The trains that ran towards Era were slow and crowded, two things that I hated more than anything else in life, even if I had accepted them as being something I would deal with every day. Thankfully though, despite that sobering fact I was able to get lost in the passing scenery. It certainly wasn't that I enjoyed the train ride, there were far too many screaming children for me to say that, it was more the fact that I didn't hate it as much as I could have.

There were simply too many things for me to focus on to care about the fact that a toddler next to me was drooling on my arm as it attempted to see what it repeatedly christened as the "Pretty butterflies." I also didn't have the heart to break it's heart by giving in and allowing it to see the corpses of several trapped moths that had drawn its attention.

By the time the train stopped I was the first one out of my seat, as I decided that waiting for the passenger car to empty was not something I cared to do... The window was my quickest option, so out I went, earning myself several shocked yells from both sides of the train as I landed gracefully.

Needless to say, the platform guards were not happy with my little stunt.

It wasn't until a highly exasperated Lahar made his way down to the platform to retrieve me that I was released with a stern warning that any further actions of a similar nature would 'not be tolerated' while I was in Era. Thankfully, I was able to contain my scoff at that until Lahar and I were a safe distance away.

"Are they new?" I asked cheerfully as I nudged my companion, referring to the guards who were behind us."

A long-suffering sigh forced itself from Lahar as he looked at me from the corner of his eye, "I heard there was a rather major disturbance in Magnolia a few days ago, would you by chance happen to have heard anything similar." And now I had irritated him enough that he was just completely ignoring my question."

Once again, the events of the Magnolia festival intruded as I ignored him just as well as he did to me (no doubt, that was his intention), and we walked the rest of the way to his office in silence. Sure, he was a good guy, but there wasn't a funny bone in his body...

I couldn't help but smirk as we walked by what had formerly been the council building; Manipubitch had done a good job on the whole thing, as even now there were still large piles of rubble that were waiting to be cleared away. Just looking around at the town showed that the economy had dipped since then. There were fewer stalls in the streets and the few civilians I did see had looks of fear in their eyes that I knew hadn't been here before.

Normally, I loved to put on a happy mask while I was here, as that was the one that got under the council's skin the most, but my happy smile dropped quickly as I saw just what state Era was in. "Things have been bad here, haven't they?" I asked quietly as we approached the Rune Knight's main office, my eyes glued to a couple walking down the street hand in hand.

Lahar barely glanced over his shoulder at the couple I was looking at, whose hands were entwined just a little to tightly for it to be out of love or as a show of protection. Their knuckles were white, and they walked quickly, afraid to be out in the open for too long.

"Terrorist attacks always have this effect." Lahar said simply as he opened the door and ushered me in. It was obvious that this was nothing new, Lahar had seen this before, "It will return to normal in a few more months."

I followed Lahar into the building pondering this, fear was an interesting thing, and yet humans overcame it so easily when given time. The center of their city had been pulled down by an insane lady who was out to help resurrect Zeref and while no one had been hurt, this entire town had shifted its way of life.

Were... Were my assassinations followed by the same response? Did couples walk through the streets filled with fear after my mark was seen? A bloom of guilt hit me hard and I could do nothing but avert my gaze from all the officers that I could see trying to help in their own ways. I was the cause of fear, even now to this day.

As soon as we walked into Lahar's office, the door snapped shut behind me, forcing my mind to leave the past, no matter how little I wanted to right now, I needed time to internalize this new information.

"Once again, I really must thank you for coming to help us Ember," Lahar said in his most business-like tone, walking around his desk and gesturing for me to take a seat across from him.

I sat in the winged armchair without any further prompting, "To be fair, you didn't really give me a chance to say no. What was it, thirteen calls on my private lacrima?"

It seemed that Lahar was aware of how his actions had come off as he looked away from her with a hint of red touching his ears, "Yes, and I am sorry about that. However, this was a job that needed to be taken care of... decisively and without mercy, I suppose. I have been investigating the matter for several months now and it isn't something that the Rune Knights can get involved with after the disaster with the Tower of Heaven, especially with such little evidence."

