Main Story [Kingslayer Arc]

[BlackknifeVane]

Bailey O'Hara





Bailey woke up with his head pounding. Last thing he remembered, Marcella had electrocuted him and Asher started carrying him. Sometime after that, he fell completely unconscious and woke up in a white room, his regular jacket and boots replaced by a weird hospital gown and a pair of really comfy socks. Bailey resolved to keep the socks after this, they were way too soft to just give up. He pulled off the wires that were attached to him, and the heart monitor at his bedside flatlined.


As he had never really seen a heart monitor, or a hospital for that matter, Bailey looked around his room and saw a little tray of food, specifically with a small cup of sweet smelling custard. The cup said pudding on the side, and when he took his first bite he fell in love. He inhaled the cup of chocolate pudding, and immediately wanted more. Nearly breaking down the door of his room, he walked down the hallway looking for more pudding. There were some doctor guys telling him to "go back to your room" and "you shouldn't be walking" but he didn't care. Nothing made Bailey feel better quite like a nap, and from the way he was feeling he definitely took a pretty long one. After a few more minutes of wandering, he found a nurse walking down the hall with a cart giving food to patients. Bailey saw that the stuff on this cart was for the people in the rooms who were looking pretty injured. He needed more though, so he asked.


"Excuse me, where do you keep all the pudding stuff?"


"excuse me?" she replied, confused.


"the sweet stuff. The chocolatey pudding custard stuff." Bailey had gotten very close to her unintentionally...he was just too excited to get his hands on more of the sweet stuff.





"we keep it in the fridge in the kitchen...? Just get away from me I have to get back to work."





"The kitchen, eh? Alright pudding, I will see you soon enough."





Bailey walked further down the hall and found a set of stairs. He must have been pretty high up, because the stairs extended a while down. It would be too much work to climb down them all, so Bailey just increased his density and dropped down to the bottom. When he landed, although there was a pretty decent sized crash and a crater in the floor, the structure was entirely sound, so Bailey just meandered through the building until he found the cafeteria, where there were people serving food. He figured the pudding would be in the kitchen, but to get in there he would need to be quiet. Quiet as a mouse. He lowered his density so he was absolutely silent, and crept around the workers in the hospital. Growing up in the woods, he had lots of practice not getting spotted by things. Normally it meant death, but in this instance the stakes were infinitely higher. It was pudding or death. He waited until the door was clear and crept into the kitchen, looking for the fridge. To his left, he saw a group of cooks looking over at him suspiciously, and Bailey looked around for a distraction. To his right, he saw a rack with a chefs coat, and thinking on his feet he put it on and walked further into the kitchen, trying not to draw too much attention. Unfortunately for Bailey, someone noticed that he wasn't wearing pants, and came to ask him what was going on.


"Hey, what are you doing here? Who are you? Where are your pants?" asked the chef, perplexed.


Bailey looked around for an answer to his questions, and came up with nothing. He backed up slowly and felt the cold metal hit his hands. It was the fridge! He just needed to get in there.


"Oh would you look at that, I left them at home...isn't that great? Hehehehe...look over there what's burning on the stove?!"





The chef turned around to look at the stove, and Bailey leaned back, nervous and beyond mortified. He wished he could just melt through the wall. He closed his eyes and suddenly, he took a step back. And another. And another. When he opened them, he was inside a cold room, vegetables and meat all around him.


"what the hell? Did I just go through the door? But I didn't smash it? What is happening?!?!"





Dozens of questions buzzed through Bailey's mind, until he found the boxes. An entire wall covered in boxes labeled pudding. Stars filled Bailey's eyes as he took down the first box. It was taped shut extra tightly, and it was filled to the brim with delicious pudding. There was a problem though. If Bailey broke the box, he would break the pudding. He had to be extra gentle, but how could he reach into the box without breaking it? An idea came to his mind, and he concentrated all his density magic into his hand, making it less dense than the box. He reached in, and his hand phased right through. When he pulled it out, he held a cup of beautiful chocolate pudding. He didn't even need a spoon, he just dove right in. And so, Bailey pulled each pudding cup out of the box individually, and ate all of its rich, sugary, thick, chocolatey deliciousness. After about seventy cups...Bailey began to feel woozy, both from exhaustion of using his magic, and eating seventy cups of chocolate pudding. So, with a chocolate covered face, Bailey O'Hara of Sabertooth fell asleep after eating seventy cups of pudding, and learned a new ability in the process. Marcella and Asher were probably gonna be mad at him for not sharing, but he couldn't help himself, pudding was just too good.

 

[Lexielai]

Vaiya Kandosii

“Alyssa!” Vaiya screamed.


She came running down the halls of the hospital towards her temporary guildmaster, arms waving hysterically.


“Something terrible’s happened!” she said in between heavy breaths. The blonde, though tired, was full of desperate energy.


It took her a moment to compose herself. “They’ve taken Isanna,” she said. Her eyes watered at the thought.


“I was checking on Onii-chan when I saw...her...Sora,” Vaiya said. Her expression turned into a snarl at the thought of that woman. “She was bleeding. A lot. And then she-she…”


Vaiya fell onto her knees. “She took Isanna!”


The young Celestial Spirit mage was a new member of Fairy Tail, but the rambunctious and energetic guild had grown on her. Despite the short span of time she felt a real connection with it and its members. They were her family.


It tore her apart to think of what terrible things Sora could be doing to one of her dear friends. Or whether Isanna was even still aliv- no, she didn’t want to think about it.


From the bed nearby, Felix spoke calmly, “That is a terrible thing, Vaiya.”


He looked tired, and much more old. “We can have look around, see if we can still find her. I wouldn’t get your hopes high right now though; chances are they’re long gone.”


Felix sighed. “Our best chance is to go to Crocus and find Sora before she strikes again. We know she’ll be there. All we need to do is catch her, and then we can find Isanna.”


His body may have been battered and exhausted, but Felix’s eyes lit with the seething fire Fairy Tail was famous for. “Find Isanna,” he commanded, addressing all his Fairy Tail kin nearby. “Bring her home.”





@Arkytior @Peaceswore @shadowdude505

 

[Refaulted]

Kingslayer: Act 2




The Redfox departed that evening, rising up into the sky to vanish among clouds lit by blood-red sunset. Barring the wounded guildmasters, all who had fought at Blue Pegasus were on-board; squeezed into twin dormitories towards the aft of the airship. The journey was long, dull,and cramped. The Redfox did not fly so much as lurch through the sky, its lacrima-powered engines emitting a constant, hoarse whine which was inescapable. The number of mages on board and the sheer quantity of ethernano that accompanied them apparently "disrupted the ships core systems". The more cynical mages suggested that the Redfox was simply junk.


They arrived in Crocus after three days, the Redfox settling down on the asphalt of Rune-Knight HQ with a crunch. The mages disembarked into an atmosphere of calm which seemed at odds with the roaring noise beyond the perimeter wall.


"Oust the mages!" shouted an enraged chorus of voices. Men, women, and children alike had formed a horde outside the building, some holding protest signs and others tools they had on hand.


From above the crowd seemed to extend for blocks on end. Thousands of people were here. Gathered into this one place.


A regiment of Rune Knights had formed a human wall just outside of headquarters. They held riot shields and stun batons, struggling to hold back the swarm of angry protesters.





"Get the hell out of here!" screamed a voice in the crowd.





"Yeah, you mages cause nothing but trouble!" Another chimed in.





Several pushed hard against the Rune Knight defense, but the Magic Council's soldiers wouldn't give up. The line was held, barely, but the protesters only got angrier.





"What the hell makes you mages think you can do whatever the hell you want?"





Meanwhile, inside headquarters, a woman sighed. "Ignore them," she said, drawing the attention of the new arrivals.





She had long blonde hair tied back into a ponytail, plump red lips, and sharp green eyes beneath a pair of simple, but classy, glasses.





"Attention!" she called out. "My name is Laura Tempest. As you know, a serial killer is on the loose in Crocus. Before the late Chairman's unfortunate death, myself and my partner here were put in command of the operation to catch her."





She stepped aside to leave the spotlight to another man. This man was dressed in simple, but professional clothing. His blue hair was a bit messy, leaving his appearance to be a bit inconsistent. After the word "partner," he stepped forward to introduce himself.





"My name is Jason Salscion. It's a pleasure to meet you all. I look forward to working with you to bring justice to this 'Kingslayer,'" he declared. At that, he gave a very slight bow, making it quite obvious that he was exceptionally polite.





After that gesture, Jason continued, "We need all the help we can get, as Kingslayer is a very real threat, but I hear you have all witnessed that first hand. We are attempting to gather as much information on this woman as possible, and it would be a huge help to us if you were all able to gain some information. Crocus is a huge city with a large population, and I'm sure there are many people that have intel on our enemy. In fact, I've been told that a coffee shop about five kilometers from the city's center is a prime area to gather information on the various happenings in Fiore. Perhaps you would like to start there, but if not, you are more than welcome to join Laura and me in our own investigations."





"Indeed," Laura agreed. "We'll be splitting you up into two teams. One to investigate the coffee shop, as Jason mentioned, which is located within the Santana district. The area is Crocus' prime shopping and commercialized entertainment location; it tends to be very busy, and very famous. Many travelers and tourists pass through to visit it or the celebrities that happen to be nearby there."





She paused. "We're looking for a different celebrity around these parts. We have intel that report several suspicious individuals recently visiting this coffee shop, named the Crimson Wave. One with shoulder-length green hair, a dark cloak, and a description that matched closely with our identification of the Kingslayer."





"The other team will be coming with Jason and I to investigate a few archives and do more research on what we know about Sora. She's dangerous, so it's crucial we know as much as possible. It may be helpful to have yours perspectives and minds assisting us here," Laura continued.





Laura's eyes then locked towards those mages who had Fairy Tail insignias tattooed upon their bodies. "And for those of you in Fairy Tail...we've discovered some information that may be relevant to you. I'd suggest you come along with us and see."





Jason nodded his head while standing beside his partner. "That's all we have to report as of now. Like we said before, it's up to you where you want to investigate, as for us, we'll be taking our leave now to continue with our own investigation," he said, concluding the short briefing. With his final statement, Jason began to walk away from the group, with Laura following closely behind him. At this time, a few mages were deciding on whether or not to follow the two or to go around Crocus and figure things out for themselves.





Among these mages was one Rex Ourano. Never one for well thought-out, wise decisions, he decided that it would be best for him to go check out the Crimson Wave, because there was a good chance that the people he would be talking to would be cute girls.





"Alright! It's time for us to get WILD! Who's coming to the coffee shop with me," Rex cheered, pumping his fist into the air. A few mages completely ignored the man, Ryos Delmora included, and decided to begin on their own missions.





"Let's go Libby," Ryos called as he began to walk away from the group.





"Well alright then, I guess I'll just have to beat you up again later!" Rex laughed.





Dusty and Jacob stood next to each other, looking around at all the mages getting ready to do their own missions. Jacob was definitely nervous, he wouldn't deny it. The riots going on outside put him on edge, and if they were like that out in the rest of the city, then how would they be safe? He looked over at Dusty, who didn't seem like the sight had bothered him in the slightest.





Dusty scratched his head, turning to Jacob. "Well? What do we do, oh wise one?"





Jacob sighed, rubbing his cheek. "Well, I'm thinking that the coffee shop would be our best bet. We can gather information and whatnot there, and I think it'll be a bit safer than just wandering the streets on our own, like I assume you're thinking of doing." Dusty turned his head away from his friend, and Jacob knew he had been correct.





The white-haired boy walked over to Rex, Dusty trailing a few feet behind him. Jacob cleared his throat quickly, then gestured to himself and Dusty, giving a smile. "Excuse me, but I can offer mine and my friend's assistance with going to the coffee shop." Jacob looked back at Dusty, then back to Rex. "As long as it keeps that idiot from going around on his own."





Dusty waved at Rex, smirking at him. "Hey there. Seems you didn't really win that fight with Silverhand, huh? Everything still went to shit."





Rex gave a thumbs up to Jacob, glad that he wouldn't have to go alone. He recognized Jacob and Dusty from earlier, and the same was true for them obviously. "Silverhand? The guy I fought had normal hands," Rex replied to Dusty's comment, genuinely confused.





Dusty's smirk turned downwards. "That's the guy's name, moron. Ein Silverhand."





Jacob sighed. "Dusty, the pot shouldn't be calling the kettle black."





Dusty looked at Jacob, thoroughly confused at what his Guildmate had said. "What the hell does that mean?" Jacob rolled his eyes, knowing the saying would go right over the Slayer's head. Instead, he turned his attention back onto Rex. "Anyways. We'll tag along with you if that's alright?"





"Lead the way!" Rex smiled. He had no idea where he was supposed to go anyway.





Jacob smiled. He had been to Crocus a few times in the past, so he knew where the Crimson Wave was. He turned around to look at the other mages, trying to find others to invite to come with them. His eyes fell on Alyssa who was a bit away. He waved to get her attention. "Excuse me! Aly- I mean, uh, Master Alyssa!" It felt strange calling Alyssa 'Master', but she was acting in as a Master for Lamia Scale and Fairy Tail, so he would have to be respectful to her.





He took a few steps towards her. "Sorry, I didn't mean to call out your name like that. Dusty, Rex, a few other mages and I will be heading to the coffee shop to gather information. Would you like to join us?" He assumed she would decline, but he didn't want to leave her out of helping catch Sora.





Dusty, meanwhile, was looking around to find people to take to the coffee shop. "Hey! Anyone who's gonna come with us to the coffee shop, hurry your asses up!" As he spoke, he turned and began walking towards the exit, an annoyed look on his face.





Jacob looked away from Alyssa, noticing Dusty making his way out. He groaned. "Dusty! You don't know where the shop is-"





"Yes, I do, asshat!" He spat the words venomously before walking out the door, Jacob awestruck at the sudden outburst directed at him.

You've arrived in Crocus! Mass protests and outrage have characterized your arrival, but you've still got a job to do. Laura Tempest and Jason Salscion have been appointed your commanding officers, and it seems they're very direct about getting down to business.

From this point on, you have two choices. For one, you may join Laura and Jason to discover more about the mysterious Sora, her skills, and her background in the archives and through interrogation. All members of Fairy Tail are recommended to join them to discover a long hidden secret related to their past! For the rest, you may head over to the ever-popular Santana District, where you will investigate the coffee shop "The Crimson Wave" for suspicious activity and follow the tracks to find the Kingslayer...or something else. All characters intending to be shipped are recommended to come to this romantic thriller! Happy Valentine's Day. As always... To be continued.

