I dedicate this story to Red's new album, Of Beauty and Rage, which gave me the inspiration and ideas for this story, well sort of…

Author's Note: Like I've said before, this is my new Natza/Nerza AU Story. It is going to be very different from my other stories and personally, I think this might be my favorite story so far I've been working on. The rating on the story might change as well, so be wary of it… unless you don't mind it, then okay. And probably a few instances of OOC will occur so be advised as well.

Alright, I hope you enjoy this. Now, for story time…

The City of Magnolia; a magnificent sight to behold. In the day, its streets are filled with the joys of children, men and women, ranging from any age. The sound of cars honking their way to their jobs or homes. But in the night, the city that is so filled with joy and hope is gone…

"Huh… huh…" A shadowy figurine huffed and puffed as he ran through the woods.

The full moon's light was enough for the shadow to see and run through the forest without much trouble. He finally reached the end of the trail, making out to an open field with high tall grass. "…huh… I think… I finally… lost her…" He fell to his knees, soon followed by falling and laying down on the grass.

"Oh did you now?" His eyes widened and his spine tingled with fear as he heard the menacing but innocent tone of voice. But in which direction?

"You-You're NOT HUMAN AT ALL!" He quickly got up from his laid position, continuing his run. Sadly, his run was cut short when a star like shuriken pierced his leg. "AAH!" He screamed in agony, falling down to ground. "Oh… fuck… uhuh…" He looked at his left leg and saw the shuriken, rapidly breathing with each second he glanced at his injury. For only a short instance, he tried to pull the weapon out of his leg but succumbed to its pain.

"Oh, I'm perfectly human," the voice said once more. "I'm just on a different level than you."

"P-Please!" He started crawled back, looking and begging at the shadowy figure in front of him. "I'll… I'll DOUBLE WHOEVER IS PAYING YOU!" He pleaded his money for his life. "JUST LET ME LIVE!"

"That's cute," the figurine stepped into pale of the moonlight, revealing herself. Long scarlet hair that matched that of soaked blood, a nice curvy body covered in black light battle armor with matching gloves and boots, stood right in front the man while holding a Sai in her left hand. She then pointed the sharp edge of her Sai near the man's throat. "But I don't take offers from the people I've been contracted to kill." And in a single horizontal slash to his throat, the soul in the man's body ceased to exist. "Sorry."

…

"Who do we have here?" A blonde spiky haired detective wearing a trench coat and dark sunglasses, asked as he entered the open field with another officer who escorted him to the crime scene.

"Oh, you're in for a surprise, Detective." The officer fixed his hat as he walked and navigated his superior around the tall grass.

After walking for several minutes, they finally made it to the victim's location where the METs have already started their initial investigation. "Oh no…" The detective put his right hand over his forehead, realizing exactly who the victim was.

"Yup," a long green haired male MET near the corpse said. "The victim is our lovely corrupt CEO of Grimoire Heart Industries, Precht Gaebolg or like his co-workers like to call him, Hades."

"So much for the nickname," a female MET snickered on the choice of the nickname. "I don't remember the brother of Zeus embezzling from their own company and having his own wife murdered and still getting away with it."

"The media is going to kill us..." The detective wiped away a few drops of sweat that dripped from his forehead.

"And that my friends, is why I don't trust our Justice system." another MET, a blue haired fellow with a strange tattoo over his face, said as he started to put away some of his equipment.

"Can we cut the chit chatter, people?" The detective was rather impatient as he tried to shorten the METs side conversation.

"Sorry boss." The three said in unison.

"Ok, now tell me how the poor bastard died." The detective took out a small notepad and a pencil.

"As you can see," the green haired MET pointed at the CEO's throat with his right hand in which the detective followed with his eyes. "An incision with an unknown blade was made near the thyroid which severed both anterior and internal jugular veins which caused him to instantly bleed to death. Won't know what type of weapon was used to make the incision without bringing the body back to the lab."

"Alright," the detective finished writing what the MET just told him on his notepad. "Time of death?"

"Not long," the female MET raised the corpse's arm, waving the wrist and bending the elbow part of the arm. "The body is already slowly going to into rigor mortis." She put the arm back down. "I'd put the time of death 10 hours ago, give or take. I can give you an accurate time of death once we have the body back at the lab and done a full autopsy."

"Anything else?" The detective hoped there was more evidence.

"He was running away from someone," the tattooed MET pointed at the shoes. "Other than his expensive clothing, the new shoes seemed to have been worn out already."

"So expensive clothing and his wallet is still intact," the detective added a bit of his own input. "Body dump?"

"I don't think so, the dirt and foliage underneath his shoes makes us conclude that he was probably running near or around here." The female MET answered.

"How long do you think he's been running out here in the woods?" The detective asked, looking around their surroundings."

"Rough estimate… probably no more than 2-3 miles," the tattooed MET looked back at the forest. "My guess is, the poor sod ran through those woods from over there."

