(EVENT) The Annual Guildmaster's Meeting!

Shuhei's blood boiled as Zenshin spoke of things he had no right to speak of. In defense of a villain, he blamed Shuhei for not hunting Frederik down himself. Shuhei ground his teeth and clenched his fist. "You talk a lot about how I should have spent my own time, for someone who's guild walked out on him." A well deserved low blow, Shuhei thought. "I rebuilt my guild from the ground up and turned it in to one of the most powerful guilds in Fiore. I sit among the masters of the five strongest guilds because of my conviction to move forward, instead of chasing after revenge, how dare you insult me. Shuhei leaned forward to continue venting his anger out about the subject, however Heero's interruption and his ambitious speech calmed him somewhat. Shuhei looked back towards Zenshin. "We'll see how redeemable he really is." Shuhei leaned back in his seat and looked back at Heero. In a way, Heero would be able to understand by his expression that Shuhei was thankful for his interruption. Although he was still very frustrated, he calmly spoke. "This stage is for Guild Masters, Heero..." Leon crossed his arms, looked up at Heero and nodded. "Don't worry, I'll take care of him." The feline whispered to the Fairy.

Hopefully Zenshin would not feel the need to continue the argument further. Insulting each other would accomplish nothing and so Shuhei let go of his rage and agreed to allow Frederik to keep his safe Haven, for now... To relieve his anger Shuhei decided to proceed to the next topic, Acnologia. Shuhei turned his attention to Zuo Cii and spoke seriously. Although some awkwardness lingered as the tension from the previous conversation hadn't quite diminished. "Blue Pegasus has various means of long distance transportation. Zuo Cii, for your first response efforts I will offer myself, and The Saving Goddess. One of Blue Pegasus's greatest ships, with the ability to warp over vast distances.

Kaseki watched the guildmasters discuss the deaths and murder of a guild. He watched as words were thrown like javelins at one another. Everyone seemed to be angered with the harboring of a major threat. Kaseki thought about the mindset that one person would have to obtain to execute and eliminate an entire guild."But isn't a guid full of powerful mages? He must have acquired a massive power source to accumulate this much anger and that much rumored bloodshed. Who is Lord Frederick?" he thought to himself.

Kaseki leaned against the wall. He looked over the heads of the other guilds, Fairy Tail, Blue Pegasus, Sabertooth, Eclipse Soul and his own, Lamia Scale. He thought about the power he would face in his own guild. "Could I ever kill my own family? No... They're too powerful. I could never fight them, I would die trying. Not even as an H-Rank do I think i can. So how can this Frederik guy kill Blue Pegasus?" Kaseki looked around the room. He could feel the power emerging. Whatever the legal mages were, they were powerful.

"Surely..." he thought to himself, "We can take on any evil, why we got rid of that dragon!! I could never do such a thing!!" Kaseki was proud to be on the side of the light. "whatever this Acnologia thing is... I'm sure we all can fight it... we must. For Fiore"

"Two things. To you Heero, and to you Master Shuhei. I didn't keep Frederik hidden. If I did, Sparrow would have my head. I -did-, however, didn't go flaunting him around to everyone for this very reason. If you two, as well as anyone else who agrees with their point of view could really kill a man so easily then storm my guild hall. Drag him out of there and do it. Otherwise, don't expect to question my decision so easily. Believe me it wasn't an easy one and I expected this kind of reaction, which is why I tried to keep it 'down low'. Frederik could make an extremely powerful ally against dark guilds. He has the knowledge on how they operate, how they run. A kind of knowledge no one but an ex-dark guildmaster could have. That was one. Two is that it doesn't matter how sweet and kind a person seems, if they're part of an illegal guild there is a reason. For all we know, Nox Animus are about to perform some atrocity and we let the ONLY chance of finding out about the plan fly out the window just because 'she's nice'. It's true that my entire guild walked out on my and I'm a lot more cynical and skeptical of anyone who pledges their loyalty, but I won't have a headstrong boy who doesn't know how to put his personal feelings aside for one second to potentially save hundreds of people! Now get off the stage Heero." he said, his eyes locked with the dragon slayer. Shuhei was justified in his anger and Zenshin would let him criticize and whine all he wanted about his decision to defend Frederik. But that was where he drew the line. Although he considered himself and the lighting dragon slayer to be good friends, he wouldn't let his personal feelings cloud his judgement regarding the decision to capture the Nox Animus mage or letting him slide on disrespecting him.

