Hello Friends! Long time, no see! I know you've all been waiting patiently, following along with the extra content scenes, and waiting for me to publish the sequel to OSD. I'm a few months behind schedule (I had been planning on posting in December), but rest assured that I am hard at work on the next installment of Macbeth and Dreamer's lives. Things have been crazy in my life, from a new job, to a difficult move, and many other tough transitions. Plus, I had a plot lined up for the sequel that I was working on, which fell apart because of overlooked plot holes, so I had to start from scratch. Listen, as an author or artist of any kind, it can be tempting to pump out low quality content as fast as you can, but that's not the kind of creator I strive to be. I want to give you fans the best that I can. You don't deserve any less than that, so even if it meant that I would be pushed back another two months, it was worth it.

To further complicate things, the sequel is set during the Key of the Starry Heavens arc. When I first watched the arc, a couple years ago, I thought it was... meh. Now, after tearing it apart, analyzing it, listening to every forced, poorly written line... There is no other arc in anime that I detest so completely. It's just... so bad. You wanna talk about plot holes?

I thought about scrapping that entire arc and developing my own adventure, but there are a couple of reasons why I didn't go in that direction. First, I always wanted to loosely follow the story line of the actual Fairy Tail universe. And yes, I know that The Key arc wasn't originally canon, but Mashima later accepted it as such. Secondly... the villains of that arc are none other than our beloved Seis! I couldn't just throw away one of the only representations of my favorite Fairy Tail characters like that (despite the fact that the characters were poorly represented in the arc). Plus, it was that very arc that gave me the entire idea of Macbeth and Gajeel's bromance.

I'm rambling. The point is, though it was a challenge, I wanted to incorporate elements of Key of the Starry Heavens in my sequel. I wanted to completely rewrite it, and make it a hundred times better than the trash it is in the anime. I think I'm going in a pretty good direction so far, but ultimately, you readers will be the judge of that.

Today, I've decided to give you a sneak peek of the sequel. A synopsis and prologue. I can't give you an approximate timeline before I start publishing the sequel. You know me, I won't start posting until I'm sure I can follow a regular schedule, so that I don't flake on you guys. So, you'll have to be a bit more patient. Hopefully, this taste will reward your patience thus far. Read it, then tell me your thoughts and theories about the sequel!

After the prologue, I'm including a development section, and a call for Q&A! Ask me whatever questions you can think of in the reviews, and I'll answer them in the next EC!

Without further ado, here you have it:

Splinters of Time: The Tenrou Team might have miraculously escaped death, but the consequences of the seven-year stasis did not leave them unscathed. For Lucy Heartfilia and Dreamer Cumula, the splinters of time cut as deep as blood. Now, the girls must make sense of a world where fathers die, lovers betray, and children vanish. Can Dreamer endure the threat of the Neo-Oracion Seis, or will the tree of time leave her buried beneath the unforgiving eyes of the ones she left behind?

X791

The desert wind was a whip of fire. The sand, a sea of embers. The dunes were molten ocean waves—and tucked between them was a building, its image distorted by the bending heat. The eastern half was a skeleton of metal beams. The scorching sun glinted on metal, and as a result, the unfinished half of the building gleamed white. Like the bones of a corpse dried by the sun.

A man stood atop a dune a few hundred yards away from the building zone. He wore the navy-blue robes of a priest, with a cape on his shoulders—white with gold trim—which signified his rank within the church. His skin was several shades darker than the sand, and upon his face were black etchings. He stood with his hands behind his back, gaze fixed on the skeletal structure ahead.

"It seems to be coming along nicely, Master Brain," a voice said from behind him. A second man ascended the dune, his boots burrowing into the sand with every step. He wore a gray shirt, and toted with him a purple coat that was too heavy to wear in the desert environment. His silver hair was spiked upright, and glinted synonymously with the dark shade of his sunglasses.

"Yes," the first man agreed. "It will not be long now."

The second man adjusted his glasses. "Aren't you afraid that all of this is a tad… presumptuous, however? We have yet to acquire a single clock piece, after all."

The man called Brain smirked. "I have no doubt that we will soon have all the pieces. Our success was guaranteed the moment my son decided to contribute to our cause."

"Ah yes," the second said. "Midnight, was it? You seem to have the utmost faith in his abilities. I certainly hope he delivers."

"He will." Brain stepped forward, angling his feet against the slope of the sand. He began his descent toward the structure. The other man followed closely behind. "Tell me, Rustyrose. How is our friend?"

Rustyrose didn't answer for a moment, as he struggled to keep pace down the hill. "He is currently in the throes of one of his episodes," he said, when the sand leveled out. He wiped sweat from his brow.

