Countdown to the End (Gale) {Fairy Tail FF}

13 Days

"Shrimp! Ready to go?" Gajeel asked, pounding loudly on door of my room. We had—luckily—been able to find a small inn with two rooms available for the night after we had eaten at the pub. I knew that if we'd been forced to share a room that I wouldn't have been able to sleep a wink. Gajeel wasn't modest, and he only slept in his boxers. Both facts making it very difficult to sleep if we're in the same room.

"Ready!" I called, slipping on a pair of black hiking boots over my green leggings. I wore a yellow tank-dress over them, and a matching ribbon to keep my bangs out of my face. Grabbing my red travel bag, I headed out the door.

We returned our keys before heading in the direction of our client's home. The mayor lived in a grand house, the outside painted a perfect white. It was pretty easy to find, being the largest house in the city.

I knocked on the door, smiling when a tall man in a black suit opened the door. "Hello. I'm Levy McGarden, and this is Gajeel Redfox. We're wizards from Fairy Tail, responding to the mayor's request of illuminating some dark guild wizard."

"Ah, yes," the man nodded, opening the door and ushering us inside. "Please, follow me. Mayor Don will meet us in the study."

I gazed in awe at the beautiful home as we walked up a flight of stairs and down several hallways. The inside was decorated with grand sculptures and beautiful paintings. Tapestries hung from the walls, and rugs from other countries lined the floors.

"This place is incredible," I whispered to Gajeel, who was looking around as well.

He turned to me with a frown. "It's creepy as hell, is what it is. Something about this place feels off."

"How so?" I asked.

Before he could answer, we stopped in front of a set of large wooden double-doors. The man leading us knocked on the doors, opening them when a voice called from the inside for us to enter.

"Wizards from Fairy Tail are here, sir, responding to your request."

"Excellent, William, thank you. Bring some tea for our guests," Mayor Don said. He was sitting in a chair behind a large desk, the back to us so we couldn't see his face.

"Very well, sir." William gave the mayor a quick bow before leaving the room, shutting the door behind him.

"Welcome. Please, have a seat." Mayor turned the chair as he spoke, and I had to suppress a gasp of shock. The mayor was no taller than Master Makarov, and was probably just as old. His white hair was pulled into a tight ponytail at the nape of his neck, and he had on an entirely white suit. He looked almost like a ghost with all the white, and I had to scold myself for thinking so rudely about a man who was going to hire us. I elbowed Gajeel in the side when I heard him snicker, and knew he'd had the same ghost thought I'd had.

The two of us took a seat on the white sofa, and I offered the mayor a smile. "Hello, Mayor Don. My name is Levy McGarden. This is Gajeel Redfox. We came from Fairy Tail in response to your request. If you could, would you tell us more about this dark wizard, and about all of the disappearances?"

He folded his hands on top of the desk, letting out a long sigh. "It all began just a couple of weeks ago. A wizard in a cloak appeared, using some sort of strange magic to destroy a few homes on the edge of the town, and then disappeared with a young woman who lived in one of them. Since then, he has returned every few days, using the same sort of strange magic and taking another citizen. So far, four have been taken.

"I'm not sure why he is taking them, or what he is using them for, but he must be stopped. The citizens live in fear that they will be next, and many have left the city, refusing to come back until the wizard has been captured."