The plant mage thought about what Zy said for a moment, trying to determine whether he was lying or telling the truth. After the brief pause, Mary smiled again. "If you want to have fun with your magic, just make sure you don't victimize anyone," she said simply, absolutely confident that her answer was the solution to Zy's problem. With that out of the way she looked across the guild hall. "Well if Pollux wants us to head to Blue Pegasus, we should get going. You can ride with me if you want, but if you're afraid of heights then perhaps it would be better for you to take the train." After that brief offer, Mary skipped across the guild hall and outside into Magnolia.

Once in the fresh air, she took a moment for a deep breath before holding her right hand out to her side. After a motion of lifting it upwards, a small green plant began to sprout on the ground underneath. It rapidly grew in size, shaping itself into a large magnolia leaf. The vivid green leaf continued growing until it was nearly two meters long before the stem detached from the cobblestone and it began hovering. The pedestrians in the street briefly marveled at Mary's creation as the mage herself simply sat down toward the front, letting her legs dangle off the side just above the cobblestone. Expecting Zy to be behind her, she turned her head to face him with a grin. "You comin' or not?"

---

Akal had noticed something as he walked. Many of the similar figures he had noticed earlier were, in fact, too similar. It was as if they were the same person. Akal found that strange. He wondered what they would taste like; probably bland and tasteless, but there was a chance that they would also taste exotic. But he had already wasted enough time here for personal gain. It was time to actually gather flesh, bones, and souls for Ishak. He hadn’t picked up the bones he had left in the alley way, mostly because he had nothing to hold them with. He had expected Venn to take care of that, but Venn just sat there on the rooftop, staring at the ground below. Why had he come along anyways? He felt like an older brother that “supervises” a younger brother, who is doing all the work. While Akal respected Venn, things like this did agitate him. So, instead of collecting the bones himself, Akal wandered back to the cultist on the bench, sitting next to him.

The cultist, the one with the mask, was doing something. Akal looked at whatever it was he was doing, a hint of curiosity made evident by the way that Akal’s head was tilted and how he stared at it. He watched for a time, noticing how focused the cultist was. He leaned in close and whispered to the cultist. “Bones. Alley. Under rubble. Grab them. Bring back.” Akal said, quickly, before returning back to staring at the thing in the cultist’s hands. It was fascinating. What magic was the cultist using? Did it have any offensive applications? It was very neat. Akal continued to stare on with childlike wonder and soon he drifted into the recesses of his own mind.

Akal wasn’t the only one fascinated by this. Some of the other personalities residing within his mind calmed down, relieving the pressure from behind his eyes. Things like this managed to calm him. His hands shook, but he did not notice and did not care. He sat far enough away from the cultist that his shaking hands would not bother him. While Akal focused intently on the task at the cultist’s hands, he felt himself slipping, mentally that is. Reasserting dominance and control, he forced himself away from the cultist. Standing up, he walked into another direction entirely, much to the dismay of the personalities who were also focused on the cultist’s task. It was strange, they were deprived of their senses, but something compelled them to focus. It was, odd, to say the least.

The direction he had chosen to wander was one chosen in a near-panic. It was not thought through, one might say that it was chosen at random, but that is not the truth. It was chosen because of Akal’s subconscious attitude. He was drawn to the direction that seemed to lead towards the place where he had been forced to abandon his meal. It seemed to haunt him. He hoped that the body might still be there, abandoned, but he knew that this would not be the case. This was probably not a good idea, but it was made in a panic. Decisions made during a panic were hardly good ones.

Just as he suspected, there was no abandoned body. But he thought he saw another of the all-too-similar visitors. He did not like these visitors. They were probably bland and tasteless. Like cardboard. He was suspicious of them. They looked too similar. He did not like it one bit. So, he turned again, moving in a direction that was, again, chosen in a panic. This time, he found himself wandering towards the heavily-armored figure digging holes. He would not panic so much around that one. It was probably disgusting. He would not be compelled to eat while it was around. It would give him time to think, maybe come up with a plan. Akal sat on a bench near the armored figure, staring at him. He was both repulsed and fascinated. What was it in those boxes? Why was this armored figure digging holes? Akal stared, his head tilted, lost once again in thought. He remembered the last time he saw a figure like this. It was offered forth as a sacrifice. It had betrayed him, it had betrayed Venn, and it had betrayed Ishak. When it was offered forth, it looked delicious. But when it was accepted, it became disgusting. It was not edible. It reminded Akal of lutefisk. Just the thought of the stuff caused Akal to grow angry. Maybe it was the bitter taste of betrayal? Maybe it was the fact that it was embalmed? Regardless, Akal stayed away from meats encased in metal. It repulsed him. This one was no different. Akal hated just looking at it. But he did not feel hungry. It gave him time to think.

Almost night fall. Close. So close. He could feel it in his gut, which was beginning to growl, as if it were begging for food. It was impressive, really, Akal ate all the time, and yet he gained almost no weight. He blinked. Off topic. Off track. Think. Think. Ishak didn’t care how the meat tasted. He needed it, but he didn’t want it, he had said to Akal once. Akal needed lots of meat. Where could he get lots of meat, quickly, without much risk? Akal tilted his head to his left side, a symbol of his anger. Shake. Shake. Shake. The noise distracted him. Akal sat on his hands to stop the noise. Then he started to swing his feet. It was childlike, but something that helped him focus. Restaurant? Close, but no. Inn? No. Bar? Maybe. But those places had lots of people. That could be a threat, especially since Venn insisted on standing on rooftops instead of helping Akal harvest.