"What is it that plagues him now?" Brain marched on ahead, unfazed by the elements. "Not remorse, I hope."

"Despair," came the reply. Rustyrose switched the arm he was using to hold the oversized coat, as it trapped heat against the left side of his body. "I did confine him, just in case."

At last they reached a pathway that had been anchored to the sand. This too, was under construction.

"Good." A hot wind swept beneath his cape, and it swished in the blaze. "I am counting on you to keep him in check, Rustyrose. Remember that he is crucial to the success of our mission."

Rustyrose smirked, a glint sweeping over his glasses. "Of course. I'm the only one who can, after all."

Their boots thudded on the stone pathway now.

"If I may, Master Brain…" Rustyrose said, after a moment's silence. "Why is it we can't just seal his affliction in the same way you conceal Zero?"

Brain stared straight ahead. He released a sigh, the only indicator he was listening.

"That would at least rid of us the unpredictability," he continued.

"It isn't so simple."

The main entrance doors to the building were now only twenty feet ahead of them. Men in white robes worked diligently, moving bricks and transporting large pieces of glass through the entryway. Brain stopped here, to marvel at the building up close. "You see, Zero was created through the failure of a magical experiment. The circumstances which bred your companion's… unique situation, are quite different. Furthermore, Zero encompasses only one personality trait." He swept his hand out in front of him, then clenched a gloved hand. "Madness." He glanced to his right, where Rustyrose now stood at his side. "Your partner's condition is infinitely wider. Thus, no seal will contain it."

Rustyrose thought about this, as he shook sand from his boots. "But this… Real Nightmare… You're quite sure that will mend him?"

"Yes." Brain outstretched his arms, gesturing toward the grand structure. "I assure you, Rustyrose, by the time we have control of the Infinity Clock, we will have accomplished much more than the healing of one man. We will have forever changed the course of this world. You and your friend will be free from your bounds at last." He slowly lowered his hands. His chest inflated and deflated rapidly with heavy breaths—there was a tremble in his fingertips.

"Yes…" he repeated, quieter now. His voice was low, nearly lost to the heat rising from the ground, threatening to swallow his words. "At last, Midnight. Our dreams will come to fruition. You and I will send this world spiraling into inevitable chaos." A wicked grin spread across his features, and for an instant, his eyes seemed to flash red against the backdrop of dark sand and skin.

"Rustyrose, get the others, including your paramour. There is much for us to discuss." He was marching again, through the open doors.

Rustyrose's cheeks burned red, though from embarrassment or sunburn, it wasn't clear. "He's not my…" He took his sunglasses off while his eyes adjusted to the dark. "Never mind. What shall I tell them?"

"Tell them that the Neo Oracion Seis will now enter into Phase Two."

Hundreds of lit candles littered the stone floor. Their flames danced eerily in sync with the cold drafts blowing through the castle.

Fire. Such a curious thing. Though the flames dance, twist, turn, and flutter—they release no sound. Silent dancers, sometimes adrift in a slow ballet, other times as quick and sharp as the steps in a tango. But always silent.

Though the candles covered most of the floor, the only sound in the entire chamber was the moans of a man in the center of the room. He laid sprawled on a bed, sweat sticking to his clothes and to the sheets. He writhed, clenched uselessly at the air as if seeking to grasp relief, but there was none to be had. His teeth grinded, his chest heaved, and he groaned tormented sounds of pain or fear as he slept. Occasionally, the cries took form.

"Time… chaos… now…"

This man was the archbishop of Zentopia.

Flames are not the only dangerous thing that can loom in silence. They were not alone in the chamber. As their dance illuminated the room with flickering light, something stood in the dark, just out of reach of the dancers' dim arms. Something just as silent, though far more still.

His eyes were closed, breaths slow. He might have been asleep, leaning against the wall in the corner of the room. Or he might have been lost in thought. Either way, his consuming, red eyes remained trapped beneath his eyelids.

That is, until a heavy-handed knock landed on the chamber doors.

He opened his eyes, which seemed to catch a gleaming hand of light. But he didn't move.

"Hey," a muffled voice said through the thick door. "It's me."

The man stood upright. "Come in," he said, his low voice just above a whisper. Far too quiet for any ordinary man to hear from across the room and beyond several inches of solid wood.

The door swung open. Another man entered, then quickly shut the door behind him. He tugged on the lobe of a pointed ear as he listened, beyond the sounds of silence. His eyes found the other man, hidden in shadow. He said nothing, at first. Instead, he thrust his hands in his pockets and turned his gaze to the sleeping man in the center of the room.

