Disclaimer: I do not own FT. Hiro Mashima owns it, and I could never hope to match his absolute awesomeness!

Dreams Shattered

Medical workers and soldiers milled about, cleaning up the debris and excavating the corpses of the assassinated council members and staff. A scarred man with dull eyes looked on and oversaw the whole process, occasionally giving orders to the workers. He was the lone survivor of the attack that razed the Magic Council building. He looked to a corner of the ruins, a body covered in cloth. The man approached the corpse and kneeled down next to it, slowly uncovering the cloth. The corpse was a man around his 30's, wearing glasses. He glanced at the corpse with an empty expression.

"I'm going to be the next Chairman of the council! I want to make sure people use magic justly and protect them! If people can use Magic justly, no one will ever be hurt. And it will be my duty to protect the innocent from the mages who use magic for evil purposes!"

"Heh, like you'll be able to do that! You just got the lowest score in the academy!"

"Shut up! Just you wait, I'm gonna surprise everybody!"

"Sure, and hell would freeze over when that happens, Lahar."

The scarred man chuckled.

'Hell didn't freeze soon enough, Lahar.' The scarred man's thoughts went back to the assassin's words that attacked them.

"The name's Jackal. One of Tartaros' Nine Demon Gates. Remember that in hell… as the name of the man who massacred the entire council."

He gritted. Tartaros… Jackal…. He would remember those names until they were wiped off the face of Earthland. And he swore to personally see to their end.

"Why…. Why the hell was it you? If someone had to die, it would be me. You were the one supposed to lead the magic world. I swore to myself that you'd make your dream come true. That was my dream, idiot." He choked, sobbing over the corpse of his best friend. Lahar had risen up in ranks like he couldn't believe, proving him wrong all those years ago.

"Ahahahaha! Oi, Lahar, you're amazing! You just leapt from being a cadet to lieutenant in 1 and a half year!" A friend of theirs said in a drunken stupor. "Yeah, and Doranbolt here was taking bets on whether you'd make it or not! Looks like he just lost the pot! Wahahahaha!" Another added.

Lahar looked to a sulking Doranbolt beside him. "Oh, really?" he sneered. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up." Doranbolt kept his scowl and took a big swig of his liquor. He needed to wash it all away, or else he was bound to go insane.

"Told you I'd surprise everybody." Lahar smirked and took another gulp of his drink.

"Yeah, but you still got a long way to the Chairman's seat." He reminded him.

"And you'll be there to see it, right?" Lahar raised his mug.

Doranbolt smirked in reply to his friend.

"Sure." Both mugs clanged into the bustling of the bar, witnessing the silent promise of Doranbolt's.

That day, Doranbolt had decided to see through Lahar's dream and he would surely make it a reality while supporting him from the shadows, because that's what he was suited for. He believed that his magic existed for that purpose, manipulating people and reach where Lahar's hands could not reach. In essentiality, it made him the darkness of the council, and that was fine by him. He also would make sure that Lahar's records would be thoroughly clean, even if he had to manipulate the council to do so. It was the main reason why he wiped Lahar and the Council's memories of the Dragon Invasion. He knew that they would surely hold Lahar responsible for something that was completely out of his hands. Lahar was doing well, and damn if he didn't keep his record clean.

Doranbolt believed in Lahar, he knew he would make the world a better place where people and magic would flourish. He knew, because Lahar always loved helping people and protecting the weak. However, Lahar's vision would never be realized. The cold truth was delivered in the most horrifying way possible.

Doranbolt just sat there, still sobbing over the corpse of his friend, sobbing at seeing his dream crushed into pieces by one single mage.

"Doranbolt-sama…. Please step aside, we need to properly excavate him and give him his final resting place." A soldier spoke up.

"Yeah." Doranbolt replied, wiping off his tears. He knew that there were more important matters to attend to. After gathering important information, he knew where his next destination would be: Fairy Tail.

The guild was in an uproar the whole evening. The Magic Council had been assassinated, and there were no survivors except for one. Details had clearly been left out, but many suspected it was a dark guild. Some had raised speculations it was Tartaros, since it was the only kind of dark guild daring enough to pull off such a brazen attempt.