The streets were probably safest. Dark. Easy to run in the event of trouble. But that’s where he had been striking most frequently. They would suspect it, surely. Akal looked back up at the armored figure, who seemed to be humming something under his breath. A hymn, maybe? It sounded similar to a hymn Akal had once heard, but even then, it might not have actually been a hymn. That’s what the chanter had called it, anyways. That gave Akal an idea. A church, maybe? Or whatever the equivalent was here. Akal didn’t know what this town had. It was a foreign town. He’d have to look around. But what if it was empty? He could probably use it to hide his “crops”, if that were a case, so he could easily drag them all back.

What else was there? Bars would be a good place to target. Drunkards weren’t good at fighting. But they had numbers. Restaurants also had lots of people. Inns were the worst he had thought of, but also the best. It had drunkards, numbers, and sleeping victims. But, some of those numbers were sober and coherent. They could hurt him. Maybe after he had spent some time as the Reaver he would attempt that. For now, he would wait a little longer. He was content on this bench, at least for a while. The armored figure continued its work as he sat. It had not noticed him yet. Akal looked on with a look of repulsion and curiosity in the shape of his eyes and the way his head was tilted. What was it doing, he wondered.

Haust took off his headphones and looked behind him to see Yukiko. He had a small smile on his face when he seen her. His magic aura was rising slightly, but only because he was a 2nd generation Dragon slayer. With a heavy yawn, he would close his eyes and diminish he magic slowly. " You and me are both new to the guild yes? Well, if you ever need a partner for anything, I will help you out if you need it. Until then............" He walks up real close to her and pokes her nose. "Tag. You have to pick the next mission we go on since I can't do A Class or S Class yet." He would laugh and begin walking towards Fairy Tail. He had no ambition to get in a transportation, nor did he want to fly with Yukiko. One because of dragon slayers all have motion sickness; two because he really didn't like to fly.

" So how old are you Yukiko? What's your magic other then flying? Most importantly.......... When do you think we are going to eat?" He would walk with his hands behind his head, blazing questions left and right. Not because he really wanted to know about her, but to figure out what to do with time. He wasn't boastful about it, he just was more of a loner in his past days then someone of a team member. His headphones were blaring some scenic music by Adrian Von Ziegler, something that brought a more peaceful nature to the walk. Music seemed to be the only thing that kept Haust from his truly energetic side. Fildrek's music actually was the source of his sanity it would seem, because there has been mention that it is his way to control the dragon Lacrimas.

His dark blue eyes would watch the sky most of this walk back as him and Yukiko would talk, until finally he would bring up the money. " Well, I only need 25,000 jules to rent a place for the month and eat, so the rest can be yours to deal with as you please. I know I did most of the work, but there isn't much I need in the world other then some peace, and fun." He would be smiling the whole way as he talked about this, his eyes seemingly stuck on clouds. " Maybe a mission where we find treasure would be fun, or even discover a new creature. I don't know. I just want something fun." He would turn to walk backwards so he could look at Yukiko when he talked about the new mission, it seemed he had little worries about himself at the time being.

---

Rucks leant back as the cooling finished, nothing much was needed for this part of the operation. He tapped each of the vials onto the bench. They smashed and left only the newly formed iron in his hands. He daren't risk using observance on this incase the iron crumbled and ruined his efforts. As he did this he was interrupted. Rucks hated being interrupted. Maybe it was because of the concentration his magic took. Luckily for the person interrupting him it was Akal, issuing an order. Typical, Rucks tried to escape the monastery for some peace and quiet and he got dragged into work.

Bones? Why did Akal need bones? He'd heard that Akal was a cannibal, why would he have a need for them? He would have asked him this if he hadn't left quickly. Certainly a peculiar person. He sighed as he stood up, back alleys were cold. The cold annoyed him too.

Luckily it only took three back alleys to find the bones in question. Although Rucks didn't particularly want to carry them in his satchel. Too messy. He came up with a far more interesting idea however, all he had to do was hide bones in the rubble. He set to work. Splitting rubble in half, hollowing it with his magic. As soon as that was done all it took was placing the bones inside the rubble and sealing it up.

Quantum magic was certainly useful. Now all Rucks had to do was carry the rubble to Akal, there were some bones which didn't fit inside the rubble, there was too much to carry so he settled for three large stones. The smaller bones he couldn't carry were placed inside his magic jar. Larger ones didn't particularly fit in his bag so he had to leave them behind. Only two or three were still in the Alley though. Rucks hummed to himself, quite pleased with his solution to Akals task as he began to leave the Alley. Although, he wondered where Venn was. He hadn't seen him with Akal on the bench. Perhaps he was hiding?

Vendrick continued to dig. The reason why he continued to do so was escaping him. All he knew was the contents of the boxes. As he continued to dig, his old ears kept on hearing something. Shivering, shaking, scratching, scuttling, and slicing. These sounds seemed to echo in his mind, and armour. He stopped whispering the hymn. What was that sound? Vendrick could barely hear these, but their near-silent echo reminded him of something. Perhaps something he had forgotten? That didn't matter. What did was how the noise continued. It was a pain. The sounds seemed to bring back a memory. A disgusting memory that Vendrick had forgotten.

The memory was that of when he was a child. An empty field? No... It wasn't empty. It was filled with corpses and fire. Many people were there. They weren't helping Vendrick. They pushed him aside, and tore the armour off of the carcasses. They hadn't even buried the bodies. The child Vendrick had no opinion on this, but the much older Vendrick was wrought with disgust. What a blatant disrespect for the dead.

Vendrick wanted to puke. He couldn't. He just had to finish his job. He remembered why he had to bury the boxes. Everything that had died must be buried. That was the teaching of the pious path. The path that Paete followed. Vendrick continued to hear the noises. It filled him with disgust. He hated the sound. He needed to stop the sound. The sound was horrid. The sound brought back those types of memories. He quickly tore the spear off of its harness that rested on Vendrick's back, and threw it towards the noise. It had not hit anything living, but a single wall. As soon as it struck, a bright flash of light illuminated the area, followed by a huge BANG. This would no doubt draw attention, but Vendrick didn't care. It stopped the noise. At least, for a while.

Phoebe stood near the entrance of Magnolia. This was the place her old friend in the R&D department had told her to visit. Much to her annoyance, however, he forgot to specify exactly what she was supposed to do here. There's this place where you can make a lot of friends! I know you must be lonely after doing nothing but travelling for three years, sop I figured that you might want to find a place to settle down! - that was exactly what he said, word-per-word. Was there any mention of exactly where that place was? Nope. Not at all. Phoebe sighed. Well, at least he had tried his best to help her; it can't have been easy to have tracked her down all the way in the middle of nowhere after three years. She'd try to do as he'd asked and 'settle down", whatever that could mean.

The acclaimed Empress of Light stepped into the city and ran what she knew about it through her head to kill time: "Magnolia has a population of 60,000 inhabitants, and is a merchant city that has been prosperous in Magic since the ancient era. Such reputation was supported by the fact that the town houses the strongest Guild in Fiore, Fairy Tail (this claim is of course, highly debatable, however there is no denying it's reputation is well deserved). Magnolia is located in the southeastern part of Fiore, with the sea and Hargeon Town not too far to the south, a series of minor built-up areas (namely Onibus, Kunugi, Oshibana and Clover Town) linked to it by a railway line to the north, and the state boundary with the nation of Bosco to the east. Magnolia possesses a large built-up area, extending over a large, rectangular surface to the shores of Lake Sciliora. Splitting the town vertically and horizontally is a series of large roads . . ."

She would have continued doing so until she came upon the main street. The hustle-bustle of people at work tended to cause her to stop thinking too much and observe more. Speaking of work . . .

Phoebe opened her wallet (an uncharacteristically adorable rabbit-plushy that opened at the mouth) and looked at the pitiful state inside. She was down to 4000 J, barely enough for a room and three days of food. She needed to find a job soon. Sadly, it looked like most of the jobs here were handled by the guilds, most notably Fairy Tail, rather than waiting for someone to take a job a the city hall. She sighed, shrugged, and thought she might as well try and see if there was anything available anyway. She activated Edict of the Empress with a wave of her hand, and bent the light around her: Nobody could see her. They could feel her magic, but it would absolutely be impossible to spot her unless one somehow blocked out the sun. The reason for her cloaking was quite simple: There was no way she was waiting in line to get a job.

After witnessing the rather pathetic attempt to impress with bees, Vero silently got up and made his way to the bar, where he ordered a martini: the only alcoholic beverage he ever drinks, though one he had grown quite fond of. He drank it slowly, savoring the flavor as he twirled an olive toothpick around the glass with his pinky. His last mission was rather dull, and he felt the need to do something more exciting. Maybe fighting a decently good wizard? or exploring a cave to rescue someone trapped?

His thoughts were cut short when he heard a voice behind him. It was clearly the master's. Pollux started off by announcing a pair of new guild members. One a fragile looking angel and the other simply seaweed. He made the air sparkle around the angel but otherwise kept to himself, quiety sipping on his martini. Then Master Pollux went on to talk about his.... retirement? Vero spat out a tiny spray of martini in surprise, looking around nervously to see if anyone had seen his embarrassing reaction. While he'd never considered Pollux to be much more than a fatherly figure to the guild, the news still upset him. Sipping the last of his martini, he gave a swish of the hand as a magical seal appeared at his feet. His body shimmered, then melted away as he turned invisible. Since the guild was in an uproar over this news, it would be a good time to take on a mission, as Vero abhorred loud ruckus.

Staying close to the walls, so as to minimize the chance of someone bumping into him, he snuck over to the request board where a mission had caught his eye. Catching a bank robber. Apprehending had always been a bit of a specialty of Vero's, and the reward was quite nice. He reached for the paper, but stopped when his ears picked up Pollux's voice talking about Blue Pegasus. That piqued Vero's interest. Had his mentor not spoken so highly of Fairy Tail, Vero would have joined Blue Pegasus instead, for it had a reputation for being home to many a grand gentlemen. Still maintaining his invisibility, he snuck up behind the ones Pollux was talking to, which happened to be Zy, the same idiot who had failed miserably at swooning his poor azalea, and the wizard Mary, whom he called Daffodil. The two had begun bickering amongst each other, which Vero only sighed at. He put a hand on Zy's shoulder, and cancelled his invisibility spell.

"Now, Zy..." Vero spoke in a very practiced and refined soothing voice. "This won't work with just the two of you. We both know that. You'll need my help on this mission. Especially considering how you are with the ladies..." He released his hand from Zy's shoulder, bringing a finger in front of Zy's face. A menacing-looking hornet was perched on the finger, with glowing red eyes. It crawled around until it turned to face Zy, when it froze, giving a very menacing gaze for an insect.

