A/N: Here we are again. Please check out the A/N after the chapter.

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

Chapter One: Stepping Forward

Aldric Voss stared silently at his hand as the black Fairy Tail guild mark slowly faded away. He vaguely heard people around the guild wishing him luck and that he would always be welcomed back to the guild, but he knew the moment he stepped out of the guild hall, he would never be back. He had put in his five years of training and searching, and it was time to meet back up with the people he considered family.

Once the guild mark had completely vanished, he looked up at the guild master – Laxus Dreyar. He had to admit that the man had aged quite well, considering he had a son that was only five years younger than him. But his eyes…his eyes were still alight with the lightning magic that he had now mastered. They were bright and fierce and Aldric was certain that those eyes also knew that he would never be back. And his confirmation of this came in the form of a silent nod from the blonde man, Laxus not even bothering to go through the vows he would normally go over when someone left or retired from Fairy Tail.

Aldric took this as his goodbye from the man, nodded at him, and simply turned from him. He made his way towards the large double doors of the guild hall, still hearing guild members calling out to him. He didn't bother with any other goodbyes, not even with any of the other children that had come to call him an older brother and had looked up to him. He just wanted a clean break and to go about his business. Fairy Tail had simply been a stepping stone to his end goal.

But he admitted to himself that he felt relief when the doors finally shut behind him. He took in the feeling of his thick leather armor and the cold, wet autumn weather around him, and felt free for a brief moment, until a low voice ruined it all.

"That was a bit cold, leaving like that."

Aldric looked to his left to see Gray Fullbuster leaning up against the guild hall. He stood under the large awning like Aldric did to keep the rain from falling on him. The ice mage had a cold glint to his eyes, but he at least gave Aldric a small smile.

"I don't like dramatic goodbyes," he replied as he pulled on thick brown gloves. He looked down to make sure his dark jeans and tall black boots were securely in place.

"Clearly," Gray said, letting a long pause pass through them. He finally let out a sigh and ran a hand through his messy black hair, "Sylvia is going to be upset when she gets back from her mission to find that you left…permanently."

Aldric checked to make sure that his lance was also locked into place on his back, "If you're trying to get me to stay, it won't work."

"Oh, I know. I'm just saying, she's gonna be upset."

Aldric stared at Gray for a long moment as he pulled his long brown hair up into a bun. Once he felt that it would stay in place, despite a few strands falling from the bun, he answered the ice mage, "That chickie is tough," he said, letting a smirk appear briefly when he saw Gray twitch at the nickname he had for his daughter, "She'll be able to handle it."

"But you purposely waited until her team was out on a mission, didn't you?"

"Yeah…"

"You couldn't handle it?"

Aldric looked away from Gray, staring up at the rain, "I tried not to make friends here, but…"

"But it happened anyway? Yeah, that's how it always happens here."

Hunter green eyes locked onto dark blue ones, "It wasn't supposed to." Silence passed through them again, Gray knowing the man meant what he said. It was Aldric's turn to sigh and run a hand down his face, "Sorry, I know that sounded rude."

"It did, but I suppose I understand where you're coming from. Still gonna be pretty damn hard to explain it to Sylvia. Juvia will probably blame everything on me, like always."

"Maybe you should try and reconcile with that ex-wife of yours," Aldric said with another smirk, knowing that Gray fixing things between him and Juvia was just as likely as him walking back into the guild to rejoin it.

"Tch, that woman is crazy. The only good thing that came out of the relationship was Sylvia."

"You should give Juvia more credit. She's a good person and a good mother. You're just not good together."

Gray's only reply was another, "Tch."

Aldric looked to the sky again, "I better get going before people start thinking I'm staying," he said before glancing back at Gray, "Thanks…for all your help with everything."

Gray gave him a serious look, "I suppose this is where I should say that going hunting for demons is stupid and bat shit crazy, but I really have no room to talk," he said, both men looking down to the black markings covering one of his hands, "And these demons are taking over Fiore. They aren't like the ones we fought back when Tartarus was around. These aren't demons that were created from a book and they definitely aren't like the villagers on Galuna Island. They are real hellfire and brimstone demons, and we need all the help we can get against them. Don't let all your training go to waste."

"I won't."

"And I know you're not just hunting any old demons either. Killing off the pawns won't stop more from coming. I know you're going after the Order of Ash."

"You have to take the head to stop the rest of the body."

"I just want to make sure you know what you're getting into," Gray said, holding out his black marked hand towards him, "A lot of people think this shit makes me look cool, but it's just a struggle to get through the day sometimes. If you're going to become what I think you're going to become, you have to know that you're going to lose pieces, more like chunks, of yourself. If you come back, you'll never be like you are now ever again."

"I know that and I've accepted that…we have all accepted that," Aldric said, thinking about the people that will be waiting for him in Crocus, "But we have our reasons for hunting demons. We have our reasons for becoming demon slayers."

Gray watched the man, hearing no hesitation in his voice and seeing that he would not be wavered. He then dug into his coat pocket and pulled out a worn, leather journal, "You'll need this," he said as he handed it over to Aldric.

"What is it?"

"My father's journal from his time in Tartarus. They may have been demons created by a book, but he took detailed notes of everything he encountered during his time with them, including some real demons like the ones we have running around now. It will help you along with the information I was able to gather for you. You still have that notebook as well?"

"Yes," Aldric said, placing the worn journal in the travel pack he carried over one shoulder. He tightened the bag back up and threw it back over his shoulder. He then stuck his hand out to Gray, "Thank you."

Gray grabbed his hand tightly and shook it, "Thank you for everything you're about to do. I know that you won't come back to rejoin the guild, but if you ever need help, I'll be here."

"I'll keep that in mind," he said with another shake of their hands before letting go, "Tell that chickie of yours that I expect her to kick your ass and become S-Class."

"Like she needs any more encouragement," Gray said with a shake of his head, "Aldric," he added in a somber tone, "Don't forget yourself. You might lose pieces of yourself, but don't forget why you're doing what you're doing. Don't forget the part of you that started this journey. I really don't want to have to come kick your ass because you lost it."

Aldric stared at Gray, looked down at the black marked hand, and then back up at the man, "So long as you don't forget yourself either."

With that, Aldric threw his hood up and stepped out into the rain, stepping closer towards his goal and farther from the man he would only remember himself being.

A/N: And there we are! I hope you enjoyed it!

So this idea has been bothering be for a while and I finally gave in and wrote it up. It's going to be a bit different than what I normally do for SYOCs, but I wanted to try something different and new. I suppose you could say it's my take on a mixture of SYOC and Next Gen. The Next Gen portion obviously won't be the main focus, but they are in there a bit. I have also always wanted to delve deeper into slayer magic, so this is also my take on that. But I hope some of you will be interested in this and that I get some interesting submissions for it.

This will not be a first come first serve type of submission. It will be a quality based submission as there are only 9 spots open for characters. This will not be a huge guild based SYOC as it will focus around a smaller group of characters that come together to take out the demons that have taken over Fiore.

The rules and submission form will be on my profile, so be sure to go there first before submitting a character.

I will still be working on Storm's Helm as well, but I had to get this idea out of my head, so here we are, lol.

If you have any questions about the story, please just PM me.

That's it for now.

Again, please check out my profile for rules and the submission form!

Until next time!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson