Chapter Text
'Queen has pawns.'
Ozpin stared at his scroll contemplating this simple message from Qrow.
Sighing, Ozpin got up from his desk and wandered over to the window overlooking the great city of Vale.
Too much has been happening recently for there to be any other explanation, he mused. First Amber is left half dead, seemingly drained of her powers. And now my kingdom is rocked by a dust crime wave the likes of which has never been seen before.
Glancing back at his scroll, Oz couldn't help but be drawn to a message from Ironwood, stating that he was bringing a significant security detail with him to Vale.
I know why he feels this way. Atlas dust shipments have been relentlessly targeted by the White Fang in our surroundings. An Atlas security detail seems entirely reasonable given the circumstances. And yet...I can't shake this feeling that we're playing right into HER scheme.
Salem... Oz felt that familiar sense of dread that always accompanied thoughts of his one time love, now immortal foe. I know you're up to something...
Sighing once more, Oz moved back over to his desk and sat down, head in hands. I'm getting old, even by my standards. I don't know how much more I can take.
Oz thought back across the myriad of lives he'd lived throughout the centuries. His surroundings, families, the friends he'd come to know and lost. One particular friend, someone he'd met by freak accident in his most prior life, stood out amongst all the others, like his subconscious was telling him she held the answers. A young woman with long blonde hair who never wore shoes.
Mavis...
He'd been down on his luck, utterly broken by his situation. Living and dying, over and over until his hated enemy could be vanquished...it does things to a soul. So one day he'd decided he'd had enough. It wasn't the first time he'd tried to end his existence, and Oz doubted it would be the last, but this was his most elaborate. He'd engineered a giant dust bomb, hoping the energy unleashed by the substance could obliterate his soul and end his endless misery. It didn't work of course.
Instead he'd ended up in a parallel world, a place called Earthland.
There, he was astonished to see a thriving world built on the back of magical power. It wasn't so different from the way the people of Remnant used aura, semblances and dust, but there were no Grimm, and the monsters and dark beings were kept in check by beings similar to huntsmen called wizards. They were organised into guilds where they took jobs and bonded with each other.
He'd wandered the world with a sense of wonder he'd long forgotten, until he'd come upon a most wonderful guild called Fairy Tail. It was there that his spark had been reignited...
If she has her pawns, I'll need to get some wizards.
Ozpin walked to his desk and typed a special code into the keypad there. A section of the desk opened to reveal a small sphere sitting inside. Oz picked it up, feeling a surge of power within.
Alright old friend, I'm calling in that favour.
Inside the Fairy Tail Guild Hall:
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY BLEW UP THE DARK GUILD?!" Makarov shouted at a smiling Mirajane Strauss.
"Just that Master," Mira replied, her casual demeanor exasperating Makarov further.
"Oh this is just great... When the council hears about this..."
"Delivery from the Magic Council!"
Makarov's eyes popped and the colour drained from his face as he saw one of the frogmen who serve the Magic Council holding an official looking letter.
"WHY ME?!?!" He bemoaned as he accepted the letter.
Mira smiled and resumed cleaning the bar. At that moment she noticed something strange.
Behind the bar sat a round lacrima, branded with strange symbols. Makarov had told her it was a relic from the time of Fairy Tail's first master, Mavis Vermilion, but beyond that he didn't know anything about it. All he could tell her was that in his instructions from Master Precht was a clear order to maintain and protect this lacrima.
And now it was pulsing with green light.
"Um, Master?" The light hearted tone was gone from Mira's voice.
Makarov tensed immediately and turned around to see the glowing lacrima.
"It's active?!" His eyes went wide.
Makarov grabbed the lacrima and quickly ducked into the room behind the bar.
The glowing ball in his hand turned fully green, floated out from his hand, and projected a floating image of a silver haired man in a black and green suit combination.
"Hello. I'm Professor Ozpin," the image introduced itself.
Makarov stared at the image for a few seconds before the image raised its hand to its face and coughed.
"Um...is this thing working correctly?"
