Unusual Playgrounds

There was a bit of news that left me completely flabbergasted.

Thanks to my rings, I had now two powerful Mythical beasts at my command, I discovered something very curious about my friend Loke. Imagine my surprise when my pack informed me that, all this time, my friend Loke was the Celestial Spirit Leo of the Lion. Boy, that left me blinking like an idiot.

Why in the heavens, would a Celestial Spirit hang out in the human realm like that?. Leo was a Celestial Spirit, they need the magical power of a summoner to hang around the human world or they will consume and finally die due to the lack of energy to sustain themselves. What the heck was going on? Where other spirits gallivanting around like that?.

That was a worrisome thought.

Celestial Spirits, of any kind, numbered around the eighty-eight different names. From the twelve; thirteen if Ophiuccos is to be added; Golden Zodiac Celestial spirits, namely Leo, Taurus, Virgo, etc, to the Silver Celestial Spirits of Polaris, the Swan, the Southern Cross, so on and so forth. In any case, Spirits are notably stronger than the average mage, capable of raining hell all over a location until their energy or the magic of their summoners runs out and they are sent back to the Celestial Realm.

After digging a bit about those shocking revelations, I lookout for an expert on Celestial Spirits, and ask about who were the actual summoners of the Zodiac. According to what he told me, the latest gossip said that the infamous Balam Alliance had most of the Celestial keys, and that they killed a famous Celestial Spirit mage for them.

Karen Lillica, a mage that was part of Blue Pegasus and famous for being a model of the Sorcerer Magazine, considered one of the most beautiful mages of Fiore. Killed in action by Oracion Seis and her Celestial Keys stolen, except for one, Leo of the Lion. There was a rumor about how Karen was losing her stand in the last days of his life because Leo made her unable to summon any other spirit. Karen went on a mission, due to pure desperation, and was slain by the Dark Guild called Oracion Seis.

That was years ago, not much after, Loke become a member of Fairy Tail. Loke was a user of [Ring Magic] using light from his ring to attack and defend, a lesser version of [Regulus] the supposed power of the Leo. I am a bloody idiot, I have a powerful spirit lollygagging around the human world and I was none the wiser. A spirit that was flesh and blood and that was mingling with a lot of females.

Was Loke trying to have an heir or something among those lines?. I lack knowledge about the particular traits of the diverse Celestial Spirits, as I did not want to attract the attention of such entities to myself. Under the scrutiny of the supposed Spirit King, that look out for the balance between dimensions, my status as a powerful reincarnated, well, mixed soul, could be revealed

That was a topic that I didn't want to touch with a ten feet pole.

That also make me thing about what could happen if Loke managed to impregnate a human female. A half-human, half-spirit, individual could be one of the most dangerous beings in existence, with the innate power of the spirits but able to sustain themselves with their own Ethernano, such individuals will stand at the top of the totem pole.

The theory had its merits, but Loke has been manwhoring for years by now, but no woman has ever come to the Guild carrying his child, and I never sensed any ill intent from him. So, there must be another reason for Leo to become Loke. I will have to look out into it one of these days, but I already have more than enough on my plate.

After my triumphal return, I had another reunion with Makarov and inform him of what really happened in the mines and the god that I slain there. I also revealed my new status as God-slayer. I did also told him what happened a couple of years ago and that was the origin of my red eyes, along with why I was now ultra-cautious with my magic.

We both needed a bloody drink after that conversation.

For almost three months I was a busy bee but keeping myself close to the Guild. I needed a new home, one near the forest where Skoll and Hati could hunt and run free, and where I could practice all my magics with privacy and security. Natsu and Porlyusica had their homes in the forests as well, but as they took the east side, I took the north side of the town, in the outskirts and with the sea nearby. I wanted to have my own small pier and a small fishery, just because.

I built the entire thing myself, with Laki´s help for some of the carpentry. Killing two birds with one stone, I ask Laki for help with the carpentry and woodcraft needed for the house. I built my new home with stone, wood, metal, and lacryma. And a lot of my sweat, tears, and blood. Literally, I set up lacryma wards in the entire place, thanks to one of the boxes of high-quality lacrymas that I took from the mine and used a mixture of boiled gold and my own blood to carve runes all over the place. I was a bit of a paranoid lately and security has almost become an obsession.

A two-floor building with three towers on the north, east and west side.

