If I've learned anything throughout the years, it was that inaction was a powerful tool when used correctly. Spying on a target was a slow project, one that required large amounts of patience to sit still and wait for new information, wait for the perfect moment; these were all skills I had in abundance when I was still an assassin. However, it was becoming clear to me that Fairy Tail had ruined me for those attributes...

I was only laying on the ledge for an hour, max, which was enough time to regain most of my energy and allow most of my wounds to heal superficially. Thank god for my body's naturally quick healing rate; I may be a far cry from being fully healed, but at least I was better than before.

The longer I laid there, the more willing I became to sacrifice someone to whatever gods could be listening so that I could have an opportunity to kick Jose's teeth in, especially when he made an announcement over a loudspeaker that he had not only kidnapped the blonde, but that he also defeated me... Yeah, I would fight him one on one, and I would give him the biggest bruise possible.

It seemed to take forever, but eventually, the sounds of fighting drew closer, which was my signal to make my move. The last thing I wanted would be to rest through the fight and be completely useless to the guild. I needed to make my coming back worth it, even if it took all my willpower to make my sore body move.

With a slight groan, I moved into a crouch and examined the ledge beneath me, it would probably be the easiest way to get back in. As a bonus, if I was careful, I could avoid cutting my arm open on the glass. Thankfully, Doing that wasn't too hard, sure I was mincing with every move, but it seemed like my maneuverability hadn't been damaged that much.

Once I was in, I prowled through the halls towards the sounds of fighting, pulling out my dagger and a smaller knife from inside my belt, seeing as how my longsword was still in the room one floor above me. Not for the first time, I blessed my insistence to know how to handle all my weapons well; now I wasn't up the metaphorical creek without a paddle, I could still fight with confidence when I needed too.

The rooms passed slowly, and soon I picked up my pace, choosing speed over being discrete, this place was big enough that I could easily spend the entire battle simply looking for the battle if I wasn't careful. Though I was able to hear sounds of a fight from here, it sounded intense, and I could help but worry for whoever was in the line of fire... The way this had been set up was intentional, it was meant to be lethal.

By the time I reached the doorway, all had gone quiet, which indicated that the fight was over, small burn marks covered the door, which could only have come from two people, so I was eager to find out who had been fighting.

The door creaked as it opened, protesting the strain it had been put under in the past few minutes, which I sympathized with; though I couldn't help but feel far worse for the architecture once I entered the room. Pillars were laying on the ground, broken into pieces, the walls were covered in a mixture of cuts, burns and what looked to be ice. Windows had been blown out, and the flooring had been smashed beyond all recognition, which made this whole room scream out the fact that a major battle had taken place here.

On the ground, near the middle of the room, lay the blindfold man, now without his blindfold and the redhead whom I had seen earlier in the guild. The blacked haired boy, as well as squeaky and some giant man, were all lying off to the side, breathing heavily as they took in the aftermath of the battle.

I walked to the blindfolded man and whistled lowly, "My goodness, you did quite the number on him, I'm kind of impressed." Everyone's heads snapped towards me as I spoke, watching me with confusion and relief.

"Yes," The redhead's voice held a rather judgemental tone, which made me sigh slightly. I knew she would probably get irritated with me eventually, especially with how she greeted me in the guild, but now hardly seemed like the appropriate time to do this. "And where were you during this whole fight, Loke mentioned that you basically offered Lucy up to Jose, so I hope you have a good explanation."

Fine, she wanted to do this now, I'd play, who cares that I was starting to feel energy coming this way, which likely meant that Jose was joining the fight, who really cares that the blonde was still in the possession of this less than friendly guild, we'd do this.

"I was having my own fight," My tone was frosty as I gripped my dagger tightly if my instincts were correct, the redhead was in the line of fire. I adjusted slightly, compensating for my injuries as I prepared to intercept, "Jose would have gotten ahold of the blonde eventually, so I simply used that as an excuse to get close to him."

I could feel the three other people in the room shutter slightly as the redhead and I exchanged glares; she was ticked, and I couldn't help but smirk slightly. This was someone who knew how to glare properly, if she were up against anyone else, she might have intimidated them with that look.

I was almost proud.

"That doesn't explain you abandoning your guildmate to be tortured, have you no sympathy?!" I could see the redhead requipping into another armor, which was slightly impressive, I wondered if she was as good at fighting as she seemed? Perhaps I should challenge her to a duel after all this was over, just to see. I always did enjoy a challenge.

However, all that could wait, Jose was here. Without another thought, I propelled myself forward to right in front of where the redhead was. Thankfully, my instincts were on point, as I was able to intercept Jose mid-flight as I did a full body tackle, changing his trajectory entirely. Instead of him taking out the redhead, he made contact with one of the few remaining pillars in the room, as I landed safely a few feet away.

"I see you survived," Jose drawled standing up from the pillar, looking as though he hadn't been hit at all, "After you jumped through the window, I was afraid you had died, though I imagine Aria would have been fine with that. It took him five whole minutes to regain consciousness after that little stunt of yours."

