What's up everyone? I'm sort of back from my long break with a collaboration piece. I haven't had a lot of time during school but me and my friend came up with this over Thanksgiving break. We hope you like it!

Disclaimer: We do not own Fairy Tail.

Hunters of the Apocalypse

By: TheGlassKatana & FenrirSinclair

Chapter 1 – Welcome to Fairy Tail

"You know, Magnolia is way bigger than I thought it would be," a masculine voice sounded out in quiet bewilderment, his companion following slowly with a refined gait.

"Why are we here again?" The unemotional voice of the second man echoed off of the walls of the empty train station.

The first man whirled around, his long wild black hair almost whipping him in the face, and gave his friend an exasperated look. "I've told you like ten times already that we're here to take a look at this 'Fairy Tail' place. That one guy that kicked our asses told us to come here if we ever wanted something to do and since we've been traveling aimlessly for who knows how long, I decided that at least checking it out wouldn't hurt."

"I still think it's much too hot here," the second man replied. He possessed dark blue hair that peeked out from beneath a black hood. The first man watched as his complaining companion opened the front of his cloak to release some excess body heat.

"If you don't like the idea then go fight that guy again. What was his name? Dartboard? Fishgil? I can't remember, but whoever he was, he totally destroyed us even when we worked together. That's why we're going to this place. If mages that strong live here then I definitely want to check it out. Who knows, you might even find some other Dragon Slayer to beat on," the black haired man joked.

The blue haired man didn't respond but would appear to have accepted the explanation as he gestured for his friend to continue.

The two unassuming men proceeded to wander around Magnolia in no specific pattern and anyone who watched them could see that both men carried themselves with an air of supreme confidence that spoke of a hidden strength. The darker haired one possessed a very happy looking demeanor but if one were to watch him closely they would see that whenever he thought no one could see, his face would fall into an unreadable mask and his eyes would become dull. His blue haired companion wore a stoic face at all times and always spoke in a soft but commanding monotone that seemed to carry everywhere.

After about an hour of pointless wandering the blue haired man finally spoke, "Do you even know where you're going?"

"No." The raven-haired man deadpanned back.

The cloaked man could only let out a sigh at his lazy traveling companion. "Were you going to ask someone?"

"Wasn't really planning on it."

"If you don't ask someone… I'm going to kill you."

The black haired man sweatdropped at his friend's words. "Fine, fine, I'll ask," he said. Only to realize that there was nobody on the street they were on. "Oi, where did everyone go? How am I supposed to ask now?"

Feeling the killing intent behind him spike dramatically, the black haired man let out a little 'eep' before sprinting away, yelling at the top of his lungs "Where is Fairy Tail!" and hoping someone would let him know before his violent friend caught up to him.

-HoTA-

Mirajane, Fairy Tail's cover girl, S-class mage, and the barmaid at the Guild Hall sighed in contentment. Today had been extremely good so far. Natsu was out searching for Igneel so the hall was relatively quiet and there hadn't been a fight since he left. Erza was also out on a mission so no one had to walk on eggshells and could actually relax without being yelled at. But what topped off her spectacular day was that she had finally finished all of the chores and could just relax behind the bar.

She wasn't the only one who was taking advantage of the calm atmosphere either, Guild members were sitting everywhere speaking calmly and preserving this rare moment of peace for as long as possible. Gray, the Ice mage who just so happened to have a chronic stripping problem, was lounging at one of the tables in the corner. Levy, the genius Rune mage was quietly reading a book at the bar, a look of intense concentration on her face. Hell, even Cana was only sipping her giant tankard of alcohol instead of chugging it like usual.

Mira reached under the bar and pulled out a glass. Setting it down, she was just about to pour herself some water when the glass cracked, the sharp vein of imperfection spider-webbing its way from top to bottom. "Oh dear, that can't be good."

It was then that a high pitched scream sounded from outside, drawing everyone's attention to the doors of the Guild Hall. Mira could have sworn that the scream sounded like a man yelling "I found it" but couldn't be sure as the voice abruptly cut off, a loud crackling noise taking its place.

Everyone in the guild was now staring at the door, curious what exactly was going on outside. When no noise followed, everyone slowly started returning to their previous activities, only to stop when the doors slammed open as a blur landed on the floor in a crumpled heap.

The heap slowly stood up, revealing itself to be a man standing a little over six feet tall. The man brushed some dirt off of his chest and finally looked around. Noticing the stares he gave a halfhearted wave and an embarrassed grin that exposed his sharp canines.

"Yo."

Mira finally got a good look at the stranger. He looked to be around her own age, with long black hair that fell haphazardly to his shoulders. His lightly tanned face was home to bright blue eyes. For a second Mira thought that those eyes gazed around the room with the awareness of a veteran warrior, picking out all exits and possible threats expertly, but when she blinked that gaze was gone, replaced with the wide curious eyes of an inexperienced tourist.

He was dressed in a black vest which left his arms and shoulders bare, with a pale blue stripe running down the right side of his chest. On his forearms were black bracers, each with their own pale blue stripe running vertically down them. He wore very loose fitting black pants that were tied off just below the knee with pale blue ribbon. Wooden geta knocked against the floor as he shuffled in place awkwardly as everyone was looking at him. But the most obvious thing that Mira noticed about him were the two samurai swords strapped to his left hip, one with a black wrapping and a white stripe while the other was its exact opposite sporting a white wrapping and a black stripe. There was absolutely no magical power coming off of him which either meant he was really good at suppressing it or wasn't a mage at all.

The moment Mira finished getting a good look at him he immediately dropped back to the floor in a deep crouch as a large spike of black ice flew over his head and imbedded itself in a nearby wall. Following the trail of the spike, Mira noticed another man leaning on the doorway, the black cloak obscuring most of him from view.

The first man quickly rose and leveled a glare at the second man, "Oi, what the hell was that for? I found the place, didn't I?"

The second man pushed himself off the doorway and turned, pulling down his hood as he smirked lightly at the first man, "Yes, but you took too long. Wouldn't want you thinking you can get away with wasting an hour of my time," He said as the first man threw his arms up in frustration, muttering to himself about abusive behaviors.

With his hood off, Mira was finally able to get a good look at the second man; He was obviously shorter than the first man, but only by a matter of a few inches. He had messy blue hair that just reached past his eyes, which were a pale golden color. He was wearing a light blue button-up shirt and dark Gray pants underneath his black cloak- the cloak itself was reminiscent of the cloak she would imagine the grim reaper to wear. Though he wore no obvious weapons, a strong magical aura surrounded him.