"Of course Sir Naraca, I understand. Secrets are important, secrets are good, but you can't stop a person from trying to learn them once they know they exist. One day Sir Kihia, you and I will sit down and exchange some secrets, one day..." Cyrus paused with his whispering to his comrades, "For now though, let's put this topic to rest. This is not the time, nor the place for this conversation to be happening." As Cyrus continued to watch the Guildmaster's meeting, his eyelids began to flutter. He had been up all night training with the Venti after all. Before long he was in a deep slumber, there would most likely be nothing his guildmates could do to wake him up. His contributions to this meeting were about done.

Zuo was greatly relieved when the topic of discussion seemed to move off of Frederick. The old man had little to no reason to care about the dark mage. While he has sheltered the demon who destroyed the last Lamia Scale, Zuo found that he wasn't half as effected by what happened to Frederik as any of the other guild masters. His quarrel with the man was minor, especially compared to Shuehei's. On the matter of Shuhei Zuo smiled as Shuhei offered to assist in his quick response plans "Shuhei the offer is greatly appreciated." Zuo then decided due to various outbursts regarding Acnologia it was high past time to reveal the nature of his response plan. "On that note I would like to elaborate on my plans to respond to Acnologia that I previously mentioned. We all know magic effects him and in all honesty that is all we need to know to be certain that we can defeat him." The old man paused and stroked his beard running his plan over in his mind one more time to ensure he didn't stutter "As to how we would defeat him I believe we can do it with a single spell. A single very well prepared spell from many powerful and coordinated mages. Now I would like to remind you all before I continue that Acnologia is the single greatest threat the land has ever seen. So I would hope you are willing to go through desperate measures to defeat him. For this plan is very desperate."

Zuo let this sink in before decided he had beat around the bush long enough. "The plan I have devised I have titled "Dragon Slaying Reality Shattering Cannon." Pardon the tackiness. I believe this is the single most effect way to attack Acnologia, I will spare the details, it will work basically like this. This will require the Fire, Water, Earth, Sky, Lightning, Light, Shadow and Storm dragon slayers. The 8 slayers will be divided into two teams, first fire, water, earth and sky then lightning, light, shadow and storm." Zuo had to stop to breath, it had been a long time since he had talked so much at once. "Then using their command of the 4 classic elements the first slayer team will cast "Abyss Break" using their slayer magic, this will overlap with the theoretical spell "Infinite Rend" cast by the secondary team of slayers. These two high power spells combined, forged from the magic of dragon slayers should be able to unleash an all powerful anti-dragon magic blast that may have the power to defeat Acnologia. Even if it is not enough such a blast should leave him in a state weak enough for the combined power of the magic guilds to overwhelm him." He then added "Naturally I am leaving out many details and side notes that can be greater covered at a later date in a more private setting."
With that set out there he sat back and waited to see the reaction of the listeners. Zuo Cii was aware some may brand him mad for the plan, insane and desperate, desperate and insane but Zuo was willing to put his image and credibility on the line with this plan. For from his point of view it was the best chance they had of repelling Acnologia should he come again.

Aegiel walked out of the restroom refreshed and reinvigorated. Just in time to hear his Guildmaster suggest spraying Acnologia with dragon-slaying magic like a dog with a fire hose. He could have heard a pin drop. After a deep moment of contemplation and overcoming his own personal doubts about the degree of Master Zuo's sanity, he found that he approved. If he examined it real closely and tilted his head just so, the plan almost seemed...doable.

Mental crisis avoided, Aegiel took his seat back at the Lamia Scale table. Kihia and Meep's white-haired savior were whispering about something-or-other, and the rest were either beaming at their Guildmaster or turning a light shade of Lamia green. Aegiel approved. Then someone across from him whispered, "What proof does he have? Anyone can throw explosives together and make stuff blow up, but what proof does he have that- oof!" The doubtful mage was elbowed in the gut by the woman sitting next to him, who scolded the poor man for doubting Master Zuo. Aegiel began to chuckle, then stopped.

