Disclaimer I do not own Fairy Tail. Why would I be writing fanfiction if I owned something like that?

Beta Reader: volfwildman

Cover Art by KegiSpringfield

(3rd Person Battle POV)

In the storage room of the Tower of Heaven stood two mages. One a Card mage by the name of Cana Vern-Alberona. The other was the Darkness mage Simon Mikazuchi. The two were in the rather spacious but decently full storage room to do battle. Simon had been ready to take whatever his opponent would throw at him.

He had not been prepared for her to criticize his fashion choices.

"Seriously why are you wearing a turban? We're in Fiore, not Desierto. And I'm pretty sure that sash is what they wear in Bellum. Even the sleeve without a shirt you have on your left arm is something that they wear in Joya. Just pick a country and stick with it! Did you just see pictures of people from those kingdoms and decided you just had to wear all of it?" Said Cana as she idly twirled a card in her hand, she had gotten it out a minute ago but hadn't used it yet.

Simon for the most part was trying to keep his cool as he waited for his opponent to attack. He had decided that he would allow Cana the first attack as a favor to Erza and to be gentlemanly but he was quickly regretting that decision. It didn't help that Cana's question was a bit too true for him to admit.

"I would comment about the eyepatch and iron jaw too but I'd like to think that they're there for a medical reason and not for fashion. I really hope it's a medical reason because who the hell wears an eyepatch for any other reason? Probably the same guy that wearing a turban but doesn't live in a desert." Cana fished the last sentence with a wide grin. She had been waiting for the guy to attack but when he just stood there doing the same thing she decided to have some fun.

Simon clenched his fist for a second before letting out a sigh and gave Cana a withering glare. "Yes the iron jaw and eye patch are for medical reasons and I'm not going to tell you why I wear my clothes. Now could you please stop criticizing my clothes and attack!"

Cana stopped idly doing tricks with her playing card and started to channel magic into it as she gave her opponent a shit-eating grin. "Be careful what you wish for Sammy boy."

Simon let out a groan of annoyance and was once more about to comment that his name was Simon but before he could Cana swiftly threw the card in her hand at him.

"High Card-Lightning"

Due to both the speed of the lighting infused card and Simon being caught off guard prevented the Darkness mage from reacting as the card slammed into his chest and blow up into a small electric explosion causing him to grit his teeth in pain as he powered through the lighting trying to tense up his nerves.

Just as the explosion was over and Simon was able to regain control of his body Cana was ready with another attack. In her hand were three cards glowing red. She gave the Darkness mage another grin as she pulled her hand back then threw the cards forward.

"Three of a Kind-Fire"

The card infused with fire shot forward but not fast as the single lighting card and Simon at this point was ready for an attack. Just as the cards were about to hit him a magic seal appeared around the Darkness mage's good eye as a slight layer of darkness overcame him.

"Dark Burst"

The thin layer of darkness exploded outwards and hit everything around Simon, not just the cards but the various storage containers that littered the area. Once the spell hit the cards exploded prematurely as the flames were blown backward towards their creator who was forced to squint her eyes at the large firestorm in front of her.

Not a second after the fire was gone Simon rushed forward quickly, hoping to take his opponent off guard. It took Cana a second to recognize what he was going to do but she had plenty of time to prepare as the Darkness mage got closer to her while he flowed magic into his arms.

"Dark Combat"

Simons's hands and forearms were covered in darkness as he threw a punch at Cana's face. The Card mage simply ducked below the attack and then twisted to the side at his follow up strike. This went on for a good minute as Simon's darkness covered arms tried to hit the Fairy Tail mage and failed constantly.

While Simon was pretty good at hand to hand combat and had the speed and strength to take down most opponents Cana was avoiding every single one of his attacks. The women had constantly trained with Natsu who was far faster with his punches and better at hand to hand combat as well. The Darkness mage might as well have been moving at half speed and at the moment all he was doing was giving her time to prepare a spell.