"Is there something I can help you with?" Mira's voice floated over the stunned crowd of Fairy Tail guild members and drew the two stranger's attention.

"Ah, yes there is actually," the swordsman spoke. "We'd like to speak to someone about maybe joining up here if that's okay."

"Oh, well in that case I guess you would like to see the Master. Just let me go see if I can find him," and with that Mira quickly vanished up to the upper level of the Guild, leaving the two men with a hall full of curious eyes staring at them.

The cloaked stranger turned a cold and calculating gaze on the crowd, "Are any of you Dragon Slayers?"

His swordsman counterpart just sighed in defeat.

Before anyone could answer him, a short man with an overly large white mustache and white hair dropped down from the second floor and landed in front of them.

"I take it you two are the ones who wish to enter my flock of children then?" The short man asked, a curious eye overlooking the two where they stood.

"Then you are Makarov-san, of the Ten Wizard Saints? Leader of Fairy Tail?" asked the swordsman, getting a nod from Makarov, he bowed and continued, "Yes, my companion and I wish to join Fairy Tail. My name is Gale Alldire, and this is my compa-"

Before he could finish, the cloaked man interrupted him, "You're the famous Makarov? I thought that you would be...taller." Gale, who had been looking at the cloaked man with a raised eyebrow after he interrupted him promptly facepalmed.

A dead silence filled the guild hall as most of the members gave Makarov a fearful look, expecting him to explode at the cloaked man. Contrary to their expectations, Makarov let out a long, booming laugh as a grin split his face, "I haven't had anyone say that to me in a long time, brat. You have some guts. What is your name?" Makarov asked, his grin intact the whole time.

The cloaked man shrugged, "I was serious, you know.. But my name is Janus Timesgate. A pleasure to meet someone as strong as you, Makarov-sama."

Makarov nodded at him, then resumed examining the pair, "I must say, I was hoping you two would be a pair of beautiful women with large knockers," Janus face-faulted at this, "But I will say you two don't look too shabby. Perhaps we have a test to see if you two are Fairy Tail material?"

"Alright, what's the test?" asked Gale, fingering the pommel of one of his swords.

"Well, how about a B-class mission? We can have one of the other members go along and see if you'll fit in here."

"I was thinking we could have an A-class, B just sounds boring," Janus countered.

"Really, well if that's the case we'll just have to send someone stronger with you two won't we?" said Makarov before he shouted out to the upper level of the hall. "Laxus, get down here! I have some newbies I want you to take for a test run."

"Hell no! I don't want to be some babysitter for some weak pests who can't even wipe their asses without help!" an angry male voice yelled back from the balcony.

Gale smiled at the harsh language, "I like this guy already," he said causing everyone to give him a funny look.

Janus also smiled before he yelled up the stairs, "What's wrong? Can't even handle a simple A-class mission?"

The cloaked mage was barely done with his sentence before a yellow flash erupted behind him, followed by the crack of thunder as the air was displaced at extremely high speeds. When the light died down and everyone could see clearly, what they saw shocked them to their cores.

Standing there with his fist outstretched was Laxus, but what blew everyone's minds was that Janus was just standing there with his head tilted to the side, Laxus' fist stationary where his head used to be.

'Just how fast is he?' Laxus wondered, surprised but not too shocked that someone dodged his fist. After all, he wasn't even trying in that last punch, anyone A-class or over should have been able to dodge it pretty easily.

However, that didn't stop the rest of the guild members from dropping their jaws and wondering just what level these new mages were on if they could compete with Laxus.

"Hey now, let's just get this test over with and then you won't have to associate with us lowly weaklings anymore, yeah?" said Gale, trying to reason with Laxus before a fight broke out. After all, Gale was probably the only one in the room who knew just how much would get wrecked if Janus started fighting.

"Laxus, is this how you really treat potential members? I'm ashamed of you," said Makarov to his grandson.

"Tch, shut up old man. This guy wanted a fight so I'm going to give him one." Laxus responded before pulling a fist back for another strike and charging it with lightning.

There were only two people who saw Gale move but one second he was standing to the side of the quarreling pair and the next he was behind Laxus, holding his arm back.

"How about we actually do this mission and we can get friendly afterwards alright?" asked Gale in a friendly voice but anyone with half a brain could tell that there was an unknown sort of threat in his tone.

And for the first time Makarov could actually sense magic come off of the swordsman and even though it was only a little bit, it confirmed him as an actual mage rather than a wandering swordsman.

"Fine," said Laxus, letting the power seep out of his fist. He broke free from Gale's surprisingly strong grip and stomped over to the request board. Giving it a brief look, he ripped off a mission request from towards the top of the board before making his way out of the guild.

"I guess that's our cue huh," said Gale.

"Way to state the obvious airhead," spoke Janus, already halfway to the door.

"Oi, wait up!" yelled Gale before sprinting after the two and leaving the guild hall staring dumbly at the retreating trio.

"Well that was interesting," stated Mirajane who had been silently watching the interactions ever since coming down from Makarov's office.

-HoTA-

As they approached the outskirts of Magnolia town, Gale spoke up, "So what mission did you take for us, anyway?"

Laxus gave an evil grin as he responded, "A group of Vulcans showed up around the town recently, and most of them are believed to be people from Magnolia who were forcibly over-taken by the beasts. The mission is to knock all of these Vulcans unconscious to save the people. No killing. I hope you are ready, 'cause this kinda mission calls for way more than just two A-class mages."

Gale only shrugged, "I don't believe in killing things anyway. There are almost always far better ways to solve a conflict than needless killing." 'Although I'd make a few exceptions...' the blue-eyed swordsman thought to himself as images of his past flashed under his closed eyelids and the smile fell from his face.

Oblivious of the slight change in demeanor behind him, Laxus frowned at that as they moved deeper and deeper into the forest, "Needless killing? You sound like the old man. 'Laxus, power isn't strength' 'Laxus, treat your guild mates better' 'Laxus, go take a shower' I can't do a damn thing without the old man preaching to me!"

Realizing he was ranting, Laxus abruptly cut off while looking almost embarrassed. The group continued to walk deeper into the forest in silence, looking for any signs of Vulcan activity.

"You don't speak much, do you?" Asked Laxus suddenly, looking at Janus.

