Synopsis: "Joining a Guild may be easy, even the one with the Guild Master who boasts about having the strongest guild in the country, but getting to know the occupants can be surprisingly easy or tough. Follow Lorraine as she joins Phantom Lord, advances through the world of Magic and befriends a certain, hard-headed Dragon Slayer."
Geoffrey's Legacy (Fairy Tail AU)
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Geoffrey's Legacy Chapter 1
Hello, everyone, Warmachine375 here! I've adopted "Geoffrey's Legacy" from Guardian of Reality after he informed me he's no longer continuing the story and let me have it with his permission in a PM discussion at Fanfiction. Net.
I will be crossposting this story's Chapters 1-26 with some editing and polishing on them along the way. After that, I will make Chapter 27 and it's where I start on my own.
Synopsis: "Joining a Guild may be easy, even the one with the Guild Master who boasts about having the strongest guild in the country, but getting to know the occupants can be surprisingly easy or tough. Follow Lorraine as she joins Phantom Lord, advances through the world of Magic and befriends a certain, hard-headed Dragon Slayer."
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Fairy Tail - all rights and stuff belong to Hiro Mashima. If I was the one to start Fairy Tail, fan-service wouldn't be so prominent and there would be side-series' focused on Irene's ascension to a Queen, how the Mermaid Heel, Lamia Scale and Phantom Lord guilds came to be, Makarov's rise to Guild Master and how Gildarts joined Fairy Tail and became Guild Ace. I only own self-made characters, magic and storylines (I don't).
Enjoy and don't forget to review.
"History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it." - Winston S. Churchill
On 19th June X779 at Oak Town, Kingdom of Fiore
Lorraine stared up at the Phantom Lord Building; said guild resting in the middle of Oak Town, with her gaze largely being drawn to the wide central tower. For a Legal Guild which had a Master who had arrogantly boasted non-stop about how powerful the guild was, the exterior was rather underwhelming and bland - like a birthday cake with no special dressing.
There was no 'WOW!' or 'That looks amazing!' factor, but Lorraine already knew that she had no appreciation for buildings which resembled castles or fortresses.
The building was surrounded by stone walls topped with railings, which ended on the front in the building's own entrance, flanked some meters away by a pair of flags secured to the walls, and had two smaller, detached buildings at its sides, connected to the central one by suspended stone bridges. The secondary buildings possessed an elongated facade facing the main building and shorter sides, their pitched roofs being composed of tiles, and they sported simple, square windows, appearing as nothing more than holes in the walls, and more elaborated, larger and arched ones.
The main building, built of stone and linked to the two minor buildings by the suspended bridges, had another central and arched bridge adorned by battlements, connecting a pair of pillar-like structures placed in front of it, and seemed to take the form of a massive tower. However, the most distinctive feature was the entrance: acting as both the door to the main building and the only way to get past the walls, consisting of a cylindrical structure topped by a series of small, pitched tiled roofs pointing in several directions, piled up one on the other: right above the cylindrical part were three of such roofs, one pointing frontally like the structure itself, and the other two jutting out respectively to the left and to the right.
Below such roofs, topping the entrance was a large, arched sign reading "PHANTOM LORD" in light characters, possessing light edges and a pair of strange protrusions jutting upwards at its sides. The double wooden door below it, with the square pillars holding the sign up, sported a light, torn banner above it, almost split in two to house two distinct, dark Phantom Lord's symbols.
Flanking the entrance, in front of a series of small windows similar to those found on the secondary buildings, were two lines of dark, massive spear-like ornaments, held in place, just below their heads, by brick supports.
Well, it's now or never, although I wonder if I should've gone to Mermaid Heel, Lamia Scale or Fairy Tail. She thought, walking up to the double wooden doors and pushing them open. The interior was slightly better in appearance, being a large and tall room furnished like a club, possessing several occupied tables paired with benches. The floor was composed of wood, bearing a distinctive square pattern in which every square was composed by four planks, and the ceiling sported a complicate system of massive, horizontal and vertical wooden beams hanging from it on top of the hall, just below the passageway leading to the second floor, which was complete with a small mezzanine.
When the wooden doors swung shut with a loud groan, many mages stopped chatting with each other and turned to her, ready to size her up. Some, however, gave her perverse leers as they scanned her form, with their gazes lingering on her uncovered abdomen and sizeable chest, and Lorraine felt the urge to gouge their eyes out. She adjusted the straps of the rucksack on her back, guessing that the office for the Guild Master must be on the second floor as she flipped the bird to one of them, and walked over to a young man who turned his head to her as she approached.
"Well hello, Beautiful, can I help you with something, or did you come here just to ask me out?" He inquired lazily, his mouth stretching into a cocky smirk as he ran his hand through his two-tone hair.
Lorraine scoffed, returning the smirk. "Thanks for the compliment, but don't flatter yourself, although I will admit that you're not too bad looking yourself. I'm here to join Phantom Lord, so if you kindly lead me to your Guild Master, Jose Porla, that'd be helpful, Totomaru of the Conflagration."
"Of the Conflagration? An extensive fire which destroys a great deal of land or property... Well how about it, it looks like I'm pretty famous in Ishgar." Sounding genuinely surprised, Totomaru rose from his reclining position on a chair made out of multi-coloured fire and began to lead Lorraine towards the dual-stairs which resided past the tables. One of the stairs pointed right, while the other pointed towards left, which seemed pointless because both led to the second floor.
After they'd ascended the left stairs, Lorraine got a good look at the second floor. It was smaller, more elegant room: at its sides were a pair of stone balustrades ending in ornately decorated pillars shaped like goblets; the stone ceiling, sustained by a multitude of square pillars protruding from the walls, bore a pattern consisting of many squares, and from it hanged a massive chandelier.
In the central part of the room, was a carved stone table bearing the guild's symbol on it, on which sat a jar full of flowers and a set to play chess; to the left was a small, decorated sofa.
The room was given access to by an arched, intricately decorated door, and in front of it, on the other edge of the room, was a throne, on which Jose Porla sat.
Behind said throne was a dark banner with Phantom Lord's light symbol on it.
"So, you already know my name from who knows where. Mind giving me your name, or would that be me still flattering myself too much? You know, first-name basis?" Totomaru asked, wiggling his eyebrows as Lorraine turned her head, her green eyes expressing how unimpressed she was as she stared into his own black ones.
She raised an eyebrow, "If that's your current pick-up line, then you really need to get another one. Anyways, thanks for showing me where your Guild Master is, I'll be able to handle myself from here. And call me Xanthine. Seems we're not on the first-name basis yet."
Lorraine tilted her head, gave him a mocking pout, then turned her head back to the front and advanced ahead, leaving Totomaru sputtering indignantly behind her. Jose Porla was watching interestedly as she got closer, his eyes seemingly making her feel small, like prey cornered by its superior predator. Even though he wasn't standing, Jose still managed to emit an aura of superiority, power and command. He only stood once she was five paces away, standing over her with crossed arms and Lorraine was by no means short.
Jose was a tall, slim man with long, straight, dark red hair reaching down to his shoulders and a thin mustache. He has a long and sharp face, vaguely pointed ears, prominent eyelashes and dark-colored lips. He wore a flamboyant coat with a high collar that sported a jagged mantle and jagged lower edges, as well as intricately decorated borders and inners, featuring two prominent wings similar to a bat's, with a witch-like hat bearing Phantom Lord's symbol, complete with an extremely long, bent top hanging down on Jose's left; a plain shirt which sported his medallion of the Ten Wizard Saints around the neck, with two light ribbons falling down from it, loose striped culottes paired with long socks, and a pair of pointed shoes. His left hand's fingers were adorned by a pair of rings, one of which sported a spherical gem.
"I see you've already met Totomaru. What brings you to Phantom Lord, the most prestigious guild in the Kingdom of Fiore? Are you here to join, or were you sent by the Magic Council?" Jose spoke, his voice deep, yet silky and seductively smooth.
Lorraine had to take a deep breath as chills ran down her spine. She'd have no problem with someone with a voice like Jose's reading her a bedtime story. She wondered if feeding his ego would get her on his good side, "I'm here to join Phantom Lord, Master Jose. It's amazing how powerful this guild has become from when it was founded by your ancestor, Geoffrey, back in X686."
"Impressive. Not many people know about Phantom Lord's past and to choose my guild demonstrates to me that you have good taste. Tell me, my dear, what do you have, in terms of your magical skills, to offer for Phantom Lord." Jose questioned, practically purring with restrained excitement. Before Lorraine could even start to answer the question; he yelped, clicked his feet together and adopted the weirdest expression he could muster, acting as if there was some sort of angry animal running around in his pants.
Well that was random. Lorraine sweatdropped, seriously beginning to wonder if she should leave Phantom Lord right now. Apparently, Jose was as dramatic and silly as he was arrogant.
Hoping he wouldn't start carrying out further over-dramatic acting spectacles, she said, "I'm a user of Requip, specifically The Archer branch of the magic, Arrow Magic which is self-explanatory and-"
"Self-explanatory? Bah, you must think I know everything. I've never even heard of Arrow Magic, I didn't even know it existed. I guess you learn something new every day. What's that saying? Life is like a box of chocolate, you never know what you're going to get. A-And now, with you, I've j-just opened a-another part o-of that box." His interruption was rather abrupt, taking Lorraine aback.
Did I break him? I think I broke him. Lorraine nearly recoiled at sight of his trembling lower lip. She really hoped that Jose was just messing around with her. She'd only been talking to him for a few minutes and she already felt as like he was draining away her sanity with his silliness. He was like a six year old in the body of a fully grown man. However funny it may be, it was also incredibly disturbing, and if this was Jose's idea of screwing with her head, then it was definitely working.
She tried to explain, "Oh, well, Arrow Magic is a Holder Magic involving-"
Jose suddenly snickered, cruel amusement in his eyes, "There's no need for you to explain. I know what Arrow Magic is, I was just messing around with you. Besides, you might just end up making someone tell the joke of 'I used to be a Mage once, then I took an arrow to the knee'."
"Hehe, I do apologize, I believe you were going to mention a third form of Magic before I so rudely interrupted.", he commented, gesturing for her to continue speaking.
Was that his idea of a joke? Either his brain was mashed up by a blender and the resulting smoothie was poured into his skull, or somebody dropped him, one too many times, on his head as a child. How does he bounce between complete silliness to being gentlemanly so easily. Maybe he has a terminal illness and is making the most of the rest of his days. Lorraine thought with a deadpan look at the Guild Master of Phantom Lord.
When it became clear that Jose wasn't about to start overacting simply because he could, she continued, "I also use Take Over: Mythic Soul. My current 'Soul' technique being that of a Phoenix."
From what she'd gathered about Jose so far, Lorraine expected some kind of overenthusiastic response from Phantom Lord's Guild Master, something that would blow her away and be along the lines of 'Take Over with a Phoenix? that's absolutely magnificent. Do you tell people to watch themselves or you'll peck them to death with your Fiery Beak of JUSTICE!', but his actual response was much more subdued, mature, and something one would expect from Jose's position of power.
"Mythic Soul, and a Phoenix to boot? How peculiar, I've only ever heard of Satan Soul, Animal Soul and Beast Soul. The latter two aren't anything special, but Satan Soul is a thing of beauty - allowing the user to harness the destructive power of a Demon." For a moment, Jose looked absolutely murderous and psychopathic.
However, the facial expression vanished as quickly as it appeared, prompting Lorraine to dismiss it as a mere trick of the light or a figment of her imagination.
"Okay, well, Mythic Soul allows the caster to absorb mythical creatures, those which used to be told in stories about the famous heroes of the past or stories about themselves, and utilize their abilities in battle. I can only harness the power and form of a Phoenix, an example being the regenerative capabilities, but I might come across more mythical creatures in the future and add them to my Mythic Soul. Such examples being a Sphinx, a Catoblepas, a Basilisk or a Kraken." Lorraine told him, noticing that Jose was repeatedly scanning her up and down.
Regenerative capabilities? Thank the grave of my ancestor that she didn't go to Fairy Tail, because Makarov, curse and damn that eighty-three year old fool's heart, would've snatched her up in an instant and then boasted about it at our next Guild Master Assembly. I have an interesting one here, but there's one thing that's bothering me. Jose was sporting a half-scowl, ceasing his scanning when he noticed that she'd stopped talking, "My dear, how old are you and what is your name? Also, are you really as tall as you appear, or is something wrong with my eyesight?"
Lorraine felt a little insulted. It wasn't her fault that she was taller than the average woman, and what was wrong with being tall?
She huffed, "I assure you, nothing is wrong with your eyesight, although the muscles holding it might be the strongest part of you, depending on how many times you've rolled your eyes at people claiming Phantom Lord isn't the strongest guild in Fiore. Either that, or you strike them down and say that they never saw that coming because they were blinded by the illusion of guild stronger than Phantom Lord."
If Jose was going to joke about, then she'd start too - no matter how cringe they were.
"Anyways, my name is Lorraine Xanthine, I'm nineteen years old - I know that's late for someone starting their magical career, but who cares - and I'm 5'10 feet tall. I guess I ended up with good genes from my mother and..." She trailed off, tightening one of her hands into a fist.
Jose nodded, getting the hint that she despised her father, "So it seems. Do you ever wear jeans and walk up to people, telling them to 'look at my really nice genes'?"
There he goes. I was wondering when he'd go ahead and make another joke. Lorraine thought, exasperatedly running a hand through her strawberry blonde, crop cut hair, as Jose extracted a stamp-like device from his flamboyant clothing.
For the former, it was about time. She didn't expect to still be talking to Jose, thinking she would've gotten her Guild mark already and waltzed downstairs to make friends, although she did note, when passing through the first floor, that women seemed to be absent from the guild.
"Before I get my Guild mark, are there any rules I should know about?" Lorraine inquired.
A wide grin appeared on Jose's face, "Why of course there are rules, does this guild look like a dark guild to you? In all honesty, there aren't many rules. Respecting the Guild Master is an obvious one. Maintain Phantom Lord's status as a powerful guild, the most powerful in Fiore, although that isn't really a rule. A Phantom Lord Mage killing another person isn't forbidden, but they will be excommunicated from this guild if the Magic Council comes knocking here after being able to deduce that they killed the individual. And obviously don't do anything that would get you labelled as a criminal or a Dark Mage. That's it really."
Wow, there aren't many rules, but killing another person isn't forbidden? I can live with that, I'll be hunting the demons of my past sooner or later. Lorraine thought, before focusing on Jose as he lightly shook the small device back and forth, seemingly pretending as if it were a hypnotic pendulum without a string.
Getting the hint of his unspoken question, she pointed at her abdomen and shifted her grey leggings, "I'd like my guild mark just bellow my bellybutton and stamped in white, please."
The Guild Master raised an already raised eyebrow, but said nothing as he pressed the device onto the flesh below her bellybutton, and then pulled away after a few seconds, leaving a white Phantom Lord mark behind.
Lorraine then hitched her leggings back into their original position, leaving her guild mark half-covered, "Thank you for making me an official member of Phantom Lord, Master Jose, I guess I'll sort myself out now."
She turned around, hearing him chuckle as she did so, and ran towards the stairs. Instead of running down either side, she vaulted over the wooden barrier which acted like a partial balcony and nearly landed on top of an unsuspecting Totomaru.
The man tensed and was about to unsheathe the katana at his side, only lowering his hand and relaxing when realized that it was only her. He gave her comically annoyed look, leading her over to an unoccupied table, "Xanthine, do you have a habit of trying to jump on people? I'm not a trampoline or a crash mat."
"Oh really, I must've missed the hint because your face looks like one. Lighten up a little, I'm now a Mage of Phantom Lord." Lorraine commented, gesturing at her half-covered guild mark as she sat down.
Although Totomaru remained standing, his one of his eyebrows twitching at the jab. He gave her a haughty look, "Congratulations, I guess. Since you probably don't have many jewels, seeing as how you've just joined the guild, can I get you anything to eat or drink? Coffee and a sandwich or donut?"
"Aren't you a charmer, trying to get on a first-name basis with me." Lorraine commented, suppressing a smile when she saw a muscle in Totomaru's jaw flex, indicating that he was starting to get irritated.
Resting her right arm on the table and supporting her tilted head with her head, she continued, "No, seriously though, thanks for the offer. I'll have a hot chocolate, and a ham and cheese sandwich, please, if that isn't too much for you to handle."
Totomaru's nostrils flared as she made a 'go on servant' gesture, but he went to get what she asked for, one side of his mouth twitching upwards as he walked away, towards the bar counter. Now that she was alone, Lorraine took a moment to look around the Guild's interior, spotting at least eighty mages, all male, and three who stood out amongst them.
Sat on at the table next to hers were two men. The one sat at the left side of the table was a slim man of average height with a tiny, pointy, mustache and green hair pointing upwards. His right eye was hidden by a monocle, attached to a slim chain; under it, the eye itself seems small and round, in contrast to his other, larger eye. He wore formal attire consisting of a brown suit with a ragged collar bearing six prominent protrusions jutting outwards - three on each side - over a white shirt paired with a red tie and simple shoes. He also donned what appears to be a short cape attached to both of his elbows, linking them.
She couldn't help but notice that the man kept adopted weird poses, changing them every twenty seconds, and mumbling in a language she didn't recognize. He said something to his friend who immediately burst into tears, despite the cloth wrapped around his head - obscuring his eyes - and yelled, "SAD! THAT'S... So... So... Sorrowful! Why so sorrowful?!"
The blonde rolled her eyes. Much to her dismay, Phantom Lord apparently had three drama queens - one of which couldn't control his tear ducts, while the other two seemingly had ADHD or something along those lines.
Mr. 'SAD' Drama Queen was an extremely tall and massive man with tanned skin. He appeared to have no visible hair, and possessed a rectangular, elongated face with prominent cheekbones, which has his rounded chin jut downwards, something that somehow negates the angular look his face would have otherwise. A thin, vertical dark line is present on his chin, crossing its whole length up to his lower lip, and his nose is flat. His eyes were hidden by the plain, white blindfold, and his hand were unnaturally large - almost as large as his own head.
His attire consisted of a large, loose green coat sporting white edges, closed around his neck, sporting a wide and high collar, but left open on the front below it, revealing a red, similarly loose and ruffled pale red shirt, with its high collar, split in three horizontal straps circling his neck, being held closed by an equal amount of buttons, one for each strap. Appearing from below such shirt is a similar robe, yellow in color, almost reaching down to his feet, revealing an extremely loose pair of pants with prominent hems and a pair of simple, dark shoes.
His attire sports a pair of distinctive elements: circling his neck is a large, orange-colored necklace composed of several crosses linked together by small beads, which on the front, right below his neck, bears a small skull, with its eyes obscured by a blindfold not unlike that covering the mages' eyes; passing over his shoulders and hanging on the front is instead a wide stole, purple and white in color, and covered in intricate motifs. A top hat, matching his coat in color, sat on his head.
"Here you go, Xanthine." Totomaru returned just as was about to turn her gaze to the third male, who sat on his own, munching on a piece of iron which had been molded to resembled a thick slice of steak. The former handed her the steaming cup of hot chocolate, and the ham and cheese sandwich - the latter item sitting on a ceramic plate.
Lorraine held onto the cup by the handle and set the plate onto the table - feeling satisfied that she was able to con Totomaru into buying her a meal. She had more than enough jewels to buy a simple meal without needing to worry about attaining more.
"Thanks. By the way, Totomaru, are you in a team, or do you go on jobs by yourself?" Lorraine asked as he sat opposite her.
The black and white haired male nodded, turning his head in the direction of the two men sitting on the table next to them, and said, "I usually solo whichever Jobs I choose, but I'll sometimes go with those two. We're called the Element Three, and are currently waiting for another Mage to join the guild, hopefully possessing Lightning or Water Magic, so we can form the Element Four. We were created on Master Jose's orders. I'm sure he'll fill you in eventually."
"The big, tearful guy is Aria, fellow S-Class Mage, also known as "Aria of the Heavens", and user of Airspace Magic. The lanky guy who can't stop posing is Sol, another S-Class Mage, also known as "Sol of the Earth", speaker of the Language of Love, and user of Earth and Sand Magic. If Sol says to you, Salut, Mademoiselle, don't think that he's insulting you. He's only saying 'Greetings, Miss', and he'll also ask you to address him as Monsieur Sol." Totomaru informed her as she sipped at her hot chocolate.
"I'll keep that in mind, Salt and Pepper." Lorraine took a bite out of her sandwich, tapping her nails against the cup, as Totomaru gulped down half of his tropical juice and rolled his eyes at the nickname, "Really, Salt and Pepper? I'm not even going to ask if that's something I'm going to have to get used to, I already know the answer to that question. Besides, given the colour of my hair, it's actually not too bad. Anyways, what's with the crop cut hair? I mean, I don't have a problem with it, I'm just curious."
The nineteen year old woman wrapped a few strands of her hair around her index finger, after downing her hot chocolate as she explained, "I'm comfortable with it, and it doesn't provide an opportunity when in a fight. With long hair, someone could easily grab it and I'd be in an unfortunate and disadvantaged position if I didn't have something to cut off my hair in that moment. Also, it feels like longer hair takes up more time to wash out and maintain."
Totomaru nodded, finding her points valid. "Makes sense, one should never give their opponent an advantage or opportunity in a fight, no matter how small it is. Anyways, tell me about yourself, Xanthine. What were you up to, before you came to Phantom Lord?", he questioned.
Lorraine scowled, twisting her face into a grimace, "Despite the best efforts of my mother, Cynthia Xanthine, who gave birth to me in X760, my life was a complete sack of shit, up until I fled to Habanera Town in January X773 - after that jackass of a father killed my mother. I wasn't well educated, due to his... own issues, so I had to go to school and be educated on multiple areas. I was able to persuade someone to give me a job when I was thirteen - allowing me to accumulate jewels and live in my own property from fourteen, all the while learning my various forms of Magic."
"I made many friends while living and learning in Habanera Town; some adults, and others being girls my own age. With the forms of magic that I had learned, I also took jobs which would normally be reserved for mages belonging to guilds, and then became a professional hunter in mid-X777 - hunting animals and even dangerous monsters just for the thrill. I left to join a guild, an obvious point since I'm currently standing inside Phantom Lord, a few weeks ago. My other choices had been Mermaid Heel, Fairy Tail, and Lamia Scale." Lorraine told him, earning a snort from Totomaru.
At her inquisitive look, he elaborated, "Hey, there's nothing wrong with Lamia Scale that had Jura Neekis the Iron Rock, or Fairy Tail - except for the fact that Master Jose holds a massive grudge towards the guy running the latter, Makarov Dreyar, who is the Third Master of Fairy Tail. On the other hand, Mermaid Heel is literally an all-female guild full of nobodies. Nobody, not even the Magic Council, knows whether they have a good enough candidate for a Guild Master. To add insult to injury, they don't even have any S-Class Mages, and they don't even have a Guild Ace."