"Pair-Air"

Cana had just dodge to the right after a failed uppercut and jabbed two green glowing cards into Simon's side. What followed was an explosion of cutting air slashes that sliced into the man's side. Not only that but the Darkness mage was thrown away slightly as the Card mage took a step back to admire her work.

Simon had landed on his feet but not there were several cuts in his well-muscled side. He frowned in pain as he touched them for a second both stopping due to the pain. He turned his attention back to the smiling Cana as he prepared for his retaliation.

The Darkness mage curved his arms as he spread out his bent finger, all the while focusing magic on his upper body. As darkness started to leak from his body, Cana stopped smiling and pulled out a card, ready for whatever attack would come her way.

"Dark Beast"

The darkness around Simon swelled to twice his size as it took the shape of a bipedal wolf. Said wolf rushed from his creator to his target with the intent to shred Cana to pieces. The Fairy Tail mage's eyes widened in surprise at the spell before narrowing them and throwing a magic-infused card at it.

"High Card-Earth"

A single card quickly rammed into the dark beast and exploded in a shockwave that slightly scattered the darkness. Before Cana could smile through the darkness swiftly reformed into the black creature. The Card mage was forced to roll to the side as the beast resumed its charge and tried to attack its prey.

"High Card-Air"

Cana threw another high card at it, this time infused with air but the results were the same as the last time only this time she didn't have time to dodge and was bowled over by the creation. However, just before the dark beast could continue its attack the Card mage threw out another card.

"High Card-Fire"

Once more the resulting explosion shattered the darkness but this time Cana noted that it took much longer to reform into the creature. With a plan in mind, she pulled out four cards and started channeling her magic into them. The dark beast once more rushed its prey but she was more than prepared to jump out of the way from its charge. Just as the beast turned to once more attack the Card mage threw the four cards at her target.

"Two Pair-Light and Fire"

Two pairs of cards, one glowing red while the other glowed yellow, slammed into the dark beast. The magic within the card released and what could only be described as a mini sun come into existence. The creature made of darkness let out a shriek as the dark magic that made up its body not only scattered but started to dissolve away at the brightness. Before long the monster was no more and Cana could breathe a sigh of relief.

At least until Simon took the opportunity to attack.

"Dark Blast"

A beam of darkness slammed into Cana who was thrown back slightly from the spell. Upon regaining her footing she saw Simon holding out his hand with darkness gathering around his open palm. The Card mage jumped to the side as another beam of darkness was shot towards her.

Simon gritted his teeth as he shot Dark Blast after Dark Blast hoping to hit his target. He was annoyed at how little damage his first attack had dealt and now no matter where he aimed he couldn't hit his opponent again.

Cana for her part was smiling as she all but danced around the area as she dodged beam after beam. It wasn't too hard to see that her opponent was aiming where he believed she would be in a few seconds' time and all she had to do was simply reverse direction to not get hit. In truth she expected him to change his aiming tactics upon seeing that his current one wasn't working but a combination of annoyance and a lack of true combat experience caused Simon to stubbornly keep using the failing tactics.

During this time Cana had pulled out five cards and started to channel her magic into them while continuing to dodge attacks. Eventually, Simon got mad enough that he started to use two hands to blast her which did end up forcing the Card mage into a corner where the Darkness mage's spell wouldn't miss.

"Dark Blast"

Two beams of darkness rushed forward towards Cana from Simon's palms. For a second the Darkness mage thought he was finally going to land another hit when the Card mage threw the five cards she had been holding out in front of her.

"Full House"

The five-card swiftly grew to be the size of a human as they formed a shield between their creator and the twin beams of darkness. Said beams soon smashed into the one of the cards but did little as the reinforced giant card held true.

Simon let out a quiet curse as Cana calmly stepped forward with the five cards hovering behind her. She gave him a lazy smile before speaking, "Got to admit that you did better than I thought you would. That little beast of yours was annoying to permanently takedown. But as fun as this little battle has been I think it's time to end this. I got a blue-haired asshole to shove a card or two into."

