen summers old, that incident happened almost five decades ago." Makarov reasoned, hoping that they wouldn't be able to actually investigate this.

"Oh, we know about his deceptively youthful looks. We've got records that go back much further than that, he has been around for a very long time, leaving destruction and death in his wake, his branding as a dark mage is one that was much earned that day." Siegrain explained, unsure of what the old man's goal here actually was.

"You're all very much set in this, so I will get straight to the point. You all know as well as I do that the Salamander is not an inherently evil being, perhaps one of extraordinary power that hasn't had any guidance in his life, but not evil. I wish for an edict to be made that if he should accept a place within the Fairy Tail guild that his status as a dark mage will be stricken from record forever, under the pretence that I will be held personally responsible for his actions." Makarov's words stunned all of them, including Laxus who knew when to remain silent.

The old man wouldn't have staked the reputation of the guild and indeed himself on something like this unless he was absolutely sure. Laxus was almost jealous that his grandfather had such a power to feel the hearts of those around him with that much confidence, perhaps in time he too would be able to achieve such things.

The silence reigned for a moment longer before Crawford Seam himself spoke up, "Very well." he said at last, leaning forwards to give Makarov his undivided attention. He waved his hands and the page in front of him slowly began to reveal words woven from magic ink, the page floating down toward Makarov.

"This is a magical pact between yourself and the council, if the Salamander should become a member of Fairy Tail then you and your Guild will become responsible for his actions, but in doing so he will no longer be recognized by us as a dark mage, and the events of the past will be buried and forgotten. Should he become uncontrollable however, not only will these terms have been breached but the Fairy Tail guild will be forced to disband forever, that is the balance you will need to consider." Crawford told him, his eyes showing true neutrality in everything he did as Makarov reached out to grab the page.

"Very well, I accept these terms, you will know soon what the outcome is to be." he told them before motioning to Laxus to follow as the two of them left, remaining silent for a few minutes until they were back on the road to return to Magnolia.

"You sure about this?" the lightning mage asked at last once he was certain they were no longer being watched.

"I'm confident in my choice, but I don't know whether or not the boy will actually accept my offer and join us, that much remains to be seen, but I think that he'll certainly consider it at the very least." Makarov admitted with a soft sigh, nothing could ever be easy when it involved those damn kids of his.

"What makes you so sure that he will even still be there when we get back? You saw how he fought Erza, and the kid damn near zeroed his own magic power to get Mira under control." Laxus pointed out.

"Exactly!" Makarov shouted in glee, leaving Laxus confused at the sudden outburst, "I did see how he fought Erza, but I bet none of you brats did. You were watching the fight as he went on, but look back at it in the grand scheme, what did you really see?" Makarov asked with a huge grin plastered across his face.

Slowly, bit by bit, Laxus began to understand what the old geezer was really up to, "You don't suppose…" he began, "You don't suppose that Erza has taken a shining to the kid?" he asked.

"Now you're beginning to see with open eyes, and moreover Mira is a kinder soul than most, even with the resurgence of her magical power, I saw how worried she was about the boy after he'd collapsed, not to mention that she peered into his mind and found that he was…" Makarov suddenly trailed off, his gleeful smile turning sour, something immediately put Laxus on edge.

"What?"

"I'm sure you noticed that while his magic is that of your own, his wasn't gained through the same means, he is a true Dragon Slayer, he was raised by a dragon, his was taught first hand." Makarov explained.

"I figured, seeing as he spoke in dragon tongue for a few of his attacks." Laxus nodded, feeling mildly jealous about it but overall not that bothered, he'd managed to find his own way in life in the end.

"Now, it's going to be a tough habit to break, but I should consider not calling him boy constantly seeing as it appears he may well be my senior." Makarov grumbled. The indignity of it all, entertain the very idea was preposterous that someone of that age and wisdom could act in the ways the Salamander did.

"I get the feeling that the less people know about him the better, whether that's how he feels about it is going to be another matter entirely. I say that we treat him as if he was just another one of the kids unless he decides otherwise." Laxus said, showing Makarov another glimpse of the impressive wisdom he held for his still youthful age.

"Agreed. We still need to find out more about him for ourselves, I refuse to continue to call the boy 'Salamander'." the master of Fairy Tail grumbled again as the two continued to walk the path home, it would be another few hours at least before they made it back.

Meanwhile, on the edge of the forest that surrounded Magnolia, Natsu had just managed to navigate to the closest thing to a path that he could find. He was sure that there was meant to be a highway somewhere around here, but this would do just as well.

It wasn't long before a strange looking man with a prominent set of ears poking up above his hairline had approached him at alarm speed.

"Excuse me, you wouldn't happen to be a Mr…" he stopped to pull an envelope out of his pocket to look at the name, "Salamander? Huh, like the dark wizard?" the man asked, completely oblivious.

"Yeah, distant cousin." Natsu grinned, taking the envelope and giving a mind wave as the courier ran down the path in the opposite direction to where Natsu had been idly moving.

Who the hell would be writing to him?

As he opened it and the words scanned the page, he immediately knew that this was a really badly set up trap, but one that he was unable to steer clear from nonetheless.

With an audible sigh he burned the letter into dust, "The R-System, really? That barely worked the first time." he groaned inwardly, "So, someone really wants to resurrect Zeref? Can't resurrect what isn't dead, dipshits." he said, taking a look around at the sky to try and figure out where exactly he was, and where they were likely to have become construction on a tower that would hold an R-System configuration.

"Could really do with some direction on this one, dad." he muttered, gaining very little from the sky itself.

"What did the letter say, south of Fiore? So I guess, back through Magnolia… Huh, maybe I should grab that fish for the cat, it would be pretty rude not to stroll past their guildhall and not leave him an offering, right?" Natsu wondered, turning heel and marching down the path straight to Magnolia.

"Yeah, I'll get him a huge fish, that should keep him, well, happy for a little while." Natsu laughed at the incredulity of it all before picking up the pace, he'd need to be quick if he wanted to shut down whatever they were doing with an R-System tower.

Resurrect Zeref? Stupid. He was out there somewhere, Natsu could feel it, like a burning desire that he had to fulfil.

If Zeref had somehow miraculously gotten himself killed then E.N.D would have known, immediately.

What would happen if he had no purpose?

A/N: Review?