Chapter 1: Welcome to Phoenix's Eye

Chapter 1: Welcome to Phoenix's Eye

Magnolia, a vast and sprawling city, home to one of the most prestigious guilds in Fiore: Fairy Tail. A title which, admittedly, they hold mostly due to their destructive tendencies. But a lucky few know that in the year X784, the city of Magnolia is home to not one, but two wizarding guilds. While Fairy Tail is definitely the more famous of the two, the other is not to be trifled with.

At the other end of Magnolia, as far away from the ocean as possible, rests a towering building, three storeys tall with a five-tall tower adorning one corner and a white banner draped across the front, bearing the red logo of an eye surrounded with feathers. This is the guild hall of Phoenix's Eye, where a young man is returning home after a long day's work.

"Ah, yeah. It's good to be home," a blond boy grinned, gazing up at the guild he called himself a member of with light brown eyes. "Right, Kit?"

A ghostly white fox materialised, perched on his shoulder. While his body was predominantly white, streaks of red ran from his eyes to the base of his neck and down his tail. "Sure, Pierce!" he slyly shouted in his ear.

Pierce started and jerked away, causing his spectral companion to lose his grip and fall to the ground in a heap. "Jeez, Kit. I told you not to do that," he frowned, folding his arms.

Kit picked himself up, shaking himself out. "Sure, I'll stop. When it stops being fun," he huffed. As in, never.

"Hey, why do you fall, anyway? You're a yokai, can't you, I dunno, hover or something?" the blonde wizard skeptically folded his arms.

"I'm not that kind of yokai. How many flying foxes do you know?" Kit huffed. "Come on, let's get inside," With that, the fox stalked away, entering the guild hall.

"Wha - hey, wait for me!" the wizard shouted, dashing after him.

"Why should I? I'm a member of the guild too," the yokai slyly smirked, rolling onto his back to reveal the red guild emblem of Phoenix's Eye on his underbelly. "If I wanted, I could take on jobs all by myself,"

"Yeah, see how far you get without me," Pierce retorted, showing his own blue guild mark on the back of his left hand in retribution.

"He's got you there," a voice echoed across the hall. A slightly overweight boy with a mop of black hair, the same age as Pierce but noticeably shorter, who was hefting a silver boombox on his shoulder, grinned. "Nice to see you're back,"

"Good to see you too, Boomer," Pierce greeted him.

Kit, seeing the two human wizards were distracted, grinned and jumped towards the newcomer. His already-translucent body became almost invisible, before vanishing into Boomer's 'weapon'.

The sound system suddenly came alive, blaring heavy-metal music all across the hall. Boomer's eyes widened and he frantically turned his attention towards his machine, frantically trying to switch it off.

"Kit, is that you again?" Pierce demanded. "Cut it out; we don't want her on our case again,"

Obediently, Kit left the machine, but the damage was done. "Boomer! How many times have I to,d you to keep that racket out of the guild hall!" a furious voice demanded, and its owner, a tall, angry woman with short black hair, wearing green and yellow Japanese robes, stormed up to them.

"But it wasn't me! It was Kit!" Boomer weakly protested, looking around for the fox spirit.

"Oh, so you're complicit in this?" she continued, looming over Pierce with a dark look in her eyes. "No, not really. You know I can't control him," he shook his head.

"Really? Because I thought that's exactly what your magic is supposed to do," she frowned.

"Lay off him, Hare. That's not how Beast Tamer magic works and you know it," one of the guild's other members, a Paper wizard named Russell, reminded the woman.

Hare's image vanished for the briefest second, and suddenly the offending member was sent flying out of his seat. "Any other objections?"

"Yeah," the man who had just been sent flying onto the table groaned. "You just ruined my lunch!" Sure enough, the squashed remains of a jelly sandwich we're currently plastered all over his trousers. "You'll pay for that, Hare! Origami: Swan!" With the flare of magic, a giant paper crane appeared out of nowhere and slammed into the kimono-clad woman, throwing her into another table full of wizards.

All of which immediately decided to take vengeance on Hare and the paper wizard alike. And most of which didn't care that Boomer and Pierce were in their way.

"Sonic Shield!" Boomer shouted in a panic, and a sphere of vibrating air appeared around him. Pierce, on the other hand, had no such protection, and was trampled to the floor as a group of angry patrons decided to take vengeance for their fallen foodstuffs.

Kit reappeared next to the fallen Beast Tamer wizard, chuckling to himself. "So, still enjoying being home?" he chuckled.

Pierce looked up, just in time to see the entire hall dissolve into a chaotic fight. He smiled. "Wouldn't have it any other way, Kit. You wanna join in?"

"Hell yeah!" the yokai grinned. A wooden flute appeared in the blonde's hand by way of Requip, and he pressed it to his lips, before throwing himself into the fight.

In the corner, a teenage girl, a brunette wearing a blue dress, wailed in dismay, "Remind me why I joined this guild again?"

"Because, take it from me, Fairy Tail's even worse," her companion, a tanned woman with dark hair smirked. "I come over here to drink in peace,"

"Kana, you have a very interesting idea of pe - whaargh!" the girl shrieked and ducked as a chair came flying towards her head.

"You think this is bad, Eve?" Kana snorted. "You've never met Natsu, have you?"

"I don't think I want to," Eve shook her head.

Pierce came flying through the air and crashed into the wall beside them, before sliding down it and landing in a heap. Kit soon followed, slamming into the floor at his feet.

"You see? In Fairy Tail, they would have been thrown so hard that they went through the wall," Kana shrugged at Eve.

"Maybe I should wait outside," she gulped.

Suddenly, tendrils of fire washed throughout the room, grasping every combatant and pulling them apart. "What is the meaning of this?" a voice boomed, with a slim figure looming over the crowd from the second floor. "I go upstairs for ten minutes and already a fight breaks out? How dare you . ."

"We're sorry, Master Feng!" the entire guild chorused. The tall, elderly woman glared at the members of her guild, before a small smile crossed her face. "How dare you start a fight . . without giving me the chance to join in? Cowabunga!" she shrieked, leaping from the balcony and entering the fray, as her ropes of fire dissolved, and the brawl continued in earnest.

"We can't let the Master show us up like that, right Kit?" Pierce grinned. "Let's get 'em!"

"Hah, you said it!" Kit smirked, and the two rejoined the fray.

"I should definitely wait outside," Eve gulped.

"You do realise that the fight is between us and the door, right?" Kana asked with a small smile.

"Mummy," Eve gulped.

Yes; while Phoenix's Eye might lack the prestige and history enjoyed by its neighbour and rival Fairy Tail, they make up for it in sheer determination and attitude . . . but not restraint.

"Oh, yeah, Kit, it's good to be home," Pierce grinned.

~P's E~

"I just wish we could stay longer," Pierce grumbled on the train.

"Well, it could be worse," Kit shrugged. "We could be in there with them," he bobbed his head at the next compartment over; where the distinctive sounds of someone being violently sick could be heard.

Pierce nodded. "I feel bad for that guy," he admitted. "Just wish we could put down more money, then we wouldn't have to take so many jobs,"

"Well, you do specialise in a magic that doesn't really pay well. Maybe you should become a shaman?" Kit half-sarcastically suggested.

Pierce frowned, imagining himself in a large, wide robe, with a creepy-looking staff that had a skull on the end and a ball between the skull's jaws, instead of his normal get-up with a blue shirt that bore the Phoenix'a Eye crest, brown pants and sandals, with a black backpack. "Naah, can't see it,"

"I still think you could dress a little more impressively. People might take you a bit more seriously then," the yokai pointed out.

"Like what? An ugly scarf and a vest that leaves my chest bare? Naah, I may not look great, but it's comfortable," Pierce retorted.

"Whatever. Where are we going, anyway?" Kit asked.

Pierce fished the flyer out of his bag. "There's a cerberus making trouble in a forest near a small village at night. It's being a menace to the locals, so it needs to be given a new home,"

"Ooh, you think we might be able to tame it?" Kit eagerly asked.

"Maybe," Pierce shrugged. "And what do you mean, we? I'm the one who does all the work when I tame new beasts,"

"I provide verbal support," Kit claimed.

"More like verbal abuse," Pierce rolled his eyes.

A knocking on their compartment door interrupted them. "Come in," Pierce waved, not that the person on the other side of the door could see it - unless they had x-ray vision. Actually, could a person have x-ray vision? It was worth looking into - and the door opened, revealing a blonde girl in a blue outfit. "Excuse me, sorry to interrupt, but do you have any barf bags we can borrow?"

Pierce was briefly stunned, seeing the beautiful lady.

Kit registered his expression and snorted. "Sorry, nope. And even if we did, I think I'd need them more,"

The girl looked over in surprise and her eyes widened. "Hey, is that a Celestial Spirit? she asked Pierce in excitement.

"'That' can talk, thank you very much," Kit snorted from his seat.

"Uh - no, he's a yokai. And no, no barf bags," Pierce answered, regaining his composure.

"Oh. Okay. So, not to be rude, but what's a yokai?" she asked, before pausing. "Oh, um, I'm Lucy," the wizard introduced herself.

"Pierce," he replied, before spotting the guild mark on her hand. "Hey, you're in Fairy Tail? Cool. I'm with Phoenix's Eye," he admitted, showing her his own mark. "And a yokai is a kind of animal or monster spirit, who usually hassles humans for their own enjoyment. As a Beast Tamer wizard, I can befriend monsters, including yokais like Kit, and then summon them to help me in battle,"

"Oh, so it's kind of like Celestial magic. Neat," Lucy smiled, before a retching noise interrupted them. "Sorry, I really should go help my friend. Nice talking to you!"

"You too," Pierce sheepishly waved as she left.

Kit chuckled as soon as the door closed. "What, are you in love now?"

"Shut up. And no, I'm not. Besides, you know how Celestial Spirits and yokais feel about one another," Pierce sighed.

"Don't remind me. I could feel the animosity from her keys," the fox snorted.

"Yeah. I'll definitely never forget my run-in with that Karen person a few years back," Pierce shrugged. "But anyway,"

~P's E~

"So, how exactly do you plan to find this cerberus?" Kit asked. The two were traipsing through the forest outside Damonion Town, the village being terrorised by the cerberus they had been hired to take care of.

"Well, I'm honestly not certain about the situation. The mayor seemed awfully ungrateful. We should have threatened to let them stew," Kit cruelly grinned.

"Hey, you know how it is. As a Beast Tamer, I'm more empathetic to wild animals than most. Odds are that anyone else who could have taken this job would just kill the beast without even trying to get rid of it any other way," the blond shook his head.

"Niceness won't pay the bills, y'now," Kit warned. "But you didn't answer my question?"

"Oh, that," Pierce requipped his flute and pressed it to his lips. He played a quick tune on his flute, causing the yokai to transform into a streak of energy that was rapidly sucked back into the flute Pierce carried. He then played a soft, crooning melody, and the end of the instrument began to flash, before expelling another translucent shape. This one was somewhat humanoid, but hunched over, and mainly lupine, with only vague resemblance to a human, covered in brown fur with a spiky black mane running down his back, with a short tail and long, vicious claws on hands and feet. Notably, the werewolf was a lot more solid than Kit's ethereal form.

"Morning, Knox," Pierce greeted the werewolf.

Knox sniffed the air, looking up into the forested canopy. "It's daytime," he growled. "You know I prefer to be around at night,"

"Well, sorry to wake you. But I do need your help," Pierce shrugged. "There's a wild cerberus somewhere in these woods, and the mayor of a nearby town has asked for a wizard to take care of it. I'd rather that be us, instead of some trigger-happy game hunter,"

Knox nodded, considering this. "Alright, fine," he growled, getting down on all fours and sniffing at the ground. "I guess I do owe you,"

"You paid that debt a long time ago," Pierce shook his head.

"It's a life-debt. Those aren't the kinds of debts you can pay," Knox responded, still sniffing. "I think I've got something," He offered his broad back. "Want a lift?"

The Beast Tamer carefully mounted the werewolf's shoulders. "You good?" Knox asked.

"Yep," his passenger agreed.

And with that, the monster shot off, rushing through the forest in search of his quarry, twisting and looping in his path as he followed the scent and Pierce holding on for dear life as he did.

"We're almost here," Knox reported, seconds before arriving in a clearing.

A clearing that contained a very big three-headed dog. All three heads growled, each's eyes focused on the intruder. "Time for you to make a departure, Knox," Pierce commanded, and the werewolf nodded. The wizard played a quick, three-note tune on his flute and the wolf vanished.

But, since Pierce had carelessly neglected to get down first, he immediately collapsed, falling to the ground in a heap. The monster at the other end of the clearing made a rumbling noise that sounded suspiciously like it was laughing at him as he picked himself up, still holding his flute, and played another, longer tune. Kit immediately emerged, the ghostly white fox landing expertly as he flew out of the flute. "Yikes, that is a big dog," he immediately gulped.

"And you are a small fox. Quit whining," Pierce cast him an unimpressed look; before turning his attention to the monster who looked like it was considering how best to eat him. "Excuse me; sorry to bother you, but the townspeople that you've been harassing sent -"

"Terrorising," the middle head growled.

Pierce paused. "Sorry, what?"

"Harrassing is an insult by understatement," the left head snorted. "We've been terrorising them," the right one reiterated.

"Right, terrorising. Well, they sent me to get you to stop. So, eh, could you do that?" Pierce suggested.

The three heads of the dog looked at each other. As one, they all burst out laughing. Eventually, the middle one recovered enough to smirk; "And what are you going to do if we say no?"

Pierce looked at Kit. "Well, you heard me. I asked nicely," he smiled. "I guess I'm gonna have to do this the hard way," He raised his flute.

"What are you gonna do?" the right head asked. "Sing us to death?" the left agreed.

Pierce began to play. The tune produced was soothing, a crooning, lyrical noise that shook everyone who heard it to the core, and to the cerberus, it was an irresistible lullaby. It rose and slowly walked forwards, entranced.

"That's it! No monster can resist the magic flute!" Kit grinned.

But then, the right head shook itself, regaining its senses. It knocked into the middle one, who came to, and then awoke the left one in a similar manner. "What trickery is this? You shall pay for this insult with your life!" it roared, all three heads in unison.

"Shit," Pierce gulped, and stopped playing the lullaby. With a quick tune, Kit was returned to the flute, and the wizard dodged a mighty swipe from the monster. In an instant, he played another tune, and a blazing orange portal opened at the flute's end. The tune was fiery, fast-paced and unrelenting, and naturally the monster he summoned was the same. A massive blast of flame rocketed out of the hole, soaring into the sky and revealing a shape amid it. The Cerberus reared back in shock, looking up in horror. "What kind of wizard are you?" it demanded.

"I'm a Phoenix's Eye wizard. As for why I chose that guild in particular to be part of," Pierce grinned, as his oldest friend, beating her wings, descended to hover above him. "It seemed appropriate,"

"And I'm glad. I like our guild," the phoenix above him declared. "Is this dog causing a problem for you, Pierce?" she asked.

"It's more of an inconvenience," the Tamer wizard shrugged. "Raya, do your worst,"

"With pleasure," Raya smiled coolly, before inhaling.

"This is bad," one of the cerberus' heads gulped.

"Go, Solar Blast!" Pierce commanded, and the phoenix obeyed, unleashing a torrent of flame from her beak. When the fire cleared, the grass underfoot had been scorched, and the cerberus' black fur looked heavily charred as it collapsed to the ground.

Raya landed, looking down at the human wizard. "Well, that was boring," she huffed. "I'm going home. See you, Pierce," she declared, vanishing and returning to the flute.

With a quick melody, Kit reappeared. "Wow, Raya really gets the job done," he nodded, looking at the unconscious monster.

"You can say that again," Pierce nodded. "Do you think we should bother taming him?" he asked, gesturing to the cerberus.

"Well, do we have much choice?" Kit replied. "You know that the mayor won't pay us unless we can prove you took care of the monster,"

"You're right," the Beast Tamer nodded, raising his flute once again and starting up the lullaby once more. As if by its own volition, the cerberus' body began to drag itself towards him. A portal opened at the end of the flute, and the monster began to push itself into it, eventually being swallowed up and compacted into the flute. "I still think that's creepy," Kit observed.

"Oh, shut up," Pierce snorted, before immediately beginning to play again. Kit vanished back into the flute, and Knox emerged once more. "Lemme guess, you want a lift back to town?" the werewolf asked.

"If you wouldn't mind," Pierce nodded.

"Get on," Knox agreed with a shrug.

~P's E~

"So, you took care of the monster?" the mayor asked.

"Yep," Pierce nodded.

"Can you prove it?" he skeptically queried.

In response, the Tamer moved to the doorway, before playing a ditty on his flute. All of a sudden, fifteen tons of unconscious dog were crammed into the man's office.

"Ah, yes - very well done, very well done," the mayor nodded, his voice muffled by the fact that he was talking into a monster's rear end. "Now, if you'd mind getting rid of it once more, I'll be happy to pay you,"

~P's E~

By the time Pierce returned to the guild hall, after the admittedly short job - it took more time to ride the train there and back than to actually complete the job - it was twilight and the guild was closing up for the night.

"How was the job?" asked the bartender, a kindly brown-haired woman in the guild's employ. She wore a loose blue dress, and smiled with a polite wave.

"All fine, Sarah," Pierce nodded.

"It was boring, really," Kit shrugged.

"Well, not all jobs involve saving the world, but they're all important to someone," Sarah pointed out.

"I know," Pierce nodded.

"Headed home?" Sarah questioned.

