Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Lahar and I stand outside the doors to the council meeting, listening to them discuss the reasoning behind Succubus eye, a dark guild, vanishing. Several opinions come up, including one accusing Fairy Tail. I scoff. Like they would do that. Even Fairy Tail isn't stupid enough to mess with a dark guild. The most sensible theory so far is Sage Org's. He believes that Tartaros, the dark guild's parent guild, came collecting and took all of the members to their guild. The discussion inside sounds something like this:

"Listen, if we're talking about possibilities, their parent guild, Tartaros, could have taken over their children guilds, no?" Sage Org presents. Another random member pipes up, "To what purpose?" Sage Org replies, "I don't know. However, building up their military force and weeding out members comes to mind." At this, the whole room burst out in laughter. Someone asks, "Cannibalization between dark guilds? Now that's one thing I can't see happening." Someone else states, "It's safe to assume that Tartaros is already plenty powerful. Maybe you're ready for retirement, Sage Org." Suddenly, though, the head Council Member interrupts their banter.

"Hold on there. Sage Org's opinion sounds logical. The Tartaros issue has been on the back-burner, but now is the time to address it. The enemy's identity is unknown. But if we destroy them now, the whole Balam Alliance will fall apart. Now is time for us, the Magic Council, to wield our great power and fight." As soon as Gran Doma finishes speaking, the whole room falls to silence. I glance over at Lahar.

"So someone finally suggested they get off their asses?" I ask him. He looks back in turn. "It took time, but it was worth waiting for. This way, the dark guilds of the Balam Alliance can be mopped up." he replies. Together, we turn to look at the doors we stand outside as we hear another door forcefully swing open. Somebody interrupted their meeting! One of the minor members shouts down at them, "We have an emergency!" "What is it?" we hear Gran Doma ask him. One of the people I don't know the name of yells at the frog, "Fool! We're in the middle of a meeting!" The nameless frog replies, "Th-this is more important! I-Intruder!"

"What?!" I yell at Lahar, as the entire building suddenly lights up. It takes me a few moments to realize: it's exploding. Screaming engulfs me for a few brief moments, until everything is completely quiet.

My head is ringing. I open my eyes, and find myself surrounded by rubble. I look over and see Lahar's glasses smashed beside me. "Dammit," I say to myself, "What happened?" Slowly, I stand up. I clutch at my head in pain. I look around me, and see Lahar laying down near me. "Lahar, wake up!" I take a step towards him, and say, "Oy! 'Emergency' is an understatement here." He doesn't respond, and I step closer to him. "Lahar! Hey!" I kneel down beside him, and realize he's barely breathing. "No way..." I mutter to myself, and look around quickly. The person who blew the building up might come back.

I pull Lahar closer to me, and concentrate on people who might be able to help him. Any hospital would probably check...and would be virtually unguarded. It would have to be a place with at least a few strong wizards...The word 'wizard' catches in my head. Wendy.....she might be able to use her healing magic on him. But could I go to Fairy Tail? Lahar's breathing suddenly hitches. That decides it. I close my eyes, think of Wendy, and teleport to her.

Suddenly, the scenery changes. I'm now surrounded by tables and chairs, and rowdy wizards. Someone points to me. "Help," I state, and lay Lahar down next to me, "Help...please, save him." I collapse on the floor, and I'm suddenly looking at the ceiling. Someone's round face hovers over mine, and I'm being lifted into a sitting position. "What happened?" they ask.

I realize I'm looking at someone's face. "The building...blew up. Intruder." My head lolls to the left, where I see Wendy and some pink-haired old lady working on Lahar. "Lahar...got...the brunt...of it." The pink-haired lady looks up at the sound of his voice, and tells Wendy, "Go. Help him recover, I'll fix this one." I fall asleep to Wendy's cold hands pressed on my chest, and an angel's face gazing down at me.