Janus only smirked, "I make a point to not speak too loud-mouthed idiots."

"Yeah, he never speaks to me... Wait, what? I am not a loud-mouthed idiot!" Exclaimed Gale loudly, making Laxus look at him in irritation.

"Yes you are." Said Janus coldly, looking at Gale with disdain.

"Hey... idiots.." Said Laxus, looking all around them warily

"No I'm not!" Yelled Gale, glaring at Janus.

"Yes, you are." Said Janus again, a bit of a smirk gracing his features.

"Seriously you goddamn idiots, listen to me!" Shouted Laxus, looking at the numerous figures that now lined the trees branches around them.

"NO, I'M NOT!" Screamed Gale, dashing forward in a flash and grabbing Janus's collar.

"Yes, you-"

"SHUT THE HELL UP AND LOOK AROUND US, YOU DUMBASSES!" Roared Laxus, snapping the two out of their argument.

Gale dropped Janus quickly as the two turned back-to-back to eye the area around them warily. Numerous white-haired Gorilla-like monster lined the area, completely encircling them in the small clearing they were standing in.

"What do you know, my plan to get their attention by having Gale yell loudly actually worked." Stated Janus smugly, making Laxus and Gale twitch in irritation.

"I totally knew they were there the whole time," Gale mumbled to Janus behind him.

"Sure you did, because you're soo amazing at sensory magic," Janus humored Gale.

Laxus looked around into the surrounding trees and noticed how many enemies there were. 'Damn, there must be over 60 of them. My mission is only to supervise these two but this is pushing the limit on what two new members should be able to do. I guess I could jump in if things get out of hand but if what happened back at the Guild Hall was anything to go by, these two are hiding most of what they are capable of, I think it's time to see just how much.'

"Okay you two, my mission is just to watch and make sure you don't die. Good luck," said Laxus before he vanished in a flash of light, leaving the two mystery mages back-to-back as even more Vulcans began appearing in the trees around them.

"What do you think?" asked Gale, "half and half?"

"If you think you can get that many before I do," mocked Janus.

"You're on," said Gale, who settled into a fighting stance placing his hands on his swords.

"Ready…" said Janus, pulling a large black tome from within his cloak and flicking it open expertly. His magical aura expanding outwards rapidly as he subconsciously gathered large amounts eternano from the air and converted it into extra magical energy in preparation for the oncoming fight.

Gale's normally happy go lucky grin turned feral as a steady wind started wrapping around his form, kicking up some stray leaves.

"Go!" They both shouted simultaneously.

-HoTA-

After Laxus left the two to fend for themselves he took refuge in a tree not very far from them just in case he needed to teleport in and save their worthless selves. Quickly making a thought projection he sent it to watch the fight from the shadows.

Closing his eyes, he focused on learning everything his projection learned.

-HoTA-

"Go!"

Gale disappeared in a burst of speed, the sharp squeal of swords being drawn echoing from where he was just standing.

Janus smirked at the display of agility before looking down at his spell book and picking one. His magical energy spiked even further causing the nearby stones and loose debris to levitate slightly off the ground. His hood fell off in the magical whirlwind, exposing glowing golden eyes and allowing his hair to whip around freely.

Raising a single hand towards the Vulcan forces that had started to charge at him, he incanted his spell. "Bind and contain, enchain and restrain—chains of ice with frozen will; suffocate my opponent with unbreakable steel!" Magical seals appeared on the ground across the entire battlefield, their blue and black glows swirling around each other in ebbing back and forth tides of color. Clenching his outstretched hand tightly, uncountable amounts of black chains made of ice exploded from the seals and wrapped around Vulcans everywhere, pulling them to the ground. The Vulcans struggled only for seconds as even more chains erupted from the ground and began to strangle them, sending every ensnared enemy into blissful unconsciousness.

Janus cut off the power to his spell when he saw that there were no more enemies to restrain. The black ice stayed tangible but was no longer moving to his will. He turned around to see Gale clicking his blades back into their sheaths as the last Vulcan he was facing fell to the ground bonelessly.

"You're slow," said Janus, gesturing behind him to all of his restrained Vulcans.

"Are you kidding me? It was a tie! Besides, I had to use the flats of my blades instead of running through all of them," cried Gale.

"You're still slow," insisted Janus, although a slight smirk had somehow wormed its way onto his face.

"And you're still insufferable," mumbled Gale while shaking his head and grinning.

-HoTA-

Laxus shook the bewilderment from his face as his thought projection finished watching the fight. These two…

While taking out around sixty Vulcans was not really a problem for someone on his level he was still rather impressed that these two had done it within thirty seconds and only one spell between them.

They both were easily A-class mages from what he had seen of them, although he definitely thought they were still hiding a lot of their skills. Not to mention that they worked extremely well together, which told him that they had been fighting together for a long time.

Maybe these two weren't as useless as he thought. They were still useless… just, less so...

He was still beating one of their asses when they got back into town though.

-HoTA-

They walked back into the guild hall, having finished taking the un-transformed Vulcans home, and all of the present members swivelled in their chairs to look at the arriving group.

Laxus immediately broke off and headed for the stairs intent on ignoring everyone.

Makarov, who had been sitting at the bar and talking to Mirajane, raised an eyebrow, "Well, that was faster than expected. How'd it go, Laxus?"

Laxus paused and just shrugged, "They did alright I guess. Took down about sixty Vulcans by themselves. I'd say to let them join old man." He continued walking while ignoring the outbreak of chatter that erupted after he declared the number of Vulcans. As his foot reached the first step, he tilted his body so that he could face Janus and Gale, leveling a glare at them, "I know you two are more powerful than you seem. Tomorrow, after you get settled in here… I want to fight one of you." That said, he resumed his walk up the stairs, disappearing from view.

"I think that's the nicest I've seen Laxus treat anyone in a very long time," Mirajane said from beside the Master who just nodded in thought. "Should I get the stamp Master? I know we don't usually let members in who are as old as them but I can't help but think that they somehow belong here."

"Really? Why do you say that Mira-chan?" Makarov asked the pretty bartender while he watched the two mysterious men sit down at a table.

"I- I'm not really sure myself Master, but all I know is that here at Fairy Tail we are all damaged in some way. And when I look at those two, even though they do a very good job of hiding it or playing it off, I can just tell that they need our help. We're a family here, and if there's one thing that I know can help them like it helped a lot of us; it's family."