Just as the discussion began to escalate, someone stepped foot into the guild.

"Hey, isn't that…?" Natsu glanced, directing everyone's attention to the entrance.

"Doranbolt!" Gray exclaimed.

"What's he doing here!?" Wakaba piped up as Doranbolt walked through the guild, staggering before someone caught him just as he started to fall.

"Hey, he's injured! Get Wendy over here, quickly!" Max yelled.

"Doranbolt-san!" Wendy rushed to him, examining his injuries. Max took him to an empty table and propped him up on top and Wendy began to work on her healing.

"Ugh…." He groaned, looking up at the ceiling and people around him.

"I guess teleporting all the way from Era like this was a bad idea from the start." Doranbolt chuckled. Several gasps were heard. Era was thousands of miles away from Magnolia. Teleporting from such a faraway distance would've needed a huge amount of energy. On top of that, he hadn't gotten his injuries treated yet from the looks of it.

Doranbolt grunted and sat up while Wendy continued healing him.

"Thanks, Wendy. That feels a lot better."

"Doranbolt-kun, I assume you're here about what happened." Makarov beckoned him.

"Yeah, first off, I plan on sending out invitations to all the top 6 Guild Masters to convene in Crocus. I'd like you to spread the word, Makarov-san."

"As you wish." Makarov nodded.

"Second, I also plan on inviting the Ten Wizard Saints as well. Finally, I have important information on the instigator of this event."

"Who is it!?"

"Is it Tartaros!?"

The mages huddled together, bombarding Doranbolt with various questions on what happened. Doranbolt raised a hand for silence.

"Yes, it is Tartaros." Doranbolt answered as he took a drink of water from Mirajane.

Chattering reverberated through the guild once again.

"Quiet, everyone. Let Doranbolt speak before we speculate any further." Makarov shushed them down.

"Right, as I was saying. Yes, it's Tartaros. One of their 9 Demon Gates members named Jackal, to be exact."

Doranbolt paused, before continuing.

"I pried some info out of Cobra, and he said that all of the 9 members are demons from the Book of Zeref, actually."

"Demons from the Book of Zeref!? You're kidding me!" Gray said, shocked.

"No way, the demons we faced before was already that terrifying, and someone from the Book of Zeref assassinated the entire council?" Lucy added, becoming terrified.

"He also told me the name of their Guild Master."

"And…. who is it?" Makarov urged him.

"E.N.D., the strongest Demon from Zeref's Book."

The guild was silenced to a thickness that you could cut it with a knife. Doranbolt's warning bells instantly went off. This can't be good. Titania looked shocked, the Heartfillia heir looked absolutely terrified, Wendy suddenly stopped healing, he could feel her shivering in fear behind him. The two Dragon Slayers looked absolutely livid, before Natsu pounced on him and grabbed his uniform.

"Are you serious!? Is that what Cobra really said!?" Natsu shouted to his face.

"Natsu, calm down!" Erza said, prying him away from Doranbolt. He didn't understand, what was it that made Salamander look so desperate? Did they know something he didn't know already?

"What? Is there something I need to know about?" he prayed to everything holy in this world that the situation wouldn't get any worse than it is now.

"The truth is…. We know a bit about E.N.D. … " Erza answered, as she held Natsu back.

Erza began explaining their latest mission, the Sun Village, the Eternal Flame, and Atlas Flame's last words. Doranbolt couldn't believe what he was hearing. If this is a nightmare, then he hoped that somebody, somebody would wake him up soon.

"You've got to be kidding me…. A being even stronger than that of a dragon?"

"We couldn't even do a single thing against those dragons at the Games!" someone yelled.

"And the dragon slayers didn't even kill any of them! And now there's this demon out there that's even stronger than them!?" Wakaba added.

"Oh god…. We're all going to die, aren't we?! It's the end of humanity as we know it!" Warren collapsed in tears.

