Chapter 21

Second Stage... Or not

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, only my own OC's, Energy Magic and my Ideas

.:+:.

They didn't have to wait much longer until the rest of the competitors who had made it through showed up. Lucy and Cana had beaten Freed and Bickslow, Gray and Loke had beaten Wendy and Mest...

Frea narrowed her eyes at the thought of him, she didn't like the fact she had no recollection of him being in the guild.

Lisanna and Juvia had been taken down by Erza according to Master. While Elfman and Evergreen managed to get past Mira, and Natsu got past Gildarts somehow...

"The next Stage of the Exams will now begin. You have six hours to find the grave of our founding Master, Mavis Vermilion." Master explained as he stood before them with his arms crossed behind his back. He turned around and started to walk off, "I will see you at the grave." He called back before disappearing into the trees, and everyone else disappeared.

"Mavis... Do you know anything about Mavis? Something that might help us find her grave?" Chase asked and Frea looked at the ground.

"Mavis was the first Master... But I don't know very much about her, no." She admitted.

"Mavis was a very good Mage, a good Tactician, and a great Guild Master." They both glanced in surprise at Jynx who appeared before them. She was wearing a neutral expression as her deep red gaze passed over both Mages. "I know where her grave is, but I will not tell you. That would be an unfair advantage." Jynx smiled and Frea nodded.

"I agree, where have you been?" She asked and Jynx shrugged.

"Around, I do have important matters to attend to." Jynx replied vaguely and Chase and Frea exchanged quick glances. "I can only stay for a brief moment, things have started moving and I will need to start moving too, or I'll miss them." Jynx explained.

"Miss what?" They both asked and Jynx shook her head slowly.

"I cannot say, good luck!" Jynx told them with another smile as she disappeared. They both stared at the spot she had been for a few moments, before glancing at each other.

"That was a little... Odd, even for Jynx." Chase murmured and she nodded.

"Yeah... She seemed a little off, don't you think?" Frea asked and he nodded. Frea let out a long sigh and shook her head, "Alright, lets try the Center of the Island shall we?" She suggested as she headed off and Chase followed her.

They both fell into silence as they walked through the trees, which were becoming thicker as they went on. Both of them were listening, watching, and concentrating on any Energy Signature they needed to, despite the fact that all the Energy was muddled for some reason.

If there was any place a grave could be, what better than the center of the island at the foot of that giant tree?

Both their heads snapped to the side as a huge creature that looked like a monstrous deer with sharp antlers jumped from the trees, and charged. Frea clenched her fist, and Chase did the same as their Magic around their hands.

They both stepped forward in the same instant, avoided the antlers, and hit the creature, sending it flying back into the trees, where it did not come back for more.

"I guess it would make sense to have some dangerous animals here." Frea murmured as her Magic disappeared.

"Otherwise, the Exam would be too easy." Chase chuckled.

They headed off again, and as Frea had guessed, the further inland they went, the more distorted any Energy around them became. An hour had passed, Frea sighed silently.

I underestimated how big this Island is...

Frea slowed to a stop as the trees opened up into a clearing and she tilted her head from side to side. She was sure... Sure she heard something...

"What's up Teach?" Chase asked and she held up a hand for silence. She narrowed her eyes as she concentrated on all the sounds around them...

It had sounded like... Yelling?

She stiffened as she caught the very faint sound of someone yelling, it sounded like a fight had started but she wasn't sure who it was. Frea quickly clasped her hands together and pressed her chin against them as she closed her eyes.

"Energy Sense!" She hissed under her breath and she pushed her senses out far into the trees, ignoring the distortion and confusion, she only needed to know... Who was yelling...

She went rigid when she caught on to the Energy Signature of Gajeel very, very far away into the trees... There was no sign of Levy, but there were two other Energy Signatures there with him, strong ones. The interference the Magic from the island was causing made it impossible to see who the other two with Gajeel were, but she knew one thing was for certain.

Gajeel was hurt, badly.

Frea's eyes snapped open as an extremely large amount of Magic appeared in front of them, and the two jumped away at the same time. A powerful blast of Magic hit the ground where they had been standing moments before and destroyed it, sending up clumps of grass and earth.

They both sweatdropped, neither of them had felt the Magic until it was almost too late...

Standing on the thick limb of a tree, scarred arms crossed over his chest, messy black hair hanging low and partly covering his purple gaze. He was wearing a black coat that reached down to his heels and was frayed and ripped at the bottom, with black pants and boots. He wasn't wearing a shirt so his tones chest was visible with an 'x' scar across his right pectoral, next to a black guild symbol.

Frea stiffened when she laid eyes on the mark, she had a pretty good idea what Guild this guy was in.

"This is Fairy Tail Holy Land. A Dark Mage of Grimoire Heart does not belong here, leave." Frea growled as she straightened up and clenched her fists, her Magic rising up around her hands. The man narrowed his eyes, and frowned a little.

"I will not. I have orders to take care of any Fairy Tail Mages I come across." The man answered. "Master Hades said I would be able to find the person responds me for killing my former partner here." He slowly ran his purple gaze up and down the two, eyes resting moments longer on Frea.

"If your not going to leave, we'll make you!" She warned and he sighed.