The guy had a point.

Aegiel tentatively raised his voice above the softly murmuring wizards, "Master Zuo, has anything like this ever been done before? I just think that we should test the...the explosive, um, power of the spell before we just throw the slayers at Acnologia and hope for the best. Sir..." He frowned, not sure if what he wanted to say came out exactly the way he thought of it in his head.

"Zuo. That plan is insane. Eight mages can't take down the dragon king just through a unison raid or two. This thing has destroyed countless nations of many more than simply eight mages. We should find out how Acnologia was beaten the first time and take it from there. At least we know that'll work." Zenshin said, giving his input on the old man's crazy plan. Zen was beginning to like Zuo Cii more and more as this meeting went on. His members made him out to be some monster, but he didn't get that feeling. "I'm sure who or whatever beat this thing the first time left instructions in case some idiot from the black dragon back to life. Why take unnecessary risks when we could be sure. However, if the plan to hunt down the instructions fail, it could make for a good end-game kind of plan. The kind you use when you've exhausted all other options" he said again while his head was turned to face the old man. "I'm aware that dragon slayers are geared towards slaying dragons. And a few of them are particularly powerful, but if we aren't sure why put our greatest weapon on the front lines?" he concluded, trying to explain his reasoning for turning the plan down as a primary thing. "Actually. You were alive when they first beat Aconologia. Try and remember what it was that whoever it was did. Try hard old man, all our lives depend on it" he said, recalling Zuo Cii's actual age. Zenshin also knew what it was, but it would feel dirty to steal the man's idea right from his past.

Kylls info had been a bit of a surprise to Akryn really. He had known darn little of Harrigan, and didn't care. All he cared about was Kyll being safe and happy again. But the news that they had been.....a couple? A happy one from the sounds of it! That news surely knocked Akryn back on his heels. He had also been in the dark on Kylls rampage! How little did he know his guild! And despite Kylls claims, it seemed secrets were all to easy to keep in this guild!

Before Akryn could comment on anything Kyll had said however, she was heading out, to counter something Shuhei had said, and Akryn was right behind her, putting a hand on her shoulder and offering her a grin at her slip of the tongue. "You talk to much." he whispered to her before stepping up to stand in front of the stage. "With respect again Mast Zuo, I must agree with Master Zenshin. That plan has several flaws, the first of which is you do not have all the slayers needed. Secondly, we are talking about Acnologia, with out a doubt one of the most fearsome beings to ever roam earthland. Would you truly place so much faith in one spell that may or may not work? Its a gamble, and an unnecessary one. Though I must support your ideas for a quick reaction force. And not just to Acnologia either. The main concerns for every one here it seems are Acnologia, and the dark guilds. These things remain such a scare to us because of the damage they can cause before adequate forces can arrive to stop them. Why not create a force, armed with teleportation lacrima or mages, on constant guard against these? A force of significant power, with means to contact them put into place could be very effective. I also once more agree with Zenshin in searching for more information on the dark dragon. Would you storm a castle without proper forces? Or face an army without appropriate arms? There are stories far and wide of this creature, and surely other lands are investigating him. Let us pool our knowledge and glean what truths we may from it all."

"It's okay just make sure it doesn't happen again I would want this to happen again," Neirak replied but saw that she had already hurried off to the railing to see what had happened to the doors or at least it sounded like someone had done something to the doors. He stood up and brushed any dirt or dust off his coat and finished by putting his black hood up slipping back into the comfortable darkness that he loved so much. He listened as the guild masters and others talked going form one subject to the next. "So this is a guild masters meeting, it was definitely intriguing all these problems, that he had had no real idea about, were being brought up to be discussed. " He thought to himself watching each person talk.

"Acnologia, I've heard of that before, it didn't sound good back then and it doesn't sound good now. I hope i don into it, I don't think I stand any chance against that thing, even if i ran away I'm not sure I'd be able to get away," Neirak whispered to himself. He wondered about this Acnolpgia, it sounded interesting, he was probably insane but he wanted to sketch it or maybe paint, in some form of artistic way he wanted to capture it. The conversation between the guild masters seemed to now revolve around the creature. He kinda of hoped they didn't have to kill it but render it, somehow, incapable of killing anyone. He didn't like hearing about killing, he wasn't exactly sure what it was inside of him that made him feel that way.