The second Cana stopped speaking her cards came to life as the five cards rushed forward and started to attack Simon. The Darkness mage had good enough reflexes to dodge the cards at first as they tried to ram their edges into his body but the patterns that the cards were used to attack started to get more and more complicated.

In the end, all it took was one mistake, Simon stumbling a bit from a bad step, for the cards to hit. Swiftly one of the cards slammed into his stomach before turning upwards and sending the man into the air above. One card slammed into his right and sent it across the room before another card slammed into his left and sent him back. Just as it seemed like he was going to hit the floor a card came from below and hit him upwards and the frenzy started all over again.

Simon could do little as he was ragged dolled all over the room by the large cards. He might have been able to twist out of the way of the cards mid-air but he was in too much pain to think about this as he focuses on staying conscious from the attacks. Eventually, one card ended the long combo by coming from above and slamming the Darkness mage into the ground and creating a smaller crater.

After that was done the cards returned to Cana's side as she let out a sigh of relief at no longer having to control the cards. She had no idea how her big brother could create such complex illusions, just mentally controlling the five cards was taxing on her. Especially when she had to move them complexly.

Cana was just about to start looking for a door out of her when she heard a groan from her fallen opponent as said opponent painfully got up. The Gambler of Fairy Tail gave an impressed whistle as she looked at all the bruises that were already forming on her opponent's exposed upper body. "I'm impressed you're not down for the count. Even Lizard Breath would have some trouble getting up from that beat down."

Simon paid little to his opponent as he got to his feet. He was hurt badly but not in a lethal way as the attacks from the cards had meant to knock him unconscious rather than kill him. He was still in a good bit of pain though but he was determined to keep fighting. That said currently the Darkness mage was cursing his weakness.

Jellal hadn't been lying when he said Simon was the most powerful of Erza's old family, excluding the blue-haired man himself. He had been rather proud of the progress he had made with his Darkness magic and felt that he could handle one of Erza's new family members. But he was quickly learning that he had been a bit too overconfident.

With a silent curse, Simon started preparing his magic as he got ready to go all out. Before he had hoped to save some magic to get to Erza and talk to her but he realized he didn't have the luxury of that. So with the thought of finally talking to his old red-headed friend once more in his mind, he cast one of his most powerful spells.

"Dark Moment"

A mass of darkness started to pour out of Simon and swiftly cover the entire room. Cana let out a quiet curse before mentally throwing one of her giant cards towards her opponent only for her to miss as the Darkness mage was already in the move. Soon the entire room was completely covered in darkness.

Darkness magic like most basic magic was rather versatile. It could be used in many different ways that one Darkness mage would probably use his magic very differently from another Darkness mage. Simon had learned this early on had started experimenting on the different ways he could use his chosen magic.

One of these ways had been using his darkness to muffle sound in order for him to feel safe when he was in the Tower, making a safe place for himself away from the madness of Jellal. From that, he developed one of his most powerful spells.

Cana at this point didn't even try to be quiet as she curses but even when she shouted she didn't hear her own words. The darkness did not only prevent her from seeing anything unless it was a couple of inches from her face but she couldn't hear anything either. Unknown to the Card mage the darkness also suppressed smell and even smother most forms of magic sense. Every second she spent in the darkness the more she felt like she was under one of Bishop's illusions and it was unnerving her.

But the most unfortunate thing was that while she was completely blind. Simon could see perfectly.

After two minutes of recovering while Cana had a mini freakout Simon decided it was finally time to strike. The Fairy Tail mage's giant cards had formed a protective barrier around their creator but the Darkness mage was easily able to slip between them and attack.

Just as Cana was finally starting to calm herself down was hit from behind. The punch was strong enough to throw her forward a bit before she regained her footing and twisted around to try and find her opponent only to be met with darkness. As she looked around from the corner of her eye she saw a fist rushing forward inches from her side. It hit before she could react and once more when she tried to get her opponent he retreated into the darkness.