I have a small entrance, a big main hall, my personal library tower to the right, my magic workshop to the left and an alchemy workshop on the tower of the north. I have about six guest rooms, with their own bathrooms, not counting my own room with a personal and big bathtub in it, and a kitchen with all the appliances I could need. Still, I had my own personal secret room in the basement of the manor, for those moments where my investigations or experiments would be not entirely legal or socially accepted.

Three bloody months and it was so very worth it.

I also turn the backyard into a massive training yard, with rune wards and everything for magical sparring and practicing, and a good chunk of the virgin terrain so Skoll and Hati could enjoy the freedom and the forest around Magnolia. They were delighted with the idea and as soon as I was back at home, I released them and let them run free in the forest. They also kept the lands around my home clean of any predators, or magical beasts, doubling as wardens of the edges of the city, so it was a win/win situation.

All my savings, the sell of my previous home and almost the entire second box of high-quality lacrymas went directly into funding the construction of my new home, but it was freaking worth it.

The only real problem was that I was broke after all that, and that forced me to accept a lot of jobs that I would have rejected or passed to other guild mages without even a second thought. Among them, one that ended up me being famous and another that took me out of Fiore for an entire year.

But I am getting ahead of me.

During the three months that I spent building my new home, I passed a lot more time on the Guild, not only due to my magical investigation but for other several projects that I had. Chief among them, the mixture of my magics without blowing myself up. It was a fact that when a mage went way over their heads and try magic that is way over their level, magic took control and blow the poor sod to smithereens. I was trying not to be that poor sod but it was a work in progress; meanwhile, more solid magic like my [Ice make] and my [Futhark runes] would be more than enough for the day-to-day operations.

My red eyes were a dead giveaway for those that new about what kind of magic was I keeping under wraps, so I tried to never show them again. They activated by accident when I was with Jason and he had the bloody luck of taking that accursed photo. That photo has already given me enough headaches.

Apart from that, my everyday life in the guild was pretty normal.

Breakfast with Mira and any early bird of the Guild, the usual brawl with Natsu and however was around, having a drink with Cana, Macao, Wakaba or Wan Chanzi; the man was a quiet companion and I appreciated the silence; talk about magic with Laki or Levy, train with Joey or Vijeeter, discuss politics with Mest, try to convince Nab to take a job already, help Reedus with his paintings and a lot more different things.

There are about a hundred mages on Fairy Tail and I knew them all. I have a cordial relationship with most of them, I also had a lot of good friends that I knew since I was a child, but I was in good terms with practically anyone.

My interview with Jason had revealed a lot of small talents that I had but that I never really shown much, one of them earned the respect of Erza. Really, my strawberry smoothies left her speechless and in a sweet trance for an hour. Whenever Mira had strawberries in the kitchen, I was around, and Erza walked into the Guild, she almost kidnapped me to make her a strawberry smoothie. I did say that they were to die for and when Erza slashed anyone that dared to get near her smoothie, I rested my case.

Another female that almost kidnapped me was Miki Chickentiger. The "Demon-princess"; that cranked me up every time; of Team Young-megadeath. Miki was an unusual mage. She had a magic bird called Pii-Chan, a mystical beast of the sort; or so told me Skoll and Hati; that supported her on any battle as she preferred hand to hand combat.

Miki and I sparred a lot in the Guild´s sparring rings. She learned about how I claimed that I was an exceptional master of hand to hand combat, and decided that I was going to teach her. We sparred a lot, and for a week straight, I fought her with a different style every day, winning each sparring match.

She was good and very talented, but I had an advantage in magic, experience, and physical strength, so it would be hard for her to actually defeat me. I left her to win whenever she impressed me with new stratagems, styles, or clever use of her bird and her fighting skills.

More than once did our spars ended up in another kind of spar.

When she was hot and sweaty, and the adrenaline got her high, she was in the mood for a more intimate kind of spar. Not that I complained. Due to her intense physical training, Miki's ass was a work of art. Muscular and meaty in the perfect mixture. She will never admit it, but she loved when I payed attention to her ass whenever I dominate her on the ring, and pound her savagely in a doggy-style position.

Her favorite posture was cow-girl, with her riding me at the time that I played with her breasts. She was not as gifted as Erza or Lucy, but her C-cups were more than enough fleshy for me to play with her, however, I liked to turn the tables and put her into a mating press and pound her into orgasmic oblivion. The sexual dominance foreplay was something that the intense lady loved, even if she was on the losing end most of the times.

