18 years that never were

Simon just stood in the guild hall staring at it. 18 years ago everyone vanished. His shoulder length white-from-stress hair hung low as he strolled about the place he had once called home. 18 years ago, the majority of the worlds mages were called on an unknown crusade to stop a great evil. 17 years, 11 months and 2 weeks ago, the world got news that they had triumphed, but a large amount had vanished in the battle. Over half the disappearances were from Fairy Tail. The other guilds sent their condolences but it mattered little, Fairy Tail had lost all of it's best mages, the only ones who had remained were the ones who weren't strong enough, old enough or determined enough to fight for Fiore. So only the weakest, youngest and weakest of will remained. 17 years, 8 months and 1 week ago Fairy Tail disbanded. Those who remained simply weren't cut of the right cloth to run a guild.

At the time Simon had done his best to help out, he ran missions perpetually and encouraged others to do the same, but ultimately it amounted to little. The guild collapsed and everyone went their separate ways. Except Simon. Simon remained at the guild hall, he cashed in every favor Fairy Tail had ever done, sucked dry every jewel in the old guild fund and worked every hour of the day just to keep the ground the Guild Hall sat on. Life was hard, and it hardened him, the flow of time was cruel, it made him cruel, he was met with a terrible fate, and it made him terrible, he faced such hardships you would think that God was mad at him, it made him go mad.

Ghosts and memories danced about the patch work that was the Guild Hall, the faces of his friends and comrades haunted Simon as he paced about the dust coated floor. 10 years ago, a massive storm hit and leveled the hall. Simon fixed it to the best of his ability, tried to save the memories.... Looking about he could tell the place was on it's last legs, it was held together by thread and nails at this point. Simon fell to his knees sobbing and laughing, 18 years of constant battle, 18 years of strife and labor and it would all end here. End for nothing, the Guild would no longer be able to stand and Simon wouldn't be able to afford to repair it. This was it's final chapter.

Simon looked in a cracked mirror leaning on a wall, he saw himself. Not the 11 year old, not the purple tinted hair, not the energetic smile, not the desire to be the next great mage. He saw a 29 year old mad man, who had wasted his life clinging onto a futile dream, he saw hair stained white with stress, he saw a man who had given and eye and an arm for his memories, he saw blood stained clothes that he couldn't afford to wash or replace, he saw a man who reached the pinnacle of magical power just to stay alive, he saw a man who just wanted peace.

Bringing himself to his feet Simon paced over to a wall covered in news papers. Some old talking about the days of glory that Simon had known as a child, before the vanishing. Some a little less old talking about the vanishing itself, some more recent detailing highlights of Simon's strife to remain afloat. If you looked a little farther back you could find ones going on and on about the disbanding of Fairy Tail. But one article that caught Simon's eye was one released by the Magic Council "X-Mage of Fairy Tail Simon Baggons steps down from Wizard Saint Position" it was several pages on how Simon had given up the spot he had given up his seat as a Wizard Saint because he deemed himself in a poor state of mind to hold such a position. Truth was, he was stripped of the position because the Council had deemed him insane. It didn't really bother him at the time, he had only been given the spot so that the Magic Council could look good and look like they were honoring Fairy Tail. It made him sick, but at his core all he was was sad.

Times have changed, have they changed you? Has time swept you away to this desolate world? Is there any future for this future?

OOC: In this you can be a much older version of your current character, or your current character sent into the future from the "great crusade". For people who are from the past sent to this future, they will wake up just outside Magnolia Town, no recollection of what happened after leaving Magnolia for the battle.

Lance woke up in his house and grabbed his wooden staff. It has been 18 years since everyone in his guild vanished, he looked in his mirror and saw a 34 year an with one eye red and one eye golden, the man had white streaks in his hair from being driven mad by the darkness inside of him it surprised him how he still saw the light in the world. The man was one of survivors from the people who fought in the "Great Crusade" for all he knew all of his family and friends had died and he was the only one left. He shook his head and sighed, he had lost everything that was important to him after he betrayed all of his friends in the "Great Crusade".

He sighed and decided to check out what was left of the guild hall that was disbanded 17 years ago when he was 16. He hadn't seen any mages or any of his guild members since the "Great Crusade".
When he got to the hall he saw what was left of it and fell to his knees crying. "Why.... Why did it have to end up like this! WHY!!" Lance shouted as he punched the ground. "I'm sorry everyone.."

He got up and walked in to see the inside. There were cobwebs everywhere and it looked old and broken. He looked around and saw a man looking into a cracked mirror. He stared in disbelief at the person, the man was his former team mate "S...Simon?!"

The years were just as cruel to Rei the eternal supporter found himself so unbearably alone as one by one his comrades fell before eyes. The people he had sworn to protect unto his dying breath were nothing more than fuel for the fires of his rage and grief. At first he tried to help Fairy Tail rebuild when the storm hit, but then he came to the realization that no matter how many times he tries to rebuild something it will just be lost once again.