Zeno kindly nodded in return as Cordelia removed herself back to her guarding spot. He weighed the information in his head for a while. More than a few tangent questions popped to mind; why was she telling him this? Did the other guildmasters know? Should they? Perhaps, but seeing as the rumoured demon child was yet unborn, it would give Zeno some time to think the matter through.

He settled it in the back of his mind and returned to the discussion at hand: Acnologia.

Swiftly, he interjected what he knew about the Black Dragon.
"Well, I'm sure more than a few of us are familiar with the Dragon Classification Theory. The theory discusses the different classes of power within the dragon order. Lesser Dragons still exist in the wild as subraces, such as wyverns and seadragons. They exist even among our own kind if I am to believe that a girl shapeshifted into a dragon in this very hall less than an hour ago..."

He paused for a brief moment to take a breath.

"I won't bore you with the theory's details, but there are several classes and at the top of the hierarchy are the Great Dragons. Those who were powerful enough to create Dragon Slaying magic. A magic that was more efficient and powerful against dragons than any other. Now..."

Zeno leaned forward and tapped the desk with his left indexfinger.

"The question is why? So far we have not been giving any information as to why the Great Dragons would teach humans, have we? They disappeared, humans and the upper classes of dragons no longer coexist in the same world. So why would they still have taught the Dragon Slayers we have with us today?"

He leaned back and smiled as if he was onto something.

"The lower classifications may have some resistance, but not that much more of a resistance against magic. Wyverns and seadragons can perfectly well be dealt with without the use of Dragon Slaying magic, for example.

But Acnologia... Acnologia is a Great Dragon if not more. His magical resistance has been shown to be immense. Whatever impact was made on the dragon at Era, if anything at all, was insignificant." Zeno explained, letting silence and realization fill the room for a brief moment before continueing.

"Unless each Dragon Slayer has a hidden agenda that has not been shared with the rest of us, I have not heard of any of them slaying each other's Great Dragons. So I do not believe that being their ultimate goal. All reasonably powerful dragons have gone into hiding, except for Acnologia. It would seem to me that the slayers are crucial to defeating it."

He glanced over at the other guildmasters.

"We have a responsibility to the future generations to stop Acnologia for good. Even if we know the magic would work, we should not resort to temporary sealing magic that can be undone over time. Even if it would seem impossible now, someone might figure it out in the future. Like Warden did, for example.

We need to destroy it. Though, I do not believe we have the knowledge to create spells of adequate magnitude just yet." Zeno said with a nod to Zuo.

Zeno leaned back in his seat and calmly finished his statement.

"I agree that we first need to find any information we can as soon as possible and then re-evaluate our options everytime something new comes up. Currently we're in the dark, and though it might be a good idea for the slayers to start exploring their options as to how to combine their powers efficiently... We cannot know anything for certain at this point."

Jay had finally arrived at the guild meeting's steps and took a moment to rest as he panted from sprinting. Damn it I better not be late, the first time I actually have a need to be somewhere and I still forget to look at a map... he thought to himself as worked his way through a now small crowd of people outside the hall. The Rune Knight guards seemed suspicious at such a late arrival but gave little more trouble once Jay revealed his new red Eclipse Soul tattoo on the back of his right hand. As he entered the guard that admitted him said, "Oi, I believe the meeting has already started. You should hurry." Jay nodded his thanks and did as he suggested through the hall doors. Inside was the largest crowd of people he had yet seen in a single place. These are all meant to be Wizards? There must be thousands! And allot of them look like kids! This thought made Jay feel unsure about such an event. But this was quickly forgotten as he heard the voice of his now guild master speak to the assembly. "We need to destroy it. Though, I do not believe we have the knowledge to create spells of adequate magnitude just yet."

