Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Onibus.
October, x781.
In the center of the town of Onibus, there is a large building, mostly painted pink. Protruding from the back of the building are four white, feathered wings, two on each side. Above the large doors that serve as the building's entrance was the gild emblem of Blue Pegasus.
Stepping inside, one would be met with a giant hall that looked much like a ballroom, with a bar in one corner and the normal quest board in the adjacent corner, there is an open area in the center of the room with many circular tables surrounding it. On top of that, there are many comfortable-looking couches lining the walls of the room.
Lying on one of those couches was Karen, who Elicia just dropped off. And sitting at the table closest to the couch Karen was occupying was Bob, Blue Pegasus' guild master.
"*Sigh* I can't believe Karen was attacked on her way back from the quest." Bob said wistfully while resting his right hand on his cheek. "But what is even more unbelievable is the fact that Karen cancelled her contracts with all of her Celestial Spirits. Still, I'm glad Elicia showed up when she did."
"Ugh..." Karen groaned from the nearby couch.
"Oh, Karen, you're awake?" Bob asked, standing from his seat.
"Where am I?" Karen asked in a confused tone.
"You're back at the guild hall, Sweetie." Bob said, arriving in front of the couch. "How are you feeling?"
"At the guild hall?" Karen exclaimed. "Where is Elicia?"
"After dropping you off and telling me what happened, she left." Bob replied.
"She's gone?" Karen asked rhetorically. Then, she lowered her voice to a whisper as she continued. "But she was supposed to punish me…"
"Pardon?" Bob asked having not heard Karen's last sentence.
"Nothing, don't worry about it." Karen said, waving off Bob's concerns.
"If you say so." Bob replied. "*Sigh* So, what will you do now, Karen?"
"What do you mean?" Karen asked in a sharp tone.
"Now that you've lost all your Celestial Spirit Keys, how will you take any quests?" Bob asked.
"I'll just have to learn another magic." Karen replied. "It's doubtful I'll be able to make contracts with any other Celestial Spirits, so that's my only real option."
"That's probably true." Bob said with a nod.
"I guess I'll train my body and learn how to fight, too." Karen continued. "Seeing the fight between Elicia and that little bitch, Angel, opened my eyes."
"Well, that's a silver lining if I ever saw one." Bob replied with a smile.
Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
A couple days later, Elicia, in her Z3, arrived with Angel at the guild hall. While Angel was still tightly restrained, Elicia did not mistreat her. Not that Angel was particularly grateful for it.
"I don't know why you're so hostile." Elicia said in a cheerful tone. "It's not like I did anything to you."
"You mean other than kicking my ass and stealing my Celestial Spirit Keys?" Angel barked back.
"Well, that's kind of your fault, though." Elicia said while tilting her head cutely. "I mean, you did attack me first, so I was only defending myself. And as for taking your keys, I just gave you a dose of your own medicine."
"Just wait 'til I get free, I'm gonna kill you!" Angel shouted.
"Now, now, now… That's not very nice." Elicia said. "Anyway, I'll let Master Makarov decide what to do with you. I mean, although you were part of Oracion Seis, you don't have an active bounty. So, I doubt you've actually done anything bad yet."
"Hmph!" Angel snorted and looked away. "Even if I were to leave the Oracion Seis, Brain would never let me live."
"And why would you need his permission to live?" Elicia asked, tilting her head in confusion.
"I don't mean that I literally need his permission, you idiot!" Angel shouted. "I mean he would kill me for betraying him."
"Yeah, I kinda figured that." Elicia said, rolling her eyes. "But why do you have to be afraid of him?"
"Are you stupid?" Angel asked bluntly.
"No, I'm actually pretty smart." Elicia replied with a smile.
"Ugh! Someone please get me away from this girl." Angel groaned.
At the same time, Elicia was giggling internally.
'She's so fun to mess with.' Elicia thought to herself. 'I wonder what she would think if I told her that her sister was alive? Or what if I told her that Erza came from the Tower of Heaven, too?'
