Chapter 2

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"I'm sorry, how much?"

"...20 000 Jewels dear lass."

"..." A few seconds would pass and the only sounds that could be heard were the ironic crickets in the room. The girl was left speechless and sweatdropping bullets.

Instantly and without warning the blonde was sitting on top of the counter with her legs crossed in the sexiest way possible, which really helped show off a lot of skin. Not stopping there, she opened up her shirt up to show off some more skin.

The blonde spoke in a seductive tone. "Really now, you wouldn't even lower the price for wittle old me?" The blonde add to her sex appeal by trailing her index finger on her chest while pushing out her chest. There was no way that this old gizzer could resist her, right now she was sure no man could resist her charms.

"..W..Wel...Well...ahh...ahhh..., maybe I can take off just a little bit, for you that is."

Without any warnings the little bell overhead the front door of the store went off, signaling that a new customer was to be expected.

Time seemed froze for the store owner and the blonde. Whoever entered would see her in a compromising position, and who knows what they'd think of the situation, they'd think she was some kind of bimbo.

For what felt like the longest few moments of her life the girl slowly turned her head to meet the site of the new comer.

Approaching the counter was a male blonde. The new comer had on stoic face due to the site before him. Several seconds past and tension was getting thicker by the second.

For what felt like forever the new customer spoke. "I'm sorry, am I ... interrupting something here?" His tone sounded sarcastic, either he really fucking with her or he was fucking with her.

In the blink of an eye the blonde girl got off the counter and fixed herself up. "No no no no... my friend and I were just finishing up a chat!" the girl was waving her hands frantically.

The man's eyes moved from the blonde and on to the old man. The old man was sweating bullets with a slight blush on the corner of his cheeks. His eyes were roaming the room, which indicated guilt.

"... Rigghhhtttt..., anyway, moving on." His tone instantly move to a bored one.

"Sorry about that... here's your key ma'am." For the first time the old man spoke and introduced himself into the conversation. "So that'll be 19 000 Jewels please."

'Damn it, he only lowered the price by a mere 1000 Jewel.' The blonde thought in annoyance. 'What! My womanly charms aren't good enough for you, you little perv?!'

"Yes! Of course, here you go sir." After handing over her Jewel to the old gizzer, she left without another word.

After a few seconds of awkward silence and eye contact between the two men the older one finally broke the tension. "So laddy... what can I do for you this fine afternoon?"

The blonde took his time to stare the old guy down, as if to read him. The gizzer was sweating under his gaze.

After a few seconds the blonde man spoke. "Quite the shop you got here." He said as he took to long look around for the first time.

"Why thank you sonny boy, I've had for over twenty years, now how can I help you?"

With out wasting time the blonde got down to business. "I'm lookin for for something rare."

"Well seeing as we're the only magic shop in this here town, not particularly the most well stocked or the fanciest. I'll have to ask you for more information, what kind of rare are you talking about really.

"Hmmm... well, I'm thinking in matters of space-time magic."

The old guy took the time to search his memory for anything similar to what the blonde wanted.

"Hmm... I'm sorry sonny I don't remember having anything like that in here. But if there's anything else I can do for you let me know?"

"Yeah actually, ... you wouldn't happen to sell anything similar to throwing knives or scrolls would you?"

"Hmmm..."

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Hargeon town train station

The train speakers boomed to life as the train drew closer to the station. "Dear passagers, please note. we have arrived at our designated stop. Please, feel free to use our services again and have a wonderful day!"

"Grrrr...grrrr... Somebody get me if this thing." A pink hair man cried as he crawled off the train only to collapsed on to the train platform.

"Come on Natsu, let's go already!" A second voice came from above the downed man, it was a blue cat with Angel wings.

"Arggghh...! Five more minutes. Arrggghhh... I think... I'm gonna throw up again."

"Really? Hmmm, I wonder what Igneel would think if he saw that a train ride was all it took to take you down? I'm sure he'd be embarrassed to anywhere near you." taunted the blue cat.

"Come on Happy! We're finally gonna get to see Igneel again!" Natsu yelled as he jumped to his legs, signs of the previous nausea completely gone.

"Aye sir!" responded the now named Happy. 'Too easy.'

"GET READY IGNEEL, CAUSE I'M COMIN!" Nastu yelled as he ran off into the distance.

"Aye!" Happy cried out as he flew after his comrade.

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Storming through the streets of Hargeon Town in a fit of curses was the same blonde girl who had just exited the local magic store.

"The nerve of that little bastard. Who the hell does he think he is?!" the blonde went on in a fit of mocking and curses gestures. "Lowering the price by just 1000 Jewels, I hope he gets robbed, that little pervert." she said as she stopped in the middle of the street and lifted her fists in the air in a form of threatening gestures.

The blonde continue down the street still in her ranting state until she was stopped a loud crowd across the the bridge she was standing on. She took the time to look over the side of the bridge and into the crowd which seemed to be consisting mostly young girls and women.

"Oh My Gosh! Is that really Salamander?!"

"Ahhhh! It's him!"

"Marry me Salamander!"