Several murmurs could be overheard, most of it full of extreme anxiety. Doranbolt couldn't believe the almost perfect timing. Salamander's group just had to discover that Igneel, his foster dragon parent was defeated by E.N.D. Now that he thought about it, it would explain why he got aggressive once he heard of E.N.D. The demon would be Natsu's biggest lead to where Igneel is, not to mention Wendy and Redfox's parents as well.

"Settle down everyone!" Makarov bellowed.

Instantly, the guild quieted down. Everyone directed their attention towards their master, hoping for a glimmer of light in this seemingly hopeless situation. Makarov truly is the guiding light of the guild, Doranbolt thought. Whenever his children lost their way, he would guide them as a beacon of light down the path of hope.

"I know that the odds look like they're against us, but let me ask you this, why are we still alive to this day?"

The guild members were silenced. Makarov hopped on the table, standing beside Doranbolt.

"It's because we all have something precious to protect! It's because we have something to protect that we always make it through! Fairy Tail, with the bonds of family can persevere through anything! Because that is what Fairy Tail is all about! We aren't alone either! The other guilds also share the same feelings, if we work together, we will defeat anything in our way!" Makarov roused his children. Cheers and clapping reverberated in response to their master's vigorous speech.

Doranbolt smiled. He was impressed with Makarov's ability to lead. It was one of the many reasons he respected the man. Even among the Wizard Saints, some considered him to be their leader even though he wasn't their strongest.

Fairy Tail truly is a fascinating guild. No matter what obstacles they face, they always find a way to make it through.

"All right, everyone. It's getting late. Dismiss yourselves and have a good rest tonight. And don't think about today's events too much. You'll just wear yourselves out." Makarov dismissed his children.

Several members dispersed themselves as they went home while some stayed around longer. However, conversations about today's events still remained in the air. Doranbolt noted that while there were still some anxiety over the impending future, he could see that they were more visibly relaxed than before.

"Doranbolt-san, I'm done with the healing. Do you feel better now?" Wendy asked.

"Yes, thank you very much Wendy."

Wendy hopped off the table and joined Natsu's group. As Doranbolt scanned the guild members, he noticed someone familiar.

'Isn't that…?'

"Doranbolt-kun, why don't you rest here for tonight? I know you've had a rough day. If you need anything, we'll gladly lend a hand." Makarov warmly smiled.

"Thank you, Master Makarov."

"Master, what will be our next move for the moment? We need to act fast if we want to be a step ahead of Tartaros." Erza chimed in her opinion.

"Yes, for now we need to gather info. I have just the right person for that. We should have decent information by the time the assembly is held." Makarov rubbed his chin, in deep thought.

A growling sound suddenly interrupted Makarov out of his contemplation.

"Damn…" Doranbolt said in embarrassment.

"You haven't eaten all day? Why don't you have some dinner with us?" Makarov hopped off the table and walked over to the bar, and the two followed suit. As Erza and Doranbolt took their seats, Makarov hopped on the bar.

"Mira-chan, some Fish and Chips for Doranbolt here and 3 glasses of beer!" Makarov waved over to Mirajane, who was handing out others' orders.

"Coming! Kinana-chan, can you whip up their drinks, please?" Mirajane called out to Kinana.

"Right on it!" Kinana hopped over to the bar, quickly whipping up their drinks. Just as soon as Kinana served their orders, Mirajane went into the small kitchen behind the bar and asked her to help as well.

"As I was saying, we'll need to gather as much info as we can for now. I think I can have our agent look into Tartaros' movements." Makarov said, as he took a sip of his drink.

"Agent?" Doranbolt asked.

"That's our guild's classified information. If we're going to work together, we need to trust each other. And that means occasionally not asking our sources. If I were to tell you, he won't have much room to move around on the off chance that someone's infiltrated your group." Makarov explained, leaving it at that.

"This person wouldn't be Jellal of Crime Sorciere, would it?"

Erza immediately choked into her drink.

"N-no! No! What are you taking about? It's impossible! We don't know anything about Crime Sorciere!" Erza stammered, denying the question. However, her face was lit aflame, betraying her words.