He finished, "In fact, its in such a poor state that it's a wonder how the guild hasn't been dissolved yet. Read newspapers and the Sorcerer Magazine, you'll see what I mean."
After hearing out Totomaru's explanation, Lorraine looked relieved that she'd decided not to join Mermaid Heel.
"Wow, thank goodness I didn't join them. I'd hate to join a Guild, and then have it suddenly collapse because of multiple issues. They really need to up their game." Lorraine took a bite out of her sandwich, noticing how more Mages in the guild were giving her curious looks - also receiving a smirk from the one she'd flipped the bird at.
What was their problem, had they never seen a woman before? Ignoring them, she glanced at the lone male who was still munching on his biscuit-shaped piece of iron.
Totomaru followed her gaze, obscuring a smile, "Oh, I wouldn't try talking to him. He's only fourteen, six years younger than I am, but it's like talking to a wall reinforced with steel."
'Challenge accepted.' Quickly finishing her sandwich and placing the cup on the plate, Lorraine winked at Totomaru, and then walked over to the loner - his thing apparently being the colour black - who didn't even look up to acknowledge her.
Standing over him, Lorraine watched with morbid fascination as he took another bite out of his iron biscuit, chewed it for a few seconds and then swallowed it as casually as one would do with ordinary, edible food.
"Sooooooo, is that normal for you, eating iron? I mean, it doesn't look particularly tasty or kind to the stomach." She commented, but he simply ignored her as he scratched his long, spiky black hair.
However, Lorraine was determined to prove Totomaru wrong and get a response out of the fourteen year old, "Do you always ignore people trying to make conversation with you? Do you even have any friends, although I think that's a stupid question, nobody's sitting with you, so I believe that answers the question for me."
He still chose to ignore her. Lorraine leaned past his left side to get a good look at his face, quickly retreating when one of his eyes flickered aside to meet hers.
From what she could gather from her short observation, the teen had lightly pale skin, no eyebrows, more than a dozen piercings - some in a line where his eyebrows should be - and menacingly red eyes. "What's with the piercings, lack of eyebrows, overgrown black hair, and ripped, black, sleeveless shirt. Living life as a gothic punk, or punk with a side order of goth?"
She noticed that he was munching on his iron biscuit with more intensity than he had been before, loudly grinding the iron in his mouth with his pre-molars and molars - assuming consuming iron hadn't already destroyed those teeth and he didn't just have replacement metallic ones.
Lorraine turned to Totomaru, mouthed, 'looks like I'm making progress', and then turned back to the raven haired teen. "Are you going to give me the silent treatment all day, because I can work with that, I'll just keep talking until I get a reaction. And since you won't give me your name, I'm going to call you... Hedgehog."
'Hedgehog' clenched his fist, but did nothing more, and then Lorraine noticed how quiet the guild had become. Everyone, or nearly everyone, was watching her one-sided interaction with 'Hedgehog' who Lorraine figured must be quite a notorious figure in Phantom Lord, given how a lot of people were watching them.
She daringly poked at his hair a few times, even mustering the arrogance to actually poke at his scalp, "You know what? Instead of 'Hedgehog', I think I'll call you 'Punk the Porcupine with a side order of Goth'."
That was the final straw.
Growling, the teen slammed one fist into the table to express his anger, splintering it, and swung his other arm, intending to introduce his knuckles into the face of the person annoying him. Lorraine quickly moved her head away, but didn't expect the teen to continue moving his arm until his fist was in line with her face, nor did she expect his arm to transform into a iron rod which suddenly extended towards her.
If she'd been any slower in lunging towards the table to avoid the attack, Lorraine had no doubt that her jaw would've been broken, and most of her teeth would've been knocked out. She watched as the rod extended until it harshly bashed an unsuspecting Mage in the face, the flat end of the rod being wide enough to knock out several of his teeth, bust open his upper lip, break his nose, and presumably severely fracture part of his cheekbone.
"For fuck's sake, leave me alone, or I'll make sure to hit you next time!" The teenager snarled, ignoring his victim's cries of pain as the rod shifted back and transformed back into his forearm.
Lorraine sat down next to him, dismissing his threat as an empty one, and opposed his fierce glare with her own unwavering stare, "Jeez, there's no need to be such a violent prick about it. If you didn't want me bothering you, then you should've told me the first time. Now then, since I have your attention, what's your name? Mine's Lorraine Xanthine."
At Totomaru's comically outraged yell of 'Oh, so he can be on a first-name basis with you? I see how it is, Lorraine Xanthine', the teenager crossed his arms and scoffed, "The fuck are you waiting for, you expect me to give you my name?"
"Well yeah, it's common courtesy to give your name in return." Lorraine retorted, starting to feel a little unnerved by the teen's unshakeable red eyes that looked draconic.
The fourteen year old rolled his eyes disinterestedly, crossing his toned arms over his torso, "Yeah, whatever. I'm Gajeel Redfox. Happy, are you gonna get lost now?"
"No, I want to get to know you. Maybe even become friends with you. Tell me something about your past." Lorraine told him.
Annoyed, Gajeel grunted in response, "Fuck off! I ain't telling you shit about me, and I don't need friends. Friends are for pansies."
"Fine, if you don't like the word 'friend', then I'll be your associate. Now, take me on a job. We can talk about ourselves for however long it lasts, although I doubt you'll say much about yourself. After that, I promise I'll leave you alone.", she offered.
Gajeel appeared thoughtful, but the expression quickly dropped off his face and he said, "Whatever, sure. But go back on your promise and I swear, I'll knock your teeth out."
Author's Note: Alright, Chapter 1 of "Geoffrey's Legacy" is done and I hope you like it, guys. By the way, it's a Phantom Lord-centric story. Yes, the same Phantom Lord that tried to take down Fairy Tail during their Guild War in canon. Since this is an AU, things will go quite differently and it's Fanfiction, we can write anything we want than simply follow the Stations of the Canon.
Credits and shout-out to Guardian of Reality, the previous owner of this Fairy Tail AU story.
Enjoy and don't forget to review.
I will be crossposting this story's Chapters 1-26 with some editing and polishing on them along the way. After that, I will make Chapter 27 and it's where I start on my own.
Synopsis: "Joining a Guild may be easy, even the one with the Guild Master who boasts about having the strongest guild in the country, but getting to know the occupants can be surprisingly easy or tough. Follow Lorraine as she joins Phantom Lord, advances through the world of Magic and befriends a certain, hard-headed Dragon Slayer."
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Fairy Tail - all rights and stuff belong to Hiro Mashima. If I was the one to start Fairy Tail, fan-service wouldn't be so prominent and there would be side-series' focused on Irene's ascension to a Queen, how the Mermaid Heel, Lamia Scale and Phantom Lord guilds came to be, Makarov's rise to Guild Master and how Gildarts joined Fairy Tail and became Guild Ace. I only own self-made characters, magic and storylines (I don't).
Enjoy and don't forget to review.
"History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it." - Winston S. Churchill
Chapter 1
On 19th June X779 at Oak Town, Kingdom of Fiore
Lorraine stared up at the Phantom Lord Building; said guild resting in the middle of Oak Town, with her gaze largely being drawn to the wide central tower. For a Legal Guild which had a Master who had arrogantly boasted non-stop about how powerful the guild was, the exterior was rather underwhelming and bland - like a birthday cake with no special dressing.
There was no 'WOW!' or 'That looks amazing!' factor, but Lorraine already knew that she had no appreciation for buildings which resembled castles or fortresses.
The building was surrounded by stone walls topped with railings, which ended on the front in the building's own entrance, flanked some meters away by a pair of flags secured to the walls, and had two smaller, detached buildings at its sides, connected to the central one by suspended stone bridges. The secondary buildings possessed an elongated facade facing the main building and shorter sides, their pitched roofs being composed of tiles, and they sported simple, square windows, appearing as nothing more than holes in the walls, and more elaborated, larger and arched ones.
The main building, built of stone and linked to the two minor buildings by the suspended bridges, had another central and arched bridge adorned by battlements, connecting a pair of pillar-like structures placed in front of it, and seemed to take the form of a massive tower. However, the most distinctive feature was the entrance: acting as both the door to the main building and the only way to get past the walls, consisting of a cylindrical structure topped by a series of small, pitched tiled roofs pointing in several directions, piled up one on the other: right above the cylindrical part were three of such roofs, one pointing frontally like the structure itself, and the other two jutting out respectively to the left and to the right.
Below such roofs, topping the entrance was a large, arched sign reading "PHANTOM LORD" in light characters, possessing light edges and a pair of strange protrusions jutting upwards at its sides. The double wooden door below it, with the square pillars holding the sign up, sported a light, torn banner above it, almost split in two to house two distinct, dark Phantom Lord's symbols.
Flanking the entrance, in front of a series of small windows similar to those found on the secondary buildings, were two lines of dark, massive spear-like ornaments, held in place, just below their heads, by brick supports.
Well, it's now or never, although I wonder if I should've gone to Mermaid Heel, Lamia Scale or Fairy Tail. She thought, walking up to the double wooden doors and pushing them open. The interior was slightly better in appearance, being a large and tall room furnished like a club, possessing several occupied tables paired with benches. The floor was composed of wood, bearing a distinctive square pattern in which every square was composed by four planks, and the ceiling sported a complicate system of massive, horizontal and vertical wooden beams hanging from it on top of the hall, just below the passageway leading to the second floor, which was complete with a small mezzanine.
When the wooden doors swung shut with a loud groan, many mages stopped chatting with each other and turned to her, ready to size her up. Some, however, gave her perverse leers as they scanned her form, with their gazes lingering on her uncovered abdomen and sizeable chest, and Lorraine felt the urge to gouge their eyes out. She adjusted the straps of the rucksack on her back, guessing that the office for the Guild Master must be on the second floor as she flipped the bird to one of them, and walked over to a young man who turned his head to her as she approached.
"Well hello, Beautiful, can I help you with something, or did you come here just to ask me out?" He inquired lazily, his mouth stretching into a cocky smirk as he ran his hand through his two-tone hair.
Lorraine scoffed, returning the smirk. "Thanks for the compliment, but don't flatter yourself, although I will admit that you're not too bad looking yourself. I'm here to join Phantom Lord, so if you kindly lead me to your Guild Master, Jose Porla, that'd be helpful, Totomaru of the Conflagration."
"Of the Conflagration? An extensive fire which destroys a great deal of land or property... Well how about it, it looks like I'm pretty famous in Ishgar." Sounding genuinely surprised, Totomaru rose from his reclining position on a chair made out of multi-coloured fire and began to lead Lorraine towards the dual-stairs which resided past the tables. One of the stairs pointed right, while the other pointed towards left, which seemed pointless because both led to the second floor.
After they'd ascended the left stairs, Lorraine got a good look at the second floor. It was smaller, more elegant room: at its sides were a pair of stone balustrades ending in ornately decorated pillars shaped like goblets; the stone ceiling, sustained by a multitude of square pillars protruding from the walls, bore a pattern consisting of many squares, and from it hanged a massive chandelier.
In the central part of the room, was a carved stone table bearing the guild's symbol on it, on which sat a jar full of flowers and a set to play chess; to the left was a small, decorated sofa.
The room was given access to by an arched, intricately decorated door, and in front of it, on the other edge of the room, was a throne, on which Jose Porla sat.
Behind said throne was a dark banner with Phantom Lord's light symbol on it.
"So, you already know my name from who knows where. Mind giving me your name, or would that be me still flattering myself too much? You know, first-name basis?" Totomaru asked, wiggling his eyebrows as Lorraine turned her head, her green eyes expressing how unimpressed she was as she stared into his own black ones.
She raised an eyebrow, "If that's your current pick-up line, then you really need to get another one. Anyways, thanks for showing me where your Guild Master is, I'll be able to handle myself from here. And call me Xanthine. Seems we're not on the first-name basis yet."
Lorraine tilted her head, gave him a mocking pout, then turned her head back to the front and advanced ahead, leaving Totomaru sputtering indignantly behind her. Jose Porla was watching interestedly as she got closer, his eyes seemingly making her feel small, like prey cornered by its superior predator. Even though he wasn't standing, Jose still managed to emit an aura of superiority, power and command. He only stood once she was five paces away, standing over her with crossed arms and Lorraine was by no means short.
Jose was a tall, slim man with long, straight, dark red hair reaching down to his shoulders and a thin mustache. He has a long and sharp face, vaguely pointed ears, prominent eyelashes and dark-colored lips. He wore a flamboyant coat with a high collar that sported a jagged mantle and jagged lower edges, as well as intricately decorated borders and inners, featuring two prominent wings similar to a bat's, with a witch-like hat bearing Phantom Lord's symbol, complete with an extremely long, bent top hanging down on Jose's left; a plain shirt which sported his medallion of the Ten Wizard Saints around the neck, with two light ribbons falling down from it, loose striped culottes paired with long socks, and a pair of pointed shoes. His left hand's fingers were adorned by a pair of rings, one of which sported a spherical gem.
"I see you've already met Totomaru. What brings you to Phantom Lord, the most prestigious guild in the Kingdom of Fiore? Are you here to join, or were you sent by the Magic Council?" Jose spoke, his voice deep, yet silky and seductively smooth.
Lorraine had to take a deep breath as chills ran down her spine. She'd have no problem with someone with a voice like Jose's reading her a bedtime story. She wondered if feeding his ego would get her on his good side, "I'm here to join Phantom Lord, Master Jose. It's amazing how powerful this guild has become from when it was founded by your ancestor, Geoffrey, back in X686."
"Impressive. Not many people know about Phantom Lord's past and to choose my guild demonstrates to me that you have good taste. Tell me, my dear, what do you have, in terms of your magical skills, to offer for Phantom Lord." Jose questioned, practically purring with restrained excitement. Before Lorraine could even start to answer the question; he yelped, clicked his feet together and adopted the weirdest expression he could muster, acting as if there was some sort of angry animal running around in his pants.
Well that was random. Lorraine sweatdropped, seriously beginning to wonder if she should leave Phantom Lord right now. Apparently, Jose was as dramatic and silly as he was arrogant.
Hoping he wouldn't start carrying out further over-dramatic acting spectacles, she said, "I'm a user of Requip, specifically The Archer branch of the magic, Arrow Magic which is self-explanatory and-"
"Self-explanatory? Bah, you must think I know everything. I've never even heard of Arrow Magic, I didn't even know it existed. I guess you learn something new every day. What's that saying? Life is like a box of chocolate, you never know what you're going to get. A-And now, with you, I've j-just opened a-another part o-of that box." His interruption was rather abrupt, taking Lorraine aback.
Did I break him? I think I broke him. Lorraine nearly recoiled at sight of his trembling lower lip. She really hoped that Jose was just messing around with her. She'd only been talking to him for a few minutes and she already felt as like he was draining away her sanity with his silliness. He was like a six year old in the body of a fully grown man. However funny it may be, it was also incredibly disturbing, and if this was Jose's idea of screwing with her head, then it was definitely working.
She tried to explain, "Oh, well, Arrow Magic is a Holder Magic involving-"
Jose suddenly snickered, cruel amusement in his eyes, "There's no need for you to explain. I know what Arrow Magic is, I was just messing around with you. Besides, you might just end up making someone tell the joke of 'I used to be a Mage once, then I took an arrow to the knee'."
"Hehe, I do apologize, I believe you were going to mention a third form of Magic before I so rudely interrupted.", he commented, gesturing for her to continue speaking.
Was that his idea of a joke? Either his brain was mashed up by a blender and the resulting smoothie was poured into his skull, or somebody dropped him, one too many times, on his head as a child. How does he bounce between complete silliness to being gentlemanly so easily. Maybe he has a terminal illness and is making the most of the rest of his days. Lorraine thought with a deadpan look at the Guild Master of Phantom Lord.
When it became clear that Jose wasn't about to start overacting simply because he could, she continued, "I also use Take Over: Mythic Soul. My current 'Soul' technique being that of a Phoenix."
From what she'd gathered about Jose so far, Lorraine expected some kind of overenthusiastic response from Phantom Lord's Guild Master, something that would blow her away and be along the lines of 'Take Over with a Phoenix? that's absolutely magnificent. Do you tell people to watch themselves or you'll peck them to death with your Fiery Beak of JUSTICE!', but his actual response was much more subdued, mature, and something one would expect from Jose's position of power.
"Mythic Soul, and a Phoenix to boot? How peculiar, I've only ever heard of Satan Soul, Animal Soul and Beast Soul. The latter two aren't anything special, but Satan Soul is a thing of beauty - allowing the user to harness the destructive power of a Demon." For a moment, Jose looked absolutely murderous and psychopathic.
However, the facial expression vanished as quickly as it appeared, prompting Lorraine to dismiss it as a mere trick of the light or a figment of her imagination.
"Okay, well, Mythic Soul allows the caster to absorb mythical creatures, those which used to be told in stories about the famous heroes of the past or stories about themselves, and utilize their abilities in battle. I can only harness the power and form of a Phoenix, an example being the regenerative capabilities, but I might come across more mythical creatures in the future and add them to my Mythic Soul. Such examples being a Sphinx, a Catoblepas, a Basilisk or a Kraken." Lorraine told him, noticing that Jose was repeatedly scanning her up and down.
Regenerative capabilities? Thank the grave of my ancestor that she didn't go to Fairy Tail, because Makarov, curse and damn that eighty-three year old fool's heart, would've snatched her up in an instant and then boasted about it at our next Guild Master Assembly. I have an interesting one here, but there's one thing that's bothering me. Jose was sporting a half-scowl, ceasing his scanning when he noticed that she'd stopped talking, "My dear, how old are you and what is your name? Also, are you really as tall as you appear, or is something wrong with my eyesight?"
Lorraine felt a little insulted. It wasn't her fault that she was taller than the average woman, and what was wrong with being tall?
She huffed, "I assure you, nothing is wrong with your eyesight, although the muscles holding it might be the strongest part of you, depending on how many times you've rolled your eyes at people claiming Phantom Lord isn't the strongest guild in Fiore. Either that, or you strike them down and say that they never saw that coming because they were blinded by the illusion of guild stronger than Phantom Lord."
If Jose was going to joke about, then she'd start too - no matter how cringe they were.
"Anyways, my name is Lorraine Xanthine, I'm nineteen years old - I know that's late for someone starting their magical career, but who cares - and I'm 5'10 feet tall. I guess I ended up with good genes from my mother and..." She trailed off, tightening one of her hands into a fist.
Jose nodded, getting the hint that she despised her father, "So it seems. Do you ever wear jeans and walk up to people, telling them to 'look at my really nice genes'?"
There he goes. I was wondering when he'd go ahead and make another joke. Lorraine thought, exasperatedly running a hand through her strawberry blonde, crop cut hair, as Jose extracted a stamp-like device from his flamboyant clothing.
For the former, it was about time. She didn't expect to still be talking to Jose, thinking she would've gotten her Guild mark already and waltzed downstairs to make friends, although she did note, when passing through the first floor, that women seemed to be absent from the guild.
"Before I get my Guild mark, are there any rules I should know about?" Lorraine inquired.
A wide grin appeared on Jose's face, "Why of course there are rules, does this guild look like a dark guild to you? In all honesty, there aren't many rules. Respecting the Guild Master is an obvious one. Maintain Phantom Lord's status as a powerful guild, the most powerful in Fiore, although that isn't really a rule. A Phantom Lord Mage killing another person isn't forbidden, but they will be excommunicated from this guild if the Magic Council comes knocking here after being able to deduce that they killed the individual. And obviously don't do anything that would get you labelled as a criminal or a Dark Mage. That's it really."
Wow, there aren't many rules, but killing another person isn't forbidden? I can live with that, I'll be hunting the demons of my past sooner or later. Lorraine thought, before focusing on Jose as he lightly shook the small device back and forth, seemingly pretending as if it were a hypnotic pendulum without a string.
Getting the hint of his unspoken question, she pointed at her abdomen and shifted her grey leggings, "I'd like my guild mark just bellow my bellybutton and stamped in white, please."
The Guild Master raised an already raised eyebrow, but said nothing as he pressed the device onto the flesh below her bellybutton, and then pulled away after a few seconds, leaving a white Phantom Lord mark behind.
Lorraine then hitched her leggings back into their original position, leaving her guild mark half-covered, "Thank you for making me an official member of Phantom Lord, Master Jose, I guess I'll sort myself out now."
She turned around, hearing him chuckle as she did so, and ran towards the stairs. Instead of running down either side, she vaulted over the wooden barrier which acted like a partial balcony and nearly landed on top of an unsuspecting Totomaru.
The man tensed and was about to unsheathe the katana at his side, only lowering his hand and relaxing when realized that it was only her. He gave her comically annoyed look, leading her over to an unoccupied table, "Xanthine, do you have a habit of trying to jump on people? I'm not a trampoline or a crash mat."
"Oh really, I must've missed the hint because your face looks like one. Lighten up a little, I'm now a Mage of Phantom Lord." Lorraine commented, gesturing at her half-covered guild mark as she sat down.
Although Totomaru remained standing, his one of his eyebrows twitching at the jab. He gave her a haughty look, "Congratulations, I guess. Since you probably don't have many jewels, seeing as how you've just joined the guild, can I get you anything to eat or drink? Coffee and a sandwich or donut?"
"Aren't you a charmer, trying to get on a first-name basis with me." Lorraine commented, suppressing a smile when she saw a muscle in Totomaru's jaw flex, indicating that he was starting to get irritated.
Resting her right arm on the table and supporting her tilted head with her head, she continued, "No, seriously though, thanks for the offer. I'll have a hot chocolate, and a ham and cheese sandwich, please, if that isn't too much for you to handle."
Totomaru's nostrils flared as she made a 'go on servant' gesture, but he went to get what she asked for, one side of his mouth twitching upwards as he walked away, towards the bar counter. Now that she was alone, Lorraine took a moment to look around the Guild's interior, spotting at least eighty mages, all male, and three who stood out amongst them.
Sat on at the table next to hers were two men. The one sat at the left side of the table was a slim man of average height with a tiny, pointy, mustache and green hair pointing upwards. His right eye was hidden by a monocle, attached to a slim chain; under it, the eye itself seems small and round, in contrast to his other, larger eye. He wore formal attire consisting of a brown suit with a ragged collar bearing six prominent protrusions jutting outwards - three on each side - over a white shirt paired with a red tie and simple shoes. He also donned what appears to be a short cape attached to both of his elbows, linking them.
She couldn't help but notice that the man kept adopted weird poses, changing them every twenty seconds, and mumbling in a language she didn't recognize. He said something to his friend who immediately burst into tears, despite the cloth wrapped around his head - obscuring his eyes - and yelled, "SAD! THAT'S... So... So... Sorrowful! Why so sorrowful?!"
The blonde rolled her eyes. Much to her dismay, Phantom Lord apparently had three drama queens - one of which couldn't control his tear ducts, while the other two seemingly had ADHD or something along those lines.
