44A.N. New story, based on my snippets from SpaceBattles. This chapter also includes the prologue.
Prologue
My benefactor used to tell me stories about the old days, a time when Fairy Tail was once the most well-known guild on the continent. When all the newspapers would talk about the strength and chaos each Fairy Tail member would cause wherever they went.
But that all changed when the core members of Fairy Tail left to their ancestral lands to participate in the S-Class Exams.
On December 16, in the year X784, Tenrou Island was annihilated by Acnologia, the Black Dragon. For the next six months, ships combed the area where Tenrou Island used to be searching for any survivors of the attack.
Only to find nothing but empty waters.
Two years passed, and the once famed Fairy Tail fell from its former top rank as more and more members began to leave, until only a handful of members were left. A new wizard guild, Twilight Ogre, soon established itself as the new guild to represent Magnolia. Fairy Tail soon became a shadow of its former glory.
Some thought that would be the end of Fairy Tail. Even the remaining members of Fairy Tail thought the same, too lost in the memories of the time their former members used to live amongst them.
But I knew the truth.
Fairy Tail was not dead yet, the core members were still alive. And it was my job to make sure that the world was ready to greet them with open arms once they returned.
How did I know all this?
Simple, it's because I remembered reading about it in my past life.
Chapter 1 - A New Fairy Tail
Part 1
On the outskirts of Magnolia...
The young boy blinked as he noticed the person walking towards him from the other end of the road. He had a handsome but sharp face that tugged at his memory, although he couldn't recall why that would be the case. He was also dressed in some kind of strange outfit, the words 'Absolute Zero' spelled out on his chest.
That outfit makes him look like someone who fights for a living. He frowned for a second before a bright smile appeared on his face. He sure is handsome though.
Maybe it had something to do with the fact that most people in this world looked good, but Vale had a weakness for pretty people. Men or women, he liked observing people who looked good.
A dark urge suddenly came to him at that moment, telling him to play around with the handsome man's perfect black hair. No, that's just going to make him think that he was being creepy.
Let's try small talk first.
"Excuse me, young boy?"
Gah, he spoke first?!
"Yes?"
"Do you happen to know which way is Mt. Hakobe?"
His voice was playful and friendly, but something about his tone told Vale that he wasn't someone that should be messed with.
Then again, it wasn't as if Vale was planning to fight him or anything. No, all he wanted was to play with the other man's hair.
Very nice hair.
He smiled at the older man and moved closer, holding out a hand.
"Hi, my name's Vale. What's your name?"
"Huh?"
The other man was taken off guard by the change in conversation, even as Vale continued to hold up his hand towards the taller man. He was probably just confused by how strange Vale was acting.
Seeing that he was unwilling to answer, Vale tilted his head and began circling him. Now that he was closer, he was able to notice how much taller the other man was compared to him.
One of the demerits of being a kid again.
"Handsome guy, if you're not going to introduce me, I'm going to have to give you a silly nickname so that I have something to call you." Vale gave the older man a cheeky grin. "Judging by the way you act and the words on your chest, I'm thinking of calling you something along the lines of Cool Guy."
"What?" He seemed confused at the fact that a young boy was calling him 'handsome guy', then panicked over hearing his potential nickname. "N-No need for that, my name's Silver. Silver Fullbuster."
"Silver," Vale repeated to himself. "Are you sure that's your real name? Sounds fake to me."
Silver's eye twitched at that.
"Yes, it's my real name."
"Oh, my apologies then."
Amused at the situation, Silver couldn't help but chuckle at the boy's antics. It was hard to get angry at such a young child.
Especially since the boy had such a childish and mischievous face, expressive eyes, and long black hair that fell to his neck. It was hard to take offense since his appearance reminded him somewhat of his son.
He slightly frowned at that last thought.
"Mister Silver," the young boy said. "Why are you headed towards Mt. Hakobe? It's really cold there this time of year."
Silver gave out a heavy sigh at the question. Even if he wasn't going to get mad at the young boy, it wasn't as if he was able to tell the young boy what his objective was. Especially since he couldn't tell anyone what he was planning to do.
Vale noticed this and tilted his head.
"How about this? If you let me touch your hair for a few seconds, I'll tell you which direction to go."
That caused Silver to chuckle as he considered the strange boy's offer.
"Alright then," he knelt so that his head was within reaching distance as he said that. "Seems fair enough."
The boy's face lit up and he immediately tussled Silver's head with his small hands. Even though he couldn't see well from where he was looking, he saw the stars in the other boy's eyes.
"So fwuffy…" the boy said dreamily. "And it's strangely cool too. Weird, since it's the middle of the day."
That was due to his unusually low temperature, not that Silver could tell him that.
After a few seconds, the other boy finally removed his hands from Silver's head.
"Alright, a deal's a deal." Vale's face was one of satisfaction. "Just head north down the road and turn left at the next sign. You can't miss it."
"Thanks."
As the older man left, Vale waited until he was gone before he finally spoke.
"I'm so jealous," he mumbled to himself. "His hair is all spiky but soft. Mine's just straight and boring."
His face changed to a grin.
"Well, at least I was able to get something nice."
Holding up a single strand of hair between his fingers, he reached for his bag lying against his waist and pulled out a compass-like object. Holding the strand of hair over it, he spoke.
"Enchant Type - Infuse Seeker Element."
The compass glowed as the strand of hair broke apart into motes of light before going into the object.
"There." He pocketed the device. "Now I can find his location later if I never need to. That should be useful in a couple of years."
Meeting Silver Fullbuster was a complete coincidence, but not an unwelcome one. And this was right before he even stepped foot in Magnolia. Maybe this was a sign that he was doing something right.