"Sigh…. You don't have to deny it, you know. That guy is terrible at keeping secrets. In fact, he's the one who asked me to free Cobra back at the Games. Not to mention that it's a well-known secret that you have an affair with him." Doranbolt furrowed his eyebrows at the Titania.

"A-an affair!? We do not have such a thing going on! T-that's preposterous! He's engaged anyways!" Another lie, and one that she saw through him when they met after being frozen in time.

Doranbolt gave another sigh.

"Two birds of a feather flock together, huh?" Doranbolt muttered into his drink. Erza kept on vehemently denying his accusations while Kinana served his dinner and Mirajane went back to going around the guild, taking everyone's orders.

"Ahem. Well, it's close enough. But it's not Jellal, I assure you." Makarov cleared his throat, sparing Erza the embarrassment of having her relationship thrust in the spotlight.

"Someone from the guild, then?" Doranbolt took a bite of his meal.

"Yes. That is correct. I can't tell you more than that, though." Makarov affirmed.

"Well, actually… I was thinking of inviting Jellal to the meeting anyways. That's one of the main reasons why I came to this guild on purpose." Erza's eyes widened at Doranbolt's admission.

"Crime Sorciere has been eradicating dark guilds for the past 7 years, they're bound to stumble on useful information. I think they've been trying to track down Tartaros the whole time, but they've been so low-key for the past 7 years that they haven't gotten many leads on the guild."

Doranbolt paused, munching some more on his dinner and knocked back a big gulp from his glass.

"I'm pretty sure they'd be more than interested to be involved. Besides, I also have a few questions for them too. So, if you could, please pass on my invitation to them if you come into contact with them."

"If you're inviting Jellal, does this mean you're taking up the authority to pardon him?" Erza asked. Doranbolt gazed into her eyes, and saw the bright light of hope she was holding in those beautiful brown orbs. Doranbolt sighed.

"It's not that quite simple. You know how convoluted the laws are concerning the authority of the Magic Council. I'm not going to guarantee anything, but I may change my mind about his status provided I have enough reason to, legal or otherwise."

"I see…." Erza lowered her eyes.

"In any case…. we should be focusing on the enemy in front of us right now. We can think about Jellal's problem later." Makarov directed the conversation to more important matters.

The three figures continued discussing their next movements and coordinating them with the other guilds. Time passed by, and the clock had neared midnight. Erza bid her farewell, and Makarov asked Mirajane to put up the futon in his office. Makarov usually slept in his own personal bedroom at the guild.

Makarov stretched his arms up.

"Umh… I think it's about time we retire, shouldn't we, Doranbolt?"

"Yeah, I'm getting tired as well." Doranbolt agreed.

"Um…. Excuse me." Kinana asked. Doranbolt directed his attention to the barmaid who was listening on their conversation as she was cleaning up the dishes. He had known that she was listening on their conversation, but he didn't mind. It was bound to be spread soon anyway.

"Yes?"

"Well….. Could I ask you about Erik-I mean, Cobra-san?" she asked. The three of them had also brought up Cobra a couple of times in their conversation, which instantly caught her interest.

Doranbolt and Makarov raised their eyebrows.

"Why would you be interested in that?" Doranbolt asked.

"Er…. Nothing, nothing at all!" Kinana shouted.

"Wait….. I remember now… You're that woman who was with him during the Zentopia incident, weren't you?" Doranbolt glared. Suddenly, it struck Doranbolt like a wall of bricks.

"Heheh….. now it makes sense. He turned himself in so easily because of you, wasn't it? He was trying to make sure you wouldn't be arrested with him. He tried to protect you." Doranbolt kept his head lowered as he spoke. His hand gripped tightly on the bar table and it was cracking from the pressure.

"To think that he had a surprising weakness….." He raised his head, this time with an expression that terrified Kinana. Doranbolt's bloodlust slowly bubbled to the surface and his sneer was downright chilling.

Makarov saw what was coming. He quickly transformed into a larger size and grabbed Doranbolt's hand, dragging him upstairs to his office. As soon as they reached the office, he closed the door tightly and locked it up.