"Bet that guy's seen better days," he remarked, with a frown of distaste.

"Of course, he has," said the other. "Even hell would feel like paradise to someone trapped in these nightmares." Finally, he stepped into the light.

His hair was long, the curls pronounced. A white braid drooped over his left shoulder. He wore a simple, gray coat—long and lined inside with white fur. Beneath a buckled choker necklace, was a silver chain sporting a pendant that rested just below the dip of his collarbone. A dream-catcher, shimmering pink, as the light danced on its diamond surface.

"What do you want, Cobra?" he asked, in a low drawl.

"First, can we talk somewhere else?" The other man winced at a particularly loud cry of pain from the archbishop. "I don't know how you can stand listening to that for hours straight."

"You already know," he responded, "that pain is a lullaby to my ears."

"I thought you grew out of that a while ago, Midnight."

The one referred to as Midnight didn't answer. Instead, he turned and walked through another door. His companion knew to follow.

They traversed a hall to another chamber. Here, an unkempt bed recalled the presence of a dual-haired mage, who now took a seat on its edge. Cobra closed the door behind them, then leaned against it, kicking a foot up.

Midnight waited, expectantly.

"I got Crystal's report," Cobra said, wasting no further time with small-talk. "The church in Tulip is down. She's heading to Lilac tomorrow."

"I see." Midnight closed his eyes.

"I gotta say, I'm impressed." Cobra smirked, baring a sharp fang. "I didn't think she could pull all this off by herself. You must be proud."

Midnight's expression didn't change. "Did she say anything else?"

"Yeah, as a matter of fact, she did." He gave a small chuckle. "She said she's going to party tonight, kiss a few boys, maybe have a beer. And she said there's nothing you can do about it."

Finally, Midnight's cold face flickered with emotion. A hint of a smirk.

"What's so funny? You're not even concerned?"

Midnight pulled his legs onto the bed and crossed them. "No. She knows that if she does any of those things, I'll raze that entire town into nothing but a fine layer of dust."

"Right." Cobra scoffed and rolled his eyes. "You two have the most twisted relationship, you know that?"

Midnight merely shrugged, the corner of his lip still tugged upward in a slight smile. After a moment, his expression shifted back to normal. "Is there anything else?"

"Yeah. Hoteye finally sealed a lead on the clock hand. Angel and Racer are going to track it." He dropped his foot. His boot thudded on the stone.

"Good."

Midnight's eyes remained closed. He sat in silence for several, endless moments.

The messenger hovered by the door. He bit his lip in thought, then unconsciously wiped his sweaty palms on his pants. Midnight opened one of his eyes, which flicked up the man's tense body.

"Is there something else you want to tell me?"

"Yeah…" He gritted his teeth. The muscles in his jaw twitched. He closed his eyes as his mind mulled over the thing he'd heard. The rumors. The news. He knew it had to be true, at this point. He'd heard it whispered, declared, pondered on in dozens of households and market streets. There was no denying it.

Still… he released a slow breath, then stood up straight. "Actually, I forgot what I was gonna say. Oh well, I'm sure it wasn't important."

Midnight regarded him suspiciously.

"Anyway," Cobra turned to avoid his vortex gaze. His hand went to the door handle. "I'll let you get back to… whatever you were doing."

"Erik."

His hand paused in mid-turn. He scrunched his eyebrows at the sound of his real name.

"You wouldn't hide something from me, would you?"

Cobra didn't turn to face him. "Do you trust me?"

Midnight stared at the back of his maroon-colored hair. "Yes."

"Then, don't worry about it." He opened the door. "I'll see you later."

Midnight didn't respond. He merely watched as one of his oldest friends slunk away, the thud of his boots sounding in the narrow hallway as he left.

Cobra returned to the archbishop's chamber. He paused only momentarily, to look at the hundreds of candles flickering endlessly in the dark. The flames were silent, by nature, not by choice. Unlike them, he had chosen to be silent.

"Sorry, Macbeth," he muttered, as he left. "It's better this way."

Better the silence—the dangerous silence—than to reveal the knowledge that the Tenrou Island Fairy Tail team was back home. He would rather play with fire than be the one to relay the news…

They're back. They're all back.

The flames kept dancing.

There you have it! Thoughts? Let me know in the reviews! And don't forget to ask any questions you have, about anything from the story to my life, whatever you're curious about, I'll try to answer.