"Next stop, Fairy Tail headquarters."
And once he was there, he was going to ask to become a member.
}-{
"What do you mean you don't know where the headquarters of Fairy Tail is?"
The man he singled out to ask only shrugged his shoulders.
"Sorry, if you asked about their old headquarters I can point it out to you. But I heard they had to move out about a year ago, and I never heard where their new headquarters was located."
He sighed at that before thanking the man and leaving the street to ask around if anyone else knew. Sadly, he continued to get similar answers from everyone else he asked.
"Fairy Tail? Do you mean Twilight Ogre?"
"Now that's a nostalgic name. Sorry, no idea."
"Not a clue. You gonna buy something?"
After almost an hour of searching around, he was quite annoyed that he still couldn't find out where to go.
"Seriously, how hard is it to find Fairy Tail?"
A deep voice suddenly spoke.
"You're looking for Fairy Tail?"
Vale turned to see three rough-looking men walking towards him. The man in the middle sneered before he spoke.
"Fairy Tail, now why are you looking for such an old name like that?"
Oh, great. A literal trio of mooks, such an overused trope.
"Hey, kind misters." Vale turned up the charm and allowed his face to look as innocent as possible. "Would you happen to know the way to where the current Fairy Tail building is?"
"Gwahahaha!" All three of them laughed. "Brat, don't think you can fool us. Quit it with the kiddy act."
He scowled as he crossed his arms then glared at them.
"What do you want? I'm too busy to deal with a couple of idiots like you."
"Oh my, you've got quite the mouth." The middle man gave a savage grin. "Nobody goes to Fairy Tail these days anymore unless they're too poor to request a bigger guild… or if they're a mage looking to become a new member."
"What's it to you if that's the case?"
"Why, we'd tell you that as members of Twilight Ogre it would be in all of our best interests if we discuss all of your options before you commit to anything."
Finally, Vale noticed that all three of them bore the same guild mark on various parts of their bodies. His eyes narrowed.
"And what if I say that I'm not interested?"
One of the others laughed before he answered.
"Then we'll convince you otherwise."
So, basically either listen or things get ugly. Vale tensed up and was prepared to act when suddenly a voice spoke out.
"Oy, oy, isn't this a little too sad? To think that Twilight Ogre's resorting to picking on little kids."
"What?!"
All of them turned and saw a skinny man standing a distance away from them. Facing the three mages from Twilight Ogre, the man's face only showed an indifferent look.
"Peh, to think that I'd run into something like this on my day off. My luck sucks."
"Heh," the man from before sneered. "Well, to think we'd run into a member of Fairy Tail like this. Hey, how's that crippling debt working out for you guys."
Vale's interest was picked at those words. So the man before them was a member of Fairy Tail?
"Eh, it's something that we're working to fix." The man shrugged his shoulders. "Sad to say the same can't be said for your ugly mugs."
"What did you say?"
"Forget about it," the middle man held back his friend from charging forward. "Guildmaster said not to make any more trouble on the streets."
The man looked like he wanted to argue with that, but winced when he got a glare from his friend.
"Peh, fine."
The three of them made their way out of the area, and once they were gone, the skinny man from before gave out a sigh of relief.
"Thank god they didn't push it, I really didn't want to put my odds against the three of them."
"Why not?" Vale asked. "I'm pretty sure you're stronger than they are."
"Maybe individually," the man answered back. "But I recognized them, they're members who are usually together as a team. If I fought against them one-on-one, I would win hands down. But fighting against them working together? Now that's not something I'd want to test."
The man sighed once more before turning to face him.
"So, I heard from some of the shopkeepers. You're looking for Fairy Tail?"
"Yup!" Vale gave a bright smile at that. "I'm looking to j—"
"You should probably give up," the man interrupted. "Fairy Tail isn't looking to expand. Sorry to get your hopes up, but I only came here to give you the news so that you wouldn't waste your time going to our headquarters to hear it from our Master."
Well, that wasn't exactly the reaction he was hoping for.
"That's nice of you," Vale said. "But if possible, I'd still like to see if I can convince your Master myself. Is it okay if you guide me to where your current headquarters are?"
The other man shrugged.
"Suit yourself, I figured you'd say something like that. Sure, I'll take you to our place. But don't expect anything to change once I take you there."
"Thanks." He continued to ignore his warnings as he started to walk alongside the older man. "So, what's your name Mister?"
"Name's Max. What about you, kid?"
"My name's Vale."
Part 2
"This is Fairy Tail's new headquarters?"
Vale stared incredulously at the dingy pub while Max sighed next to him.
"Hey, don't disrespect our place. Haven't you ever heard the saying don't judge the book by its cover?"
"I always hated that saying," Vale answered back. "Sure, looks aren't everything. But first impressions are. And so far, this first impression isn't looking so good."
Max shrugged and opened the doors, allowing Vale to see inside.
Entering the building, Vale saw several other members hanging around several parts of the room. Nobody was smiling or energetic, with only one or two people looking up to see who came in. The mood in the air reeked of depression and misery.
Next to him, Max continued to walk to the other side of the room until he stood in front of an older man dressed in a light-colored trenchcoat. The man gave a curious look at him before moving his gaze over to Vale.
"Max, who's the brat?"
"Some kid who's looking to join. You planning on giving the usual speech?"
The other man sighed before getting up from his seat to stand in front of Vale. Max left once he saw that the situation was being taken care of.
"Alright, let's get this over with. The name's Macao Conbolt, Fourth Guild Master of Fairy Tail."
Vale bent his back and bowed slightly.
"Vale Endoyle, independent Mage."
