Fairy Tail: Metal and Threads

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Caelum, Mist Rebellion Base.

November, x788.

"Lady Terumi, Ao's vessel has been spotted." A Jōnin loyal to the Rebellion said after entering the office of the leader of the Mist Rebellion, Mei Terumi. "From what the scouts can tell, he should be docking in the next twenty minutes."

Hearing her subordinate's report, Mei, a fair skinned woman standing at 5'8" with a slim, yet curvaceous figure, green eyes, and ankle-length auburn hair styled into a herringbone pattern in the back, a topknot tied with a blue ribbon, and bangs that cover her forehead, right eye, and frame her face, hanging down to her chest and crossing just under her chin, looked up and locked eyes with the shinobi.

Mei wore a strapless royal blue dress that hung down to her calves with a slit that revealed her right leg, a cream-colored belt with a white buckle, mesh armor that covered her legs, and silver, open-toed boots. She also wore pink lipstick that made her lips look quite glossy as well as blue nail polish on her fingers and toes.

"Good." Mei replied in a solemn tone. "Although there have been more than a few skirmishes, the real fighting will begin any day now. And is there any word on who he managed to invite from Fiore's guilds?"

"Unfortunately, no." The Jōnin replied while lowering his head. "The best sensors in our scouting team were unable to detect anyone other than those who set sail with him."

"*Sigh* Although I expected as much, that's still quite disappointing." Mei said as she leaned back in her seat, raising her head in thought. A moment later, Mei lowered her head once again, picked up a document on her desk, and started to read as she continued. "I understand. You are dismissed."

After bowing politely, the shinobi turned around and left the office quietly. Then, just as he closed the door, the sound of a sigh echoed around the office.

"Either way, I've made all the preparations I can." Mei uttered to herself without raising her head from the document she was reading. "I can only hope my preparations are enough."

After her utterance, Mei fell into silence as she continued to review and approve or decline proposals from her forces. And like that, time passed quickly. Then, an hour or so later, Mei's attention was pulled away from the documents once again.

*Knock!* *Knock!* *Knock!*

"Come in." Mei replied without looking up.

Shortly afterwards, the door to Mei's office was opened, revealing the Jōnin from before.

"Lady Terumi, Ao has returned and requests an audience." The Jōnin said politely.

"Send him in." Mei replied, still not looking up from the document in the hands.

"Understood." The Jōnin replied before turning around to inform Ao that he could enter.

Meanwhile, Mei, after she finished reading the document, put it down and raised her arms over her head to stretch her back, emphasizing her curves in the process. A moment after she was comfortable, Ao entered the office.

Despite seeing Ao, her right hand man, Mei narrowed her eyes. Although none of her senses could pick up anything amiss, her instincts honed over the last two plus decades as a shinobi let her know that something was off.

"Lady Terumi." Ao said while bowing politely. "I have returned."

"Yes, welcome back." Mei said with her eyes still narrowed. "How did your search for aid go?"

"Better than expected." Ao replied as he straightened up. "I've managed to acquire quite the considerable forces. Three S-Class wizards from Fiore's strongest guild."

Hearing that, although it was not visible thanks to her hair, Mei raised an eyebrow.

"Are you speaking only to comfort me, Ao?" Mei asked, her eyes narrowing even further. "Or were you perhaps put under a [Genjutsu] by Yagura's forces? No, that shouldn't be possible with that eye you picked up."

The more she spoke, the quieter Mei got as she continued to throw around conjectures. She had heard from the scouting team that Ao had not returned with anyone, after all.

Ao, on the other hand, knew exactly what Mei was thinking. So, he put on an uncharacteristic smile as he tried to put her doubts to rest.

"Please, be at ease, Lady Terumi." Ao said. "Allow me to explain so that you don't jump to conclusions unbefitting your station and experience. In fact, the wizards who accepted the quest are..."

Although Ao continued to speak, Mei started tuning him out.

'My experience? He's talking about my age, right?' Mei thought to herself. 'He's saying I'm getting old, isn't he? Too old to get married. Does Ao think I'm too old to get married? Is he calling me a spinster?'

After talking for a while, Ao realized that Mei had not been listening to him for a while. In fact, she had missed nearly the entire explanation, as well as the names of the wizards who have come to help.

"Um... Lady Terumi?" Ao asked in a concerned tone. "Is everything alright?"

"Ao, do you want me to melt you?" Mei asked in a cold tone.

Naturally, Ao was completely caught off guard by this question. However, he did understand that something he said had completely infuriated Mei.

"I'm sorry, Lady Terumi, if I've done anything to anger you, please forgive me." Ao said while hurriedly bowing his head.

Meanwhile, Alfonzo, Laxus, Marin, and Shizuka, having slipped into the office as Ao entered, watched the whole encounter. While Laxus, Marin, and Shizuka were confused as to why Mei seemed so hostile to Ao, seemingly from out of nowhere, Alfonzo, understanding Mei's personality from his meta-knowledge, was doing his best to hold back his laughter.

At the same time, Mei was doing what she could to calm herself down. Although she was angry because she jumped to the wrong conclusion and had no intention of finding out what Ao actually meant, he was her most loyal and capable subordinate. So, killing him in a fit of rage would be a bad idea no matter how she looked at it.

"Ao, give your report again from the beginning." Mei said in a no nonsense tone.

"Yes, Lady Terumi." Ao replied as he once again bowed his head politely while resisting the urge to wipe away the cold sweat on his forehead. "Like I was saying, the wizards who accepted the quest are actually already in this very room. They are just concealing themselves at my request. I did not want Yagura to know of the forces we were able to gain aid from."

Hearing that, Mei's eye narrowed further still as she scanned the room carefully.

