Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I don't remember the cause of my death.

I know it was quick and painless, a sudden sharp sensation in the back of my head, and then nothingness until I regained awareness once more.

When I did, I was no longer a twenty two year old working a dead end job, I was a two year old struggling to learn how to use the potty.

Still though, it didn't take long for me to realize I was reincarnated into a different world than the one I remembered. My Mom and Dad would amaze me with flames and little sparkly fireworks that caught my eye and held my shorter two year old attention span and made me want to learn it myself, what kid didn't want to be a wizard, after all?

I learned my name in full soon after I first awoke, I was now Helio Dart, only son of Anna and Blaise Dart, two freelance mages, who used their magic for entertainment more than combat. I had pale white skin, golden blond hair, and light green eyes, I was too young to figure out if I took more after my Mom or Dad in the looks department, but I hoped I had the more rough looks of my Dad.

Of course, soon after I learned that, I learned just what world I had been reborn to, not just some generic fantasy world, but one of my favorite stories of all time. I was reborn into Earth Land, the world of Fairy Tail, born in the year x765.

I was shaking in excitement the minute I'd heard someone use the word Earth Land in a surprised exclamation, I'd whooped with joy as I finally put all the pieces together as I realized just who I could befriend and meet.

Where most normal people would try to avoid things like canon, preferring to let it run its course, I was going to run roughshod over it. I'd make friends with Erza and Mirajane, I'd save Lisanna Strauss from going to Edolas, and if I could, I would make sure that the seven year timeskip never happened.

Because I knew, from the moment I heard just what world I was in…

I was going to join Fairy Tail.

The first two years of my life after being 'awakened' were quite dull, I was too young to learn magic, and to my parents, not mentally prepared to do so, which meant I did what two to four year olds did in Sun Valley, I played with other kids, and I 'learned' to read and write.

It. Was. So. Boring.

I'd already known everything they were teaching me except when it came to history, and while I looked and sometimes behaved like a toddler, part of me was more mature than that. Which meant I had to go behind my parents' backs to learn things they thought I was 'too young for', which meant everything from chapter books to beginner's magic tomes. I would sneak them to my room and I read all of them, from books by Kemu Zaleon -I could see why Lucy was such a big fan- to a book about basic Requip magic, which I learned as quickly as possible as I wrote volumes on my knowledge of future events. I read and learnt it all, quickly getting a reputation around Sun Valley as quite the little genius.

Of course this came with drawbacks.

While my apparent genius convinced my parents to let me read the more advanced books I'd had to sneak by them before, it also intimidated the children my age.

It had been true on Earth, and it seemed the same applied here on Earth Land as well.

Child geniuses didn't have friends.

The children that I'd spent time with before, whom I'd treated like little siblings rather than equals, now drew away from me, and if it weren't for my previous life's experience with it, they would have tried to bully me.

I might have been a weakling in my last life, but a punch to the face of your local bully works wonders when it breaks their noses.

And so, that's how my life went until I was seven years old, friendless isolation, self study and four years of self training in Requip Magic, coupled with meditation to increase my meager magical strength.

That changed on July 24th, x772, my seventh birthday, when my parents decided I was ready to learn magic.

"Now honey, what magic do you want to learn?" She asked me, her gentle smile making me beam my own. While she was technically my 'new mom', Anna Dart was a wonderful mother, as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside.

She had golden blonde hair, which I had clearly inherited from her, and kind blue eyes, her smiles were always maternal and kind, her cheeks dimpling whenever her lips twitched upwards.

"You could learn from me?" My father, Blaise, said, his face lit up in exaggerated hope. My father was what you could call handsome, I suppose. His jaw chiseled, with a strong face to match, the man could look intimidating when he wanted to, but his face was almost always set in a smile around me. His hair was a light brown, and his eyes a lighter shade of green, which I'd gotten from him. It was too early to tell if I'd inherited his face, seeing as I'd not gotten rid of all my baby fat.

