Chapter 5: Bad News

Author's Notes: Heyo everyone! Here is the newest chapter of "Fairy Tail: Civil War"! I hope you all enjoy! :D

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN FAIRY TAIL! Fairy Tail is owned by Hiro Mashima and A-1 Pictures!

"..."

"Well, come on, child. Speak up! Did you find anything?"

A light had been switched on directly overhead the young child, nearly blinding her. She looked to be about eleven years of age, with dirty-blonde hair that messily hung everywhere. Her eyes were a light-blue, and, should this have been a happier time, they would have shown with passion and love. This girl was standing in what looked like a large storage room that had been overturned and deserted for years. Broken furniture and glass were everywhere, dust could be seen wherever light managed to creep in, and the old, wooden floor creaked and groan with every motion. The storage room was a part of a large building in the middle of town, but one that not many people went too. In the middle of the room where ten individuals, each of them were dressed merely in rags. The young child was no exception: The few articles of clothing just barely hanging onto her thin body.

"I..." She stuttered weakly as she was asked the same question over and over again. Her blonde hair hung limply around her neck as her knees trembled. She closed her eyes and fell to her knees. "I'm sorry." She sobbed, tears streaming in rivers out of her blue eyes. "I'm sorry. I couldn't find any food for us. We have no food...and it's all my fault." Her entire body shook violently from beneath her sobs. Outside, the sounds of explosions could be heard in the distance, as if a battle was taking place. But the sounds of battle did not matter to the small group of people huddled together in that building.

A teenaged boy walked up to the weeping girl and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Hey, it's alright." He said kindly. "It's not your fault that there's a shortage of food here. Sometimes, bad things just happen. But I'll tell you what, how about later today, I'll go look for food with you?"

The young girl looked at the boy with her tear-stained eyes. Out of all of the people in that group, he was the kindest one to her by far. While everybody else seemed to stay away from her for whatever reason, he refused to treat her like that, and spent much of his time comforting her. She tearfully nodded in agreement. "Edward..." She started to say, but before she could finish her sentance, the wall next to them exploded violently, shooting tons of concrete debris all over the room, many of which aimed directly at the young girl.

"Mei! Get down!" The boy shouted, pushing his body against hers in order to push her to the ground. The violent explosion that happened afterwards shook the entire building, and collapsed the roof down upon the unlucky group.

"EDWARD!" The young girl screamed as the building collapsed down upon them.

...

Makarov Dreyer, the Guild Master of "Fairy Tail", had finally returned home. After a rather stressful meeting with Princess Hisui and the other Guild Masters in the capital city of Crocus, he was ready to get some much-deserved rest. But unfortunately for him, rest was the last thing that he would get, and he knew that. The meeting in the capital had not gone pleasantly at all. Princess Hisui had announced that a new law, known as the "Ishgar Accords", had been passed, which would force all official guilds to merge with the Fiore Imperial Army, or else they would be forcibly disbanded. When he attempted to speak to the Princess' personal advisor, Rickter Treyal, about it, he got a very stern response which, while it did give him some answers, left him extremely disappointed.

Well...this is certainly an interesting development. The old man thought to himself. He knew that the other Guild Masters where currently having the same issue he had: Trying to find the best way to announce this new law. The thought of disobeying the Accords was dismissed by the wise Master, but he knew that some of the younger members in his guild would object, one in particular. Natsu isn't going to like this at all. He shook his head grimly as he thought of what was going to have to happen should Natsu decided to stupidly stand in defiance against the government. It was enough trouble when he stood up against the Magic Council, but the Royal Family itself? Makarov hadn't felt this nervous ever since the intense battle he had with his former master, Hades, who had turned to the dark side of sorcery and created the dark guild known as "Grimiore Heart". It was only after a hard-fought battle that Hades was defeated, but it was also the war with "Grimiore Heart" that prompted the return of the man responsible for the latest war...the Black Wizard himself: Zeref.