Now, she knew why she felt as though something was off when Ao entered the room. Because he was not alone.

"If you wouldn't mind, please reveal yourselves." Ao said, not wanting Mei to use either of her Kekkei Genkai if she felt threatened.

In the next instant, four unfamiliar figures appeared behind Ao. Although they were unfamiliar, that was only because Mei had never seen them in person before. However, she knew their faces thanks to their entries in the Bingo Book, a list of the most dangerous people on the continent.

In fact, in this world, there are actually two versions of the Bingo Book. And both are created by shinobi. One is strictly for the wizards classified as shinobi. And the other is for all wizards across Ishgar.

That way, if the shinobi accepted a mission, they would know what to expect if the target of said mission had the possibility of being protected by one of those powerful wizards.

"Oh, I was actually looking forward to seeing how she was going to melt you, Ao." Alfonzo said with a smile.

"Yeah, that's a pretty specific threat." Laxus added with a smirk of his own. "Why don't you let us see how your boss would do that. That way, we'll have a better idea of what our allies on this quest are working with."

While Ao was showing clear signs of annoyance at the flippant attitudes of Alfonzo and Laxus while they were in front of his leader, Mei looked at the four Fairy Tail wizards with interest.

'So, Alfonzo Marcus and Laxus Dreyar, huh?' Mei asked herself while examining the two tall men in front of her. 'And that one is Marin Kitagawa. She would be good for any tasks requiring subterfuge. But I don't' know the last one.'

Despite her thoughts, Mei's expression turned warm and inviting with a hint of seduction.

"Wizards from Fairy Tail, I'd like to thank you for accepting our request." Mei said as she stepped from behind her desk and circled towards her guests. "I'm Mei Terumi, the leader of this operation to liberate the Village Hidden in the Mist from Yagura Karatachi's despotic rule."

By the time her words ended, she was standing in front of the four Fairy Tail wizards with her hand extended in front of Alfonzo, as from the intel she had collected about the most prominent wizards on the continent, she knew that he was the strongest wizard present. So, she predicted that he was the leader of this team.

"It's nice to meet you, Miss Terumi." Alfonzo replied as he extended his own hand to shake Mei's. "We've heard about the plight you're facing. We've also heard about the barbaric practices the Mizukage has been implementing. To think he would make children fight to the death just to prove that they are ready to be called shinobi."

"Seriously, he's destroying, like, half of the village's potential with that." Marin added. "it's disgusting. Does he even care about his village."

"Huh?" Shizuka, who had not really read the briefing, exclaimed in confusion when she heard what Marin said. "That's not very nice. You should fire him."

Hearing Shizuka's words, Mei and Ao were taken aback. Never in their wildest dreams did they expect to hear something so naïve from someone who came to assist them during a rebellion.

"Don't mind her." Alfonzo said as he reached over and started combing his fingers through Shizuka's hair. He then continued when Shizuka leaned into the gesture and, all but, started purring. "She's here to assist your medics during the time to come. She's never been in a combat situation or had to deal with the ugly side of the world."

"Except that one time." Marin replied. "I mean, living through a zombie apocalypse is kind of a big deal."

"Yeah, I guess there was that." Alfonzo replied with a nod.

"Eww! Don't make me remember that." Shizuka said while pinching her nose. "Those zombies were so stinky."

"But you'd never be able to tell." Alfonzo continued while smiling warmly at Shizuka.

"*Sigh* I'm really glad you took that emergency mission, Alfonzo." Laxus said in a grateful tone. "Otherwise, I would have never met Saya. And I would have continued to ignore Chico's feelings, too."

"Yeah, you probably would have." Alfonzo replied. "Anyway, that's' enough strolling down memory lane. We're here to do a job. So, Miss Terumi, why don't you tell us what we're looking at here?"

Nodding in response, Mei went on to explain the numbers on both sides of the conflict. Then, she explained that all she needed from the three, Alfonzo, Laxus, and Marin, was to fight and defeat the opposing shinobi without killing as much as possible. Meanwhile, Shizuka would be protected while she tended to the wounded in the main camp. Mei, on the other hand, would be responsible for dealing with Yagura.

"Oh, and if possible, we would like you to restrain all the shinobi that you can, as well." Mei said as she took a seat at her desk and linked her fingers under her chin with her elbows resting on the desktop. "I'd rather not leave them to return to yagura's side where they could be healed up as well."

"I expected as much." Alfonzo replied with a nod. "Don't worry, Laxus and I can be anywhere on the battlefield in seconds. So, as long as an enemy gets put down, we can swoop in to pick them up before dropping them in a prison or whatever."

"I just hope there's someone here that can give me a good fight." Laxus said. "But since Fairy Tail wizards don't fail quests, I'll follow your arrangements."

"Good." Mei said with a smile. "Then, I'm sure you must be fatigued after your journey from the mainland. Ao, please show them to where they can rest."

"Yes, Lady Terumi." Ao replied while bowing politely.

"Oh, and please keep yourselves concealed." Mei continued, referring to the Fairy Tail wizards. "It would give us a much bigger advantage if our enemies don't know about your presences until it's too late."

"Understood." Alfonzo said with a nod.

Then, Ao and the Fairy Tail wizards left the office, with Alfonzo putting himself, Laxus, Marin, and Shizuka back under invisibility, leaving Mei in her office alone.

"*Sigh* Finally…" Mei said as she leaned back in her chair and looked up at the ceiling. "Yagura Karatachi, your reign of terror will come to an end."

Reaching that point, Mei turned to a set of [Sealing Tags] that were stacked on the corner of her desk.

"And with these, the fact that you are a Jinchuriki will lose half its meaning." Mei said as she sat up straight again and started reading through the documents on her desk once again.