'What the heck is going on over there?' The blonde thought as she sweatdropped at the site happenings right across her.

"Wait...Salamander? As in Fairy Tail's Salamander. I have to get a closer look at what's going on there, this could be my big chance at joining Fairy Tail." She told herself. "Come on Lucy"

As she got closer to the crowd she couldn't shake the feeling that something was off somehow.

After reaching the crowd, she squeezed herself through to the centre of the mob of people and she was met by the sight of a man in his thirties. The man had blue hair and wore a cap. He also had a tattoo on his face.

"Come now ladies there's plenty of me to go around." After he said that all the girls squealed.

"What the heck is wrong with this guy?" The blonde said to herself with a sweatdrop going down her head.

When she took a better look at the guy, she found he was quite appealing. 'Wait, what the heck am I thinking.' What was she feeling right now, her heart started to beat faster and faster. What was going on, was she falling for this man.

"Igneel! I'm here Igne... who the heck are you." A pink haired boy appeared next to man known as Salamander.

"Ah! A fan. Here you go little fella, go and show your friends, it worth a on the market." Salamander said after he handed Natsu a signed picture of himself.

Natsu was deflated once he saw wasn't who he thought he was. "What the heck am I gonna do with this?" He took the autograph and instantly threw it away, but the man's fans weren't having any of that.

"You would dare disrespect our precious Salamander?! Pick it up pinkie!" Out of nowhere Natsu was surrounded by a mob of angry fangirls.

"Now now ladies, I'm sure he didn't mean anything thing by it. Make sure to come to my party on my private yacht this evening!" The so-called Salamander said as he struck a blinding smile just before taking off in swirling mass of purple flames.

The man's fans were left awestruck by his dramatic exit.

"He's so amazing!"

"I know right?"

"What a dork!" For the second time in one day Nastu was surrounded by furious fangirls, unfortunately for him, this time no one was going to stop them from beating his lights out. "Wait ladies, let's talk about thi...ahHHH...NO... WAIT... PLEASE!"

After some cries and a huge beat down Natsu would be seen thrown into a heap of trash cans, brusies everywhere.

"Excuse me, are you all right?" the same blonde from before ask with a tone of consern. "Yeah, l'm cool" The Dragonslayer said while dusting himself off.

"Huh, It turned out that guy wasn't Igneel after all." Happy said as he made himself known.

"Damnit, and I was really hoping it was him this time." Natsu gloomed.

"I'm sorry but I still want to thank you for before. That jerk put me under a some kind spell and I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't arrived. So please let me thank you properly. My name's Lucy."

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Hargeon Magic Store

'Damn it! It's almost been two years now, and I'm no closer to finding it. I wonder what He's up to right now?' The blonde thought to himself as he took a long look at the setting sun in the sky.

"At least I got a restock for my troubles." He said as he spun a kunai knife in his left index finger.

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Outskirts of Freesia Town

Freesia Town, a small town that possess nothing special about it. It had a quiet atmosphere to it. The town was surrounded by a large forest and a small mountain range to the West. It had a huge cliff that overlooked the town to the South.

It wasn't as big as the other towns of Fiore, however it was quite beautiful in its own little way.

Like most towns in this world, it too was threatened by danger once in a while. It would either be bandit, monsters, demons or even mages.

The day was drawing to a close. The setting sun coloured the skies with a beautiful orange-pink colour. The scene was exquisite, the light of the setting sun created long shadows. The day had come to an end and the night would soon come out.

On top of the cliff that overlooked the small town stood a cloaked figure. The cloak hid the person's face. Nothing could be distinguished about the figure except for the black cloak it wore over it's body.

"So this is the town huh,... hmph"

The figure spoke in a hushed, rusty tone, by the sound is its voice you could tell it was clearly male.

The stranger to a look to the left, at the the sun vanishing behind the mountain range.

"It's time."

With that said the figure disappeared into thin air.

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Freesia Town entrance gate

In an instant the cloaked man appeared a few feet from the entrance gate of the village.

After entering the confinds of the town the stranger was met with a shocking site, complete silence. The sun had set a few minutes ago but there was no one else on the streets. It felt good a ghost town. Not a single soul could be seen. The whole town was dark, not a single house or building had a light on.

Strange. After entering through the entrance, the stranger took towards the Northern direction, towards the biggest building in the entire town. Maybe the mayor's home or office. Either way, that was the direction to go.

After a few minutes of walking, the stranger arrived at the mayor's place. Stopping in front of the buildings door, the cloaked figure took a look at the windows on the second floor. It seemed to be completely dark inside the building.

After taking in the surrounding buildings the mystery cloak decided to knock.

Knock Knock*

After knocking on the door it took a few minutes for someone answered the door.

The person behind the door seemed to hesitate before to opening the door slowly by a crack. Through the open door slight a woman's features could be seen, either that or man soft features. The person asked a question in a gentle, hushed tone, indicating that it was a woman. "What is it?" asked the lady.

"I'm here about the job... about problem you have." answered the man in the cloak.

The expression on the woman's face turned to one of shock.