The walk back to Magnolia was a pleasant one. The sun hid away between a curtain of clouds that slowly drifted across the skies towards the horizon. Yukiko loved the idea of the horizon, and always found it curious when people referenced going beyond it. Was that really possible? No, of coarse not. The horizon would just move with you. It'd be like chasing your own tail. The thought was rather amusing, but also made Yukiko somewhat sad. She started to regret settling down in Fairy Tail, for she believed herself to be just like that horizon that so many sought after. She needed to keep moving, always being two steps ahead of whatever it was that pursued her. On the other hand, there was a strange curiosity that plagued her regarding the creature that hunted her. Yukiko wanted to know who they were, and why they were after her. Ever since she had awoken in the forest a week ago, the only thing she had ever known was that she was being chased. She shuddered in fear, wondering when the time will come that she would need to fly away again to save herself. She was pulled out of her thoughts quickly by a bombardment of questions from Haust. She laughed a little, he was definitely scrambling to start a conversation of some kind. Yukiko appreciated it.
"I'm only 12, Mister Haust. My flying isn't magic either, it's just something I can do. I'm learning windy magic though!" She fluttered her wings, pushing herself off the ground a few feet so that she could be at eye level with Haust. She gently moved to position herself to face him. "I don't know nearly as much as you do. You were incredible back there." The little girl couldn't help but admire him for what he had accomplished back at the ocean, and when he told her that they could continue to work together it made her happy.

When Haust brought up food, Yukiko could feel her stomach start to grumble. She made a quick landing, folding her wings behind her before continuing to walk. It wasn't safe flying on an empty stomach.
"I'm feeling really hungry as well," She was craving custard and fish, although probably not at the same time. Actually now that she thought about it, yes, she definitely wanted both. She looked around, and in the distance she saw a small cafe. Pollux had given her a little money for the trip which she hadn't spent, so what better time to spend it? "Mister Haust, look! Can we go? Please?" She clapped her hands together, pleading to the dragon slayer.

-------------------------

Different people leave different impressions, and at the Fairy Tail Guild this is no exception. The presence of power that surrounds Reaper and Mary, the showmanship flare that surrounds Vero, and even someone like Sanguin presented somewhat of a ferocious presence that all the guild members could not help but recognize. Indeed everyone had their own presence, and Victoria was no exception. While she would never be feared as an all powerful mage, or for any wild streak, it was of no question that the people of Fairy Tail respected Victoria. Their respect and admiration was something that she held most dear to her, possibly more than her beloved violin; which she carried in her gorgeous white case that had been generously given to her by a fan one night after a performance. Everywhere she went it seemed people loved to do little favors for her. Not that she didn't appreciate it, but it was certainly something she was not used to growing up in her home country. While her refugee story had been used by her manager as a means to promote her, it was no doubt that she was still particularly sensitive to the whole thing. Unfortunately the Magic Council of Fiore seems to have very little interest in foreign affairs, and so Victoria has continued to live her life here; blind to what has been happening in the place where she grew up. Not that it mattered. All of her family and friends were murdered before her eyes. Even now she still feared the Rune Knights, just because their appearance reminded her of the soldiers from back then. Although she had no reason to fear them, since they had been nothing but kind to her since she arrived. One of them even approached her after a performance bearing a wedding ring, professing his love for her. It would have been a nice gesture if she had actually known who he was. He was rather heartbroken that she declined, but it couldn't be helped. Walking through the streets of Magnolia, it wasn't long before people started to halt their daily lives just to talk to her, some even brandishing gifts.
"Victoria, you simply must try these. Freshly baked just for you"
"Can I have your autograph?"
"My daughter loves your music, we have tickets to your next show!"
"Can you play something for us?" Victoria smiled, starting to feel herself blushing a little from all the attention. It was something she would never get used to. She placed her hands over her heart and took a deep breath before talking to the crowd.
"My deepest apologies. I appreciate you all taking time out of your day to greet me, but I am unfortunately rather late as it is and I should not keep Master Pollux waiting." At her words, the crowd released sighs and groans of disappointment. Dispersing away from her as quickly as they came. It was rather saddening. They claimed to love her, but as soon as it became clear that she didn't have time for them they were suddenly disinterested. No matter. She knew there was one place where they would be happy to see her, famous or not.

-------------------------

Zy jumped as soon as Vero placed his hand on his shoulder. That tricky bastard needed to stop sneaking up on people. He quickly turned around, trying to mask his surprise with a grin.
"Oh, hey Vero. Uh, I wanted to um, apologise I guess for earlier." This was really awkward, and to make it worse Vero seemed intent on gloating on his screw up. He would have yelled at him and ran away again, but Mary was right behind him and Zy didn't think that she would let him get away with that. Zy stared at the insect on Vero's finger, admiring the detail. He smiled, punching Vero in the arm.
"What do you mean not good with the ladies? Can't you see who I'm talking to. This is Mary Boyce," He put extra emphasis on her name, "You can't really get much better." As he spoke, the guild halls doors gently swung open to reveal a young lady with long, blonde hair tied up into two ponytails walk in. Her elegant, pink dress fluttered behind her and matched her beautiful violin case perfectly. When Victoria entered the guild, she was met by a loud greeting from several of the members; a few even running up to her and hugging her. Victoria had been gone for almost three months on a trip to the Capital of Fiore for a private performance for the King. It was by far her most important performance and one that the Guild hoped she would succeed in, as having the King regard Fairy Tail in good favor was a rather opportune situation. Zy wanted to go up and greet her, but the only thing he could manage was blushing like a tomato and turning towards Mary.
"Mary quick, how's my hair look? Are my teeth clean?" He clenched his teeth in front of Mary, insisting that she inspect them despite how strangely uncomfortable this must have been. Zy's little crush on Victoria was known throughout the Guild, but no one really cared. Everyone just passed it off as him going after a celebrity, but to him it was much more than that. He was only a kid when Victoria joined the guild. A frightened refugee who could barely speak english. They'd grown up as close friends, but when she started becoming more well known for her music, they stopped talking as much.