Inside the guild hall, it was strangely tense when Makarov walked in. At first he was confused, thinking that perhaps they had already heard of the Accords, but when he noticed what they were focused on, he breathed a sigh of relief. At one of the far tables, nearly all of the "Fairy Tail" members who where currently in the guild hall were assembled, crowded around two women, who were currently in the middle of an intense game of magic chess.

"Aaaaand check!" A tall, slim, young woman said. She had long, mid-back length brown hair. Two shoulder-length strands of hair framed her face, with the left one starting from a prominent, high fringe. She had a very voluptuous figure, with large breasts and curvy hips. Her upper body was left largely exposed, with her top only being a light-blue bikini top which featured a camouflage pattern. She wore a pair of capri pants, with two bands hanging from each leg, and a light belt covered in heart motifs loosely tied around her waist. She completed her outfit wiht a pair of high-heeled sandals. She also had a pair of metal bracelets adorning her biceps, bearing an incision composed of many "A"s, and three simple, round metal bracelets on her right wrist. On her exposed lower-left abdomen was the black stamp of the proud "Fairy Tail" guild.

"Great move, Cana!" Lucy exclaimed, watching the game intently.

"Hmm, quite the tactical strategy." Her opponent, who was a woman with bright-red hair, observed. "However," she moved a rook piece and took the invading bishop. "That's checkmate."

The woman known as Cana started as she quickly looked at the board. Meanwhile, the rest of the guild members surrounded them broke out in exclaimations at the turn of events.

"And the winner of this match is Erza!" Mira, the cheerful girl who was one of the most known faces in the guild, announced with a wave of her hand.

"That was a well fought battle." Erza said graciously, shaking her opponent's hand. "Though you left your king unprotected from the right for most of the game. Because of that, your forces were no match for mine!" The red-head's eyes gleamed as she spoke, as if she actually believed that she was a military genius.

"Well, it's good to see you kids getting along so well." Makarov interrupted the group as he walked up. The guild members immediately turned around and cheerfully greeted their master.

"Hey! Welcome back, Master!" "Glad to see you made it back safely!" "Want to get a drink?" The voices all rose up in unison, and the old master of "Fairy Tail" smiled as he heard them. After all, "Fairy Tail" was his home. And these kids weren't just members of his guild...they were his family.

"Welcome back, Master." Mira greeted with a bright smile. "How did your conference go?"

"Yeah, Gramps!" Natsu spoke up from the other side of the room, where he had been previously busy stuffing his face with a huge cooked chicken. "How was the meeting in Crouton?"

"You mean Crocus, Natsu." Happy corrected him.

"Yeah, Master." Macao, an older man who was sitting on one of the bar-stools, said. "How did it go?"

"Oh, well, it was...interesting." Makarov said, unsure of how exactly he was going to break the news.

"Interesting?" Mirajane inquired. "Did something happen?"

"You can say that." Makarov nodded, smiling a bit. He then walked to the little podium near the end of the room. A lot of things had happened on that podium: The "Fairy Tail Beauty Pageant", where Laxus and the "Thunder Legion" had crashed the party in a rather violent way, the announcements of who would participate in the S-ranked trails on Tenrou-shima, and now... "Listen up kids," the old man said after clearing his throat. "I have a very important announcement to make, and I want to make sure that all of you hear this."

He spoke in such a serious tone that all of the guild members, even Natsu, instantly stopped what they were doing to give their master their full, undivided attention.

"While the Guild Masters were up in Crocus," Makarov spoke. "Her Majesty, Princess Hisui, announced that the Royal Family had passed a new law known as the 'Ishgar Accords'..."

...

"Did you have another one?" A kind voice asked. The reciever of the voice nodded weakly in the bed that she was laying in. "Well, I can't blame you for having it." The voice said again. "After all that you've been through, there's sure to be some sort of impact upon your brain. But try not to fret, all will be well in time."