Mr. 'SAD' Drama Queen was an extremely tall and massive man with tanned skin. He appeared to have no visible hair, and possessed a rectangular, elongated face with prominent cheekbones, which has his rounded chin jut downwards, something that somehow negates the angular look his face would have otherwise. A thin, vertical dark line is present on his chin, crossing its whole length up to his lower lip, and his nose is flat. His eyes were hidden by the plain, white blindfold, and his hand were unnaturally large - almost as large as his own head.
His attire consisted of a large, loose green coat sporting white edges, closed around his neck, sporting a wide and high collar, but left open on the front below it, revealing a red, similarly loose and ruffled pale red shirt, with its high collar, split in three horizontal straps circling his neck, being held closed by an equal amount of buttons, one for each strap. Appearing from below such shirt is a similar robe, yellow in color, almost reaching down to his feet, revealing an extremely loose pair of pants with prominent hems and a pair of simple, dark shoes.
His attire sports a pair of distinctive elements: circling his neck is a large, orange-colored necklace composed of several crosses linked together by small beads, which on the front, right below his neck, bears a small skull, with its eyes obscured by a blindfold not unlike that covering the mages' eyes; passing over his shoulders and hanging on the front is instead a wide stole, purple and white in color, and covered in intricate motifs. A top hat, matching his coat in color, sat on his head.
"Here you go, Xanthine." Totomaru returned just as was about to turn her gaze to the third male, who sat on his own, munching on a piece of iron which had been molded to resembled a thick slice of steak. The former handed her the steaming cup of hot chocolate, and the ham and cheese sandwich - the latter item sitting on a ceramic plate.
Lorraine held onto the cup by the handle and set the plate onto the table - feeling satisfied that she was able to con Totomaru into buying her a meal. She had more than enough jewels to buy a simple meal without needing to worry about attaining more.
"Thanks. By the way, Totomaru, are you in a team, or do you go on jobs by yourself?" Lorraine asked as he sat opposite her.
The black and white haired male nodded, turning his head in the direction of the two men sitting on the table next to them, and said, "I usually solo whichever Jobs I choose, but I'll sometimes go with those two. We're called the Element Three, and are currently waiting for another Mage to join the guild, hopefully possessing Lightning or Water Magic, so we can form the Element Four. We were created on Master Jose's orders. I'm sure he'll fill you in eventually."
"The big, tearful guy is Aria, fellow S-Class Mage, also known as "Aria of the Heavens", and user of Airspace Magic. The lanky guy who can't stop posing is Sol, another S-Class Mage, also known as "Sol of the Earth", speaker of the Language of Love, and user of Earth and Sand Magic. If Sol says to you, Salut, Mademoiselle, don't think that he's insulting you. He's only saying 'Greetings, Miss', and he'll also ask you to address him as Monsieur Sol." Totomaru informed her as she sipped at her hot chocolate.
"I'll keep that in mind, Salt and Pepper." Lorraine took a bite out of her sandwich, tapping her nails against the cup, as Totomaru gulped down half of his tropical juice and rolled his eyes at the nickname, "Really, Salt and Pepper? I'm not even going to ask if that's something I'm going to have to get used to, I already know the answer to that question. Besides, given the colour of my hair, it's actually not too bad. Anyways, what's with the crop cut hair? I mean, I don't have a problem with it, I'm just curious."
The nineteen year old woman wrapped a few strands of her hair around her index finger, after downing her hot chocolate as she explained, "I'm comfortable with it, and it doesn't provide an opportunity when in a fight. With long hair, someone could easily grab it and I'd be in an unfortunate and disadvantaged position if I didn't have something to cut off my hair in that moment. Also, it feels like longer hair takes up more time to wash out and maintain."
Totomaru nodded, finding her points valid. "Makes sense, one should never give their opponent an advantage or opportunity in a fight, no matter how small it is. Anyways, tell me about yourself, Xanthine. What were you up to, before you came to Phantom Lord?", he questioned.
Lorraine scowled, twisting her face into a grimace, "Despite the best efforts of my mother, Cynthia Xanthine, who gave birth to me in X760, my life was a complete sack of shit, up until I fled to Habanera Town in January X773 - after that jackass of a father killed my mother. I wasn't well educated, due to his... own issues, so I had to go to school and be educated on multiple areas. I was able to persuade someone to give me a job when I was thirteen - allowing me to accumulate jewels and live in my own property from fourteen, all the while learning my various forms of Magic."
"I made many friends while living and learning in Habanera Town; some adults, and others being girls my own age. With the forms of magic that I had learned, I also took jobs which would normally be reserved for mages belonging to guilds, and then became a professional hunter in mid-X777 - hunting animals and even dangerous monsters just for the thrill. I left to join a guild, an obvious point since I'm currently standing inside Phantom Lord, a few weeks ago. My other choices had been Mermaid Heel, Fairy Tail, and Lamia Scale." Lorraine told him, earning a snort from Totomaru.
At her inquisitive look, he elaborated, "Hey, there's nothing wrong with Lamia Scale that had Jura Neekis the Iron Rock, or Fairy Tail - except for the fact that Master Jose holds a massive grudge towards the guy running the latter, Makarov Dreyar, who is the Third Master of Fairy Tail. On the other hand, Mermaid Heel is literally an all-female guild full of nobodies. Nobody, not even the Magic Council, knows whether they have a good enough candidate for a Guild Master. To add insult to injury, they don't even have any S-Class Mages, and they don't even have a Guild Ace."
He finished, "In fact, its in such a poor state that it's a wonder how the guild hasn't been dissolved yet. Read newspapers and the Sorcerer Magazine, you'll see what I mean."
After hearing out Totomaru's explanation, Lorraine looked relieved that she'd decided not to join Mermaid Heel.
"Wow, thank goodness I didn't join them. I'd hate to join a Guild, and then have it suddenly collapse because of multiple issues. They really need to up their game." Lorraine took a bite out of her sandwich, noticing how more Mages in the guild were giving her curious looks - also receiving a smirk from the one she'd flipped the bird at.
What was their problem, had they never seen a woman before? Ignoring them, she glanced at the lone male who was still munching on his biscuit-shaped piece of iron.
Totomaru followed her gaze, obscuring a smile, "Oh, I wouldn't try talking to him. He's only fourteen, six years younger than I am, but it's like talking to a wall reinforced with steel."
'Challenge accepted.' Quickly finishing her sandwich and placing the cup on the plate, Lorraine winked at Totomaru, and then walked over to the loner - his thing apparently being the colour black - who didn't even look up to acknowledge her.
Standing over him, Lorraine watched with morbid fascination as he took another bite out of his iron biscuit, chewed it for a few seconds and then swallowed it as casually as one would do with ordinary, edible food.
"Sooooooo, is that normal for you, eating iron? I mean, it doesn't look particularly tasty or kind to the stomach." She commented, but he simply ignored her as he scratched his long, spiky black hair.
However, Lorraine was determined to prove Totomaru wrong and get a response out of the fourteen year old, "Do you always ignore people trying to make conversation with you? Do you even have any friends, although I think that's a stupid question, nobody's sitting with you, so I believe that answers the question for me."
He still chose to ignore her. Lorraine leaned past his left side to get a good look at his face, quickly retreating when one of his eyes flickered aside to meet hers.
From what she could gather from her short observation, the teen had lightly pale skin, no eyebrows, more than a dozen piercings - some in a line where his eyebrows should be - and menacingly red eyes. "What's with the piercings, lack of eyebrows, overgrown black hair, and ripped, black, sleeveless shirt. Living life as a gothic punk, or punk with a side order of goth?"
She noticed that he was munching on his iron biscuit with more intensity than he had been before, loudly grinding the iron in his mouth with his pre-molars and molars - assuming consuming iron hadn't already destroyed those teeth and he didn't just have replacement metallic ones.
Lorraine turned to Totomaru, mouthed, 'looks like I'm making progress', and then turned back to the raven haired teen. "Are you going to give me the silent treatment all day, because I can work with that, I'll just keep talking until I get a reaction. And since you won't give me your name, I'm going to call you... Hedgehog."
'Hedgehog' clenched his fist, but did nothing more, and then Lorraine noticed how quiet the guild had become. Everyone, or nearly everyone, was watching her one-sided interaction with 'Hedgehog' who Lorraine figured must be quite a notorious figure in Phantom Lord, given how a lot of people were watching them.
She daringly poked at his hair a few times, even mustering the arrogance to actually poke at his scalp, "You know what? Instead of 'Hedgehog', I think I'll call you 'Punk the Porcupine with a side order of Goth'."
That was the final straw.
Growling, the teen slammed one fist into the table to express his anger, splintering it, and swung his other arm, intending to introduce his knuckles into the face of the person annoying him. Lorraine quickly moved her head away, but didn't expect the teen to continue moving his arm until his fist was in line with her face, nor did she expect his arm to transform into a iron rod which suddenly extended towards her.
If she'd been any slower in lunging towards the table to avoid the attack, Lorraine had no doubt that her jaw would've been broken, and most of her teeth would've been knocked out. She watched as the rod extended until it harshly bashed an unsuspecting Mage in the face, the flat end of the rod being wide enough to knock out several of his teeth, bust open his upper lip, break his nose, and presumably severely fracture part of his cheekbone.
"For fuck's sake, leave me alone, or I'll make sure to hit you next time!" The teenager snarled, ignoring his victim's cries of pain as the rod shifted back and transformed back into his forearm.
Lorraine sat down next to him, dismissing his threat as an empty one, and opposed his fierce glare with her own unwavering stare, "Jeez, there's no need to be such a violent prick about it. If you didn't want me bothering you, then you should've told me the first time. Now then, since I have your attention, what's your name? Mine's Lorraine Xanthine."
At Totomaru's comically outraged yell of 'Oh, so he can be on a first-name basis with you? I see how it is, Lorraine Xanthine', the teenager crossed his arms and scoffed, "The fuck are you waiting for, you expect me to give you my name?"
"Well yeah, it's common courtesy to give your name in return." Lorraine retorted, starting to feel a little unnerved by the teen's unshakeable red eyes that looked draconic.
The fourteen year old rolled his eyes disinterestedly, crossing his toned arms over his torso, "Yeah, whatever. I'm Gajeel Redfox. Happy, are you gonna get lost now?"
"No, I want to get to know you. Maybe even become friends with you. Tell me something about your past." Lorraine told him.
Annoyed, Gajeel grunted in response, "Fuck off! I ain't telling you shit about me, and I don't need friends. Friends are for pansies."
"Fine, if you don't like the word 'friend', then I'll be your associate. Now, take me on a job. We can talk about ourselves for however long it lasts, although I doubt you'll say much about yourself. After that, I promise I'll leave you alone.", she offered.
Gajeel appeared thoughtful, but the expression quickly dropped off his face and he said, "Whatever, sure. But go back on your promise and I swear, I'll knock your teeth out."
Author's Note: Alright, Chapter 1 of "Geoffrey's Legacy" is done and I hope you like it, guys. By the way, it's a Phantom Lord-centric story. Yes, the same Phantom Lord that tried to take down Fairy Tail during their Guild War in canon. Since this is an AU, things will go quite differently and it's Fanfiction, we can write anything we want than simply follow the Stations of the Canon.
Credits and shout-out to Guardian of Reality, the previous owner of this Fairy Tail AU story.
Enjoy and don't forget to review.
Chapter 2
Hey, everyone. I'm back with the second chapter of "Geoffrey's Legacy".
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Fairy Tail - all rights and stuff belong to Hiro Mashima. If I was the one to start Fairy Tail, fan-service wouldn't be so prominent and there would be side-series' focused on Irene's ascension to a Queen, how the Mermaid Heel, Lamia Scale and Phantom Lord guilds came to be, Makarov's rise to Guild Master and how Gildarts joined Fairy Tail and became Guild Ace. I only own self-made characters, magic and storylines (I don't).
Enjoy and don't forget to review.
"Study the past, if you would define the future." - Confucius
As Lorraine Xantine had suspected, Gajeel Redfox wanted to do very little talking. Because he'd taken a really easy Job from the Job Description Board, which required them to take out some thugs who happened to be harassing Oak Town, stealing and committing arson on houses in the southern part of the town.
Gajeel grumbled about the small pay in form of 10,000 Jewels, and would have quit had the nineteen year old not reassured him that he'd be able to have 70% of the reward in the end of the Job they will take together.
He seemed more than content to hold onto the piece of paper which described their job, and feast on a random scrap of iron he'd found. Gajeel had wanted to go straight to the thugs and deck them in the schnoz personally, but Lorraine managed to convince him that it'd be smarter to inform the mayor of Oak Town first.
That they're gonna go beat up the thugs and drag them back so they could be punished. And then go collect their reward as part of the Job's success for Phantom Lord.
"So, Gajeel, do you have parents?", Lorraine inquired, glancing over at her fellow Phantom Lord Mage who grunted, tossing his half eaten piece of iron aside.
"Nah, I'm an orphan. Never knew my parents, probably died soon after I was born, but starting from five years old, I was raised and taught magic by a dragon. Sounds fucking stupid, I know, but he brought me up in an abandoned iron ore mine. Then, Metalicana, my foster dragon and father figure, suddenly vanished on my twelfth birthday. I've never gone to look for the bastard, and I don't really care if he shows up again.", the long spiky haired teen replied, trying to sound 100% convinced that he wouldn't care.
Talk about a chip on your shoulder. He really missed this Metalicana even if he doesn't want to admit it at all..., she thought in observation.
"Brought up and taught Magic by a Dragon... in an abandoned iron ore mine? To be honest, given the kind of world we live in, that actually doesn't sound too far-fetched. Also, has anyone ever told you that Metalicana sounds like some sort of heavy metal band?", Lorraine asked, mimicking the action of bellowing into a microphone.
The question earned an amused snort from Gajeel who had imagined his adoptive Dragon father to be playing a guitar and a cool fedora that were made for his enormous size. He remarked, "A few times. What about your background, living the life as a happy-go-lucky princess, and then, sudden tragedy? Gihihihihi."
Lorraine wondered if her ears were clogged up with wax, because Gajeel's laugh was the strangest thing she ever heard... and the most ear destroying. It sounded like he was scraping pieces of twisted metal against each other and purposefully dragging them, alongside some of his fingernails, against a rough chalkboard.
"Hah, funny, my life was the furthest it could possibly be from being the life of a 'happy-go-lucky' princess. Despite the efforts of my mother, Cynthia, who gave birth to me in X760, my life was a complete sack of shit, up until I fled to Habanera Town in January X773 - after that jackass of a father killed my mother. I wasn't well educated, due to his... own issues, so I had to go to school and be educated on multiple areas. I was able to persuade someone to give me a job when I was thirteen - allowing me to accumulate jewels and live in my own property from fourteen, all the while learning my various forms of Magic."
She finished, "I made many friends while living and learning in Habanera Town; some adults, and others being girls my own age. With the forms of Magic that I had learned, I also took jobs which would normally be reserved for Mages belonging to Guilds, and then became a professional hunter in mid-X777 - hunting animals and even dangerous monsters just for the thrill. I left to join a Guild about two weeks ago, an obvious point since I was in Phantom Lord and annoying you."
That prompted Gajeel to stop in his tracks and glared at her with a dark look on his face as the son of Metalicana bluntly called out, "You're lying."
Lorraine halted with him, a blood vessel nearly bursting in her forehead as she rounded on the 5'5ft raven haired teen who remained unflinching, despite her obvious anger towards him. "Excuse me!? You don't even know me, what part of that is a lie?!", she yelled.
Gajeel simply tapped his ears in response, "Some part of that story was a pile of bullshit. I don't know which part, but I could tell that you weren't telling the truth. And that the way you speak was too rehearsed."
"And how can you can tell?", the blonde challenged, feeling peeved at her fellow Mage's criticism.
"It's all thanks to my Magic that I was taught by Metalicana, Iron Dragon Slayer Magic, came with the added bonus of enhanced senses, especially hearing and sight. Your heart rate increased, and your voice rose in pitch by a miniscule amount. I'm essentially a walking lie detector.", he explained, showing his confidence of his abilities.
Ah, crapbaskets! Just my luck. I am surprised Master Jose didn't say anything about it when I joined the Guild. Yet Gajeel saw through me., she thought in nervousness.
"What's Iron Dragon Slayer Magic? And you're right, I wasn't telling the whole truth, but I'd rather not talk about it, especially not with you, someone who doesn't seem to be the sort who deals with sensitive stuff.", Lorraine told him, fixing her eyes on him.
Gajeel snorted as they continued walking, nearing the residence of Oak Town's Mayor named Tuare Ninya Veyron, "You got that right. If you wanna go do the 'my life is a sack of shit, and I need a strong shoulder to cry on' routine, don't pick me to provide that shoulder for you. I ain't got time for that pansy ass nonsense, and as for Iron Dragon Slayer Magic, I'll show you later."
'Tch, it better be worth the wait, or I'm putting an arrow so far up your ass, you won't be able to pull it out.' Lorraine thought as they stopped outside a fancy-looking building, clearly owned by someone who could afford to throw away jewels on expensive luxury. The front door opened, courtesy of a smartly dressed, middle aged but sharp and strong looking, greying butler, before Lorraine could even knock on the door.
"Welcome to Lady Tuare's manor. I am Sebas Tian. She has been expecting you, Phantom Lord Mages.", the butler politely greeted them, allowing the two to enter.
She and Gajeel took a few steps inside as an elegantly dressed woman, clearly Mayor Tuare Ninya Veyron herself and aged somewhere in her late-thirties, gracefully descended down a flight of stairs in the building, smiling warmly as she stepped outside to greet them.
Before Lorraine could get a word out, Gajeel shoved the job description close to her face, prompting the woman to quickly step back if she didn't want to end up with a nasty bruise on her forehead. Although Sebas Titan had frowned in disapproval at such rude action towards the lady of the manor he faithfully served under but so far he kept his mouth silent and not take action unless she ordered him to.
Although annoyed at such act by Gajeel up close all of a sudden, Mayor Tuare quickly shrugged that off with a professional look and began to speak that also didn't sound as arrogant as the duo expected her to.
"Ah, thank you for coming, subordinates of Wizard Saint Jose Porla. As you already know, we're having trouble with criminals who insist on stealing from us and burning down homes. They always come from the forests over there. It would be wonderful if you could take care of them, um...", the female Mayor of Oak Town trailed off, pointing at a section of the vast forest behind them where the group of bandits were hiding there.
"Mages of Phantom Lord. Lorraine Xanthine, and this is Gajeel Redfox, he's a second cousin of mine. Clearly younger and rather unruly, I mean look at those facial piercings and shaven eyebrows... I apologize ma'am, I'm going off track, I promise we won't let you down, ma'am.", the blonde woman flinched as her accomplice jabbed a finger into her ribs.
As they turned around to leave Mayor Tuare's manor and proceed on the Job to go find and beat up some thugs, Gajeel hissed, "I can speak for myself, thank you very much. Last time I checked, I ain't mute, and I definitely ain't your cousin. Also, we won't let you down, ma'am. Heh, look at you, Girl Scout."
"I'd much rather be a Girl Scout, than have the attitude of a dangerously undisciplined thug who thinks it's okay to practically disrespect and nearly assault clients. I mean, Gajeel, you nearly punched her in the forehead. Do you want her to cut our reward by a significant amount, like thirty percent, or give us a bad review?", the female Phantom Lord Mage shot back.
She then added, "Not to mention, her butler looked like he's gonna tear you apart with his bare hands. And then clean what's left of you and take out the trash afterwards."
This elicited an irritated growl from Gajeel. He turned his head away from her, sneering, "And this is why I go on Jobs alone. So I don't have to put up with other people's bullshit. I pity people who end up getting into romantic relationships. Having to put up with the nagging of the other person, 24/7."
"Well would you look at that, I never knew 'romantic relationships' were in your vocabulary, and I wouldn't speak too soon if I were you. You might get unlucky, end up in a relationship with a girl who can put you in your place - yourself being the one doing the nagging.", Lorraine retorted.
Gajeel crinkled his nose in disdain, appearing to be disgusted by the thought, "In your dreams. I never nag, and I definitely ain't getting into a something stupid like a romantic relationship. As for you, I couldn't see anyone wanting to do anything with a irritating, loudmouth blonde like you, gihihihihi."*
The nineteen year old scoffed, "Someone not wanting anything to do with me? Dream on! I could probably get more girls than you could ever hope to have? However, maybe you're just not into girls, you know, perhaps you secretly root for the other side, but don't want to admit it?", the blonde suggested, smirking and raising an eyebrow.
As they walked into the forest, a look of abject horror found its way onto Gajeel's face, his brain quickly catching up and working out what she meant.
"What the fuck, no way, don't even suggest that I'm gay?!" Gajeel snapped, nearly falling into a ditch.
Lorraine grabbed the back of his shirt's neckline, pulling him back before he could fall into the muddy water. "You know, that's a really vehement denial. Are you sure that you don't want to tell me anything, I mean I won't judge you for being gay, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, and I think you and Totomaru would make a great couple... even though he's six years older than you, and acknowledging the fact that you're a minor."
As they leapt over the ditch, easily landing on the other side, Lorraine noticed that Gajeel had converted the flesh on his right fist into iron. She playfully nudged him, earning a rough shove in retaliation which nearly knocked her off balance and into the wide ditch, "Hey, lighten up, I was just teasing you. Perhaps you just need help getting that eight foot 'antihumour' pole out of your ass."
Gajeel rounded on her, threateningly raising his fist as he bared his teeth, "That's it, you keep your mouth shut or I'll-"
"Hey you two, stop arguing with each other and stay where you are!" A weasly voice cut in, infuriating Gajeel even more as they turned towards the source of the interruption.
It was a skinny young man with brown hair, tatty clothes, nervous eyes which darted back and forth between Gajeel and Lorraine, and a wicked looking knife possessing a serrated edge.
Nervously, he tried to sound threatening to little success, "Hey, lady, your backpack. I want it. Take it off and give it to me, and while you're at it, give me those mesh warmers on your elbows, your trainers, the sliver earring, and the bracelet. Just do as I say and nobody has to get hurt."
Unshaken by the weak verbal and physical threat, Gajeel yawned and settled into a frog-like crouch, giving Lorraine the go-ahead. It was clear that he wanted to see what the newbie member of Phantom Lord can do herself.
She flexed one of her hands, warning the criminal, "You know, we're both Mages, and I use Requip: The Archer. Trust me on this, this is going to end terribly for you, and I really don't want to give up my backpack. I think I'd rather keep it for another... I don't know, three, maybe four more years."
"If you were smart, at this point you would've already ran away from us and gone to find somebody else, an easier target, to rob. Now, Requip: Flatbow.", the blonde finished as she summoned the aforementioned weapon, and then summoned an arrow with two red Magic Circles whose intricate symbol on the center is that of an medieval archer's cap with a bow and arrow.