Now, this section is for MusicalMarvel16. You asked me for tips about character development! So, I've decided to include a Development Section here:

Development Section: Characters

I've never really given writing advice before! Everything I write here will sort of be my personal experience with character development. Hopefully you'll find it useful. You can take whatever you want from it and expand in your own creative universe. Every writer is different, and you'll have to find what works for you! Character development is a tricky subject for me. I have a bit of an unfair advantage when it comes to characters, because I've taken a couple psychology classes and am a natural intuitive. People are the easiest part of writing for me. I'm going to do my best to give a simplified form of my general thought processes, and make it an easy formula for other aspiring writers.

Step 1: Define Your Character

Simply put, you can't have character development if you don't even know who you're starting with. Before you can do anything with a character, you have to know who that person is. Easier said than done though, amiright? Some people like to use complicated, ten page long character templates where they write everything from their character's height to what spices they like in their chili. While I've had some fun using these same kind of templates in the past, I've found that K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple, stupid) suits me better than this approach. So what if my character's blood type is A Pos? How are they going to react when someone punches them in the face?

Here's my suggestion: Break the personality of your character down into their three most important personality traits. Picture it like playing the Sims. You're inputting their most prominent traits, and those are going to affect how they behave when someone calls their mother a llama at the gym. Seriously, though. Take the three things that absolutely define your character. These three things must always be set in stone. No matter what life experiences your character goes through, no matter how much they change, no matter what you throw at them, these three traits must NEVER change. Even if you have a villain who does a complete 180, his basic traits don't change. If he was an arrogant bad guy, he's gonna be an arrogant good guy.

These three traits will save your life when you're trying to decide if a character is acting OOC or not. If you're wondering whether your character would run from a fight, or face the threat, look at their Golden Trio, there. It says that the character is a genius, shy, and mean. Well, someone who's shy probably won't want to stick around for a fight. But they're also mean, so you could go either way here. Maybe the tie breaker has to be won by the genius trait, and it will come down to whether it's logical to fight or flee. The one thing you cannot do is to have your character loudly declare that he or she will take on an entire army! First of all, that's not shy. And it's not very smart either.

Three Traits.

As fanfiction writers, we get a head start. The original author already decided these traits for us, we just have to recognize them. Here, I'll dissect some Fairy Tail characters to give you a good idea.

Natsu: Brave, Clueless, Loyal

Gajeel: Blunt, Childish, Determined

Makarov: Wise, Stern, Daring

Keep in mind that these are up for debate. Everyone interprets characters slightly differently. You can tell, if you read a lot of fanfiction, that every author has a slightly personalized version of the characters. That's inevitable. Just do your best to make the character fit as closely to the original work as possible. You'll mess up sometimes. I've been called out on being OOC with Gajeel before. And massively chastised by my favorite critic, Svane Vulfbad (if you want writing advice, then go to his page. He's much better than me, I promise) who pointed out that I messed up Mirajane's personality by a LONG SHOT.

Ultimately, this technique will help you keep your character in perspective, and prevent you from falling too far off the in-character wagon.

Macbeth: Cruel, Reserved, Childish

If I had to break Macbeth down into the Golden Trio, I'd choose those three. No matter what happens to him (and trust me, a lot happens), he will always have those traits. Even as a good lil Fairy, he's still drawn to chaos and mischief, he'll still use some questionable means to achieve his goals. He'll always be a bit of a sadist, but now he'll be a sadist who asks for consent! But no matter what I do, I must never make him a soft-hearted, outgoing, mature man. I would be shattering that character into a million little bits that would make Mashima cringe (and probably all of you, too).

Dreamer: Kind, Stubborn, Anxious

Syllest: Curious, Stubborn, Bossy

Resmond: Emotionless, Curious, Intelligent

Piper: Blunt, Tempermental, Adaptable

Jezran: Protective, Loving, Calculative

Sange: Perfectionist, Arrogant, Determined

I think this is a good place to start with defining your character.

Step 2: Choose the Lesson

Now that you know who your character is, you have to decide what you want your character to learn. This is the "development" part. Your character must achieve a goal. And in their journey to achieve the goal, to learn the lesson, they will undergo character development. The moment your character learns this lesson, that is the climax of your story.

Many people wrongly assume that the big plot twist is the climax. While it certainly can be, this is not always the case. Sure, the giant action scene might be the catalyst for the character to learn their ultimate lesson, but there are many instances where the character learns their lesson before the final battle, or in the denoument. One Sweet Dream is a great example. You might assume that the climax was when Dreamer faced Resmond and had the revelation that she could defeat him through transfer of emotion. But no, the climax occurs after the battle, on a hospital bed when Macbeth and Dreamer are in one another's arms. At that moment, Macbeth learns his lesson: "Freedom isn't a thing, it's an experience you feel with other people," and Dreamer learns hers: "I am not a savior." We see this moment of realization clearly in their dialogue.