 

[ACHA]

Ein Silverhand


The Battlesmith
​

For a second, Ein thought he was hearing things and almost had to pinch himself to make sure he was really awake. Yes, he was already awake.


Ein let out a small chuckle before commenting on what she had just said. "Oh, so now you're interested in dinner with me after shooting me down a lot of times?" Ein shook his head, albeit with a smile, at the situation they were in. He was partially amused and thought it was ironic. "I'm not sure if you're just being cruel or if that was a legitimate offer." Ein joked. Ein couldn't help but think back to their time in Hargeon. Despite his many efforts, she would flatly refuse every single time.


He listened to her next words and breathed a sigh of relief to know that everyone else was fine. As always, she was on point. One of her many appealing characteristics and qualities. Ein couldn't agree more with what she said. They needed to leave immediately before they attracted more attention.


Ein took Hikari's hand and stood up. He brushed the dirt off of him and looked to Hikari. They were off to Crocus, quite a distance from where they are. Ein assumed that Hikari had something ready. "Surely, we aren't going to walk to Crocus, right?" he asked sarcastically.


@Lexielai

 

[AllHailDago]

Caitlyn, Lynn, Gurren, and Sarafina


as collabed by AllHailDago and shadowdude505


During the three day Redfox ride, Lynn had a lot on her mind. As the temporary Guild Master for Mermaid Heel it was now her job to make sure that her guildmates were prepared for the fight ahead and help them get through it alive. Out of her guildmates she thought about Rose the most. Her spell book was still on the empty side.


Lynn looked around at the other wizards on board. She hadn’t seen them all in action, but she assumed they all had interesting magic abilities. A few individuals caught her attention, including a Fairy Tail mage with a small guild emblem made of fire in his hands and an Exceed using her Aera magic to sprout wings. Lynn assumed they were trying to pass the time.


Lynn got out of her seat and approached the Fairy Tail wizard first. “What kind of magic is that?” she asked. “Fire-Make magic,” he replied. “Looks interesting. This may be a strange request, but would you be willing to show my guildmate a bit of your C-ranked magic so she could copy it. She needs some more spells for her spellbook. Right now it’s practically empty and as the temporary Guildmaster for Mermaid Heel I…”


“Looking out for your family huh?” Gurren interrupted with a grin. “I’d be happy to. Huh… I wonder what spells I should show her.”


“You have plenty of time to think it over, the Redfox won’t land for a couple days. If you’d excuse me I have some more magic scouting to do.”


Lynn walked off leaving Gurren to his thoughts. She approached Sarafina the Exceed and had a very similar conversation with her. “Y...you want me to show off my magic once the airship lands?” Sarafina asked with twinkles in her eyes. “You can count on me.” Lynn smiled and gave the Exceed her thanks before excusing herself again. This time she returned to her seat beside Rose. “I think I found some magic abilities you’d like,” she said to her guildmate.


Rose had been idly toying with the bandages on her left hand while thinking when Lynn sat next to her. She looked up at her new Guildmaster, which she had to say she was happy about. She was much more comfortable around Lynn than she was Dominique. Not that she wanted Dominique to get hurt. She just wasn’t going to complain about the current situation was all. She stopped toying with her hand and set it in her lap.


“You... found me magic abilities?” Rose was confused for a moment. She hadn’t expected Lynn to search for other possible candidates for her book while on the airship. She wondered who she could have gotten to help. Maybe other Mermaid Heel mages? Or maybe she talked to other guild masters or something like that.


“Are we waiting until we are off the airship to do that? Or should I be ready now?”


“I told them to wait until we’ve landed. The airship is barely flying as is,” Lynn replied. “Take this time to relax,” she added as she pulled out a pen and paper from her pocket. Lynn began to work on a letter to her parents.


Rose nodded once to Lynn before she began writing a letter. She was actually quite excited to see what kind of magic Lynn would have picked out for her amongst all the mages aboard. But she could wait. She looked around in wonder at the airship. Never before would she have imagined being where she was today.


She kept coming back to the thought that Lynn and Master Dominique, or was it Master Lynn and Dominique now? Anyways, she kept coming back to the thought that them saving her has changed her world. Had they not been there in just the right moment she would likely have been killed in that awful place. She began picking at her bandages again as she thought it over.


She wanted to go look around the airship and explore a little. But without Lynn or Tori she didn’t feel comfortable with going off to do so. And she didn’t want to bother either of them with such a silly request. So instead she simply settled into her seat and did what she had spent so much time doing. She spent the next couple days trying to remember who she was.


When the ship landed and everyone disembarked Rose found herself faced with a situation she was not happy about. There was a seemingly angry mob gathered, being held back… sorta, by Rune Knights. They were yelling all sorts of cruel and unacceptable things at the mages. She didn’t understand why but the anger and the feeling of claustrophobia due to the sheer amount of people there and around her began to set in.


She turned to Lynn who she’d remained as close as possible to up to this point. “Why are all these people angry at us, Guild Master? Aren’t we here to help them?”


“Of course we’re here to help,” a male voice belonging to Gurren said as he made his way over to Lynn and Rose. “I don’t fully understand it myself, but I do know some aren’t happy about the high status wizards have in this world. I’m Gurren by the way.” An Exceed fluttered over to the Mermaid Heel mages as well. “And I’m Sarafina.”


“These two will be showing you some of their spells,” Lynn explained to Rose.


Rose was startled for a moment at the resonant tone of a man’s voice. She turned to see a dark haired man who was rather tall. At least compared to Rose, although that wasn’t really saying much she supposed. He called himself Gurren. But that was rendered rather unimportant a mere moment after, as someone else spoke off to her side. She turned and her mouth opened slightly in wonder. “A talking, flying cat?! That… this. Fiore isn’t going to run out of things to surprise me with soon, is it?”


“I’m not a cat, I’m an Exceed,” Sarafina said as one of her eyebrow-like stripes twitched. The Exceed expression quickly changed back to a happy smirk. “Fiore is chalk full of interesting things.”


Rose nodded at Sarafina. “Exceed. Sorry. I won’t make the mistake again.” She stared in wonder at Sarafina. Then she realized Lynn said they were going to be the ones to show her magic for her book. She had to stop herself from vocalizing the squeal of excitement that went through her head. She was about to comment on the matter but was stopped by an important looking woman who began speaking to the gathered mages.


The arrival of Laura and Jason stalled Lynn’s plan for a moment. As she listened to them she decided that it would be wiser to follow them for info. She looked over at Gurren, Rose, and Sarafina. Gurren looked confused after hearing the Fairy Tail specific request. “Guess we’ll have to show you our magic on the go,” Sarafina said, catching on to the situation. The Exceed turned to her Lamia Scale guildmates. “If you guys want to investigate for yourself, I’ll catch you guys up with what these guys know later.” Lynn, Gurren, and Sarafina started to follow Laura and Jason. “Who do you want to see magic from first?” Gurren asked Rose, sounding pumped up.


Rose had to stifle a giggle at Gurren’s seeming excitement about sharing his magic with her. She was just as excited to see it and even use it too. Although for a second her head hurt as she looked at Gurren’s excited expression. There was something achingly familiar about it. She could almost… remember something. She blinked a couple times and shook her head to try and dispel the discomfort.


“How about we start with you Gurren, you do seem pretty excited after all.” The tone of her voice was a bit giggly and gave away her obvious excitement as well. This was going to be fun for sure. She took her notebook out from her jacket with her right hand, flipping it open to the third page and putting a pencil to the top portion of the page.


Gurren’s grin grew a little as an orange magic circle appeared near his right hand. “Fire-Make: Sword.” Suddenly a sword made of flames appeared in his hands. “It may not be my flashiest spell, but you could always shoot a flame sword like a projectile if you really wanted to,” he said. Gurren momentarily stopped walking to create a shield-shaped pillar of fire in front of him. “Fire-Make:Shield.” Gurren dispelled the shield and continued walking.


“And for a little extra pizzaz,” Gurren started to say. “Fire-Make Dragonfly.” Gurren formed his flames into the shape of a dragonfly and let it land in the palm of his hand. “For attack purposes I’d make a swarm of these little guys to home in on opponents. What do ya think?”


Rose filled in the top line of the third, fourth, and fifth pages of her book with the names of the spells. Shield and Dragonfly filled in with C’s and Sword was a D. She grimaced a bit at that, seeing as she wouldn’t be able to use them all that often at that level, although Fire Make Sword would be pretty safe. And if she watched how many dragon flies she made, that one would be ok too. But they were cool nonetheless. Water magic and fire slayer mages seemed to be the main weakness. Although it also warned her not to use the spells in areas with odd oxygen levels, high or low.


Rose looked up to Gurren with a sly grin on her face. “Fire Make Dragonfly.” A single small dragon fly made of fire flew up from where she held out her left hand, and landed next to the one on Gurrens before puffing out. “I think it’s really cool. And this fire is nice fire too, so that is definitely a plus.” She added this last odd comment with a bit of a distant look. Something Lynn would likely catch and understand.


Rose blinked for a moment and turned to the ca- Exceed. “So what about you Sarafina?” She was quite excited to see what kind of interesting magic she would have.


“You see these wings?” she asked. “I only have them due to my Aera magic. Flying is a lot of fun, but it’s not much of an attack by itself. Which is why you’d have to use something like Max Speed!” Sarafina started to fly at a rocket-like speed. After doing a quick loop she landed on Lynn’s shoulder and dispersed her wings. “Aera!” Sarafina made her wings quickly reappear, before dispersing them again a couple seconds later. “The only downside is that the faster you fly, the more magic you use up.”


Rose filled in the sixth page with Aera and the seventh with Max Speed. The latter filled in with the obvious information and a B appeared in the corner. She frowned at that and made a note to only use it for serious situations. Aera however had a V in the corner rather than the usual E to S ranking she was used to. She realized as she read the description it stood for Varying. Apparently the speed at which she flew changed what it was ranked from in various situations, up to B with the Max Speed spell.


She also noted something else interesting as she flipped through her book. She noticed Lynn’s spells were in an azure blue color aside from the spell name that she wrote in pencil. And Gurrens was reddish orange and Sarafinas were sky blue. She never really noticed before now. Although she only ever had Varrens to work with anyway, so she supposed she never really thought about it.


She closed the notebook and held it in her hands. “Aera,” she said in an airy whisper. Large angelic wings seemed to simply… appear on her back. As if out of thin air or something. It was an incredibly odd sensation as she could feel them, but they didn’t seem heavy despite their size. Although that was good as she doubted she could deal with the added weight, even of the relatively thin looking wings. She wondered if they adjusted to personal capability.


She bit her lip for a moment and considered whether or not to try flying now, or later. She decided against it in this crowd of people without having practiced somewhere safe at least once. She dispelled the wings a moment later with a smile. Tucking her notebook back into her jacket, she turned to the two mages with a shy yet clearly pleased expression.


“Thank you both for this. I can’t explain how helpful and kind it is for you to share your magics with me.” She bowed to each one as she said this. As she stood back up she got as close to Lynn as possible without touching her as they continued their walk to this mysterious archive or library or whatever it was exactly. All she knew was that she was content with how things were at this moment. And that she hoped things could be like this more often in the future.


@shadowdude505 @Kaine

 

[Lady Warlock]

Ryannan “Ryan” Costice

Ryannan’s mind remained on the Redfox even after she had stepped off of the airship because she was concerned. Her guild - Silver Phoenix - had nothing to go off of. A’den hadn’t woken up and she had no idea how he was doing, she hadn’t really seen or heard from any of her guildmates, and Ryannan had no idea what A’den would’ve wanted her to do in the given situation. She hadn’t bee in the guild for long enough to truly understand him and how he would’ve approached their current situation.


Questions ran through her mind. Why? Why had someone blown up the guild hall? Why had Crime Sorciere fought against the other guilds? What was it that even as she had been incinerated, Ein still seemed to believe she was missing something - something that was probably highly important? Ryannan wasn’t happy that she didn’t know answers. And having been out after the explosion, she wasn’t sure whether or not any of them had been answered while she was unconscious.


There was one person she remembered, one person she was familiar with and their discussion drew her attention quickly. They were talking about Ein Silverhand and Ryannan knew that was the one she had fought against. She walked over to them, recognizing Rex and Dusty as the two who had ‘fought’ with her, not that they had actually done anything when Ein had set her on fire. She decided to keep her deteste for them to herself for now. There did seem to be one person who had some common sense and he was talking to the earth mage.


“Hey!” Ryannan called out to Jacob Foles. “Mind if I join you? You seem to be more sensible than those two idiots, at least.” She gestured towards Dusty and Rex who were entirely too eager.


@Refaulted

 

[BLUR]

Libby Tuck and Ryos Delmora

Collab with @DaughterofAthena

Upon hearing Ryos call out to her, Libby was very quick to scurry after her guildmate while her eyes occasionally strayed to the screaming people. This wasn’t the first time that Libby had encountered a crowd of rioting people. She had actually encountered another quite recently on a mission she had taken with her guildmates. However, this was the first time that she had encountered rioting people who were specifically angry with her. Libby didn’t like it. Libby didn’t like it at all.


“Why are they mad at us, Ryos? Did we do something wrong?”


Ryos didn’t even bother to acknowledge the rioting crowd. If he had, he would’ve probably began an argument with them, and that wouldn’t end well for anybody. Once Libby brought his attention to them, he looked down to her eyes.


“They aren’t very smart Libby. It’s sad, but we have to accept them as they are,” he said, flashing his little partner a grin.


“Did they not go to school?” Libby inquired, very confused as to why such a large group of people would not be very smart.


Ryos took a second to think about how to answer the question. For all he knew, maybe they didn’t go to school. That was unlikely though. “I don’t know about that, Libby. I can tell you that not all minds are created equal though,” he responded.


After mulling it over some, Libby just shrugged and started skipping ahead, deciding that as long as she didn’t have to stay around the angry, rioting people, she didn’t really mind. Skipping ahead of Ryos for a moment, Libby realized she didn’t know where she was going and she turned around, looking back to her guildmate. “Where are we going?” Libby asked. She hadn’t listened to what Jason and Laura had said so she couldn’t even know if they were going to be following the group or not.


Ryos’ eyes followed his guildmates movements, his protective glare in full effect. “We’re going around town. If we see something interesting, or if I smell something interesting we’ll stop. I don’t want to be associated with the other mages, or with those two goons of the council. This will be our own private investigation, detective Libby.”


Libby smiled brightly at her newfound title. “Detective Libby reporting for duty!” she proclaimed loudly and proudly. “I’ll lead the way then!” Libby’s eyes turned to the ground, her imagination turning on all gears as she weaved her way through the streets of Crocus. She really had no idea where she was going or what they were looking for, but she was having fun playing detective.