"Mages? I don't care about that, pretentious pricks that you are, just hurry up and give me the backpack.", the man flinched, almost dropping his knife when the flatbow appeared as he tried to act tough in front of two people who can use Magic.
Lorraine partially nocked the arrow, held the flatbow towards the ground, and asked, "If you're so eager to have my backpack, then why don't you come and get it. Surely, for a criminal like yourself, you're tough and strong enough to handle a bit of pain."
Raising the flatbow and pulling back the bowstring, Lorraine fired the arrow into his right knee before he could ask what she meant. The man staggered, falling backwards, and he would've screamed if it weren't for the nineteen year old who pressed her hand against his mouth, preventing him from making nothing more than prolonged muffled noises.
The Iron Dragon Slayer walked over, smirking as he sneered, "If you scream when she moves her hand, I'll shatter the bone in your shin, then break your wrist and one of your collarbones. One crippled leg is bad, but two? Life wouldn't be worth living."
Setting the flatbow on the forest floor next to her, Lorraine moved her hand away and immediately clenched it, ready to punch the young man in the face if he tried to scream. Through teary eyes, he frantically said, "Please don't hurt me! The guys that I were with are four-hundred metres away, huddled around a camp fire as they share horror stories and show off the stuff that they've stolen!"
He added in confession, "I've never stolen anything, or burned down any houses! I'm just a lookout, but I thought I'd try my luck with you two!"
"Awww, that wasn't fun, and that was easier than I expected it to be. Hey, you're the worst criminal I've ever met. I thought criminals were meant to be hardcore fuckheads... well, most of them at least. Stop being a little bitch and grow a pair.", Gajeel looked disappointed, but then mashed his iron fist into the man's collarbone, breaking it with an audible 'SNAP!'.
Lorraine had to cover his mouth with her hand to suppress another scream, rolling her eyes as Gajeel transformed his fist back into ordinary flesh - gleefully snickering as he did so.
"Gajeel, was that really necessary?" Lorraine snapped, watching the young man's chest as his breathing slowly transitioned from hyperventilating to deep, rapid breaths. The fourteen year old was about to answer the question when his accomplice suddenly punched the wounded man in his temple, knocking him unconscious. As his limp body began to slump, Lorraine pushed him over - leaving him out cold on his right side.
"Lorraine, was that really necessary?" Gajeel deadpanned in response.
Lorraine laughed as they stood up and dragged him over to a nearby tree, "Touché. Anyways, he'll live, but he probably won't be walking again. As for his collarbone, I guess we'll find out in the foreseeable future. Come on, we've got some criminals to beat up and a lot of valuables, possibly unbelievably expensive or highly rare ones, to rescue, recover, and return."
"Yeah, yeah, quit badgering me, I already know the details of the job, I haven't forgot. I ain't got a short term memory. Why didn't you leave your backpack in the guild? It's not like we're going to be camping out. Also, I can definitely hear the crackling of their camp sites fire." Gajeel told her as they started walking.
Lorraine shrugged, "Well, I don't exactly know where I'm going to be sleeping - Master Jose didn't tell or show me whether Phantom Lord has dorms, so I'm carrying it around until I find out. And everyone in the guild looks really shady, I wouldn't trust them to not look through and take something from my backpack."
"Fair point. By the way, that was some good shooting. I've never seen someone raise a bow and fire off an arrow so quickly - although it's not like I watch archery competitions. At least I know that you'll be able to handle yourself." Gajeel commented after he had observed her in action.
Lorraine glanced over at him before she gave a cheeky smile, "Wow, am I going deaf, or did you just give me a compliment? I'm saving that, I don't think I'll ever get another one."
"Yeah, whatever... I was feeling generous." Gajeel grumbled the last part to himself. Suddenly, something caught his eye, just as his leg stepped over and into it.
Courtesy of his Iron Dragon Slayer durability that's far tougher than regular human skin, the teen smirked as a bear trap snapped shut, the jaws shattering as they fiercely smashed into his lower leg but they end up being completely shattered as a result. "Gihihihihi, a bear trap? These guys might be trash, but they definitely have good taste. Gihihihihi, if you were in my position, you'd be screaming like a bitch.", he commented with amusement.
Lorraine stared at the destroyed bear trap that failed to even make an Iron Dragon Slayer flinch and believed that it's part of his Magic enhancing his body to be tougher than a regular human. It's safe to say that a poor schmuck with a metal weapon will be in for a surprise when they try attack him to no effect., she thought.
"Oh please, you must be out of your mind if you think I could be taken out by a mere bear trap. Still, I'm surprised you even saw it. Normally you appear to be zoning off. I guess you have a higher attention span than I thought you did.", she retorted, taking the remains of the trap and flinging it aside.
On the other hand, Gajeel shook off the remains of the destroyed bear trap from his undamaged leg. "What an absolute joke, using something that only Rune Knights, petty civilians, and the worst mages would fall for. What did they think would be coming for them, stealing from the town that Phantom Lord is situated in? Now I'm even more eager to beat them up and put them in their place.", the son of Metallicana stated, sporting a bloodthirsty grin as he sniffed around and after locating the targets, he stormed ahead with great speed.
Lorraine had to pick up the pace and catch up to him, running as fast as she can with the flatbow in her right hand. "Yeah, leave me behind so you can hog all the fun why don't you?", she sarcastically called out.
Reaching their destination, the Phantom Lord Mages came across the camp a few seconds later. Lorraine nearly running into Gajeel when he'd suddenly stopped but she stopped herself in time.
Standing beside him, she saw that the camp was a semicircle of thirteen men, all of them sitting down and facing away from the duo - showing off their prizes to each other - with the oldest being in his early forties. One was repeatedly throwing a Communications Lacrima Crystal into the air as if it were a ball to play with, another had an expensive looking watch on his wrist, whilst another appeared to be hilariously clumsy as he carelessly swung around an ornamental katana, almost beheading one of his friends in the process.
"Your call, Gajeel. Show me what this Dragon, Metalicana, taught you.", the blonde requested, prompting Gajeel to step forwards, smirking and eager to show off as he kicked a fallen branch aside.
The men were so preoccupied with themselves, they didn't even hear the noise made when he kicked the branch on purpose.
The son of Metalicana took a deep breath and cupped his hands in front of his mouth as if he is going to blow a trumpet, a green colorred intricate Magic Circle with a draconic symbol appearing in front of him as he did so.
Lorraine whistled loudly, getting the attention of the entire group. Suddenly caught off guard, the bandits quickly dropped their ill-gotten stuff, before scrambling to get their weapons and defend themselves.
But it was too late as the raven haired teen narrowed his eyes and called out, "You dumbasses chose the wrong town to steal from. Now, be torn to pieces! IRON DRAGON'S ROAR!"
Lorraine widened her eyes as a powerful tornado, colored dark grey due to the amount of iron scraps that was in it, raged forwards from Gajeel's mouth and engulfed the men, putting out their fire in the process. She watched, awed, as the attack carved up the ground and shredded trees, reducing them to miniscule stumps. Eventually, the son of Metalicana stopped his attack, allowing Lorraine to see the complete aftermath of his Iron Dragon's Roar.
The ground looked as if someone had taken multiple giant rakes to it, scraping as hard and fast as they could without any form of organization. The men were even more unfortunate. Most of them were lying on the ground, moaning in pain as their limbs been twisted into awkward and painful positions, while the iron shards had shredded their clothes, making them appear to have charged through barbed wire, and embedded themselves into exposed flesh, suffering bleeding wounds all over their bodies.
Only one, who'd dived for cover, had managed to escape the onslaught. Disentangling himself from one of the moaning men, he grunted, hurriedly scrambling to his feet. As the bandit began to run away and abandon his associates, Lorraine nocked an arrow and incapacitated him by shooting the arrow into his left thigh. He cried out in pain, staggering in his tracks. The wounded criminal tried to get up, but was then knocked unconscious, dropping like a sack of potatoes as Gajeel threw a sizeable rock into his head.
"So that's the Roar of an Iron Dragon, huh? Well, thank goodness I wasn't on the receiving end of that.", Lorraine noted out loud as they began to go around to each of the men, taking any items that were in their possession and forcing them to stand up despite their protests.
She pulled the arrow out of her victim's leg, hooked her arms underneath his shoulders and dragged him over towards the other men, forcing two of them to hold his deadweight, ignoring their pained protests.
Gajeel retrieved a nearby sack which escaped obliteration by his attack, going around and filling it with the stolen items. He considered taking the Communications Lacrima Crystal for himself, but decided against it. He would have no use for the device, would probably just end up breaking it, and if Jose ever wanted to summon him for a private meeting, then he could always just send a Thought Projection to get him. The Dragon Slayer of Metalicana sniffed at one of the watches, huffing when he couldn't smell any iron in it.
"Now, as you can see, it's the end of the line for you guys. My partner and I are going to follow you back to Oak Town, and if any of you step out of line, or try to run away, you won't like what'll come to you." Lorraine warned, literally slapping a pained smirk off one of their faces. Hearing heavy footsteps approaching, she turned to see Gajeel walking over to them, a bulging sack held in his arms.
"I'll carry the stuff, so your flimsy arms won't complain about carrying it." He told her, a mocking smirk plastered to his face. Lorraine rolled her eyes, shoving the first man and 'encouraging' him to start moving.
Getting all the men over the ditch had initially been troublesome. None of them possessed the physical conditioning that most Mages did, so they couldn't simply jump over to the other side, and they didn't want to wade through the muddy water. Gajeel refused to take a short trip over a nearby bridge, so Lorraine had him turn his arms into two iron poles - allowing the men to use his arm as a small walkway.
Nearly forgetting about the man she'd knocked unconscious and kneecapped, before being brutalized by Gajeel, the blonde woman jumped across the ditch while holding him in a fireman's carry. Joining her and getting the men to start moving again, Gajeel looked vaguely impressed that she was carrying someone else, probably weighing quite a lot more than she did, on her shoulders.
Lorraine gave him a pointed look that said, 'Yeah, bastard, I'm stronger than you think.'
Gajeel's face gave away the fact that he wanted to say something, but whatever it was, he considered against it. Lorraine didn't mind, she'd get it out of him another time by driving him up the wall with her brand of madness.
One of the men sighed, nearly tripping over a rock, "Guys, can you believe it? We got taken out by a blonde chick with a bow, and her emo friend who's what, fourteen, maybe fifteen? Pretty sad when you think about it, even if they did use Magic."
Lorraine would've retorted to his comment, but Gajeel beat her to it as he called out. "I'm fourteen, and there ain't anything sad about it. You guys just suck in the fighting department, that's all. Your awareness could do with some work, I was surprised when you guys didn't hear me kick a branch. Seriously, how long did you lot think you could keep committing arson and theft, before you got taken down. 'Yeah, let's steal from a town with a guild in it. A really good idea, right guys, we'll be able do this forever'."
Some of the younger members of the gang, despite their moderate injuries, couldn't help but snicker at the expense of their leader. Their said leader got red in the face after being savagely roasted.
Lorraine cleared her throat, suppressing a laugh, causing the leader of the gang to leer at her, his eyes lecherously scanning her figure, lingering on her covered bust for longer than she was comfortable with, "Yeah, laugh all you want now, Blondie. Once I'm out of jail, I'll be coming for you first. After I'm done with her, I'll be going for you, punk."
"Awww... Look at you, acting all big and threatening a girl, although given who I am, and who you are, it feels empty. Until you learn Magic, keep your lousy mouth shut. But given how old you are, it's pretty much too late for that. Do you feel threatened, Gajeel?" Lorraine asked, looking over at the Iron Dragon Slayer who shook his head, smirking at the humiliated criminal leader as they passed the trees and re-entered Oak Town.
"Alright, hurry up and get your asses into gear, I want to be back in Phantom Lord as soon as possible!" Gajeel yelled at the frightened bandits, forcing them to break out into a medium paced jog.
As they rapidly advanced through the outskirts of Oak Town, spotting some of the houses which had been burned down, several passing residents of the town came over to help the duo from Phantom Lord lead the men over to the mayor's house. They were pleased to see that the criminals being captured as karma happening upon them.
Surprisingly, Mayor Tuare Ninya Veyron was standing outside her house with a bag in her right hand, and her butler Sebas Tian stood next to her, the former standing right where Lorraine and Gajeel had left her. A bright smile appeared on her face as the captured criminals were made to stand in a line in front of her.
Lorraine had a few arrow nocked, ready to shoot incase any of the men tried to make a move for the mayor. So far, none of the bandits had done anything at all but it's better safe than sorry.
The butler, despite appearing to be old, didn't bat an eyelid or complain despite the weight of the sack that Gajeel had just handed to him. In fact, it even looked like he carried it with one right hand as it's simply like paperweight to him. He's definitely not some regular butler., Lorraine thought in observation.
Sebas Tian said, "Thank you, good sir. Ma'am, I'll be sure to distribute the stolen goods to their rightful owners."
The said butler then walked off, heading towards the town center, soon vanishing amongst the masses of people. After watching him leave, the mayor assigned a several of Oak Town's guards to get the men imprisoned so they could await their rightful punishment.
Finally, Mayor Tuare addressed the two, "Thank you, both of you. I'll be sure to send a messenger to the Magic Council so they know that Oak Town is no longer being disturbed. Here's your reward, 10,000 Jewels, as stated in the job request. I'll be sure to send good word to Wizard Saint Jose Porla."
"You're welcome, ma'am. If you ever need someone to sort out a disturbance in Oak Town, whether domestic or foreign, you know where to find us.", Lorraine took the bag of Jewels as the mayor retreated back into her house, satisfaction flowing through the former's body.
Shrugging, the duo began to walk their way back to Phantom Lord, splitting the jewels between them in the way the nineteen year old had promised - 7,000 Jewels to Gajeel, and 3,000 Jewels to Lorraine.
On their way back to the guild, Lorraine glanced at Gajeel, almost doing a double take when she saw him munching on a piece of mangled iron. What baffled her was where he could've got it from. Surely there hadn't been a random piece of iron in the middle of the forest, had there?
She frowned, confused, "What the hell? Where did you get that piece of iron from? I could've sworn you weren't carrying that when we came out of the forest."
Gajeel grunted, "Remember the bear trap which nearly took off my leg? This twisted piece of iron is that trap. While you were taking your sweet time in figuring out a way to get those guys past the ditch, I briefly went back for the bear trap. It smelled and tasted of iron, so I crushed it and stuffed it down my shirt to have as a snack later."
Lorraine gave him a bewildered stare, "You, Gajeel Redfox, are the weirdest person I've ever met, and I'm probably going to be saying that many more times. Seriously, does your diet consist of iron and nothing but iron? I mean, I get that iron is good for the body, but do you ever consume other things. It's a wonder how you're not suffering from a vast number of deficiencies and diseases."
Gajeel yelled in annoyance, "Goddammit, quit badgering me! You ain't my mother*, or any female relative for that matter! 'And this is Gajeel Redfox, he's a second cousin of mine.' For the record, I actually do eat other stuff, if you really must know. Have you seen a fourteen year old with arms like mine? No... I didn't think so. Protein, essential minerals and carbohydrates, with fats and other stuff sprinkled here and there."
"What about you, on a diet? Gihihihihi." the Iron Dragon Slayer then asked her in turn, laughing at her expense.
"On a diet?! Do I look like I'm on a diet, you cheeky bastard?! How about I punch you in the face and break you nose, give you a really large hint about whether I'm on a diet or not?", Lorraine threatened, de-summoning her flatbow.
"Alright, alright, no need to get so pissy about it. Besides, you punch me in the face, I'll punch you right back and then blast you with my roar attack. I wouldn't want to do it, mess up that pretty face of yours. Still sure about punching me?" Gajeel haughtily retorted, showing off his sharp canine teeth and willing to carry it out.
Lorraine really wanted to knock the cocky smirk off from his face. But not today as she can tell that he is stronger and his Dragon Slayer Magic ain't something to be trifled with.
"... One day. One day, Redfox, you'll never see it coming. Nor will you hear it coming, I promise you that." Lorraine said, pushing open Phantom Lord's doors. She walked through and slammed the both of them in Gajeel's face, but he swiftly retaliated, kicking one of them open.
The blonde had to jump out of the way to avoid having her face imprinted into the side of the door, while the hinges groaned in protest.
Lorraine flipped him the bird and made a beeline straight for Totomaru. The twenty year old sat up in his chair, setting aside his cider, "Well, it looks like you made it. Although it'd be pretty embarrassing to know that you screwed up an easy Job, take out a few thieves troubling Oak Town, and I see you're getting along with Gajeel, flipping the bird at him and all. Did you see his Lost Magic in action, the Iron Dragon Slayer Magic?"
The blonde nodded, "Yeah, he took out a bunch of guys with his roar attack. The aftermath of that thing was pretty savage. I mean, you'd think a Giant had been dragging his fingernails through the forest."
"What have you been doing whilst I was out, drinking cider and getting tipsy? Get off your ass and go on a Job, or show me where the female dorms are. There's no way in hell I'm sleeping on the floor like a homeless person.", she inquired.
Totomaru waved her off, "Mmmmm, I'll go on a Job tomorrow, probably take you with me, and after I finish my cider, I'll show you where the female dorms are. By the way, did you get anything to do on the job, or did Gajeel hog up every opportunity?"
"Nah, I got to shoot a couple of guys. The first interrupted an argument between Gajeel and I, so I put an arrow through his knee. Afterwards, he broke one of his collarbones and I knocked him out. The second escaped the wrath of Gajeel's breath attack, allowing me to put an arrow into his left thigh. It wasn't much, but I still managed to contribute." Lorraine commented, smiling as Totomaru began subconsciously massaging his kneecaps.
"Stop worrying, I won't put an arrow through your knees, unless you give me a good reason to." Lorraine reassured him, drinking a sizeable portion of Totomaru's cider just because she could.
The older man blanched, ignoring the fact that Lorraine had down half of his remaining cider, "Right, that makes me feel so much better. Just don't do anything to piss you off, and I don't get an arrow through my knees. It's a wonder how you haven't kneecapped Gajeel yet."
"It was tempting, especially with some of the comments he made, but Gajeel would probably have no qualms beating me to death if I did, whether or not he had knees to chase me with.", Lorraine replied, shaking her head to rid her mind of the nightmarish image.
"Also-"
"Hey, Blondie!" Gajeel interrupted whatever Totomaru was going to say, prompting the two of them to look over at the Iron Dragon Slayer who held a cold glass of lemonade in his right hand.
With their attention on him, Gajeel continued, looking uncharacteristically awkward as he turned his head away and grit his teeth, "You're alright, not a bad partner, I'll give you that."
Lorraine blinked, "Er, okay, thanks."
Widening his eyes in shock, Totomaru spat out his drink, "What!? What have you done to him, he just gave you a compliment! I've gone on one-hundred Jobs with that jerk, and not once has he complimented me. Just insults, insults, and more insults! And if my Gajeel-ese is up to date, then he basically said - 'You did good out there. You and I teaming up would be cool, but don't get your hopes up'."
The nineteen year old chuckled in amusement, "He said that? That's awesome, although I think we'd end up killing each other if we were on a team together."
Author's Note: Okay, Chapter 2 of "Geoffrey's Legacy" is done and I hope you like it guys. Lorraine having completed her first Job of handling a local bandit gang with Gajeel after recently joining Phantom Lord and they managed to get along with each other somewhat in their own way. Especially in a Legal Guild that is Phantom Lord, a complete opposite of Fairy Tail.
*Oh the irony as canon Gajeel would eventually hit off with Levy McGarden as a couple (even after their first meeting wasn't nice and he admitted that it was his most despicable sin when fighting Bloodman of the Spriggan 12) and later they are expecting to have a child of their own together as shown in Fairy Tail 100 Years Quest.
*The closest thing Gajeel got to a mother was Councilwoman Belno and he reminded her of her deceased son who was said to greatly resemble him. Belno's assassination by Tartaros really hurt Gajeel who remembered her wishes for him.
Enjoy and don't forget to review.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Fairy Tail - all rights and stuff belong to Hiro Mashima. If I was the one to start Fairy Tail, fan-service wouldn't be so prominent and there would be side-series' focused on Irene's ascension to a Queen, how the Mermaid Heel, Lamia Scale and Phantom Lord guilds came to be, Makarov's rise to Guild Master and how Gildarts joined Fairy Tail and became Guild Ace. I only own self-made characters, magic and storylines (I don't).
Enjoy and don't forget to review.
"Study the past, if you would define the future." - Confucius
Chapter 2
As Lorraine Xantine had suspected, Gajeel Redfox wanted to do very little talking. Because he'd taken a really easy Job from the Job Description Board, which required them to take out some thugs who happened to be harassing Oak Town, stealing and committing arson on houses in the southern part of the town.
Gajeel grumbled about the small pay in form of 10,000 Jewels, and would have quit had the nineteen year old not reassured him that he'd be able to have 70% of the reward in the end of the Job they will take together.
He seemed more than content to hold onto the piece of paper which described their job, and feast on a random scrap of iron he'd found. Gajeel had wanted to go straight to the thugs and deck them in the schnoz personally, but Lorraine managed to convince him that it'd be smarter to inform the mayor of Oak Town first.
That they're gonna go beat up the thugs and drag them back so they could be punished. And then go collect their reward as part of the Job's success for Phantom Lord.
"So, Gajeel, do you have parents?", Lorraine inquired, glancing over at her fellow Phantom Lord Mage who grunted, tossing his half eaten piece of iron aside.
"Nah, I'm an orphan. Never knew my parents, probably died soon after I was born, but starting from five years old, I was raised and taught magic by a dragon. Sounds fucking stupid, I know, but he brought me up in an abandoned iron ore mine. Then, Metalicana, my foster dragon and father figure, suddenly vanished on my twelfth birthday. I've never gone to look for the bastard, and I don't really care if he shows up again.", the long spiky haired teen replied, trying to sound 100% convinced that he wouldn't care.
Talk about a chip on your shoulder. He really missed this Metalicana even if he doesn't want to admit it at all..., she thought in observation.
"Brought up and taught Magic by a Dragon... in an abandoned iron ore mine? To be honest, given the kind of world we live in, that actually doesn't sound too far-fetched. Also, has anyone ever told you that Metalicana sounds like some sort of heavy metal band?", Lorraine asked, mimicking the action of bellowing into a microphone.
The question earned an amused snort from Gajeel who had imagined his adoptive Dragon father to be playing a guitar and a cool fedora that were made for his enormous size. He remarked, "A few times. What about your background, living the life as a happy-go-lucky princess, and then, sudden tragedy? Gihihihihi."
Lorraine wondered if her ears were clogged up with wax, because Gajeel's laugh was the strangest thing she ever heard... and the most ear destroying. It sounded like he was scraping pieces of twisted metal against each other and purposefully dragging them, alongside some of his fingernails, against a rough chalkboard.
