{Foreign Rituals}: Gajeel

Beings the resourceful man that he was, Richard came up to Micah with four different villas he had found for sale around Magnolia. This was, of course, after he had converted their loot to jewels, which was the non-denominational currency of Fiore. And, Richard had heavily miscalculated the worth of the loot, it was a lot less than he had thought. Still, it was enough to buy a nice villa, but they wouldn't have much left after that.

The group had left Fairy Tail to go and check out the places Richard had recommended. Sorana and Yukino stuck together like glue, ever since they found each other, no one could separate them. They slept together, they ate together, and now they walked hand in hand. It was a touching scene to look at. And, the ideal picture of how the world should be. Siblings not forced to part because of evil forces. To Micah, the sisters were a good duo to lead by example.

Standing in front of the gated three-story villa, made from white brick with a prestige-looking black metal gate, Micah marvelled at the sight. 'Who would have thought that one day I would live in a place such as this.' A classic victorian doll-house styled home with beautiful newly-cut grass stretching along the marble road leading up to the house.

"Is this our house?" Yukino asked as she looked up worriedly at her sister. She might be right to worry as this looked like a place kings and queens come to get away from their castle and palaces. It was way beyond what they needed, and in no way was this a humble place to live. Micah's humble nature took quite the hit from having to accept this. Sorana practically begged on her knees for him to choose this one.

"Indeed, as soon as the signing is done, we own it." Richard stood with his arms crossed. A smug smile adorned his strange face, making him look even eerier. He only looked normal when he wore his stoic expression.

"Are you sure we're not stealing it from the king?"

"I'm sure, Yuki," Richard patted her head with a smile. "This is our new home, and let me tell you, your room is bigger than most three-room apartments." The awe-struck expression on her face said all that was needed about this villa's impressiveness.

"Richard, since you have taken care of this so far, can I trust you to do the signing as well? I have an errand to run, a very important one."

"Don't worry, boss, I'll take care of it. But, as a precaution, I have to ask, what kind of errand?"

"The man that attacked Levy, I'm going to find him and try and recruit him. I have that feeling that he is in the same place you two were. I want to try and steer him down a better path." Micah was radiating so much honesty that the group didn't feel the need to question if it were his real intentions.

Sorana pecked him on the shoulder, "Is this one of your faith things? Like some sonar sense that makes you find bad people?" She looked oddly amused, maybe she had found new teasing opportunities in this revelation.

"Possibly. I do feel drawn to him, even though I've never met him. If you can imagine feeling an itch inside your head that just doesn't wanna go away. I feel like meeting him will function as scratching that itch."

"Are you a saviour, boss?" Yukino asked shyly while hiding half her body behind her sister. By orders of both Sorana and Richard, Micah was to be called the boss and nothing else. The two reasons being, it's an appropriate title for his position, and second, it annoyed the hell out of him.

"I don't know about that, I sure hope not. If someone is in trouble, I will certainly do all I can to help, but labelling me a saviour, that doesn't sound appealing. That will surely only corrupt the mind and blow my ego out of proportion."

"That's true, and we wouldn't want the great supreme god coming down with an even bigger ego boost. You're already the overlord of the universe."

"Okay, Sorana, I can't deal with you right now." With a gaze filled with scorn, Micah said a few final things to Richard about his plans with the house then left the group to deal with the rest. Now, it was his time to talk to Gajeel. According to Levy, he should try and look for him at their old guild building.

'Blue, now that we have some free time, can you explain to me why I have this nagging sensation toward Gajeel. Is it like Sorana said? Is it a faith thing? Will I just always stumble upon black sheep like Gajeel?'

'This isn't one of my traits. But, I explained to you how {Faith} will influence you as you become more intuned with it, my only explanation would be that this is something that comes from you and got enhanced when you bonded with me. Maybe your soul is naturally drawn to people in a bad place. It could also be that your empathy is pulling you towards Gajeel. I am truly unsure, Master.'

'Hopefully, we'll figure it out eventually. The thought of that nagging sensation enhanced by the thousands is a really disturbing thought.'

