Fairytail Next Generation: The New Beginning

How Much Longer

Hikari and Kaen lead as we exited our camp, and Storm and I stayed close behind everyone to make sure we wouldn't lose anyone. Kaen had also taken my words into consideration and was keeping Sylvia close by. Rose had buddied up with Zoku and Rin with Layla. It felt as if we had been walking for hours, yet everything looked the same. We avoided getting too close to main roads for fear of revealing ourselves to bandits or bounty hunters. However, despite our precautionary distance I couldn't help but feel like someone was watching us. My nerves were on edge. Storm watched me as we walked. He watched my hands tense at every crack of a twig.

"Hey are you gonna be okay?" He whispered. I turned to him surprised. He seemed genuinely concerned, but I didn't answer him. I just lowered my head to watch my feet walking over the foliage. "It's okay if you're not. You and Hikari don't have to be so strong and stubborn all the time". I glanced up at him. He smiled and then turned his attention back to everyone in front of us.

"Look I know this is a serious situation, but how long is this going to take?" Zoku grumbled. Layla's head shot up up and gave him a look. "Sorry, I won't ask again."

For a long while no one spoke. The only sound we heard was the rustling of wind blowing through trees and the crunching of leaves under our feet.

* Four Days Later *

We had been doing much of the same for the last several days. Silently wandering through the forest. Every so often we would hear voices of bandits. I wanted to take them out and stop them from harming others, but to do so would put us in danger. If the bandits had made it back to their base with tales of wizard children wandering in the forest we would be compromised.

"What's that?!" Kaen exclaimed.

My eyes had followed his hand. Squinting I could make out a gate in the distance.

"The town gate!" My eyes widened.

"We're here." Storm smirked.

"Alright everyone gather round. It's time we explained the plan to you all" Hikari said. "There will be two teams, one to enter from the front, and another to enter from the back. Sabertooth is in the middle of the city. Whichever team makes it to the guild first must meet with Sting, the guild master. He will send out a party to look for the other team. Once everyone is gathered Sabertooth should be able to help us come up with a new strategy. Any questions?"

Kaen raises his hand slightly "Teams?" He asks.

Hikari smirks, as if that were the question she had hoped someone would ask. "Yes! Teams. Team A will take the back and Team B the front. Team A will consist of Kaen, Zoku, Rose, and Myself. Team B, who as previously stated will go through the front and will therefore need to be covert. They will pass off as a traveling family. Thus it would make the most sense to send in actual family members who resemble each other. Which is why Storm and Luna will be taking Layla, Sylvia, and Rin."

"But Layla doesn't look like the Fullbusters or Luna..." Zoku cut in.

Hikari's face darker as she turned toward him. "I've thought everything. Sylvia is almost perfectly healed, but should that not be the case Layla will be there to support her." Hikari's eyes seemed to sparkle with pride.

"Okay... but then why not go with Layla and the Fullbusters yourself? At least you and Layla are both blonde." Zoku scoffed.

"Ah, but you see I don't trust Luna to lead the rest of you in through the back. My hope is that those two idiots can make one smarter idiot and not get you guys into trouble. Either one alone is just a bad idea. Now anymore remarks about my well thought out plan... I thought not!" Hikari smirked.

"I have one..." Storm spoke up. Hikari glared at him. "Why am I lumped in with the idiot?" He gestured toward me. I turned my head quickly looking up at him. He turned to look down at me looking very much pleased with himself. "Say that to my face ice brain!" I yelled. "Glad to hot head." He smiled. My hand engulfed in flames smacked him on the back head, and with that we began to tussle.

"I regret this plan already..." Hikari said sounding defeated. She walked over to Storm and myself and pulled apart. "Do I need to have a talk with the two of you, reminding you of the situation we are in." A dark aura surround her. "Nope!" Storm and I said in unison, moving away from one another. "Good" she smiled.

We all huddled up further discussing the plan. We had noticed a home a little outside of the city hanging their clothes out to dry. Knowing well that if we were going to enter the city undercover we would need to hide our guild marks we made our way to the house. Hikari and I ran and grabbed some garments. After handing the various materials I threw on a travel cloak that I had just stolen and tied it tight hiding the guild mark that went over my left collarbone.

After we had all covered up we split up and made our way to the different entry points.

"Now I want everyone to stay close." Storm said pulling me in by my waist.

I looked at him in utter shock. "Excuse you?" I replied prying myself from his grasp.

"We're playing a family, remember honey" he winked

"Yeah, I remember. I also remember that neither of us look old enough to have kids the age of our siblings! Family...siblings, NOT a married couple with kids. Weirdo."

Storm looked as if he had something he wanted to say but quickly looked away. I shook my head and smiled.

"Alright we're about to enter, everyone stay close, unless we get caught, then scatter" I said grabbing Sylvia and Layla's hands.

Storm and Rin followed closely. The city streets were busy with people rushing by.

"Hey! Watch it!" A merchant yelled about to hit Layla and Sylvia with a cart. I pulled them closer. The streets were so crammed. I noticed people separating Storm and Rin from us.

"Storm!" I yelled sticking out my hand. Storm grabbed it and the boys, and I pulled them toward us. "What happen to stay close?" I winked. He smiled and shook his head.

"Come on, let's get out of this mess." He pulled me closer and I laughed. We made sure everyone was still with us and began to move out of the mess.

"Hikari said the guild hall is in the center of town, so if we keep walking we should make it there shortly" I spoke softly trying to make sure we went unseen.

All seemed to be going well, for the most part people were very nice and most didn't even give us a second glance. I couldn't help but think how different that would be if our parents were here. Everyone knows that Fairytail is a powerful guild, the number one guild in Fiore, and Sabertooth is the second, so naturally if these people knew we were Fairytail wizards there would be some commotion. However, my father in general is a sight. No one ever knows what he's going to do, but everyone has heard of the salamander. In this moment I couldn't help but miss him and wish this were a normal trip where we could go cause some chaos and have a little fun. In all reality I didn't know where he was, or if the big important mission they had all gone on was a scam or the reason for the destruction of the guild. I wished my mother was there to make sense of things. I wished we knew anything, but we didn't. I had hoped we would not only find a safe place to stay until things went back to normal, but also that we would find answers.

"Look!" As I heard Layla's voice I expected to see the Sabertooth guild hall, but instead it was Layla pointing at a magazine. The headline read "Fairytail Guild Hall destroyed, Members Missing" members missing.... where is everyone, what happened?