Victoria smiled at the warm greeting from her fellow guild mates, but quickly pushed through them. She insisted that she needed to speak with the master at once. Pollux was waiting on a bar stool, talking to Alicia about the guilds finances. She coughed gently, bringing their attention to her.
"Oh, Victoria. You're finally back. A month late. That must have been one hell of an encore." The guild master joked, but awkward expression on Victoria's face caused his eyes to widen in shock. "You're kidding me. He kept you there for an extra month?" Victoria giggled, brushing her hair out of her face.
"His majesty was most pleased with my performance that he insisted I stay there at perform for the Queen's birthday celebration." Victoria took out a cheque and handed it to the master. Alicia looked like she was about to cry when she saw it. "He paid quite handsomely. I have no need for so much money, so I figured I would help the guild out a little."
"Your contribution is much appreciated. So I assume you're just here to say hello, and then you'll be off again for another month long performance?"
"Actually, I'm taking a little break for now. I'd like to complete some requests. I am a wizard of Fairy Tail first and foremost, afterall." Pollux nodded in approval, and with that Victoria walked away only to find Zy purposely looking away from her. She hoped he wasn't mad. Quickly approaching the group, she gave Mary a large hug accompanied by a fit of giggles.
"Mary it's been so long, how have you been?" She looked up at Vero and Zy and winked at the two. "Have you been keeping these two dashing gentleman in line?"

"I can hear you two perfectly..." Mary grumbled, clearly directed toward Zy and Vero's conversation. While she considered herself a smart woman, she never could quite figure out why men were so strange sometimes. The green-haired mage let out a sigh and put her hand to her temple. "And realistically I can do it all by myself," she continued muttering. Before any more complaints could escape her, Zy approached in a panic asking about his appearance. "Uh..." was all Mary let out, clearly confused by his sudden change of persona. Upon hearing Victoria's voice over the din of the Guild she realized exactly what his problem was.

Even knowing what he was talking about, Mary didn't exactly feel like answering his questions. They were plain awkward, even with justification. Instead, she simply sighed and shook her head. "You're on your own buddy," she said jokingly, pushing him back slightly to ensure he was at least arm's reach away from her. Before much else happened, Victoria approached their group and immediately gave Mary a hug, which Mary returned all the same. "I wouldn't exactly call them dashing..." Mary responded first, giving Vero and Zy a quick and suspicious glance before returning her attention to Victoria. "But I've been doing perfectly fine. Alicia is a bit mad at me because I have been collecting more plants than money lately, but we're about to go on a mission to fix that anyways. You must've been busy though, what with the King and all." Anticipating that Victoria may join the party, Mary swept her hand behind herself, making the levitating leaf even larger.

Phoebe moved through the crowd of mages clambering inside the Town Hall, the one place where none guild-affiliated mages could get missions. Each and everyone was busy snatching up a job application and handing it over to the counter. The people here were either mages that were just booted out of their guild, or people who just didn't do well with guilds in general. Phoebe was neither; she was fine with guilds and working with people, it just so happened that she didn't have a chance to join one in recent years. Most of the guilds she came across were to small and had little access to higher paying jobs, and Phoebe feared that by joining them her quest for knowledge would degenerate into a stop. Perhaps that was a bit rude to them, but it was true.

Quickly snatching up the closes notice she could, Phoebe weaved out of the crushing mob. Her invisibility was useful for slipping past lines, but once she got through that and into the crowd itself, it was largely useless. Well, it was over now anyway. The light mage took a seat nearby and read the mission in her hands:

BOUNTY: Unknown
Reward: 60,000 Jewels
Rank: C
Description: Help Blue Pegasus catch a thief who stole a tome of dark magics from their archives and murdered one of their members.


Reading the contents of the letter, Phoebe nodded to herself. This was a relatively normal job, with the one exception of a guild members death. That could become a problem. Whenever she did missions, she always did so on her terms: the terms being calm and methodical. The members of the guild could get vindictive depending on how close they were to their fallen guild member.

Phoebe sighed. Well, the pay is relatively good anyway, she thought. And the mission rank was rather low, so the chances of job safety parameters being skewed was minimal. She approached the counter. Much to her annoyance, the counter was taller than her. Yes, the counter, as in the table, not the person behind it.

While she was not height conscious, let it be known that Phoebe was extremely peeved of whenever her height got in the way of day-to-day life.

"Excuse me!" she shouted . . . sorta. Phoebe rarely raised her voice above a certain volume, so this could probably count as a shout from her. A startled accountant looked down from the high raised desk and through the glass that normal people usually had no trouble seeing through. She found a tiny Phoebe staring seriously at her.