Soon a pattern emerged as Simon would use the darkness to sneak up and attack her before retreating as Cana tried and failed to hit him back. The Card mage at one point pulls out a card and unfused it with light but the result only allowed her about two more inches of visibility. As the fight dragged on more and more bruises found their way on to her as her opponent got away with the damage each time.

Despite the attacks and injuries though Cana was doing fine, she was more than prepared to take the hits. She brawled with Flame Brain on a near-daily basis after all. That said the Card mage was very much regretting not finishing her opponent off sooner. She was also becoming more and more annoyed with her opponent getting the upper hand on her.

From what Cana could gather Simon would have been classed a low A-class. Powerful in his own right but nothing to an S-class, even a low one like her. Of course, the Class system for mages was not perfect. It mainly measured overall power and magic and left out the specifics. An A could beat an S if the A's magic was basically better or had a natural advantage over the S's magic. But the truth of the matter was something that had been bothering her ever since she had officially become an S-class mage.

That she didn't deserve it.

Sure she had worked herself to near death to get as good as she was now but there was something that caused her trouble to sleep at nights. If Bishop hadn't been there she wouldn't have been able to pass the trial. It was because of her big brother that she got through the first trail easily and passed the third trial as well. Sure in the second trial she had been the one to take down Erza but only after Bishop bought her time and weakened their little sister.

Some nights she would wake up in a cold sweat from a recurring nightmare. One where the Guild Master would tell her she wasn't worthy and then strip her off her S-class before her family shouted at her for being a disgrace and removed her from the family. Leaving her alone as she had been all those years ago.

Of course, Cana knew that the nightmare would never happen. Makarov would never do something like that unless he was forced to. Even if he did the last thing her family would do would be disappointed in her. Hell, they would probably storm the guild and demand that the Guild Master give her the Class back.

But that didn't stop the nightmare from happening. So Cana simply kept moving forward. She kept improving and taking as many S-rank jobs as she could. Even if she didn't need to prove her S-class status to her family she still needed to prove it to herself. With all these thoughts in mind, she gritted her tooth and calmed down as she started thinking of a plan.

It was only after Simon had attacked her three more times that she came up with a plan. She mentally grabbed one of the giant cards that had been passively floating by her and rapidly filled it up with magic while slowly doing the same with three of the other cards. When she once more saw the Darkness mage attacking inches from her she activated the magic in the card.

"Full House-Single Light"

The giant card in front of the two lights up in a massive ball of light that illuminated up a good five feet around it. As Simon looked at Cana in surprise, she looked at him with a vicious grin. Within a second the Card mage rushed her opponent and landed a punching into his gut. As he bent over in pain from the attack she grabbed his back and repeatedly knees him in the same spot she had punched.

After about nine knees Cana throws Simon to the ground but he was able to keep himself up. Upon turning to look back he saw her rushing him once more, only this time she was holding a card that glowed yellow.

"High Card-Lightning"

Cana stabs the lighting infused card into her opponent and grits her teeth at some of the backlash from using the spell point-blank. Simon though feels the full thing and screams through his teeth as he stumbles back with his muscles locking up. The Gambler not wanting to stop her assault instinctively grabs at his head and knees him in the jaw. Completely forgetting about the steel around said jaw.

As Cana hops back on one foot while holding her right knee the Darkness mage sees his opportunity and starts to head back into the darkness. Just as Simon is once more engulfed in darkness Cana recovers from her stupid move and upon noticing her opponent was gone brought two normal-sized cards to her hand while having two more large cards move next to her still shining card.

"Full House-Triple Light"

Like the first card, the two human-sized cards let out a mass of light as the three cards seem to merge into one as the light reveals a large portion of the hidden room. Including where Simon had been hiding.

When he had retreated Simon had planned to stay out of the light while planning his next move. Sadly for him, Cana had other ideas as he was now completely exposed and open for an attack from his card wielding opponent.

"Pair-Air"

The two-card Cana had been holding were thrown towards her opponent. As the pair of green glowing cards shot forward to Simon he swiftly called upon his magic and surrounding darkness.

