So... long time no see.

A Reaper's Tail

Chapter Eight: Of Wyverns, Fairies and Reapers in the Night

The wyvern screeched as Liev drove Abhainn into its long, wriggly neck. He cursed as the blade chopped through half the neck before grinding to a painful halt. The beast was practically dead, but Liev's momentum was brought to a sudden halt. He suppressed a pained yell as a wyvern bit into his side; in that same instant all the other wounds the creatures had caused him seemed to flare into blazing existence.

A feral howl escaped Liev's lips, who all of a sudden, was ten years old and in the cage at Night Reaper locked inside with a group of half-starved tiger-hounds. He pulled Abhainn free of the dying wyvern and, releasing a hand, hammered it into the creature's beady black eyes. The monster hissed and relinquished its grip, but Liev saw that the monster had a taste for him now. His blood dripped from the wickedly sharp teeth that lined the dragon-breed's mouth.

Bellowing in fury, supplemented by his own pain, Liev hefted Abhainn and, with one great swing, lopped the monster's head off. He had barely a moment to recuperate before another wyvern dove at him, snapping its jaw, clamouring for the blood that ran in rivulets down Liev's aching limbs and stained his torn clothes. Liev growled in mounting frustration. He must have slain more than a hundred wyverns yet there seemed to be thousands occupying the armoury and they were beginning to wear him down. His vision was already getting fuzzy from blood loss and Abhainn seemed heavier with each swing.

"Liev! Hang in there, partner I really don't want to be left alone with no one to talk to!"

Abhainn's words were far from comforting and if he had the breath to do it, he'd have told her as much. He grit his teeth and placed Abhainn in front of him as the Wyvern lunged for his throat, clamping his jaws down on the blade. The wyvern's teeth shattered like glass and the Wyvern withdrew, screeching in agony. Liev thrust at the reeling monster with Abhainn twice and the beast fell, joining its kin in whatever hell monsters were sent to.

He was about to deal an underhanded swipe at the next contestant, but a sharp agony burrowed through his right ankle and he saw that one of the wyverns had slipped around him and was currently gnawing on his leg. A similar pain shot through his left bicep and, true enough, there was another of the monsters with its teeth buried in the meat of his arm. Nerves flared and, again, all the wounds dealt to him thus far flared into white-hot pain once more.

Liev didn't fight the weakness that threatened to overcome him. He couldn't. He was entirely spent. He'd given a good account of himself but against such numbers what was mere individual skill?

Abhainn fell from his hands, clattering to the dusty stone floor with a din that sounded like funeral bells. A clawed foot pushed the battered teen over onto his back, pinning him in place and the head of another wyvern filled his fading vision, leering hungrily at him through those soulless black eyes. The creature raised its head, opening its maw, Liev knew what it was about to do. It was going to punch through his soft belly and gorge itself on the organs within.

Mustering up one last breath of defiance, Liev spat out what he very much believed were his final words with enough venom to corrode steel:

"I hope you choke on them!"

The wyvern tilted its head, wondering at the sound before suddenly lunging, its drooling maw and glinting teeth all too eager to rend and tear–

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"

The wall of the armoury exploded. Rubble pattered against the beasts closest to the crushed wall, causing them to duck and cover their heads with their leathery wings. Several scaly limbs and extremities were broken by some larger fragments of the wall and the armoury was filled with the sound of hissing confusion.

Yael stood in the gap she'd created, her arms wreathed in eldritch flame. She had always struck Liev as a wild girl, but now her expression was almost feral, and Liev thought he could make out veins bulging as she fought to control her seething rage. Liev also noticed that she was in a similar state of disorder to himself; her white tank top that sat underneath her dark overcoat was torn away completely under her ribcage, and her midnight blue shorts were missing a leg. She was covered in nicks and cuts, and Liev surmised that she had likely encountered more wyverns.