After meandering for a moment, she turned her gaze back to Ryos and called out, “Let me know if you find anything, Detective Ryos!”


Ryos smiled at his young detective partner, before a delightful aroma reached his nostrils. He began taking sniffs of the air.


“Follow me, detective. I’ve found something,” he said as he began to walk towards a row of buildings. His target was a simple looking restaurant, one with only a few customers inside. Nonetheless, the smell that was coming out from its doors were to die for.


Satisfied, Ryos stood at the front of this restaurant. “Okay, we can grab lunch here. Meanwhile, we can ask the waiters and chefs, or the other customers, if they know anything about Sora. We’ll be able to kill two birds with one stone this way,” Ryos declared, his stomach growling in response.


Libby nodded, very ok with this idea. However, she realized something else just then. She didn’t know who this ‘Sora’ even was. “And… who is that?”

 

[Kaine]

Ohtori & Usagi Tsukikono

Crocus Landing Pad
​

Letting all the much more powerful and well known wizards go first, they were nearly the last one's to get off the ship. Bunny turned and watched the crowd. Like always though, she remained silent and kind of sad that they were saying such hateful things. Tori took her hand and wrapped it around Bunny's head before pulled her gently into her chest. Kissing her on the top of the head, Bunny smiled and wrapped her arms around Tori's waist. She may have not smiled, but Ohtori was happy. Very, very happy.


The two of them hung in the back of the ground, and stood at the door as Laura and Jason spoke of their plans. It seemed so weird with this many mages that they would only have two spots. The more logical action, at least in Tori's mind, was that some mage's would venture randomly, and probably find or witness something out of the normal. That many eyes was like a mob looking for a witch. Question would be whether their results were fruitful or not.


Leaning back against the wall of the outside, Usagi was in her arms just watching out towards the crowd. Her own arms around Tori's. She wondered where Lynn and Rose had went. Worse case scenario, the two of them would go get some lunch with the little money they had. Though getting lost in this place didn't seem fun either.


Letting out a sigh, she looked down to find Bunny's beautiful purple eyes staring back up at her. Brushing her white hair to either side, she kissed her forehead again. There was always time to give her little sister affection.


@AllHailDago @shadowdude505

 

[AllHailDago]

Caleb Augustus Malachi





Caleb was deep in concentration, preparing his sandstorm spell for the distraction he was supposed to be causing. So at first when Wyatt called him kiddo and said he wasn't going to be needed he just tried to ignore him, despite how much it made him angry. Stupid jerk, talking down to him cause he was younger than almost everybody else in their group. Y'know what, no he was going to talk to that jerkwad and tell him off for his.... uh, jerkiness! Yeah!


He began to speak before he even opened his eyes fully. "Y'know Wyatt, you can just..," he cut off suddenly as he noted the cylindrical magical barrier now around him. He hadn't been expecting this so soon, he hadn't even cast his spell yet. Why would they be getting them out of her now? On top of that, he was still the only one who hadn't really done anything on this mission! He didn't even get the chance to try his spell. Although he was conflicted on whether or not this was actually good or bad.


He didn't have long to think about it before the three members of his group reappeared in a hotel lobby. Tempest greeted them when they arrived and the other two had a small side conversation about... something. Caleb wasn't paying much attention because soon after arriving he realized his spell was still active in his hands. However, unfortunately the sudden shift in emotions and stopping his concentration left it unstable and after a few moments the spell simply..... well, went off as was.


The spell burst outward in a omni-directional wave of sand. Caleb had thankfully not taken off his goggles or scarf over his face, so he didn't get any in his mouth, nose, or eyes. However the rest of him, and everything and everyone in the lobby, got a nice inch or two coating of sand. Talk about an embarrassing mishap to have. Well, at least it didn't act like an actual sandstorm and just stuck to stuff. Much easier to deal with.


He wiped off his goggles and gave a guilty glance around, eyes settling on Tempest and the other two. "Sorry Tempest, sorry Cipher. Didn't expect that to happen. And Wyatt.... stop calling me kiddo." He stuck out his tongue in Wyatt's general direction, but realized his scarf was still on. Taking it off he stuck out his tongue again before getting up and brushing himself off. "So Tempest, we're going home? Great. I need to replace my smoke bombs after that crapfest that went down at the guild hall. What was up with that anyway, that couldn't have been us, so who was that?"





@Mad Prince of Sanity @DaughterofAthena @whoever controls Tempest

 

[Lady Warlock]

Olive Kittana

Throughout the three day journey on Redfox, The Mind’s Eye of Blue Pegasus had been fairly quiet. Olive kept herself off to the side, not wanting to invade the minds of too many of the mages of Fiore in the process of trying to collect her own thoughts on the events that had only begun to unfold. She knew something was up with Sora. She didn’t quite know what, but Olive definitely wanted to know more before she would’ve deigned it appropriate to do anything else drastic.


Of course, she was also concerned for the guildmasters. Although the doctors seemed to think they would recover in time, and Olive could sense that they truly believed that, Olive didn’t like not having their wisdom at a time like this. Each had assigned a member to act in their stead, but that didn’t grant that member the wisdom of a guild master automatically. Sure, Olive had no doubt in her mind that Alicia would act in a manner that matched the Blue Pegasus way, but that didn’t mean Olive completely trusted Alicia to know what was right in every situation. Oppositely, Olive usually did place that trust in Master Gregory.


When they landed, Olive was quick to walk off the Redfox. The rioting mages confused her and Olive immediately slipped her mind into the minds of the angry crowd members, unsure as to why they would be rioting in anger like they were. She hadn’t heard of anything extreme that would’ve led them to act as they were acting so she wanted to know more.


Simultaneously, Olive’s mind seeped into the minds of their two leaders because trust wasn’t something Olive was going to just grant to anyone. No, trust was something that had to be earned and until Jason and Laura had earned it, Olive would be a constant presence in their minds. There was something off about them. Olive couldn’t quite place it, but they acted very differently from other magic council people who Olive had encountered. Granted, she couldn’t say she had encountered very many, but they still gave her a different impression. It perked her curiosity enough.


“Alicia,” Olive called out to her stand-in guildmaster. “I think I’m going to follow along with Ms. Laura and Mr. Jason and see what’s going on there. I’ll also do what I can to survey the city… it might be a stretch, but maybe I can find something.” In a way, Olive was asking permission. She knew Alicia knew what she could do and she knew that it might have seemed like it would’ve been better for Olive to be in the group to go to the coffee shop because she would’ve been around more people which would’ve given her access to more information. Yet at the same time, Olive was curious to see what information Jason and Laura were seeking. She hoped Alicia wouldn’t object.


@Hellkite @BLUR @Lexielai

 

[Ivory Witch]

Drake Silver and Millie Thorrin

Collaboration with

@Peaceswore​

For most of the ride Drake was either resting or talking to one of his spirits, mainly he kept to himself only talking to a few of the other Raven’s, other than them he didn’t talk to anyone. And he went out of his way to avoid Stacy no matter how troublesome it was for him. When they finally started to land Drake dismissed Lyra and stood up to go find Millie since he didn’t want her to be alone when they landed. He knew how some viewed mages and he was rather worried how rowdy this group may be. “Millie? Where are you?” He called out as the ship was doing it’s final descent.


Millie had been standing close to the spot where the ship would open as soon as it landed. She had never been to Crocus before and quite frankly, she was excited to see the capital of Fiore because she knew it was important. She did, however, hear her name called out when Drake had started looking for her and Millie turned and waved at him. “I’m here! And we’re almost there!!”


Drake went over to where the voice came from pushing a few people out of the way as he walked over to her. “Yeah we are… Don’t run off okay, it might be a bit crowded and the last thing we need is for you to get lost in a place we aren’t familiar with.” He said in his calm voice as he held out a hand for her to take.


Millie nodded in agreement. She didn’t want to get lost; she knew that had only created problems in the past. So when they got off the ship as it landed, despite her curiosity for everything she was seeing, Millie held onto his hand.


Her eyes were quickly drawn to the rioting crowds. The people looked angry and Millie didn’t understand why although amidst all their screams, she could hear that their anger was directed at them - the mages of Fiore. “What did we do, Drake? Why are they so mad?” She looked up at her guildmate, her eyes flooded with concern. She wasn’t used to people not liking her.


Drake walked off the ship with the other mages as he kept his eyes forward, he completely ignored the crowd as seeing who he was… He was used to people disliking him. Hearing Millie’s question he blinked a bit and looked down as he continued to walk. “They are simply jerks.” He stated calmly. “And…. And they are scared I guess. They have a distaste for many mages and we are not excluded from their dislike.”


After saying this he walked over to where two people were located, from what he could tell they were the ones that were in charge… Seeing as how they said they were. As he walked to them he ignored the jeering of the crowd and the shouts, it was annoying and an unnecessary pain to his ears. When he arrived near the two (though still keeping a good distance from them) he listened to what they said. When they were done talking he looked over at Millie. “Where do you want to go?”


Millie’s attention was still focused on the angry crowd, a frown firmly planted on her face at the realization that some people didn’t like her simply because she was a mage. It wasn’t as though she had really had a choice in being a mage - in Millie’s case it quite literally just happened to her without her being able to say yes or no. That wasn’t even what bothered her, though. Millie just couldn’t stand seeing so much hatred and fear.


Millie hadn’t even heard Drake’s question. She let go of his hand and walked back towards the rioting crowd, standing only a few inches away from the rune knights that were holding people back. “Don’t be angry…” she said softly. “I’m nice… I promise. I give you the blessing of peace.” Mille waved her hand in a soft gesture and it was as though an aura of sparkles washed over the crowd. It wasn’t vast enough to touch everyone in the crowd - such a feat would’ve been impossible. But it was enough to touch some, most definitely. It was a blessing of happiness, a blessing of peaceful memories.


When Millie let go of his hand he blinked a bit as he watched her walk off. “What is she doing?” he mumbled to himself as he walked over to her. He watched her and a soft quiet sigh left him when she gave her blessing some people seemed to calm, but the majority of them were still pretty mad. “Come on Millie… If they want to waste their time being mad let them. They are foolish for thinking that we are the bad guys.” He said as he glared at a few people that went to shouting at him. He just rolled his eyes and gently grabbed Millie’s hand as he started to lead her away from the crowd before someone starts to throw things at them. “We are going to a cafe Millie, we better get going before they leave us behind. If you want I can carry you piggy back.” He offered wanting to get the girl’s attention away from the crowd.


Millie followed along as Drake led her away, but she still wasn’t happy. She felt like they should’ve been doing more to try to convince the crowd that they weren’t bad people. She very much didn’t like being yelled at and she didn’t like seeing her guildmate yelled at either. At Drake’s offer, Millie shook her head slightly. “I can walk,” she muttered, content to follow along although her mind still dwelled on what she had seen.

 

[Sergeant Sass]

Marcella Novine and Asher Novine

“So, what will we do now, wise and powerful guildmaster of Sabertooth!?” Marcella mocked Asher as they walked off the Redfox. She turned to face her brother with the most mischievous smile on her face as she shook her head over and over again. “I still can’t believe Raito made you guildmaster! He HATES you! Yuura would’ve been so much better and he might’ve gotten some work done while he was at it.”


Asher was quite honestly in agreement with everything Marcella had said. As he walked off of Redfox and saw the crowds of people, there was a small part of him that wanted to turn around and walk back onto the ship. He hadn’t asked to be a part of any of this and quite frankly, he could’ve used a decent nap. However, Marcella’s constant laughter forced him to address her. “You know what Marcella,” he sighed. “You can shut up whenever you’re ready.”


Marcella beamed brightly as she continued with her incessant mocking, “Oooohh! Asher’s getting sassy!!”


Asher reached out and gently smacked Marcella on the back of the head. “Shut up, please!?” he moped. “You’re rubbing off on me I guess. Raito won’t like that too much.”


Asher and Marcella both stopped their banter for a brief moment when Jason and Laura started talking and the whole while, Marcella had a look of disgust on her face. They just came off as two magic council workers who thought they were above everyone else. ‘Do they honestly think that sending ALL of us to one cafe is really necessary!? Even Marcella had a decent thought every now and then, and she couldn’t help but think it would be wiser to spread out throughout the entire city.


She also didn’t like the way Jason ended the conversation by saying they were leaving to finish their OWN investigation. Aren’t we supposed to be working together here? The magic council was the organization that hired all of us in the first place… She didn’t say anything though. She just looked at her brother again and returned to mocking. “So, which way are we headed, oh wise and powerful guildmaster?!”


Asher sighed, “First, I’m going to hand over command to Yuura so that I can finally get you to shut up!” He turned and started scanning the area for their guildmate. “And then we can ask him where he thinks we can be of the most use because it won’t be up to me anymore.”


With that, Asher picked Yuura out of the crowd and walked over to him. “Hey Yuura! I don’t know why the hell Raito put me in charge, but it’s too much work. Care to take the load off my shoulders?”


@Refaulted

 

[utdfan22]

JAMKE DAIN (Lamia Scale)

​

Jamke had left his guildmates' side when they boarded the Redfox from the hospital. He had been stored in a cramped space with his limited belongings, slinging the rucksack underneath the small hammock falling from the wall of one of the smaller areas. He was crowded in with several others, making for quite a tight fit. Jamke found himself spending much of his time alone during the journey, disappearing down into the core of the ship. The energy heated the air amidst the scattered metal structures fitted into the dense space, years of repairs tightening it down to force mechanics to squeeze around the pipes to reach crucial parts. Jamke was within that, surrounded by the scalding steel beams with sweat dripping from his brow. Snow drifted about the area in odd patterns, evaporating wherever his concentration slipped. The explosion had all but melted his attacks away and Jamke was afraid of the same thing happening again. "I need to shore up my weakness. It's the only path someone like me has to greater power. I haven't got the talent to focus on my strengths."





He spent the last half of the third day sleeping as they neared their destination, discomfort rooted in his stomach at how little he'd improved by the end. That feeling still hung about him as the ship touched down. He found himself wearing a pale blue shirt over white trackends trailing down to just above his ankles. They flowed about in the light breeze as he wandered from the ship to the calm area sealed within the perimeter walls. The rumbling from beyond shook him slightly as the ground shifted just so under the stamping of shuffling feet. Glancing over the wall, Jamke ducked caught sight of the endless sea of people stretching against the backdrop of Fiore's huge capital. Jamke had never seen such a large crowd gathered in protest. He felt his breath catching just imagining being trapped down there. Having the swarm pull over you, drag you down, screaming at you for what you were...