"Um, yes, sorry!" Makarov answered quickly. "Forgive me. Just wasn't expecting one of our first master's treasures to be a communication lacrima."
"First Master?" The image of Ozpin inquired? "Are you referring to Mavis? I suppose it's been a long while since we met."
"Yes, I am Makarov, Fairy Tail's third" technically eighth, but that's a mess to explain "master," Makarov answered slowly, though now thoroughly confused. "Forgive me, but how can a man as young as you look possibly be acquainted with our first master?"
The man's eyes seem to grow weary with the question. "That is a difficult question to answer, especially over such distances. Suffice to say I found myself in your world some time ago and we became acquainted."
"Our world?" Makarov was confused by this statement, until suddenly a burst of revelation hit him.
The Wanderer...that story Master Precht used to tell us when we were children!
"I'll explain everything I can to you. And what I called to ask."
Makarov sat down on a barrel. "Yes, I imagine it's quite the request."
The following day.
"So what do you think the master wants us for?" Lucy wondered out loud as her and the rest of Team Natsu (Gray still gets pissy at the name) walked through Magnolia towards the guild hall.
"Maybe he wants to thank us for our hard work on that last job with a load of fishes!" Happy exclaimed, the exceed hopping along the path behind Lucy.
Carla huffed. "Far more likely he wants to punish us for breaking that city block when we took down that dark guild a few days ago."
Wendy, walking alongside Carla behind Happy and Lucy, sighed in agreement.
Lucy looked behind her at the three senior members of their little team, Natsu, Gray, and Erza. Gray had his head bowed and his hands in his pockets, his spirits were definitely low.
Erza and Natsu were a different story. Erza had Natsu by the ear and was dragging the dragon slayer behind her as he hollered and rolled, failing to escape her grip.
"Would you quit it Natsu!" Erza exclaimed, temporally silencing Natsu's pleas. "If Master wants to give us a dressing down over that mess in Batford, then you're front and centre!"
"Oh come on Erza! It was only a little fire!" Natsu resumed pleading. "Gray did far more damage than I did!"
Gray was temporarily roused from his brooding. "Because someone had to stop that fire of yours before it escaped the block! It's not my fault that freezing it did more damage to the immediate area!"
Before Natsu could retort, Erza swiftly let go of him and bopped both Natsu and Gray on the head. "That's enough you two!"
Sweat drops formed on the back of Lucy and Wendy's heads. How have those two not learnt their lesson yet?!
The group walked into the guild hall, but the master wasn't anywhere to be seen.
"Huh," Lucy wondered aloud. "I'd have thought he'd be here waiting for us?"
"Yes, a tad unusual given the urgency of his message," Erza murmured in agreement.
The main door opened behind them and Gajeel, Pantherlily, and Levy walked on in.
"Oh hey Lu," Levy smiled at the group, whilst Gajeel and Natsu stared daggers at each other. "What brings you guys here so early?"
"The master wanted to have a word with us," Lucy replied, her face drooping.
"Huh, that's odd. He said he wanted to see Gajeel and myself this morning," Levy looked confused.
"What did you do iron brain?" Natsu smirked.
"Nothing worse than you Salamander!" Gajeel bit back.
"Huh, you guys are here too?"
The group turned around to see Cana stroll into the Guild Hall, a barrel of booze sling across her back.
Cana too? But she's far more reserved on jobs then us... No way the Master is giving her a dressing down. This is something else. Lucy mused.
Erza's face showed a similar level of comprehension.
"Good. Most of you are here."
The collected guild members all turned towards the Master's voice. Makarov was in his wheelchair, with Mirajane pushing him into the room.
Mira looks serious too. Now Lucy was starting to get nervous.
"Who are we waiting on Master?" Erza asked.
"Gray my love!"
"Oh no..." Gray's posture stiffened before he was tackled by a lovestruck Juvia. "Come on! We're dealing with something important here!"
"Nothing is more important than our love!"
Makarov coughed, a signal that got through to even Juvia and her Graydar focused mind.
"Now that we're all here, the Guild has received a rather unusual job request. A request I believe the twelve of you are best suited for."
