Opening the large door of the guildhall, Ciel entered. 

 

"Huh...To think that I missed this so much." Against the ground floor that's more like a bar than a guild, he felt nostalgia a smile crept up his face as he walked into the sights of many of his guildmates.

Fairy tail was as rowdy as always. People were talking shouting among themselves. Without making much attention he walked towards the counter.

 

Maybe it was because of his previous mission, he was much adept at blending in the crowd with ease, not many noticed a relatively small figure entering the hall.

 

Approaching the counter, he sat on the chair. Mira was cleaning some dishes when she noticed someone had come to the counter.

"Hey there, what wo..." As she asked the person her eyes widened seeing the guest had taken his hood off.

 

"A usual for me, please." He said smiling brightly.

 

"C..Ciel..?" She cried out loud in surprise.

 

"Hello there, Mira...long time no see.!" Ciel replied nonchalantly.

 

"Ciel..?"

 

"Did she just say, Ciel..!!"

 

"Ciel's back..?"

 

"Hey everyone.." He called out turning his seat.

 

"CIEL...!"

 

"YOU'RE BACK.." The guild bust into cheers

---

 

After a while, the whole commotion had died down. Everyone was storming him with questions. So he was tired from all of that.

"Sigh...I needed that one. For sure." Ciel slumped onto the bar counter sighing.

 

"I can't believe, you were out for an entire year. Why didn't you contact us..?" Mira was a little angry.

 

"I said sorry okay... Besides I was frequently contacting gramps. I wasn't in much of a luxury to contact you all at the time."

 

"Still...and a few weeks ago a messenger from Cait shelter came to inform us that you got into a fight and was hospitalized there."

 

"Hey...I wasn't hospitalized or anything. Just some injuries here and there." He replied biting into the sandwich Mira had made.

 

"So gramps didn't tell them everything...that's good. I guess."

 

"We were so worried. And why didn't you return right away? You were supposed to be here last week right..?" Cana asked him. She had a barrel of booze beside her.

 

"Your drinking got worse huh...Yeah, I was, but something came up." 

Finishing the sandwich he began drinking some juice and turned to Mira again.

 

"By the way...where is gramps anyway..?"

 

"Ohh..he didn't tell you..? Master went to attend the conference."

 

"Conference..huh..yeah he did tell me, they would be having a meeting to discuss the things that I had found." Closing his eyes he thought.

 

"Yoo...Ciel. I heard you were back" Opening his eyes, he saw Macao walking up to him.

 

"Ha..Oh.Macao.Man, I didn't even recognize you there for a second. You've gotten old." He said jokingly.

 

"Haha..checcky brat. You haven't changed a bit huh..?" He sat down messing the boy's hair and ordered a beer.

 

"Back from a mission..?"

 

"Nah..I got back yesterday actually.." He said dejectedly.

 

"Why the long face..?"

 

"Huh..maybe I'm getting too old for this, as you said. On my last mission, I was beaten by a Mountain Vulcan."

 

"Ohh..you got taken over by them..!"

 

"Yeah...I thought I had beaten all of them. But suddenly one came falling right onto my head." He said, causing ciel to choke on his jucie.

 

"Kha..ha...when did you go to this mission actually..?" Clearing his throat, he asked the man.

 

"Oh...last week."

 

"It was totally me..!!" Ciel screamed inside.

 

"Romeo was worried about me so, Natsu and a new girl called Lucy came to rescue me."

 

"Dammit...how am I gonna tell him..? He was almost killed by me" Ciel was in deep thought.

 

"And she uses Celestial spirit magic, apparently...hey are you even listening to me..?"

 

"Ohh...what was that..? Celestial spirit magic..?" Ciel woke up from his thoughts.

 

"Yeah..she can summon a cow and some others with it...!"

 

"Ohh...By the way..where is Natsu..anyway? Now that you mansion I don't see Erza or grey either...Oh hey there Elfman." he studied the whole room and greeted Elfman.

 

"I don't know exactly, but he went with Erza and Gray somewhere. Oh and that Lucy chick's with them too." Macao replied to the boy.

 

"Erza...Gray and Natsu on the same team..!" Ciel was stunned.

 

"Yeah..don't you think they'd be a great combo..?" Mira interjected.

 

"Are you kidding me..? Those three idiots are the most destructive of all around here. That team is a ticking time bomb." He shouted out.

 

"Well, they do go overboard some times." Mira smiled helplessly.

 

"I just got back and I already smell a huge load of paperwork coming."Ciel's face was pale as a sheet.

All the people laughed seeing the boy's antics, if that's the case, indeed he was indeed going to buried in papers again.

 

"Where did they even go in the first place. What kind of job would need the three of those dolts together," he asked the waitress mage.

 

"I think it's not a formal job though," Mira said thinking a bit.

 

"Not on a job..?"

 

"Yeah...Erza said that she heard some rumors about something. So she wanted to check them out with them."

 

"Ha...checking out rumors.."

 

"Yeah...I think it's about a dark guild called Eisenwald..." Before Mira could finish the previously dejected boy jumped on to her.

 

"Where did they go.."

 

"C..Ciel..? what.."

 

"There's no time to waste. Tell me where did they go, Mira..?"

 

"I..think they took the train to Onibus station." 

 

Hearing Mira, Ciel immediately ran outside. And turned into mist flying away.

 

"What's with him all of a sudden.."

 

---

 

Three days before.

 

At the Northwestern side of Fiore, A man could be seen walking through a very dense forest. Swaying away from the shrubs and such he made his way to the exact center, where a small shrine was located.

 

"This..is the shrine where lullaby is sealed...?" The man in question was Kageyama, a member of the dark guild Eisenwald.

 

Walking to the front of the small shrine he tried to open its door. But no matter how much strength he put into it, the doors wouldn't even budge. 

"I guess that demon was right. It is sealed inside here. Let's see..." Chanting some incantations he invoked the magic.

 

*Seal release.*

 

A light wrapped the shrine, trying to break its seal. At first, it didn't seem to do anything. But after putting his whole magic power into it, the doors of the shrine opened with a loud bang.

 

"I...I did it...The lullaby..it's ours." Kageyama was in absolute glee, looking at the flute that was inside the shrine. It was a very menacing Flute with a skull on top of it that had three eyes.

 

'CLAP CLAP CLAP' Suddenly applause was heard from behind.

 

"Well done..human." Looking back, it was a familiar person.

 

"Let me help you with that.." She said walking towards the shrine.