"Alrighty, I'll send in a few of the Forensic guys to check out the woods, hopefully they find something else," the blonde detective started to walk back to where he car was parked. "Thanks for the information guys."

"No problem." The three said in unison.

Before going to his car, he walked towards one of the cops. "Before I leave, who called this in?"

"Ugh, three teenage kids who were... trespassing here." Answered one of the cops.

"Figured much, this is private property," the detective sighed. "Where are they now?"

"Down back at the station, Detective Laxus." One of them answered again.

"Good, I'm going to see if they grabbed or saw anything unusual before you guys arrived." Unlike the rest of the grunt cops, Laxus brought his own car to the crime scene. He got his keys from out of his jacket pocket and opened his car door. As he settled down in his seat, he put his keys in the ignition hole, turning it and igniting the car's engine. "See you boys." He bid his farewells and soon hit the road.

...

20 almost 25 minutes passed, after making his way through Magnolia's busy streets, Laxus had finally reached his destination; Magnolia Police Department. As he parked near the entrance, he noticed a bunch of huddled up reporters near the entrance's staircase. "THERE'S DETECTIVE LAXUS!" One of the reporters noticed him in his car which prompt the whole group to run and divert their attention towards the ceremonial detective.

"What the..." He lifted his dark sunglasses as the group neared his car.

Without much worry, he got out of his car only to be attacked by the flashing cameras and the reporters shoving their microphones to his face. "Detective Laxus, is it true what they said?" One of the reporters asked.

"True about what?" He put his hand over his face, blocking the harsh lights from hitting his eyes.

"That the victim you found near the woods is Grimoire Hearts' CEO, Hades?" The reporter finished her sentence.

"No comment!" As he walked, the group followed still attacking him with questions.

"Are you the lead in the case?"

"Did he really murder his wife?"

"Are you going to bring in the killer even though he or she has done Magnolia City a huge favor by ridding the scumbag of a CEO?"

"Do you have any more leads to his killer?"

Detective Laxus made his way up the stairs, avoiding the everlasting amounts of questions. As he entered, a few of his fellow officers secured the front door, allowing to proceed into the building while the reporters were kept out. "Phew!" He exhaled out a big ball of air from his lungs, finally inside the building.

"Detective Laxus!" A voice from above yelled his named.

He looked up and saw his superior, looking back at him from the balcony in which he stood by. "Chief Jura!" He greeted back.

Jura walked down the stairs and near the entrance where the detective stood by. "What the shell is going on out there?" He asked as he firmly shook the detective's hand. "I hear the victim you found near the woods was that bastard of a CEO, Hades. Is it true?"

"Unfortunately for us, yes," Laxus calmly answered his question as he took back his hand. "And apparently, word gets out and quickly at that."

"Ah shit," the chief cursed underneath his breath. "Well I'm going to want you to close this case and fast. I and DEA have your back on this."

"Good, I'm going to need it," he was glad to hear that, especially coming from his superior. "Speaking of the case, where are the delinquents who called it in?"

"In one of the holding cells, why?" Jura confirmed there whereabouts.

"Going to question them a bit before their parents show up and take them back home, if that's alright with you?" He asked him, hoping for some clearance from higher authority.

"Yeah sure, if it helps." Jura patted Laxus on his shoulder, parting ways with the detective.

And with that, Laxus headed towards the holding cells in the lower floors. He used the stairs instead of the elevator to get their faster. "Hey officer," Laxus greeted the officer who was in charge of looking after the holding cells. "I'm here to see the teenagers from the crime scene."

"Go right ahead, there at the last one to your right." The officer affirmed him.

Laxus continued to walk, this time at a slower pace. "Oh it's you three." He finally made it to their cell, realizing who the three trespassers were.

"Detective Laxus," the only teenage boy in the trip greeted him. "It's good to see you."

"Romeo," he greeted back. "Wendy, Chelia." Greeting the rest of the trio. "So what? Is your new gimmick trespassing on private property?"

"Hey, it's not our fault that the piece of land didn't have a sign that specifically said Private Property, PLEASE DO NOT TRESPASS!" Chelia retorted as she sat on the bench with her arms crossed around her chest.

"Yeah, we weren't exactly trespassing," Wendy started to explain what exactly they were doing there. "We were just doing a little exploring. That's all."

"In that part of town?" He had an expression on his face that a disapproving parent would have. "Anyways, that's not exactly why I'm here."

"Then why are you here?" A puzzled look loomed over the teens faces.

"Did you guys see anything or took something from the crime scene?" He finally asked his primary question towards the teens.

"If we don't say anything, are we charged with obstruction of justice?" Romeo crossed his arms over his chest, having an amusing smile as he trolled the detective.

"FOR GOD SAKES! ANSWER THE DAMN QUESTION!" He yelled at them, hoping that convinced them from saying another ravishing thing.

"No!" Chelia and Romeo retorted back in unison.

"Wendy?" Laxus turned his attention towards the bluenette, looking at her while she stood inside the cell in silence.