Makarov could only stare at his second-in-command with his mouth open at the deep words she had just spoken. "Mira-chan, you really are grown up aren't you... and I don't just mean those huge funbags either, fufufufu." The perverted guild master spoke, breaking the spell of melancholy that Mira had created.

"You're the worst Master. So... should I get the stamp?" The busty barmaid asked while shaking her head at her leader's perverse personality.

"Yes, yes. You go get the stamp while I go and lay down the ground rules with our two newest members," he said waving Mira off.

The short statured old man stood up on his stool at the bar and jumped all the way to the table that the two soon to be new members of Fairy Tail were sitting at. The feisty old man smirked at how the two didn't even flinch at his arrival, Gale merely adopting a raised eyebrow and Janus simply gave a blink of acknowledgment.

"Alright, listen up Janus and Gale, if you are going to be members of Fairy Tail you will have to understand a few things. Once you become a member, Fairy Tail will be your family, understand?"

Even though their facial expressions didn't really change Makarov could tell that both were extremely uncomfortable with the thought of family. He wasn't one of the strongest mages in the world for nothing. It would be one hundred more years before the two young whippersnappers before him could even attempt to hide something from his perception. Of course, the wise old man didn't say anything or do anything to show that he knew how they felt. That would just be rude. Instead he took their silence as confirmation and continued to lay down the Fairy Tail guild rules.

"We do not kill in Fairy Tail."

This time there was a noticeable movement in both of the young men. Gale's eyes darkened but he still nodded to confirm that he understood and Janus's eye gave a telling twitch but he also nodded.

The member of the Ten Wizard Saints mentally filed his observations away for later.

"And thirdly…" Makarov emphasized it slowly causing the two mages to lean in towards him, "DO WHAT YOU THINK IS RIGHT. BECAUSE THAT'S—"

"THE WAY OF FAIRY TAIL MAGES!" everyone else in the room yelled out, finishing the Fairy Tail motto.

"I hope you find yourselves fitting in here, if you ever need anything I'm always here or ask Mirajane, but for now I need to go find some sexy young women," he said with a lecherous wink before bouncing away.

Right as Master Makarov left Mirajane came back holding a large stamp. Smiling brightly at them she politely asked where they wanted their stamps and in what color.

Pointing at the right side of his neck, Gale stepped forward, "Here and in a pale blue if you could please."

"Sure," said Mira before pressing the stamp to his neck. A slight glow shone from underneath the stamping tool and when the busty barmaid pulled it away the symbol of Fairy Tail colored a perfect pale blue was revealed. She turned towards Janus and raised the stamp questioningly.

"Here," the quiet and cloaked mage said, raising his right palm forward. The same hand that gestured when controlling his chains, "and in dark gray if you would be so kind."

Mira smiled and pressed the stamp to his hand, repeating the process from earlier. When pulled away another perfect replica of the Fairy Tail symbol in a dark gray color rested on his palm.

"DRINKS ON THE NEW GUYS!" Shouted Cana, mercilessly grinning as she grabbed yet another keg of beer from behind the bar area.

Noticing this, Mira's face quickly darkened and her eyes shined with a demonic light, "Cana! What have I told you about taking alcohol directly from the bar! Put that back right now and pay for your own booze! You drink so much we can't support it anymore!"

Cana frowned sadly as everyone laughed, "But the new guys will pay for it, right new guys?" She pleaded looking at Gale and Janus with puppy dog eyes.

Janus's cold gaze swept over to her, "No."

Cana jumped back and cried at the utter denial, causing everyone else to mutter "So cold.."

Mira smiled as she took the keg back from Cana, "Can I get you two anything to drink?" she asked politely, gesturing to Gale and Janus.

"Got any good beer?" Asked Gale, a grin forming as Mira nodded.

"Do you have green tea?" Asked Janus, a small smile forming on his face when Mira nodded yet again.

Suddenly a crying man with very tan skin and white hair smacked Janus on the back, causing him to stumble. His glare died when he noticed the man was crying and had the Fairy Tail symbol on the left side of his neck.

"That was sooo manly! You handled Cana like a true man's man!" the crying man exclaimed, drawing a confused look from Janus.

"Who are you?" Janus asked in bewilderment, getting most of the guild to laugh.

"I'm Elfman, Mira-nee's brother! Nice to meet you, man!" Elfman exclaimed again, between sobs.

"A pleasure to meet you Elfman-san," Said Janus, allowing Elfman to shake his hand, only to wince as it was crushed in the overzealous man's hand.

While they were speaking, Gale walked closer to the bar as Mira handed him a drink with a smile. Just as he wrapped his hand around it, someone else came up next to him, "Big on your alcohol, new guy?" Asked Cana coyly, smirking as he noticed her.

"It's Gale, not new guy," Said Gale, with a twitch of his left eye, "Though I will admit that I do enjoy my alcohol. Though I try not to drink around Janus much. He really doesn't like alcohol for some reason he won't tell me."

Cana frowned and looked at Janus as he was jostled around by Elfman, causing more than a few people to laugh, "Huh, he's a weird one then. At least you can appreciate a good drink now and then, huh?" She said, giving him a wink as she grabbed his glass of beer and disappeared into the crowd.

"She stole your beer." Janus stated, having squeezed himself out of Elfman's grip and run toward the bar.

"Don't worry man, she does that to the best of us." Stated a young shirtless black-haired man, as Gale started slamming his head on the bar counter, making him stop, "Cana's reign of terror over our alcohol is absolute. I'm Gray Fullbuster, by the way."

"Ice-magic user. Uses two-handed ice-make magic to create weapons out of ice to defeat his opponent. B-rank mage." Stated Janus, as though he were reading from a book.

Gray and Gale sweatdropped at this, "Janus, remember; We don't talk about people as though they aren't here" Stated Gale, making Gray give the two a weird look.

"You two sound and seem kinda crazy, just so you know. I mean, you have Laxus all interested in you and-"

"You just took your pants off." Interrupted Janus, making Gray look down and yell in surprise.

"Damnit! HAS ANYONE SEEN MY PANTS!" He shouted to the rest of the guild, who all said no as if this was a common occurrence, "Sorry guys, I gotta go find my pants before I strip anything else off!" And with that, Gray sprinted off into the mass of people as well, barreling into Elfman.

Elfman promptly yelled and shoved back, but by then Gray was gone and Elfman instead shoved over a table full of people, causing everyone to start brawling.