Once again, I heard gasps coming from behind me, but I ignored them, I didn't care about their reactions right now, "Too bad it wasn't enough. If this had been eight years ago, you all would be dead, so you should thank these flies, as you call them, for that."

He laughed shortly, an insane glimmer in his eyes, "Is that really a good thing though? You were a legend, yet it seems these Fairies have tamed you, which really is a tragedy." What a joke, my eyes rolled at his obvious insinuation, "You know, if you joined me, I would put you to so much better use. You took down two of my best people in seconds, not to mention I received a message from my guild; apparently, some insane woman stopped in to deliver a message to me, I can only assume was you." His voice was so cocky, it took all of my willpower not to attack right then.

"Ah, so they did pass on my message, how good of them; they were quite entertaining while they lasted," My mutter made it to Jose, whose grin widened slightly, but I cut him off before he could continue trying to recruit me, "It's a generous offer, Jose, but I really have no desire to go back to my old life and even if I did, you are threatening the only people I owe my loyalty to, so you would inevitably be my first target."

I smirked slightly, then allowed it to grow into a sadistic smile. If he was allowing his insanity to come out and play, then it would only be fair to reciprocate, "This time you don't have two impenetrable shields, think you can still keep up?"

"Keep up?" Jose laughed and raised his arms, allowing shadows to flood from him as though someone had just turned on a facet, "My dear, that's exactly what I should be asking you!"

Before I ran into this long-anticipated fight, I turned to the redhead, who was still standing behind me, unable to hide the shock on her face, "You did well fighting Aria, but stay out of this fight, he's my problem."

I couldn't wait for her to say anything, by the time she would have been able to, I was already across the room, dodging between shades to get at Jose.

This time around, I was on high alert, Jose's shades seemed to be significantly slower than Jose, so it didn't take long before I made it to him, striking quickly, which, of course, he parried.

"Am I really going to see The Ghost of Fiore go all out?" He spoke calmly, as though we weren't moving faster than the eye could follow, "Why were you holding back on me earlier?"

He reached out, obviously meaning to send a shock through me as he had before, but I was ready this time. The flat of my dagger intercepted his hand, cutting through his skin, forcing him to leap backward as I followed up with my knife, slashing him slightly on his arm.

I followed him and continued to strike and for just an instant, I had him on the defensive. This was no time for speaking, he was a wizard saint and I didn't use my magic. I was at a severe disadvantage, but that wouldn't stop me.

We clashed again, his shades acting like a sentient whip, keeping my blades at bay no matter how hard I struck. If I continued to fight like this... Well, I would embarrass myself, and maybe even die.

My dagger clattered to the ground, torn from my grip by Jose, who was now starting to cackle wildly, no doubt he thought he was winning, but I had something else I could try, not my last trick, for sure, but an old favorite.

As Jose reached forward once more to strike the 'winning blow, I feinted to the left before jumping straight up; this move was tricky and required a shit ton of concentration, but that didn't stop me.

As I hung in the air for a moment, I watched Joses face twist slightly with surprise before gravity began to pull me back down. Jose's original strike was still causing his arm to move forward slightly, which was perfect when I hit the ground, I made sure that my feet were positioned right above Jose's arm.

This all happened within a fraction of a second, so he had no time to move before his arm before my feel forced it to make contact with the floor.

A sickening crack echoed through the room as Jose's eyes widened and he yelled out in pain. I jumped off his arm, and rolled away, avoiding the shades he sent right at me as he curled into himself to cradle his arm.

I pulled another knife out of my boot before I stood and jumped backward yet again. He was injured, which meant he was even more dangerous. We were at a standoff, he was glaring at me, the whites of his eye had turned black and the pupil was now red and a black shade had completely encased his broken arm.

This would likely be my last stand unless I... No, I refused to do that for someone like him. Without magic, I would surely lose to Jose now that he had unleashed his full power, but perhaps I could hold him off until reinforcements arrived.

If I aimed for the limbs, it was possible that he would be too distracted to bring his full power against me right away, I just needed to time this ri-

Before I could even think to move, a flash of red ran past me to confront Jose, "No," I hissed out, watching as Jose prepared a spell that would likely kill her. I watched as the whip formed, crackling with malicious intent before it sped forward, moving like a snake after it's prey.

Another shout of pain echoed through the room when the whip struck, but it wasn't the redhead who had been caught in Jose's trap. No, I was infinitely dumber than her right now.

The rope of energy was tearing through my insides like it was nothing, and this was with my magical immunity; I had gotten a taste of this before, but now it was apparent that strong enough magic could still harm me, which was not a pleasent realization.

My teeth ground together as I glared at Jose, who was smirking at me so smugly, "Well, I didn't think I'd actually catch you with a trap this obvious, thank god for interfering little pests I suppose." His grin was animalistic, but I wouldn't give in.

"Yeah... I'm as surprised... as you are right now," My breathing was heavy as the pain continued to wrack my insides. How I was still holding up was a complete mystery, but it was the only option right now, "Too bad... You're still going to lose."

He walked closer to me, which prompted the redhead and the black haired guy to get into fighting stances, "No!" My yell took them off guard, "Fight now and you'll die. I'm the only one who can face him right now, do you understand me?"