His thoughts were thankfully interrupted by one of the Council workers, giving Jamke something to focus on to shut out the riotous static below. The early mention of the coffee shop confused him but Laura's quick addition of one of the more recent sightings soon allayed that feeling. "She's the more used to public speaking possibly. Would that make him the more adept researcher? Hm, no point in speculation, I suppose." Jamke reflected on the two paths before him and found himself deciding to take the more public route. He wanted to see as much of Crocus as he could while he was there and he needed open space to clear his head after the cramped journey upon the unsteady Redfox. Glancing at those heading in the direction of the café, Jamke soon began walking, increasing his pace to come level with the lively sandy haired man he'd seen earlier. He paused at the revelation that the man had no idea where the café was despite his earlier exuberance. He found himself smiling just slightly at that, deciding he found it amusing rather than annoying. "I'll go with you, if that's alright," he said to Rex politely, eyes briefly scanning the man up close. Jamke guessed they were about the same age, though he couldn't be positive. The guy was certainly larger than him, his muscle having more bulk than Jamke's lean frame. He looked like he packed quite a bit of strength, which had Jamke absently wondering if they'd get a chance to fight. As he blended with the group, he subtly adjusted his sleeve to better cover up his guild mark. "So, what guild are you from? Mine's Lamia Scale," Jamke said conversationally, curious to learn more about other guilds.


@BLUR

 

[The Suspicious Eye]

Nora Fulleat

Stunned, scared, afraid for her life..... and just a little bit pissed off.

​

Pre Bomb


Nora looked at the mage admiringly always blown away by shows of power. In all her adventures she has always admired those who can take care of themselves, magical or otherwise. Although, she was always amazed at seeing wizards at work. She never thought of herself as a wizard, but wanted to be as strong as they were. She let go of him gently and looked at her own hands the gloves slowly disintegrating. She looked up at him, "you're really strong do you think about joining a gui-" An explosion erupted in the distance and the building began to crumble around her. In quick defense she raised her hands up as the rubble collapsed above her. Then darkness engulfed her.


@Kalin Scarlet





Post Bomb- In the Rubble


Opening her eyes slowly Nora looked around and saw the large stone blocking her from above. She didn't know how long she was unconscious, but knew she had to get out. She put her hand against the rubble and net expanded above her and tiny cubes of rubble fell around her. The cubes were smaller but a few still hit er in the head and knocked her out a second time.


She groaned and opened her eyes yet again. She looked up at the sky and groaned as she began to sit up. Suddenly another net expanded underneath her and she fell deep into a pit. "AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" With a loud thud she fell on the ground she groaned, but knew better than to touch her clothing. Glancing at her gloves, they were completely destroyed from the blast. Looking up at the opening of the hole she groaned knowing that she couldn't possibly climb up nearly 30 ft of rock like this.


Taking a deep breath she sighed and let fairy dust emit from her body. There was a small twinge from her nose as the dust hit, but she held it back. The dust formed underneath her and began to rise, lifting her up. Rising higher, and higher till she was out of the hole she had made for herself. She looked around trying to figure out if there were anymore survivors or how much time has passed. All the dust began to settle around Nora and bother her nose. Oh no, I'm not going to.....ahh.... "ahhhh...Ahhhhhh......AHHHHHHCHHOOOOOOOO!!" Her sneeze shot her up high into the sky and out of the area. Who knows where she will land?


(sorry for the lateness (' ))


@Other people

 

[Illusionus]

Aden Bourne

Aden was traumatized. Nothing like the event at Blue Pegasus had ever happened to him. He had never even seen a person's life be taken. Because of this, Aden had no idea how to handle everything, let alone what would happen now. There was only one thing he knew: since he couldn't find his guildmaster, he would have to find one of the members of his guild. There was at least one S-Rank wizard that he knew of from Silver Phoenix that might be able to help him. He wasn't sure exactly where to find her, but Aden figured that he could check in the town's cafe first. After all, he was kinda hungry, so this would be a good time to kill two birds with one stone.


The cafe had a nice, calming atmosphere to it. Unfortunatly, as Aden enters the cafe, he realizes that he has no idea what the wizard he was looking for looked like. He thinks to himself, Well, I guess I'll just have to look for the guild mark then. Thankfully, that being the case, it didn't take very long to find a wizard from his guild. As he began to look around, Aden spotted a person in a hoodie with his guild mark on the back of the hood. He approached the person and checked to see if they might be who he was looking for.


"Hey there. I saw that you have the Silver Phoenix guild mark on your hoodie." He holds up the back of his hand to show that he is from the same guild. "I'm Aden, one of the new members to Silver Phoenix. I'm looking for an S-Rank wizard from the guild. You wouldn't happen to know where they are, would you?"


(I'm back!)


@DaughterofAthena

 

[Hellkite]

Crocus

“Hey!” Ryannan called out to Jacob Foles. “Mind if I join you? You seem to be more sensible than those two idiots, at least.” She gestured towards Dusty and Rex who were entirely too eager.


Jacob turned to look at the girl who called out to him, not sure who exactly it was. But the more people that joined them, the safer Jacob was feeling. Dusty was pretty overprotective, but the Kingslayer was a major threat, and if they traveled in a group, then that meant they had a better chance if they ran into her.


Jacob turned to her and bowed slightly. "Your help is much appreciated, ma'am."


Alyssa sighed, running a hand through her hair as she moved towards Jacob and Ryannan. "Oi, Misty," she called, ignoring the other girl. "Don't call me Master. I'm not staying in this position, so I'm not taking any permanent sounding title, got it?" she demanded.


Jacob winced slightly at Alyssa's reply, but he didn't back up from her. He bowed his head slightly. "Right. Of course, M-Alyssa. My bad." In his head, he was kicking himself for being so meak. Why he couldn't have Dusty's bravado, he wasn't sure.


He cleared his throat quickly, and placed his hands inside his pockets. "So, you'll join us? Or are you going to carry out your own investigation in this?"


Hearing him try to correct himself, the green-haired woman smirked slightly. "Nah, I'll go with you. I don't have enough information to try and start something on my own, especially not with two damn guilds to look after." she muttered, wondering why the hell the two guild masters in the hospital had chosen her. She wasn't a people person. She knew she was a bitch to most people.


Jacob perked up a bit at her semi-willingness to join the group. He smiled a little wider. He knew Alyssa wasn't all that mean. Same as Dusty in his eyes. Dusty had that thick, tough outer shell, but is a kind individual underneath. While he wasn't positive about Alyssa on that, he had hopes.


He pulled his hands out of his pockets, clapping them together gently. "Fantastic! The more, the safer." He gasped silently. "And merrier. But, well, it's not exactly a merry situation. I...I'll stop before I mess up anymore." He rubbed his neck, looking back to the rest of the group. "Well, I'm guessing we should get a move on, huh?"


Meanwhile, Rex Ourano found himself appraoched by a white haired boy. The kid said he was part of the Lamia Scale guild, asking Rex for his own affiliation.


"Yeah! Bigger groups are more fun anyway. I'm Rex from Quatro Cerberus, nice to meet you buddy," the big oaf responded.


Rex then proceeded to walk forward, following Jacob's initiative.


The walk to the cafe had commenced, with the group of six taking their leave from the area where they had been briefed on their mission. Along the way, they would walk through a path created by guards holding back angry rioters. With every step, the mages would hear more curses and insults thrown at them. Words weren't the only things thrown at them, as others were throwing food items as well.

Dusty looked around at all the citizens, a blank stare on his face. He didn't even flinch when he was splashed by water, the liquid soaking into the bandages on his stomach. He had found a leather jacket to put on, but he still wore no shirt underneath it. The water dripped down the material, but Dusty just kept walking through them all.


When a stray can flew out of the crowd and hit him in the head, Jacob walked forward, looking for the individual who had thrown it. But Dusty just patted his friend on the arm. "I'm fine. Let them be mad. Don't touch them." With that, he trudged on at the head of the group, occasionally dodging objects, Jacob standing back next to Alyssa, a worried expression on his face.


As the group was moving away from the crowd, one final item was flung into the air, falling down onto Rex Ourano's head.


This item was a watermelon, slamming into the thick skull of the Quatro Cerberus mage, getting sliced cleanly into several pieces.


Rex rubbed his head. "Ow! Who the heck carries a watermelon! Who threw that!"


The sand mage looked around, but with no way of knowing who the culprit was, he just sighed and decided he'd beat someone up at a bar later.


Several minutes later, after a few members of the group had some watermelon to eat, the mages were beginning to near the cafe.


The Crimson Wave's tables spilled out over the pavement, each covered by a parasol and a quaint chequered tablecloth, the cafe continuing into a pleasant indoor area.

Normally LeGard's waitresses would have been plucking customers off the street with winning smiles and invitations to see the menu, and the cafe would soon be brimming with happy clients. Today however they simply hovered to one side, awkwardly unsure, staring at one guest entirely unashamedly.

• 
  
  
  

Prince Pergrande could not be described as handsome. Beautiful was the more fitting term. He wore his white-blonde hair in a braid which ran down his shoulder-blades to the small of his back; a few strands left loose in a manner which made his carelessness resemble art. Pale skinned, with high cheekbones and a regal nose his face still managed to appear soft and pleasant. The Prince's kimono was in the old-fashioned style, the embroidery and dyework bowing to Pergrande's fabulous wealth, its length almost concealing the sandals that he wore on pedicured feet. There was an air of sophistication and regality about him that was almost tangible. Then he knocked over his coffee.


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


Meanwhile, back at the briefing room, Jason and Laura were starting on their own investigations. Only a single mage had decided to come along with them, not that either would mind. The duo had been on Sora's tail for a while now, and had come to find out many interesting facts about Kingslayer.


"I heard that some of you have met Sora before. That one or two once associated with the Kingslayer." Laura asked, breaking the silence of the walk. Jason glanced sideways at his partner, but said nothing.


"Tell me, what do you all know of the Kingslayer? Anything you know about her, from experience or reputation, or anything that you learned at Blue Pegasus."


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


The Kingslayer sat with her legs dangling off the edge of the roof, watching the crowds seething through Crocus's streets far below. Even from up here the shouting could be heard quite clearly.


Sora's eyes lingered on the rioters for a moment longer, before she drew them away to instead study the dagger that she held in her lap. This blade had seen its fair share of blood during its service to Sora. She fancied that if she looked hard enough, she'd still be able to see the red stains on its edge, even though after Blue Pegasus she had labored to wipe away every trace. She gritted her teeth for a moment, squeezing the hilt of the weapon so tightly that her knuckles went white.


Stay focused.


The silent reprimand seemed painfully hollow, but the Kingslayer got to her feet nonethless, wincing slightly as her bones ached. The dagger slid back into its sheath with a familiar snick, and for a moment she enjoyed a gentle breeze against her face as the wind gusted over Crocus' rooftops.


Time to get back to work, I suppose. The Legal Mages have already arrived. I'll have to be quick.


Kingslayer turned on her heel and walked away, steeling herself for what was to come. She didn't pause when she reached the opposite edge of the roof; simply stepping over the edge to drop out of sight into the alleyways below.

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

Bloome narrowed his eyes at the red-haired woman sat on the far side of the desk.


"The Wingblade is a Scarlet Industries asset, is it not?"

Kuruko Scarlet, CEO, shrugged her shoulders.


"It was. Apparently not anymore."


Bloome leaned forwards in his chair slightly, watching Kuruko closely.


"Care to explain then what it was doing at Blue Pegasus, in the hands of the Kingslayer?"


"Someone must have misplaced it." Kuruko selected a slice of cake from the platter before spearing it with a fork. "We're a big corporation. I can't micromanage our every asset."


Bloome quirked an eyebrow.


" 'Misplaced' a dangerous automaton at the sight of a terrorist attack? Forgive me if I remain unconvinced."


"I don't have to convince you, Knight-Commander Bloome. Scarlet Industries were not involved in this tragedy; I have every confidence that the investigation will prove that. Had it crossed your mind that the Wingblade model might have been stolen from us?"


"It had. And was it?"


Kuruko rolled her eyes.


"You're welcome to interrogate each and every one of my employees if you have suspicions. They'll be quite compliant, I'm sure." Kuruko checked her watch. "It might take some time though, which I suspect you don't have."


Bloome sat back in his chair.


"Josef," Kuruko continued. "You understand that I have to protect my own interests. I can ill-afford a Council investigation blemishing my company. Not least after the shambles at Skyhold; where the mages I had paid for proved ineffective. As a result I can hardly justify to the Board of Directors that Scarlet Industries should continue to go out on a limb for Guild mages. They've already proved unreliable investments, not to mention that I hear Mr Silverhand was intimately involved in events. As a temporary employee of ours at the Skyhold Affair, our intentions might be misconstrued if we contributed to your investigation. I'm sorry. I can't help you."


Bloome stood, picking his coat from the back of the chair and pulling it on.


"Ms Scarlet, you realize that this is about bringing a serial killer to justice, not damage control."


She nodded.


"I do. Perhaps if Skyhold had turned out differently... but as it stands the Board aren't too receptive of mages and their problems. Once burned, twice shy. You know how it is."


Bloome scowled as he turned and stalked out the office.


"Should've known you'd be difficult."


Kuruko smiled faintly at his back.


"Quite."

 

[shadowdude505]

Lynn Aquari, Sarafina the Exceed, and Gurren Simon

​

"I only know what the Chairman and Sheriff Kandosii told us about her," Lynn replied apologetically. She had been expecting an exposition dump about the Kingslayer once they arrived to the briefing room, but it looked like Jason and Laura wanted to see what kind of info that they had on her first. "She's responsible for multiple deaths and can kill people in the amount of time it takes someone to blink," Lynn added before she felt the Exceed perched on her shoulder jump off.


"She's dangerous," Sarafina exclaimed as she landed on the table. "She caused the explosion that destroyed the Blue Pegasus Guildhall. I'm not sure what kind of magic she was using, but it seemed really powerful. Strangely the other wizards and myself were only blown back with minor injuries." Sarafina clenched a fist. "We were lucky. The Emperor may not be if we don't stop her."


"We'll stop her alright," Gurren chimed in. "I'm not going to let her get away with killing some of my Fairy Tail family. I haven't forgotten about the others either. She made my wizard family cry," he added with a clenched fist. "We don't have a lot of time to waste. Sora's probably in the city as we speak. What do you know about her and what does your information about Fairy Tail have anything to do with this?"