That certainly made sense, though I couldn't help the snarky grin that spread across my face at that, "So you're hiring me as an under the table mercenary then?" Lahar's face twisted unpleasantly at that and I couldn't help but chuckle. In the entire time I had known him, Lahar had abhorred the word mercenary, so this moment was made all the more amusing.

"No, it is a Rune Knight policy to never deal with mercenaries." I nodded at this, it was pretty much what I expected, but his next words certainly caught me off guard, "I thought you knew Ember, you joined the list of official Rune Knight operatives many years ago."

My breath hitched in my throat and I found myself choking on nothing as Lahar simply sat there with the smallest ghost of a smile as he watched me struggle, "I what?"

It was official, the bastard was mocking me, the smile that continue to grow by miniscule increments told me so, "Yes, you've been on our records ever since the first time you helped us. It's nothing major, you're simply on a short list of people we can contact when jobs require something we cannot provide because of our policies or other issues."

All I could do was nod dumbly as I tried to scoop my jaw up off the floor, I knew that the Rune Knights had their hands tied in a lot of situations, but I had no idea about any list of names, I wasn't sure whether I should be proud or annoyed... Though, now I was slightly leaning towards the latter.

"So you know, I'll have a partner joining me on whatever mission you have for me, depending on how difficult it will be." I managed to get out after a few moments, and thankfully, my tone was level, showing nothing of my momentary slip.

Lahar nodded thoughtfully, "Yes, I suspected you would say that, I approve of Mr. Dreyer being your partner, so long as he doesn't lose control again. This job, while perfect for someone with your level of experience tracking people down, will more than likely be difficult. Do you officially accept the job?"

A small lacrima on his desk flashed green as I nodded, which he then grabbed and tapped several times to activate, "This lacrima contains all the information that we can give you on your mission, which will be to locate and alert the Rune Knights to the location of the guild Novus Ordo."

My eyes sharpened as I heard that name, the past was long since gone, but once I bothered to learn the name of anything, I never forgot it. "Are you sure the name was Novus Ordo?" I asked, my voice barely above a hiss as I watched Lahar intently.

"Yes," He pushed his glasses up as his gaze sharpened almost as much as mine had, "May I ask how you know the name? I was under the impression that it had been forgotten, seeing as how it had bee-"

Abruptly I stood and held out my hand for the lacrima, "-Destroyed years ago, yes, I'm aware." The look that Lahar sent me was telling, but I payed it no mind as I grabbed the lacrima from his hand, "So you just want me to look into them then send in the calvary when I get enough evidence? This sounds like it will be a walk in the park."

"Don't judge it so quickly," He said, lacing together the tips of his fingers, "People have started to go missing in the surrounding area, so as far as the Council is concerned, this new threat is already on the verge of becoming a dark guild. It would be unwise to underestimate them."

I sent him a smirk before turning to walk to the door, not allowing him to see how my expression dropped and shadows covered my eyes, "I thought you knew me better than that, Lahar. You don't have to worry about me underestimating them because I have every intention of doing this my way."

With that I swept out if the office, my enhanced hearing allowing me to hear Lahar mutter out one final thing.

"Ember, that's precisely what scares me."

***

Down the street from the Rune Knights headquarters a building shook as the dull crash echoed through the air. My entire body was shaking, and it wasn't because of the fact that my fist was planted firmly into a newly formed crater in the wall.

Novus Ordo was the only hit that I had been given as an assassin that caused me to lose control... The things I saw there as an eight-year-old were things that should never be seen. After that, I promised myself that I would never allow that shit to happen again, yet only three years later it rose again, and again it was back. It truly was the definition of a monster that grew a head back every time one was cut off.