It took a little while but eventually, Micah found himself standing in front of a ruined and broken down guild building. 'He is definitely inside. That nagging sensation is really strong now.' Preparing a little sales pitch in his head he walked inside to see this Gajeel person who had given Natsu a run for his money. And, from what he heard, he was a dragon slayer just like Natsu was.

The inside of the building looked worse than the outside, and far in the back, he saw a mountain of rubble, which upon its peak sat a young man with waist-long hair and a mean expression. 'So that's Gajeel, huh. Feels similar to Natsu, so I should be stronger. But, he most likely has more experience than I do.' He knew Gajeel had seen him already, and if Natsu is anything to go by, he must have heard him or smelled him way before he stepped in here.

"No need to get up, Gajeel. I am here to talk." Micah said in a loud and commanding voice. 'Let's skip the sweet talk with this guy and go straight to the point.'

"What do you want?"

"I'm surprised, Gajeel. I thought you would attack me the moment I stepped in here."

"What good would that do now? Just leave me alone, will ya. It's best if you do, I'm not in the mood to talk or fight."

"I'm not here to fight, and I'm not here to get you to talk. So, how about you just listen to what I have to say. That sound fair enough?"

"Fair enough," Gajeel said and looked out through one of the many holes in the walls.

"I know my guild beat you badly, and I know Natsu proved quite the challenge for you. He told me a lot about you, mostly how much stronger he is than you." Micah saw Gajeel's hand clench tight when he dropped Natsu's name.

"So you're a Fairy too? How predictable, what do you want? have come to finish me off?"

"I just said I am not here to talk. I just thought I'd let you know why I know you and you don't know me."

"I really don't care, get to the point." Gajeel kicked some rubble down the mountain for no apparent reason. Maybe to really hammer in the point that he was an edgy teen and in a bad mood, but who knows?

"I am a part of Fairy Tail, but there is also one side of me that the guild doesn't know about. I run my own independent mage group, tasked with doing some lasting good in this world. A goal to be proud of when you die. And, to get straight to the point, I feel you have the potential for that, so, I'm not asking you to come and join my guild, I'm asking you to become one of the few in this little group of mine."

"You said you know me, I highly doubt that. I'm not good, I don't care or claim to be, and I certainly don't know why you think I would ever accept that offer."

"Because I had a gut feeling, that's all. Before I came here, I had the feeling I could make you do some good in the world, to balance out what you did to Levy." Suddenly the room was drowned in a sort of suffocating air that Gajeel instantly picked up on. He shot up from his seat, but Micah was gone. Before his mind could process what happened, he got hit with a knee in the abdomen.

He crashed down on the ground and Micah now stood where he had stood. "Sorry, Gajeel. I said I wasn't here for that, but you hurt Levy, and I don't think it would be appropriate not whooping your ass, at least a little bit." Micah was shrieking happily on the inside. He was constantly underestimating how strong and fast he was. Gajeel hadn't seen him move despite looking at him, this just proved he was at least, S-class in terms of power. 'Being a fundamental concept of reality sure makes one very powerful.' With a smug smile, he started skipping down the mountain of rubble toward Gajeel.

"I care for Levy, and if you don't remember, she is one of the three you strung up in the middle of Magnolia."

Gajeel was laying down in the rubble looking up at Micah standing above him. With the difference in elevation, Micah looked, for possibly the first time, genuinely intimidating. "I am not here to kill you or to beat you bloody. I am here to offer you a chance to join something bigger than yourself. Bigger than me, bigger than all of us. I want to leave this world in a better state than I found it. I want your help with that." With a slight dramatic pause for extra effect. "If you feel unhappy if you feel this world isn't fair, or if you simply need a reason to exist. Take this," Micah threw a tiny paper at him, "That's the address to my house, I get that you might not want to decide now, but just know that my door stands open as long as I'm alive." With that semi-acceptable sales pitch, he walked off, trying to look as cool as possible, but just before he was out of sight and in safety, he tripped on a crack in the floor and stumbled forward, luckily not falling to the ground. With incredible haste, he looked back at Gajeel and the man was gone, probably jumped out a window or something.

'Man, if he saw me stumble that might have just ruined my whole intimidation look. Damn, looks like I need more training!'

---------------------------------------------

End