"Oh, hello little girl, how can we help you?" she asked. Suddenly, she heard something snap and looked around hurriedly for the source. Phoebe glowered. "I. Am. Not. A. Little. Girl," ground out Phoebe, before calming herself. "I am here to inquire about a job, understood?"

The embarrassed looking clerk scratched the back of her head. "I am so sorry for the misunderstanding ma'am, it will not happen again! A-anyway, what was that you said about a job?"

"I'll be taking this one," said Phoebe, handing over the job paper. The accountant nodded and stamped her request. After inquiring where the guild was located, Phoebe exited the building.

For some time now, the real Sanguin had been walking with Ben. Their sojourn in Haven hadn't been a very social one; along with not speaking to any of the locals -which was a foolish choice in retrospect because one might have been able to tell them about the malevolent force threatening the town- they didn't converse with one another. It made for an uncomfortable and excruciatingly boring couple of hours. Finally, with her feet aching, Sanguin decided that she could no longer bear walking.

“Ah!” She plopped down on the ground, leaning against a building. Her armor clanked as she did so, and even though she wore a mask it was obvious she somewhat fatigued and very irritated. “The least these people could do is give us some info about whatever this threat is. I really hate waiting.” She pulled off the mask and watched the dreamy town slide closer to dusk through her own eyes. A bead of sweat trickled onto her nose, and she wiped it off angrily, as if it was responsible for the void of progress. “This just sucks.” She was talking to herself as much as Ben, seeing as for a while the boy had been in a near-catatonic state of inactivity.

After a brief rest, Sanguin hauled herself up to her feet. A slight tug on the edge of her mind made her pause momentarily. She opened her mouth, but decided that Ben wouldn't be very much interested in how one of her copies had been hit by a ball and dispelled, so she promptly shut it again and replaced the crimson wolf mask on her head. The pair resumed their patrol, the Blood Moon Child in the lead once more, harboring the hope that Ben would emerge from his trance should anything unusual happen.

As it so happened, though, exactly such a thing transpired. By now the sun was a semicircle peering over the horizon, taking a quick look over his shoulder and the lands his descent was leaving behind. Sanguin took a moment to try and stare directly at the sun to see if her abilities had somehow developed in such a way to allow her to do so without hurting herself. It took only a couple of seconds to deduct that they had not, and Sanguin squeezed her eyes together to recover. Just then, a dazzling flash erupted two streets over, swiftly followed by a sound of thunder. “Finally!” Exclaimed Sanguin, and without hesitation she produced her shield and scimitar and broke out into a sprint, sure that the disturbance was caused by the threat she had been sent here to investigate. In her exuberance, Ben was all but forgotten.

Vendrick no longer heard the noises. Whatever was causing them must have stopped, ran off, or the loud smash managed to mangle his eardrums. He walked a slow pace to reach his spear. He was tired after all of that shoveling. Once that he was in arms distance, he grabbed the spear. He quickly put the spear back onto its cloth holder placed his back. He brushed off the dust off of the wall with his thick metal gauntlets. It didn't clean very well, but Vendrick let out a quiet "I did good" grunt. He walked back to the holes, the crates, and his shovel. He continued to dig. As he dug more holes for the boxes, he heard something.

Footsteps? Yes. It was definitely someone running. Someone with armour. It was too heavy to not be armour. It got louder and louder. Whatever it was, it was moving towards Vendrick. He continued to shovel up the dirt. He did know one thing at this moment: His hearing wasn't too mangled.

The footsteps became very loud. He saw someone running quickly towards him. They were armoured with a strange set of sword and shield. He quickly grabbed one of the bloody crates, and placed it carefully in the hole. He turned to the runner, who was now in earshot of Vendrick's yelling. "Siwmae!", he belted out. The word had a rather friendly tone, mostly because of its meaning in Vendrick's native tongue.

Haust laughed a bit at the excitement of the little girl. " Windy magic eh? Together we could be a Storm since I have the lightning and water." He would jest but it had some serious tone to it. He would be listening to trap style music as they walked together. He would see her jump for joy at the mention of food. " We can go anywhere you like, I like all food, even lightning is a good source of energy for me." He would burst out in laughter slapping his knee, because he made a Dragon-Slayer joke. He would see the restaurant nearby and nod his head, " You bet we can go. I think I am going to get some lobster. It is one of my favorites." His magic had finally calmed down completely as they would walk into the store. Quickly they would find a booth and have a sit down. He would turn his music off, and order their food for them, just now relaxing after a long walk.

"My magic isn't that incredible just yet, My parent would have to show you how to truly use my magic. However, he can't since I had to make a choice long ago that put him to sleep eternally." He would smile hiding his sadness, but it wasn't a hidden emotion, just one that he didn't need everyone in the room to know. "So yukiko, how did you find fairy tail? To my understanding, me and you come from the outside areas." He knew there was many mysteries in the guild, and he being a slight one at the moment, he was almost ready to make himself known.

A graveyard. Just super. Sanguin's exuberant run slowed to a jog as she approached, less out of fear than out of respect for the place's ominous portent; no matter how powerful she became, Sanguin didn't think she could ever be truly comfortable in the presence of the dead. As she crossed the grass-devoid soil, she cast a glance around for the source of the sudden noise and blinding light. Could it have really come from here?