@DaughterofAthena @AllHailDago @The mods

 

[Lady Warlock]

Olive Kittana

Olive had followed Jason and Laura to the briefing room in silence for the most part. There simply wasn’t much to say although she was quite curious to see what kind of investigation the two of them were running and she also hoped they would put her to good use furthering their investigation. There weren’t many people who actually seemed to know how to put her talents to good use and it disappointed her at times. The silence radiating from Jason and Laura didn’t really do much to get her hopes up, though.


It was almost a relief to be asked a question, even more so that it was a question she could actually answer. “I have certain… skills... that normally allow me to be a good judge of a person and what I got from her back at the guild hall was more confusing than anything else I’ve ever felt,” Olive answered honestly. “She was… she was sad. I couldn’t explain why, but she was sad. That’s the only thing I managed to learn.”


Olive paused for a moment, unsure of how to continue. “Then, on the Redfox, I met someone who knew Sora before she was the Kingslayer. I saw her memories and she had seen Sora at a time where Sora seemed very different. I can confirm, based on another’s memories, that the Kingslayer is not invincible. I couldn’t say what defeated her that time, in the memory, but I can say that her magic has limits.” Another pause allowed Olive to further collect her thoughts. “And I’m fairly certain she had interactions with one of my guildmates as well, although he has no memory of it himself. Angel - the girl I spoke with, the one who met Sora - she seemed to think that if Sora was involved, someone else would be as well. Hikari? That was the name, but I don’t know it…”


After Olive told her piece, she glanced briefly to Gurren and the girls. She was sure some of her information likely surprised them, or was new, but she wasn’t really sure that any of it made a difference in any of their opinions. The ones who had spoke so far seemed content to kill Sora on sight, but Olive still wanted to know more. She wanted things to make sense.


Her gaze turned back to Jason and Laura after a moment as she waited to hear what they knew about the Kingslayer. Gurren had already asked them so she didn’t see a need to ask again, but she did allow her mind to slip into both Laura and Jason’s conscious thoughts because she didn’t trust anyone given the whole situation that she found herself in. She didn’t trust anyone to not keep secrets.


Shaking her head quickly, Olive realized she hadn’t introduced herself. She slipped off a black silk glove and extended her hand to the two of them, saying, “Sorry. I should’ve introduced myself first. I’m Olive. Blue Pegasus was my home so I’m more than willing to help in whatever way you’ll offer.” Her eyes flickered between the two of them, with her mind hovering within their conscious thoughts. She was slightly weary. Last time she had tried to enter a mind, it had rejected her. That was the Kingslayer though.


@shadowdude505 @AllHailDago

Spoiler

@Lexielai @Hellkite @BLUR @Refaulted @Arkytior
Note: The interaction referred to between Olive, Angel and Russel is currently being collaborated as a flashback and should be posted within a few days time.

 

[BLUR]

Ryos Delmora & Libby Tuck

Location: Viva Café

"Here is your seat," a waitress smiled, gesturing for the Lamia Scale duo of Ryos and Libby to get comfortable. After some thanks, the girl then rushed back to the rest of her co-workers, one of whom could hardly wait to speak up. They were standing right by the entrance to the kitchen.


"Liz!" she whispered excitedly, "Is that who I think it is?"


The girl named Liz seemed to share her enthusiasm, responding with equal excitement, "Yeah! It's totally him! He's just as tall and mysterious as he is on TV!"


A man came up to them. He was their boss, as well as the owner of the cafe. "You two! Stop clowning around, just because we have a popular mage in our fine establishment doesn't mean you get to fan girl all over the place," he ordered. The girls both looked embarrassed at being caught goofing off, apologizing and going back to work. Liz went back to the table where the stars of the hour were seated.

"Hey there! So what can I get for you two?" she asked doing her best not to lose her cool around the Toxic Dragon of Lamia Scale. She was a huge follower of the magic world. She had every issue of Sorcerer Weekly for the last few years, watched every Grand Magic Game of the last two decades, and was constantly on the internet keeping up to date with happenings, not to mention she was part of many fan clubs. Of course she would be super excited, especially since Ryos Delmora was one of the more popular wizards. Yup, in front of her sat a true S-Class mage, one that had been in many of the Grand Magic Games she'd watched. Of all the "in" and newer generation of wizards, he'd been around for possibly the longest amount of time, having captured everyone's attention when he debuted as an S-Class mage during the Games of x983. Even before that, many had pegged him as an up-and-comer. It was huge news when it got out that Myla Romanov brought back a seven year-old dragon slayer from Bosco. It was the first of many additions that would eventually propel Lamia Scale in the guild rankings. What a day to be alive. What if...what if this was fate. What if this was the day that Ryos Delmora found his love? She could already imagine it. He would fall in love with her, ask her for her number, and from this day forth they would engage in a real relationship. It would be out on all the major magic magazines. She pictured the headlines. Ryos Delmora finally finds a girl to break his cold exterior. She was that girl. They would get married, and have beautiful children. Liz's eyes sparkled.


She was snapped out of her inner fan-girling and fantasies by the rising voice of the same man she was fantasizing about.


"Hey!" Ryos said loudly, trying to get his server's attention.


"Ahh!" Liz shrieked, realizing that she had drifted off into another world. "I'm so sorry about that! What was it you ordered?"


The dragon slayer raised a brow, the sparkle in the girl's eyes had not gone unnoticed. Ryos glanced over at Libby, gesturing for her to order first.


Libby glanced at the menu for a moment before picking out chicken tenders and strawberry lemonade. She was as much a child at heart with her typical order as anyone could’ve imagined. “Uhm… can I get strawberry lemonade to drink and then chicken tenders with fries,” Libby requested, quickly remembering to add, “Please,” at the end.


Ryos nodded, turning back to the waitress, “I’ll have the chicken club sandwich, a glass of water, and can we get some bug spray here too?”


Initially, the girl seemed a bit shocked by the last order, before she realized it was the poison dragon slayer was the one who said it. She smiled at Libby, before turning back to Ryos with sparkles in her eyes.


“Right away!” she exclaimed.


“Wait.”


Liz stopped in her tracks.


Speaking to Libby first, Ryos began, “Watch now, detective, as I work my magic.”


The dragon slayer glanced at the waitress, back to Libby, then back the waitress again. “Tell me something, have you heard any juicy rumors going around here about a king slayer?”


The girl’s eyes widened. Inside her head, she was jumping at joy that the young man was conversing with her, even if it was such a weird question. regaining her cool, she answered.


“Yeah! Everyone’s heard about Kingslayer! Some person that’s been going around killing magic council members right? They tried to keep it a secret but nothing stays hidden too long in Crocus!”


“You don’t know anything other than that?” Ryos asked, a bored expression on his face. Immediately, Liz realized that she needed to do better if she was to win the man’s heart.


“N-no! There’s more! I’ve heard rumors that Crime Sorcieré has a lot to do with all of Kingslayer’s actions. Apparently, the council is in the processing of changing their label of independent guild to dark guild!”


Ryos cupped his chin in his hand. “Hmm, what do you know about Crime Sorcieré? How do they operate?”


Liz continued, “I don’t know a lot, they’re known to work in the shadows! I’ve heard they have allies in high places though. Everything else is a secret between members. What I can tell you is that they’ve always worked for the greater good, so all these rumors about them helping kingslayer to kill high-ranking officials is really odd.”


“They’re more than just rumors,” Ryos scoffed. Once again, he was stuck with the same question. What was the reason behind these actions? Both Sora and Crime Sorcieré had zero instances of criminal activity that Ryos had seen before, and they’ve had a history of aiding Fiore as well. What the hell was going on.


“Alright, that’s good for now, I’ll let you continue with your job. Sorry for bothering you,” he added.


The girl’s face reddened a bit. “Not at all! Feel free to ask me anything!” With that, she took her leave to put in their orders. Once again, the dragon slayer raised his brow at the girl. He had no idea what was going on with her, but her behavior was not something he was used to.


“How’d I do,” Ryos asked Libby.


Libby smiled brightly. “Fantastic!” She yelled it as loud as she possibly could, but then her excitement quickly faded. “So… did we do good? Did we find any clues?”


The black haired young man’s face showed no signs of distress, but he sighed. “No, not really. The questions I needed answered just became more confusing. But don’t worry, we’ll get to the bottom of this, our waitress seems like she knows a few things,” he responded.

 

[Ivory Witch]

Angel Litwick, Russel Lefton, Olive Kittana, Piper Alyss, Kyla Hivan, Light Ethereal, Soren Peres and Ryannan “Ryan” Costice

A Not so Brief Flashback

"Thank you, both of you." Commander Bloome had implicitly accepted Olive’s help to get people onto the Redfox whether he had intended to or not when the ship had landed. And Olive had not hesitated to start searching for people who needed help. It would serve to get her mind off of things; to get her mind off of the fact that her home had just been destroyed.


The first person who Olive stumbled upon was Russel, her youngest guildmate and he had been crying. Olive didn’t need to ask if he was ok. She could simply tell from the context of his thoughts that he was completely and totally distressed by the sight of his guild hall having been totally demolished. Olive had simply hugged the boy gently. “Russel, home isn’t just a place, you know. It’s the family too, and we still have that. We still have most of our family intact. We have Dusty and Jacob and Master Gregory - he’s hurt but far from dead. It takes a lot more than that to kill our guildmaster.” She had tried her best to be reassuring and when the boy had hugged her back, Olive knew she was somewhat successful.


“I wasn’t even here though. I couldn’t even try to help,” Russel had cried into his guildmate’s shirt. “And… I knew her. The one Alicia attacked… I don’t know how, but I knew her.” Russel seemed very distressed by that simple fact.


Olive looked down at him, narrowing her eyes slightly as she tried to make sense of his thoughts. Olive’s mind was inside his own and she could see that he wasn’t lying. The green haired Crime Sorciere mage had been a familiar face for the boy, yet at the same time he didn’t have any recollection of ever meeting her before. Olive had never encountered such a strong memory spell before. She honestly didn’t know how to respond to that. “I’ll help you figure this out, Russ,” was the only thing Olive could think to say. “Don’t worry.”


Olive rubbed the back of her guildmate’s head softly and when he finally seemed to have calmed down enough, she sent him to board the Redfox. “I’ll be there soon, ok?”


Russel simply nodded at her and walked onto the ship.


Opening up her mind, Olive had scanned the rest of the beaten up block, looking for anyone who was either familiar or who seemed to need help. It was when she slipped into one particular mind that she found the next person she could help. The girl’s name was Angel Litwick and her mind was consumed with concern over the fact that she couldn’t walk. That was exactly the kind of person that Olive had been looking to help in the first place so Olive didn’t hesitate for even a single moment to make her way towards the injured girl.


“Need some help?” Olive asked as soon as the blonde girl was within sight. Her eyes scanned the girl up and down. Nothing was bleeding so that was a good thing at least.


Angel tried to get up one more time even as she saw Olive walk up and an expression filled with pain flooded her face before she sighed and slumped down. “Yeah…” she mumbled. “I suppose walking doesn’t work very well when The Kingslayer breaks your leg, now does it?” Angel’s voice was flooded with sarcasm and she smirked up at Olive for a moment, holding out an arm for Olive to take.


Olive was immediately intrigued by Angel’s statement and she couldn’t help herself. Olive slipped her mind into Angel’s conscious thoughts and took in what was there. Angel hadn’t been lying. The Kingslayer had quite literally snapped Angel’s patella clean in two. “So she didn’t outright kill you?” All of a sudden, even more goings on didn’t make any sense at all. Even as she asked it, Olive slipped both of her arms into a jean jacket so that she could help Angel up without activating her psychometry. Using her mind reading on someone who didn’t know about it was more than enough of an invasion of privacy for Olive’s liking. She didn’t need to steal any more thoughts than necessary.


Angel shook her head in response as Olive helped her up. Their journey was a hobbling one. “Nope, and I have no idea why. I didn’t think I made that much of an impression on her, to be honest, for her to have any reason to spare my life,” Angel commented, not really thinking much of her own words.


However, Angel’s words almost made Olive jump as much as she would’ve had Angel touched her at that moment in time. “Wait a second! You know the kingslayer!?”


Angel snickered, “Pfft. Yeah I know the kingslayer. Stop calling her that, though. Her name is Sora and I never thought she would be bold enough to do some of the things she did in there. She’s too quiet for that.” Angel paused for a moment and then she added, “I’m half inclined to wonder where Hikari ran off to to allow such a thing to happen. It almost seemed like the girl was Sora’s leash.”


Olive wasn’t even listening to Angel’s words as Angel spoke. Olive was watching the scenes in Angel’s mind. She saw Angel stumbling into a bookstore covered in glass shards. She saw the bookkeeper Angel called Hikari. She saw a boy walk in with an unconscious Sora in tow. And Olive realized that the boy was Russel. What? But… but Russel doesn’t remember any of this… Olive was usually pretty good at keeping the things she learned to herself, but this time there were simply too many questions. “Russel… you know my guildmate?”


Angel flinched slightly at Olive’s question. Firstly, she realized almost immediately that she herself had never said a single word in regards to the boy. Secondly, she simply didn’t like the mention of guildmates, of family, of anything that made people seem important. “Uhm… I don’t believe I ever mentioned Russel,” Angel uttered. “How do you know about that?”


Olive quickly realized her mistake. By this point, the two of them were boarding the Redfox and she sighed. “I swear I can’t see anything that you don’t think about. If you want me to leave now, I will. I’m sorry. I stole your thoughts without your permission. I’m a mind reader, Angel. It’s how I know your name even though you never said it. It’s how I know you met Hikari in a bookstore in Hargeon. It’s how I know you met Sora when Sora was suffering from ethernano exhaustion. It’s how I know Russel Lefton was helping Sora. And I know Russel would never help someone as murderous as the woman I saw slaughtering guild mages.”


Angel chuckled a bit. “Why would I ask you to leave? Your ability makes this ten times easier to explain. It seems like you already understand, actually. Is Russel ok?”


Olive sensed it. Although she could tell that Angel would never outright admit it, Angel cared about Russel. Olive nodded and said, “Mhm. He’s on the ship. He can help you, actually. He can fix your leg.”


Angel started a bit at that comment. “He can?”


It was Olive’s turn to chuckle. “Well, he doesn’t know it and it’s not really in his control, but his blood can heal you. He’s a healing mage - DON’T TELL HIM THAT THOUGH! Knowing him he’d become so reckless we’d never be able to keep him safe again. Even healing magic has its limits.”


Angel swiftly nodded. “Now that I know him well enough to understand.”


Russel was actually waiting for Olive on the Redfox and he hesitated very obviously when he saw Angel with Olive. “I… I know you… just like I knew her…” he mumbled. “How… how do I know you?”


Angel’s gaze flickered to Olive for a moment questioningly and Olive simply shook her head. “He doesn’t remember,” she explained.