The rest of his teammates started to call me the Demoness-tamer; discretely of course, if she ever caught that rumor she would skin them, and me, alive for embarrassing her like that. Her team was the local rock group and they were actually pretty good. Miki and the rest of her team/music band were more interested in their musical careers that in their magical careers, and it was a good thing. Whoever believed that being a mage was wine and roses, was an idiot of colossal magnitude.

Average mages died quickly, unless they get savvy and quick. Magic is a very dangerous business and more often than not, the universe is ready to screw you ten times over at the drop of a hat, heck, sometimes the universe drops the hat directly.

Case in point, I took a job to kill some magical beasts and I ended up discovering an assassination attempt by a bunch of cretins of Phantom Lord, and I was almost killed by a forgotten god. It was a job that I took as a freaking vacation and see how it ended. Sure, I am God-slayer now, but I could very well be dead if it was not for the freaking coincidence that I splattered myself against the Throne of Ice.

And so, my routine continued.

Those were three peaceful months with the occasional jobs here and there with different mages that needed a hand for a particular job, or when I felt the need to vent some frustration, or try out some magic that I was tinkering with. As it has been said, on nine out of ten jobs, mages ended up facing dark guilds, and on the tenth, the client will try to scam you. Cleaning up Dark guilds was excellent training and improved my report with the Magical Council, especially when I went out of my way to prevent collateral damages. My magic has reached a point that I feared for any poor sod in the crossfire for miles around me. It was a curious sensation, to be honest.

It was during one of those lazy days when the dominoes fell and ended up with me far from home and into the battlefield.

I was on one of the exterior balconies of Fairy Tail, enjoying a quiet smoke and playing around with ice kites, controlling and making them dance in the air. It helped with all the more delicate tasks of all my ice magics. The control must be absolute, ice, like fire, is a very dangerous element that could cause a lot of damages if the mage lost control of it, and right now, I was not convinced that I was entirely in control.

"Gray, sorry to interrupt, can I ask you a question?", a young, feminine voice distracted me from my lollygagging. I exhaled my smoke in the opposite direction of her and I turned to see who has called me.

Chico Hammit was a petite, dark-skinned, young girl. She was the daughter of Ruchio, the owner of Fairy Hills, the female dormitory of the Guild. She had two spirits hovering over her shoulders, two cartoonish ghosts that are a byproduct of her magic. [Legend of City], a lesser and benign form of [Necromancy] that allows her to collect the wandering souls around Magnolia and use them for combat.

"Sure, what do you want to know?", there was no reason to be impolite with the young lass, she was a valuable member of the Guild, as everyone else.

"How come you are not an S-Class?", she directly asked me, with her ghost nodding along with her. "Some of the guys and I were debating about this year candidates and Joey said that you didn't make it any year".

"Honestly?", I snorted, "a case of bad luck for the ages". It was actually the truth. Seeing her confused expression, I took a deep inhalation of my cigar, exhaled the smoke and shut it off in an ashtray that I had on a side table.

"Every single year that the S-class candidates have been announced, I was on another country", I explained to her and she blinked along with her ghosts. That was funny.

"Every year?", she repeated a bit incredulous.

"Since Erza become an S-class", I nodded. "Every single year, the competitions are held and the candidates are announced, I was in another country", it was almost funny now that I thought about it, it was as if fate wanted me to do not be an S-class until some specific year of something.

Fate is a bitch like that sometimes.

"The year on where Erza became and S-class, I was in Joya, eradicating a rogue Machias rampage, the next year I was in Bosco tearing apart a slavery ring, and the next I was on the Pergrande kingdom, during a revolt, where I ended up fighting a lacryma implanted Lava Dragon Slayer", I enumerated all the times that I was out of reach for the S-class trials.

"Wow", she simply commented and the ghost was as flabbergasted as her.

"You tell me", I chuckled, "honestly, I am starting to believe is some kind of curse".

"Sounds like one, yes", she giggled. "Anyhow, thanks Gray". She waved goodbye and walked back into the Guildhall.

"Your welcome", I smiled and with a though, dispelled my kites. Without any desire of sounding arrogant, I was S-class in terms of power, but I lacked control and that was something that an S-class mage could not allow to happen.