"Anyway, How would Brain… I guess that's your guild master, right? Anyway, how would he even know you're even alive?" Elicia asked, already knowing the answer to her question. "I mean, isn't it common for dark wizards to die?"
"It's not that simple," Angel replied in an annoyed tone. "Brain has a spell called the [Six Prayers] that links him to all of us, so he'll know that I'm still alive no matter where I go. And no matter the outcome, whether I was defeated and captured or ran away, he'll come and kill me if I don't return."
"Well, Gramps is one of the Wizard Saints, so I bet he can do something about that." Elicia said cheerfully.
"Yeah, I doubt it." Angel replied, not allowing Elicia to raise her hopes.
"Anyway, let's just go inside." Elicia said, opening the car door.
After stepping out of her Z3 and closing the door, Elicia walked around to the passenger side. Then, she opened the door for Angel, who was still bound tightly. A moment later, with a disgruntled expression on her face, Angel stepped out of the car as well. Then, the two young women walked toward the guild hall's entrance.
"When we go inside, make sure to keep your head on a swivel." Elicia said, warning Angel.
"Let's just get this over with." Angel said, dismissing Elicia's warning.
"Can't say I didn't warn you." Elicia said with a shrug before opening the doors.
With that, Elicia, leading Angel along with her threads, smiled as she walked through the guild hall, occasionally waving to those who greeted her. Meanwhile, Angel seemed to grow more annoyed as time went by.
'Look at all these carefree idiots.' Angel thought as she looked at all the wizards of Fairy Tail. "I bet they don't know what it's like to suffer. They've probably never been starving or forced to work to exhaustion, only to be rewarded with harsh lashings.'
Like Erza, Angel was also one of the enslaved children at the Tower of Heaven. However, unlike Erza, she caught brain's eye on a trip he made to the Tower. Then, along with the other four members of the Oracion Seis, she was taken away for the tower and trained into the wizard she is today.
*Crash!*
Just at that moment, a mug of ale came flying and crashed into Angel's face, breaking her out of her thoughts and covering her in ale. Immediately, her face contorted in rage as she flared her magic power to the max, surprising all the wizards in the guild.
"Who the hell threw that?" Angel shouted, clearly outraged. "I'm definitely gonna kill whoever did it!"
The violent outburst shocked the Fairy tail wizards even more. However, before anyone could respond, Another, slightly larger magic power flared up, smothering Angel's magic power and stopping it from affecting the rest of the wizards present.
"That's enough, Angel." Elicia said, her playful attitude nowhere to be seen. "Just because I was being nice doesn't mean I won't' put you in your place. So, you'd better not threaten my guild mates again."
Instead of backing down, Angel glared at Elicia viciously. Before she could say anything, however, a third, much more potent wave of magic power washed over her and Elicia.
"Elicia, would you mind explaining who this violent child is?" Makarov said while releasing his own magic power to put pressure on Angel.
"I think we should talk about that in your office, Gramps." Elicia replied. "I'll give my quest report there, too."
Seeing the glint of seriousness in Elicia's eyes, Makarov simply nodded his head before hopping off the top of the bar and making his way to the stairs. At the same time, Elicia dragged Angel along as she also went toward the stairs.
Meanwhile, Angel, after feeling Makarov's magic power, was shocked into silence. She had felt strong magic power. Brain was one of the more powerful wizards in Fiore, after all. However, Makarov's magic power was on a different level.
Considering that Makarov was the fifth ranked of the Ten Wizard Saints, it stood to reason that he would have more potent magic power than brain. He was recognized as the fifth strongest wizard in Ishgar, after all.
A few minutes later, Elicia, Makarov, and Angel were seated in Makarov's office on the third floor of the guild hall. Then, without wasting any time, Makarov asked about Angel's identity once again.