Angel’s eyes widened. “Now I’m really going to kill her,” Angel’s voice had suddenly become very deadly sharp. “The one good thing that came out of meeting her in the first place, and he doesn’t remember it. She’s already dead…”


“Careful there,” Olive warned. “She’s dangerous and you’re still broken.” Olive looked over to Russel and smiled at him. “Will you come with us to the infirmary?” Olive asked him. “You can actually help me with her. I’m sure of it.” It was a cruel trick in a way. Olive knew that Russel was always desperate to be helpful and she was playing on that desperation. And it worked. Russel followed.


Eventually, Olive set Angel down in a chair and Angel beckoned Russel towards her. Russel walked up cautiously and Angel muttered, “I’m sorry…” Touching the side of his face, Angel sent his mind a blip of sleepiness and within seconds, Russel was unconscious. His body slumped onto her and Olive started gathering the medical equipment.


“I’ve never done this before,” Olive prefaced. She did look a bit nervous although she had everything she needed within a few moments. She had alcohol wipes, she had a tourniquet. She had two needles and she had a few vials. Carefully, she circled a visible vein on Russel’s arm and then she slid the needle in, drawing blood from him. Olive filled two vials without even thinking about it. One was for Angel and another was… well, Olive didn’t know precisely. Well, I imagine it’ll come in handy at some point or another.


Angel winced as Olive stuck a needle into her own arm and Angel was looking away as Russel’s blood was transfused into her. The two girls anxiously awaited something - anything - that would say that it worked and after a few minutes of waiting, Angel tried to flex her knee. It moved. And it was completely painless. “Amazing!” Angel remarked. She looked to Olive for a moment and she reached out and touched Olive’s cheek, sending in the single thought. Thank you.


That, of course, had the unintended consequence of sharing everything with Olive. Every memory Angel had, every piece of random information, all of it was now readily available at the tip of Olive’s mind. And although Olive didn’t tell that to Angel - she feared it would ruin the friendship she had established - Olive had no intentions of putting it to waste. Everything had to fit together and Olive was bound and determined to figure it out.

Let’s Go to a Coffeeshop

As people headed off to the coffeeshop, Russel stayed within the crowd that was heading in that general direction. His guildmates - Dusty and Jacob - were leading the way so he felt like that was where he should go. The boy wasn’t entirely eager to run off on his own. He didn’t want to leave his family seeing as they were all he had left of home now that the guild hall was no more.


Hey, you can stay with me, you know. Angel Litwick appeared behind him and put a hand gently on his shoulder. She quickly picked him up and slung him onto her back, not really giving him much of a choice in the matter. “I know you don’t remember me, but I’m Angel and I’m going to keep you safe. I thought Sora and Hikari would’ve, but apparently they only made you forget. Makes me wonder what Princess had to do with it.” Of course, Russel wouldn’t know any of these names but Angel didn’t really care.


Angel remembered that Isanna had gone missing at their stop in the hospital and she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to find the ice dragon slayer or not. The two of them never really hit it off in a good way and although Angel would’ve tried to save Isanna from being kidnapped (if that was what really happened), Angel really had no urge at all to try and find her now. It was an odd one - their relationship.


“I… I don’t remember any of these people,” Russel sighed softly, feeling terrible for not knowing.


“Don’t worry. I’ll help you fill in the gaps when I can,” Angel tried to reassure him. She intended to share with him her memories of their previous encounters. The only problem was that she didn’t know what happened after she left and Angel didn’t want to give him an incomplete memory.


As the two of them were walking, they came up alongside another woman who was walking with another child. Although neither Angel nor Russel would know their names, the pair was Piper Alyss and Kyla Hivan. And the younger of the two looked up at the ribbon in Angel’s hair, pointed and proclaimed, “Pretty!”


Piper squeezed Kyla’s hand softly and patted her head with her other hand. “It’s just a ribbon, Kyla. Nothing to go making a fuss about.” Piper’s voice was sweet as she said it. There was no magic. There was no influence over anyone. It was just Piper being motherly in her own way.


Angel smiled softly, recognizing Piper’s care for the child as something similar to the way she herself cared for the boy riding piggyback on her back. “It’s no big deal,” Angel replied. “It’s nice to be complimented every once in awhile, even if it is by a child.” Angel’s gaze drifted the little girl with green hair and she smiled as she said, “Thank you, Kyla.”


Piper sighed softly and then smiled at Angel. She was actually glad to have a sensible person around. All of the men who seemed to be leading the way seemed entirely useless. “So, do you know what it is we’re actually looking for? That would make this a whole lot easier.” Piper looked down to Kyla for a moment before adding, “Kyla was a bit distracted so I didn’t really get to listen to the full mission explanation.”


Angel’s eyes narrowed for a moment as she tried to figure out the best way to answer.


However, Russel jumped in first, chirping in from Angel’s back. “We’re supposed to be looking for information on the Kingslayer, right Angel?” For once, Russel knew something and he wanted to show it.


“Yes, that is the gist of it.”


Piper hummed softly as a plan formulated in her mind. “Well, that might not be too hard. Would you be able to describe her to the people when I ask them about it. I can’t honestly say I’ve seen her. In fact, I have no idea who you’re talking about.” Piper held up a hand, signaling for Angel to not try and explain it at all. “I don’t care, though. I just want to get this done because for me to keep Kyla around people who decided to blow up a guild hall is only going to make me more and more nervous.”


Angel raised an eyebrow at Piper. As far as Angel was aware, no one present had ever decided to blow up Blue Pegasus but Angel was actually glad to be around another person who seemed entirely critical of guild mages. They both had someone to protect and neither one seemed to care about anyone else. Instead, she simply nodded. “Yeah. I can describe her if you need me to. I’ve seen her enough times.”


Angel continued walking with Russel. She was becoming quite eager to see what actually went down at the coffeeshop since it seemed that everyone had their own ideas in mind.


Meanwhile, Piper’s eyes scanned the crowds of people who were all swarming to the coffeeshop like mindless obedient souls. She couldn’t really judge. She was doing the same thing, but that didn’t stop the thought from wandering into her head. Then her eyes fell upon the sight of the the one person whose presence completely disgusted her. It was her half brother, Light. As much as Piper hated it, she had to talk to him. “Come on, Kyla,” she beckoned to her charge. This time, there was magic in her voice. She didn’t have the patience to wait for Kyla to decide to listen so compelling her just made it easier.


Piper pulled Kyla along with her as she walked briskly, bringing herself alongside Light Ethereal. “Fancy seeing you here,” she smirked slightly. “Now what might you think you’re doing?”


Light knew it was Piper before he even looked. And he didn’t turn to face her as he replied. “I’m going to investigate. No, wait. We’re going to investigate.” He edited his statement to include his friend Soren who was walking on his left. “The coffeeshop was the starting point we were given so we’ll start there and follow the trail.”


“Take your investigation elsewhere. Cover some ground so we can get out of here more quickly. Can’t your friend teleport you anywhere, anyway?” Piper questioned. “I’ll milk this little shop for all that it’s got before you can even blink so why even bother wasting time you could be learning other things. Besides, the masses aren’t happy so having all the mages in one giant clump is just screaming for trouble.”


Light shrugged. Piper did have a few points. He turned to Soren. “Well, what do you think, Soren?”


Soren nodded. “Your sister can compell others to listen so she’ll learn all there is to learn at the coffeeshop without a doubt,” he began.


Piper glared at him fiercely as Soren referred to her as Light’s sister. It was a connection she would always refuse to acknowledge. She didn’t say anything though.


“And if we teleport sporadically through the city, I should be able to tell if any of the mages who attacked the guild hall are in the city… including the Kingslayer.” Soren seemed fairly confident in his magic sense. Although it’s range was limited, he would not fail to recognize a magic signature if he had encountered it before. And he had been exposed to many magic signatures back at the Blue Pegasus guild hall prior to its demise.


“We better hope we don’t encounter the Kingslayer,” Light remarked.


“If we do, we run. We teleport back. I don’t think even she would stand a chance against ALL the mages of Fiore,” Soren replied. He made it seem simple, because it was. Soren held out a hand to Light then. “Let’s go.”


Light nodded, took Soren’s hand, and in the instant before the two of them teleported off, Light said to Piper, “Good luck.” Soren and Light teleported sporadically throughout the city after that. Soren’s magic sense reached out, searching for anything that seemed to carry a familiar magic signature.


“Luck!” Kyla Hivan bounced once as she echoed Light’s words.


“Hopefully we don’t need it.”


Angel Litwick was the first of the large mass to reach the coffeeshop and her eyes immediately fell to the customer who seemed to be drawing the eyes of all the staff. She recognized him instantly - his picture had been in a book she had read about countries and leadership and rulers and kings. “That’s the prince of Perengrande,” she found herself explaining to Russel, the boy still clinging to her back. “And I do believe that someone said at some point that Sora intended to sabotage meetings with his country.” It was an interesting thing. Was it intentional that our investigation would bring us to a person Sora is endangering?


Quickly, Angel also noticed the prince’s spilling coffee. “Well, that’s a decent cue, I suppose,” Angel murmured. Activating her high speed magic, Angel sprinted through the shop, shoving the waitresses out of the way as she got to the prince just before coffee stained his clothes. She grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him away from the table, unsure of how much of a splatter the coffee would make. Within a second, she was on the other side of the room with Russel still on her back and the Prince as well. She had dragged him away from “disaster”... if spilled coffee could ever be considered a disaster in the first place.


“Hello there,” Angel said to the Prince who she had just snatched. “I didn’t think you’d enjoy getting stained by coffee.” Her hand brushed his cheek in a way that looked entirely inappropriate and within that contact, Angel sent a thought. Someone’s going to try to kill you, you know. Any ideas why?


Russel looked entirely uncomfortable with Angel’s approach to the situation, but he didn’t say anything from her back. He didn’t know what he could say in the first place.


It wasn’t long before Piper and Kyla walked in as well. “Hello everyone! My name is Piper… just Piper will do. I’m here on business. I am NOT here to hurt anyone.” Piper’s magic commandeered the attention of everyone in the room. Thickly laced throughout every word she said, Piper’s magic ensured that everyone believed every word that she said and it also ensured that they listened. “We’re looking for information on Sora - also dubbed Kingslayer. If anyone here knows anything about her that might serve our investigation, speak up, please.” Again, magic laced every word. Any civilian wouldn’t even know they were being affected by magic at all. They would think they were obeying of their own will. Anyone else… well, they could quite well know it was magic although Piper’s magic was laced thick so there wasn’t very much of an opening to resist unless they were highly skilled.


Ryannan had been answering Aden when Piper’s words took over the room. “S-Class mage of Silver Phoenix? That would be me.” Ryannan held out her hand to Aden. “You can call me Ryan.” Anything else Ryannan had been about to say had been lost as she fell prey to Piper’s words.


Ryannan stepped forward hesitantly. “I can draw a picture of her,” she volunteered. “Actually, I can do one better.” Ryannan hastily pulled out her sketchbook and drew a quick picture of Sora the Kingslayer. When it was finished, she proclaimed, “Picto Magic: Human Replica!” All of a sudden, there was a life-like clone of Sora the Windrunner standing next to Ryannan in the coffeeshop.


Piper couldn’t help but smile a bit. She gestured to the life-like clone and rephrased her question. “Cool! Has anyone seen that woman wandering around the city in the past few days?”

Collaboration Brought to You By: @Violet Obsidian @Hales @DaughterofAthena @Kyra @Stormborn Targaryen and myself


Tags: @BLUR @Refaulted @Hellkite @Arkytior @Lexielai @arcaneSentinel and… uhm… anyone else who went to the coffeeshop

 

[Hellkite]

Lotus
​

Lotus shrugged the coat over her shoulders and pulled the hood up to conceal her face. She disliked the secrecy; cloak-and-dagger wasn't really her look. Nonetheless orders were orders. Closing the apartment door behind her Lotus turned right and strode along the pavement, the normal clicking of her high-heels now replaced by the stomp of her new combat boots. She wrinkled her lip in distaste.


If Asher saw me like this... This whole outfit costs less than my favorite pair of shoes. Whatever would he think of me...





Lotus weaved through the crowd, barely paying the citizen's a glance. She stepped out into the street, waving a hand dismissively as a car slammed on its breaks and sounded its horn, swerving to avoid her.


"Just be quiet." Lotus hissed after it, stepping up onto the opposite pavement to join the crowds again. She grimaced as commuters jostled against her.


Ugh. Do these people wash?





Lotus snarled under her breath and took an abrupt right turn into an alleyway. For a moment she paused, adjusting the hem of her cloak so that it wouldn't be dragged through the muck.


Then two figures appeared only a few paces away. Out of thin air. Lotus cocked an eyebrow, raised her mouth to drawl a greeting or an insult; whatever sprung to mind first - then she caught a glimpse of the shorter man's wrist. Purple ink, the edge of a guild-mark. Lotus froze for the barest moment before turning on her heel and striding out of the alleyway, head bowed, trying to lose herself in the crowd on the pavement.


I don't think they saw me. She threw a glance over her shoulder as she started to push her way through the crowd. I could do without legal mages getting in the way...





@Hales @Stormborn Targaryen

Prince Pergrande
​

“Hello there, I didn’t think you’d enjoy getting stained by coffee.”





Prince Pergrande's eyes widened, his eyes flicking from the hand gripping the scruff of his kimono, to the boy peering at him from over the shoulder of a girl. A pretty blonde girl. A pretty blonde girl whose face was only inches from his own. Pergrande's cheeks flushed. He opened his mouth to speak, but Angel cut him off by brushing her hand across his cheek.


Someone’s going to try to kill you, you know. Any ideas why?


At Angel's touch Pergrande was far from composed. But at her thought he frowned slightly, although the blush still lingered as a tell-tale sign.


"Someone wants me dead?" He murmured, his eyes flickering to meet Angel's for a moment. "But I haven't done anything wrong yet."


He reached up and gripped Angel's hand, gently prying her fingers from his kimono.


"Thank you, but the fabric's delicate." He glanced at Russel. "Can you get down from her back, please? It's hard to concentrate on pretty girls with gremlins peering over their shoulder."


A small smile touched the corner of his mouth. He'd forgotten how long it had been.


"I think we'd better sit down and have a conversation."


He picked a table at random, pulling back a chair for Angel and waiting for her to sit. He glanced between her and Russel. "Would either of you like a drink?"


@Ivory Witch @Violet Obsidian

Cafe
​

“Hello everyone! My name is Piper… just Piper will do. I’m here on business. I am NOT here to hurt anyone.”