The dust began to settle and Yael's eyes fell on Liev. Her eyes widened a fraction and then the armoury exploded in scorching heat. Sweating wyverns trilled aimlessly at each other, still reeling from Yael's sudden appearance. One stupid beast actually dared to snap at the new arrival, a lunge that would have taken an ordinary person's throat before they'd have had time to react.

Yael Dragneel was far removed from such standards deemed 'ordinary'.

She swayed backwards like a professional fighter, the lunging wyvern's open mouth passing harmlessly in front of her. She drove her knee into its gut with all the force of a sledgehammer, winding the creature. In that same instant she brought both flame-wreathed hands above her head and drove them down. The wyvern was flattened against the ground and did not stir again.

All that had taken place in the span of a second.

Then she went to work on the rest of the monsters.

Sensing fresh meat, the wyverns that had previously contented themselves with chewing on Liev put a hold on their current meal and charged towards the enraged Dragon Slayer. Yael was a whirlwind of fiery wrath. Her eyes were unfocused and her lips were curled into a feral snarl. Her movements were unnaturally quick and precise. At that moment she seemed no longer human; instead a fiery god, her whole body, from the tips of her toes to her salmon hair almost ablaze as she smote the monsters assailing her.

It was magnificent to behold, and it left Liev and his partner utterly breathless; fixated on the scene of carnage before them. As Liev watched, he understood the gap between him and the young Dragon Slayer. He understood that her power was an ageless thing, a magic born from a time where beings such as the Wyvern and the Dragon were commonplace. He would strive, and train, but he could never match her, could never be her equal. Her sheer potential appeared bottomless.

The realisation seemed to take his remaining strength from him and his head fell to the cold floor with a dull thump. He felt himself almost shiver at the thought of monstrous powerhouses like Yael existing in the world. He doubted even Ein Malizer could beat her as she was now. He craned his head a fraction so that he might be able to continue observing the one-sided slaughter of the wyverns, watching Yael dance, envy and admiration burning equally bright in his chest.

A sudden grip on his lapels snapped his attention from the display. He twisted his head to see what was up and caught a glimpse of a hooded figure waving a hand over his head.

"Deep Sleep," the figure muttered softly and Liev felt a build-up of magical power in the figure's hand before fatigue overwhelmed him.

-X-

Liev felt consciousness return gradually to him. With it came pain that seemed to flood his whole body but that just meant he was still breathing and that – if nothing else – all his limbs were still attached. It was pitch black, but he heard voices which were becoming more and more clear, which meant he was either blindfolded or locked in a very dark room. He couldn't feel anything on his face, so the room thing was probably more likely.

"It doesn't matter! The fact remains that the light guilds know about us! We need to act before it's too late!"

The first voice was high-pitched and nasally. Liev imagined that whoever it belonged to was spectacularly unpleasant to look at.

"What? They know and only sent four mages? Surely you're not naïve enough to think that the Council wouldn't crack down on us themselves if they knew."

The next was deep and throaty. Probably a big guy, Liev though to himself.

"It could simply be a scouting party! Plus you saw the mark on the one we took! Fairy Tail! And I'm all but certain the Fire-Dragon Slayer out there too! Tell him Null you saw it all happen."

The next voice was unmistakably female, with a playful tinge that grated on Liev's nerves for some reason.

"All I saw was a blaze that our little subjects were all too eager to roast themselves in," the female replied, "It could simply have been flame construct magic, we've seen it before. Dealt with it too."

"Bullcrap! I know construct magic and from the raw, uncontrollable power outside it would have to be an amateur mage with a exceptional power reserves to give a similar effect and if there was such a mage we'd know. No my friends; Fairy Tail's Dragon Hatchling is here. The daughter of the Salamander himself! The–"

"We're all familiar with the reputation of the more… destructive Fairy Tail mages and their titles,' the woman interrupted, the playful tinge gone, replaced by soft irritation.