"Hah, funny, my life was the furthest it could possibly be from being the life of a 'happy-go-lucky' princess. Despite the efforts of my mother, Cynthia, who gave birth to me in X760, my life was a complete sack of shit, up until I fled to Habanera Town in January X773 - after that jackass of a father killed my mother. I wasn't well educated, due to his... own issues, so I had to go to school and be educated on multiple areas. I was able to persuade someone to give me a job when I was thirteen - allowing me to accumulate jewels and live in my own property from fourteen, all the while learning my various forms of Magic."
She finished, "I made many friends while living and learning in Habanera Town; some adults, and others being girls my own age. With the forms of Magic that I had learned, I also took jobs which would normally be reserved for Mages belonging to Guilds, and then became a professional hunter in mid-X777 - hunting animals and even dangerous monsters just for the thrill. I left to join a Guild about two weeks ago, an obvious point since I was in Phantom Lord and annoying you."
That prompted Gajeel to stop in his tracks and glared at her with a dark look on his face as the son of Metalicana bluntly called out, "You're lying."
Lorraine halted with him, a blood vessel nearly bursting in her forehead as she rounded on the 5'5ft raven haired teen who remained unflinching, despite her obvious anger towards him. "Excuse me!? You don't even know me, what part of that is a lie?!", she yelled.
Gajeel simply tapped his ears in response, "Some part of that story was a pile of bullshit. I don't know which part, but I could tell that you weren't telling the truth. And that the way you speak was too rehearsed."
"And how can you can tell?", the blonde challenged, feeling peeved at her fellow Mage's criticism.
"It's all thanks to my Magic that I was taught by Metalicana, Iron Dragon Slayer Magic, came with the added bonus of enhanced senses, especially hearing and sight. Your heart rate increased, and your voice rose in pitch by a miniscule amount. I'm essentially a walking lie detector.", he explained, showing his confidence of his abilities.
Ah, crapbaskets! Just my luck. I am surprised Master Jose didn't say anything about it when I joined the Guild. Yet Gajeel saw through me., she thought in nervousness.
"What's Iron Dragon Slayer Magic? And you're right, I wasn't telling the whole truth, but I'd rather not talk about it, especially not with you, someone who doesn't seem to be the sort who deals with sensitive stuff.", Lorraine told him, fixing her eyes on him.
Gajeel snorted as they continued walking, nearing the residence of Oak Town's Mayor named Tuare Ninya Veyron, "You got that right. If you wanna go do the 'my life is a sack of shit, and I need a strong shoulder to cry on' routine, don't pick me to provide that shoulder for you. I ain't got time for that pansy ass nonsense, and as for Iron Dragon Slayer Magic, I'll show you later."
'Tch, it better be worth the wait, or I'm putting an arrow so far up your ass, you won't be able to pull it out.' Lorraine thought as they stopped outside a fancy-looking building, clearly owned by someone who could afford to throw away jewels on expensive luxury. The front door opened, courtesy of a smartly dressed, middle aged but sharp and strong looking, greying butler, before Lorraine could even knock on the door.
"Welcome to Lady Tuare's manor. I am Sebas Tian. She has been expecting you, Phantom Lord Mages.", the butler politely greeted them, allowing the two to enter.
She and Gajeel took a few steps inside as an elegantly dressed woman, clearly Mayor Tuare Ninya Veyron herself and aged somewhere in her late-thirties, gracefully descended down a flight of stairs in the building, smiling warmly as she stepped outside to greet them.
Before Lorraine could get a word out, Gajeel shoved the job description close to her face, prompting the woman to quickly step back if she didn't want to end up with a nasty bruise on her forehead. Although Sebas Titan had frowned in disapproval at such rude action towards the lady of the manor he faithfully served under but so far he kept his mouth silent and not take action unless she ordered him to.
Although annoyed at such act by Gajeel up close all of a sudden, Mayor Tuare quickly shrugged that off with a professional look and began to speak that also didn't sound as arrogant as the duo expected her to.
"Ah, thank you for coming, subordinates of Wizard Saint Jose Porla. As you already know, we're having trouble with criminals who insist on stealing from us and burning down homes. They always come from the forests over there. It would be wonderful if you could take care of them, um...", the female Mayor of Oak Town trailed off, pointing at a section of the vast forest behind them where the group of bandits were hiding there.
"Mages of Phantom Lord. Lorraine Xanthine, and this is Gajeel Redfox, he's a second cousin of mine. Clearly younger and rather unruly, I mean look at those facial piercings and shaven eyebrows... I apologize ma'am, I'm going off track, I promise we won't let you down, ma'am.", the blonde woman flinched as her accomplice jabbed a finger into her ribs.
As they turned around to leave Mayor Tuare's manor and proceed on the Job to go find and beat up some thugs, Gajeel hissed, "I can speak for myself, thank you very much. Last time I checked, I ain't mute, and I definitely ain't your cousin. Also, we won't let you down, ma'am. Heh, look at you, Girl Scout."
"I'd much rather be a Girl Scout, than have the attitude of a dangerously undisciplined thug who thinks it's okay to practically disrespect and nearly assault clients. I mean, Gajeel, you nearly punched her in the forehead. Do you want her to cut our reward by a significant amount, like thirty percent, or give us a bad review?", the female Phantom Lord Mage shot back.
She then added, "Not to mention, her butler looked like he's gonna tear you apart with his bare hands. And then clean what's left of you and take out the trash afterwards."
This elicited an irritated growl from Gajeel. He turned his head away from her, sneering, "And this is why I go on Jobs alone. So I don't have to put up with other people's bullshit. I pity people who end up getting into romantic relationships. Having to put up with the nagging of the other person, 24/7."
"Well would you look at that, I never knew 'romantic relationships' were in your vocabulary, and I wouldn't speak too soon if I were you. You might get unlucky, end up in a relationship with a girl who can put you in your place - yourself being the one doing the nagging.", Lorraine retorted.
Gajeel crinkled his nose in disdain, appearing to be disgusted by the thought, "In your dreams. I never nag, and I definitely ain't getting into a something stupid like a romantic relationship. As for you, I couldn't see anyone wanting to do anything with a irritating, loudmouth blonde like you, gihihihihi."*
The nineteen year old scoffed, "Someone not wanting anything to do with me? Dream on! I could probably get more girls than you could ever hope to have? However, maybe you're just not into girls, you know, perhaps you secretly root for the other side, but don't want to admit it?", the blonde suggested, smirking and raising an eyebrow.
As they walked into the forest, a look of abject horror found its way onto Gajeel's face, his brain quickly catching up and working out what she meant.
"What the fuck, no way, don't even suggest that I'm gay?!" Gajeel snapped, nearly falling into a ditch.
Lorraine grabbed the back of his shirt's neckline, pulling him back before he could fall into the muddy water. "You know, that's a really vehement denial. Are you sure that you don't want to tell me anything, I mean I won't judge you for being gay, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, and I think you and Totomaru would make a great couple... even though he's six years older than you, and acknowledging the fact that you're a minor."
As they leapt over the ditch, easily landing on the other side, Lorraine noticed that Gajeel had converted the flesh on his right fist into iron. She playfully nudged him, earning a rough shove in retaliation which nearly knocked her off balance and into the wide ditch, "Hey, lighten up, I was just teasing you. Perhaps you just need help getting that eight foot 'antihumour' pole out of your ass."
Gajeel rounded on her, threateningly raising his fist as he bared his teeth, "That's it, you keep your mouth shut or I'll-"
"Hey you two, stop arguing with each other and stay where you are!" A weasly voice cut in, infuriating Gajeel even more as they turned towards the source of the interruption.
It was a skinny young man with brown hair, tatty clothes, nervous eyes which darted back and forth between Gajeel and Lorraine, and a wicked looking knife possessing a serrated edge.
Nervously, he tried to sound threatening to little success, "Hey, lady, your backpack. I want it. Take it off and give it to me, and while you're at it, give me those mesh warmers on your elbows, your trainers, the sliver earring, and the bracelet. Just do as I say and nobody has to get hurt."
Unshaken by the weak verbal and physical threat, Gajeel yawned and settled into a frog-like crouch, giving Lorraine the go-ahead. It was clear that he wanted to see what the newbie member of Phantom Lord can do herself.
She flexed one of her hands, warning the criminal, "You know, we're both Mages, and I use Requip: The Archer. Trust me on this, this is going to end terribly for you, and I really don't want to give up my backpack. I think I'd rather keep it for another... I don't know, three, maybe four more years."
"If you were smart, at this point you would've already ran away from us and gone to find somebody else, an easier target, to rob. Now, Requip: Flatbow.", the blonde finished as she summoned the aforementioned weapon, and then summoned an arrow with two red Magic Circles whose intricate symbol on the center is that of an medieval archer's cap with a bow and arrow.
"Mages? I don't care about that, pretentious pricks that you are, just hurry up and give me the backpack.", the man flinched, almost dropping his knife when the flatbow appeared as he tried to act tough in front of two people who can use Magic.
Lorraine partially nocked the arrow, held the flatbow towards the ground, and asked, "If you're so eager to have my backpack, then why don't you come and get it. Surely, for a criminal like yourself, you're tough and strong enough to handle a bit of pain."
Raising the flatbow and pulling back the bowstring, Lorraine fired the arrow into his right knee before he could ask what she meant. The man staggered, falling backwards, and he would've screamed if it weren't for the nineteen year old who pressed her hand against his mouth, preventing him from making nothing more than prolonged muffled noises.
The Iron Dragon Slayer walked over, smirking as he sneered, "If you scream when she moves her hand, I'll shatter the bone in your shin, then break your wrist and one of your collarbones. One crippled leg is bad, but two? Life wouldn't be worth living."
Setting the flatbow on the forest floor next to her, Lorraine moved her hand away and immediately clenched it, ready to punch the young man in the face if he tried to scream. Through teary eyes, he frantically said, "Please don't hurt me! The guys that I were with are four-hundred metres away, huddled around a camp fire as they share horror stories and show off the stuff that they've stolen!"
He added in confession, "I've never stolen anything, or burned down any houses! I'm just a lookout, but I thought I'd try my luck with you two!"
"Awww, that wasn't fun, and that was easier than I expected it to be. Hey, you're the worst criminal I've ever met. I thought criminals were meant to be hardcore fuckheads... well, most of them at least. Stop being a little bitch and grow a pair.", Gajeel looked disappointed, but then mashed his iron fist into the man's collarbone, breaking it with an audible 'SNAP!'.
Lorraine had to cover his mouth with her hand to suppress another scream, rolling her eyes as Gajeel transformed his fist back into ordinary flesh - gleefully snickering as he did so.
"Gajeel, was that really necessary?" Lorraine snapped, watching the young man's chest as his breathing slowly transitioned from hyperventilating to deep, rapid breaths. The fourteen year old was about to answer the question when his accomplice suddenly punched the wounded man in his temple, knocking him unconscious. As his limp body began to slump, Lorraine pushed him over - leaving him out cold on his right side.
"Lorraine, was that really necessary?" Gajeel deadpanned in response.
Lorraine laughed as they stood up and dragged him over to a nearby tree, "Touché. Anyways, he'll live, but he probably won't be walking again. As for his collarbone, I guess we'll find out in the foreseeable future. Come on, we've got some criminals to beat up and a lot of valuables, possibly unbelievably expensive or highly rare ones, to rescue, recover, and return."
"Yeah, yeah, quit badgering me, I already know the details of the job, I haven't forgot. I ain't got a short term memory. Why didn't you leave your backpack in the guild? It's not like we're going to be camping out. Also, I can definitely hear the crackling of their camp sites fire." Gajeel told her as they started walking.
Lorraine shrugged, "Well, I don't exactly know where I'm going to be sleeping - Master Jose didn't tell or show me whether Phantom Lord has dorms, so I'm carrying it around until I find out. And everyone in the guild looks really shady, I wouldn't trust them to not look through and take something from my backpack."
"Fair point. By the way, that was some good shooting. I've never seen someone raise a bow and fire off an arrow so quickly - although it's not like I watch archery competitions. At least I know that you'll be able to handle yourself." Gajeel commented after he had observed her in action.
Lorraine glanced over at him before she gave a cheeky smile, "Wow, am I going deaf, or did you just give me a compliment? I'm saving that, I don't think I'll ever get another one."
"Yeah, whatever... I was feeling generous." Gajeel grumbled the last part to himself. Suddenly, something caught his eye, just as his leg stepped over and into it.
Courtesy of his Iron Dragon Slayer durability that's far tougher than regular human skin, the teen smirked as a bear trap snapped shut, the jaws shattering as they fiercely smashed into his lower leg but they end up being completely shattered as a result. "Gihihihihi, a bear trap? These guys might be trash, but they definitely have good taste. Gihihihihi, if you were in my position, you'd be screaming like a bitch.", he commented with amusement.
Lorraine stared at the destroyed bear trap that failed to even make an Iron Dragon Slayer flinch and believed that it's part of his Magic enhancing his body to be tougher than a regular human. It's safe to say that a poor schmuck with a metal weapon will be in for a surprise when they try attack him to no effect., she thought.
"Oh please, you must be out of your mind if you think I could be taken out by a mere bear trap. Still, I'm surprised you even saw it. Normally you appear to be zoning off. I guess you have a higher attention span than I thought you did.", she retorted, taking the remains of the trap and flinging it aside.
On the other hand, Gajeel shook off the remains of the destroyed bear trap from his undamaged leg. "What an absolute joke, using something that only Rune Knights, petty civilians, and the worst mages would fall for. What did they think would be coming for them, stealing from the town that Phantom Lord is situated in? Now I'm even more eager to beat them up and put them in their place.", the son of Metallicana stated, sporting a bloodthirsty grin as he sniffed around and after locating the targets, he stormed ahead with great speed.
Lorraine had to pick up the pace and catch up to him, running as fast as she can with the flatbow in her right hand. "Yeah, leave me behind so you can hog all the fun why don't you?", she sarcastically called out.
Reaching their destination, the Phantom Lord Mages came across the camp a few seconds later. Lorraine nearly running into Gajeel when he'd suddenly stopped but she stopped herself in time.
Standing beside him, she saw that the camp was a semicircle of thirteen men, all of them sitting down and facing away from the duo - showing off their prizes to each other - with the oldest being in his early forties. One was repeatedly throwing a Communications Lacrima Crystal into the air as if it were a ball to play with, another had an expensive looking watch on his wrist, whilst another appeared to be hilariously clumsy as he carelessly swung around an ornamental katana, almost beheading one of his friends in the process.
"Your call, Gajeel. Show me what this Dragon, Metalicana, taught you.", the blonde requested, prompting Gajeel to step forwards, smirking and eager to show off as he kicked a fallen branch aside.
The men were so preoccupied with themselves, they didn't even hear the noise made when he kicked the branch on purpose.
The son of Metalicana took a deep breath and cupped his hands in front of his mouth as if he is going to blow a trumpet, a green colorred intricate Magic Circle with a draconic symbol appearing in front of him as he did so.
Lorraine whistled loudly, getting the attention of the entire group. Suddenly caught off guard, the bandits quickly dropped their ill-gotten stuff, before scrambling to get their weapons and defend themselves.
But it was too late as the raven haired teen narrowed his eyes and called out, "You dumbasses chose the wrong town to steal from. Now, be torn to pieces! IRON DRAGON'S ROAR!"
Lorraine widened her eyes as a powerful tornado, colored dark grey due to the amount of iron scraps that was in it, raged forwards from Gajeel's mouth and engulfed the men, putting out their fire in the process. She watched, awed, as the attack carved up the ground and shredded trees, reducing them to miniscule stumps. Eventually, the son of Metalicana stopped his attack, allowing Lorraine to see the complete aftermath of his Iron Dragon's Roar.
The ground looked as if someone had taken multiple giant rakes to it, scraping as hard and fast as they could without any form of organization. The men were even more unfortunate. Most of them were lying on the ground, moaning in pain as their limbs been twisted into awkward and painful positions, while the iron shards had shredded their clothes, making them appear to have charged through barbed wire, and embedded themselves into exposed flesh, suffering bleeding wounds all over their bodies.
Only one, who'd dived for cover, had managed to escape the onslaught. Disentangling himself from one of the moaning men, he grunted, hurriedly scrambling to his feet. As the bandit began to run away and abandon his associates, Lorraine nocked an arrow and incapacitated him by shooting the arrow into his left thigh. He cried out in pain, staggering in his tracks. The wounded criminal tried to get up, but was then knocked unconscious, dropping like a sack of potatoes as Gajeel threw a sizeable rock into his head.
"So that's the Roar of an Iron Dragon, huh? Well, thank goodness I wasn't on the receiving end of that.", Lorraine noted out loud as they began to go around to each of the men, taking any items that were in their possession and forcing them to stand up despite their protests.
She pulled the arrow out of her victim's leg, hooked her arms underneath his shoulders and dragged him over towards the other men, forcing two of them to hold his deadweight, ignoring their pained protests.
Gajeel retrieved a nearby sack which escaped obliteration by his attack, going around and filling it with the stolen items. He considered taking the Communications Lacrima Crystal for himself, but decided against it. He would have no use for the device, would probably just end up breaking it, and if Jose ever wanted to summon him for a private meeting, then he could always just send a Thought Projection to get him. The Dragon Slayer of Metalicana sniffed at one of the watches, huffing when he couldn't smell any iron in it.
"Now, as you can see, it's the end of the line for you guys. My partner and I are going to follow you back to Oak Town, and if any of you step out of line, or try to run away, you won't like what'll come to you." Lorraine warned, literally slapping a pained smirk off one of their faces. Hearing heavy footsteps approaching, she turned to see Gajeel walking over to them, a bulging sack held in his arms.
"I'll carry the stuff, so your flimsy arms won't complain about carrying it." He told her, a mocking smirk plastered to his face. Lorraine rolled her eyes, shoving the first man and 'encouraging' him to start moving.
Getting all the men over the ditch had initially been troublesome. None of them possessed the physical conditioning that most Mages did, so they couldn't simply jump over to the other side, and they didn't want to wade through the muddy water. Gajeel refused to take a short trip over a nearby bridge, so Lorraine had him turn his arms into two iron poles - allowing the men to use his arm as a small walkway.
Nearly forgetting about the man she'd knocked unconscious and kneecapped, before being brutalized by Gajeel, the blonde woman jumped across the ditch while holding him in a fireman's carry. Joining her and getting the men to start moving again, Gajeel looked vaguely impressed that she was carrying someone else, probably weighing quite a lot more than she did, on her shoulders.
Lorraine gave him a pointed look that said, 'Yeah, bastard, I'm stronger than you think.'
Gajeel's face gave away the fact that he wanted to say something, but whatever it was, he considered against it. Lorraine didn't mind, she'd get it out of him another time by driving him up the wall with her brand of madness.
One of the men sighed, nearly tripping over a rock, "Guys, can you believe it? We got taken out by a blonde chick with a bow, and her emo friend who's what, fourteen, maybe fifteen? Pretty sad when you think about it, even if they did use Magic."
Lorraine would've retorted to his comment, but Gajeel beat her to it as he called out. "I'm fourteen, and there ain't anything sad about it. You guys just suck in the fighting department, that's all. Your awareness could do with some work, I was surprised when you guys didn't hear me kick a branch. Seriously, how long did you lot think you could keep committing arson and theft, before you got taken down. 'Yeah, let's steal from a town with a guild in it. A really good idea, right guys, we'll be able do this forever'."
Some of the younger members of the gang, despite their moderate injuries, couldn't help but snicker at the expense of their leader. Their said leader got red in the face after being savagely roasted.
Lorraine cleared her throat, suppressing a laugh, causing the leader of the gang to leer at her, his eyes lecherously scanning her figure, lingering on her covered bust for longer than she was comfortable with, "Yeah, laugh all you want now, Blondie. Once I'm out of jail, I'll be coming for you first. After I'm done with her, I'll be going for you, punk."
"Awww... Look at you, acting all big and threatening a girl, although given who I am, and who you are, it feels empty. Until you learn Magic, keep your lousy mouth shut. But given how old you are, it's pretty much too late for that. Do you feel threatened, Gajeel?" Lorraine asked, looking over at the Iron Dragon Slayer who shook his head, smirking at the humiliated criminal leader as they passed the trees and re-entered Oak Town.
"Alright, hurry up and get your asses into gear, I want to be back in Phantom Lord as soon as possible!" Gajeel yelled at the frightened bandits, forcing them to break out into a medium paced jog.
As they rapidly advanced through the outskirts of Oak Town, spotting some of the houses which had been burned down, several passing residents of the town came over to help the duo from Phantom Lord lead the men over to the mayor's house. They were pleased to see that the criminals being captured as karma happening upon them.
Surprisingly, Mayor Tuare Ninya Veyron was standing outside her house with a bag in her right hand, and her butler Sebas Tian stood next to her, the former standing right where Lorraine and Gajeel had left her. A bright smile appeared on her face as the captured criminals were made to stand in a line in front of her.
Lorraine had a few arrow nocked, ready to shoot incase any of the men tried to make a move for the mayor. So far, none of the bandits had done anything at all but it's better safe than sorry.
The butler, despite appearing to be old, didn't bat an eyelid or complain despite the weight of the sack that Gajeel had just handed to him. In fact, it even looked like he carried it with one right hand as it's simply like paperweight to him. He's definitely not some regular butler., Lorraine thought in observation.
Sebas Tian said, "Thank you, good sir. Ma'am, I'll be sure to distribute the stolen goods to their rightful owners."
The said butler then walked off, heading towards the town center, soon vanishing amongst the masses of people. After watching him leave, the mayor assigned a several of Oak Town's guards to get the men imprisoned so they could await their rightful punishment.
Finally, Mayor Tuare addressed the two, "Thank you, both of you. I'll be sure to send a messenger to the Magic Council so they know that Oak Town is no longer being disturbed. Here's your reward, 10,000 Jewels, as stated in the job request. I'll be sure to send good word to Wizard Saint Jose Porla."
"You're welcome, ma'am. If you ever need someone to sort out a disturbance in Oak Town, whether domestic or foreign, you know where to find us.", Lorraine took the bag of Jewels as the mayor retreated back into her house, satisfaction flowing through the former's body.
Shrugging, the duo began to walk their way back to Phantom Lord, splitting the jewels between them in the way the nineteen year old had promised - 7,000 Jewels to Gajeel, and 3,000 Jewels to Lorraine.
On their way back to the guild, Lorraine glanced at Gajeel, almost doing a double take when she saw him munching on a piece of mangled iron. What baffled her was where he could've got it from. Surely there hadn't been a random piece of iron in the middle of the forest, had there?
She frowned, confused, "What the hell? Where did you get that piece of iron from? I could've sworn you weren't carrying that when we came out of the forest."