The Rune Knights wanted me to simply pin the guild's location down, but I already knew that that wouldn't happen. I was in this for blood, and no amount of reprimands would stop me.

Slowly, I extracted my hand from the brick wall and forced myself to walk away, no doubt that if I had punched much harder, I would have reduced the wall to rubble. The cuts on my hands stung, but that was nothing compared to the chaos that was my mind right now, I wanted nothing more than to run to the town and kill every member of that cursed guild that I could find, but that would definitely be the wrong approach.

I activated the lacrima that held my mission's information as I reached for the second lacrima that was around my neck as always. I needed someone else to be there with me, if for no other reason than to act as an impediment to me going on a blood crazed frenzy.

After only a moment, the lacrima's call connected and a grumpy voice echoed across the line, "This had better be good, Coal Head, I'm busy." I couldn't help but smile as I heard the familiar voice, it seemed that he was back to normal after everything, but I knew him better than that.

"Busy doing what, Spark Plug?" I asked mockingly, ignoring the small growl that echoed over the line, "Do you really think you can fool me of all people? You forget how well I know you."

A few nearly intelligible words broke through in a slight slur as he managed to get a few coherent words out, "I do important shit all the time, so fuck you bitch."

Talking to Laxus really was good for my head, he was already helping to distract me from the murderous rage I had been feeling only moments before, "You can do that later, doll face." I crooned and only a moment later I could hear him coughing violently, "No, right now I'm betting that you're sitting in a bar, trying to get shit-faced drunk but failing miserably because it takes a lot of expensive hard liquor to get you to the point you want."

Silence was the best answer I could have possibly gotten as my grin continued to spread the longer, he was quiet, "I'm right, aren't I?"

"What do you want, Ember?" He said, his tone remarkably different from how it had been before, as now it held a sigh of resignation that told me that I won.

I held back a chuckle as I answered him, knowing that if I pushed too far, he would not be afraid to hang up on me, "Oh, nothing much, I just wanted to check in, see how you're doing, and ask if my partner wants to join me for my first case?" At first, I could practically feel him losing his patience, but by the end he had completely lost it and began sputtering as the sound of something raining filtered to me.

This truly did cause me to laugh out loud, he was shocked, which was a side of him that I rarely got to see, "Relax man," I forced out between chuckles, "I'm asking you to join me on a mission, not telling you that you're the father!"

"This isn't funny!" He roared from the other side, which had me leaning against a building as I tried to control myself.

"No, no, of course not, it isn't at all funny that you just sprayed beer everywhere."

"Ember." His voice held a warning that I absolutely could have ignored, but I needed to be going soon, so it would probably be beneficial to get this done with.

My hand worked its way through my knotted hair as I sighed heavily, "Fine, do you want to help out?" I asked while starting to make my way towards the train station.

Now that I was serious, I could practically feel him calming down slightly, "I don't know, I'm pretty busy right now, it could be difficult for me to get away. What's the mission?"

It was actually painful for me to not comment on how busy he must be as I bit down on my tongue hard enough to draw blood simply to not blurt out whatever was in my head, "It's a search and destroy mission, one with lots of targets who all deserve to have their asses kicked. You want in?"

He was silent for a moment as he thought through what I had told him, "Did the Rune Knights tell you to take everything out, or is this personal?" I knew Laxus better than almost anyone, it was easy to see that he knew me just as well, he was observant when he wanted to be and knew how connect the dots... A terrifying guy, though he would probably say the same about me.

I smiled slightly as the train station came into view, "It's a bit of both, you remember the first job we did together?"

This was not a conversation that I wanted to be brought into the public eye, so I leaned against a wall of the train station, keeping an eye out for anyone who got close.

"How could I forget it, it had to do with all the kidnappings near your place, right?"

We were both in business mode at this point, even if one of us was more than a little drunk, "Yeah, the guild who caused that is back and I have every intention of putting them in the ground once more."