After processing what the cloaked man had just said, she quickly opened the door after unlocking the chain. After the door opened it revealed a middle aged woman.

The woman had brown hair, amber eyes, around her eyes she had a few crow's feet. She wore an orange knee length dress. She was a head shorter than the man in front of her. As she squinted her eyes to try and get a better look at the man in front of her.

After a few seconds of silence her facial expressions changed to the point where she looked like she was about to break into tears. "Thank God! Someone finally answered!" right after saying those words the woman took a look outside, as if she was paranoid. She closed the door after the man entered. "Thank you so much! Please.. come." the lady said as she lead the man up some stairs.

After leading him to the second floor of the house she stopped in front of a double doored room and they entered through them. The room seemed to be some kind of study. It had two bookshelf on both sides of the room full of books.

"Please wait here, I'll go and get my husband."

After voicing her actions the middle aged lady raced to get her spouse.

Minutes passed with the mage still left in the same spot. The minutes seemed to fly by, until the door to the study burst opened.

A middle aged man entered into the room with a wind of urgency. "You must be the mage that finally answered our prayers?" The mayor said as he got in front of the mysterious mage. Suddenly, the mayor dropped to his knees. "THANK YOU...SO MUCH!" He choked out as he broke into tears on the floor.

If the mage was surprised he didn't show it. "Get up." the he instructed behind his cloak in a monotone. "l'm not doing this because I felt sorry for you or your town. I'm doing this because it's a job."

The town leader stopped his sobs after he heard the mage's reasons for accepting their request. "Yes... I understand, but please let me thank you anyway."

After picking himself from the floor. The mayor got down to business.

"It started a few weeks ago... They suddenly started reanimating out of their graves. When they did, they started wondering into town every three nights."

The mayor hesitated to continue, without warning he covered his face. "I'm sorry... let me continue. When They first showed up we thought we could handle them on our own, so we rallied up people who could pick up a weapon and fought back. However; they kept coming." As he finished he stood to face the window behind desk.

"..."

"Many of our town's folks died that night." Silence covered the room until the mayor decided to continue. "It's funny, whenever they came back they took three children with them, each time."

"Any ideas why?" the mage asked with a significant tone of interest.

"God knows why. All I'm asking is that you help us get rid of these abominations. Please." The mayor turned to face the mage once again. "All we know is that they approach from the mountains each time.

"..."

In an instant the mysterious mage disappeared as if he was never there.

"Please, help us." With that the mayor exited the study room.

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Mountain Range; West of Freesia Town

After following the trail of blood and smell of death and corruption the mage arrived at the mouth of a cave.

"...Come out, I know you're there." Out of the shadows of the cave a man dressed in a lab coat came forth. "I take it you the one responsible for the reanimation?"

"Hahahah... what would give you that idea?" The identified man wore a white lab coat, underneath he had on a black turtleneck and brown pants complete with black combat boots. His hair was a silver colour and tied into a ponytail. "You must be the mage they sent to stop me and my research."

"..."

"No matter, l'll dispose of you either way." The scientist smirk, right after an army of corpses rose from the ground. "It's a shame really, the experiments I could do with a mage could bring my research that much closer to completion."

"..." Again the cloaked mage was silent.

"Time to eat my children, GO!" After signalling the attack the corpse sprinted into action. The were unusual fast for the walking dead. Mere seconds from reaching their intended target the suddenly burst into black flames. after a few seconds they were Ash on the forest floor. An entire army of dead corpses was reduced to nothing but ash!

The ash remains created a circle around the mage, who was still in the same position.

To say the dark scientist was shocked and terrified was an understatement. The man was sweating bullets. "Wh... What did you just do?" he said as he backed away towards the entrance of the cave. "My experiments,... how they could take out any normal mage." He asked in disbelief. "Please do take me in, if they find out I failed them they'll kill me!" He dropped to his knees and fell into tears.

"I won't be taking you in, I'll be taking your head." And with that a bolt of lightning pierced the dark scientist straight through the neck decapitating him instantly. "Chidori spear." The head fell with a 'thud'.

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Inside the cave

The mage entered and was met with test lab. Inside the lab there was a few human sized tubes which couple of people inside.

The man pace himself and walked in front of one of those test tubes. To say he was disgusted by was done to these children was an understatement. What kind of human could do this to children.

And with that entire lab bursted into the same black flames. Burning every thing including the children in the test tubes.

"...Tartarus..."

With those final words the man disappeared into a bolt of purple lightning.

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Freesia Town; Mayor's study

"So took care of our troubles?" The mayor asked hopefully.

"Yes" The mage answered in a monotone without a hint of interest.

"Were there now survivors?" He asked again, but he already knew the answer.

"...No..."

"I see. Well we're very thankful of help sir. Pease, here's your reward." The mayor said and right after he handed the man a bag full of bills. "Thank you again Sir mage."

"..." After taking the reward he exited the room in silence.

"...Thank you very much" whispered the mayor.

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There, finally finished. How was this chapter? Feel free to comment about anything I can help you with. Thank you for reading my second installment.