Gale looked on in shock as a dust cloud covered the hall, illuminated by random flashes of magic or dispersed by the random person or object that came flying out. Through all of this Mira simply watched with a smile as she served Janus his tea, making this large brawl seem as though it happened every day.

"I will make sure to add chronic stripper to Gray-san's list of information." Muttered Janus, as he sipped on his tea while taking a seat on a barstool.

"Do you have information on a lot of people?" Mira asked politely, wondering exactly why a wandering mage would possess a profile on Gray Fullbuster of all people.

"I make it a habit to try and have a basic knowledge of every single known mage that is currently alive and in a fighting condition. I took a special interest in the mages of Fairy Tail after I battled and lost against one a few years ago." Janus finished his explanation and took a long sip of tea, and sighing in delight as the warm liquid cascaded down his throat.

"Really! You've met someone from Fairy Ta-"

"Does this happen a lot?" interrupted Gale before Mira could finish, pointing to the cloud of violence that was seemingly unnoticed by half of the people in the building who were still going about their business as usual.

"Oh yes, almost every day. You get used to it after a while," said Mira while she poured out another mug of beer and handed it to Gale.

"Interestingly enough, I could get used to this," Gale said as he leaned back against the bar and smiled at the friendly chaos happening in front of him.

"What's going on here!" a strong feminine voice rang out above the din. Immediately the entire hall stilled, Gray and Elfman were paused in mid punch, and Cana was frozen an inch from pouring more alcohol down her throat. Hell, even the fly on the wall had frozen in fear of the mage that was currently standing in the doorway, the afternoon sun causing her silhouette to be the only part of her visible.

Not sure what to think of the sudden change in the atmosphere, Gale took a loud sip from his beer and was promptly slapped in the back of the head by Janus.

"Ow, what the hell was that for?"

"For drinking in my presence."

"Seriously? How come Cana can drink without getting hit?" Gale asked loudly, not realizing that every eye was on him for speaking out of turn when a particular person was currently standing in the doorway.

Not noticing when the silhouette stepped further in the room to reveal herself as Erza Scarlet, Titania of Fairy Tail, and strongest female member of the guild, Gale continued to complain loudly about getting hit for drinking a little bit. The strong willed redhead zoned in on the two strangers who were sitting at the bar and ignoring her.

Forgetting about punishing all of the guild members who had previously drawn her ire, she made a beeline to the man who was now drinking deeply while watching the cloaked man next to him out of the corner of his eye. She stood in front of him with her hands on her hips waiting for him to notice her.

It took Gale a few more seconds to finish his drink and place the empty mug on the bar behind him. Once he turned around he finally took notice of the very beautiful redhead in front of him. Looking behind her to see what was going on he also noticed that nobody had moved since they had frozen but now they were all looking at him. Or rather, he deduced, her. After all, who wouldn't stare at her, she was gorgeous.

"Who are you?" she asked, interrupting his inspection of her.

"I'm Gale, who are you?"

"You don't know who I am?"

"No." said Gale flatly.

Erza turned to Janus who was still quietly sipping his tea and ignoring the world, "Who are you?"

"I'm Janus Timesgate," he said before going back to his tea.

"Are you new members?"

"Well given the fact that you've only just met us for the first time and we both have Fairy Tail stamps, I would think that it was obvious," sniped Gale, jerking his head and exposing his neck to allow his guild mark to be seen. He was getting a tad irritated with the girl in front of him even if he did think she was hot. He ignored Janus's warning glance at him as a sliver of his magical energy seeped out as his control slipped. "But there is still the question of who the hell are you?"

Erza looked only slightly abashed before replying, "I'm Erza Scarlet, the strongest female member of Fairy Tail."

"Well then, nice to finally meet you Erza-san. I'd hate to cut our meeting short but I think that I'm going to go find somewhere to sleep for a while, that earlier mission was enough excitement for the day and it's been almost a week since I had any shuteye." Gale said while yawning. He didn't really want to ditch the girl right after meeting her but he was tired.

"Earlier mission?" Erza asked, her curiosity peaked. "You took a mission on your first day?"

"Well yeah, the Master wanted to test us before we entered so we went on an A-class mission with Laxus-san. Isn't that right Janus?" The reserved tea drinker just nodded.

"What?! You went on an A-class mission just as a test to join? And with Laxus too? What was Master thinking?"

"I don't know, why don't you go ask him?" said Gale, pointing over to where Makarov was trying and failing to get Levy to show him her panties.

"I think I'll do just that," said Erza before moving over to where Makarov was without so much as a goodbye.

"Excuse me Master Makarov?" Erza spoke to get the Master's attention from off of an uncomfortable Levy.

"Ah, Erza-chan. How was your mission?"

"It went fine. I wanted to ask about the two new members at the bar."

"Ah yes, Gale-san and Janus-san. They seem to be fitting in well already don't they."

"They're super strong too!" said Levy, blushing when Makarov and Erza's attention shifted to her. "Well they are, aren't they? They impressed Laxus-san enough for him to say that they can join the guild. And they took out sixty Vulcans on their very first mission! And now one of them is going to fight Laxus-san tomorrow. There's even a rumor that they are secretly part of the Ten Wizard Saints and were sent here to stop Fairy Tail from blowing stuff up." Levy finished breathlessly, her face flushed.

"When did that rumor start?" asked Makarov, a little worried about the speed with which rumors were sprouting up about his new children.

"Oh, uh…" Levy looked embarrassed, "that's just what I think the rumor should be right now."

"Well, regardless of any future rumors. I think that our newest additions will prove to be very beneficial to the guild in the coming years and that they haven't even begun to show us what they can really do if their suppressed magical reserves are anything to go by," said Makarov contemplatively.

"I only sense a slight magical presence coming off of the man named Janus and it is not very big," said Erza. "The other one doesn't even feel magical. I doubt he could even touch me in battle."

The old master began chuckling as he glanced over at the new boys, who were both watching the exchange with interest in their eyes. "Oh Erza-chan, do you really doubt me on this? I have been around mages for longer than everyone in this room has been alive. I can sense that both of those boys hold magical power equal to or even greater than that of Laxus. I bet that we haven't even seen the beginning of what they are capable of."