Macbeth: "You are my freedom."

Dreamer: "Youre freedom was inside of you all along, but I'm glad to be at your side."

Macbeth shows that he has found meaning in his relationships with others. Dreamer shows by her humble response to his declaration that she doesn't take the credit for saving him, he saved himself.

Every character has a lesson they are learning. Even your minor characters. The lesson is a simple, one sentence statement about life:

Syllest: "Family is who I choose."

Piper: "I deserve to treat people with respect."

Jezran: "I can choose to protect instead of harm."

Resmond: "I can do anything I want." (The lesson doesn't have to be a positive one).

Step 3: Teach Your Character the Lesson

So, you know who your character is and you know the lesson they're going to learn. Now, it's up to you to teach it to them. This is the tricky part, the one that takes the most planning. The best advice I can give is to think about your own life and the lives of people you know. Think of a lesson that you had to learn. Maybe you learned that "Blood is not equal to family." Did you come to that conclusion suddenly, or was it a culmination of experiences that led you to the ultimate conclusion?

Maybe, when you were little, your brother framed you for something he did and you got in trouble. Then, maybe your father was abusive. Maybe, when you were a teenager you got in a car accident and none of your family members showed up. Maybe it was a friend and his family who supported you. And maybe the final straw was when your mom and dad got divorced. Maybe, through all of those linked experiences, you learned that the definition of family for you has nothing to do with blood relations. It took a long time and a lot of suffering for you to learn that lesson.

Your characters should endure the same process.

Perhaps you've never been through something quite that intense. Maybe you've never had to learn a really hard lesson like that. That's okay. We can look at this on a simple scale, too. K.I.S.S. or whatever (I actually hate that acronym). Think about one of the classes you've taken. Did you start the class and immediately know all of the material that would be on your final? What would happen if your teacher made you take the final on the first week of school? You'd fail, right? In order to be able to pass, you spend the next few months studying, talking with peers, and doing homework. You fail some assignments, and ace others. You're learning, and learning is a process. Finally, the day comes, and you pass your final! You learned your lesson! It took time and hardship, but you did it!

Characters are the same way. The lesson you're teaching them must be reinforced again and again until your character would realistically learn the lesson you're teaching. This can take time, and that's the crux of it. You cannot force your characters to learn their lessons too soon. Take the time your character needs. I needed 71 chapters to teach Macbeth and Dreamer their lessons. But, those were hard lessons to learn. If I wanted to teach them easier lessons, I could do it in less time. If the lesson I wanted to teach Macbeth was "You are capable of Goodness," I would have ended the fic when he was accepted as a true member of Fairy Tail. But I wanted to go deeper (yay for over-achievers). I wanted to get down into the gritty world of freedom and chains. That's why it took so long. Don't cheat your characters. Don't take any short-cuts. Some of your characters might need to struggle for a very long time.

Just remember that the lesson you're teaching needs to be reinforced many times in your story, by circumstances and by other characters. There was something someone told me many years ago that helped me understand how other's opinions can enforce change in us:

"If one person says your shoes are ugly, you don't believe them. If a second person says your shoes are ugly, your shoes might be ugly. If a third person says your shoes are ugly, you buy new shoes."

It's a process.

And remember that every installment of your story requires a new lesson. For example, in my sequel, Dreamer and Macbeth must learn all new lessons. The climax, again, will occur as these lessons are learned. Your sequel lessons can expand upon the old ones, but they don't have to. In fact, the new lesson can completely contradict what a character learned in the first book. As long as the key personality traits, the Golden Trio, remain the same, you can teach your character any lesson you want. But you have to reinforce the lesson over and over, until it's a believable process.

Keep in mind that this works for any character. Villains included. The life lesson doesn't have to be a morally sound one. Take Resmond for example. When he married Rosy, he thought: "I can get away with this." When he first abused her, he thought: "I can get away with this." Reinforcement. When he killed her, he thought: "I can get away with this." Reinforcement. And the ultimate lesson was: "I can get away with anything I want." The lesson isn't morally correct, or even logically correct because he was proven wrong by Dreamer, but it was the truth he learned through reinforcement, time and again.

Okay, this is getting long. I think you get the point.

Define your character, decide their lesson, teach it to them. They should naturally evolve through this process.

I hope that made sense? And was maybe a little helpful to anyone who bothered to read it? Anyway! Leave me some reviews and let me know your thoughts on the sequel prologue! And ask me questions so we can do a lil Q&A session with the next EC! Thank you, beloved readers. I hope you continue to follow me through the wild story I've created~