True enough, I was a perfectionist, and I did not allow myself anything but absolute control of my magic. I have seen what careless magic could to the environment and the people around a mage drunk on its own power. The experiences that I have in all the countries all over Earth Land; except on Alvarez Empire where all non-native mages were persona-non grata; had shown me the best and the worst of the magical world.

"You really think that a weakling like you had what it takes to be S-class", the arrogant voice of Laxus sounded from somewhere on my side and when I turned my head, I saw him leaning on a window, drinking from a tankard.

Usually, the S-class jobs are on the second floor of the building, where only the S-class mages could get a job. Laxus Dreyar, the grandson of Makarov and one of the Guild´s S-class mages had made of the place almost his personal domain. Laxus was a complicated matter, since that bastard of Ivan, his father, was expelled from the Guild, Laxus had a grudge the size of Magnolia with his granddad, and decided to become the Guild Master, and turn the Guild into a place where only the strongest had a place.

"Who knows", I shrugged my shoulders, I knew that I was S-class, in the end, it was just a letter. "Maybe, maybe not, we will see".

"What would be this year excuse, uh?", Laxus laughed mockingly, "are you going to run again?".

"That´s what it looked like?", I raised an eyebrow at Laxus, completely ignoring his poor attempts at riling me up. They could work with more emotional individuals like Erza and Natsu, but not with me.

"A weakling that run from the test because he would be kicked like a bitch all the ways to Sunday?", mockingly resumed his opinions of why I didn't attend the S-class test. "Yes, it does look that way".

"Uh", I observed him with the very same neutral and cold expression. "how curious".

Laxus watched me in silence, trying to see if his provocations had any effect and he only found a bored me looking at him without any emotion whatsoever. I am an Ice mage, controlling my emotions up to the point that ice is warmer was something that I mastered long ago.

With a seething hiss, Laxus left the window, seeing that he was completely unable to get a rinse out of me. Laxus was a very fucked up individual that needed a harsh bitch slap to get him out of his fucked up delusions of grandeur. But it was not my place to deliver that punch to the face; usually Natsu, in his feral disposition, is the one that delivers such bitch slaps. If I was the one forced to cut short Laxus´s stupidity, I will traumatize the tall young man.

There was a reason why I was called Iceman, and it was not because I was a warm and charismatic person.

Anyhow, I got back into the Guild and get roped by Miki into another sparring match. She and her team were training in the back yard and she has sent her Pii-chan to look out for me and dragging me into their training.

Team Young Megadeath was more a rock band than a team of mages, but I was happy to help nonetheless. They were taking mage jobs and that means dangers that only mages could face. Although, there were jobs for mages that were surprisingly silly. For example, the one that came from the cafe that Chico and her family runs in the city. They needed extra help around and I took the job out of curiosity more than anything else.

Not to toot my own horn, but my cold desserts are really good. More than once I have been said that I took the ice and cold theme a bit too much to the heart, but what can I say?. I am good at what I do. My smoothies are becoming a popular dish after I taught the personnel of the cafe how to make it. They lacked an ice mage, but with enough ice and a good blender it would reach similar results.

Curious jobs like that are relatively common in the job board, all the citizens of Magnolia had become more than accustomed to the ways of our Guild, and they came with all kinds of jobs and request that, more often than not, looks like chores that do not want to do. Or, they could not do, recharging carriage lacrymas, crafting staves, or fix magical devices were also pretty common jobs.

During the three months that I was around, I take some of those jobs; variety is the spice of life; and made myself reacquainted with a lot of the citizens of Fiore. I become a useful figure all around, better PR to the Guild, and is common sense to have a good relationship with the folks of the place where you live. No one wanted bad neighborhoods.

Much to my horror, Mirajane convinced me to go with her in one of her modeling jobs. She needed a male partner, and among the possible candidates, I was the only one with an already good rep with Jason, was handsome enough, and would not provoke a disaster during the photo session.

Loke would try to seduce all the models, Laxus would electrocute them for being weaklings, Freed would not even move a finger without Laxus approval, Joey was way too muscular, Natsu would rampage through the studio, and so went the list on. I was the only male mage of Fairy Tail that could help her with the job.

As Elfman eloquently said, it would not be manly to left Mira hanging like that.

So, I ended up caving and accompanying her to a modeling job. I carved the line in stone about swimsuits, me in a speedo was something that I was not really comfortable with. Enough shame I already felt walking around half-naked, even if I am a stud and I know about it, but after the enhancements of the unknown god, if I ever put a speedo on, I will be arrested by public indecency. Boxers were already a stretch enough.

