Wendy's eyes opened slowly and she winced in the pain from her back. Vision was blurry and the last thing she remembered was being with Carlax Alex, Chelia. "Ngh…what…what happened…? I was with…Carla, Alex, and Chelia and then…"

"Then, you were taken by one of the mages I hired to kidnap the Dragon Slayers of Fiore." Adien spoke from his desk, one leg crossed over the other with his fingers interlocked. "It's been quite a long time, hasn't it, little girl?"

"You…!? Wendy turned, more than surprised to find that she wasn't bound to anything. She was just in a chair, sitting in what appeared to be some kind of office. "What are you doing here!? You should be in jail…!?"

"Details, details…" Aiden waved a dismissive hand to Wendy's questioning before meticulously reading some documents. "None of those matter…but the most important question here is where is my darling little Cynthia. You two are glued to the hip, and there is no way those I've hired would've simply glanced over her whereabouts."

Wendy winced at Aiden's words. Just hearing the way he talk he talked about Cynthia brought the pain back to her heart. "C-Cynthia is…dead…"

Now that was news to Aiden. He paused for a minute, never having considered the possibility. "Is that so…?" His own daughter, dead. And what were his words to this? "I suppose in the end, she was truly a useless tool…"

Those words alone were nearly enough to send even the soft Wendy into a frenzy. Red flames and wind immediately circulated around her body as she gave Aiden a stare that conveyed the message that she could kill him if he continued to talk about Cynthia like that. "Speak about her like that again, and I promise you that you will regret it."

Now this…this was something Aiden found surprise. His eyes widened slightly from Wendy's sudden fit of silent rage. "Oh, I remember that look…back in that tower over a year ago…but I can see that being with that girl changed your soft hearted personality a bit…very interesting. But I wouldn't advice you raise a finger against me, unless you wish for your family that's here to be hurt. You wouldn't want that, would you?"

"…." Wendy halted, biting on her lower lip. She could smell all the others easily and if they were at risk she wouldn't dare put them in danger. The Omega flames around her died down slowly and the wind settled. "Why did you bring us here…?"

"That's for me to know, and for you to find out." Aiden grinned at Wendy conceding.

"You're not going to get away with this. You never do." Wendy gave Aiden a frown. His schemes never worked, and she wished he would see that! Cynthia threatened him last time, but she wasn't here to follow through on that now...

To that, Aiden waved a hand. "You know what they say, Wendy. Third time's the charm. A true scientist never stops just because they've failed once or twice. I only need to succeed a single time. I just wanted to know where my precious daughter was and you answered that question."

Wendy was about to say something else...but then her heartbeat had a very strong pulse. "...!?" She gasped, clutching her chest. That felt like...

Aiden found that strange, but ultimately it didn't matter to him. "Now…it's time for you to go back to sleep. Shade, if you would."

With a snap of Aiden's fingers, the Hunter Shade appeared from the shadows, emitting an ear piercing screech that only lasted a few seconds, more than long enough for Wendy to fall unconscious and Shade to pick her up. "I'm charging extra for thisssssss, jusssssssst so you know. Weehehehe…."

"Very well…" Aiden merely nodded before standing up. "It's almost time to begin."

Emeraude was standing at the other end of the door, leaning against it. "So that's the way you talk about your own daughter."

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.

"G-Guys…!" Levy burst through the Fairy Tail doors, panting heavily with some bruises and scratches on her. Pantherlily was right beside her, looking just as if not equally roughed up. "W-We have a problem…!"

"Levy-chan!?" Lucy stood up, eyes wide as she prepared to catch her falling friend. "What's wrong!? Where's Gajeel…!?"

"That's the thing…" Pantherlily gasped. "He…."

Before he could finish, Carla, and Chelia followed through the open doors. "W-Wendy was…kidnapped…!" Chelia shouted, making sure to catch everyone's attention.

"Huh!?" Jack stood up from his seat.

"What!?" Makarov's eyes widened at this news. "She's been captured?! By who!?" He was already very angry to discover this; whoever it was…they were going to pay severely.

"W-We don't know…" Carla glanced away. "But I'm already worried…I don't know how well Wendy can handle being on her own with Cynthia gone. Alex went to follow them..."

"We've got a problem!" Freed, Bickslow, and Evergreen stumbled into the guild. With the trend currently going on, this could only mean one thing. "T-They snagged Laxus…! Right from under our noses…!" Freed started to overdramatize with his weeping.