"Obviously," Macao snorted. "Quick question, how old are you?"
"I'm nine years old."
"Huh, so you're around the same age as my son." He said in a way that made it seem like a bad thing. "So, this is where I ask the big question. Why do you want to join Fairy Tail?"
"Two reasons mostly."
Macao raised an eyebrow and waited for him to elaborate.
"The first is that I was recommended to join Fairy Tail specifically. I was planning on joining one of the guilds anyway, and my choices were between this or Blue Pegasus. But since I came on recommendation, I decided to try my luck here first."
"And the second reason?"
"I've heard rumors that Fairy Tail was the most experienced in dealing with events relating to alternate universes. Because I'm originally from another world, I thought this would be the best place to go."
"Hm, I see."
It took him a few seconds to process what Vale just said, his eyes widening once he did.
"Wait, you're from another world?!"
"Yup," Vale nodded. "It's a place called Earth, no magic as far as I can tell. The only magic we knew of only existed in fiction, everything else was handled by science."
"Huh."
It said something that Macao seemed to actually believe what he was saying. If Vale had tried telling anyone else that story, they probably would have just called him crazy. Guess that was Fairy Tail shenanigans for you.
"So you're not from Edolas?"
"Nope. Anima had nothing to do with why I'm here."
Not that he could explain exactly how he came to this world. His benefactor was pretty adamant that he kept quiet on the particular details on how that happened.
Oh, and his benefactor was definitely adamant that he didn't reveal their identity either.
Macao sighed. "We're getting off track. While it's interesting to know your backstory, I'm still not sure if I'm okay with you joining Fairy Tail."
Vale winced. He was hoping that this could have been done the easy way, but it seems that he had to pull out the big guns.
"Ah, I almost forgot." The young boy reached into the satchel hanging off his waist and pulled out a sealed envelope. "I was told to give this to whoever was the next Master."
Macao took the envelope and gave him a curious look.
"What's this?"
"My recommendation."
The older man's face as he saw the seal on the envelope before he quickly tore it open and pulled out the piece of paper within it. Skimming it over with his eyes, he gave Vale an incredulous look.
"You got a recommendation from one of the Four Emperors of Ishgar?"
"He owed a favor."
That wasn't exactly a lie, but it wasn't Vale he owed a favor, but rather his benefactor. Meeting Warrod was fun, even if Vale did think he was a little crazy on the cactus juice.
Macao continued to look at him strangely before he gave out a heavy sigh.
"Hah, how the hell am I supposed to say no to something like this. Kid, I don't know how you got the attention of someone like that, but it's probably going to give me a headache if I find out."
"So, am I in?"
"Yeah, sure. Whatever," he scoffed. "Welcome to Fairy Tail."
}-{
As anticlimactic as his admission was, Vale had to admit that the process of getting his Guild Mark was exciting.
Staring at the new red tattoo on his left hand, he couldn't help the grin that came to his face.
Still, he shouldn't forget exactly why he was here. It wouldn't do him any good if he grew complacent and forgot about his mission.
The fact that the current Fairy Tail was in decline probably didn't help with that fact.
Oh well, he might as well try and befriend some of the other members.
"Hi, you're pretty. May I have some of your hair?"
In hindsight, maybe he should have known that saying that to someone would've creeped them out.
The green-haired woman he spoke to only gave him a strange look.
"What?"
The man sitting next to her only gave out a bark of laughter.
"Looks like I have some competition."
"Shut up, Alzack." She yelled at him before turning back towards Vale. "Look, kid. I don't think it's normal for you to go up to others and to ask about their hair…"
"Oh, no! That's not what I meant. I just need some of your hair for some of my magic."
"Magic?"
He nodded before pulling out the small compass from his bag.
"My magic allows me to create Magic Items. I wanted to create something that could help me find the location of all of the guild members in case something happened."
She seemed satisfied with his explanation. Smirking to herself, she plucked a single long strand of hair from her head before passing it over to him.
"That sounds useful. Sure, here you go."
"Guess you need one from me too?" The man named Alzack also plucked one of his hairs before passing it over. "Here's one of mine. I'll pass the word to the rest of the guild."
"Thanks!"
Taking both strands, he held it over his compass and repeated the spell from before.
"Enchant Type - Infuse Seeker Element."
Their eyes widened as they took in what they saw.
"You're an Enchanter?"
"Yeah?"
For some reason, both of them had complicated looks on their faces.
"Sorry, it's just… we used to have an Enchanter in our guild."
It took him a few seconds to realize that they were talking about Wendy. Now that he thought about it, he vaguely recalled that Sky Dragon Slayer Magic was capable of casting a lot of enchantments.
He nodded at their words.
"Well, I guess this is where I take my leave."
"See you around, kid."
And that was how he spent the next hour, talking to several other guild members and asking for some of their hair. Surprisingly, most of them weren't that unwilling with his request to take some of their hair. He thought it would have been harder to get them to trust him or something.
Suddenly, the doors to the pub opened and a young boy came inside.
"Hey, dad." The boy moved past everyone and walked up to Macao. "Finished my job."
"Great job, Romeo! Your first mission alone."
Romeo sighed at that.
"Dad, you only allowed me to take one of the really easy jobs. I'm pretty sure working at a café for the day isn't something worth celebrating."
"Nonsense, anything is worth celebrating if someone you care for accomplished it."
The boy scowled at that before he noticed Vale near him.
"Hm? Did we get a new member?"
He gave a little wave when Romeo noticed him.
"Hi, my name's Vale. Nice to meet you."
Romeo was dressed in a long, dark, sleeveless open jacket that was held together by a sash wrapped around his waist. He wore loose pants and a light scarf around his neck.
