Chapter 5 - Memories of the past

Magnolia

Unknown Time

The sky was full of smoke. The wind howled in some parts and in other areas of the city it was dead silent. The city was in ruins, many of the buildings now were either damaged or completely destroyed. Other than the wind no sound could be heard. The Cathedral still stood but one of the towers had collapsed leaving a gaping hole where it used to be above the roof. The FairyTail Guild hall was also in a similar state. The only difference was that two men stood in side staring at each other, perfectly still. Ywatch looked like he was enjoying himself after just ending the lives of the now lifeless guild. Now his opponent stood half dead ready to strike in Vengeance against the actions of the Quincy. His two zanpakto at the ready. Ichigo tried to fend him off but every attack he threw at Ywatch was blocked. "Bankai" Ichigo yelled. His zanpakto now changed. It now was a large cleaver like blade with black obsidian in the middle and the rest of the blade white. A chain now was near the top of the blade and extended down to the back of the blade on the sharp end past the but of the hilt. He also now sported a horn similar to the one he has when he turns into a hollow and had black markings on his face, arms and chest. There also was a whole in his chest and one of his eyes turned black with the cirrus turning yellow. He charged at Ywatch only to feel pain in his heart as he had now been stabbed by Ywatch. Tensa Zangetsu also was broken in half. He fell to the ground blood seeping out of his chest. Ywatch was laughing and right before Ichigo passed out he watched as Ywatch destroyed the guild hall the rest of the way and the world began to be consumed. When he closed his eyes Ichigo could still hear that laugh. It haunted him as he died.

"Noooooo!" Ichigo cried out as he woke up from his bed. He looked around to find himself back in the old apartment that Erza helped him get back Yesterday when she got back from her job with Renji. The landowner apparently kept the place ready and waiting for in case his client came back which was good. Though he did have Ichigo pay all of the rent payments from the time he was gone. Erza helped lower the cost to a much more reasonable price luckily. Everyone else found shelter in other peoples homes so he was alone. He was sweating from head to toe and now grabbed onto the part of the shirt he wore where his heart was. It was beating way to quickly. he tried to calm down though he was failing from doing so quickly. The image was still there very vividly, as if it was taunting him. He got up and looked out the window to see that it was a bright sunny early morning. The city was completely intact and there was no enemies to be seen. This seemed to calm him down quite a bit and he then let out a sigh of relief. 'Its just a dream.' He repeated this thought a couple times. The fear may have been still there, but at least it wasn't causing him a heart attack in the process. He soon got changed and headed down stairs and made breakfast. It was quite in the room but it seemed like everything was surreal with the recent nightmare that he just had. He hadn't had one in a while, not until he came to this world. It was the same one every time. It was actually starting to annoy him, but he knew where the nightmare was originating. He still feared that he was a danger to the guild. Makarov's words played back in his mind at that point but it didn't seem to be helping him. He was still thinking the same thing.

'What if he's wrong?' That thought came in his mind as well. These two ideas fought over each other like two gods in a power struggle. He knew it was wrong and that he was just paranoid, but he couldn't stop thinking it. He finished his food and cleaned up. 'I guess only time will tell if my fears will come into fortition or if they are just nothing more than my fear getting to me.' He thought as he headed out the door. On his way to FairyTail he looked around partially to scan for any danger and also he was reliving old memories of when he was last here. The city was beautiful full of vibrance as he walked to the guild. The city really at its heart hadn't changed one bit. Yet it also had changed in the fact of now seeming bigger than it was last time. New shops were open and running as if they had been there for years. They were doing pretty good on top of that.

Ichigo noticed that Rangiku was at a beauty salon getting her hair done. 'Well she hasn't changed a bit.' She also seemed to have found some clothes that more "fit in with her surroundings". Ichigo continued to walk now right out side the guild hall. Its Marble walls shinning in the sunshine. Its banners seemed to captivate anyone who walked by, luring in people to meet the guild who was the strongest in Fiore. The memories f building the guild hall came back to him. Every minute of it, from stacking the wood to helping Erza with the walls of the building. It was a refreshing memory that temporarily distracted him from the memory of the war he fought back in Soul Society.

He soon headed in side to see that only a few people were there. These included Erza and Mira who seemed to be in the middle of a conversation of some what importance. Natsu and Gray were bickering at each other but so far hadn't started fighting yet which was a good sign. Though Toshiro seemed to be annoyed and when Ichigo looked over at Gray it was very apparent why Toshiro looked like he was about to rip someone a new one. Gray stood in naked while yelling at his pink haired rival. Ichigo soon had a tick mark of his own. "Gray Your clothes." he said. Gray looked down and the usual freak out occurred and Gray went looking and found them fairly quickly. Natsu of course laughed and called Gray names and the two began fighting again.

Renji was asleep on one of the tables. Ichigo remembered that Natsu was the one who took Renji in to his home. More old memories flooded in thinking about that damn hamock and he started to feel a little sorry for Renji.

"You damn Letcher!" Erza shouted. Loud crashing noises were heard is cups and bottles crashed "Wench!" Mira replied a bottle in hand ready to throw it right at Erza. Natsu, Gray, Ichigo, and Renji (who woke up at this point by the noise) ran to see what was going on. Imediatly after getting closer Ichigo knew what happened. Both of them were drunk. 'One of them must have said something to piss the other off' Ichigo reasoned. He and Renji tried to pull the two apart with little effect both still tried to beat the living crap out of one another. Eventually the ruckus caused Mackarov to intervine.

"What is going on here?!?!" He boomed. The two just looked at him now affectively forgetting that they were fighting and Ichigo and Renji sat them down. "Oh *Hic* nothing master! Everythings *Hic* fine!" Mira said more excited than usual. "Old man, did they ever leave the guild yesterday?" Ichigo inquired. In response a sudden realization came to Makarov's face which made every one else realize what happened. "Oh no please don't tell me....." Lucy voiced everyone else's thoughts. Mira started giggleing for some odd reason. "Whats *Hic* so funny!" Erza snapped. "Oh *Hic* nothing nothing at all!" Mira replied. She was still giggleing and hicuping which told everyone else otherwise. "Hey guys we're back!!!" Wendy said cheerfully soon though Carla who followed in close behind realized something was off.

"Come child, lets find a job quick before-" Carla started but already Wendy was over with the rest of the group. Mira was still laughing like it was the time of her life. Erza was not happy that her friend was laughing and looked thoroughly pissed the hell off. "Stop laughing you.. you...urghhh!" she slammed a fist into Ichigo who actually didn't catch in time it was right in the stomach and he was down with in seconds. "Are you ok?" Wendy asked as she ran over to the substitute soul reaper. Rukia came over as well at this point and helped him up on his feet. "Yeah I'm good." He groaned. He felt like he just got hit by a jet liner going at top speed, but he would live. A few seconds later Wendy used her magic and healed Ichigo. Mira was still laughing and now even Renji was starting to get annoyed.

" Big Sis, ya here?" Elfman yelled out as he and Lizanna came in only to find a drunk older sister looking at them and waving with a stupid grin on her face. "What happened?" Lizanna asked only to find looks from everyone except Wendy that said "How do you not know?". Once she got a closer look she realized what the problem was. "Wait was she here all night?" Cana asked who came in behind with four or five others. "Both were and now look what happened. This is why I should always be last out the door." Makarov said with a disappointed sigh. "There's nothing we can do now but wait for them to recover. Just make sure they don't leave the guild hall or we're all sunk." He continued as he walked off. 'This is gonna be a long day isn't it?" Ikkaku asked. "Yep! and it'll be so much fun!" Yachiru replied clearly not seeing the problem at hand.