What exactly he was talking about was unclear to Jay and he silently cursed at himself since he had only himself to blame for his tardiness. As Zeno continued his speech Jay shuffled around the back crowd trying to find the only other members of his guild he would recognize Kyll and Akyrn. As well as a living puppet but Jay was half hoping to avoid that one. After a couple scans of the room he noticed the guild banners and tables. He couldn't make out which one he was meant to be at from this distance so he searched for a way through the dense crowd. Making little head way Jay crossed his arms in frustration. After a little longer he sighed and resigned to wait until something happened to make it easier pass. So he found a corner with a bike resting nearby and leaned against the wall and listened as best as he could to the proceedings. Wait... that bike. I recognize it from my visit to Hunting Village. Jay struggled to remember it's name and then lowered himself to whisper to the bike. "A-Abraxis is that you?"

It had been an eventful meeting thus far. Discussions had turned into arguments - which in turn had come close to becoming a fist fight if not more -, there were talks of destroying that beast Acnologia, about peace with dark wizards. Needless to say that this meeting had been unpredictable right up to this point and Marick had witnessed every second of it, albeit in silence and stood at the back of the hall. Watching Zenshin and Master Shuhei of Blue Pegasus was quite the sight to behold, even if the tension between the two hadn't reached breaking point. Through all that though there was only one topic that really concerned the Sabertooth Ace; the mass exodus of the guilds members to Nox Animus.

Marick felt as sore about that as Zenshin did, if not more so what with the issues he'd had with Alexander Zenneth. Just as he thought they'd resolved their issues, Zenneth had turned heel and walked out, taking numerous magi with him and claiming he was doing it in the name of freedom. Marick held his respect for him for that action. But what was to come next...for Zenneth to turn dark and betray every ounce of what he'd claimed to believe in...that left the Solitaire feeling bitter. Very bitter. Actions needed to be made to stop Nox Animus, but the discussion about Acnologia was understandably an important one. Afterall, Marick had witnessed that particular destruction first hand. But the idea of siding with dark magi to fight that monster...well, that wasn't going to happen. It was a dark mage that summoned Acnologia. Most dark magi had no care for anything but themselves from what he could gather, with only a handful of exceptions.

Irrespective of that however was how long it had been. Over a year since Acnologia struck and it hadn't been sighted since, or at least there were no reports of a sighting. Who was to say Acnologia wasn't still within Fiore? Who was to say it wouldn't strike at any moment.

Suddenly his silence was broken as his eyes opened and looked up at his fellow card master, Zeno. "With all due respect, we may not have time to find a way to counter Acnologia. We've heard nothing about it since the events at Era and, as we know from those events, we are ill-prepared for a sudden attack. We should consider a plan of action as a wizarding community on what we should do should Acnologia strike again before we are able to defeat it. We need a backup plan or a last resort, and sealing it should not be dismissed so quickly. A short-term seal could be useful to keep it at bay while we find a way to properly destroy it." he spoke loudly, his arms remaining crossed.

Zeno kindly nodded in acknowledgement of Solitaire's input and quickly replied with a calm smile;

"Of course, I was merely theorizing on our final move. In the meantime, we should indeed have several plans at the ready so that we do not get caught off-guard. Strengthening the communication and mutual use of resources between the guilds are steps in the right direction. Eclipse Soul contributes its highly defensible guildhall as a safehaven in times of need. The Saving Goddess will be able to make port there." Zeno said, joining Zuo and Shuhei in the collaboration.


"Perhaps the S and H Class of the magic community should consider certain strike strategies as well? Even if we cannot stop Acnologia entirely with them, we might be able to keep him at bay until everyone is brought to safety."

Nikolai tried his best to follow the guild master's words, but more often than not, the topics of their discussion flew over his head. Someone named Frederik, Acnologia, apparently the discussion of heavy topics had already begun. Seeing Shuhei get upset, as well as the atmosphere grow so tense, he wasn't exactly sure how to handle it all. However, it did convince him that all questions he had to ask before had lost their timing; there was no way he was gonna be the following act to this. He was almost in a daze at this point, trying to figure out what exactly everyone was talking about. He snapped himself back to reality, turning to Akeya next to him. He had been so focused on deciphering everything he hadn't answered her.

Standing up, Nikolai tried to think of a way to help her. He didn't exactly have any cloth on him, but he had to help her somehow. He slid his brown jacket off himself, awkwardly extending it to Akeya. "H-Here, I know it's n-not exactly a cloth, but d-do whatever you want with it, I-I have more a-at home." Keep the jacket extended towards Akeya, Nikolai leaned back against the wall, once more facing the guild master's to listen. "Yeah, it might be better to j-just stay back here and listen. T-Things seem to have g-gotten pretty intense. F-Feel free to go over to the r-rest of the guild if you w-want, I think I-I'll stay back here." He was still fairly nervous from the previous events, and decided that stay back where there were less people would probably be best for himself right now.