I looked between the two, my mouth set in a firm line as I tried to find a way to deny them both, as to be quite honest, they weren't really combat mages. My Mom used a performance art, known as Sparkle Magic, good for a bit of razzle dazzle, and possibly blinding nocturnal beasts or Slayers, but in a real fight, she wouldn't last very long.

My father on the other hand was a fire mage,and a rather generic one at that, he could control it to a fine degree, capable of creating names and intricate designs that he could make as cool as a spring morning, or hot enough to melt metal, but he'd never fought anything tougher than a half trained bandit, or so he told me.

My face must have given away my thoughts, as my mother bent down and put a hand on my shoulder, "It's okay if you don't want to learn from us, we know you want to join a guild in the future and go on adventures, so I asked around, and apparently the abbot at the temple just outside of the village is a very strong mage and has very powerful magic." She said gently, her voice almost teasing.

I knew the temple she was speaking of, it was an odd place, a very confusing mix of worshiping the sun and Buddhism, which left me scratching my head every time I was around them for more than a few minutes, but the notion of the abbot being a powerful mage made me set that feeling aside.

My excitement must have shown on my face though, as my mother spoke, her tone laced in amusement. "I guess you'll just have to go see him tomorrow then." She said teasingly, I nodded quickly in excitement, the notion of learning a powerful magic was something I was not going to pass up. I would have been happy with generic fire magic if I'd absolutely had to choose, but with an open option, I would always take the more unique one.

After all, I was going to be an S-Class mage of Fairy Tail, and I couldn't do that if I didn't stick out.

I stuck my tongue out at my Dad, who was acting almost comically depressed at my decisions, but I saw that proud glint in his eye, he'd told me before how he always wanted better for his child, and it seemed he thought this was better.

We all returned to our little celebration, my cake tasting all that much better as my excitement kept me going for the rest of the day.

Falling asleep that night wasn't easy, but I managed it.

I woke up early the next morning, having asked Dad to get me up when he did, as the sky was beginning to light up, the sun just below the horizon. We ate breakfast together, my Mom apparently sleeping in, and as Dad headed off to his small magic store, I waved at him and ran in the opposite direction, towards the temple on the eastern edge of town.

The temple itself was built in a pagoda fashion, with what looked like a balcony built on the east and west sides, the Temple of the Sun was a very beautiful building. Even if their customs baffled me, the building itself was awe inspiring, if a little out of place from our village, which looked more like a western fantasy village than anything else. The eastern construction clashed with the more simple western construction, but in my mind that just made it stand out more. A piece of beauty in an otherwise unremarkable place.

Shaking my head to clear it, I walked up to the temple, lightly rapping on the large wooden door in slight trepidation, I steeled myself as I heard echoing footsteps on the other side.

The woman who opened the door was dressed in a traditional Buddhist robe, a large brooch shaped like the sun holding the fabric together at the front that covered her generous bust. She was of eastern descent, her dark eyes slanted upwards, and her black hair done in a bun that was held together by two wooden hair sticks.

"Hello, and welcome to the Temple of the Sun, I am Hikari, a humble member of this temple, how may I help you?" She asked kindly, I smiled up at her as I felt my resolve harden, if I wanted to be strong, it would start here, with gathering up the courage to field my request.

"I would like to see the abbot of this temple, Miss Hikari, if I may." I asked politely, bowing my head in respect. She looked surprised at my request, but she nodded all the same.

"Of course, please wait here in the entryway while I go get him, he should be heading to his morning meditation right now." Hikari walked off at a fast stride, her gait gliding across the hard wooden floors.

I smothered my nerves as I admired the architecture of the temple, it truly was beautiful, wall scrolls with paintings of the sun and entire congregations of people dressed like the monks bowing to it, the rising sun casting a wonderful light into the room through the rice paper screen doors. It gave the entire room a peaceful ambience that I was grateful for as it soothed my nerves while I waited for the abbot.