So, he left the guild removing the sigil from his hand and for a time he just traveled the world learning all there was to learn. He passed several guilds both light and dark yet he remained neutral until he discovered that the current Wizard Saint and his former comrade had stepped down, which led him to believe that the system had become corrupt and if one part was rotten then there was no saving the rest. So, he devised a plan to wrest control from the remaining Wizard Saints and establish a new world order. With the promise of happiness and prosperity on one hand and the harshest of punishments on the other for those who did not fall in line. And as luck would have it there were people who shared his ideals and would gladly follow him, they were tools to him ones that needed to be honed to sharpness there was no room in his ranks for weak links. Storming the Capital was the easy part, he had planted a few of his subordinates inside the walls at first they were there as spies, but their main objective was to make sure nothing could leave and to his delight they had done so in the alotted time.

Simon turned on his heels to face Lance, not even using his highspeed magic, he flashed stepped across the distance between them "Who the hell are you, and what the hell do you want?" Simon examined him over several times, he was familiar enough, but he didn't really recognize him. It had been a long time since he had really looked at someone, much less talked to anyone. His own voice surprised him, but he payed it no heed, it was rough, horse and dark none of these things Simon cared about. What he did care about was this poser, walking into HIS guildhall like he owned the place. After a second a thought occurred to him "and how the hell do you know me?!"

Lance was shocked at how Simon had changed. He sighed and shook his head. "Maybe this will help you remember me." Lance held up his right hand showing Simon his faded Fairy Tail tattoo "My name is Lance Knighthunter we used to be on the same team." He unsheathed his claws to try to spark Simons memory "You remember me now?" He said as he put his claws back in.

Simon blinked, then blinked again, and again. "I remember you. Get out." With one single movement "FALCON HEAVENWARD!" Simon shot his left leg at Lance's throat "You don't deserve to stand in this hall or wear that mark no matter how faded! You bastard!" One does not simply walk out on Fairy Tail and then come strolling back in like they own the place. This was one rule Simon endorsed rather strictly. Also Lance's 'past actions' didn't put him very high on the list of people Simon likes.

Lance let the foot hit him and he winced at how hard the kick was "Beat me up all you want... I deserve it.... I attacked my own guild... my family... my friends...everyone.... so many people I had killed at that moment.... I lost everything.... I understand if you don't want me here, I just want you to know that I'm sorry about what I did in the past..." Lance stared at Simon waiting for the next strike to hit him.

Simon struck Lance with one blow after another "where were you when the storm hit Lance? Where were you when I lost my arm? Where were you when I lost my innocence? Where were you when Fairy Tail needed you? Where were when...." In a moment of fury, he round house kicked Lance in the gut "I LOST MY MIND!?!?!" Simon was furious, despite all his anger, for some reason he could bring himself to strike with his full force. He tried to get angry and more enraged, and it was working but the thought of wreaking his memories more then they already were still held him back.

The first assault went according to plan, but they were just a diversion for the second wave of dark mages and summoners who were waiting in the shadows for an opportunity to strike. By the third wave had emptied the entire fortress of all of its reinforcements, giving Rei the opportunity to enter unhindered when he did come across what was left of the guards he dispatched them with Aries using her to immobilize them, then he simply stepped over them and proceeded to the topmost floor.

Lance got hit again and again when he got a chance to speak he did "I wasn't here back then because I was to afraid of what people would think of me, I mean I tried to kill everyone in the guild everyone who was in the war, so I have a couple question for you.." He said as he blocked the round house "where were you when I was going insane? Where were you in the Great Crusade? Where were you when..." he looked up and glared at Simon with tears running down his face "WHEN I NEEDED YOU?!" He said as he dropped to his knees and cried the most that he had cried in a long time "where were you.... where......"

And so it went step by step the more they stood in his way the easier it became to knock them down until finally he reached the top and there they were all of them cowering in their seats as their guards were assaulted by several members of his faction. He allowed himself a rare smile as he stared at all of them and he remembered most of their names, but at that moment they were nothing more than targets ones he felt needed their just desserts.

Of course now he was in for a tough fight that is if he didn’t already have insurance which came in the form of subordinates on the council itself he also had Aries to make short work of them. After the fighting had died down he looked down at their immobilized and battered bodies with a disgusted look on his face. At that moment he had two options: Imprison them or Dispose of them quickly, Rei chose the latter allowing his men to take care of them while he recalled his celestial and took a seat at the head of the table.

Simon stopped kick Lance as the man fell to his knees "Lance, I couldn't go to the Great Crusade, remember? Master Ebony said I was too young, said I had too much to live for. As for where was I when you were spiraling out of control? I was working sleepless nights to uphold the good name of Fairy Tail." He crouched down in front of Lance "As for where I was when you needed me, I was slowly dieing, pouring my life into the preservation of this guild hall. Maintaining this place has become my life. Now that ancient history has been hashed out, what are you going to do now? Not even I can stay here any longer, one strong wind and this will all come down. To be honest I don't really care what you did in the past, but this is something I need to know."

Lance wiped his face and stood up "I don't know what I'm going to do... I may go back to hiding in the shadows." Lance smirked and shook his head "how did the future end up like this? I mean this place is on its last leg and I haven't seen any other guild members around except you. Its still kind of sad... I don't really have any friends because I tried to kill them and my family...." He laughed trying to lighten the mood. He though again about how the guild was on its last leg "Hey Simon... how much do you think it will cost to rebuild this guild."