"Yeah, I think so," the blond nodded. "Just wanted to stop by on my way home, make sure everything was alright,"

"Well; nothing seems to be a problem at present," Sarah shrugged. "So, tomorrow?"

"See ya then," Pierce agreed. "Come on, Kit," he commanded, turning to leave.

"You don't tell me what to do," Kit retorted, perching on a table and obstinately refusing to move.

"Fine, spend the night here. Enjoy it!" Pierce jokingly called as he left. Sarah followed, leaving the door slightly ajar.

Kit's resolve lasted for all of five seconds. "Wait for me!" he wailed, chasing after his wizard.

~P's E~

"It'll be nice to be home. We've been out for a few days, so hopefully there isn't too much dust on everything," Pierce commented as he walked down the street towards his house, which ran alongside the river.

"Yeah, agreed. Of course, you just had to take that extra, quick job straight after getting back from one that lasted a week," Kit rolled his eyes as he trotted near Pierce's heels.

"It looked urgent. You know I always take jobs dealing with wild monsters as quickly as possible," Pierce shook his head.

"Whatever," Kit rolled his eyes, but paused. "Hey, isn't that the girl from the train?"

"What are you -" Pierce looked down the street, and blinked. "It is her. Hey!" He immediately ran off, dashing towards her.

"Oh, hey, you're that guy I met on the way to Duke Everlue's. Pierce, right?" Lucy blinked in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Going home," Pierce replied. He looked down and saw a tiny being that resembled a snowman, complete with carrot nose, standing near Lucy's legs.

"Oi, don't run off like that!" Kit protested, desperately trying to catch up. He froze, seeing the snowman, before crouching down and growling.

The being panicked, frantically trying to hide behind Lucy's legs. "Oh, uh, I don't think your fox likes Plue," she blinked, scooping up the being.

"He's a Celestial Spirit, isn't he?" Pierce sighed, retreating to stand with Kit. "Celestials and yokais really don't get along," he shrugged.

"Really? Huh. Well, I guess we'll just have to be careful around one another," Lucy shrugged. "Well, my house is just here, so, see you when I see you?"

"You too, Lucy," the Beast Tamer nodded, before pausing. "Wait, your house is here? That can't be right, because my house is just . ." He gulped, and both wizards realised the same thing at the same time.

"We live next door to each other?" Lucy blinked. "I did not see that coming,"

Pierce blinked, processing this. "My new neighbour is a Celestial Wizard," he said, feeling the words out in his mouth.

"No she isn't!" Kit shouted. "Because we're finding a new house!"

~P's E~

It's time for Doctor Kit's Documentaries on Phoenix's Eye!

"Welcome, everyone, to DK's Ds," Kit grinned. "Today, I'll be talking to you all about my best friend, Pierce!"

"Pierce is a Beast Tamer wizard. He uses a magic flute to charm monsters into obeying his every command. He also has the ability to tame creatures; by playing a special tune he can suck them into his flute. There's a sort of magic pocket world in there, where the tamed monsters can do whatever they want without fear of being hunted by humans. It's a very appealing option to many beasts who would otherwise be hunted down and killed, just for being monsters. Then, when Pierce needs help, he can summon the monsters inside his flute to help out, empowering them with his own magical energy in the process. I guess, objectively, it's kind of similar to Celestial magic, but if you think about it, it's pretty different too. For one thing, there's no ugly keys involved,"

Kit spiked to a different blackboard that showed a diagram of Requip Magic. "Pierce is also capable of basic Requip magic, though I've only ever seen him use this as convenient place to put his flute, which means he never has to worry about it getting lost or stolen, and it's always quick to hand. No messing around pulling it out of pockets,"

The yokai paused as the fax machine next to him rattled into life. "Huh? It appears that we have a question that 'needs to be answered before people ask it', so, apparently shortly after coming up with this kind of magic, the author realised that it's very similar to something called 'Pokemon'. I'm not really sure what that is, but I have to say that these similarities were not planned and are entirely coincidental. Alright then. Catch ya later!"

A/N

A/N

Fenghuang0296 here, with the latest and greatest Fairy Tail AU! Now that the story's on a temporary hiatus, I'm taking the time to come back to the earliest chapters and fix them up a bit. I've noticed a trend; less than one quarter of the people who look at this first chapter go on to read the second. If anyone can explain why that is (ideally someone other than Doom Marine 54, thanks), I'd appreciate it. But in the mean time, I'm making these first few chapters the best they can be.

I hope everyone reading this can stick it out. Peace!