Lucy glanced around at the group.
Nine humans and the three exceeds, most of us in our late teens...
Makarov pulled out a lacrema. It glowed briefly before projecting a map. A map that looked completely foreign to Lucy.
"This is the world of Remnant," Makarov began. "A long time ago, we received a visitor from this world."
The image changed to a man in a green and black suit.
"This is Ozpin. He's the client. He's an acquaintance of our first master."
"Master Mavis?!" Erza was startled. "But he looks so..."
"Young?" Makarov smirked. "Yes, he's surprisingly well preserved. But I've verified his identity. He's the genuine article."
He coughed a little before continuing.
"He runs an academy located here." He gestured to an area of the map labled 'Vale'. "And he's requested some of our fine young wizards to help him uncover a plot against his kingdom."
"Sounds exciting!" Natsu exclaimed.
Lucy could see similar expressions on the faces of Gray, Gajeel, Cana and Happy. Wendy looked more nervous, whilst Lily, Carla, Levy and Erza looked more contemplative. Juvia was just staring at Gray, a look Lucy knew meant she'd go with him regardless.
"Master?" Erza asked. "You said this was another world? How are you proposing we get there?"
"A special magic ritual," Makarov pulled out an old parchment. "Mavis developed this spell to send Ozpin home."
He turned to the team. "Levy, Cana. You two are essential to this endeavour."
"Us?" Levy blushed a little.
"Yes, your mastery of solid script magic and your experience with magic ruins is essential to recreating this ritual on Remnant. And Cana, your mastery of Fairy Glitter should give you all the magic power you need to power the ritual."
"All right then!" Cana gave a thumbs up, before hiccuping.
"Oh dear..." Makarov muttered, before straightening in his chair. "The rest of you, do you accept this job for the honour of Fairy Tail?"
"You bet!" Natsu exclaimed.
"Count me in Gramps," Gray nodded.
"If Salamander is going, then someone needs to make sure he doesn't muddy our reputation," Gajeel grinned.
"What you say?!" Natsu got right in Gajeel's face.
"You heard me!" Gajeel pushed back, before Erza appeared behind them, shoving both their faces into the ground.
"Someone needs to keep this lot in line. Count me in," she said with a smile.
"I wonder what sort of yummy fishes they have?" Happy floated with excitement.
"It all sounds a bit scary," Wendy piped up. "But I want to help as much as I can!"
"And I'll be by your side child," Carla affirmed.
"If Gray is going, then Juvia is joining him!" Juvia confirmed.
"Sounds exciting," Pantherlily nodded.
Levy gave a firm nod as well.
All eyes turned to Lucy.
Oh boy... She turned to look at Natsu, seeing his excitement put her at ease.
"Alright! Let's go to Remnant!" Lucy through her hand with the Fairy Tail emblem in the air.
The group reassembled a few hours later in the guild hall basement, where Levy had spent the time writing the various enchantments on the ground. The guild mates all stood together, while Makarov and Mirajane stood by the entrance.
"Now, do you remember your assignment?"
Erza nodded. "Yes Master.
Natsu, Gray, Wendy and Lucy will form one team at this Beacon Academy. Gajeel, Levy, Cana and Juvia the second."
"But why can't Juvia be in a team with Gray?" Juvia whined, before a glare from Erza silenced her.
"The exceeds will pass themselves off as pets, whilst I will take the roll of an instructor from 'Fairy Academy'. Once there, we investigate for strange activity in the lead up to this festival the academy is hosting."
"Very good," Makarov nodded. "Be safe my children. Represent the honour of our guild well. And be sure to return with wonderous stories to tell."
He raised his hand to the air, finger outwards and thumb pointed away. "Go now! And may the light of Fairies light your way!"
Cana stepped forward, a band of light on her hand glowing.
"Gather! O river of light that's guided by the fairies!
Shine! In order to perish the fangs of evil!
Fairy Glitter!"
A bright blast of magical energy blew outwards and the ruins on the floor activated.
The assembled guild mates held hands faces set. The light enveloped them all, and when it faded, they were gone.