"If you knew they were that strong to begin with why would you let them join the guild? They might have less than noble intentions towards us," asked Erza. "These two are already old enough to have developed their own beliefs on how magic is supposed to work and the ethics involved in accepting missions. They might even be willing to kill people..." explained Erza, trying to get the Master to understand her concern.

"That is the reason that I gave them a test mission with Laxus in the first place, my child. Laxus didn't take them out in order to observe their skill levels. He took them out to see what kind of morals they hold, and whatever Laxus saw in them was good enough for them to pass. Besides, I see that both of those boys have had a rough past, however much they both try to hide it," explained Makarov, putting Erza's concerns to rest.

"Okay Master, I'll trust in your judgment, but that doesn't mean that they won't have to pass my tests too."

"For now, that's all I ask Erza-chan"

Levy looked back and forth between the two, feeling a little awkward at hearing such a deep conversation between Makarov and Erza about the two newest mages. Feeling the need to disrupt the serious atmosphere she decided to ask Erza a question, "Are you going to watch one of them fight Laxus-san tomorrow, Erza-san?"

"Yes, I suppose I should be there in case I need to stop Laxus from killing one of them," said Erza in her usual serious way.

"I'm so excited! I hope that Janus-san gets to fight tomorrow. I want to see what his magic looks like. I guess you probably want to see how Gale-san uses those swords of his though, huh?"

"Gale-san has swords?" asked Erza a slight edge of excitement now present in her voice.

"Yeah, didn't you see the two katana leaning against the bar behind him?"

"No I didn't, but now I want to see just how good this new guy is with his swords," said Erza, who was looking at Gale with a renewed interest and ignoring the snickering from Levy and Makarov at her innocent use of word choice.

-HoTA-

A couple hours later the crazy induction party was finally winding down.

"I suppose I should actually go find somewhere to sleep now. Are you going to be alright if I head out Janus?" Gale asked his traveling partner.

"Yes, I'll be fine. I have yet to determine the particular herb that was used to flavor this tea."

"Alright then, I'll see you tomorrow then. I'm going to go find a tree." Gale said, laughing a bit at his friend's tea addiction before he stumbled out the door, leaving Janus at the counter.

Janus silently watched everyone slowly leave, patiently sipping his tea down. Mira had long since left the counter to start cleaning up the rest of the hall by herself, leaving him alone at the bar.

"Oi, Mira-nee! I'm heading out, see you at home!" Called out Elfman as he stepped out the door, leaving Janus alone with Makarov and Mira.

"Sorry to make you clean all of this mess up by yourself, Mira-chan, but I need to go finish up my reports to the council before tomorrow. Janus-san, I look forward to seeing how you and the rest of my children get along tomorrow; Goodnight." Said Makarov, walking out of the hall and presumably heading towards his office.

"It's no problem Master, I'll have this all cleaned up before I go home, don't worry!" Mira shouted back.

As Mira resumed working by herself, Janus couldn't help but notice exactly how much destruction had been caused and how much work she had to do, "Mira-san," He called quietly, getting her attention, "Would you like some help cleaning that up?"

Mira looked surprised at the question, making Janus wonder if anyone had ever offered to help her out before, "Oh. Thank you Janus-san! That would be a great help! Do you think you could grab the broom over in the corner and sweep up the table fragments over there?"

Janus nodded, silently grabbing the broom and beginning to sweep up as asked. The two worked swiftly but quietly, not speaking or talking much, yet an unspoken agreement seemed to have come between the two as they efficiently cleaned the whole room in an hour.

Mira smiled as they glanced at the now perfect room, "Thank you Janus-san, this normally takes me a lot longer to clean up. Is there any way I can pay you back?" She said sweetly, smiling at Janus.

Janus nodded, "Make me another cup of tea. Please."

"I can do that, easy!" Mira smiled again and walked back to the bar, Janus following her and sat back down in the barstool he was sitting on earlier. Janus silently watched her as she took out a teapot and started mixing a variety of herbs and spices, along with sugar.

"Do you mind if I ask what made you want to join Fairy Tail?" Asked Mira, glancing back at him as she started adding water to the teapot.

"About three years ago, just after I met Gale, I got into a really bad fight. Gale and I were both left nearly lifeless and probably would have died if we hadn't been saved by a man who happened to see us fight," Janus started to explain, Mira looking at him as she waited for the tea to boil, "That man saved the life of both Gale and I, and then taught us a lesson on strength and how to use it." He seemingly finished, looking upwards at the ceiling.

"But why did that make you want to join Fairy Tail?" Asked Mira, her previous question seemingly unanswered.

Janus smiled at her, "Oh, sorry. Got caught up in the memory. The man that saved us.. His name was Gildarts Clive. He told us that if we ever need to look for a reason to use our strength we should join Fairy Tail and that it would give us a good reason."

Mira's eyes grew wide in shock at his explanation, "You mean you've met Gildarts? He's probably the strongest person in our guild aside from master. Three years ago he left on his 100 year mission- You must have met him just a little bit after he left. How lucky."

The teapot started to whistle at this point, making Mira quickly pour the water out and into the cup she had prepared earlier. She handed Janus the steaming teacup silently, though she did stare into his eyes, making him blush a little at the prolonged eye contact. Janus quickly closed his eyes as he sipped on his tea opening them to see Mira leaning on the bar to his right, staring out at the empty guild hall.

"Fairy Tail really is a great place," Mira said nostalgically, her eyes seemingly spaced out as she stared forward.

"Do you mind if I ask you a question in return, Mira-san?" Asked Janus, sipping down his tea as he turned to look at the empty guild hall.

"A question for a question, fair enough," Said Mira cheerfully, nodding.

"I can clearly sense your magical power, even though it feels locked away. Why is it exactly that you are the bartender here when clearly you are so much more capable?" Asked Janus, his ability to sense magic clearly revealing Mira to be an S-class mage to him.

Mira immediately frowned and looked downwards, her eyes watering a little, "Two years ago there was an incident in which my little sister was taken from us. I haven't been able to use my powers since then."

"Oh, I'm sorry! You didn't have to answer, I didn't mean to make you cry!" Exclaimed Janus quickly, obviously uncomfortable with the idea of Mira crying in front of him.

Mira started to giggle at his panicked expression, making her watery eyes dry, "You seem like a good person Janus, I'm happy you joined Fairy Tail." She said brightly, making Janus blush slightly at her happy expression.

Janus stifled a yawn that slipped out, causing Mira to look at him questioningly, "Where did you plan on sleeping tonight, Janus-kun?"