A word she did not recognize, ejected like a command, reached her from beyond where her mask permitted her peripheral vision to reach. Quickly she turned, weapons now at the ready. All at once she took in the scene: an array of fresh graves, a couple of boxes, and a large man in heavy armor that gleamed crimson in the setting sun. Before anything else, the Blood Moon Child's thoughts turned to combat. From behind the inanimate face of a wolf, she observed the man's armor, physique, and -most especially- his grand spear. If this was the threat that endangered Haven, she did not know that she could take it alone. Ha! She scoffed at the thought. I'm never alone.

Now that her thoughts had slowed down enough, the idea struck her that this warrior might not be her opponent after all. The realization presented a troubling choice: squander the advantage of surprise by holding back and talking to him, or risk beating (or conceivably getting beaten by) an innocent. As much as she hungered for a good fight, she knew that there was only one option for a Fairy Tail wizard.

She adopted a non-threatening stance. “...hello!”

Oshibana Town

"I don't understand what you're so mad about," the black-haired teen grumbled, rubbing the back of his head with one hand and averting his gaze from the middle-aged, bearded man in front of him. "I'm not mad! I'm furious!" the man responded with a gruff voice, stomping his foot for emphasis. "When we asked for Fairy Tail wizards, we didn't expect you two harbingers to show up! Look what you did!" The older man pointed to the left.

Caleb's gaze followed his hand and he turned his head to look at the destroyed building. It appeared to have been a shop of some kind, but now a massive boulder was occupying more space than the shop itself. And, of course, his twin sister Caitlyn was sitting patiently on top of the boulder. "I see your point, but look at what I also did," Caleb retorted with a grin, kicking a seemingly unresponsive man that was already sprawled at his feet. Upon being lightly kicked, he let out a groan of pain. "Knocked him out and caught him, I did. The store was just... uh... what's the word that Alicia uses..." At this point, the fuming man exploded again. "You did more damage than everything that thief stole!"

Caleb looked up to Caitlyn on the rock, who was clearly smiling like she was enjoying herself. Upon making eye contact, she merely shrugged. With a sigh, Caleb looked back at the man. "Sorry the building got crushed. But we did the job we came to do. It's not like you would send a request to Fairy Tail without knowing there would be a risk of something like this happening," Caleb apologized, mostly. He crossed his arms and turned around, which in turn caused Caitlyn to jump down from the boulder and land next to him. "Where do you delinquents think you're going? You need to get this rock off my shop!" The twins stopped and looked at each other, both sporting a grin.

With no warning, the two of them sprung into action. Caleb jumped toward the rock while Caitlyn jumped into the air. A large rock formed around Caleb's fist as he brought it forward into the rock, causing large cracks to appear across the surface. As soon as he finished his attack he jumped out of the way, allowing his sister a clear shot at the weakened boulder. Caitlyn brought her hands together in a clap, sending a swirling blast of air into the boulder. This did the trick and the once-massive stone shattered into many tiny pieces. As the bits of stone sprayed across the block, getting even more attention from passerby than the whole scene already had, what remained of the shop after being crushed by the boulder was now also blown to bits. It was simply a pile of rubble now.

As Caitlyn landed on the ground next to her brother, the shopkeep simply looked at his former shop with a stunned expression. "There, we got rid of the rock," Caleb said, complimented by his sister giving the man a thumbs-up. There was a moment of awkward silence before the rage visibly began to return to the man before them. He began to let out a shout of primal rage, before pointing at the twins. "You brats will pay for this!" he shouted. Caleb made a simple wave of his hand, almost like he was dismissing that idea entirely. "Whatever. We're going to go get our reward from the mayor now." As Caitlyn began to wave goodbye to the man, the twins turned around to see the mayor had actually left the town hall and came to the commotion.

---

Train Ride ; Between Oshibana and Magnolia

"Can't believe they wouldn't pay us," Caleb grumbled, sitting across from Caitlyn in their booth. He had his arms crossed in a comically irritated manner, but Caitlyn was more focused on looking out the window. She raised her left hand and held the palm up, giving a light sweeping motion out with it before placing it on her lap again. "Yeah, I guess it wasn't really a surprise but still. We should've gotten something from it. The guy punched me in the face. I deserve some kind of compensation for my pain and suffering." Now Caitlyn's gaze went to her brother, an irritated and sarcastic glare in her eyes. After staring him down for a moment, she let out a sigh and shook her head. "Whatever. Jokes on them. The mission reward won't cover those repairs anyways. Let's just not tell Alicia or Pollux about this. And definitely not Mary. So don't say a word about it." As Caleb began snickering at his own joke, Caitlyn's left leg shot out, connecting directly into his left shin. Her brother let out a grunt of pain, and grabbed the afflicted area. "C'mon, that was funny."

The person in the armour had responded with a rather friendly greeting. Vendrick realized that whoever this person was, they probably wouldn't have known about his people's small language. He stopped moving towards the armoured figure, and coughed. "Sorry," Vendrick said, "I shod have known zat you don't speak my language." His words were slow. Vendrick did have troubles speaking the language of this country. Each word he spoke was slightly mispronounced due to his accent, but Vendrick still tried to pronounce each word with some accuracy.

The armour that this figure was wearing was much stranger that he had ever thought of. An odd mask seemed inefficient, and the armour of cloth seemed to be not hardy enough. Vendrick didn't like this person's choice of armour, but to each their own.

"Why have you come to zis place?" Vendrick said, his voice much more assertive. He didn't know why someone would even think of coming to this place when it was around. Perhaps it was a guild. Even if it was a guild, Vendrick doubted that they could even find it.