He dressed almost exactly what Natsu looked like.
Except the difference between the two was that Natsu often had a smile on his face, only changing expressions whenever he was in a fight against someone. Romeo's face seemed adamant about keeping a frown on his face.
From the corner of his eye, Vale noticed Macao looking at the two of them strangely. As if he was anticipating something.
"...hey," Romeo returned the greeting. "Nice to meet you. It's been a while since we got a new member."
"Happy to be here."
But Romeo was already on his way out. Macao gave a sad sigh as he saw his son leave.
"Sorry about him. He's usually not this moody."
"That's okay," Vale reassured him. "But I was wondering, is he the only other mage in the guild my age?"
"Yeah," Macao nodded. "Right now, we just have a little over a dozen mages in total. Adding you, there are only two mages in our guild that are underage."
Only a little over a dozen, that was a really pitiful number compared to some of the larger guilds. Heck, even most of the medium-sized guilds probably didn't have that few members.
"Speaking of which, what are your current plans now that you've joined Fairy Tail? Do you even have a place to stay?"
"Um…"
Vale didn't want to answer how he was just planning on staying at the guild building overnight until he found somewhere to live. Huh, how did he not think about this problem before?
"I have an idea I'd like to run by you," Macao suddenly said. "How about you stay with me and Romeo until you find a place to settle."
"Is that okay?"
"Sure," he said. "I have an extra room I could set you up with. And I'm pretty sure Romeo wouldn't mind having your around the house."
Something didn't seem right to him.
"You sure? This is kind of a big thing to decide without having him actually being here to give his opinion."
The older man sighed at that.
"To be honest, I do have another reason why I'd want you to stay with us. I'm hoping that having someone Romeo's age around would get him to loosen up more."
He gave a sad smile.
"I worry about him sometimes. He doesn't really get along with anyone outside the guild, and that's just us old geezers and adults. Call it a father's duty, but I want him to socialize more with people his own age."
Was it too late to tell him that Vale was actually a lot older than he looked? Probably, since the main issue Macao was trying to convey was that he was worried about his kid. Since Vale currently looked like a young boy, he was probably in the best position to help Macao out with this issue.
"I guess I'll try to get along with him."
"Great." Macao smiled at him. "You don't know how much this means to me."
Part 3
"Enchant Type - Infuse Control Element."
Magic power poured into the mechanism attached to his back, a metal wire suddenly shooting out from his wrist. The metal wire sliced through the air as Vale swung it towards the target, the straw mannequin he set up earlier quickly exploding as the wire made contact with it.
Reeling the wire back into the spool, he frowned.
"Hm, maybe I should try and see if I should switch to a whip."
No, he went over this already. A whip wasn't as convenient as a metal wire. With the wire, the spool on his back allowed him to utilize a longer attack radius compared to a whip. And a whip wasn't as useful in performing three-dimensional maneuvering during combat.
Sighing to himself, Vale began another spell.
"Enchant Type - Boost Attack Attribute."
Charging forward, Vale jumped and aimed for a particularly large boulder a small distance away from him. Smashing into it with his fist, the boulder exploded and caused various pieces of debris to fall in a small area around him.
A voice suddenly called out from behind him.
"Hello?"
Once the dust settled, Vale finally noticed Romeo looking at him and the mess he just made. A blush came to his face when he realized it.
"Oh, sorry. Did I wake you up?"
"Well, you're making a mess of what looks like our backyard. Did you really not expect to make a lot of noise?"
"Ahahahah…"
Romeo sighed at that.
"You really are a member of Fairy Tail."
It was almost a week since he moved in with the Conbolts. While Vale couldn't exactly call Romeo a friend, they were at least friendly acquaintances.
"Speaking of Fairy Tail, I'm thinking of taking a job today. Want to work together?"
Vale almost tripped upon hearing those words.
"Wait, you're asking to cooperate on a job?"
"Uh, yeah?" Romeo gave him a strange look. "That's what I just said. What, not interested?"
"No, no," Vale hurried to explain himself. "It's just… I wasn't expecting it, that's all."
Romeo shuffled his feet.
"The job's asking for some Mages to defeat some monsters so that the requester can gather some materials from them. I'm used to working with some other members, so I'm not too worried about doing it. But the problem is that the monsters are Treants."
"And?"
"I use Fire Magic."
Ah, that would make it somewhat difficult to harvest them.
"Don't you use some kind of physical fire? Blue Fire or something?"
He shook his head.
"You're talking about my main magic, Purple Flare, which does act as a solid attack. Blue Fire is part of Rainbow Fire Magic, which I'm also learning. Either way, there's a chance that I could mess up and accidentally burn something if I mix up my magic, so I want someone to watch my back while I take the request."
Vale nodded at his explanation.
"That's nice to know. My magic is just Enchantments, basically infusing a given concept into another object or person. Like my compass, I can infuse a Seeker Element so that it can track others. Or my metal wire, which I can infuse a Control Element so that I can use it to fight."
"What about earlier?" Romeo asked. "You destroyed that boulder with just your body."
Vale shrugged his shoulders.
"That's just me enchanting myself so that my physical abilities are stronger. The Boost spell just improves what's already there, instead of me adding something new to it."
His interest piqued at that.
"So you can make me stronger too?"
"Sure, why not?"
Vale held out a hand in Romeo's direction.
"Enchant Type - Boost Speed Attribute."
He gestured towards the other boy.
"Try to walk and see how much faster you are."
Romeo was surprised at first, but soon took on a runner's stance. Before Vale could say anything, the other boy suddenly sprinted and flew across the grounds before smashing into a nearby wall.