The waitresses and clients all turned as one to look at her. All except Pergrande, who still waited dutifully for Angel to sit and had barely spared Piper a glance as she entered. He looked up when Ryannan drew a picture of Sora, but his expression was as blank as the waitresses.





"I'm sorry," A youngish waitress paid Piper and Ryannan a stiff curtsy. "I don't recognize her." She glanced to her coworkers, who shook their heads and made confused sounds.


"We didn't know what she looked like, but if we'd known Kingslayer we would have turned her over to the Rune Knights. She's despicable."


The waitress tutted, then her eyes lit up.





"There's a bar a little further down the street. A Treasure Hunter hang-out, the Jeweled Footstool they call it. It's rough there, so a girl hears, but maybe the sort of place that someone like the Kingslayer might go?"


@DaughterofAthena @Hales

 

[Ivory Witch]

Angel Litwick and Russel Lefton

Angel’s eyes widened at the first thing that the prince of Pergrande said and her eyes remained as such for the remainder of his actions. She only half heard everything he said beyond his immediate answer to the thought she had sent into his head. She watched as he tried to be a gentleman and in the back of her mind, she kind of wanted to toy with him just a bit. However, Angel also had more pressing matters to figure out. First and foremost, Angel wanted to find Sora and give the Kingslayer a piece of her mind; a thanks for breaking her leg, in a sense.


It was Russel’s words that snapped her out of it. “I’m not a gremlin. I’m a mage of Blue Pegasus!” He seemed rather upset about it, as a matter of fact.


Angel’s hand brushed against Russel’s on her shoulder as she sent him a wave of calmness. Relax, Russel. I’ll handle this idiot like I’ve handled everyone else who’s tried thinking of me as just a pretty face. She flashed a grin at the prince briefly.


Russel’s eyes curled in minor confusion, not quite understanding what Angel was talking about, but he decided to trust her for now. He slipped himself off of her back and stood next to the blonde.


“Now, where were we?” Angel knew exactly where they had been in their conversation, but she still felt like putting on a bit of a show anyway. “Ahh, yes. Drinks. I’ll take a glass of red wine and my friend Russel here will take a kiddie cocktail.” Angel pulled out another chair and sat in it, wanting nothing to do with the seat the prince had offered her although she gestured for Russel to take it.


Russel gulped a bit before walking forward to take the chair the prince had pulled out. He remembered Angel saying that this guy was a prince and Russel couldn’t help but think that Angel was being a bit rude for someone who was interacting with an important person. However, Russel also trusted her a lot more than he trusted this prince who had decided to call him a gremlin and so he said nothing for now.


After Angel and Russel had their drinks, Angel smiled at the prince, intentionally making sure her piercing green eyes were constantly where he could see them. She had seen his blush at her touch earlier and Angel intended to make every use out of it humanly possible.


“Now, back to business,” Angel said as she casually reached across the table and grabbed at the prince’s hand. She held it in both of her own hands, massaging the skin on the back of his hand with her thumb gently. “I’m curious… you say you haven’t done anything wrong yet. Does that mean you are intending to?” And don’t keep secrets… I’ll know if you lie, sweet Prince. Angel, of course, had absolutely no way of knowing if he was lying or not, but he didn’t know that and if there was one thing Angel was good at, it was pressing her luck.


“We’re looking for someone… someone dangerous. Who was it again?” Angel’s face curled in an expression of soul searching as she tried to recall the name. It was all an act, but she looked at Russel, hoping he would either fall for it, or see through it.


Russel fell for it and he was entirely eager to offer an answer, to be of some help. “We’re looking for the Kingslayer. I think you said her name was Sora.” He smiled brightly, happy to be of any amount of assistance.


“Mmm… yes. Sora the Kingslayer. We’re looking for her. Any chance you’ve seen her. It would make me really happy if you had any information at all,” Angel sung softly as she smiled at him, feigning complete innocence. And if I remember right, she was the one who rumor had it was a threat to your life… you wouldn’t happen to know why, would you?


“If I find her, I’m going to kill her and then I might just be willing to come back and spend some more time with you, Prince of Pergrande. You are kinda cute, I suppose…” Angel twirled a finger in her hair as she spoke before sending him one final thought. That or I could just kill you. I don’t take kindly to people who call my friend names… of course, I’ll leave you to determine whether I’m serious or not. Throughout all of it, the smile on Angel’s face was entirely and perfectly innocent. Her facade was flawless.


@Hellkite @Lexielai @BLUR @Arkytior @Refaulted - ‘cause Mods…


Collaboration With: @Violet Obsidian

 

[Hales]

Ryannan “Ryan” Costice, Piper Alyss and Kyla Hivan

Collaboration With:

@Kyra and @DaughterofAthena​

Piper sighed at the response that she got. She knew her own magic well enough to know it was impossible for them to be lying and for a moment, in her frustration at learning absolutely nothing from the restaurant staff at all, Piper’s grip on Kyla’s hand tightened a bit more than she intended to and Kyla’s face curled into a grimace.


“Oww!” Kyla yelped. Among other things, Kyla’s hair transitioned from green to red and her face turned red as well. The lights in the coffeeshop started to flicker.


Piper flinched and completely dropped Kyla’s hand from her grip. Suddenly, everything about Piper’s appearance turned red. Her face, her hair, her dress, her eyes… all of them were red. It was an odd and intriguing sight for any member of the staff to behold, if indeed they stuck around to see it. Since Piper was done speaking to them for now, Piper’s hold over them would be gone.


It took Piper a moment to realize what was happening, but the moment she caught onto it, Piper glared down at Kyla and said a single word. She didn’t yell it. She didn’t sound angry. Piper didn’t have to. “Enough.” All the magic radiating off of Kyla faded. Her own hair flickered red for a few more moments before fading to a soft blue color. Piper’s own features returned to normal and the two of them looked exactly as they had a few moments prior.


“Sorry about that,” Piper apologized to the wait staff. “Kyla,” she gestured to the little girl standing next to her, “she’s… a bit impatient with this investigation and we were hoping to learn something. Finding nothing is disappointing although we won’t bother you further.” Piper wove her magic into her voice once again. It wasn’t anything nearly as commanding as before. It simply ensured that anyone who heard what she had to say believed every word of what she said.


Looking down to Kyla, Piper beckoned for the child to follow. “Come on, Kyla.”


“Coming!” Kyla replied swiftly.


Piper led Kyla to the exit of the coffeeshop before her gaze flickered to the other mages in the room, wondering if any of them were going to come to the next stop in the wild goose chase. “Anyone coming?”


Ryannan’s head flicked up at that point. She had been admiring her drawing and the ‘person’ she had brought to life. Chuckling a bit, Ryannan replied, “Yeah, I’ll come.” As she started walking towards Piper and Kyla, the life-like clone of the Kingslayer followed with her and it took Ryannan a moment to realize it. When she finally heard the footsteps behind her, Ryannan turned and looked at her creation with a bright smile on her face. “Well, I suppose you would follow me, wouldn’t you? That doesn’t seem like the wisest idea - having a wanted woman following me everywhere.”


Ryannan waved her hand dismissively at her picto magic creation. “Paper Magic: Disperse.” With a single selection of words and a wave of Ryannan’s hand, the replica of Sora the Kingslayer dispersed into about one hundred origami paper birds and landed in various places throughout the room. One of them landed on the waitress. One of them landed on Russel Lefton’s shoulder. One of them even landed in Prince Pergrande’s head.


Ryannan turned her head to the wait staff as she smiled at them briefly. “You can use them to decorate. It’s a gift and an apology. I realize mages aren’t really welcome in the city and I hope our presence hasn’t lost you too much business.” She didn’t wait to hear what their reply was. Ryannan just followed Piper and Kyla out of the coffeeshop.


She did throw one glance in the direction of Dusty and Jacob, though. She wasn’t sure if they were coming, but she really hoped they didn’t overstay their welcome.


@Refaulted @BLUR @Arkytior @Lexielai @Hellkite @Ivory Witch @Violet Obsidian

 

[Kaine]

Ohtori Tsukikono & Usagi Tsukikono

​

A puff of air escaped her mouth as Tori sighed once again. What had it been? Fifteen? Twenty-five minutes? Almost every mage had seemed to of either left through the crowd blocking the entrance, or followed the other two; Jason and ... what was her name again? Both of them had been rambling on about important things. Didn't really matter cause it was as confusing now as it was then and even back when all hell broke lose. Without Lynn or Rose, there was no reason to do anything mission related. Or maybe more like she couldn't do anything.


Tilting her head down, she stared at Usagi while contemplating what to do. Bunny's hands were holding onto her own. Casually she sat her chin down on the top of her sister's head. Usagi snorted and whined at this. "Onii-chan~" She whimpered. "I'm bored~"


"I know," she replied. But then something caught her eye. The ship that they came on. It had the utilities for a squad, they simply werent used because at the time, it was much over capacity. Looking over at it now though. Surely it would have the amenities required for just two small girls to bath and relax. It even only had 2 guards posted to watch. If security was this lax, wouldn't they be able to get on board again?


Getting down next to her ear, Ohtori whispered to her sister, "Hey, Bunny, wanna take a bath?"


Usagi's eyes lit up and she jumped with excitement. "Please sissy! Can we?" She turned and watched her big sister, hoping she wasn't playing around. Bunny wasn't one to complain, but going 5 or more days without a shower was just bad. Even she knew this. Wash cloths only worked so good. Letting go of Tori's hands she turned around, taking just one hand at her side. Tori took her and both of them walked up to the ramp for the ship.


Both the guard's turned to her, holding out their hand to stop her and her sister. "Can we help you?"


Tori kind of laughed nervously, trying to show she was friendly and forgetful. "Can we get back onboard for a moment? I forgot the bag that had our clothing and stuff." Bunny just nodded in confirmation for the guards.


"Well..." Both guards were hesitating


"Plllleeeeeeaaaaaaasssssssseeeeeeee~" Bunny broke out and pleaded in an overly cute child like way. Little puffy cheeks and rosy lips.


Both the guard's expressions turned into joyfulness and flowers and they both spoke simultaneously, "So cyuuuuute~"


While they were stunned, Tori and Bunny slipped by them easily, returning to the deck. It was huge and should of easily had a bathing room somewhere. More than likely she figured it would be where ever the living quarters were. Turning side to side, scanning the entire deck, she found a lowly mage, casual in clothing, with a mop. About every 5 or 6 swings he would pump it back into a pail and repeat.


Walking carefully up to him, she broke the dull roar from the crowd with a question, "Sir?" She asked.


Turning, the person looked first at Ohtori with a raised eyebrow, then down to Usagi, and finally back up at Tori. Without so much as a hint or rhyme, the man replied in the simplest of ways. "Yes?"


"Uhm," She put a finger up to her lip, "Do you know where the restrooms are?" And before giving the man a chance to answer she expanded her answer, "We arrived with the other mages earlier and forgot to bring our bag. We just want to change into some clean clothes." She smiled wide and hoped it would work.


Lifting an arm to point behind him, "Through that hall down at the end should be the changing room. Signs will tell you mens from womens and as for a lost bag, We already gathered up the belongings left by you guys, the first door on the right should be what we found."


Bunny's entire being began to glow. "I'm not sure about the bath's, but as long as you don't break anything, and don't take too long, I doubt anyone will notice." The young man winked and smiled before turning back around and continuing what he was working on to begin with.


Holding out her arms, Bunny raced all the way down to the bath ahead of Tori. Her sister stopped at the first door and checked it. Her face turned grim for a moment. Stuff from all the mages? Their pink backpack was all that was there. No one forgot anything except for them. Taking it up on her shoulder, Tori continued down the hall. As her hand gripped the last door and opened it she just stared blankly at what she saw.


It seemed to be a changing room with lockers first. Not many, only 4, all in a single line before heading into another doorway with steam coming out. Infront of her first was a shirt. Then a shoe. Then a skirt and another shoe. Pair of panties. A cami. A sock, and a naked Bunny struggling to take of her last sock. Between the hopping Bunny, her bare butt and her giggles, Tori just shook her head and picked up everything before continuing their cleaning ritual.


Short Time Later

Walking down the ramp of the ship, the girls were both clean, rejuvenated, and dressed. Tori, wearing her usual summer outfit of a thick broad band tank top, pink in color, a black mid thigh skirt that was knee length in the back and some pink sneakers. Her hair in twin tails with black ribbons. Usagi also had on a tank top much like her sister's, a pair of short denim shorts, sneakers but an extra large hoody that came down, revealing her shoulders but hiding her hands. This time the two of them remembered to bring their backpack. Tori had it over both shoulders.


Waving at the guards as they came off the ramp, they smiled but remained composed. Tori figured it was because they would of gotten introuble other wise. Now that they had their money as well, not only could they eat, but they could shop. Or at least try. They were afterall just witness to a mass murder.


Not waiting to draw attention from the crowd, she took Usagi's hand and lead her around to the side of the building. The wall was large and concrete, enough you might have needed assistance to climb but not so tall it was unclimbable. Bunny looked up at her sister questioningly. Tori pet her head a few times before holding out her arm infront of her mouth. Bunny looked up with a sad look on her face. "It's OK, no one's here."


Bunny let out a sigh before opening her mouth and sinking her fangs into Tori's forearm. The bigger sister tried not to react, but when someone sucks your blood, its not exactly calming. Gathering just a mouth full, Bunny slid her mouth off her sister's arm. Looking straight down, she opened her mouth and let the blood fall into her hand, yet when it landed, it had the consistency of dough. It didnt' leave traces like a wound would either. Separating it into 4 pieces, as if controlled by the mind, the each formed into bolts.


Turning to the wall, Bunny took them inbetween her fingers, and then chucked them with all her might. They stuck perfectly into the wall, forming a ladder of sorts. Tori wrapped a small bandage around her arm, then leaned in and kissed her sister on the cheek. Again she looked happy. Tori quickly made use of the ladder and jumped up and over the wall. Bunny snapped her head sideways and spit on the ground, ridding of some extra blood. The metallic taste was not real pleasant.


Jumping up onto the wall, she looked back down at the bolts and snapped her fingers. The blood instantly liquified and now it did look like a murder scene as it drained down onto the ground. But hopefully no one would notice. Bunny jumped down and looked at Tori.


"Food first?" Tori asked, as if it even needed to be asked. "Mhmm!" Bunny replied promptly


Looking down the street, she could see some of the protestors. That direction was the one everyone went in, so if that was 6 o'clock, they would head in a 3 or 4 o'clock direction. Surely trouble would steer clear of them this time. Taking Usagi by the hand, they took off down the street to see what they could find.