Liev heard footsteps echo from outside the room he was locked into, and then a new voice joined the conversation. This one however Liev was all too familiar with.

"What's all the bellyaching about?" the newcomer had a rough, sandpapery tone that made the question sound like a demand. For a moment, Liev was wondering simply whether or not he was hearing things but that voice sounded suspiciously like–

"Kharver! What are you doing here? I thought the master had hired you to–"

A sudden, fleshy smack, followed by a gasp of pain told Liev that the speaker had been rudely interrupted. That, coupled with the name left no doubt that Night Reaper's own Kurtis Kharver was indeed here. What exactly he and his abductors had in common he didn't know, but he felt he was about to find out.

"The butler's high-tailed it," Kharver responded gruffly, "or gone into hiding. Seeing how we're not likely to find him anytime soon – and even if we did, the fact that a light guild's found its way to our doorstep has rendered it all moot – your Master has paid me a not insignificant amount to watch over the operation and make sure no one screws it up, be it a light guild…" he trailed off, the threat all too clear.

Ah. Money. I should have known. But what's this operation they're on about?

"What's with the blood trail? Someone get themselves bitten by one of those monsters?" Kharver asked.

"We managed to capture one of the Fairies battling up above us. He was in a pretty sorry state. Probably would have done better if he'd used magic instead of that sword."

It was the woman, Null, who spoke up in reply.

"I didn't think mages used weapons," Kharver sniffed, then silence reigned for a moment and Liev could almost feel Kharver stiffen.

"That one did. Big blade it was too. Almost curious enough to check if the boy's compensating for something," Null replied, the amusement all too plain to hear. Liev felt himself redden, which only made his wounds hurt more. For some reason the pain didn't seem to be dying down, and felt just as bad as it did before he'd passed out.

No. Put to sleep.

Clearly there was something at play here. The fearful references to light guilds and the Council made Liev think that there was a group of dark guild mages here, and that they had something to do with the wyvern infestation. Liev also guessed from what Kharver had said that he was here, originally, to kill the butler. Why? Did the butler know about this operation? What about the owner of the castle? Unless…

His train of thought was broken by a sudden bellow and a cry of agony.

"You fools! You absolute Gods-damned fools!" Kharver roared.

"You idiots took a prisoner and didn't think to conceal the tracks?! Dragon Slayers have a sense of smell like bloodhounds you morons! You could have led them right to…" he trailed off as new, faint voices reached Liev's ears. His heart soared as he realised that he recognised them.

"Fantastic bleeding work," Kharver growled, "you: weasel-face, I want you to teleport everything of import out of here. I'll take the Fairy."

"Why do you care so much? You're only hired hel–" the nasally voiced mage was cut off with a gurgle.

"I'm getting paid to make sure you incompetent baboons do your jobs. The better you do, the more I make. I start making less? I start taking compensation from you." Kharver sounded just as brutal as Liev remembered him. He heard a thud as Kharver dropped the speaker to the ground and heard heavy footsteps tread closer to Liev's position.

Suddenly a door was thrown open and Liev was bathed in dusky light. Kharver towered over him, pausing for a moment as he took in Liev's appearance. He recognised him, without a doubt.

"Well, well… aren't you a sorry sight," he sounded almost amused. Liev bared his teeth in a gesture of defiance.

Kharver cut an intimidating figure. He was almost seven feet tall, heavily built, with tinted goggles and a khaki-camouflage rag that concealed his face from view. He wore bright beige cargo trousers, heavy combat boots and was bare-chested beneath a leather jacket that displayed a plethora of scars he'd earned on various jobs. Two brutal, spiked steel gauntlets that ran from knuckle to elbow adorned his hands. Neither had been washed for years, and dried blood was firmly ingrained upon each of Kharver's favourite weapons.

"You know, the Third's really got it out for you. If I brought your pretty little backside to him on a platter I wonder if he'd give me a reward…" Kharver continued as if he'd not noticed Liev's little act but drove a steel-toed boot into Liev's gut anyway, doubling him over.