Vale winced at that.
"I did specify to walk for a reason."
"Wow," Romeo said as he got up from where he fell. "This is useful."
"Of course," Vale nodded as he gave a smug grin. "My magic is awesome after all."
}-{
They quickly set out to some nearby forest that Romeo led Vale to. Since he mostly followed Romeo, he didn't know the specific details of the job itself.
"Alright, our goal is to defeat about fifty Treants and gather their bodies so that they can be harvested for wood. The requester asked that we not damage their bodies too much because the better condition their bodies are in when we kill them, the better the materials they can extract from them."
"So, what are Treants like?" Vale asked. "Are they just some kind of tree monsters with limbs?"
"That's pretty much it," Romeo answered. "Certain forests with too much magic power have their trees mutate into Treants, and our goal is to make sure that they don't increase their numbers too much. That's why we're only tasked to deal with a certain number of them, instead of wiping them all out of the forest."
"Because their materials are useful?"
"Yup. Treant wood is good for a lot of things."
They paused as they heard a sound coming near them.
"Here they come!"
A gigantic wooden creature suddenly emerged from the bushes and charged towards them. The two mages jumped out of the way while Vale shouted out loud.
"Enchant Type - Boost Speed Attribute (x2)."
Both of their bodies lit up as they suddenly found themselves able to move faster.
"Treants have a weak spot where most of their power is concentrated," Romeo shouted. "A powerful blow at that spot should incapacitate them!"
"Got it! I'll hold him down."
The metal wire from Vale's back flew out as he filled it with his magic power. Wrapping around the Treant, Romeo followed up his attack by throwing a clump of purple fire towards the Treant's base.
Unable to move, Romeo charged forward and sent a flaming fist towards what looked like a wooden knob forming on the Treant's face. The Treant screamed as the boy's fist made impact with it, only for its cry to die a few seconds later as it fell onto the ground.
"Phew," Romeo wiped some sweat off his forehead. "That's one down, forty-nine more to go."
A thought suddenly came to Vale.
"Wait, I have an idea."
Running towards the Treant's body, he broke off a small branch from its head and pulled out the compass from his bag.
"Enchant Type - Infuse Seeker Element."
Romeo's eyes widened as he saw the branch break apart and get absorbed into the compass.
"That's great! This means we'll be able to quickly find the others."
The next hour and a half were spent following wherever the compass pointed in and incapacitating all of the Treants they encountered. Most of that time was spent on moving and storing the fallen bodies of the monsters. The actual time it took to find and fight them was not even a third of that.
"I have to admit," Romeo suddenly began. "I was expecting this to take the whole day. Your compass sure is useful."
Vale sighed at that.
"The problem with it is that I have to infuse something in it so that I can track it down. And since I only have the one compass, I'm worried that it might get destroyed in a fight."
"Doesn't that mean you have to get a better compass?"
"Maybe," Vale agreed. "But I don't know of any super durable compasses, so I'll have to commission one. And that means finding and gathering rare materials that I think are good enough. Seems like a lot of work."
"Hm," Romeo pondered for a moment. "That sounds rough."
"I guess."
After another few minutes, the two of them stopped at a clearing where a large pile of dead Treants laid.
"Great, we're done."
"Only one problem," Romeo said. "How are we going to transfer all of this back to town?"
"Ah," Vale's face fell at that. "You wouldn't happen to know any Requip Magic, would you?"
"Nope."
Right, clearly they didn't think this through.
"I'm going to head back to town to see if I can get a wagon," Vale said. "Can you keep watch while I'm gone?"
"Sure," Romeo replied. "Try not to take too long."
"I'll probably be back before an hour passes."
}-{
As Romeo watched the newest member of his guild leave, he found himself frowning again.
Not that he usually had any other expression on his face these days. Ever since Natsu-nii and everyone else disappeared, it was hard for him to find anything worth getting excited about these days.
Still, it was nice to have someone else his age to talk to again.
The sound of footsteps coming behind him made him turn.
"What's up? Did you forget something Vale?"
The last thing he saw before falling unconscious was a large object headed towards his face.
}-{
It took a little over two dozen minutes by the time Vale made it back to where Romeo was. Only to find his teammate's body lying on the ground.
"Romeo!"
Vale dropped the wagon's handle he was holding in his hand and ran towards the unconscious boy ahead of him. Checking to see if Romeo had any injuries, he gave out a sigh of relief as he realized that the other boy was okay.
Looking up, his face fell when he realized what happened.
What used to be a large pile of Treant bodies now only lay empty space as whoever took out Romeo also seemed to have stolen all of their spoils. Not even a single branch was left behind.
He gave an angry huff before attempting to shake Romeo awake.
"Hey, wake up."
Romeo groaned and slowly opened his eyes. He blinked a couple of times before his eyes widened.
"What happened?!" His body went upright immediately. "What happened to our stuff?!"
"It's gone," Vale replied. "All of it is gone. Whoever attacked you took everything we've gathered."
Romeo was silent at that.
"We'll have to report this to the guards, and tell our guildmates what happened. If they took you out in one blow, then the assailant is probably a mage. Once we find out who did this—"
"I know who did this," Romeo interrupted. For some reason, his voice sounded tired.
"You do?"
Romeo turned to face Vale with tears in his eyes.
"OF COURSE I DO," he yelled. "THE ONLY MAGES IN MAGNOLIA ARE FAIRY TAIL AND TWILIGHT OGRE! WHO ELSE WOULD DO THIS!"
Vale was taken aback by his outburst.