"Did you take something from the crime scene Wendy?" The pinkette asked, putting her hand over her friend's shoulder.

"Well..." Wendy put her hands behind her back and started to rock her body back and forth while staring down at the dirty cell floor.

"Did you see or grab anything at the crime scene?" Laxus repeated his question once more, hoping the young lass answered it.

"There was this..." Wendy took her hands from out of hiding, revealing a flower of some sort. "It's a black rose. I took it off the man's body. It just laid there on top of him... why should such a rare and beautiful flower be placed on top of that worthless body?" She handed the flower through the cell holding bars and gave it to the detective.

"Could be some type of calling card..." He brought the flower closer to his face, inspecting every side of it. "I should probably take this over to forensics." He reached into his pocket, taking out an evidence bag he had.

"DON'T PUT IN A BAG!" Wendy flailed her arms up and down the jail's steel bars in hopes of taking back what she had first. "YOU'LL RUIN IT!"

"Alright, alright!" The detective put his hands above his head in defeat and placed his small evidence bag back into his pocket. "Geez…"

"You tell those guys over there at Forensics to not mess with the plant, alright?" Wendy requested to the blonde.

"Fine." Laxus soon walked away, heading towards his next location.

"Well who knew you could be such a bad girl, Wendy?" Chelia started to tease her.

"Shut it."

…

Now in a different part of the building, Laxus was now approaching the Forensics Department. As he neared the end of the hall, he can hear the TV from all the way out here. He opened and entered.

"…as the Presidential Race continues, Democratic Representative, Natsu Dragneel leads the polls by 15% followed by the Republican Candidate, Azuma Corazon. In other news, the body of-"

"Hey," Laxus said, interrupting a rather large man's attention away from the TV. "Droy, where's your boss?"

"Oh, hey there Detective Laxus," the large man took several seconds to get up. "Oh, um, Levy and Jet went out to get something for us to eat." He saw that the blonde detective move around his head, looking everywhere around the lab.

"Oh, just here to drop by something for her to see," he told him. "This little fella."

Droy looked at what Laxus held up near his face; a black rose. "Wow, is this real?"

"What's real?" A new feminine voice entered their conversation. Both men turned to the door, seeing a short bluenette female bringing in a few boxes of what seemed like donuts while her partner, a dark haired tall man held up a few more as well walked in.

"Oh, hey there Levy," Laxus tipped his hat as a manner of greeting her. "And I was talking about this." He then showed her what he showed to Droy.

"Is that a black rose?" Jet asked as he placed the pile of doughnut boxes he had on one of the counters while eyeing the little gem Laxus had.

Levy had done the same, now walking towards Laxus for a closer inspection. "Holy shit, this is real!" She took the lovely plant from his palms, for better perspective on the matter. "Where did you find this?"

"At a crime scene." He simply told her.

She quickly placed it on a table and turned on a table lamp, concentrating it's light solely on the rose. "The Hades one?"

"It's all over the goddamn news, isn't it?" He facepalmed showing a bit of stress.

"Yeah," she turned her attention back to the flower at hand. "Anyways, this rose is very rare. An endangered plant at that as well."

"So is it rare enough to trace it back to anyone?" He asked her.

"I don't know, maybe you should try your luck with that information down with the computer analyst," she said. "Exactly where did you find the plant at?"

"The little girl I took it from said she had found it on top of the dead body." He explained.

"So like a calling card it was left on him?" She continued with her own questions.

"Yeah." He said.

"Well I can't really help you here," she sighed, hoping to had find something on the rose. "But if it is a calling card, like I said, go and talk to a computer ananlyst, one of them should help you and find a hit or two if this was repeated."

"Yeah, you're probably right," he scratched and massaged his right side of his neck. "Well I guess I'll be seeing you guys later if we uncover more evidence."

"Right," Levy waved goodbye as did Jet and Droy. "Oh one more thing before you leave."

"And what's that?" He stopped near the door.

"Can I preserve the plant in the meantime?" She asked him.

"Knock yourself out kiddo."

…

In the beaches near the city, a familiar red haired woman laid down on a convertable white lounge chair, in her black matching bikini revealing her curvy elegant body. She enjoyed what it had offered and that was it's silence. "Vroom!" Suddenly, her android phone that was placed near her belly, interrupting her small vacation she gave herself.

She quickly answered it and placed the phone near her ear. "Haha! Well done, it's already all over the news!" A man's voice was heard from the other side.

"Wasn't even that hard to kill the bastard," she lowly said. "Anyways, it's not really why you called is it?"

"You have a new contract there." He told her.

"You know I don't stay in one city for that long, right?" She repeated her policy once more.

"Yeah, yeah, but the contract is rather good." He tried to convince her once more.

"Ugh, guess I have no choice do I?" She sighed, raising her white flag of surrender. "Who's the target?"

"Presidential Candidate, Natsu Dragneel."

Author's Note: Kind of feels a bit slow, I know but you'll (hopefully) enjoy this new AU. Well then see you next time I update.