During the job, I meet the actual Mister Fiore, a blonde lad that accompanied a gorgeous girl called Jenny Realight, the female contender for the Miss Fiore title. Much to my surprise, the lad; both him and Jenny were from Blue Pegasus, a Guild with a reputation of having a lot of beautiful people around; Hibiki Lates was eager to meet someone that could one-up him in the male modeling sells.

To say that I was baffled would be an understatement, but despite all his flamboyant attitude, he was actually a very nice guy. Sure, we are completely opposite, but that doesn't mean that we can not be friends, and much like myself, the guy had a shit ton of hiding talents. Something to do with his "hikemen" training, whatever that was, that his master Ichiya taught to him.

Ichiya, I do hope it is not the same Ichiya that makes Erza shiver in disgust. For what I am understood the Blue Pegasus man was infatuated with Erza, and he was resilient enough to shrug off the violent rejections of Erza, calling those rejections "Erza´s tsundere side".

I was at a loss of words at that, but I will be dammed if I even try to comprehend all that shit.

Anyhow, the photo shot went without a hitch; and several bottles of whiskey to kept my grumbling to a minimum, along liberal applications of Mira´s puppy eyes to made me comply; and by the end of the day I was back to the Guild with a happy Mira, that was convinced that this was the job of the year. Mira was happy, so everything was okay.

On the other hand, I had Skoll and Hati discretely spying the conversation in the nearby building, that happened to be the Magic Council local branch. The results of that discrete Intel-gathering operation were worth the bloody photo shot.

The Magic Council was incredibly freaked out by the sudden and devastating invasion that Pergrande and Iceberg were suffering at the hands of an unknown necromancer of incredible talent. According to the latest reports, the necromancer was called Tombos, and it was a powerful demon capable of using "Death Curses" that turns anyone into his obedient zombies. Zero intelligence, little more than puppets, but with access to whatever magics they had in life.

They are going to send a call to all Guilds about volunteers to be sent to Iceberg, before the undead plague could reach Seven or Bosco, and from there on, to the rest of the continent. This was an S-class job if I ever saw one, but I also knew that among the S-class mages on our Guild, right now, none was even remotely prepared for an all-out war against an undead army.

Guildarts would be the only one with experience and power. Erza sure is powerful, but she is not prepared to cut down children as if they were wheat, Laxus had the power but he would be a wild card, going solo until he was screwed over, Mira had the power but the trauma of Lisanna was still there, and sending her to the battlefield would be a very bad idea.

Among the no S-class mages, well, to be completely honest, none of them would survive such a nightmare. Not without sequels. And that only left me, a war veteran from another world with a shit ton of experience in magical warfare, and the kind of mentality that would fit right into the bloody dirty work that this world needs. That took place during my second month in Magnolia.

There is little need to say that my second appearance in the magazine earned me a lot more teasing and jokes all over the Guild. Mira was delighted, she was Miss Fiore, and I was a good contender for the title of Mister Fiore. Not if I had a word on it. The less I am known, the better. I was not a brooding teenager that could not found his own ass with a map and a compass drooling after the adulation of the masses.

In order reconnect, Erza dragged me and Natsu on a job to the corners of Fiore. We had to hunt a dangerous magical beast that was scourging strawberry fields.

Aye, it was as silly as it sounded, but alas, the magical beasts was a Kraken able to crawl on the earth and with enough strength to smash small villages with easiness. Natsu and Erza were all pumped up and beat the poor octopus black and blue, meanwhile, I kept setting up barriers of ice to prevent any collateral damages. That did earn me the gratitude of the villagers. I ended up giving my share of the strawberries that the villagers gifted us with for protecting the fields, and their homes, to Erza, but she insisted on me turning them into smoothies for her.

It was the first time that all three of us fought together since quite a while.

When we were children, we hanged out a lot, well, Erza, the eternal disciplinarian, dragged us around a lot more than anything else. Natsu was always trying to pick up a fight with me, Erza punched our heads for being idiots, and we kept playing around. When I started to develop my magic, I started to travel a lot and that prevented me to pass as much time with them as I did before.

To be honest, the entire bunch of children that grew up on Fairy Tal were a bunch of weirdos; myself included; and had a lot of antics and manias. From Elfman´s "Man" verbal tic to my stripping habits, or the alcoholism of Cana. Erza´s antics are a bit over the top, but I was hardly one to throw stones to anyone´s roofs.

