Firefall || Fairy Tail

49 : t h e . r e t u r n

Every person in the guild hall went rigid. The Dragon Slayers were straining their ears to hear anything as a few people swore they felt a faint tremor in the ground.

"Are they already attacking?"

"There's no way they could be here already?"

The myriad of questions continued as a large group moved outside the main doors to see if they could find what had caused the noise and what damage it had done. It didn't take long for them to spot the long trail for smoke that was rising from the hill where the country guild hall still stood.

Gray scanned the sky, "Do you think they thought we had rebuilt up there?"

"It's unlikely." Ezra shook her head, "Whatever it is may not have anything to do with them."

Lucy turned, "What do you want us to do, Master?"

Makarov was busy putting together a small recon team in his head, but something else happened first.

Verani's heart skipped enough that her steps faltered. This did not go unnoticed by Amber as they had walked out with the others. It had been enough of a shuffle for her brother to see too.

"What is it, V?"

The blonde didn't answer, her eyes never moving from that plume of smoke. She was hearing a conversation from a year ago in her head, the last one she had gotten to have with Kia as they went off toward Zeref.

"Watch for the flames on the old guild's hill."

Verani blinked over at her friend, both from confusion and the amount of dust she was kicking up as she ran, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"You'll know."

"...flames on the old guild's hill..." V mumbled the words so softly that Amber had barely heard them, but she didn't have time to respond. The blonde's magic roared to life at full blast as she zipped away from the guild and the crowd.

"V?!" Amber yelled after her friend as she ran a few steps, but she knew there was no way she could catch her. Maybe Laxus or Jett could, but she didn't have a hope.

"Verani!" Makarov shouted after his granddaughter, but she didn't pay him any mind and he knew it. Turning to his right, he locked eyes with another member of the guild. "Warren!

"Yes, sir!"

Laxus stepped up next to Makarov, his magic already crackling faintly around him. "I'll go after her."

"Wait a minute," the short man held up a hand even if he wanted nothing more than for Laxus to drag his little sister back. "Let me see why she took off. If there is a problem, your sister is plenty fast enough to get away."

||~x~||

Verani had already reached the edge of town by the time Warren was able to link with her. The familiar sensation had just enough time to register before she was greeted by her grandfather's voice in her head.

"Verani Dreyar, tell me you aren't running up that hill on your own."

"Sorry, Grandpa, but I have to."

He sighed, "At least tell me why you ran off or I'm sending Laxus after you."

Her face scrunched up in slight aggravation that he was almost threatening her with her older brother even though she was twenty-one and fully capable of handling herself. She suddenly got the idea of challenging her grandfather to a match. It was something he would do with her when she was little to help her train when Laxus started being a brat, but he had never taken it seriously. But that would have to wait.