"I can very well guess what you're thinking of right now." Makarov glared sternly at Doranbolt. Doranbolt didn't answer.

"It's about Lahar, isn't it?"

Doranbolt twitched and shifted his position. His friend's name was the last thing he wanted to hear after today's events.

"I know what you're feeling right now. You want revenge, don't you? That's why you'll do anything to gain the information you want." He stated as a rather matter-of-factly. "Listen, child. I know this is a tough time for you. But don't do anything that you might regret later." Makarov continued.

"Don't you dare act like you know everything." Doranbolt seethed in response. How the hell could anyone understand what he's feeling right now?

"My dream was destroyed before my eyes! It was my dream was to make my friend's dream come true! How could you, or anyone else, possibly even begin to understand what it feels like to have your very own dream crushed in a single blink!?" Doranbolt lashed out the wizened old mage.

"You're right. I don't. I don't understand how it feels to have your very dream crushed before your eyes." He answered calmly.

"But what I do know is, that if you give in to your darkness, you will never find a way out. You'll think you haven't changed, but people will see you've changed. I've seen several people in my lifetime go down the very same path you're walking on, and none of them came out the same."

Doranbolt listened intently to the old mage's lecture.

"Everytime it happened, they end up doing something they later regretted and it just gets worse from there. They lose themselves in the darkness, not knowing where they're headed and lose all self of identity."

"I've seen enough of these sorts of people to last two lifetimes. I don't want to see another one again in my old age now." Makarov paused, holding a solemn expression. Just by looking at his expression, Doranbolt could see that he had been through everything life had to offer. He was, after all, nearing ninety. Which was a long lifetime (although not as long as Walrod's).

Makarov took a breath and approached the young man in front of him.

"It's not too late for you yet, child. You can still choose a different path. You have too far a promising future to be thrown away." Makarov softly spoke as he patted Doranbolt's shoulder, passing him on the way to the door.

Doranbolt said nothing.

"If you can't have him fulfill his dream, then why don't you fulfill his dream in his place?" Makarov glanced over his shoulder and closed the door.

Doranbolt was silenced. He was an absolute mess of confusion. Frustrated, he let out a grunt and changed his clothes into spare clothes Mirajane laid out on the couch. Today really took the energy out of him and he needed to sleep. He would think more about it tomorrow.

Doranbolt got up the next day, ready to go back to Era to prepare for the meeting. As the guild sent him off, he also thanked Mirajane for cleaning his uniform while he was asleep. She couldn't do anything about his tattered cape, though, which was fine by him.

"Doranbolt-kun, have you given my words last night some thought?" Makarov asked.

Doranbolt silenced, before giving out his answer.

"I don't know yet, Master Makarov. But when I find my answer, I'll be sure to tell you." Doranbolt turned away, heading off to his destination. What Makarov saw from his back was a man who was losing his reason to live. He worried for him as if he were one of his children. Makarov had to say something, something that he would keep in his heart until he could find his answer.

"Doranbolt-kun! Never forget! Everyone has a reason to live! You can find yours too if you keep seeking for it!" Makarov bellowed as hard as he can, hoping he would heed his final words. Doranbolt waved. Even so, Makarov was unsure if Doranbolt had kept his words.

"Master…" Mirajane spoke.

"I'm worried, Mira. I'm worried for that boy very much. I just hope he finds his will and reason to live once again." Makarov answered sadly.

Author's note: I'm actually pretty fond of Doranbolt. Chapter 356 hit my manly feels because I remembered about his dream in 339. Seeing your dream blown to bits has got to take an emotional toll on you. That, and in a sense 356 wasn't that surprising though, since Doranbolt had always been more of an ally to FT. I figured that he would one day claim a seat in the council with Lahar after 339, but I definitely didn't think of him (possibly) becoming the chairman.

That said, though. 356 was INSANE! E.N.D., Tartaros' demons, the Magic Council.. God, this is why Mashima is currently the best mangaka right now!