The antics and manias came from our traumas, all of the children of Fairy Tail tended to have quite the dark pasts. From my past with Deliora, the hate and persecution of Mira and her siblings, and my suspects that Erza´s armor is a protection more for her heart than for her body. In resume, we are a bunch of screwed up wankers, but very powerful screwed up wankers with a solid Guild to call home. That makes a world of difference.

In three months I reconnected with a lot of people of the Guild and reaffirm the good relations that we had with the majority of them. With notable exceptions like Laxus and his Thunder God tribe and other mages that simply considered me scary, or directly weird for my stripping habits. No account for taste after all.

Curiously, Erza and I did pass a lot more time together than usual. Not only because my smoothies, that have become almost an addiction for her, but for the fact that whenever the chance appeared, we took small jobs together. Erza even admitted that she was tempted to take me on one of her S-class jobs, but she was still unsure, and my magic did seem a lot more subdued than before, and I was very busy with my new home and other magical projects.

Such a pity, I would have accepted such offer in a heartbeat. Erza and I….well, we have a complicated relationship. Very positive and intimate, but complicated relationship.

Three months of peace, that ended up when the S-class job of Pergrande and Iceberg appeared on the Guild Board.

How did I know that?. I had Skoll and Hati discretely checking up the board on the second floor, just to see if something related to the village where I found the god, or something as dangerous as that came up. I am a dangerous bastard, aye, but I am an even worse dangerous bastard when someone tried to mess with my Guild.

I didn't even bother to be subtle when Skoll and Hati informed of the presence of the job, I climbed the stairs, took the job in front of the faces of everyone in the Guild and walked to the office of Makarov to have a chat about this particular job. However, I was so determined, that I failed to ponder about one very obvious thing that I really should have thought about.

The reaction of everyone else in the Guild.

My actions were so bold and so out of the blue, that all of them just stared at me with confused and surprised reactions, even Erza, who was in cloud nine with her smoothie, observed me with widened eyes.

Natsu was the first to react, as usual, with his radiant attitude, and protested in loud voice about that he also wanted and S-class job. Erza punched him in the top of his head with her armored knuckles, and told him that he was not ready, but she also told me that I was not ready either. Erza's eyes told me that she was not in the mood for our usual antics, and that I have crossed a line.

It hurts, Erza and I were very close. Maybe not physically close, as I was with Cana, but I knew that Erza was a huge closet pervert with a massive fear of physical intimacy. A trauma that came from her past. I never dig much there, because my usual approach would only hurt her more, but I was always there for the moments where she needed a friend and a hug.

Erza's eyes were hard and demanded an explanation. The rest of the Guild was more or less in the same boat but with less emotional baggage amping up their stares. Well, Mira was worried, Loke was observing me with an unusual serious stare under his glasses, and Cana did not seem entirely sure about what to feel.

Laxus was the one that opened his mouth and tossed the first stone.

"What the fuck you think you are doing weakling?", grumbled Laxus from his usual chair on the second floor. "That is an S-class job, little mages like you can not handle it".

"Neither can the rest of the Thunder god tribe and you had zero problems in carrying them with you to your S-class jobs", I accused back and Laxus blinked, amazed that I have actually replied, and enraged that I have called him a hypocrite to the face.

"All S-class mages could take other mages with them to their jobs, in order to train future S-class mages, teaching them the risks of the S-class jobs", I recited verbatim from the Guild charts. "None of the Thunder god tribe were candidates for the S-class the past years".

"Wait, that is a thing?!", shouted Natsu recovering in a second. "Erza!", I have to hand it to Natsu, he actually made it sound as if it had offended him. "Why didn't you ever took me to an S-class job?".

"You were not ready!", punched Erza Natsu in the head again, hiding her own blush, she did not know that.

Jet, Droy, well, practically all the rest of the Guild turned to Levy that was the usual bookworm of the Guild.

"Yes, it is in the Guild Charter, third section, I believe", she sighed, a bit impressed that I knew so well the Guild in and outs.

"You are too weak to get an S-class Job", snarled Laxus, "you don't have what it takes".

And that was when I made a mistake. So far, my tactic to deal with Laxus; a very ineffective one, I am not above admitting that I tackled the problem not as well as I should have done; was to frustrate him, to make him see that whatever he thought was hot air to me. But this time, after what I have done all over Earth Land, I was sick and tired of Laxus snotty and bratty behavior.