"Sparky too…!?" Cana almost choked on the beer she was swallowing from the news. "The hell's going on around here!?" And finally…Happy flew through the doors, only to land softly on a table with an exhausted expression.

"…Flamebrain too…" Gray grit his teeth. He didn't need to be told what was going on at this rate. "The dumbass slipped up and got caught, do I have to do everything for him…!?"

"Calm down, Gray." Erza said with her usual stern glare. "We have to hear the details first…what exactly happened…? Do you know the ones who kidnapped them?"

"U-Uhm…" Happy tried to think while keeping his cool. He was on the verge of tears. "H...He said his name was Kai…and that was it…"

"The Wizard Hunters…" Evergreen said while fanning herself. "I almost forgot about that slimy bunch, but they got the drop on us and made it clear they were only after Laxus…we failed to do our job and protect him…"

"I can't believe they'd strike now of all times." Max rubbed his head. "They took four of our strongest hitters..."

"We've got plenty of firepower left!" Wakaba exclaimed. "But I sure as hell hope they're alright."

"Looks like rest could only last for so long…" Gray shook his head. "We're gonna have to get everyone back then. But…there's something that's bothering about this. We lost our four dragon slayers…"

"I have the same fears you do, Gray…" Makarov gave a slow nod. "If that's the case…then there's a high probability that…"

"The others were taken, too." Ace grit his teeth. "Considering the events of the Isle a few weeks ago, it's no surprise the dragon slayers are prime targets for the taking."

"Something's happening outside." Juvia pointed outside to the fuzzy sky; it was almost as if something was trying to present itself but was unable. "Juvia doesn't have a good feeling about it…" Juvia's feeling was right…because after a few moments, a somewhat blurry image of Aiden appeared in the skies…reminiscent of an old incident some time ago…

"Why, hello, Fiore…it's been quite a long time since I've greeted you all like this…" Aiden said with a growing smirk. "I'm sure you know who I am by now, so I will spare the introductions. All I wish for you to know is that THIS time, my plot will reign supreme. The return of Fiore's End, and I will not be stopped this time! I've captured all the known dragon slayers in the country from Fairy Tail, White Eclipse, Sabertooth, and everything in between. And as you can expect, I've loaded them into a special cannon…each one serving as their own power source. Flames…Sky…you name it all! It's all under my control! Don't believe me?! I'll give you a massive showcase of power just so you can understand the situation you're in!"

"Is that…!?" Lucy's eyes widened. "But he should be in jail! How did he escape!?"

"This man just doesn't know when to quit…" Gray scoffed. "Wait…you don't think Cynthia was in his sights too, do you?"

"All things considered…" Mira gave a slow nod. "But she's not here anymore…and I don't think he was aware of this fact. But this doesn't change the fact that he must be stopped again…"

"Now then…" Aiden grinned while pressing a button. This caused all of the tubes that the dragon slayers were in to begin absorbing power from them as they were the conduits. The cannon at the top of Aiden's tower then pointed itself into the air, gathering the several types of magics within itself. "Behold the power I have created!" The cannon then released a single beam of several dragon slaying magics into the air, where they all separated into different elements and spread out into several locations of Fiore, where multiple explosions of fire, ice, poison, light, shadow, fire, wind…etc. all of the elements occurred in various locations around the country for what was going to be massive damage.

"W-What the…!?" Elfman's eyes widened at the destructive power being displayed.

"There's one coming right for us…!?" Romeo shouted while pointing to the fiery beam of pure destructive power racing towards them….and right when impact occurred, there was a massive explosion of flame that engulfed Fairy Tail...

.

.

"Falala…" Lamy was happy as…lamb. Dancing around Cynthia's recovery tube with a wide smile. This garnered the attention of Kyouka, who curiously approached Lamy. "My…Lamy, what seems to have you in such high spirits this morning? Might it have something to do with that child in the tank?"

"Precisely, Kyouka-sama!" Lamy spun around, prancing for a few seconds before pointing forward. "I've finally discovered why it's taken so long for that little worm to take so long to recover!"

"And what was that?" Kyouka questioned.

"Wellllll…" Lamy had an extensive list of notes ready. "I don't know what the heck this little girl has gone through, but the wounds she carried were something else. Really, with such a little body and grievous wounds like that, it was a miracle she was still alive before her untimely end! It would've made such fun for experimentation…! But Marde-sama said no…"

"He is very interested in this one particular subject…" Kyouka agreed. "I wished that I had the ability to play with this one, I believe it would've been so much fun…~"

"Anyway…!" Lamy continued. "Marde-sama said I couldn't experiment on her until she recovered…but her body as mostly recovered. It's just her conscious that is nearly finished; once that's done I can flush her out of the tube! Though…I've also made a few adjustments to that little contraption inside her body. I think those humans call it a lacrima? I don't care, it was fun to poke around with!"