"Hell with it, worth a shot. At the very least he'll give me less of a hard time," Kharver had been one of the Second's favourites, which meant he was pretty high-up on Ein Malizer's list of people he wanted dead. Most of the favourites he'd killed himself in the Reaper Cages. Only those who pledged their absolute, unswerving loyalty or deemed far too useful for Ein to bump off remained untouched. Liev had remained alive only because Ein believed he could shape Liev into a tool as he grew older.

Too bad for him Liev had jumped ship on his first and last mission for Night Reaper.

"Liev! We're coming! Hold on!" It was Yael! Liev felt a grin spread across his face as Kharver flinched. Without wasting another moment the huge assassin reached for Liev and snatched him up, throwing the teen across his shoulder before dashing out of the room Liev had been imprisoned in.

They appeared to be underground because everything was lit by candles and lacrima and there were no windows at all. It looked like a cellar, if a cellar could also look like a vast underground maze with doors and corridors around almost every corner. Liev assumed Kharver and the mages he had been arguing with either had a map or spent a long time navigating through the depths. Liev was far from comfortable on Kharver's shoulder and his movements inflamed Liev's injuries even more, so much that he was almost convinced Kharver was doing it on purpose.

"Fire Bullet!"

A roaring ball of flame blazed past Liev's head, singing a few stray hairs. If he had the strength he'd tell Rana to try aiming, as it was he simply mumbled a few incoherent words.

"What?" said Kharver. When Liev didn't answer Kharver bumped the teen up and down on his shoulder, making him even more uncomfortable. He dodged through another long, dingy corridor until eventually he reached what appeared to be a dead end. Yael – who was carrying Abhainn in both hands – plus Alicia and Rana appeared behind them a moment later. Liev noticed that all of them save Yael were in a pretty sorry state; one of Rana's arms was coated in blood and bites and hung uselessly at her side. Alicia's armour was horrifically rent in over a dozen places and her right gauntlet was nowhere to be seen, exposing almost unhealthily pale skin to the dull light.

"Give us our friend back!" Yael roared, planting Abhainn into the stone and settling into a low offensive stance. Alicia summoned a scimitar that shone like starlight and measured it threateningly at Kharver. Rana raised her good hand and five small blazing projectiles winked into existence at the tips of each of her fingers.

Kharver observed the dead end for a moment before sighing heavily. He cast a sidelong look at Liev.

"Looks like he's going to have to be happy with just your head kid," with that, he threw Liev viciously onto the ground and raised a spiked gauntlet to finish the ex-assassin in one blow.

"Fire Dragon's Wing Slash!"

"Fire Dragon's wha–?" Kharver looked up in surprise as Yael blurred into existence in front of him, the ethereal fire adorning her arms stretching outwards before she lashed out, blasting the large assassin through a wall. Daylight streamed through the hole and through it, Liev could see that there was a small plateau of land outside that ended with a sheer drop. The ocean could be seen beyond the drop, stretching far towards the horizon.

Yael stood guard, glaring at the hole as if daring Kharver to reappear. As she did so, Rana hobbled over to Liev's prone form, kneeling before him. She took a shocked breath as she took in his battered appearance.

"You… do not look good," she told him.

"Yeah, I thought so," Liev wheezed in reply.

"I mean… really this is… Alicia!" she called and mere seconds later Alicia stood next to her.

"What's that sword you've got for situations like these?" Rana asked her teammate.

"Dance of Blades: Soul!"

The scimitar in her hands shimmied out of existence, replaced instead by what looked like a curved gladius. Alicia performed several looping movements with the blade and conjured up what appeared to be a giant bubble which enveloped both Rana and Liev. Once this was done the membrane of the bubble began to glow a soothing lime and almost immediately Liev could feel his strength begin to return. His wounds though did not seem to be disappearing, and if the expression on Rana's face was any indication, that was probably a bad thing.