"Maybe, maybe not", I stared at him with deep contempt and disgust, "maybe you can go fuck yourself".

Cue in, jaws hitting floors, wooden tables, and whatever surfaces they found on their way down.

Without even looking at him, I turned my back to him and walked to the office of Makarov, this was more important than a brat with an attitude problem. I will fix him later if I ever found myself in the mood to deal with his idiocy.

"Alpha, watch it!", the mental shout of my pack told me that Laxus has taken my words very badly, and several million volts were on my way.

I had no time for [Ice Make] and any of the other ice magics would reveal my secrets to all of the Guild, something that I was not eager to do.

There would be a lot of questions involved, questions of my past and how I became what I am now. That was a chat that I preferred never to have. I had it with Makarov, as I trusted the old man completely. He took me in and helped me to become what I am today, lying to him would be a disgusting thing to do.

With ice magics out of the list, I had not a lot of options to deal with Laxus lightning, but I still kept a hidden ace in my sleeve.

[Dispel Magic] was obscure magic that worked on the principle of dispelling and disrupting the magical energies of other mages, it was one of the methods that Rune Knights used to fight Dark Guilds. Much to my displeasure, I lacked the talent for the more advanced uses of that magic, but I kept a solid basis with me all the time.

Coating my hand and arm into [Dispel magic], I blocked the electricity and crushed it under my fist, shattering the electric spell of Laxus as it was an annoyance. With a sudden crack, the electric energy was broken into yellow pieces of magic that vanished in the air.

I do hope that he is not seeing the cold sweat on the back of my head and shoulders. That has been way too close. Maybe I have grown lax, but that sudden attacks almost hit me, and knowing Laxus, that would have deep fried me. I was not in the mood to pass half a week with old lady Porlyusica and her "humans are idiots" speech.

Silence reigned in the Guild.

"Done?", I stared at Laxus with undiluted venom, "I have better things to do than listen to your childish idiocy".

Laxus was about to attack me with all he had; I could see it in his eyes; when the magical presence of Makarov crushed all of us. The old man was a member of the Ten Wizard Saints for a reason, I was barely holding myself together and not crashing into the floor due to the oppressive magical energies that flooded the room.

"Enough", was the only word that he needed to say and all of us shut up in a second. Even Laxus.

Laxus maybe an asshole the best of days, but even he knows when his grandfather was not in the freaking mood for any of his usual antics and rude behavior. Wisely shutting up and trying to appear as if the crushing presence of Makarov was not affecting him, Laxus sit back into his chair.

"What was all this commotion about?", sighed Makarov. From time to time, I could understand that he is bloody tired of our antics.

"I took this", I said first, before any in the Guild could say a word. "Is an S-class job".

Makarov raised an eyebrow, that was something that was way out of character for me. The old man picked up the job, read and stared back at me with an unreadable expression. That made the rest of the Guild realize that there was a lot more than it looks in my actions.

"Gray, my child, this job is...".

"A nightmare", I interrupted Makarov, knowing what he was trying to say and why. That was precisely why I was the only one that could take it. "It means to walk right into the middle of an ongoing genocide war".

Several of my friends stiffened at the information, even Natsu seemed unusually quiet, eyeing me and Makarov with attentiveness. Natsu was not an idiot, sure, he acted like one, mostly due to her lack of formal education and dragon instincts getting the best of him, but that same instincts make him way more perceptive that what people gave him credit for. I know it, I know my guild mates better than they know themselves, that´s how I can help them whenever they allow me to help.

It was the only rule that I took for sacred. I could meddle in their business, I could do a lot of things, influence a lot of things, but precisely because all that power, I only intervened when the hand that I am extending is taken.

Great power, great responsibility. A man among men that wrote the best comics that I have ever read in my old word said those words and I took them to the heart. Mind you, that maybe I have give them a bit of a spin to adequate them more to my personality, but hey, details.

"Gray, you are not an S-class", Makarov had sadness in his voice, trying to reason with me.

"Is not a matter of S-class, that is just a letter", I replied, "its a matter of experience and mentality".

"But the rest of the S-class is more than strong enough for this", for the first time in my life, I cut Makarov.

"Master, none of them are even remotely ready for this", I sentenced in a tone that made several chills run down several spines.