"This is Angel, a member of the Oracion Seis." Elicia replied. "I'm pretty sure that's a pseudonym, though. Anyway, I came across her on my way back from my quest. She was trying to kill Karen Lilica of Blue Pegasus to steal her Celestial Spirit Keys. And if I had been a few seconds later, she would have succeeded."
"Wait! did you just say she's a member of the Oracion Seis?" Makarov asked while raising his hand, signaling Elicia to stop.
"Yeah." Elicia replied nonchalantly.
"Then, why did you bring her here?" Makarov asked. "Usually, you take dark wizards to the nearest branch of the Magic Council, not to your own guild hall."
"Well, I did at first." Elicia said, scratching her head. "But I decided to look for an active bounty on her before handing her over. Because as you know, if there is no record of a dark wizard committing a crime, they usually get let off with a slap on the wrist."
"That's true." Makarov replied with a nod. "But that doesn't explain why you brought her here."
"Well, since she hasn't committed any crimes, If you exclude the attempted murder, I thought we could get her to change sides." Elicia said with a smile. "I mean, everyone deserves a second chance, right?"
'This girl is so naïve.' Angel thought to herself as she listened to Elicia's explanation. 'There's no way that old man will agree to this crap.'
"You're right." Makarov said with a nod. "We can't write off anyone before we try to help them."
'He fucking agreed.' Angel said, gawking internally.
"There's a problem, though." Elicia said. "Apparently, her guild master, a guy named Brain, will probably hunt her down and kill her regardless of her switching sides. Apparently, he doesn't like failure or betrayal, though I can agree with the second one."
"But how would he know that she didn't lose her life in her failed murder attempt?" Makarov asked while stroking his mustache.
"Actually, I asked the same question." Elicia said. "Apparently, he uses a spell called [Six Prayers] that connects all the members of Oracion Seis to him."
"Hmm… Brain… [Six Prayers]…" Makarov muttered, seemingly putting something together in his head.
A moment later, Makarov hopped off his office chair. Then, he walked toward one of the bookshelves in his office before using his [Giant Magic] to grow tall enough to reach a book on the top shelf. Once he had the book in hand, Makarov shrunk down to his normal size. Then, he started flipping the pages of the book.
"Child, is this man your guild master?" Makarov said after finding the page he was looking for. Then, he turned the book around so that Angel could see the open pages.
On the page Makarov opened to was a picture of a middle-aged man with dark skin, slicked back, silver hair that reached his shoulders, black eyes, and a marking over the bridge of his nose.
"Hmph! That's him." Angel said with a snort. "But he looks younger."
"Well, that makes sense." Makarov replied. "This picture was from seven years ago, back when he was still serving as the head of the Bureau of Magical Development. He went missing right before the lab he was working at in Isvan was destroyed."
'That's right, I almost forgot, he was the one who told Ur that Ultear died all those years ago.' Elicia thought to herself after hearing Makarov's explanation.
"And since this is the man you were talking about, then I have some idea how to free you from his magic." Makarov said.
"Really?" Angel asked, half in skepticism and half in expectation.
"Yes, I remember reading a report about it when he was creating magic with the Bureau." Makarov replied. "All you have to do is speak aloud the thing you wish for the most."
At that moment, realization sparkled in Angel's eyes. She remembered when Brain performed the [Six Prayers spell on her. When he did, he asked her to state her greatest wish. Then, when she did, a set of markings appeared on his face.
After the markings appeared, Brain told her, emphasizing strongly, that she could, under no circumstances, speak her wish allowed a second time. Claiming that it would weaken her as a side effect of the spell.
"So, that old bastard tricked me…" Angel muttered quietly. Then, without hesitation, she spoke her wish aloud. "I wish I could fly away and fade into the sky like a real angel."
Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Unknown Location.
At the same instant Angel spoke her wish aloud, Brain, who now had five more markings than the one in the photo, felt his connection with Angel disappear. Simultaneously, one of the markings on his face disappeared as well.
"So, Angel failed and lost her life." Brain said, looking up from the document he was reading. Then, he lowered his head to the document once again as he continued with only one word. "Useless."