"Dark Wall"

A mass from the surrounding darkness braved the light to form a wall between its creator and the attack. The two cards hit and exploded into a flurry of wind slashes on the darkness but the magic Simon was sending his wall allowed it to hold firm. After that, the Darkness mage was frantically trying to think of something to get him out of this situation.

"Two Pair-Light and Fire"

More cards slammed into the wall of darkness and Simon struggled to hold against the very effective attack. In his desperation, the Darkness mage decided that he needed to end this right now. With that thought in mind, he prepared for his strongest attack spell.

Cana had been charging more cards when the darkness in the room shifted. The still lingering darkness on the edges of the room started to move, completely ignoring the bright ball of light that was still in the middle of the room. All of it gathers towards Simon and eventually, even the wall that protected him came down too. The Darkness mage now stood with a ball of condensed darkness between his two hands as he prepared to shoot off his spell.

"Dark End"

Simon thrust his hands forward as the ball of darkness expanded a bit before condensing even more and fired in a small spiraling beam onward Cana. Said woman swiftly responded by bringing up one of her unused giant cards and started to rush magic into it to reinforce it. The drilling beam met the card shield head-on with a mighty crash.

The card held firm though as the beam drilled into it. Cana's magic was doing its job and keeping the card from breaking. But as the seconds ticked by with Simon's attack not ending the card grew closer and closer to shattering. The Gambler quickly realized that if this kept up the spell would make its way to her. Luckily the Card mage still had a trick up her sleeve.

Simon was pouring his all into the attack, sure that if he kept the spell going he would destroy the shield. However just as the Darkness mage was convinced that he would win he felt a large amount of magic behind him flare-up. Upon looking behind he saw much to his horror the last of Cana's giant card glowing brown. She had been slowly flowing magic into the card when she could ever since she had been stuck in the dark, just in case she would need it.

And Unfortunately for Simon, she needed it.

"Full House-Single Earth"

The card exploded in a shockwave of crashing earth energy and slammed into Simon. Dark End was completely abandoned, its user was thrown across the room and slammed into a shipping container. The leftover darkness disappeared as the battle seemed to end. Cana let out a tired but satisfied sigh as her one remaining card floated by her side and the ball of light she had created faded away. She was once more about to start making her way out of the room when she heard a groan and looked over to see Simon shakily getting up.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me! How much damage can you take!? Even my idiot of a little brother would be staying down after all that!" Shouted Cana as she prepared to continue the fight.

Simon though had different plans. At this point he was close to falling, it was only through his will to get to Erza and end this whole thing that he kept going. But as he looked upon the minimally damaged Cana he knew that this was never a fight he would win. With that in mind, he knew that he had one option left that would allow him to continue.

"Wait! Please hear me out for a minute." Simon begged as he used a little of his remaining magic to cast a spell.

"Dark Muffle"

Cana paused at his words but swiftly pulled out a card when he cast a spell only to paused once more as a thin layer of darkness circled around him and her but other than that did little. Just as the Card mage was contemplating what was going on Simon spoke up. "There now Jellal won't be able to hear us talk. Now, will you please hear me out!?"

Cana looked at the hurt man, it was clear to her that he was close to falling so she decided that it was safe to at least allow him to talk. "Ok, you want to talk? Then talk but it better be good or else you'll get a fire card in the face."

Simon looked both grateful and scared at the same time before calming down and bowing his head before speaking. "Thank you. The truth of the matter is... I know the truth of what happened during the revolt. I know something happened to Jellala and he forcibly banished Erza."

Cana looked at him in surprise before anger overcame her as she shouted. "Wait if you knew that then why are you with that fucking blue-haired bastard!"

Simon looked sad at her words before letting out a tired sigh and looking straight at Cana. "Because I had little choice. If I had given Jellal any clue that I was a traitor then at best I would have been banished, at worst I would have been killed. And if either one of that happened then Sho and the others would be left alone to that madman's non-existent mercy. I was planning to play along until I could be alone with Erza and talk to her about ending all of this. But apparently that plan was doomed to fail the second you were teleported into this room."