"Gildarts is the only one that knows what it is going to be like", I started to dissect the arguments and plans of Makarov. I have been thinking about this since I knew of the existence of the future S-class by a casual gossip.

"But you already knew that Master Makarov, that job was just for him to take and never appear at the rendezvous point, that would put us in a bad light with the Magic Council, but that is just Tuesday for us", I snorted.

"Among the rest, Mystogun had the power but he would not even touch such a job with one of his ten-foot staffs; Laxus has the power, and maybe the mentality, but he is way too egotistical and arrogant to recognize the kind of shit that he is stepping in, such a wild car dies fast in the battlefield".

"You…!" was about to protest Laxus, but the combined magical power of me and Makarov shut him and put him on his chair again.

That was another mistake on my part, I was so engrossed in my chat with Makarov that I let go a lot more of my magic than I should, and the most sensitive of the guild mages perceived that and started to wonder what the heck was going on.

"Erza has the power, but not the mentality, too direct, to straight forward, way too pure for this clusterfuck; I will be dammed if I ever allow such a beautiful soul like her to be stained like that, and Mirajane?. She is in the same boat, she had the power, and maybe in the past she could had the mentality, but right now, the mere idea of our Mira walking into the bloodbath that this fucking trap of a job is, revolts my stomach".

"Master Makarov", I sighed at the image of how Makarov looks as if the world has fallen upon his shoulders, and in a sense, it was what happened. "We both know that this is a bloody trap with pretty letters. The quest is mandatory, all Guilds are ordered to sent mages, obviously, they are going to do exactly what you are doing, picking up the best for the job and pray for their return".

"However, with Gildarts in a one hundred years job, there is no one else prepared for this, well, except me", I pointed out to myself. "I had the experience, the mentality and more importantly, the adequate tools for this war".

My eyes glow red and Makarov´s eyes widened as he understood what I was implying with that. Wait, someone else did gasp down there, but I couldn't look out for who has seen my red eyes again. I prayed that they are not clever enough to ask Makarov about those eyes, as much as the old man respected me, depending on who and how he will be asked, he will reveal one of my hidden aces.

For a long time, we stared at each other eyes. I wanted Makarov to understand that I was not doing this just for the laughs, but because I was the right monster for the job, that I was not another fucking Ivan that was a demented bastard and didn't care about anyone that was not him.

"The worst scars Master", I was about to deliver the final stabbing and it hurt me as much as I was going to hurt a lot of people that I do really care about a lot. "Are never the ones that we carry on the outside", I pointed out at my eyes, "but those that we carry on the inside", I pointed out at my heart, right over the Fairy Tail symbol.

I don't even need to look at the other mages of the Guild, my words had hit them precisely there, in the scars that they carry on the inside, in the pains and emotions that their past had brought to them but that had made the mages they are today. Those wounds do not heal easily, they are there for life, but like that odd fellow said once, what does not kill you only makes you stronger.

I had the living examples of those words as fellow mages of Fairy Tail.

"I will not be silent when people that I care about are forced to suffer even more scars like that; never under my fucking watch".

"Walking into the shadows again, child?", there was guilt and sadness in Makarov's tone and it hurt me because I was the only responsible for that. The old man had nothing to blame himself for.

"I thrive in them", I chuckled humorlessly.

"It is a dark and cold place, Gray", Makarov was trying to make me see that what I was doing to myself was not sane at all. I completely agree, and that was the biggest tragedies of all. But someone has to do it and I was perfect for the job.

"I am the Iceman", smiled with a lot of dark humor.

"And when the shadows finally consume you?", there it is, the real wound in Makarov heart and I fucking felt like the biggest asshole in Earth Land for, "I have seen it before Gray, good people falling into the abyss with the best of the intentions".

"Ah, but I have them", I pointed with my thumb to the entire witnesses of the event. "They have been dragging me out of the abyss since the day when an old drunken man decided to give a stupid child, with a chip on his shoulders the size of a country, a place to call home".

For the first time since the start of the conversation, Makarov actually smiled and chuckled, so there was hope for me after all. I can practically read his mind, speaking of which, I must remind myself to pick up a grimoire about [Telepathy Magic], something tells me is going to be a necessity in the future.

"I hope that you know what you are doing Gray", the defeated voice of Makarov was conveying a lot more emotions than words. "I really hope you do".

And so, I marched to war.