The voice belonged to a man with jet-black hair which was done up in a ponytail, going up and over his right shoulder. His eyes were a dark-brown color, and his long bangs covered his left eye from view. He was dressed in a casual short and shorts, and was kneeling next to a bed, where a young child was. It was to this child that this man was talking too.

"Why...?" The girl said in a barely audible voice.

The man shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know." He said kindly. He placed his hand on top of the girl's bandaged head and gently rubbed it. "But sometimes bad things happen to people."

Just then, the door opened, and a tall man looked into the room. "Can I have a word?" He asked.

"Of course." The first man said, bending over and kissing the young girl on top of the head before standing up. "Try to get some rest." He told her as he walked out of the room. As soon as they closed the door and started walking away from the room he spoke. "Well?"

"A lot of stuff is going down." The tall man said. "The Shinku Stone was stolen from us, and it appears that that new law finally was passed."

"I heard about that. What do you think will happen?"

The tall man shrugged as they continued walking. "Who knows? Some may obey the new Accords, but then, there are always those who defy authority. We will have to see what happens. Hopefully, nothing that will get our kingdom in anymore danger than what it already is."

The raven-haired man nodded solemnly. "Amen to that."

The young girl laid weakly in her bed as the sounds of the men's footsteps faded from her ears. She closed her eyes timidly as flashes of light and blood appeared all around the room, smothering her with a deadly aroma, and cutting off all of her supply of oxygen.

"It was never you who was at fault." A dark voice said in the shadows. "It was those who took everything away from you. And now, those souls will feel the pain of Absolute Zero...the screams of torment...and the rise of Oblivion!"

...

"WHAAAAT!?" A chorus of voices where raised as soon as Makarov had finished speaking. The uproar was so loud that he had to raise his hand in order to get everyone to quiet down.

"So what, are we supposed to join the army now?" Elfman asked.

"What made them think of passing this law anyway?" Another member asked.

"This law was passed due to the damages caused during the war with 'Tartaros'," Makarov explained to them. "While the official guilds where able to put a stop to those evil brats, our guilds caused much, much damage and death because of it." He lowered his head as he recalled the brutal events of the war: Entire cities had been wiped out during the war with the demon guild. How many lives had been lost? He had no idea.

"So, Master," Macao looked at his friend with a keen eye. "What do you, as Master of the guild, intend to do?"

"Truth be told, Macao, I don't know." Makarov admitted. "Her Highness gave the official guilds one week to decide, so I will give my answer then."

"Screw waitin' around!" Natsu angrily exclaimed as he stood on top of the table. "I ain't gonna let those guys in the capital tell us to do this! 'Fairy Tail' is more than just an official guild! We've fought beside each other for years, given everything we have for each other. We are so much more than just a guild; we are a family! And if those punks in the capital have something to say about that, then I say let's go give 'em a piece of what makes 'Fairy Tail' the strongest guild in Fiore!"

"You ding-head!" Gray angrily snapped back. "You don't understand just what is being said here. The Accords were passed because of the damage that our guilds inflected during the war. That battle you had at the start of the war took place in the middle of a town. How many people do you think died in that battle!?"

"So what!? Are you saying that we should just take this laying down!?"

"I'm saying that our guild is responsible for much of the death that came out of the war. Look, I hate this stupid law just as much as you do, but until we find a way to help people without hurting a lot of them first, obeying the Accords might just be the best way to do it."

"So what? We beat the bad guys, remember?"

"You're not listening to me, Natsu! It doesn't matter if we defeat the bad guys. If innocent people are killed from our actions, than what have we gained from it!?"

"Gray..." Lucy was surprised at this change of tone from her friend. She knew that ever since he was forced to fight his father, Silver, that he had been a bit more reserved when fighting...save when he fought against Mard Geer. Could his father's death have hurt him this much?

"I agree with Gray." Erza said as she put her hand on the black-haired man's shoulder. "Besides, it wouldn't be like we're no longer a guild. The guilds will be merged into the official army, yes, but we will most likely still be divided into some sort of division or group."