Akeya frowned as she noticed that the Meeting was still developing at full speed. She and Nikolai have apparently been thrown out off the loop, thanks to Akeya reacting to Shuhei's entrance as she did. Knowing that she was the cause for Nikolai at least partially missing out on the Meeting didn't help Akeya's mood: It was basically the same as if she were to force her teammates to abandon a job because she was too wounded to continue, and Akeya hated the idea of being the weak link.

Best way to deal with that would be to quickly get over her moment of shock so Nikolai no longer had to worry about her. Akeya silently demanded for her body to move normally, but it still was busy recovering from the shock. Looking towards Nikolai Akeya noticed that he had taken off his jacket and extended it to her as a reaction to her asking him for a piece of cloth. Not exactly what she had in mind, but he told her that she could do whatever she wanted with it, so it would have to do. Nodding Akeya quickly took the jacket, then grabbed the lower part with both claws and ripped a strip of cloth from the bottom, trying to make it as neatly as possible by also using her claws to cut it. Once Akeya was done Nikolai's jacket was still serviceable, although the somewhat ragged lower part might need to be fixed if Nikolai wanted to avoid looking like somebody who couldn't even afford proper clothing. Akeya turned towards the wall and lowered the hood of her cloak, keeping her eyes closed as she quickly wrapped the strip of cloth from Nikolai's jacket around her upper face. Once it was in place she pushed her hood back up and turned back to Nikolai, her face now almost completely obscured: The mask was hiding the lower half, the strip of cloth was covering the upper part, and the hood did a pretty good job of covering whatever might still be exposed, although a few strands of Akeya's raven hair were still poking out from underneath the hood. Akeya bowed towards Nikolai, then extended his jacket back to him.

"Thank you. Now I do not have to worry about getting hit by another burst of light. I apologize for damaging your jacket, and I'll pay for the repairs should you decide to keep it."

Now that she no longer had to worry about the light Akeya quite quickly calmed down, her claws turning back into hands and the strange aura disappearing. Akeya looked at the centre of the Meeting, where the Guild Masters were arguing. At least, she turned her head into that direction. Whether she actually saw anything was anyone's guess. After 'staring' for a moment Akeya shook her head, staying at her spot.

"I do not feel the need to join the crowd. From this location we can see and hear everything, so I might as well stay here. That is, if you don't mind."

It had been a silent day, Sango had ignored the urges of several members to go to the meeting. Actually feeling hurt that she was completely leaving Shuhei alone, regretting that she wouldn't be standing behind him as she swore herself she would do at all time, trying to forget that it would shine a specifically bad light upon the guild if one of the aces wasn't present Sango had secluded herself to the sacred grounds of Blue Pegasus. High up in the air, she was now meditating above the clouds waiting for the meeting to blow over and then returning to Shuhei's side, as usual. Just as usual, just like everyday. Just that this wouldn't be like everyday.

It was a flicker, a hint. A slight feeling that reverberated into and throughout the sky. A vibrating surge of magic that was collapsing into itself. It was as if the bath water was being drained. An uneasy feeling. It was nothing like she had ever felt before. It made her uncomfortable. It made her thoughts race. She was starting to worry. This was unlike anything she had ever encountered before. And although it was a lucky guess, Sango could see something. Above the clouds, where even blind men could see across continents, her opened eyes were able to pick something up. A sudden break in the sky? So it seemed like. Incredibly far away and unable to be seen from the angle she was in. She would have to get higher. And only a moment later, she saw it. A gaping hole in the veil of grey clouds that had pulled over Fiore. Hovering a few miles above the earth, Sango could see it. And the frail feeling of a disturbance in the magical force itself went through her bone. She was sure someone at the meeting had felt it too.