"W-What if it was a wandering ma—"
"THIS ISN'T THE FIRST TIME," Romeo shouted again. "THIS ALWAYS HAPPENS EVERY TIME I GO ON A GATHERING JOB BY MYSELF!"
Tears were running down his face.
"They always make sure I'm alone before they take everything from me," he sobbed. "They never bother me when I'm with any of the other members of our guild. But once I'm alone…"
His voice trailed off as the tears continued to roll down his face.
"T-This never would have h-happen two years ago," Romeo sobbed. "Fairy Tail w-wouldn't have been s-seen as an easy target if we s-still had everyone around."
Vale was silent at that.
"I-I hate this. I hate h-how we're all so weak now. I hate that e-everyone thinks that t-they can pick on us. I hate that N-Natsu-nii and everyone else i-is gone. I hate h-how everyone in our g-guild is acting."
He used his arm to wipe at his face.
"But most of all… I hate myself. For b-being all of that… f-for being weak, for m-missing everyone, f-for being picked on all the time."
"Are you done with your pity party?"
Romeo looked up in surprise only to see the angry face of Vale.
"Because if you are, I'd like to say something."
Romeo glared at him.
"What?!"
"I can still track the Treant bodies."
That caused Romeo to blink in surprise.
"What?"
"Don't you remember?" Vale held up the compass in his hand. "I can still track down the Treants, especially since there's a large number of them gathered together."
The other boy stood up and offered a hand towards Romeo, a serious look on his face.
"I don't know much about everything Fairy Tail's been to. And I don't understand your pain like you do. I don't know how I'm supposed to respond to that either."
Suddenly, Vale's face morphed into a savage grin.
"But what I can do is offer you the chance to get back at the ones who stole from us. Now, what do you say?"
Romeo sniffed, before cleaning up his face and smiling for the first time in years.
"I say we tell them that they can't mess with us anymore."
"Hell yeah."
Both of them clasped hands, and Romeo nodded.
"Let's do this."
Part 4
"GWHAHAHAHA!"
The three men laughed together as they dragged the pile of Treant wood behind them on a sleigh.
"Man, can't believe we took out that brat once again. How does he seriously never learn from his mistakes?"
"Hey, who cares if Fairy Tail members continue to act dumb. That only makes it easier when we steal their shit."
"At least we always make sure that we never get our faces caught. Really, it's the kid's fault for always falling for the same attack."
From a distance away, Vale seethed from the cover of the trees he was hiding in. He recognized the three people were the ones he met a few days ago.
"Looks like you're right," he said to Romeo next to him. "It was Twilight Ogre."
"This isn't good," Romeo said. "That's the Triple Orcos, a group of Mages who all use Blast Magic. They can combine the power of their explosions to create devastating attacks."
"I've met them before. Max said that he wouldn't put his chances against them in a fight."
That caused Romeo to frown.
"Neither of us is as strong as Max, this isn't looking good for us."
"Don't forget," Vale reminded him. "I'm an Enchanter, I can boost all of our attributes before we attack."
"That's somewhat good news," Romeo admitted. "Still, that only evens the odds. You got any other tricks?"
"Well, I can also use enchantments on my enemies."
"How does that help?"
"Simple. Instead of increasing their attributes, I can decrease them."
Romeo gave him a surprised look. He didn't recall Wendy being capable of something like that.
Then again, Vale seemed to only be an Enchanter. Unlike Wendy, who also focused on the rest of her Sky Dragon Slayer Magic.
"Any other tricks? I hate to admit it, but all I can do is either burn things, trap things, or hit things really hard."
"You're the front-liner," Vale said. "I'm the supporter. If we're going to be working together as a team, that's what our roles are gonna be."
Team.
Somehow, it wasn't until now that Romeo realized that he was working together with someone else as a team, as equals.
It… was a nice idea.
"Alright, I'll lead the charge while you use your enchantments."
"If it comes down to it, I can also pull you back with my wire if you need to dodge an attack."
"Great, I'll trust you to watch my back."
Both of them nodded before they suddenly went into action.
"Enchant Type - Boost All Attributes."
Romeo suddenly felt a wellspring of power erupting inside of him before his body suddenly shot forward at an amazing speed. Unlike this morning, he had some practice with Vale's enchantments already, so he didn't get confused by the sudden change in his body.
"What th—"
They were barely able to react when Romeo's leg suddenly slammed straight into one of the man's faces, causing him to immediately fall unconscious.
"Hah, serve you right for all the times you did that to me!"
"You!" One of the others pointed at him. "You're that Fairy Tail brat!"
A voice suddenly called out from behind Romeo.
"Enchant Type - Reduce All Attributes."
Both of the other men's bodies glowed a dim light after Vale said that.
"What is this?!" One of them cried out. "What did you do to us?"
"Yellow Fire!"
Romeo attacked them while they were distracted by throwing the smelliest flames he could at them.
"Tsk, too weak!"
An explosion suddenly cuts the attack and prevents it from reaching the two of them.
"Now you've done it!"
Both of them hold out their arms towards Romeo.
"Take this - Double Orco Blast!"
A metal wire suddenly wrapped around Romeo's waist and pulled him back right as an explosion appeared in the spot he was previously.
"Romeo, are you okay!"
"I'm good," he cried back. "But now I can't get in close."
The two mages jeered from across the field.
"What's this, you got another brat with you?"
"Hey, isn't he that kid asking around to join Fairy Tail we met a while back?"
"Really? Oh wow, he is! So Fairy Tail's so desperate that they're willing to accept anyone these days."
"What did you say?!"
Vale's angry voice called out from the trees before his body suddenly dropped to the ground.
Romeo screamed at him.
"What are you doing?! Get back to the trees!"