"I doubt it." The man sighed, and in seconds he was gone from the limb of the tree. Frea stiffened and turned as quickly as she could when she heard someone move behind her, and she brought her hands up. She just barely managed to block the kick the Grimoire Heart Mage sent at her back, and she was pushed back a few inches from the sheer force of it.

She jumped back away from him along with Chase, and she narrowed her eyes when a sadistic smile spread across his face.

"That scar on your back." The man hissed. "I know who gave it to you..." Frea stiffened, how the hell would he...?

"Your the one I'm looking for, and now I'm going to kill you and your partner." The man laughed and Frea glanced Chase's way.

"Split up!" She ordered and the two of them jumped away in separate directions. Frea narrowed her eyes as the man suddenly disappeared from where he had been standing, and she tried to pinpoint him again.

He's... He can't be disappearing... But is he really that fast?

She stepped forward to avoid a blow from behind before whipping around and lunging forward with a clenched fist, and swung out only to find he wasn't there anymore. She glanced up when a red flare appeared in the sky from a ways away and she hissed in frustration.

"That flare is a little late..." She hissed under her breath as swept her gaze over the clearing, trying to find the Grimoire Heart man.

"Seems to me, one of your members has been taken down." The man told her as he stopped and glanced up at the flare. "A little impressive, he took down two of our members, but he did get hurt pretty badly." The man chuckled.

"Who the hell are you and why are you attacking Fairy Tail?!" Frea snarled and the man smiled.

"My name is Tomaru, I am here along with some of our wizards, and the Seven Kin Of Purgatory." He explained and tapped a finger to his temple. "I know where all of our members are, and what they're doing. Grimoire Heart is after a Mage here on this Island, along with our task of destroying you Fairy Tail Mages."

"Whose the Mage your after?" Chase asked from where he was standing behind the man a ways, looking a little beat up as if he had gotten hit at some point when she wasn't looking.

"The Legendary Black Wizard Zeref." Tomaru answered with a large grin and Frea stiffened.

"Zeref... But he was around hundreds of years ago, how could he still be alive?" Chase murmured.

"He's been sleeping for a very long time, and we are going to find him so we can make the Ultimate Magic World." Tomaru smiled. "Only those who have magic will be able to survive in it." He chuckled.

Frea's attention was snapped from Tomaru, when dozens of wizards dressed in robes dropped from the sky. She ducked under a swing from one, and blew three away with an Energy Bomb.

"It looks like Asuma took down some cats, a kid, and a man named Mest from the Magic Council." Tomaru snickered as he pressed a finger to his temple.

"Damn it, I knew I wasn't crazy!" Frea hissed as she stepped out of the way of a blow from a Mage.

"That sounds like Wendy and Happy." Chase murmured as they were suddenly back to back.

"I said 'cats'" Tomaru called with extra emphasis on the s. "Blue, Black and White."

Frea exchanged a quick glance with Chase. "Lily and Carla are here too."

They split apart, moving out of the way of a large blast of magic sent for them.

"Zancrow took down Salamander!" Tomaru laughed and Frea glared. He was calling out defeats just to spite them, and she was becoming increasingly frustrated with it.

Frea sucked in air and leaned back a little, "Roar of the Energy Dragon!" Several of the uniformly dressed Mages were taken out, and she growled when it didn't seem like Tomaru had been hit.

"You might as well give up, Master Hades has defeated Makarov." Tomaru hissed behind her and she froze, the Grimoire Heart Mage hit her and she stumbled forward sliding on the grass.

She pushed herself to her feet and stared, Master... He couldn't have, could he...?

"Is he serious?" Chase whispered.

"Very serious, your Master has fallen, along with some of your Guild-Mates." Tomaru answered, smile across his face. "You won't win this war." Tomaru jumped up into a tree limb and watched the two Fairy Tail Mages fight with his comrades, and he leaned up against the trunk of the tree with his shoulder.

"You both use a type of Magic that has a 'good' or 'light' nature." Tomaru continued. Frea threw away five Mages and ducked under a sword. "That's really unfortunate... The light side is weaker than the darker side of Magic!" He laughed loudly.

"You Fairy Tail Weaklings all follow the light path! Light will never beat Darkness, and you will all die!" Tomaru's voice started rising, "You-"

"Shut up!" Frea snapped, her voice high and commanding, eyes cold, fangs bared as she glared at the oncoming Mages around her. "Black Magic is a disgrace, it should never have existed. Causing destruction and pain is easy, but that doesn't make Dark magic stronger!"

She punched a Mage in the face and sent him flying, his visor shattered from her force.

"The world can't function if Dark Magic overpowers Light Magic!" Frea grabbed a Mage and threw him into a tree, he went straight through the thick trunk. "You sure as hell aren't going to win," she paused in her fighting and stared right up at Tomaru, eyes bright with fire. "I won't let you." She hissed and Tomaru sweatdropped a little.

"Kid!" Frea snapped and Chase literally jumped as she yelled at him, and he turned toward her slowly after pushing away some Mages.

"Uh... Yeah, Teach?" He asked nervously.

"You have one job, keep these idiots away from me while I take care of Tomaru!" She ordered and Chase nodded.

"Sure, I'll try to keep them off you." Chase replied and she looked away from him.