Gajeel grunted, "Remember the bear trap which nearly took off my leg? This twisted piece of iron is that trap. While you were taking your sweet time in figuring out a way to get those guys past the ditch, I briefly went back for the bear trap. It smelled and tasted of iron, so I crushed it and stuffed it down my shirt to have as a snack later."
Lorraine gave him a bewildered stare, "You, Gajeel Redfox, are the weirdest person I've ever met, and I'm probably going to be saying that many more times. Seriously, does your diet consist of iron and nothing but iron? I mean, I get that iron is good for the body, but do you ever consume other things. It's a wonder how you're not suffering from a vast number of deficiencies and diseases."
Gajeel yelled in annoyance, "Goddammit, quit badgering me! You ain't my mother*, or any female relative for that matter! 'And this is Gajeel Redfox, he's a second cousin of mine.' For the record, I actually do eat other stuff, if you really must know. Have you seen a fourteen year old with arms like mine? No... I didn't think so. Protein, essential minerals and carbohydrates, with fats and other stuff sprinkled here and there."
"What about you, on a diet? Gihihihihi." the Iron Dragon Slayer then asked her in turn, laughing at her expense.
"On a diet?! Do I look like I'm on a diet, you cheeky bastard?! How about I punch you in the face and break you nose, give you a really large hint about whether I'm on a diet or not?", Lorraine threatened, de-summoning her flatbow.
"Alright, alright, no need to get so pissy about it. Besides, you punch me in the face, I'll punch you right back and then blast you with my roar attack. I wouldn't want to do it, mess up that pretty face of yours. Still sure about punching me?" Gajeel haughtily retorted, showing off his sharp canine teeth and willing to carry it out.
Lorraine really wanted to knock the cocky smirk off from his face. But not today as she can tell that he is stronger and his Dragon Slayer Magic ain't something to be trifled with.
"... One day. One day, Redfox, you'll never see it coming. Nor will you hear it coming, I promise you that." Lorraine said, pushing open Phantom Lord's doors. She walked through and slammed the both of them in Gajeel's face, but he swiftly retaliated, kicking one of them open.
The blonde had to jump out of the way to avoid having her face imprinted into the side of the door, while the hinges groaned in protest.
Lorraine flipped him the bird and made a beeline straight for Totomaru. The twenty year old sat up in his chair, setting aside his cider, "Well, it looks like you made it. Although it'd be pretty embarrassing to know that you screwed up an easy Job, take out a few thieves troubling Oak Town, and I see you're getting along with Gajeel, flipping the bird at him and all. Did you see his Lost Magic in action, the Iron Dragon Slayer Magic?"
The blonde nodded, "Yeah, he took out a bunch of guys with his roar attack. The aftermath of that thing was pretty savage. I mean, you'd think a Giant had been dragging his fingernails through the forest."
"What have you been doing whilst I was out, drinking cider and getting tipsy? Get off your ass and go on a Job, or show me where the female dorms are. There's no way in hell I'm sleeping on the floor like a homeless person.", she inquired.
Totomaru waved her off, "Mmmmm, I'll go on a Job tomorrow, probably take you with me, and after I finish my cider, I'll show you where the female dorms are. By the way, did you get anything to do on the job, or did Gajeel hog up every opportunity?"
"Nah, I got to shoot a couple of guys. The first interrupted an argument between Gajeel and I, so I put an arrow through his knee. Afterwards, he broke one of his collarbones and I knocked him out. The second escaped the wrath of Gajeel's breath attack, allowing me to put an arrow into his left thigh. It wasn't much, but I still managed to contribute." Lorraine commented, smiling as Totomaru began subconsciously massaging his kneecaps.
"Stop worrying, I won't put an arrow through your knees, unless you give me a good reason to." Lorraine reassured him, drinking a sizeable portion of Totomaru's cider just because she could.
The older man blanched, ignoring the fact that Lorraine had down half of his remaining cider, "Right, that makes me feel so much better. Just don't do anything to piss you off, and I don't get an arrow through my knees. It's a wonder how you haven't kneecapped Gajeel yet."
"It was tempting, especially with some of the comments he made, but Gajeel would probably have no qualms beating me to death if I did, whether or not he had knees to chase me with.", Lorraine replied, shaking her head to rid her mind of the nightmarish image.
"Also-"
"Hey, Blondie!" Gajeel interrupted whatever Totomaru was going to say, prompting the two of them to look over at the Iron Dragon Slayer who held a cold glass of lemonade in his right hand.
With their attention on him, Gajeel continued, looking uncharacteristically awkward as he turned his head away and grit his teeth, "You're alright, not a bad partner, I'll give you that."
Lorraine blinked, "Er, okay, thanks."
Widening his eyes in shock, Totomaru spat out his drink, "What!? What have you done to him, he just gave you a compliment! I've gone on one-hundred Jobs with that jerk, and not once has he complimented me. Just insults, insults, and more insults! And if my Gajeel-ese is up to date, then he basically said - 'You did good out there. You and I teaming up would be cool, but don't get your hopes up'."
The nineteen year old chuckled in amusement, "He said that? That's awesome, although I think we'd end up killing each other if we were on a team together."
Author's Note: Okay, Chapter 2 of "Geoffrey's Legacy" is done and I hope you like it guys. Lorraine having completed her first Job of handling a local bandit gang with Gajeel after recently joining Phantom Lord and they managed to get along with each other somewhat in their own way. Especially in a Legal Guild that is Phantom Lord, a complete opposite of Fairy Tail.
*Oh the irony as canon Gajeel would eventually hit off with Levy McGarden as a couple (even after their first meeting wasn't nice and he admitted that it was his most despicable sin when fighting Bloodman of the Spriggan 12) and later they are expecting to have a child of their own together as shown in Fairy Tail 100 Years Quest.
*The closest thing Gajeel got to a mother was Councilwoman Belno and he reminded her of her deceased son who was said to greatly resemble him. Belno's assassination by Tartaros really hurt Gajeel who remembered her wishes for him.
Enjoy and don't forget to review.
Chapter 3
Hello there, everyone. I'm back with the third chapter of "Geoffrey's Legacy".
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Fairy Tail - all rights and stuff belong to Hiro Mashima. If I was the one to start Fairy Tail, fan-service wouldn't be so prominent and there would be side-series' focused on Irene's ascension to a Queen, how the Mermaid Heel, Lamia Scale and Phantom Lord guilds came to be, Makarov's rise to Guild Master and how Gildarts joined Fairy Tail and became Guild Ace. I only own self-made characters, magic and storylines (I don't).
Enjoy and don't forget to review.
"Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists." - Franklin D. Roosevelt
With his enhanced hearing, Gajeel heard Totomaru translate what he'd said to Lorraine. Even though he'd just been on a Job with the latter, however short it had been, he didn't know what to think of her. Most women caved in, becoming meek whenever he put his foot down, but that damned blonde infuriated him - putting her foot down in return, and matching him word for word.
Not only that, but to add insult to injury, she was taller than him.
The son of Metalicana new that he was average height for his age, 5'5ft, but Lorraine practically towered over him at 5'10ft. Gajeel didn't like it, not one bit, but he had to look up at her.
Due to his pride as a Dragon Slayer, he'd never admit it, but he was embarrassed by the thought of a woman being taller than him. Gajeel hoped once he finished having growth spurts and going through puberty, he'd be significantly taller than Lorraine - forcing her to look up to him.
Dragging his hand over his face as he tried to figure out his thoughts, the teen looked over at Lorraine and Totomaru, the latter laughing at what must've been a joke. The so-called Conflagration looked like his usual stupid self, the dual-coloured hair making him look even more ridiculous, but as for Lorraine, being away from her allowed the Iron Dragon Slayer to get a good look at her - something he hadn't been able to do earlier.
Lorraine had strawberry blonde, nearly appearing to be outright orange, hair which had been set into a neat crop cut, styled to partially sweep over her right eye, and her eyes are sea-green. He noted that when they were on their job, her eyes changed to blue, on some occasions, whenever the light hit them. Lorraine possessed defined, but not to the point of looking nearly emaciated, cheekbones, leading Gajeel to believe that she could've become a model if she'd chosen to.
What's that thing called? Oh yeah, the Sorcerer Weekly Magazine. Gajeel had never been interviewed or asked to model by any of their employees, and he definitely wasn't about to start now. Any who asked him to do either would be chased off with their tail between their legs, a constant barrage of his Iron Dragon's Roar following after them to make sure they got the point. He huffed, focusing on Lorraine again.
From the skin that wasn't covered by clothing, he could see that she had a slim, swimmers build - her biceps and core being notably toned - light skin, sizeable breasts and a curvy, voluptuous body. Fighting down a blush - heh, blushing was for pansies! - as he felt his gaze linger on her chest a little too long, he glanced at her white Phantom Lord mark which was half covered by her grey leggings.
The son of Metalicana felt it was a inconvenient place to have it, for she'd be pulling down her leggings just to show someone which guild she belonged to.
To him, her attire seemed fit for purpose as a mage, or someone who knew they'd be doing a lot of physical activity every day, consisting of a purple, high-collared, sleeveless, midriff cut blouse with tight, grey leggings. She had mesh warmers on both arms, worn over her elbows, grey socks, and trainers which were fastened with velcro straps.
While not necessarily counting as attire, Lorraine also had a sliver earring pierced through her left ear and she wore a bracelet, one that looked particularly appetizing to Gajeel, on her right wrist.
Banishing the idea of eating Lorraine's bracelet, Gajeel transformed his right hand's flesh into iron, clenching and unclenching it, and tracing the words "Iron Dragon Slayer" into the palm of his iron hand. He'd never thought about it before, but he wondered if there were more Dragon Slayers like him aside Natsu Dragneel of Fairy Tail who's known as the "Salamander" and God Serena of the Ten Wizard Saints after he had overheard Master Jose remarking with awe about the #1 Wizard Saint being an extraordinary Dragon Slayer.
More Mages with the power to slay Dragons, but suffered from crippling motion sickness when boarding a transportation - another thing he'd never admit to someone else.
He'd take that humiliating fact about himself to his grave!
Well if I meet them, I'll be sure to put them down and show them who the Alpha is, especially Salamander and God Serena!* I know for certain that there isn't enough room in the sky for more Dragons! Gajeel thought with great anticipation to display the other Dragon Slayers his strength superior than them, turning his hand back into its normal state. Raising the mangled bear trap to his mouth, he took a bite out of it, his powerful jaws and teeth allowing him to make the bite seem effortless.
Chewing, he once again looked over at Lorraine and Totomaru, watching as the former finished off the latter's drink, prompting the S-Class Mage to start complaining about he had to go get another cider to make up for all the cider she'd drank from his glass.
Gajeel held back a growl, swallowing the chunk of the bear trap, before getting up and angrily storming out of the guild, shoving aside an unlucky Mage who tried to get in his way, asking him for a fight. He needed some fresh air.
One, to clear his head, two, to calm himself over the fact that Lorraine was significantly taller than him, and three, because he needed some time alone to think about Lorraine, especially why she smelled a little odd.
Now that Gajeel thought about it, Lorraine had the faint smell of a bird and burnt wood clinging to her, although it was largely masked by whatever soap or perfume she used.
Whatever, he'd ask her about it later. Bluntly to her face as possible so she won't dodge the question.
The Iron Dragon Slayer began to head in the direction of the the southern outskirts of Oak Town. He really needed to find someone to beat up, preferably without getting into trouble with the local authorities or the Magic Council, or get into a fight with a dangerous monster.
An A-Class monster would do, Gajeel wasn't exactly eager to get himself killed; literally thrashed, beaten to death, and becoming deader then dead after becoming a meal, by trying to fight a S-Class monster - something he knew was definitely out of his league...
For now.
Inside the Phantom Lord Guild, Oak Town, Kingdom of Fiore
Lorraine and Totomaru watched as Gajeel stormed out of the guild, forcefully shoving someone aside as he did so.
"What's up with him, getting all moody? He was alright when I was out on the job with him. Maybe he woke up on the wrong side of bed this morning, and it didn't register until now? Or maybe he's just pissed about how I'm not intimidated by his threats?" The young blonde woman suggested as she set down the empty glass of cider, glancing at Totomaru who snorted and stood up, picking up the empty glass.
"You, Xanthine, are coming with me to get a drink. One for myself to replace the one you dared to steal in front of me, and one for yourself to celebrate going on and completing your first job, despite how ridiculously easy it would've been. And you're buying both of them" Totomaru told her, grabbing one of Lorraine's hands and pulling her to her feet. They walked over to the bar, where a young male of short stature had his back to them, cleaning up used cups, glasses and dishes.
The Phantom Lord S-Class Mage must've heard them approach, because he turned around as they took seats behind the counter. Blinking rapidly, Lorraine was surprised when she saw that the bartender was a woman, perhaps only a couple of years old than her. The bartender was the same height as Gajeel, wore a forest pattern shirt and plain jeans, had dark eyes which brightened upon seeing Lorraine, and really short, brown hair.
The brunette remarked upon noticing them, "Oh my, Totomaru, you weren't joking when you said we had another female member in the guild, I really thought you were joking around. Now we have three women in Phantom Lord. Myself, her, and Sue."
She introduced herself to Lorraine, "My apologies, where are my manners, I'm Emilia Walters, the Guild's medic and current bartender."
"Lorraine Xanthine, at least I now know I'm not the only female in this guild. Also, who is Sue?", the blonde said before feeling her right leg being kicked by someone else that got her attention.
The blonde woman looked over at the offender. It was another woman, probably a year younger than herself, with light brown skin, deep violet eyes, and short, dark green hair. She has a small, green oval-shaped jewel in the center of her forehead and small red earrings. She also wore a purple, jester-like hat adorned with the Phantom Lord mark. Her attire consisted of a blue shirt with ripped sleeves, and green pants held up by a buckle belt. She also has reddish-pink bandages wrapped around her wrists, and seems to wear only black socks on her feet.
"I'm Sue, and don't you forget it, or you'll be looking in mirror and crying about the bruises and black eye I gave you." Sue told her, smirking as she summoned a mirror into her right hand for added emphasis.
Clearly Sue was confident in her magical and physical abilities, and had a similar personality to Gajeel, talking down to her, the newcomer of Phantom Lord, as if she expected her to be intimidated by the threat.
Knowing she had to earn her rep, since the guild seemed to be full of arrogant bullies with magical abilities, barring Totomaru, Jose, and Emilia, Lorraine was ready to put Sue in her place, but the Conflagration himself stepped between them as he intervened.
"Please, ladies, I'd rather not watch the both of you get into a catfight, despite how hilariously entertaining it would be. Hell, you can fight each other another time, just not inside the Guild. Sue, I'm sure you remember that Master Jose wasn't happy about the damage last time that happened.", Totomaru stated while giving Lorraine a pointed look before turning to the bartender/medic. "Emilia, some red wine for myself, and a good cider for Lorraine, the newcomer. Both of them are on her, and if my memory serves right, that'll be 120 Jewels."
The blonde woman glared at him, promising pain with her eyes, as she took her Magical purse out of her backpack, and set the required Jewels in Emilia's hand. Pocketing the currency she received, the brunette went to get the requested drinks.
After making sure Sue couldn't rile up Lorraine any further, Totomaru said, "You know, I wanna fight you, obviously after we have our drinks and you've been shown where the female dorms are. I mean, you managed to impress someone like Gajeel. Aside Master Jose, no one did until now. So clearly you're not weak and can handle yourself."
The S-Class Mage of Phantom Lord elaborated, "And also, I don't want to boast too much, but at the end of the day, I am an S-Class Mage, so you'll probably lose against me. If you want me to, I can go easy on you for our fight? Try not to embarrass you too much."
Lorraine chose to retort by punching him in the arm, eliciting a yelp of pain from Totomaru who started complaining about how he was going to get a 'dead arm', "No way, if you can handle Gajeel's threats and taunts, then I can definitely handle you and your dual-coloured hair, Salt and Pepper. Go easy on me, and I won't hesitate to put a couple of arrows where the sun doesn't shine. I'll leave you limping for a couple of weeks. I might be a newbie in Phantom Lord, but I've had my magic for six years, Mr. Black-and-White Hair."
As Totomaru paled, making a mental note to not go easy on Lorraine and fact that he had yet another nickname, Sue appeared to be impressed, allowing the mirror in her hand to shatter and disintegrate into magic particles as Emilia returned with Totomaru's and Lorraine's drinks, "Damn girl, you tell him how it is. You can definitely talk the talk, but whether you can walk the walk still remains to be seen. I'll be sure to watch you guys fight, after Emilia and I show you around the girls' dorms."
Tch, stuck up brat, I'll show you that I can most certainly walk the walk, and I'll see how much walking and talking you do, once I put a couple of arrows through your kneecaps. Hmmm, I seem to have an odd fixation of kneecapping people with arrows... Lorraine thought, taking her drink and downing half of it. Doing so seemed to be a bad idea, as the nineteen year old could already feel herself getting slightly tipsy. She'd never drunk before, so body had yet to get used to alcoholic drinks. She locked eyes with Sue, "Thanks, I'd appreciate that. At least I know that I won't be sleeping in here tonight, using my backpack as a rough pillow."
As Sue laughed, Totomaru snorted, sipping at his wine, "Come on, even if you hadn't brought up the topic of where you'd be sleeping tonight, I, or somebody else, would've stepped in to show you where the dorms were once evening came around. Phantom Lord may not be the nicest guild in Earth Land, compared to the likes of Lamia Scale or Fairy Tail, but we still look out for each other, and letting someone sleep on the floor like a homeless person where there are dozens of empty rooms is a definite no-no."
Ignoring the feeling that someone was gently pressing their fingers against her temples, Lorraine clapped her hands together and said, "Thanks, that's nice to know. Now, I don't know anything about you guys, so tell me something about yourselves, like what kind of magic you use. Except for you, Totomaru, I already know a little bit about you, and I wanna see what you can do with your magic when we have our fight. No spoiling anything, and I want to see whether your title is just for show or if you actually live up to it - Totomaru of the Conflagration."
"Oh!? Well would you look at that. The newcomer, Lorraine Xanthine, is apparently starting to doubt my abilities and underestimate me, one of Phantom Lord's top S-Class Mages. I wouldn't do that if I were you, or I'll cut you down to size." Totomaru jokingly threatened, his hand resting on the katana sheathed by his side.
He yelped as Sue kicked him, "Hush now, perhaps you haven't noticed, but other people are waiting to speak. I use Mirror Magic, a form of Caster Magic that involves using mirrors in combat. I can summon and control the properties of mirrors, there's no limit to how many mirrors I can summon, and multiple can be joined together, to create a three-dimensional object. I normally use the mirrors to reflect magical attacks, usually physical ones, and imprison my enemies, but I can use them to attack."
Sue told her, allowing Emilia to go next, "Well, my magic is nothing special. I use Ink Magic, a form of Caster Magic that allows me to fight, although I'm not much of a fighter, by using ink. I don't do much with it, just use it to prevent others from seeing where I am. However I'm much better at using my Healing Magic, hence why Master Jose has given me the position of Phantom Lord's Medic. I just heal injuries obtained from fights; bruises, open wounds, and broken bones. I can't heal severed limbs yet, but I might be able to in the foreseeable future."
"I believe you'll be able to, I have faith in you, and if you ever leave Phantom Lord, you should pursue a career as a professional doctor. You'd be amazing as one." Lorraine told her, getting a bright, joyful smile from the bartender.
"So, L, what kind of magic do you use, or are you saving the reveal for your fight with Totomaru?" Sue inquired, earning a raised eyebrow at the unexpected nickname.
"Since I believe that I can kick Totomaru's ass, I'll spill. I use Requip, also known as Ex-quip, a form of Caster Magic and a type of Spatial Magic related to the summoning of various types of equipment. It allows me to store a variety of items, such as clothing and weaponry, in a pocket dimension so I can summon them at any time, even during battle. As you may know, there are various forms of Requip - The Knight, The Gunner and The Archer. I use the latter most form to summon a custom outfit and various types of bows, three of which have been specially customized."
Totomaru frowned, looking at Sue, "Requip? Sounds a lot like that girl from Fairy Tail, Erza Scarlet."
"Who's that?" Lorraine asked, downing the rest of her cider as Sue crossed her arms, "Some stubborn redhead who joined Fairy Tail in X776. She uses Requip: The Knight and Sword Magic, and sometime during last year, attained the nickname; "Titania". Apparently, there's been rumours going around that she'll be participating in Fairy Tail's X780 S-Class Promotional Trial, after their previous said trial, set to take place this year, had to be cancelled at the last moment. Something about the Guild Master's grandson, another S-Class Mage, causing a bit of trouble."
Lorraine noted out loud, "Laxus Dreyar, the "Thunder God"*, right? Looks like Fairy Tail needs to get their act together."
"Anyway, to support the arrows I can summon, I can also use Arrow Magic, a Holder Magic involving the use of arrows fired from any sort of bow. A Magic which, as the name itself suggests, is focused around the use of arrows, with those weapons acting as mediums for the user to perform particular attacks. I can deliver arrows which inject venom or hallucinatory agents into my targets, and even utilise napalm.", she told them.
Emilia, along with Sue and Totomaru, appeared to be startled after hearing what she said to them. The brunette warned the new member, "Napalm? Lorraine, the Magic Council banned Napalm Magic, and napalm-based weaponry back in X775, declaring their use to be illegal due to how inhumane the substance is when ignited, due to how it sticks to skin and causes severe burns, and they stated that its use would be punishable by a life sentence with no chance of parole."
It was banned four years ago? Aw, that sucks a complete load of bull! Lorraine thought with a look of disappointment. Along with ordinary fire arrows, the blonde had already envisioned herself going around and having fun setting her enemies alight.
Now, with Emilia's statement, that vision had suddenly shattered, crashed, burned, and been buried. She would be playing a game of chicken with the wrath of the Magic Council, and an inescapable life sentence, if she was seen going around and shooting napalm arrows at Dark Mages.
Besides, inhumane? It wasn't like she was going to go around hitting innocent people with napalm arrows for giggles.
"Right, then I guess I'll have to be absolutely discrete about their use, if I want to avoid being behind bars for the rest of my life. No shooting them in the presence of Rune Knights, unless I put them six feet under because they saw. I won't like it, but there's no way I'm getting a life sentence!" Lorraine told them, shrugging as Emilia took her empty glass and set it in the soapy sink behind her.
Then the bartender seemingly shared a silent message with Totomaru, as they swapped positions, prompting Sue to get out of her seat.
At Lorraine's questioning look, Sue elaborated, patting the blonde's back, "You've finished your drink, so now Emilia and I are going to show you the girls dorms, and get you sorted with a room."
Emilia locked one of her arms into Lorraine's, and began walking with her and Sue towards the right side of his guild, where there happened to be a door - which largely blended in with the wall, as it was the same colour. Grabbing the handle, which had the universal symbol for the female gender on it, Sue turned it and opened the door to reveal a well lit corridor with multiple doors on each side, complete with a stairs at the end of the corridor, presumably leading to another floor.