To tired to notice the change in suffix, Janus merely shrugged, "I actually just thought I'd sleep here, "He said, gesturing to the empty guild hall, "It's not like Gale and I have a place of residence yet, though I doubt Gale would want one anyway. He's too restless." He said carelessly, making Mira laugh.

"The incident that took away my sister has always left a room in the Strauss household empty. I've kept it clean in case Lisanna ever came back somehow… But, if you would like, you could spend the night there? I'd hate to make such a fine gentleman sleep on the floor," Said Mira while sticking her tongue out at him, making him blush yet again.

"I wouldn't want to be a burden.. I'd hate to trouble you like that. That room must clearly mean something special to you," Evasively stated Janus as he waved his arms about nervously, making Mira smile.

"It's no trouble at all," Mira stated in a way that meant her word would be absolute on the matter.

"Ah-h.. O-okay then." Stuttered out Janus nervously, wondering why his weakness had to be something so terrible.

"We'll go after you finish your tea," Mira stated finally, as Janus nodded in compliance.

-HoTA-

As Janus walked into the Strauss household, he couldn't help but notice how clean it was, or how loud Elfman's snoring was. Mira smiled at him as he took his shoes off, "I'll show you to your room, Janus-kun."

Janus nodded sleepily, following Mira down the hallway that the snoring was coming from, he lazily walked into the doorway she was pointing towards. Entering the room, he was quickly surprised at how colorful it was, and how many stuffed animals were on the bed.

Mira seemed to notice his surprise, "Sorry about all the stuffed animals and pink, Lisanna loved them. Anyway, rest up. I'll wake you up early in the morning since I'm always the first one to get to the guild in the morning, aside from master."

"Thank you again, it looks much nicer than a wooden floor," Janus said, trying to make a joke.

Mira giggled, "It better look nicer than the floor. Goodnight!" She closed the door behind her, leaving him to dive into the mass of stuffed animals.

"Goodnight," Janus murmured back, blackness quickly overcoming his vision.

-HoTA-

Mirajane and Janus arrived at an empty Guild Hall the next morning where Janus took up residence at the his previous spot at the bar and ordered a simple breakfast and some tea, all of which Mira was happy to make for her new houseguest.

As she was making his breakfast the Guild Hall began to fill rapidly with the tired faces of Guild members who began taking seats and ordering breakfast for themselves. Soon enough a plate was pushed in front of the blue haired mage.

"Thank you Mira-san. I'm impressed by the sheer amount of work you do for everyone here. Though I will admit I'm surprised by the amount of early risers. I had assumed after brawling so much last night, mostly everyone would sleep in," said Janus, tilting his head to look at the large amount of drowsy members filling the hall. The sight of Gray in his pajama pants made him snicker a little.

"Ah, well this many people this early is rather unusual. I wonder why everyone's here." Mira addressed the last part to no one in particular.

"That would be because Laxus and the new guys never said what time their fight would be. So instead of sleeping in and risking the chance of missing it, everyone woke up early just in case they had it right away this morning," said Cana from her usual place down the bar.

"Oh, well that explains it then," said Mira who then went back to getting everyone's breakfast orders finished.

"So Janus-san, who is going to fight Laxus-san today?" Levy asked, walking up to the bar and taking a seat next to the cloaked mage.

"I am also curious as to who will be fighting today," said Erza, her mask of stoic indifference present as usual.

Janus took a short glance behind him and realized that almost everyone was waiting for his answer, even Laxus was looking down from the second floor balcony. Not realizing that his voice had slipped into a monotone and sounded as if he was reciting from a book Janus began to speak.

"I do not wish to fight today. Helping Mira-san out last night was enough excitement for a while. I believe the honor of testing Laxus's strength will fall on Gale," Janus managed to finish before going back to his tea and trying to ignore the mass amounts of attention. He didn't notice the gleam that had entered Erza's eyes when he told them that Gale would fight, nor the look of disappointment that flashed across Levy's.

"Okay, looks like we'll just have to wait for Gale to get here then," said Elfman. The only one who saw Janus's sardonic grin was Mira who sent him a questioning look.

"Don't hold your breath," he mumbled back in answer.

A few hours passed and many members of the Guild were happy that they were allowed to wake up fully before the fight happened. And now that everyone was wide awake, they all were waiting for Gale to show up so that he could fight.

Only he hadn't shown up yet… and it was noon.

This was grating on a few peoples nerves, two in particular. Laxus since he wanted to fight someone and prove to everyone he was still the strongest. And Erza, who was literally looking at the door every thirty seconds expecting to see Gale walk through.

"Is something wrong Erza?" Levy asked, noticing the red headed warrior's agitation.

"Yes, being this late to a scheduled meeting is extremely irresponsible. It is not becoming of a mage to be late. If this was a mission, being late could determine whether or not it is a success or failure."

"Are you sure there's no other reason you're so impatient today?" Levy continued to question Titania.

Erza turned and gave Levy a level look, "Not that I can think of, should there be?"

"U-uh, no. No it's fine. Just forget I asked in the first place." Levy stuttered out at Erza's intimidating demeanor.

Levy quickly looked around for another person to talk to and was only able to spot Janus who was sitting beside her with his eyes closed.

"Uhm, Janus-san, do you mind if I ask you about your magic?" Levy asked shyly drawing irritated looks from Droy and Jet, who were sitting at their normal table.

Janus glanced at her with a curious look, before shrugging, "I suppose I can share some facts about my magic" He said, making Mira smile and lean in.

Janus reached into his cloak and pulled out a large black tome, making almost everyone wonder where he kept it, "I, like Gray-san, use ice-magic to create various objects. Unlike Gray-san, who projects an image in his head and then creates it by shaping magic in his hands, I shape my ice with words and magic."

"Words?" Asked Levy, a scholarly gleam shining in her eyes.

"I invoke an aria from my tome here," Janus gestured to the large black book in front of him, "And as I invoke it, my magic gives it it's shape."

"So, you form elemental-type magic by using words instead of shaping it specifically? My solid-script magic actually follows the same type of guidelines, though in a much less complicated manner- I only use single words to form my spells, not entire verses," Levy said softly, sounding rather disappointed in herself.

"Don't think bad of yourself for it- Think of it this way; Even though your spells use single words, that single word can attack or defend, I have to say an entire verse in order to attack or defend. While less powerful, your magic is a lot faster and more versatile than mine," Said Janus, making Levy smile and nod in self-confidence, which made most of the guild aside from Laxus smile as well.