After a few seconds the bubble vanished with an audible pop. The weapon Alicia had used to summon the healing bubble also shattered and vanished in a dazzling display of light.

"Is that… supposed to happen?" Liev asked as he pushed himself upright, grimacing as the wyvern bites began to smart.

"No," answered Alicia, her face unreadable, "the healing effect is meant to last ten times longer than that, and while it wouldn't completely erase them, it would certainly have made both your wounds much less severe."

"Think there's something in them? Venom of some kind?" asked Rana, glancing at her bloody arm as she flexed the limb. She winced as soon as she pulled the action off and let it hang at her side again, frowning.

"If it is it's no ordinary poison. It's far from healing magic but it should remove most normal impurities,"

"Great, then we're still walking wounded," Liev said with a frown as he picked himself up. The bites on his shoulder and ankle felt like Yael was working an inferno on them but he grit his teeth and tried his best to shut the sensation out. He took a few cautious steps forward before finding his stride and stopping to a halt in front of Abhainn.

"Hey partner," Liev said, gazing softly at the blade embedded in the stone floor.

"I thought you'd died…" Abhainn whispered, "I was watching Yael but then I saw your body dragged off out of the corner of my vision and–"

"So you were lying when you said you could see all around you then," Liev interrupted her bluntly.

"Wha–? What?! You… you stupid, witless boy! I was worried sick about you and you – the nerve, the sheer nerve!"

"Okay, okay. Sorry… I missed you too," with that he took hold of her grip and placed her back in the sheath upon his back.

"All right," Liev said as he turned to the three Fairy Tail mages who were peering cautiously through the hole Yael had made through Kharver, "I dunno about you guys but I'd really like some payback."

"And some answers," Alicia added.

"Those would be good, but honestly, I'd like nothing more than to sit back in a nice, hot bath and sleep all this off," Alicia shot a stern glance at Rana, who suddenly found the floor very interesting.

"I'd like nothing more than to take all your heads," muttered a gruff voice from beneath a pile of rubble outside. Yael snarled and launched herself at the rubble. As she was a metre away from slamming her flaming fist into the mass of stone and rock, a gauntlet punched through the pile and only her extraordinary reflexes saved her impaling her throat on one of the spines on Kharver's gauntlet.

Kharver picked himself up out of the rubble, shaking and patting off loose pieces of debris and dust. When he was done he glanced at Yael, who had entered a half-crouch which more resembled a feline than a dragon. Kharver cracked his neck and stretched his limbs out, giving them a shake before settling his gaze back on Yael.

"That kind of hurt little girl," he said.

Yael attacked.

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" She roared, concentrating her magic power into a devastating right hook that would surely have KO'd even the strongest of foes.

"Oh no you don't. Not this time!" Kharver said with a shake of his head as he raised one of his gauntlets to defend himself. Yael's flame-wreathed fist collided with Kharver's gauntlet with all the force of a raging storm and, incredibly, Kharver held his ground. Yael pushed off the gauntlet and did a neat little backflip, landing on her feet. Kharver's iron gauntlet had not so much as a blemish.

"I actually felt that," Kharver said, shaking the hand that had taken the punch, "that's some pretty scary strength you've got little girl, but I…" he trailed off; a second later he tilted his head as if listening for something.

"Oh don't tell me…" he groaned, turning towards the edge of the drop and peering over. Curious, the four adolescents made their way to the edge; though took care to stay a reasonable distance from Kharver in case it was a trick.

Down below them lay a peaceful little cove, and upon that cove stood several dozen men and women in dark garb. They appeared to be manhandling large cages which, on closer inspection, each contained what looked like a wyvern. A flag was pitched in the centre of the makeshift camp; it was pitch black and bore the symbol of a red gargoyle.