He didn't argue with me, it would have done him no good and he knew it. After a brief moment and a deep sigh, Laxus finally answered, "Okay, fine, I'll help you. Where is all this going down?"

Once again, I pulled up the lacrima, as that a one bit of information that evaded me on my first look through. As soon as the name popped up a grimace crossed my face, "You know, I'm not sure I believe this... I think you'll appreciate the poetic irony of this location."

He hummed slightly, indicating for me to go on, "All this has been happening in Shirotsume, that name ringing any bells?"

"Shirotsume? Yeah, it sounds familiar... I'm not sure why tho-"

Laxus cut himself off before he cursed, "Is that really where everything has been happening? Are you sure this is a good idea, Coal Head? You did get beaten here after all."

I shrugged, though that fact did get under my skin, "It's not like we have a choice, now do we? After all, this is where I beat you for the first time as well, if I remember correctly. We both have a bad track record with this place."

A chuckled swelled over the connection, the first one I had heard in quite some time, "True, I suppose Shirotsume it is, this will be a regular blast to the past."

The small talk continued for a few minutes, but eventually I needed to get going, Laxus said it would take him several days to get there from his current location, but I had a feeling that he simply wanted time to get rid of his hangover before starting a mission. Not that I was about to complain, Hungover Laxus was not a person I liked being around.

I, on the other hand, could make it to Shirotsume within the day, so I had already made plans to make a few stops along the way, grab supplies, and stop at popular gossip locations to get hints. There was much to do, and little time to do it in...

It certainly may have seemed like I was procrastinating, which was only partially true... I certainly wasn't eager to return to my first botched assassination, even if I did meet Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe there...

***

Before I made it to Shirotsume there were a few stops I needed to make first, mainly Gavin's to get more specialized potions (he was absolutely floored when I didn't buy any magic draining potions), but I also had to make a stop at one of my more popular gossip holes. This wasn't needed, but it had been a few years since I had done an in-depth investigation like this and I wanted to cover my bases.

In fact, by the time I reached Shirotsume night had fallen and people were either retiring for the evening or heading to the bars and taverns that filled some of the less savory streets. My body was screaming out for me to find a hotel, as I had been traveling heavily for several days and even then, I was coming off being electrocuted...

It was probably fair to assume that I needed my rest, but that would have to wait for the night. I was on a case and those taverns were probably my best bet to get reliable information, rest was for the weak anyways.

I had to be careful, if I grabbed out a notepad and pen, people would probably start getting suspicious and clam up quickly, so instead I had my pen and a notepad that was slightly hidden in the shadows of the table. It wasn't necessarily the... sneakiest thing I had done, but the people there were already pretty drunk when I showed up, so the only one who had a chance of noticing me was the barkeeper, and he was busy keeping up with the orders of laborers who wanted nothing more than to drown themselves in liquor.

The waitress grabbed my reluctant order for a beer, and within a minute I had a mug of the foul-smelling amber liquid in front of me. I hated beer on principle, as the taste was terrible, and the alcohol content was far too low to justify the bad taste. Vodka was more up my alley, at least it could get me drunk quick.

No, for this mission, I needed to stay sober, so beer was the perfect drink, as it would be completely normal for me, an outsider, to sit in the corner and nurse a beer for a long time. I had every intention to move on to another bar if this one didn't turn up good information, but I needed to be patient, it would probably take time for the good gossip to start coming.

"Hey, Miss! What's a pretty thing like you doing here all alone at this time of night?"

The heavy sigh that burst from me was completely involuntary, this was a big reason why I hated bars, they were always full of perverts who were too drunk to realize that I wanted to be left well enough alone. A hand gently dropped on my shoulder and I tensed, preparing myself to pretend to be interested and milk him for whatever information he might have.

Fortunately, "Hey, leave the woman alone, I don't think she wants your attention." A voice stopped the man, who turned to snarl at the new defender, "I don't think so, now how about you go crawl back to your stool, that particular lady is here with me."