"Hey, I dare you two to say that again to my f— WOAH!"
That last part was due to Romeo slamming into Vale's body right as an explosion tore the air that was where Vale was just at. The two crashed into a bush and fell out of sight from their opponents.
"Their magic is based on their view of vision," Romeo explained. "So getting into their sight only makes you a target."
"What should we do now?"
"Well, I can hit them with a powerful attack," Romeo said. "But it takes a lot out of me, and I won't be able to use it again if I miss it."
"We need to distract them then."
"Obviously," Romeo replied back. "But if we run out into the open, we'll become targets."
"Good idea," Vale exclaimed before doing exactly that, jumping directly into their line of sight. "Look at me, I'm a target! Super annoying, crazy target! Come and get me, you idiots."
Romeo's mouth gaped open as he watched the other boy enact the dumbest dance possible to piss off the two mages, and it was working.
"You brat!"
"I'll kill you!"
Despite the sheer stupidity of his actions, Romeo couldn't help but shake his head and take advantage of the situation.
Running around the perimeter, he suddenly charged out of the bush and yelled in his loudest voice.
"Rainbow Fire!"
The sudden attack caught the two off guard, and as they were about to block the attack...
"Enchant Type - Reduce All Movement."
Their bodies suddenly paused as Vale's magic took hold of them, causing them to be able to do nothing but watch in horror as Romeo's attack flew towards them.
"AAAAHHHHHHHH!"
An explosion engulfed them as the attack hit them directly. Once the smoke cleared, the bodies of the two of them fell to the ground.
"...was that it?"
Vale gave the three unconscious bodies on the ground a suspicious look. Even Romeo was somewhat surprised at how easy it was to take them out.
No, maybe it was to be expected. After all, that was the first time Romeo has ever used Rainbow Fire that was as powerful as that attack he just did. No doubt it was because of Vale's enchantments helping him become stronger.
Plus, that spell he used at the end. It was timed perfectly right as they were distracted. Without it, the two mages might have been able to counteract his attack and maybe even overpower him.
Was this the power of a team?
"Huh, it looks like they gathered everything on this sleigh."
Vale was looking over all the Treant wood gathered to the side while Romeo continued to dwell on his thoughts.
The two of us fought well together, he thought. Even if we had some mishaps in the beginning, maybe we can make this work.
"Hey, Romeo! Stop standing around and help me find something to tie these guys up."
Breaking out of his thoughts, he gave his new friend a smile.
"Alright, I'm coming."
}-{
The two of them brought back the materials as well as the tied-up bodies of the three mages back to town.
After explaining the situation to the guards, they made sure to check their job requests and verify that the Triple Orco Mages were actually in the wrong. Once they concluded so, they told them that the three would be detained until someone sorted them out.
The two of them made their way back to the guild headquarters.
"...hey, Vale."
"Yeah?"
Romeo swallowed as Vale turned to look at him.
"T-Thanks, for helping me out today."
"You're welcome," Vale said with a bright smile. "It was my first job, after all. I'm definitely going to remember how things ended up today."
"Not just the job," Romeo said. "But thanks… for cheering me up even after I yelled at you. I'm sorry that I did that, by the way."
"Eh, it's no problem."
"It's just," Romeo sighed. "Things haven't been the same ever since Natsu-nii and the rest of the powerful mages at Fairy Tail disappeared. But I know that if they were still around, they wouldn't have liked the fact that I wasn't fighting back for myself."
Romeo smiled.
"You made me remember… what it meant to be a mage of Fairy Tail."
"Ehehehe…" Vale rubbed the back of his head. "I don't really think I did anything that amazing. But if you're thanking me anyway, I'm not gonna refuse your thanks."
"So there's something else I'd like to ask you."
Romeo stared at Vale.
"Would you like to keep teaming up with me in the future?"
Vale looked surprised at that but gave the other boy a grin.
"Sure. That sounds great!"
Romeo gave a bright smile at that.
"Awesome!"
The two of them continued on their way home.
}-{
When Macao entered the guild headquarters, he was surprised to hear the sound of laughter coming from the corner of the room. His eyes widened as he caught sight of his son laughing at what seemed to be a story that Vale was telling him.
"So the Trickster God, Loki. He was like 'Enough! You are all beneath me! I am a god, you dull creature, and I shall not be bullied by-" Vale paused as he suddenly grabbed one of his hands with the other. "And the Incredible Hulk suddenly grabbed him by his feet!"
"And then what happened?!"
"Then Hulk just took his body and began slamming him onto the ground like *WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM* pausing one second… then *WHAM* *WHAM*" Each of the sound effects, Vale said aloud along with an accompanying movement of his fist. "And once he stopped, Loki was just like 'uuuuuuuuuggggghhhhhhh'. And Hulk leaves, but not before he says the baddest line ever: 'Puny God'. Leaving Loki to just moan on the ground from all the pain."
As Romeo laughed at the story, Macao noticed that a few other members who were listening nearby also snorted into their drinks.
Without him realizing it, Max was next to him.
"Unbelievable, right?" He nodded towards where everyone was. "The kid was able to somehow get Romeo to smile again. And not just that, but everyone's actually not being moody for once."
Tears were pricking at the corner of his eyes as he watched the scene.
"It's a goddamn miracle, that's what it is."
"Yeah, sure. Whatever, I'll be going back to where everyone else is. I want to hear how this Avengers story ends."
Macao watched as Max left him only to sit down with the rest of the guild members sitting around the new child that just joined them. As he took in the sight before him, he allowed the tears to roll down his face.
"God… damn, kid." The smile wouldn't leave his face. "Guess taking you in was a good idea after all."