Jose chucked as he got even nearer, "You should listen to her," The malevolent intent in his voice shook even me to the core, which was saying a lot, "If this one didn't have an irritating way of blocking some of my energy, she would be dead for sure, so please stay out of our way. This is a private conversation!"

With the last sentence, Jose's eyes widened and a wall of shadow sprung up between us and my guildmates, who I could hear crying out in shock.

Thankfully, when he erected the wall, the magic he was sending to the rope binding me weakened just enough for me to slip through it. I landed painfully on my side, but still managed to stand, cussing heavily as I did so.

"Now that the distraction's gone, we can chat," Jose was only about a foot in front of me as I looked up at him, clutching my midriff, unable to stand straight. "I really would like it if you left these flies to come and work for me, we could do so much more. Forget killing of these Fairies, give us enough time, and we could take down the magic council itself. With you as my blade, we would be unstoppable."

After everything I said, he still thought I would change alliances? He really hadn't been listening. "What do I have to do to help you understand?" I growled out, straightening as much as I could, "I don't want to be an assassin anymore, do you know what I want instead?" He cocked his head, his black eyes still gleaming with malic, though now my gaze was just as cold, if not colder, than his was.

He fake yawned and looked at the wall of swirling black that surrounded us, "I suppose you want to settle down, have a normal life, boring things that boring people do, is that right? If it is, I must say that I'm incredibly disappointed."

"Well," I mused, thoughtfully rubbing the back of my neck while reaching to the pocket sewn into the collar of my shirt where I kept my second to last blade, "That is one option, though I doubt it would fit my style very well."

I watched Jose's eyes roll, apparently, he was already bored with this conversation and didn't see the trap closing in around him, "Oh do tell me, my dear, I'm absolutely dying to know,"

I looked him in the eye and allowed the full amount of my killing intent come forward, blazing through so much that it practically took shape behind me, "I want to hunt down and torment anyone who thinks that it's a good idea to hurt Fairy Tail!"

Jose was quick to react, but unfortunately for him, he was still a millisecond too slow. My knife plunged into his side, allowing the special sedative that I kept on this blade to enter his bloodstream before I lifted my leg and kicked his chest hard enough to send him flying through his own shadow wall, dispersing the spell.(Think the chest kick in 300)

Now, I was under no illusions that this had won the fight, but it sure as hell made me feel better (not really, I was ready to collapse any minute with how bad the pain was). I followed Jose and grabbed his collar before punching his nose as hard as I could, this would likely be the last punch that I would be able to land on him, but I had been dying to do it for too long.

Immediately after that, I felt a blast of energy hit my midriff, which sent me flying backward for about ten feet before I rolled on the ground a few times, slowly coming to a stop and trying to get breath to reenter my lungs.

A hand was shaking my shoulder, presumably, it was one of the people who got in my way earlier, but they would just have to wait a second. My heartbeat was pounding in my ears and an unholy moan was emitting from my mouth as my lungs slowly reinflated. This wasn't the first time I had experienced this, but it was the first time it had happened while in battle, so I was shaken, it absolutely sucked.

Finally, I had the control over my body to brush the hand that was shaking me away, before rolling over and beginning to dry heave. Thankfully there was no blood in the stomach acid that came up, so at least he hadn't ruptured my internal organs.

'I'm very impressed," Jose's voice sounded far less suave, I could practically hear the broken rib I gave him, "Few have managed to wound me this badly during a fight. I can only imagine what you would be able to do if you used your magic." I turned my head to glare at him, threatening death with my eyes if he brought that up, "Oh? Why so hostile?" God damn it, even with a purple bruise covering half of his face and at least one broken rib he still managed to sound like the smuggest fuck alive.

"Did I perhaps brush a sensitive subject? Just my luck, you see, I happen to be able to sense a person's magic fairly well, and I sense that you have a sizeable amount, though it's been suppressed."

He chucked, which quickly turned into a hacking fit, I couldn't just let him continue, I knew that a strong energy was coming this way, and it didn't seem like another enemy, I needed to keep him away from my guildmates until this person came.

I held my breath as I forced myself to stand for the umpteenth time that day, straining as I tried not to scream. This was far more painful than it had been... probably because everytime he got me, it was usually a blow to my midriff.

"Listen... here... you smug... fuck" I gasped out, finding that I was completely incapable of standing straight, "You are... a terrible person... and I hope... you rot in jail... for the rest of... your miserable... life."

This was it, I knew the energy was close to me, but I wasn't sure if it was closer than the spell that Jose was about to cast. The redhead and black haired boy both yelled out, and I could see them trying to get in front of me before they were repelled by a surge of black energy.

As the spell formed and was thrown at me, I kept eye contact with Jose, smiling sweetly before I muttered one last thing, "Be sure to tell your cellmate who gave you such a beautiful bruise."

The energy raced towards me, and I braced myself for what would likely the final blow, ignoring the yells that I could hear from the sidelines as the energy raced across the ground towards me...

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Before the blow could hit me, a shadow landed squarely in front of it and dispelled the energy as though it was nothing.

"About time you got here, old man,"