Yes, the voice was too familiar, one that I hadn't heard in years... A shiver raced down my back as I turned to look at the older man who was sending his patent death glare at the one who had been trying to flirt with me.

"What the hell are you doing here? I spat, not bothering to acknowledge what he had said about him being with me.

The man casually strolled over and sat, his salt and pepper hair contrasting starkly with his dark skin, which showed several decades of abuse, "I'm hurt Ember, I would have thought you would be happier to see the man that helped to raise you." Despite the cheery tone of his voice, his eyes showed nothing, they were cobalt chips of ice that brought back every memory I had of him standing over me after our training sessions declaring that I was far too weak.

I cocked an eyebrow as I stared at the man, "Raised me? I believe you and I have very different definitions of that word; yes, you and the mistress saved me from starving, but then you abandoned me two years later after teaching me how to become an assassin. I'd hardly call that raising anyone. And here I was actually hoping that you died in that raid."

Both of our guards were up, we were ready to jump into action at a moment's notice, but the patrons of the bar seemed to be completely oblivious to this fact. From where I was sitting, the man I only knew as my mentor was the biggest threat here, far worse than any experiment happy guild who were pushing their boundaries.

A harsh chuckle came from him, which was enough to about send me into a panic attack, "You certainly have become bolder over the years, I suppose that's what made you one of the best assassins of the age, isn't it?"

I could practically see people tuning in to our conversation as he didn't bother to lower his voice. My hands clenched on my lap and I pushed off the desire to punch him squarely in his ever-smug jaw, he had just ruined any chance I might have had to remain incognito in this bar. I would have no choice but to leave here as soon as our little 'chat' was over.

"Cut the crap," I managed to get out in an even tone, not wanting to show him that he was getting to me, "There is no way you've risen from the dead after thirteen years simply to reminisce with me. You've never operated that way to begin with so don't try to pull the wool over my eyes."

All semblance of the friendly front he was putting on faded away as the man before me returned to the intimidating man I had known all too well, "Very well, and here I had hoped that we would be able to catch up. I simply wanted to see how you were doing, both the mistress and I were curious, after all, we heard that you had been caught and forced to join a... light guild." He spat the last two words as though they were the most profane of curses, which to him they would be.

My hand landed gently on one of my hidden daggers, I doubted he would do anything stupid in this location, both of my mentors valued stealth, but that didn't mean he wasn't dangerous, "And so what if I did?"

His eyes flicked to my hand, I knew that he had seen my slight movement and likely knew exactly what it meant, he had, after all, helped me to learn a good amount of the tricks that I still used today. "I simply wanted to offer you an out, our guild would be more than happy to take you in again." This time his voice was reserved, now that the topic of conversation was about him of course he would be cautious.

Despite how serious the moment was, I couldn't stop the snort that escaped me, he had such a high opinion of himself, too bad for him that I couldn't care less, "Oh you're just adorable," I cooed, causing him to glare at me ferociously, "You think that you still control my thoughts and actions like you did all those years ago, don't you?"

I could see the gears in his head turning as the smallest dash of shock entered his eyes. Good, he was starting to catch on, "Even if you had come to me the day after I had been forced into joining my guild, I still would have told you no," I said venomously as I pulled out a coin to pay for my untouched beer, "You see, you don't just get to abandon me without consequences, now I have people who are worth protecting, people who I will never leave alone. Do what you will, but if you try to mess with Fairy Tail, I can't promise that you'll escape with your lives."

My mark flashed slightly as I stood, it was impossible to cover, what with it being so high up on my neck and all, and I didn't want to cover it. It showed the world that I was proud of Fairy Tail and most of all, it showed just how serious I was to my former mentor. The sick bastard could go die in a hole for all I cared, but if he hurt anyone I cared about, I would come after him.

"Oh," I added in just before turning to leave the building, "If you mess with my job here, I will make your life hell, just because I can."