"You heard her, Natsu!" Gray nodded. "Our best bet, at least for now, is to just follow orders."

"Not gonna happen!" Natsu exclaimed. "The army isn't gonna spend its time helping the people in the towns. That's the job of the official guilds, and no stupid law is gonna stop me from helping people here!"

"Natsu..." Gray shook his head in disapproval. "You're not really going too..."

"If those guys in the capital want the official guilds to do whatever they want, then they've got another thing coming." Natsu said, clenching his fist. "I'll beat some sense into them if I have too!"

"You idiot..."

...

The sun had nearly set down over the horizon, but the bright lights in the sky would have you believe that it was the middle of the day. The sky was lit with countless fires across the city. Large pillars of smoke floated and clouded the late-afternoon sky, and that, combined with the many flames scattered across the nearly destroyed city, gave the sky an eerie red color. Buildings and houses all over the area were in shambles, The few people who were still in the city where laying motionless on the ground, the life leaving their bodies, and the smell of death was everywhere; burning the noses of the man walking through the streets of this ghost city.

"Over here!" A voice called to him, and upon hearing it, he ran in the direction of the voice, eventually approaching a large building that had been completely destroyed. Rubble was laying scattered everywhere, burying anybody who was unlucky enough to be under there at the time, giving them their own personal tomb.

"Did you find something?" He asked as he ran up.

"A survivor!"

The two men saw the body of a young individual who was mostly buried under the rubble, but was barely breathing. They quickly worked on getting the child out from underneath the tons of debris that was constantly crushing her, and within a few minutes, they had laid the child down on the ground outside. The child was an eleven-year-old girl with long, blonde hair that was stained with dried blood. But then again, her entire body was covered with blood. A strange blood that moved back and forth in a slow, circular motion. Ignoring the strange blood which had gathered in a puddle under her limp body, the two men quickly checked to see if she had anything broken.

"Three broken ribs, her shoulder is dislocated, a fractured spine, and severe damage to her head." The black-haired man who had been walking before said as soon as he finished. "It's a miracle that she's still alive."

"Anything of interest?" A voice said from behind them. The two men turned around and saw a tall man standing behind them.

The black-haired man nodded. "I think you can say that, Zaru." He said as he looked back toward the young girl. He gently picked her up, and then stood to his feet. The tall man nodded when he saw.

"She's been through quite a lot, hasn't she?" The man known as Zaru said as he put his hand on her bloody forehead. He smiled as he removed his hand a minute later. "Well, she'll live, but it would be wise to get her to an area of safety."

"Got it!"

And with that, the three men, with the young girl being carried by one of them, departed the city of death. Where they went, nobody knows. The fires continued to rage behind them, and it was months before anyone dared to go back to that city; but once people began to go back, they saw the grim results of a hard-fought war that had taken place in the middle of that unfortunate town.

...

...

To be continued...

A/N: And there you have it! The fifth chapter of "Fairy Tail: Civil War"! We finally have Master Makarov giving the news of the Accords to the guild. And, as expected (well...at least according to the description of the story), Natsu didn't really take it really well. Things may get a little intense in the near future...

So, a couple things to talk about: #1. The girl in the beginning will be seen again later. How, where, and why will remain a secret.

#2: I decided to give put Cana into the story here because when writing this, I contemplated who the best person would be to play Erza in a game of chess. My first thought was Levy, but her, Gajeel, and Pantherlily haven't returned from their job yet, so that was out of the question. After messing around with a few characters, I finally decided to choose Cana. Oh, and the whole idea of them playing chess was taken from the anime "No Game No Life" (which REALLY needs a Season 2!).

Anyway, that is going to be it for this chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it, and if you have any questions/suggestions/comments/concerns, please leave a review, and I will get back to you ASAP. Thanks for reading, and keep staying awesome! Soru out!