"Yo…ladies, I do hope I'm not interrupting!" Silver appeared with a nonchalant wave. "It appears that there's an incident going on, and I was told by the boss to inform everyone to watch."

"An incident!?" Lamy's eyes gleamed. "Let me see this!"

"Of course." Sliver nodded before flashing up a screen that displayed Aiden's opening message to Fiore. "Oh…? Who's this handsome devil?"

"…!" Cynthia's eyes didn't open but her body started thrashing around violently within the tube, catching Lamy's attention since she was tasked with Cynthia's recovery. Violent muffled burbles of what could be considered speech occurred as bubbles started appearing.

"What the!?" Lamy pressed her face against the glass of the tube, lips curling into a grin of delight and worry. "She's reacting quite violently! It's a little exciting; I want to see where this goes! This is the first reaction she's had in weeks!"

"I'm sure you know who I am by now, so I will spare the introductions. All I wish for you to know is that THIS time, my plot will reign supreme. The return of Fiore's End, and I will not be stopped this time! I've captured all the known dragon slayers in the country from Fairy Tail, White Eclipse, Sabertooth, and everything in between. And as you can expect, I've loaded them into a special cannon…each one serving as their own power source. Flames…Sky…"

As the list continued, Cynthia's reaction came more and more violently, especially when the sky part was mentioned. The tube was starting to become red! "W-Whoa! Whoa…!" Lamy immediately moved her face from the glass, her skin sizzling. "The tube is overheating! This isn't good anymore; she's not ready to be released yet!"

"Ah, geez. Kids these days sure are excitable, aren't they…" Silver placed his hand on the tube, his palm emitting a cold frost that silently combated Cynthia's growing flames. Slowly, the tube started to return to its normal color and Sliver waved his hand around a bit. "My, those are some feisty flames we have there. It actually burnt a little."

"I'd appreciate you not taking this so lightly!" Lamy huffed. "Marde-sama will kill me if this girl doesn't recovery properly!" She then began banging on the glass like a child. "Be quiet and simmer down!"

"Lamy." Marde appeared once again, causing the little lamb to freeze up and straighten up. "How is she faring?"

"W-Well…" Lamy glanced at Cynthia who did seem to calm down. By now, Aiden's speech was over. "She had a little episode a few minutes ago…I believe her consciousness is beginning to reform, but it may be a while until it's 100%."

"This girl is quite a special case, Marde-sama…" Kyouka bowed before Marde.

"Indeed." Marde nodded in agreement before walking to the tube, glancing at Lamy. "Drain the tube."

To that, Lamy's eyes widened. While she did some physical changes to Cynthia, she wasn't willing to risk her mental state when she wasn't complete yet! "W-What…!? M-Marde-sama…I don't mean to be rude, but you could seriously damage her mental health! I don't think she's ready for…"

"Does Marde Geer have to repeat himself?" Marde's gaze shifted to Lamy. It was that 'I'm almost irritated' stare that was more than enough to get any demon within the guild to respect any and all demands he made. Without another word, Lamy did as she was told and drained the tube, allowing it to tube. Cynthia's body slumped forward, held in place by the strange tentacles wrapped around her arms, chest, and lower half. Eyes were partially open, though her expression was a dull lifeless one.

"…." Cynthia spoke not a word. It was entirely possible she wasn't even conscious, just like what Lamy was afraid of.

Marde then placed his hand on Cynthia's forehead with a slight grin. "You are now an etherious demon who sides with Tartarus. Your family, Fairy Tail, has abandoned you and left you to die. Your name is no longer Cynthia…you are Rose. And as a member of Tartarus, I will give you one important mission. You are to kill Wendy Marvell, are we clear? After all…she was the one who stood there and watched that Wizard Saint end your life, and she did nothing to stop it. In fact, Fairy Tail did nothing for you. They abandoned you. But I, Marde Geer of Tartarus, saved you."

"My name…is Rose…" Cynthia…no, Rose, repeated slowly…lifelessly. Her blue eyes steadily shifted to a crimson shade during this process. "My mission…kill Wendy Marvell and destroy Fairy Tail…"

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Next Time: A Man Mad With Power.