 

[Hellkite]

Alicia, Yuura and Bailey
​

Alicia had spent most of the voyage to Crocus in Bloome's office, having usurped the desk and armchair for herself while the Knight-Commander sulked by the whiskey cabinet. Being appointed stand-in guildmaster had been a surprise. The paperwork that came with the post was not. Between assessing Blue Pegasus' finances, evaluating the damage done to the guildhall and flicking through the dossier of each and every member, by the time Alicia came to disembark from the Redfox dark circles had appeared under her eyes which makeup could only partially conceal. The life of a guildmaster was already starting to take its toll.


She'd only partially recovered from her injuries at Blue Pegasus. The bruising and fractures that she'd been left after her brief battle with Sora had all but vanished, courtesy of the Redfox's military-grade infirmary. The crew had become adept at treating minor injuries over the past few months. Alicia's eye, however, was a different story. Sora's knife had cut cleanly from her brow down to her cheekbone, and now left a ugly, part-healed cut that crossed her eye cleanly through the middle. She'd have to get used to be being Alicia One-Eye, it seemed. She wore a black eyepatch to conceal the wound, and was struggling somewhat to adapt.


“Alicia, I think I’m going to follow along with Ms. Laura and Mr. Jason and see what’s going on there. I’ll also do what I can to survey the city… it might be a stretch, but maybe I can find something.”


Alicia paused for a moment, eye narrowing slightly, her gaze flickering between Olive and the two officials. Then she nodded.


"Let me know if you come across anything interesting."


Bailey wandered off of the Redfox in complete confusion. Crowds of angry people surrounded the disembarking wizards, upset for some reason or another. In all of the books he had read Bailey's understanding of wizards and magic was that they were the good guys. As far as he knew the wizard guilds hadn't done anything wrong, so why these people were so angry he had no clue. Old tin cans and rocks were tossed in his direction, and he had to increase his body density to keep from getting hurt. Although he was much stronger than the majority of these people, he was scared. His whole worldview had come into question, and this was something he needed time to adjust to. He decided to focus all his attention on doing something good, finding the Kingslayer. If he did that, maybe these people wouldn't be mad anymore. The first thing that came to mind was to get out of this line of people...but they were not about to politely let him through, and he couldn't see far enough behind them to make a safe jump, he might hurt someone.


"Please, let me through! Excuse me! C'mon watch out!"


But it was no good. The rioters weren't budging, and Bailey started to panic.


Meanwhile, inside the building, Yuura was checking the sharpness of his swords, making sure they hadn't dulled at all. Even though he had just sharpened them the other day, he found it relaxing feeling along the curve of his blade, making sure they were not wearing away and becoming weak. A dull blade would set his entire mood on edge.


His attention was pulled away from examining his katana by Asher approaching him. Yuura sheathed his blade as the Slayer approached him, and leaned forwards on his knees, listening.


When Asher finished his statement, Yuura sat silently for a few more moments. Then, he sighed and stood. Walking forwards, he placed his hands on Asher's shoulders.


"Asher, I believe Raito chose you as Guildmaster because, deep down, he is unsure if he will survive this endeavor he is going through. He has put his faith in you because he knows I can never stay in the Guild Hall for too long. What kind of Guild Master randomly walks out on their Guild like I do so often?"


Taking his hands off of Asher's shoulders, he pointed one hand at Asher's chest. "You're lazy, and I know you know that. Maybe this is the chance to see what you can really do. If you honestly don't beleive in yourself to fulfil this position, I will take the title from you. But I am already a target for our enemy, I'm sure. I am a Wizard Saint, so they may attempt to assassinate me in some way. If that happens and I die, then you will have to take the position. For the Guild." He jabbed his fingertips into Asher's chest quickly, just enough so that it didn't hurt. "You're strong, my friend. You have the qualities of a Sabertooth mage. Don't be lazy on this. I will help you if you keep the title, but try to lead for now. I will take over if you truly can't hold it. But...I beleive in you. You have to protect the people, be they mages in our little guild, the innocent people outside, and even your little sister."


Patting Asher once more on the shoulder, Yuura walked around him, smiling. "I will go and find us a place to stay for now. I don't think it would be right to take refuge in this building. If you need me, you can come and find me." With that, he exited through the door, making his way outside.


Once outside, Yuura noticed Bailey trying to push through the crowd. Yuura knew Bailey was starting to panic, so he had to do something. He strode forward, pushing through people with a purpose, a calm expression on his face.


Some people knew who he was, he knew that, as he had multiple large game monster kills to his name. Most people moved out of his way, others got angrier at his presence. But either way, it made it easier to get through the crowd.


When he reached Bailey, he grabbed the mage's arm, pulling him closer to him. "Come on, let's get out of here, since you're so persistent in leaving."


As soon as he saw his guildmate, Bailey's spirits were immediately lifted. The wizard saint was always his good friend, and had helped him learn to be a better fighter. He would probably owe his life to Yuura sooner or later.


"Yuura! Thanks for the assist...I was having a little trouble here."


As he spoke a rock flew out of the crowd and bounced off of his head, (however since he increased his density it harmlessly bounced off of him).


"Oww...I don't know what I did but I'm sorry... let's get out of here, I have an idea of where we can go to look for the Kingslayer."


Turning away from the other mages, Alicia caught the end of their conversation.


Where to look for Kingslayer, hmm? She mused, raising a hand to touch her eyepatch lightly.


She crossed over to them in only a few brisk steps.


"Bailey. Yuura." She nodded to both. "If you're going to gather information on Kingslayer, then I'll tag along too. Council lecturing is boring and the cafe... isn't really my scene."


She started to button up her coat. Crocus was cold at this time of year. She glanced up at the two of them, pausing for a fraction over Yuura. A Wizard Saint wouldn't beat Sora alone, but with the correct backup...


Bailey looked at Alicia with excitement and offered his hand in greetings. The most exciting thing for him was meeting new makes and learning about their magic power.


"Hey! I'm Bailey, nice to meet ya! I don't think we've met yet, well...officially. I think I saw you back at Blue Pegasus, you know, before the whole...."


Bailey then made an explosion noise and threw his hands into the air.


"Yeah, but anyway, you can totally come with us! So I was thinking about where to look for the bad guy, because she's probably hiding somewhere. I used to live here, and I know a guy who knows more about this city than anybody! If anyone knows the place to find a super dangerous criminal, it's definitely gramps. You guys can come to meet him! Maybe Lisa made some cookies too...ooh those were my FAVORITE!!!"


Bailey trailed off and blushed.


"I'm talking too much again, aren't I?"


Yuura laughed at Bailey's excitement. "No, no, Bailey. It's fine to talk. That's how you find enjoyment in life, you know? By talking, you get others talking, and it starts a wildfire of sorts."


He turned his attention then to Alicia, the fill-in Guildmaster for Blue Pegasus. If she had been chosen over the white-haired boy, Jacob, then she must have incredible talent and be wise as well. Blue Pegasus definitely had some interesting mages in it.


"Miss Alicia. Of course you can join us. With more people, we can cover more ground more easily. Ah, though, I am sorry to see you're eye has been injured." He pointed to her eye, but kept his finger at a reasonable distance. "I heard while I was in the army that once one loses an eye, it takes some difficulty adjusting for some time to do certain tasks. I hope you adapt well enough very soon."


The corner of Alicia's mouth quirked at Bailey's excitement and she shook the hand he offered.


"Alicia. It's good to meet you too, I didn't get much of a chance to socialize at the guildhall."


The smile remained when Yuura turned to her.


"Thank you." She replied to him. "Loosing the eye wasn't ideal, but I've been able to work around it. Dark Ecriture is quite flexible that way."


She studied him for a moment. Yuura Xoren, Wizard Saint #10. Tall, carrying six katana in a manner that suggested he knew how to use them. Alicia had heard of him, but this was the first time meeting him in person. The rumors certainly didn't disappoint.


"Ah, but we should probably get going. The Kingslayer certainly won't wait for us. Bailey, care to lead the way?"


Bailey smiled a big goofy smile when Alicia told him to lead. It had been a while since he had seen his Grandpa and his sister Lisa, and he was really excited to see them.


"C'mon it's just this way!"


They walked now, moving all throughout crocus. They traveled in between large, ornate stone structures and through dark alleyways, over beautifully carved stone bridges and under huge decorative archways. After about half an hour of walking, Bailey led the small group to his grandpa's house. They came to the edge of the city, and on a small patch of land beside a small building. Smoke flew out of the chimney, and a delicious smell filled the air.


"This is it!! Lisa! Gramps! I'm back!"


A blonde haired girl of about thirteen opened up the door and ran directly into Bailey's arms. Bailey picked her up and twirled her around


"Bailey!? What are you doing here?! I thought you were off at Sabertooth!?" Lisa said, her words muffled from the hug.


"Yeah, I was." Bailey responded coolly.


"Well, did you go on some exciting adventures? Did you get stronger like gramps?!"


"I did make some friends! Look, this is Yuura, he's a super cool sword guy! He's in Saber like me and gramps. And this is Alicia, she's from Blue Pegasus, she's got some cool writing magic stuff!"


"Cool writing magic stuff, huh?" Alicia muttered. "I suppose it could be worse."


"And we're actually on a job right now!" Bailey continued. "I was sent to Blue Pegasus, and we were supposed to meet with some guys from the National Magic Council, but then the Kingslayer showed up! And she...did some bad stuff. But then a whole bunch of evil demon guys were there, and one was beating me up, until I teamed up with another guy, and we took it down together! It was at least ten, no, twenty feet tall!"


Bailey's eyes glowed as he told his kid sister about the events of the past few days. He left the especially gory bits, but he was excited to make himself look cool.


"Anyway, Lis, where's Gramps? We gotta talk to him."


"He's inside, he should be-"


Lisa was cut off by the insanely muscular old man who walked out of the house. He didn't wear a shirt, but he had a thick white mustache and his biceps were the size of logs. His Sabertooth guild mark stood proudly right on his chest. He was loud and excited. When he saw Bailey he punched him right in the chest with a considerable amount of power, and Bailey was sent flying back.


"Not bad, your density changes are much quicker than when you left. Now, who's this you brought with you? This one I know, the Wizard Saint. But this one...who are you?"


Alicia bowed her head slightly as the old Sabertooth mage addressed her.


"Alicia Spearheart, stand-in master of Blue Pegasus. You're Bailey's grandfather, I presume? May we come in?"

Jason and Laura
​

“Sorry. I should’ve introduced myself first. I’m Olive. Blue Pegasus was my home so I’m more than willing to help in whatever way you’ll offer.”





Jason quirked an eyebrow at the hand that Olive offered, then gave her an apologetic look.





"I'm sorry, we're aware of your magic, Ms Kitana. While naturally we have absolute faith in you, we don't have the clearance to risk Council secrets for courtesy."


He bowed.





"Please forgive us."


Laura looked between the two, a somber look on her face.





"It must be hard." She said to Olive. "Having an ability like that. I suppose you don't get to choose what you see. it must be terrible."





Laura listened to Lynn, Sarafina and Gurren, nodding occasionally, apparently unsurprised.





"Mhph." She grunted. "Like you say, the Kingslayer is dangerous."





She turned took a pen, writing on the whiteboard on the briefing room wall;


Kingslayer.


Then she drew a line down and added;


Crime Sorciere.





"She's even more of a threat backed by Crime Sorciere. As of yet, only Ein Silverhand and Tachyon Wing have shown their allegiance to her. However we can only assume that the Kingslayer has the entire guild at her disposal. Potentially dozens of infamous mages who avoided Council justice. Not only must we capture the Kingslayer, but we must also ensure that her agents are unable to strike at Emperor Pergrande."





Laura turned to look at the mages.





"That's not to mention her other supporters. Council sources identified three individuals who were also colluding with Kingslayer. Wyatt Verlock, Caleb Malakai and Cipher. These three are dangerous and unpredictable. It is likely that they planted the bomb that covered the Kingslayer's escape."





Jason stepped in.





"So be under no illusions; we are not targeting an individual. We are threatened by an entire organisation whose capabilities are, as of yet, unknown to us."





He glanced around.





"Fortunately, we have a plan to handle Kingslayer, although it'll require your cooperation. Before we discuss how this relates to Fairy Tail, are there any questions?"


@shadowdude505 @DaughterofAthena

Prince Pergrande
​

“Ahh, yes. Drinks. I’ll take a glass of red wine and my friend Russel here will take a kiddie cocktail.”


The prince said nothing as Angel avoided the chair he had prepared for her, simply raising an eyebrow.





"Of course. Red wine is an excellent drink, you have good taste." He glanced to a waitress standing a short distance away. "On my tab, please."





One of Ryannan's paper birds settled on his head. The Prince reached up and took it, smiling slightly.





"Cute."





He sat, placing the paper bird squarely in front of him. His cheeks flushed again as Angel took his hand.


“I’m curious… you say you haven’t done anything wrong yet. Does that mean you are intending to?” And don’t keep secrets… I’ll know if you lie, sweet Prince.


Pergrande paused for a moment, then squeezed Angel's hand gently.





"It means that I haven't done anything yet. What I might intend is neither here nor there."


He shot her a mischievous smile. The girl's friend spoke up.


“We’re looking for the Kingslayer. I think you said her name was Sora.”


Then Angel continued. Pergrande's expression was blank.


“Mmm… yes. Sora the Kingslayer. We’re looking for her. Any chance you’ve seen her. It would make me really happy if you had any information at all,” And if I remember right, she was the one who rumor had it was a threat to your life… you wouldn’t happen to know why, would you?





Pergrande's shoulders sagged. He withdrew his hands from Angel's.





"I believe you have me mistaken with my father. He is the one rumored to be under threat, not me." He shrugged, scarcely acknowledging as the waitresses delivered the drinks. "An easy mistake to make, I suppose. Whats the difference between one royal and another, huh."


He glanced back up at Angel. The blush had faded slightly, and his eyes were sad.





"I don't know who this 'Sora' is, although my father would be little loss, I admit."


“If I find her, I’m going to kill her and then I might just be willing to come back and spend some more time with you, Prince of Pergrande. You are kinda cute, I suppose…” Angel twirled a finger in her hair as she spoke before sending him one final thought. That or I could just kill you. I don’t take kindly to people who call my friend names… of course, I’ll leave you to determine whether I’m serious or not.


Pergrande arched a perfectly trimmed eyebrow.





"Kill me? You could try. You wouldn't be the first. You won't be the last, either. Maybe I'd thank you if you succeeded. 'I'll leave you to determine whether I'm serious or not.' Wasn't that what you said?"





@Violet Obsidian


@Ivory Witch