Cana snorted a bit at the last statement but afterward tried to keep a straight face as she thought over his words. In truth she wanted him to be telling the truth if only for Erza's sake. Just as she was about to speak, another voice echoed throughout the room much to Simon's horror.

"And the Traitor finally makes his move. Took you long enough." Jellal's calm voice spread throughout the room, completely ignoring the thin darkness that would have muffled his voice.

Simon stared up in horror at the voice as he tried to find his own. "J-Jellal!? But I've been careful! How-"

Simons's words were cut off as Jellal spoke once more. "Oh, I've known pretty much since you started to plan your little revolt. It was cute that you thought your little darkness would prevent me from hearing you. You really should have known that I have ways around such little tricks, Simon. But in the end, I suppose it doesn't matter. I waited until you would make you move and now you have. So I'm ending it now."

Before Simon could speak back a golden magic seal appeared on one of the walls and shot a piercing beam of light towards the Darkness mage. But just before the spell could pierce through him a giant card swiftly made its way between him and the attack.

The beam slammed into the card which instantly started to crack from the power behind the attack. But it bought a few seconds for Simon who threw himself to the side just seconds before the last human-sized card was destroyed and the beam shot forward and hit the wall. Both mages in the room waited for a response to the failed killing but after a minute of not getting one, both moved.

"Ok then. Congratulations, I believe you now. So then big guy what are we going to do next." As Cana said this she handed him a red potion she kept on hand.

Simon eyed the potion before grabbing it and drinking it. He shivered at the horrid taste but let out a relieved sigh afterward as he felt his wounds started to slowly heal at a faster rate. He gave the empty flask back and spoke, "We need to find Erza. I want to talk to her and I'm hoping that together we can convince the others of the truth."

Cana nodded as she reached into her satchel and pulled out a blank card not like her playing cards. She held it up to her face and spoke Erza's name out loud. Instantly the card started to change as Erza's name appeared at the bottom and a large 3d pointing arrow took up most of the once black card. "I gave every one of my siblings one of these cards. All you have to say is their name and the card will point to the location of that person's card."

Simon looked at the card in amazement as he looked at the arrow. "Amazing. Sho's Card magic is very different from what you use. I can see why you are considered an S-class like Erza."

Cana turned her head slightly as she tried to hide her embarrassment from him. The truth of the matter was she had hoped to create cards that would act like communication lacrima and allow her and each of her siblings to talk to each other over long distances. Sadly this was the best she could do after a few weeks of training in this aspect of Card magic.

Cana simply shocked her head and looked at Simon once. "You know this place better them me. Any ideas where this might be pointing?"

Simon once more looked at the card and where it was pointing. After a few seconds of thought, something clicked in his head as he realized where Erza was. The card was pointing in the direction where the training rooms would be.

"We needed to move to know. I think I know where Erza is and I'm hoping I'm not right."

AN: Got to admit that Cana is one of my favorite characters to fight with, I like the way I've developed her magic. Anyway, so this was just the fight between Cana and Simon. Obviously, Cana won since at this point in time she is more powerful than her canon part. We also got to see some of her inner thoughts, canon Cana struggled with her thoughts so much that she ended up turning to alcoholism. While she doesn't drink here she still has doubt about if she's worthy of the S-class. Whether she is or isn't is up to the individual though I feel.

Thanks once again to volfwildman for being a Beta. This weekly shout out goes to suikofan, purely just because is short review gave me an idea for a funny joke down the line. Thanks man.

Got another recommendation this week. This time it's for 'A Kanker at Hogwarts: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'. Basically Harry Potter crossover with Ed Edd and Eddy where Marie Kanker goes to Hogwarts. It's an interesting read that does well to use the comedy of Ed Edd and Eddy while still using serious things as well. The first two chapters have some paragraphing problems but that is somewhat fixed in the third chapter.

Have a great day.

P a treon . com (slash) BETAsatchel