Chapter Text

...I chase the bunny rabbit, and slowly creep closer. It stops, and so do I. Its ears perk up, and it dashes off, faster than before. Something startled it. I try to follow it, but my prey manages to escape with in a few moments. I hold perfectly still, and listen to see if I can find the noise that spooked it. A faint, growling noise seems to be approaching. I try to move towards the noise, but suddenly, i'm stuck. Everything fades to black, and I wake up.

My eyes snap open. Happy is lying on my stomach, purring away. I sigh. That must have been the noise I heard in my dream, and the reason why I was chasing a rabbit. I stretch my arms above my head, and yawn. The window next to my bed has faint light trickling through it, and I gently pull one back. The room is suddenly blindingly bright, and I let go of the curtain. It falls back. What time is it? I think, and gently pull Happy off. He rolls over, and off the bed. So much for being nice. However, he doesn't say anything and I assume he's still asleep.

Throwing the blankets back, I sit up. A small shiver runs through my back for unknown reasons, causing me to frown. I stand up, carefully avoiding Happy. One quick glance at my clock tells me it's 10:27 a.m., time to go to work. I overslept, and don't have time to take a nice, long, luxurious bath, so I merely grab a random shirt, the skirt from yesterday, and my belt. I head over to the bathroom to change and brush my hair out. After putting some clean-ish clothes, and fixing my hair, I feel slightly better. I open the small, leather pouch which holds my keys and find all of them are there. I breathe a sigh of relief.

My sword is hanging next to them, though slightly off balance. I fix it, put on my favorite pair of boots, and walk out the door. I'm halfway down the stairs to the outside door, when it hits me. I forgot Happy. I debate leaving him there, but decide against it and rush back up the stairs. I go back to my room, and scoop Happy up off the floor. He doesn't even wake up. I go out the door again, and actually make it to the curb outside. I've walked about to steps on the edge of the road, following the river, when I hear footsteps behind me. I walk a little bit faster, but when they speed up, too, I dig through my keys while balancing Happy on my left arm. I come up with Loke's key, a good match for fighting, and turn around. There is nobody there, but I call out, "I'm warning you! I'm a Steal Mage, and I know how to use magic! Show yourself!" For a moment, nothing happens, but then something grabs my waist, and puts a hand around my mouth.

The attacker snuck up behind me! I squirm a bit, and then stomp my foot down as hard as I can. The attacker yelps, and their grip loosens. I yank out of his reach, whip around, and yell, "Open! Gate of the Lion, Leo!" Nothing happens. The attacker, now doubled over, was laughing at me. "Afraid that won't work on me, Angel." My attacker straightens up, and I see spiky brown-orange hair. He pushes his glasses up further on his nose, and walks towards me. He's almost at me, when my mind manages to make sense of it.

"LEO! You nearly scared me to death! Don't you ever do that again." I start to scold him, when he randomly pulls me in to a hug. I sigh. He does it so often now, I shouldn't be surprised. He pulls back, and I glare at him. "What did you do with Happy?" I had noticed when he hugged me, there wasn't a certain cat going, 'You lllllllllove him.' He chuckles. "You threw him in the river when you grabbed my key." I look down at the water, panicking. I'd just killed Natsu's cat! I don't see him anywhere. Leo then decides to tell me the rest of the story. "He flew off to find Natsu, and tell him you were being attacked. He'll probably forget right about now." ([Somewhere in Magnolia] Happy pauses what he was doing, and mutters, "What was I doing?" He thinks, and spots a fish. FOOD...)

I sigh, and shake my head. He knew this would happen. It suddenly hits me to ask why he's here, at my house, trying to kill me. I look at him suspiciously. "Two questions: One, were you stalking me? And two, why are you here?" He flashes one of his signature smiles. "I came to visit the guild. And, of course, to carry my lady to my castle of love." With this, he swoops me off my feet, and starts to walk to the guild hall. "LEO! Leo, put me down this instant!" He sets me down on my feet, but keeps a firm hold on my waist. I sigh again, and decide to let it slide.

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