The last time they had a new member was two years ago when Wendy joined the guild, or maybe it was Panther Lily now that he thought about it.
Either way, the last time someone joined was when they still had all of their main members. When Fairy Tail used to be the number one guild.
So he was hesitant to accept someone after their fell from grace. And especially since the person in question was only a child barely older than Romeo.
But now…
"Hey, Macao! Why don't you join in on us?"
"Yeah, Dad. Come on over!"
He scoffed at them.
"Hold your horses, and call me Master!"
Now, he had no regrets in taking in their newest member.
Part 5
Midnight, at the guild building of Twilight Ogre...
Guild Master Banaboster paused as he heard something in the distance. Staying overnight to deal with the paperwork due to three of his members causing trouble was making him cranky. Especially since he knew that this was definitely going to trouble him over the next few days.
Something crashed in the room next to him.
"Who's there?!"
Standing up from his desk, he looked through his office windows and tried to see if he could spot anything. When nothing happened after a few seconds, he allowed his body to relax.
"Maybe I'm just tired."
A wire suddenly shot forward and pierced through his desk, causing him to yelp as his leg was yanked into the air. His entire body hung upside down, and Banaboster wailed as he flailed around.
"W-What's going on?!"
"Hi, there!"
A child's cheerful voice was his only warning before something slammed into his face. He felt his nose break under the blunt instrument that hit him.
"Arrrgggghhhh!"
"Oh wait," the voice said. "I'm an idiot. I forgot you're never supposed to start with the head, they never feel the next blow."
"The next wha—?"
Something sharp suddenly stabbed into his leg, causing him to squeal out loud.
"Well, as long as I deal enough pain, that shouldn't be a problem."
He sobbed as he tried to stop his leg from moving around too much. Already, he could feel the trickle of blood running along his body.
"W-Who are you? What do you want with me?!"
"Hi," the upside-down figure of a child greeted his eyes, to his confusion. "This is the first time we've met, but I'm here to file a complaint."
"W-Wha...?"
"Apupupup, I'm talking here." The child nudged his body with his foot, causing him to swing through the air. "Now see, here's the thing. Earlier today, a couple of your guild members just went and attacked a good friend of mine."
His eyes widened as a realization came to him.
"You're part of Fairy Tail."
Another sharp object suddenly plunged into his leg, causing him to scream once more. The child sighed at that.
"Didn't I say I was talking here? That means I want you to be quiet. Now, where was I?"
He suddenly clapped his hands together.
"Oh, right! I'm here to threaten you."
The wire suddenly slackened until his body fell to the ground. Banaboster grabbed the remains of his desk and lifted his body upright, the boy giving him an amused look.
"Now, let me fully introduce myself. I am Vale Endoyle, Enchanter and newest member of Fairy Tail. Recently, I've learned that a few of your members have been causing quite a number of problems for the rest of my guildmates. And I'm not just talking about the Triple Orcos."
The wire suddenly wrapped around Banaboster's body, forcing him to look directly at his captor. He gave out a mewling sound as he saw the maniac look in the boy's eyes.
"Did you know? If you look closely at the etymology of the word 'Enchanter' you find that it's made in part of a word that means 'sing'? Now, tell me. How loudly do you think you'll sing once I'm done with you?"
"P-Please… spare me…"
"I didn't say you could talk," the boy warned. And Banaboster flinched at that. "But I'll allow it this one time. I'll warn you just once, so listen carefully."
His face moved forward until he was only an inch away from Banaboster.
"You have laid your hands on my guild. Don't think any human laws will protect you any longer. If you go after my friends again, then I have something to tell you now. You know who I am. You know where I am. But if you hurt any of my fellow guild members one more time, you will never see me coming."
He collapsed as the wire suddenly stopped supporting him.
"Now, do we have an agreement?"
"Y-Yes," he whispered.
"Good. Oh, and don't worry about our debt to you. We'll handle that by the end of the year."
As the boy turned around, he paused as something seemed to come to his mind.
"Hey, you wanna hear a secret," the boy asked with a wicked grin. "It's something that I wasn't going tell anyone, but you'll keep quiet. Won't you?"
He hurriedly nodded.
The demon - for what else could that child be - cackled as he left the room, his voice echoing behind him.
"The truth is, I'm the villain of this story."
Vale left the guild headquarters of Twilight Ogre while humming to himself.
"Now that I've dealt with that, it should give us a little time to find a way to make enough money to clear our debt."
Oh, he wasn't willing to just trust the Guild Master to hold his word. Fear was a good influencer only when it was constantly applied. Rather, the small curse he placed on the Guild Master's heart was somewhat more reliable in this case. If the man decided to do anything crazy, he would instantly know.
"Better make sure my new guildmates don't learn about this endeavor," he said to himself. "I still want them to like me for the foreseeable future. And I personally like them too, so I don't want to disappoint them."
Whistling to himself, he began to sing as he headed back home.
"~ I've got no strings ~ To hold me down ~ To make me fret ~ Or make me frown ~"
He gave a loud laugh as he walked under the moonlight.
"~ I had strings ~ But now I'm free ~ There are no strings on me ~"
Oh yes, this really was the start of a new fairy tale.
And yup, that's the first chapter of my new story.
So how this will work is that I'll be releasing this chapter in parts on SpaceBattles and releasing it all together here on as one chapter. This way, I can attempt at posting at a somewhat daily speed without messing up the alert system.
My self-insert character uses Enchantment Magic and is based heavily on my interpretation of what it is capable of. The next few chapters will go over the first few years before the main members of Fairy Tail come back before getting into the Grand Magic Games.