Erza couldn't help but twitch as Janus sipped tea and talked with Levy and Mirajane as though he had been here for a lot longer, especially when they were still waiting for Gale to show up. Having had enough as everyone laughed again, she got infuriated and couldn't take it anymore, "I'm going to go and look for Gale-san! He should be here by now!" Erza exclaimed, drawing a nod from Laxus and making everyone else in the guild hall to jump.

Erza was out the door in a flash.

-HoTA-

Erza looked everywhere she could, every nook and cranny of Magnolia was overturned in a matter of a few minutes with how quickly she moved. After half an hour of frantic magical sensing and searching she gave up on finding the reclusive swordsman. She figured that if he didn't want to be found he wasn't going to be found. It was with a simmering level of impatience that was on the cusp of turning into one of her famous angry rampages that she resigned herself to going back to the Guild and waiting until Gale got there. 'Who knows, maybe he arrived there while I was looking for him.' She thought, trying to stall her anger until a point where it was actually justifiable.

She made her way back, not even acknowledging the people that were scurrying out of her way as an invisible aura of impatience surrounded her. When she finally reached the outside of the Guild building a huge sigh escaped her lips as she willed her impatience with Gale away. She didn't even know why she was so upset either, Gale was a nobody. There was no plausible reason for her to be angry with someone that she barely even knew, but no matter how much she tried to shake the feeling, there was just something about Gale that seemed familiar. She couldn't say what it was no matter how she looked at it, but she felt like Gale understood her a little more than others.

It took her a few more moments of thinking before she realized that she had been staring at the Guild building doors while standing in place. Smiling quantly at her absent mindedness she looked up into the sky and shook her head. She was just admiring the beautiful foliage of the extremely large tree that stood proudly outside the Guild when something caught her eye.

Focusing in on said something that was out of place on one of the higher tree branches she noticed a leg, long black hair, and what could only be the sheaths of two swords all dangling into the air. 'No way! He was there this whole time? Right above all of us!' Just the mere fact that Gale had been sleeping just outside of the Guild this entire time, while she had searched and searched, brought back all of her previous frustrations at the dilatory swordsman.

Requiping into her Heaven's Wheel Armor she quickly but quietly flew up to the high branch and found the Mr. Alldire in all his lazy glory, gently snoring while precariously splayed out across the large bough.

Erza could almost feel the physical need to play some sort of prank on him for being such a lazy asshole and making everyone wait on him. So fully feeling he deserved what was about to come Erza gathered air into her lungs and yelled.

"AMBUSH!"

Gale, with speed born from a large shot of adrenaline, immediately woke and reflexively tried to roll over into a crouch and draw a sword all at the same time, the only problem... was that there was no ground to stand on. Erza watched in complete satisfaction, her anger still smoldering under the surface, as Gale's eyes widened comically before gravity kicked in. Sending the slacker screaming like a little girl at a humans terminal velocity towards the hard ground below.

The scarlet haired warrior was only partly surprised when Gales downwards momentum began to slow without him visibly doing anything. One second he was falling spectacularly and the next he was gently gliding towards the earth with his arms crossed over his chest and with his lips in a, what could probably be called cute to most, pout.

"Now that wasn't very nice was it Erza-hime?" Gale spoke playfully as his feet touched down with a featherlight grace, providing no evidence that he had just been falling rapidly only seconds before. "So to what do I owe the pleasure of this endearing wake-up call?"

"Actually, I was looking for you so that you could start your spar against Laxus-san. The entire guild has been waiting for you since early this morning." Erza told him in a cold voice as she touched down alongside him and glared stonily.

"This morning? What time is it?" the raven haired man asked cluelessly.

For a moment an image of Natsu flashed up in her vision and her anger began to wane into the more kindred kind of scolding she usually would dish out to her guildmates. But the image was gone just as quickly as it came, and she could feel as her frustration doubled due to her own confusion.

Why was she thinking of Natsu? Did Gale somehow remind her of the young Fire Dragonslayer? Maybe... Gale definitely had that kind of carefree and obnoxious nature that Natsu did. But she was even further confused as she tried to justify their similarities. Sure Gale and Natsu were similar in their brashness but the requip expert couldn't put their personalities into the same category, not with how perceptive Gale seemed to be at times... or with how she felt on an almost subconscious level that Gale could relate to her past much more than Natsu's. 'Where are all these thoughts coming from? Why do I feel the need to be angry at this person? WHY does he affect me like this!' The thought that she was subconsciously pushing away someone she could probably relate to never even occurred to her.

Pushing any stray thoughts aside and forcing herself to focus on the real world situation, she focused her irritation towards the tardy swordsman.

Erza walked up to him, thoughts about his lateness at the front of her mind, and started poking him in the chest as she spoke, "It is already a few hours after lunch! What were you doing all this time! Do you even realize how irresponsible it is to be late to prearranged meetings! In a real world mission it might even lead to the deaths of your comrades! Do you think that your comrades are worth a few extra hours of sleep?" She was just getting started when she felt a hand take a firm grip on the finger that was poking him in the chest with every pointed syllable.

"Are you finished yet Titania?" asked Gale as he held her finger, preventing it from poking him painfully in the chest again. "I don't appreciate being yelled at for no reason other than your impatience with some tardiness." There was a seriousness in his gaze that caught Erza's eye, making her lock gazes with him. Gale held her eyes for a minute before letting the hand go. "You need to lighten up Scarlet-san, I'm not some new member who you can bully into submission... Unlike them..." I'll fight back," he told her with a ringing note of finality.

Erza watched wide-eyed as the man she knew absolutely nothing about, turned back into the smiling, loud mouthed idiot she had seen last night- having a good time and yelling loudly with everyone else in the Guild.

"Being so serious all of the time isn't healthy Erza-san, trust me," he said as a parting quip before turning around and walking through the doors of the Guild Hall.

A few seconds later Erza could hear shocked gasps and what was clearly Gale's voice yelling, "LAXUS, get your ass out here so I can kick it into next week!"

Author's Note

Well that's a wrap up on the first chapter. Hope everyone liked it. Next chapter will have a lot of fighting, and Gale will finally reveal what kind of magic he uses.

Good? Bad? Ugly? Tear-jerking? Side-splitting? Tell us in a review what you thought.

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