The trio advanced into the corridor, Sue closing the door behind herself, before walking ahead of them, pointing at a door which had a bright green '1' engraved into the wood, and saying, "This one is mine, don't knock on my door after 10:30 pm, or before 8:45 am, or I'll introduce you to my definition of pain. Although you'll have no reason to, you won't be getting into my room, as I have my own key. Everyone does. One key for their room, including a spare incase they lose the first key, or Gajeel happens to eat it."
After jangling a bunch of keys and giving one to Lorraine, Sue pointed at a door which had a black '2' engraved into the wood, "That's Emilia's room. She usually has it unlocked, but I'd still knock if I were you, I'm sure you wouldn't like it if someone randomly barged into your room, something Gajeel is notorious for doing. I don't know why, but insists on having her room smell strongly of disinfectant. Maybe it's to go with her theme of being a Medic, or dissuade Gajeel from entering unannounced, given his enhanced senses of smell."
Then they walked over to the third door, this one having a plain '3' engraved onto the wood. Lorraine stuck the key into the keyhole, twisted, and then pushed it open. She was immediately presented with a sofa at the far side of the room, to the right of the sofa was an expensive looking fireplace full of unburnt wood. In the middle of the room was a decently sized kitchen area, lined with several drawers, and a dining table, complete with four chairs, and then past the table was two rooms - with their doors already open.
The right room was the bedroom, soon to be her bedroom. The walls had been painted pink, and Lorraine intended to have that changed as soon as possible as she disliked... no, absolutely despised the colour pink. The bed was normal sized with a blue mattress, thick purple bedsheet, and two lengthy pillows. There was also a window allowing her to see outside, a large wardrobe, and a small side-table which had four books, a small pack of tissues, a couple packets of fruity chewing gum, and a night light on it.
The other room had a toilet, a couple of towels hanging over a white sink with hot and cold taps - the former had a red rubber band on its base, while the latter had a blue rubber band on its base. There was also a large cupboard with a few essential items, and a bathtub which came with an adjustable sliver showerhead. The bathtub had a plastic mat with suction cups on the bottom, presumably to stop her from falling over and breaking her neck whilst she was having a shower.
Walking in, Lorraine smiled, tossing her backpack onto the sofa, and then turned back to Emilia and Sue. Pocketing away the key, she told the two, "Thanks guys, I'll be sure to change a few things, but it's otherwise really good."
She inquired from them, "Before I make myself 'at home' and then go off to kick Totomaru's ass, is there anything else I should know about Phantom Lord? I feel like I'm standing in a business subdivision and that Master Jose hasn't told me everything I need to know."
Sue and Emilia shared a look, the latter biting her lower lip. Then they looked back at Lorraine, with Sue saying first, "That's because this building is a subdivision. The actual Phantom Lord Headquarters is located on the mountainous outskirts of Oak Town. Aside from how Phantom Lord was founded by Master Jose's ancestor, I'm guessing you don't know a lot about it. That's alright, very few actually do, so we'll explain for you. This may take a while, so let's take a seat."
Lorraine let them enter the room. She sat on one of the chairs at the wooden table, resting and elbow on the table, while Emilia and Sue opted for sitting on the large sofa. The former yelped in surprise, almost leaping to her feet, when she practically sunk into the sofa. Waiting, Sue only started talking when Emilia was able to get herself into a comfortable position.
"For starters, Phantom Lord was founded in X686 by Master Jose's ancestor, Geoffrey, who died in X703. Then in the span of 51 years, Phantom Lord went through three Guild Masters from the long family line of Porlas carrying on Geoffrey's legacy* until Master Jose took charge in X754 when he was twenty years old. While our Guild already had considerable influence, Master Jose knew that it needed more if he wanted to become a Wizard Saint acknowledged by the Magic Council, so he began creating Phantom Lord subdivisions all over the Kingdom of Fiore. Essentially, Phantom Lord is a magical business, which doubles as a Guild. We have about twenty subdivisions, one of which is located on the outskirts of Magnolia Town, and that's where Fairy Tail resides." Sue explained, the underlying message being that Jose was playing with fire by having a subdivision so close to Fairy Tail.
The last time there was another Guild established nearby Fairy Tail, they were kicked out from Magnolia.*
Emilia took over in Sue's place, "At first, Master Jose used to admire Fairy Tail and thought that Geoffrey's grudge against them was silly and a thing of a past. But then he steadily grew to hate Fairy Tail. Because Master Makarov had humiliated Master Jose over an incident at the Guild Master's League meeting, and he had nearly lost his title for retaliating and acting unbefitting a Wizard Saint. Not only that, but Fairy Tail is known for causing incredible amounts of collateral damage when they take Jobs, and their Guild Master encourages it instead of disciplining them. Master Jose is the opposite, he'd rather you don't destroy something just because you were being reckless. It's bad for business and everyone knows it."
She revealed more to Lorraine, "Now, Phantom Lord is an economic powerhouse in the Kingdom of Fiore. Heck, we have to be, because Fiore is teetering on the edge of being bankrupt. Why, because they have to spend so much money fixing damages caused by Fairy Tail, and don't even get started on the money spent on Fiore's Royal Armed Forces. If anything, you could say Master Jose has the political co-position of Chancellor and Under-Treasurer of His Majesty's Exchequer in the Royal Government of Fiore."
"Wow, how much power does Master Jose have in Fiore?" Lorraine questioned, awed by the awesomeness of her Guild Master and also worried for him that he is wearing too many hats at once.
That would certainly drive even the most workaholic person mad to the point of burning out and sending themselves down to an early grave.
Sue smirked as she further explained, "Master Jose is in charge of ensuring damages caused by Fairy Tail is repaired, those made homeless by irreparable damage are housed as quickly as possible, and proper compensation is paid. Heck, he even offered them jobs for them to continue their livelihood, generating more income to Phantom Lord . He also implemented the "Gildarts Shift" in every town across Fiore, is preventing crippling inflation by that much, is providing the money for: a.) Magnolia Town's annual Fantasia Parade, b.) for Fairy Tail's S-Class Promotional Trials, given how the aforementioned guild wouldn't be able to afford it due to how they spend their money on booze and monthly repairing the guild, and c.) for the esteemed Fiore's Magical Academy. He is singlehandedly stopping Mermaid Heel from collapsing, funding them until they can sort out their problems, especially their Guild Master issue."
"Jeez, it's no wonder why he acts the way he is, he's just trying to not lose his mind from all the things he has to do, including carry out his duties as a Guild Master and a Wizard Saint. Although, if it really is stressing him out, then I think he should go and see a therapist. Or a lot of them if possible.", Lorraine commented with sympathy after recalling Jose's eccentric moments when she first met him to join Phantom Lord as a new member.
Emilia giggled as she informed Lorraine about that, "You have no idea, I've seen Master Jose's, ah, eccentric side, and it's quite the spectacle. Plus, I've tried advising him to see a therapist, and I remember when Gajeel ended up on the receiving end of it, he wasn't amused or impressed, and tried to knock Master Jose out."
Although, the Medic had internally shuddered at remembering how scary Jose Porla can be when easily rendering the Iron Dragon Slayer unconscious with a mere flick of a finger. It had even shattered the iron scales of Gajeel into many pieces and made him bleed when struck by it.
A testament of a power gap between a Wizard Saint and any regular Mage, especially if they're a Dragon Slayer.
Emilia had to take care of Gajeel's wounds after that at the infirmary where she remembered him vowing that he will have to surpass their Guild Master.
Taking over, Sue remarked, "There's rumour that Master Jose will win a Fiorian of the Year award this year, and even be designated as an OKF by the King of Fiore himself, Toma E. Fiore."
She added, "OKF is short for Order of the Kingdom of Fiore by the way."
Lorraine stated with a smirk and look of relief, "Suddenly I'm really glad that I didn't join Fairy Tail. I don't want to be part of a guild that is causing Fiore's economic problems, especially when the Guild Master is encouraging them, probably ignorant of the damage his guild is doing."
"Hell, it must be kept on a low down, because there's no way public opinion of Fairy Tail can be so high, when they're the reason why so many people are losing their homes, and why the King and Magic Council have left part of the spending to Master Jose. If I remember correctly, 65% of the public approve of Phantom Lord, while 91% approve of Fairy Tail.", she noted out loud.
Sue scoffed in response, "That's absolutely ridiculous, but I imagine that will start to change sooner or later. There's no way Fairy Tail can do what they do, and we do what we do, and still have a higher approval rating than us in the next five years, give or take. I mean, it's not hard to see where part of Jose's hate for Fairy Tail comes from, given how he is literally helping the public and those aspiring to be Mages, but Makarov Dreyar is still hogging the spotlight of approval."*
"To be honest, if I was doing all that hard work, but then found out that my Guild was ranked behind the most destructive guild in Fiore, I'd be pretty hateful too. I probably wouldn't be able to sleep either, my sheer rage towards Fairy Tail would result in me becoming an insomniac." Lorraine stated, getting nods of agreement from Sue and Emilia.
"Anyways, we'll use the time in the rest of the year, but I'll make sure to show you around to each subdivision, especially the ones in Magnolia Town, Crocus, and Hargeon Town, those three subdivisions are the most impressive of the bunch. Master Jose will most likely show you Phantom Lord's Main HQ. If not him, then it'll be up to, er hem, Mr. Black-and-White Hair. Speaking of Mr. Black-and-White Hair, aren't you and him going to fight? Better not keep him waiting, or he might lose interest."
Might lose interest?! A dark cloud hovered over Lorraine's head, casting a depressing shadow over her eyes as she murmured, "He might lose interest? If he has, I'll wait until nighttime and then kill him in his sleep. I'll remove his arms and legs, then cauterize the wounds so he doesn't bleed out. Once he stops screaming, I'll waterboard him for half an hour, violently castrate him, cauterize that wound, and then..."
Daaaaaaamn, the insanity of Phantom Lord has gotten to her too! Sue and Emilia sweatdropped, quickly scooting out of the room to get away from the supposedly disturbed female Mage.
As the dark cloud vanished, Lorraine followed them outside into the corridor, acting as if she hadn't just revealed how she'd horribly murder someone as she shut the room's door behind her. They walked out of the corridor, back into the main section of the Phantom Lord subdivision, and headed for the bar where Totomaru, who perked up upon seeing them, stood.
He glanced at Lorraine's shoulder, noting that it lacked the strap of her backpack. "Thank goodness for that, you've finally gotten your room. You seem rather cheerful, did Emilia and Sue tell you about the subdivisions of Phantom Lord, and what Phantom Lord does for the Kingdom of Fiore, compared to Fairy Tail who aren't doing anything for Fiore, except driving it further and further into the slowly crumbling wall of inflation?", he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"They told me everything, and as a side note, we have a fight to carry out. I hope you haven't forgotten, you were the one who brought it up.", Lorraine said with a smile. Behind Lorraine's back, Emilia gave Totomaru a frantic look, mouthing 'She said she'd kill you if you forgot', causing Sue to cough to cover up a laugh.
"Oh, I remembered, don't you worry. Let's take this out to the back, I don't need Master Jose giving us another lecture." Totomaru groaned as Gajeel entered the picture, his knuckles covered in bruises but that's just nothing for him to worry out.
After all, he is the son of Metalicana, not some average Mage who's a pansy!
"What the hell is going on here?!", he asked out loud after he overheard their commotion thanks to his Dragon Slayer hearing.
"I'm fighting Totomaru. Where did you go? Storming off like a little bitch of a seven year old who got told off?" Lorraine replied, teasing him.
"Fuck off! I went to beat something up! Also, you're gonna fight this dumbass? Oh man, I can't wait to see this! Count me in, I'm watching! 1,000 jewels on a win for Lorraine, and 500 Jewels if their fight ends in a draw.", Gajeel responded with his tone indicated that he wasn't suggesting, it was a statement.
And he's not taking no for an answer!
Sue was hesitant to seal the bet with a fist bump, Emilia even more so. The last time the former had an opportunity to fist bump with Gajeel, he "accidentally slipped" and decked her in the schnoz real hard. Emilia had to fix Sue's nose back into place and it is a pain in the butt for her to do so.
Totomaru just scoffed instead, "Deal."
Author's Note: Alright, Chapter 3 of "Geoffrey's Legacy" is done and I hope you like it, guys. Lorraine getting herself acquainted more in Phantom Lord with Totomaru, Sue and Emilia, some major world building about Phantom Lord and lore expansion to explain why Jose despises Fairy Tail for a reason than just simple petty jealously despite he had everything that Fairy Tail doesn't have. And Totomaru challenged Lorraine to a duel between Mages while Gajeel, Sue and Emilia are taking bets of who will be the winner as the witnesses.
*Oh the irony as Natsu had defeated Gajeel in Phantom Lord arc of the Fairy Tail main show and later, God Serena had stomped him to near death in Great Labyrinth arc of the 100 Years Quest. To Gajeel's credit though, he is a tough cookie to survive Natsu and God Serena after duking out with them respectively.
*In canon, Laxus Dreyar surprisingly didn't have an epithet of his own in the Fairy Tail guild despite being an S-Class Mage of his own right, which is a bummer. So in this story, he's known as "Thunder God" which correlated to the fact why Fried Justine, Bickslow and Evergreen called themselves as the Thunder God Tribe - the self-proclaimed bodyguards of Laxus.
And that it also probably explains why Orga Nanagear the Lightning God Slayer of Sabertooth had a beef with Laxus in a confrontation (at least before Jura Neekis showed up to easily take out Orga) at the final event of the Grand Magic Games other than wanting to see which one of their respective lightning powers is the strongest.
There can only be one Thunder God.
*Ha, title drop of this story!
*It's a reference to Circus Night from "Fairy Tail: Ice Trail" that had gotten themselves put in their place of the Pecking Order.
*Makarov would have approved Jose actually helping out people as he had lamented prior to unleashing Fairy Law spell on him in canon. But unfortunately, the Third Master failed to realize that the reckless actions of his Fairy Tail guild had done more harm than good, which had Jose cleaning up the mess they made every single time. Those said destructive acts may be glossed over in canon as Fairy Tail have the Protagonist Centered Morality attitude, believing that everything will be fine as buildings and livelihood they destroyed can be replaced easily compared to human lives, and viewing the Council's justified disapproval of them as ungrateful jerks.
Quoting Nora Valkyrie from RWBY Chibi, "Nothing bad ever happened. Ever."
Enjoy and don't forget to review.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Fairy Tail - all rights and stuff belong to Hiro Mashima. If I was the one to start Fairy Tail, fan-service wouldn't be so prominent and there would be side-series' focused on Irene's ascension to a Queen, how the Mermaid Heel, Lamia Scale and Phantom Lord guilds came to be, Makarov's rise to Guild Master and how Gildarts joined Fairy Tail and became Guild Ace. I only own self-made characters, magic and storylines (I don't).
Enjoy and don't forget to review.
"Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists." - Franklin D. Roosevelt
Chapter 3
With his enhanced hearing, Gajeel heard Totomaru translate what he'd said to Lorraine. Even though he'd just been on a Job with the latter, however short it had been, he didn't know what to think of her. Most women caved in, becoming meek whenever he put his foot down, but that damned blonde infuriated him - putting her foot down in return, and matching him word for word.
Not only that, but to add insult to injury, she was taller than him.
The son of Metalicana new that he was average height for his age, 5'5ft, but Lorraine practically towered over him at 5'10ft. Gajeel didn't like it, not one bit, but he had to look up at her.
Due to his pride as a Dragon Slayer, he'd never admit it, but he was embarrassed by the thought of a woman being taller than him. Gajeel hoped once he finished having growth spurts and going through puberty, he'd be significantly taller than Lorraine - forcing her to look up to him.
Dragging his hand over his face as he tried to figure out his thoughts, the teen looked over at Lorraine and Totomaru, the latter laughing at what must've been a joke. The so-called Conflagration looked like his usual stupid self, the dual-coloured hair making him look even more ridiculous, but as for Lorraine, being away from her allowed the Iron Dragon Slayer to get a good look at her - something he hadn't been able to do earlier.
Lorraine had strawberry blonde, nearly appearing to be outright orange, hair which had been set into a neat crop cut, styled to partially sweep over her right eye, and her eyes are sea-green. He noted that when they were on their job, her eyes changed to blue, on some occasions, whenever the light hit them. Lorraine possessed defined, but not to the point of looking nearly emaciated, cheekbones, leading Gajeel to believe that she could've become a model if she'd chosen to.
What's that thing called? Oh yeah, the Sorcerer Weekly Magazine. Gajeel had never been interviewed or asked to model by any of their employees, and he definitely wasn't about to start now. Any who asked him to do either would be chased off with their tail between their legs, a constant barrage of his Iron Dragon's Roar following after them to make sure they got the point. He huffed, focusing on Lorraine again.
From the skin that wasn't covered by clothing, he could see that she had a slim, swimmers build - her biceps and core being notably toned - light skin, sizeable breasts and a curvy, voluptuous body. Fighting down a blush - heh, blushing was for pansies! - as he felt his gaze linger on her chest a little too long, he glanced at her white Phantom Lord mark which was half covered by her grey leggings.
The son of Metalicana felt it was a inconvenient place to have it, for she'd be pulling down her leggings just to show someone which guild she belonged to.
To him, her attire seemed fit for purpose as a mage, or someone who knew they'd be doing a lot of physical activity every day, consisting of a purple, high-collared, sleeveless, midriff cut blouse with tight, grey leggings. She had mesh warmers on both arms, worn over her elbows, grey socks, and trainers which were fastened with velcro straps.
While not necessarily counting as attire, Lorraine also had a sliver earring pierced through her left ear and she wore a bracelet, one that looked particularly appetizing to Gajeel, on her right wrist.
Banishing the idea of eating Lorraine's bracelet, Gajeel transformed his right hand's flesh into iron, clenching and unclenching it, and tracing the words "Iron Dragon Slayer" into the palm of his iron hand. He'd never thought about it before, but he wondered if there were more Dragon Slayers like him aside Natsu Dragneel of Fairy Tail who's known as the "Salamander" and God Serena of the Ten Wizard Saints after he had overheard Master Jose remarking with awe about the #1 Wizard Saint being an extraordinary Dragon Slayer.
More Mages with the power to slay Dragons, but suffered from crippling motion sickness when boarding a transportation - another thing he'd never admit to someone else.
He'd take that humiliating fact about himself to his grave!
Well if I meet them, I'll be sure to put them down and show them who the Alpha is, especially Salamander and God Serena!* I know for certain that there isn't enough room in the sky for more Dragons! Gajeel thought with great anticipation to display the other Dragon Slayers his strength superior than them, turning his hand back into its normal state. Raising the mangled bear trap to his mouth, he took a bite out of it, his powerful jaws and teeth allowing him to make the bite seem effortless.
Chewing, he once again looked over at Lorraine and Totomaru, watching as the former finished off the latter's drink, prompting the S-Class Mage to start complaining about he had to go get another cider to make up for all the cider she'd drank from his glass.
Gajeel held back a growl, swallowing the chunk of the bear trap, before getting up and angrily storming out of the guild, shoving aside an unlucky Mage who tried to get in his way, asking him for a fight. He needed some fresh air.
One, to clear his head, two, to calm himself over the fact that Lorraine was significantly taller than him, and three, because he needed some time alone to think about Lorraine, especially why she smelled a little odd.
Now that Gajeel thought about it, Lorraine had the faint smell of a bird and burnt wood clinging to her, although it was largely masked by whatever soap or perfume she used.
Whatever, he'd ask her about it later. Bluntly to her face as possible so she won't dodge the question.
The Iron Dragon Slayer began to head in the direction of the the southern outskirts of Oak Town. He really needed to find someone to beat up, preferably without getting into trouble with the local authorities or the Magic Council, or get into a fight with a dangerous monster.
An A-Class monster would do, Gajeel wasn't exactly eager to get himself killed; literally thrashed, beaten to death, and becoming deader then dead after becoming a meal, by trying to fight a S-Class monster - something he knew was definitely out of his league...
For now.
Inside the Phantom Lord Guild, Oak Town, Kingdom of Fiore
Lorraine and Totomaru watched as Gajeel stormed out of the guild, forcefully shoving someone aside as he did so.
"What's up with him, getting all moody? He was alright when I was out on the job with him. Maybe he woke up on the wrong side of bed this morning, and it didn't register until now? Or maybe he's just pissed about how I'm not intimidated by his threats?" The young blonde woman suggested as she set down the empty glass of cider, glancing at Totomaru who snorted and stood up, picking up the empty glass.
"You, Xanthine, are coming with me to get a drink. One for myself to replace the one you dared to steal in front of me, and one for yourself to celebrate going on and completing your first job, despite how ridiculously easy it would've been. And you're buying both of them" Totomaru told her, grabbing one of Lorraine's hands and pulling her to her feet. They walked over to the bar, where a young male of short stature had his back to them, cleaning up used cups, glasses and dishes.
The Phantom Lord S-Class Mage must've heard them approach, because he turned around as they took seats behind the counter. Blinking rapidly, Lorraine was surprised when she saw that the bartender was a woman, perhaps only a couple of years old than her. The bartender was the same height as Gajeel, wore a forest pattern shirt and plain jeans, had dark eyes which brightened upon seeing Lorraine, and really short, brown hair.
The brunette remarked upon noticing them, "Oh my, Totomaru, you weren't joking when you said we had another female member in the guild, I really thought you were joking around. Now we have three women in Phantom Lord. Myself, her, and Sue."
She introduced herself to Lorraine, "My apologies, where are my manners, I'm Emilia Walters, the Guild's medic and current bartender."
"Lorraine Xanthine, at least I now know I'm not the only female in this guild. Also, who is Sue?", the blonde said before feeling her right leg being kicked by someone else that got her attention.
The blonde woman looked over at the offender. It was another woman, probably a year younger than herself, with light brown skin, deep violet eyes, and short, dark green hair. She has a small, green oval-shaped jewel in the center of her forehead and small red earrings. She also wore a purple, jester-like hat adorned with the Phantom Lord mark. Her attire consisted of a blue shirt with ripped sleeves, and green pants held up by a buckle belt. She also has reddish-pink bandages wrapped around her wrists, and seems to wear only black socks on her feet.
"I'm Sue, and don't you forget it, or you'll be looking in mirror and crying about the bruises and black eye I gave you." Sue told her, smirking as she summoned a mirror into her right hand for added emphasis.
Clearly Sue was confident in her magical and physical abilities, and had a similar personality to Gajeel, talking down to her, the newcomer of Phantom Lord, as if she expected her to be intimidated by the threat.
Knowing she had to earn her rep, since the guild seemed to be full of arrogant bullies with magical abilities, barring Totomaru, Jose, and Emilia, Lorraine was ready to put Sue in her place, but the Conflagration himself stepped between them as he intervened.