Ben wasn't sure how long he had been out of it. He felt as though the town of Haven cast some sort of sleepy spell over him. He was engaged in his own thoughts so much so he hadn't noticed Sanguine. He hadn't noticed much of anything, really. He just walked, carried by his feet to an unknown destination. With no sign of Reaper, Ben felt as though he and Sanguine were most likely on their own. The exuberant blast of light that the nearby field was so stunning it took Ben a moment before he realized Sanguine had run of without him. Finally, some serious action. I'm glad this town isn't as sleepy as it seems.

Upon arriving at the source of the disturbance Ben could hardly understand where he was. Some strange field with a few freshly dug graves and a large, towering presence in foreign armor. It seemed as though the large presence was attempting to converse with Sanguine. As Ben approached he could make it an accent that was unfamiliar, and definitely foreign. Ben certainly wasn't one to stand oddly by without introducing himself.

"Why have you come to zis place?" the figure asked.

"Hey, we're from the Fairy Tail guild, and this place? This place, is Haven and we are here cause some serious stuff is going down. I honestly could ask you the same question buddy." Ben cracked a playful smile. "So what is it pal? Why are you here mister strange armor guy? And what was up with that loud noise and very bright light?" Ben rested his arm playfully on Sanguines shoulder, shooting a smile at the helmet, hoping whatever was under it was friendly.

---

The ritual was done. Rucks shook his head, it wasn't a ritual. He sounded like some madman cultist, which he supposed he was, but this was in no way a ritual. This was... A task but that was too boring, it was such a shame that he couldn't think of a more interesting term to use for it. He gathered the pile of rubble into his arms. All that was left was dust from what he had gathered, Rucks wouldn't need to see it again as he left the alleyway. What he was met with was an expanse of colour signifying sunset. The sky had begun to grow dark, save for the vast expanse of orange and yellow which claimed the horizon for its own. Haven was much like the horizon. Bathed in an orange tinted light, if it wasn't for the time Rucks might have mistaken it as an Autumn day.

Where was Akal? Hopefully he wouldn't leave before Rucks could deliver the rubble too him. It was heavy, but nothing debilitating. A loud noise sounded, Rucks turned his head with interest, you could say his eyes were wide but his mask hid that. All that showed was the green colour of his Iris and a small amount of the white from his eyes. If anything his interest manifested by the slight gaping of his mouth. What was that sound? Magic? Had Akal gotten into a fight? Rucks would hate to have to wait around for him with this rubble in his arms, so he went to investigate.

His efforts bore no fruits. It was more the rot of old fruits which had been forgotten. Much like those in the orchard of the old man who taught him magic. It took Rucks for those fruits to start being picked again - for training that it. The old man hated what grew in that orchard, it made it easier for him to use for magic. All Rucks found here were stragglers, mages presumably from the loud noise, nothing seemed like it could have made that loud a noise by itself. Unless one of them - who wore armour - managed to topple from the top of a building. These people seemed boring, one of them had yelled at another in a tongue unknown to Rucks. Or maybe he was just mumbling? How was he supposed to know, all he had was hypotheses. Ones that he wasn't keen on proving correct. Hopefully they would just ignore him, maybe Akal was somewhere past them.

Vendrick was upset with this new man who had ran up. His armour strange? That was borderline sacrilege to anyone who followed Paete. He quickly calmed his nerves. "Zis armour is not strange. It is pious." He said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. Vendrick began to answer his questions methodically after his annoyance ended.

"So what is it pal? Why are you here mister strange armor guy?"

"I am here because I vandered here in my travels. I stay here because I am needed to put souls to rest."

"And what was up with that loud noise and very bright light?"

"Only my frustration with ze noise coming from zere," Vendrick said, pointing to the series of alleys beside the house that had a medium-sized hole in it. Nobody was in the house, of course. They had long since vacated this area. "so I threw my spear at it. Ze noise had stopped."

Vendrick began to hear another noise. This time, the noise was quieter. Much quieter. It was unexplainable, too. Like something messing with something that should not be messed with. That noise quickly subsided, and Vendrick began to speak again. "I would prefer if you could help me bury thise boxes. Jus don't look in zem. Especially ze small vones."

Vendrick turned away from them, and walked back to the holes. He began to dig more, each scoop of dirt flying behind him.

Tiny pieces of dirt landed at Ben's feet. The rhythm of the shovel breaking and tossing fresh soil was almost hypnotic. As he contemplated helping this strange knight his thoughts wandered. Coincidence that this guy arrives in Haven same time as some great evil is killing innocent people, doubtful. So Ben came to the conclusion that this guy IS the horror, or knows more than he is letting on, either way Ben figured he should try to make nice.

There were so many boxes. Large ones, and some small, but every one of them felt wrong. The sense Ben received was that this hulking individual knew more about this evil haunting Haven than he did, which was next to nothing. Their shadows stood long on the ground, stretching out as the sun began to sink being the sleepy horizon. Ben drive the head of his shovel into the groom free as the list few hours were being buried.

"So, seems ride of me to help without introducing myself, I'm Ben, and this lovely lady calls herself Sanguine." The darkness began to consume the field as dusk settled upon the strange group. "And it's gettin rather dark, so you have a place to stay? I'm sure we could all grab a few rounds at the local tavern and crash there, unless you prefer calling in the great outdoors. Either way, I feel as though it is in our best interest to aid rather in solving what seems to be a common goal. Care to grab a drink and maybe fill us in?"