Diving down at blinding speeds in the form of an electric current, she passed through the clouds and blasted down unto the ground. A distance before Clover Town, her feet were swiftly set upon the ground. Looking past the hillocked landscape, there was clear concern in her eyes. Turning back around to face the city, her body dissipated once more into an electric and only moments later she arrived right in front of the meeting's building. An audible sigh and a short chat with the concierges later, Sango was allowed to pass with an urgent message for all the guildmasters. That something was wrong around the area where there was supposed to be the gigantic metropolis called Rose Garden. Something that slightly calmed her was the fact that none of the present Rune Knight's had received any emergency notifications. But the magical gap was still there, and after seeing it, Sango had the constant feeling of it. An empty space without energy in the north of Fiore.

Hastily making her way to the entrance, Sango didn't exactly think about making a scene. But she thought it was urgent. She wouldn't show any restraint. She braced herself before entering, hearing the guildmasters and their mighty voices talk. Breathing in, Sango casually opened the door and walked in, just to immediately turn into lightning before a waiter could even offer her anything to eat or drink, and landing right behind Shuhei's podest where she noticed Ayaseru was sitting. She was likely seen by many, and it was probable that her entrance was frowned upon in the midst of this, to the mages of Fiore, incredibly important meeting.

Standing behind Shuhei, she gently put her hand on his shoulder and whispered. "Shuhei, I'm sure you can feel it too if you concentrate for a moment. Something is wrong in Fiore, and I don't think this one is something to take light-heartedly. My gut may be wrong, but my instincts tell me that I should raise your awareness and take your focus off of this meeting for one moment." The fact that she chose words to express herself at this point would likely tell Shuhei that she wasn't joking around. Swiftly brushing past him, she was sure he was enraged right about now. Grabbing the microphone on his desk, Sango took her turn to speak just this once and make a scene. She would speak. In front of everyone. Her voice would reverberate throughout the hall. The echoing sound of a gentle omnipotence would lay rest on this meeting.

"Greetings, assembly of mages." Her eyes went throughout the masses of mages and even gazed at the guildmasters. Her eyes were filled with worry and concern mixed with a strong determination to go through with this. "My presence at this place is an occurrence forged solely through the things I have witnessed. I, Sango, one of the aces of Blue Pegasus urge any and everyone to search the flux of energy for just one bit and realize that something is not right. In the north of Fiore, I have just witnessed the thick veil of grey clouds breaking in above the area where the metropolis called Rose Garden is. There is no mistake, this meeting needs to continue, but I ask of you to be alert about this situation. I will go to survey whatever has happened there. I apologize for my interruption, but I know that if some of you are already beginning to feel something wrong, you will understand why I am saying this."

The microphone she had grabbed somewhere in between those words was let go and it popped back to its original position. Turning back to Shuhei, she looked him dead in the eye with an expression that was seeking for apology and understanding all the same. She then looked to Ayaseru, who was seemingly not in his best shape. But she could tell that his attention was dilluted. Perhaps he would come with her. Disregarding whatever mishap and outrage she had just caused behind her, Sango glanced at him and nicked with her head to indicate the question of coming with her. Either way, after that, she would leave.

Ayeseru gripped his head tighter and tighter as time continued on; there was definitely a disturbance in Fiore somewhere.  As he concentrated to pinpoint the direction of where it was coming from, he felt it more and more, which resulted in more pain.  Seemingly out of nowhere, Sango went up to the stage, next to Shuhei, whispering some things into his ear, before finally addressing the entire crowd, in which Ayeseru was able to focus enough in order to make out what she was saying.  Ayeseru sighed deeply once he heard her speak, though not in relief; he was hoping that he was the only one experiencing a disturbance in the air, hoping it to be some sort of disease or sickness that would go away within the next few days...  The problem presented was, that was not the case.

As soon as Sango finished, Ayeseru stood up, no longer clutching his head in pain as the strange feeling mystically disappeared.  He took a deep breath, and made direct contact with Sango, before getting up on the stage, taking place next to her.  He looked at her momentarily, before turning to face the crowd with his gaze, and took a deep breath.  "I too, alongside my dear friend Sango, have felt a strange energy.  While I may not have seen it, I was able to feel it and react to it.  I agree with Sango; this meeting must continue, however, we also need mages to scout out the area.  As a result, I'll be traveling with Sango.  The rest of you, stay put."  Ayeseru turned towards Sango, and gave her indication to follow him outside, which, she appeared to have done.