Red Gargoyle…

Liev's eyes widened as he remembered the name, and from the look on Alicia and Rana's faces they'd made the same connection: the Dark Guild, Red Gargoyle, which had annihilated three Light Guilds over the course of a single month.

"You realise of course now that you've seen all that, I'm going to have to kill all of you," Kharver said as he ran a hand over his face, sounding more tired than Liev had ever heard.

"I thought he was going to do that anyway," Abhainn said with a snort.

"He can damn well try," Liev replied and, in a heartbeat, had drawn Abhainn and swung her in a vicious arc, aiming to take Kharver's head from his shoulders in one swift motion.

Kharver stepped back, Abhainn passing harmlessly in front of him. Alicia summoned a Bastard sword that looked like it had been cut from crystal and performed an intricate series of arcing movements that appeared to put Kharver on the back foot before he caught the blade on the spike of one of his gauntlets and lashed out with a devastating kick that actually cracked Alicia's already abused breastplate.

Rana launched a barrage of fire magic that would have resulted in the complete conflagration of a small rainforest but Kharver took every attack on his gauntlets and the magic seemed to dissipate out of existence. It was almost like Abhainn's rather unique ability to cut through and dispel magic she touched.

"Fire Dragon's Crushing Fang!"

Yael came blasting into striking range of Kharver, the tips of one hand ablaze. She slashed at Kharver, who ducked the attack, but found himself momentarily distracted by the wave of flame the attack left in its wake. Yael's mouth curled in a feral grin as she noticed the opening.

"Fire Dragon's Flame Elbow!"

A column of fire exploded from Yael's left elbow, in the space of a nanosecond she powered her fist into Kharver's unguarded solar plexus. The sheer weight behind the attack blew Kharver off the cliff, and he landed in the ocean some good distance away.

"Damn…" Liev marvelled aloud as Yael turned away from where her opponent had previously stood, a wide smile on her face.

"That was fun… bit too short though, wish it could've lasted longer," she said, scratching the back of her head.

"I wish I could go through one encounter with Night Reaper without suffering severe blood loss but we can't all get what we want," Liev said with a deadpan expression.

"He was from your old Guild?" Rana asked inquisitively. Yael looked to Liev for answers and even Alicia seemed a little interested.

"Well… yeah, his name's Kurtis Kharver. Second liked him a lot 'cause he was one of the only guys who actually planned ahead whenever he took a job. Pretty damned good fighter too."

"Didn't seem much like it to me," Rana said with a sidelong glance at the spot in the ocean where the assassin had fallen.

"In fairness I don't think he really did many jobs in which his targets fought back. Even more to the point I don't think he was expecting Yael's magic to be so strong. He seemed almost like he was just mucking around when we started fighting him," and that would be like Kharver, Liev reasoned silently to himself.

"Regardless, the assassin's dealt with," Alicia spoke up, "now we need to do something about the Dark Guild down below. From the looks of it they have something to do with these monsters infesting the castle."

"They're Wyverns," Liev told her. The entire group looked at him in surprise.

"Abhainn recognised them. Says they're wyverns. No idea how they survived or what a Dark Guild's got to do with them but she says that's what they are."

"Right…" Alicia said, uncertainty clouding her tone and Liev noticed that her eyebrow raised a fraction; she still hadn't quite bought into the whole 'talking sword' deal just yet. She shook her head and crouched down on one knee, motioning for the rest of us to come closer as she drew up a strategy.

"Okay, so anyway, we need a plan. Hopefully we still have the element of surprise–"

A chunk of building above us exploded as a shadow bullet impacted against it, raining stone and loose chunks of cliff side around them.

"I thought so," muttered Abhainn as a troupe of individuals in dark robes, each bearing the Red Gargoyle of their Guild, appeared over the edge of the cliff and the four Fairies found themselves embattled once more.

-X-

I wanted to type so much more up for this but doing that would have probably made this a chore to read in one sitting, so with that I'll love you and leave you. Happy New Year. C&C is still appreciated.