"Please, ladies, I'd rather not watch the both of you get into a catfight, despite how hilariously entertaining it would be. Hell, you can fight each other another time, just not inside the Guild. Sue, I'm sure you remember that Master Jose wasn't happy about the damage last time that happened.", Totomaru stated while giving Lorraine a pointed look before turning to the bartender/medic. "Emilia, some red wine for myself, and a good cider for Lorraine, the newcomer. Both of them are on her, and if my memory serves right, that'll be 120 Jewels."
The blonde woman glared at him, promising pain with her eyes, as she took her Magical purse out of her backpack, and set the required Jewels in Emilia's hand. Pocketing the currency she received, the brunette went to get the requested drinks.
After making sure Sue couldn't rile up Lorraine any further, Totomaru said, "You know, I wanna fight you, obviously after we have our drinks and you've been shown where the female dorms are. I mean, you managed to impress someone like Gajeel. Aside Master Jose, no one did until now. So clearly you're not weak and can handle yourself."
The S-Class Mage of Phantom Lord elaborated, "And also, I don't want to boast too much, but at the end of the day, I am an S-Class Mage, so you'll probably lose against me. If you want me to, I can go easy on you for our fight? Try not to embarrass you too much."
Lorraine chose to retort by punching him in the arm, eliciting a yelp of pain from Totomaru who started complaining about how he was going to get a 'dead arm', "No way, if you can handle Gajeel's threats and taunts, then I can definitely handle you and your dual-coloured hair, Salt and Pepper. Go easy on me, and I won't hesitate to put a couple of arrows where the sun doesn't shine. I'll leave you limping for a couple of weeks. I might be a newbie in Phantom Lord, but I've had my magic for six years, Mr. Black-and-White Hair."
As Totomaru paled, making a mental note to not go easy on Lorraine and fact that he had yet another nickname, Sue appeared to be impressed, allowing the mirror in her hand to shatter and disintegrate into magic particles as Emilia returned with Totomaru's and Lorraine's drinks, "Damn girl, you tell him how it is. You can definitely talk the talk, but whether you can walk the walk still remains to be seen. I'll be sure to watch you guys fight, after Emilia and I show you around the girls' dorms."
Tch, stuck up brat, I'll show you that I can most certainly walk the walk, and I'll see how much walking and talking you do, once I put a couple of arrows through your kneecaps. Hmmm, I seem to have an odd fixation of kneecapping people with arrows... Lorraine thought, taking her drink and downing half of it. Doing so seemed to be a bad idea, as the nineteen year old could already feel herself getting slightly tipsy. She'd never drunk before, so body had yet to get used to alcoholic drinks. She locked eyes with Sue, "Thanks, I'd appreciate that. At least I know that I won't be sleeping in here tonight, using my backpack as a rough pillow."
As Sue laughed, Totomaru snorted, sipping at his wine, "Come on, even if you hadn't brought up the topic of where you'd be sleeping tonight, I, or somebody else, would've stepped in to show you where the dorms were once evening came around. Phantom Lord may not be the nicest guild in Earth Land, compared to the likes of Lamia Scale or Fairy Tail, but we still look out for each other, and letting someone sleep on the floor like a homeless person where there are dozens of empty rooms is a definite no-no."
Ignoring the feeling that someone was gently pressing their fingers against her temples, Lorraine clapped her hands together and said, "Thanks, that's nice to know. Now, I don't know anything about you guys, so tell me something about yourselves, like what kind of magic you use. Except for you, Totomaru, I already know a little bit about you, and I wanna see what you can do with your magic when we have our fight. No spoiling anything, and I want to see whether your title is just for show or if you actually live up to it - Totomaru of the Conflagration."
"Oh!? Well would you look at that. The newcomer, Lorraine Xanthine, is apparently starting to doubt my abilities and underestimate me, one of Phantom Lord's top S-Class Mages. I wouldn't do that if I were you, or I'll cut you down to size." Totomaru jokingly threatened, his hand resting on the katana sheathed by his side.
He yelped as Sue kicked him, "Hush now, perhaps you haven't noticed, but other people are waiting to speak. I use Mirror Magic, a form of Caster Magic that involves using mirrors in combat. I can summon and control the properties of mirrors, there's no limit to how many mirrors I can summon, and multiple can be joined together, to create a three-dimensional object. I normally use the mirrors to reflect magical attacks, usually physical ones, and imprison my enemies, but I can use them to attack."
Sue told her, allowing Emilia to go next, "Well, my magic is nothing special. I use Ink Magic, a form of Caster Magic that allows me to fight, although I'm not much of a fighter, by using ink. I don't do much with it, just use it to prevent others from seeing where I am. However I'm much better at using my Healing Magic, hence why Master Jose has given me the position of Phantom Lord's Medic. I just heal injuries obtained from fights; bruises, open wounds, and broken bones. I can't heal severed limbs yet, but I might be able to in the foreseeable future."
"I believe you'll be able to, I have faith in you, and if you ever leave Phantom Lord, you should pursue a career as a professional doctor. You'd be amazing as one." Lorraine told her, getting a bright, joyful smile from the bartender.
"So, L, what kind of magic do you use, or are you saving the reveal for your fight with Totomaru?" Sue inquired, earning a raised eyebrow at the unexpected nickname.
"Since I believe that I can kick Totomaru's ass, I'll spill. I use Requip, also known as Ex-quip, a form of Caster Magic and a type of Spatial Magic related to the summoning of various types of equipment. It allows me to store a variety of items, such as clothing and weaponry, in a pocket dimension so I can summon them at any time, even during battle. As you may know, there are various forms of Requip - The Knight, The Gunner and The Archer. I use the latter most form to summon a custom outfit and various types of bows, three of which have been specially customized."
Totomaru frowned, looking at Sue, "Requip? Sounds a lot like that girl from Fairy Tail, Erza Scarlet."
"Who's that?" Lorraine asked, downing the rest of her cider as Sue crossed her arms, "Some stubborn redhead who joined Fairy Tail in X776. She uses Requip: The Knight and Sword Magic, and sometime during last year, attained the nickname; "Titania". Apparently, there's been rumours going around that she'll be participating in Fairy Tail's X780 S-Class Promotional Trial, after their previous said trial, set to take place this year, had to be cancelled at the last moment. Something about the Guild Master's grandson, another S-Class Mage, causing a bit of trouble."
Lorraine noted out loud, "Laxus Dreyar, the "Thunder God"*, right? Looks like Fairy Tail needs to get their act together."
"Anyway, to support the arrows I can summon, I can also use Arrow Magic, a Holder Magic involving the use of arrows fired from any sort of bow. A Magic which, as the name itself suggests, is focused around the use of arrows, with those weapons acting as mediums for the user to perform particular attacks. I can deliver arrows which inject venom or hallucinatory agents into my targets, and even utilise napalm.", she told them.
Emilia, along with Sue and Totomaru, appeared to be startled after hearing what she said to them. The brunette warned the new member, "Napalm? Lorraine, the Magic Council banned Napalm Magic, and napalm-based weaponry back in X775, declaring their use to be illegal due to how inhumane the substance is when ignited, due to how it sticks to skin and causes severe burns, and they stated that its use would be punishable by a life sentence with no chance of parole."
It was banned four years ago? Aw, that sucks a complete load of bull! Lorraine thought with a look of disappointment. Along with ordinary fire arrows, the blonde had already envisioned herself going around and having fun setting her enemies alight.
Now, with Emilia's statement, that vision had suddenly shattered, crashed, burned, and been buried. She would be playing a game of chicken with the wrath of the Magic Council, and an inescapable life sentence, if she was seen going around and shooting napalm arrows at Dark Mages.
Besides, inhumane? It wasn't like she was going to go around hitting innocent people with napalm arrows for giggles.
"Right, then I guess I'll have to be absolutely discrete about their use, if I want to avoid being behind bars for the rest of my life. No shooting them in the presence of Rune Knights, unless I put them six feet under because they saw. I won't like it, but there's no way I'm getting a life sentence!" Lorraine told them, shrugging as Emilia took her empty glass and set it in the soapy sink behind her.
Then the bartender seemingly shared a silent message with Totomaru, as they swapped positions, prompting Sue to get out of her seat.
At Lorraine's questioning look, Sue elaborated, patting the blonde's back, "You've finished your drink, so now Emilia and I are going to show you the girls dorms, and get you sorted with a room."
Emilia locked one of her arms into Lorraine's, and began walking with her and Sue towards the right side of his guild, where there happened to be a door - which largely blended in with the wall, as it was the same colour. Grabbing the handle, which had the universal symbol for the female gender on it, Sue turned it and opened the door to reveal a well lit corridor with multiple doors on each side, complete with a stairs at the end of the corridor, presumably leading to another floor.
The trio advanced into the corridor, Sue closing the door behind herself, before walking ahead of them, pointing at a door which had a bright green '1' engraved into the wood, and saying, "This one is mine, don't knock on my door after 10:30 pm, or before 8:45 am, or I'll introduce you to my definition of pain. Although you'll have no reason to, you won't be getting into my room, as I have my own key. Everyone does. One key for their room, including a spare incase they lose the first key, or Gajeel happens to eat it."
After jangling a bunch of keys and giving one to Lorraine, Sue pointed at a door which had a black '2' engraved into the wood, "That's Emilia's room. She usually has it unlocked, but I'd still knock if I were you, I'm sure you wouldn't like it if someone randomly barged into your room, something Gajeel is notorious for doing. I don't know why, but insists on having her room smell strongly of disinfectant. Maybe it's to go with her theme of being a Medic, or dissuade Gajeel from entering unannounced, given his enhanced senses of smell."
Then they walked over to the third door, this one having a plain '3' engraved onto the wood. Lorraine stuck the key into the keyhole, twisted, and then pushed it open. She was immediately presented with a sofa at the far side of the room, to the right of the sofa was an expensive looking fireplace full of unburnt wood. In the middle of the room was a decently sized kitchen area, lined with several drawers, and a dining table, complete with four chairs, and then past the table was two rooms - with their doors already open.
The right room was the bedroom, soon to be her bedroom. The walls had been painted pink, and Lorraine intended to have that changed as soon as possible as she disliked... no, absolutely despised the colour pink. The bed was normal sized with a blue mattress, thick purple bedsheet, and two lengthy pillows. There was also a window allowing her to see outside, a large wardrobe, and a small side-table which had four books, a small pack of tissues, a couple packets of fruity chewing gum, and a night light on it.
The other room had a toilet, a couple of towels hanging over a white sink with hot and cold taps - the former had a red rubber band on its base, while the latter had a blue rubber band on its base. There was also a large cupboard with a few essential items, and a bathtub which came with an adjustable sliver showerhead. The bathtub had a plastic mat with suction cups on the bottom, presumably to stop her from falling over and breaking her neck whilst she was having a shower.
Walking in, Lorraine smiled, tossing her backpack onto the sofa, and then turned back to Emilia and Sue. Pocketing away the key, she told the two, "Thanks guys, I'll be sure to change a few things, but it's otherwise really good."
She inquired from them, "Before I make myself 'at home' and then go off to kick Totomaru's ass, is there anything else I should know about Phantom Lord? I feel like I'm standing in a business subdivision and that Master Jose hasn't told me everything I need to know."
Sue and Emilia shared a look, the latter biting her lower lip. Then they looked back at Lorraine, with Sue saying first, "That's because this building is a subdivision. The actual Phantom Lord Headquarters is located on the mountainous outskirts of Oak Town. Aside from how Phantom Lord was founded by Master Jose's ancestor, I'm guessing you don't know a lot about it. That's alright, very few actually do, so we'll explain for you. This may take a while, so let's take a seat."
Lorraine let them enter the room. She sat on one of the chairs at the wooden table, resting and elbow on the table, while Emilia and Sue opted for sitting on the large sofa. The former yelped in surprise, almost leaping to her feet, when she practically sunk into the sofa. Waiting, Sue only started talking when Emilia was able to get herself into a comfortable position.
"For starters, Phantom Lord was founded in X686 by Master Jose's ancestor, Geoffrey, who died in X703. Then in the span of 51 years, Phantom Lord went through three Guild Masters from the long family line of Porlas carrying on Geoffrey's legacy* until Master Jose took charge in X754 when he was twenty years old. While our Guild already had considerable influence, Master Jose knew that it needed more if he wanted to become a Wizard Saint acknowledged by the Magic Council, so he began creating Phantom Lord subdivisions all over the Kingdom of Fiore. Essentially, Phantom Lord is a magical business, which doubles as a Guild. We have about twenty subdivisions, one of which is located on the outskirts of Magnolia Town, and that's where Fairy Tail resides." Sue explained, the underlying message being that Jose was playing with fire by having a subdivision so close to Fairy Tail.
The last time there was another Guild established nearby Fairy Tail, they were kicked out from Magnolia.*
Emilia took over in Sue's place, "At first, Master Jose used to admire Fairy Tail and thought that Geoffrey's grudge against them was silly and a thing of a past. But then he steadily grew to hate Fairy Tail. Because Master Makarov had humiliated Master Jose over an incident at the Guild Master's League meeting, and he had nearly lost his title for retaliating and acting unbefitting a Wizard Saint. Not only that, but Fairy Tail is known for causing incredible amounts of collateral damage when they take Jobs, and their Guild Master encourages it instead of disciplining them. Master Jose is the opposite, he'd rather you don't destroy something just because you were being reckless. It's bad for business and everyone knows it."
She revealed more to Lorraine, "Now, Phantom Lord is an economic powerhouse in the Kingdom of Fiore. Heck, we have to be, because Fiore is teetering on the edge of being bankrupt. Why, because they have to spend so much money fixing damages caused by Fairy Tail, and don't even get started on the money spent on Fiore's Royal Armed Forces. If anything, you could say Master Jose has the political co-position of Chancellor and Under-Treasurer of His Majesty's Exchequer in the Royal Government of Fiore."
"Wow, how much power does Master Jose have in Fiore?" Lorraine questioned, awed by the awesomeness of her Guild Master and also worried for him that he is wearing too many hats at once.
That would certainly drive even the most workaholic person mad to the point of burning out and sending themselves down to an early grave.
Sue smirked as she further explained, "Master Jose is in charge of ensuring damages caused by Fairy Tail is repaired, those made homeless by irreparable damage are housed as quickly as possible, and proper compensation is paid. Heck, he even offered them jobs for them to continue their livelihood, generating more income to Phantom Lord . He also implemented the "Gildarts Shift" in every town across Fiore, is preventing crippling inflation by that much, is providing the money for: a.) Magnolia Town's annual Fantasia Parade, b.) for Fairy Tail's S-Class Promotional Trials, given how the aforementioned guild wouldn't be able to afford it due to how they spend their money on booze and monthly repairing the guild, and c.) for the esteemed Fiore's Magical Academy. He is singlehandedly stopping Mermaid Heel from collapsing, funding them until they can sort out their problems, especially their Guild Master issue."
"Jeez, it's no wonder why he acts the way he is, he's just trying to not lose his mind from all the things he has to do, including carry out his duties as a Guild Master and a Wizard Saint. Although, if it really is stressing him out, then I think he should go and see a therapist. Or a lot of them if possible.", Lorraine commented with sympathy after recalling Jose's eccentric moments when she first met him to join Phantom Lord as a new member.
Emilia giggled as she informed Lorraine about that, "You have no idea, I've seen Master Jose's, ah, eccentric side, and it's quite the spectacle. Plus, I've tried advising him to see a therapist, and I remember when Gajeel ended up on the receiving end of it, he wasn't amused or impressed, and tried to knock Master Jose out."
Although, the Medic had internally shuddered at remembering how scary Jose Porla can be when easily rendering the Iron Dragon Slayer unconscious with a mere flick of a finger. It had even shattered the iron scales of Gajeel into many pieces and made him bleed when struck by it.
A testament of a power gap between a Wizard Saint and any regular Mage, especially if they're a Dragon Slayer.
Emilia had to take care of Gajeel's wounds after that at the infirmary where she remembered him vowing that he will have to surpass their Guild Master.
Taking over, Sue remarked, "There's rumour that Master Jose will win a Fiorian of the Year award this year, and even be designated as an OKF by the King of Fiore himself, Toma E. Fiore."
She added, "OKF is short for Order of the Kingdom of Fiore by the way."
Lorraine stated with a smirk and look of relief, "Suddenly I'm really glad that I didn't join Fairy Tail. I don't want to be part of a guild that is causing Fiore's economic problems, especially when the Guild Master is encouraging them, probably ignorant of the damage his guild is doing."
"Hell, it must be kept on a low down, because there's no way public opinion of Fairy Tail can be so high, when they're the reason why so many people are losing their homes, and why the King and Magic Council have left part of the spending to Master Jose. If I remember correctly, 65% of the public approve of Phantom Lord, while 91% approve of Fairy Tail.", she noted out loud.
Sue scoffed in response, "That's absolutely ridiculous, but I imagine that will start to change sooner or later. There's no way Fairy Tail can do what they do, and we do what we do, and still have a higher approval rating than us in the next five years, give or take. I mean, it's not hard to see where part of Jose's hate for Fairy Tail comes from, given how he is literally helping the public and those aspiring to be Mages, but Makarov Dreyar is still hogging the spotlight of approval."*
"To be honest, if I was doing all that hard work, but then found out that my Guild was ranked behind the most destructive guild in Fiore, I'd be pretty hateful too. I probably wouldn't be able to sleep either, my sheer rage towards Fairy Tail would result in me becoming an insomniac." Lorraine stated, getting nods of agreement from Sue and Emilia.
"Anyways, we'll use the time in the rest of the year, but I'll make sure to show you around to each subdivision, especially the ones in Magnolia Town, Crocus, and Hargeon Town, those three subdivisions are the most impressive of the bunch. Master Jose will most likely show you Phantom Lord's Main HQ. If not him, then it'll be up to, er hem, Mr. Black-and-White Hair. Speaking of Mr. Black-and-White Hair, aren't you and him going to fight? Better not keep him waiting, or he might lose interest."
Might lose interest?! A dark cloud hovered over Lorraine's head, casting a depressing shadow over her eyes as she murmured, "He might lose interest? If he has, I'll wait until nighttime and then kill him in his sleep. I'll remove his arms and legs, then cauterize the wounds so he doesn't bleed out. Once he stops screaming, I'll waterboard him for half an hour, violently castrate him, cauterize that wound, and then..."
Daaaaaaamn, the insanity of Phantom Lord has gotten to her too! Sue and Emilia sweatdropped, quickly scooting out of the room to get away from the supposedly disturbed female Mage.
As the dark cloud vanished, Lorraine followed them outside into the corridor, acting as if she hadn't just revealed how she'd horribly murder someone as she shut the room's door behind her. They walked out of the corridor, back into the main section of the Phantom Lord subdivision, and headed for the bar where Totomaru, who perked up upon seeing them, stood.
He glanced at Lorraine's shoulder, noting that it lacked the strap of her backpack. "Thank goodness for that, you've finally gotten your room. You seem rather cheerful, did Emilia and Sue tell you about the subdivisions of Phantom Lord, and what Phantom Lord does for the Kingdom of Fiore, compared to Fairy Tail who aren't doing anything for Fiore, except driving it further and further into the slowly crumbling wall of inflation?", he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"They told me everything, and as a side note, we have a fight to carry out. I hope you haven't forgotten, you were the one who brought it up.", Lorraine said with a smile. Behind Lorraine's back, Emilia gave Totomaru a frantic look, mouthing 'She said she'd kill you if you forgot', causing Sue to cough to cover up a laugh.
"Oh, I remembered, don't you worry. Let's take this out to the back, I don't need Master Jose giving us another lecture." Totomaru groaned as Gajeel entered the picture, his knuckles covered in bruises but that's just nothing for him to worry out.
After all, he is the son of Metalicana, not some average Mage who's a pansy!
"What the hell is going on here?!", he asked out loud after he overheard their commotion thanks to his Dragon Slayer hearing.
"I'm fighting Totomaru. Where did you go? Storming off like a little bitch of a seven year old who got told off?" Lorraine replied, teasing him.
"Fuck off! I went to beat something up! Also, you're gonna fight this dumbass? Oh man, I can't wait to see this! Count me in, I'm watching! 1,000 jewels on a win for Lorraine, and 500 Jewels if their fight ends in a draw.", Gajeel responded with his tone indicated that he wasn't suggesting, it was a statement.
And he's not taking no for an answer!
Sue was hesitant to seal the bet with a fist bump, Emilia even more so. The last time the former had an opportunity to fist bump with Gajeel, he "accidentally slipped" and decked her in the schnoz real hard. Emilia had to fix Sue's nose back into place and it is a pain in the butt for her to do so.
Totomaru just scoffed instead, "Deal."
Author's Note: Alright, Chapter 3 of "Geoffrey's Legacy" is done and I hope you like it, guys. Lorraine getting herself acquainted more in Phantom Lord with Totomaru, Sue and Emilia, some major world building about Phantom Lord and lore expansion to explain why Jose despises Fairy Tail for a reason than just simple petty jealously despite he had everything that Fairy Tail doesn't have. And Totomaru challenged Lorraine to a duel between Mages while Gajeel, Sue and Emilia are taking bets of who will be the winner as the witnesses.
*Oh the irony as Natsu had defeated Gajeel in Phantom Lord arc of the Fairy Tail main show and later, God Serena had stomped him to near death in Great Labyrinth arc of the 100 Years Quest. To Gajeel's credit though, he is a tough cookie to survive Natsu and God Serena after duking out with them respectively.
*In canon, Laxus Dreyar surprisingly didn't have an epithet of his own in the Fairy Tail guild despite being an S-Class Mage of his own right, which is a bummer. So in this story, he's known as "Thunder God" which correlated to the fact why Fried Justine, Bickslow and Evergreen called themselves as the Thunder God Tribe - the self-proclaimed bodyguards of Laxus.
And that it also probably explains why Orga Nanagear the Lightning God Slayer of Sabertooth had a beef with Laxus in a confrontation (at least before Jura Neekis showed up to easily take out Orga) at the final event of the Grand Magic Games other than wanting to see which one of their respective lightning powers is the strongest.
There can only be one Thunder God.
*Ha, title drop of this story!
*It's a reference to Circus Night from "Fairy Tail: Ice Trail" that had gotten themselves put in their place of the Pecking Order.
*Makarov would have approved Jose actually helping out people as he had lamented prior to unleashing Fairy Law spell on him in canon. But unfortunately, the Third Master failed to realize that the reckless actions of his Fairy Tail guild had done more harm than good, which had Jose cleaning up the mess they made every single time. Those said destructive acts may be glossed over in canon as Fairy Tail have the Protagonist Centered Morality attitude, believing that everything will be fine as buildings and livelihood they destroyed can be replaced easily compared to human lives, and viewing the Council's justified disapproval of them as ungrateful jerks.
Quoting Nora Valkyrie from RWBY Chibi, "Nothing bad ever happened. Ever."
Enjoy and don't forget to review.