When the two were outside, Ayeseru felt a stinging pain, though nowhere near as badly as before; he was able to shrug it off.  He turned towards Sango once more, and took a deep breath, and released it.  "We should leave as soon as we can.  Do you need anything here?"

*continued in Rose Garden*

Zeno speaking in response to him wasn't something he'd expected and for a moment the Sabertooth Ace was almost surprised that someone as respected as Zeno would actually pay any kind of attention to him. But then again the Eclipse Soul founder was apparently rather down-to-earth. His surprise was short-lived however due to a strange feeling coming over the Rising Star. At first he thought it was simply that someone had entered the hall and the air had changed, but then he realised that the air felt somewhat heavy as opposed to lighter. A figure appeared on the stage and gripped a microphone before speaking with everyone in the hall.

Sango's announcement confirmed the feeling that had suddenly crept into the air around Marick. A mass of energy followed by an immediate void of said energy, as if someone had simply sucked it from existence. He felt an peculiar feeling in his gut that he simply couldn't ignore, causing him to look up at the guildmasters table to see how his master would react. He wanted to leave and head to the Rose Garden immediately and, thankfully, it seemed Zenshin wished him to do exactly that as the Wizard Saint tilted his head to signal for Marick to follow suit. The Solitaire nodded in response and exited the hall with haste.

He rushed to catch up with the two Blue Pegasus magi unzipping his jacket so that he could easily grip his cards from their holder if he needed to. "I'm coming with the two of you."

[continued at Rose Garden]

Lance sat back down at his seat and suddenly got a headache. He put his hand on his head in agony as the world started to spin around him "Succumb to the Darkness..." a voice said in his mind and Lance winced in pain. Guild members around started to look at him with a concerned look as he waved it off with a feint smile "D-Don't worry... just... just a small headache..." he muttered as he placed his head down on the table and went to sleep.

These occurrences had been happening ever since he saved Lea in Minstrel. Lance didn't know what to do about them... Why would he succumb to the Darkness... who is that voice speaking to him... he didn't know any of the answers but he was scared for once in his life.

Kaseki remained near Lamia Scale, but couldn't help but feel detached from them. Surely there was someone or something that could ease him. Kaseki thought to himself, "How are we all on the same side if all we do is fight each other, politically? To truly create a strong assortment of us we must learn to accept our differences." Kaseki got up from his seat at the Lamia Scale wizards to wander to the back of the room. He preferred it this way, no one was around him, and he could freely talk to himself. "How can we expect to fight beside each other if all we're doing here is fighting one another? I would imagine that the other 'dark' mages are not the same. Sure they may be evil, twisted or corrupt, but there must be a method to the madness. I mean... Surely there's a possibility that we all fight for the same thing, but in dramatically different ways. I believe that thing to be freedom... Freedom." Kaseki mumbled to himself as he wandered against the walls behind the tables. Hearing about a harbored criminal made him uneasy. He stopped around the Fairy Tail table. From there a few people started to give him looks.

"... How can we fight together if we cannot accept one another?" he thought, "It's simple, Kaseki, we don't. At this rate that dragon will smite us all." said another voice in his head. "No Kodai... there must be hope..."

Rita had dozed off  very easily. She was never a very attentive girl. Even with such a serious discussion taking place The Fairy had managed to fall asleep face first into the table. She was suddenly bumped. Rita was startled out of her slumber and snapped up instantly. A voice apologized for disturbing her and she turned to face him. "Oh, Leo." Rita muttered groggily as she rubbed her eyes with her hand. Rita still failed to pay much attention to the meeting instead she had her eye on her guild members. She quickly noticed that Leo seemed somewhat anxious. She blinked ultimately brushing off her fatigue and quietly. "Hey, Is there something wrong?" She whispered being careful not to draw any eyes to her and Leonard. Rita so far had little ideas about what was being discussed. She only had managed to catch bits and pieces of the discussion between her slumber and dozing off from what she can tell the discussion consisted of Acnologia and something elsewhere in Rose Garden. Rita's eyes shifted from Leo to Lance who appeared to be sleeping just as she was. Once she confirmed that Lance hadn't run off and was still in one piece she turned her attention back to Leo and waited for his response.