"It's peaceful isn't it?" A soft voice tore me from my musings, I quickly turned to see the man I could only assume was the abbot.

"Hello, I am Abbot Sheen Flare. How may I help you today?" He said with a sunny disposition, I bowed slightly at the waist as I answered.

I smiled at the abbot of the temple, he was a very kind looking man, his skin was a golden tan, and his eyes a warm brown, he was bald, the only hair on his head being thin black eyebrows. If the man weren't seven feet of solid muscle, I'd think he was the Buddha.

"I am Helio Dart, Abbot Flare. My mother, Anna Dart, said you were a powerful mage, I wish to learn from you." I said humbly, I didn't want to look like a snot nosed brat, I mean, I was only seven years old, if I acted like an arrogant little buffoon, I would surely get rejected.

All of a sudden, Abbot Flare's disposition changed, his stance went rigid, and his face became set in stone. He looked down at me with a scrutinizing eye. "You wish to learn from me, do you? Tell me, Helio Dart, why exactly should I do that?" I looked Abbot Flare in the eye, hoping to convey not only my seriousness, but my determination as well.

"I wish to become strong enough to protect the people I care about, to be smart enough to know how to keep them out of danger and wise enough to seek the most peaceful, and failing that, swiftest victory possible. My parents were freelance mages in their youths, but they freely admitted they do not possess the strongest of magics, and said to seek you out if I wished to learn one that would better help me in my quest."

Coming out of any other seven year old's mouth, that speech would have sounded awfully rehearsed, but I had a bit of a reputation around Sun Valley, so I sidestepped the awkwardness that could have caused. I hoped it was enough, because I wanted to be able to stand out amongst my peers as a powerful wizard, both for the reasons I mentioned, and for the element of surprise in having something powerful and unexpected.

Abbot Flare looked at me searchingly, presumably looking for any hint of falsehood, it felt as though he was searching my very soul for a moment before his body relaxed, and his face brightened once again.

"If what you speak is true, Helio Dart, then I will gladly welcome you as my pupil. We shall begin your training with meditation, seeing as I wasn't expecting to gain a pupil today. Please, follow me."

And with that, began my three years of training that I would come to know as hell.

"You seem to have an impressive hold on the basics of meditation," Master Flare said, now that I was his pupil, he'd told me to refer to him as such.

I nodded in response, "Yes Master Flare, I taught myself how to do so from a young age as I taught myself basic Requip Magic to supplement my main one."

Master Flare nodded sagely, "Yes, that was quite a wise move on your part, not only will it allow you to keep a weapon on you at all times, but it will allow you to travel without a heavy pack. Smart thinking, my pupil." He said sagely, I smiled at him, I'd only been his student for a couple of days, but I'd already come to love praise from my new teacher, having been rather starved of such things in my first life, I soaked it up in this one like a sponge.

"Now that I've ascertained your grip on the basics of magic, we shall begin your physical training, for you see when it comes to magic, a well trained body is just as important as a well honed mind." He stood straight, his hands folded behind his back. "A man with a well trained body may beat you physically, and a man with a well trained mind may beat you cleverly, but if you are well trained in both, you will always find triumph." I nodded seriously, I could be as smart as I wanted to be, but all of that would be meaningless in close quarters if I didn't have the strength to keep myself alive while I thought up a strategy.

So began a rigorous training regime that began with running, and ended in me getting beaten into the ground by the martial arts expert that was my master.

Finally, after a month of sheer physical torture, and rigorous mental exercise, Master Flare finally showed me his magic.

"Now that I have firmly tested your resolve, I believe you are ready for the next step of your training," I shook in excitement as he held his hand out, palm facing the ceiling. "I believe you're ready to learn the basics of my magic." He smiled secretively, "Most people who've seen my magic believe me to be a simple, yet powerful, Light Mage, however they have not felt my magic, nor have they truly experienced it." He let a miniature ball of light appear in his hand, I walked closer to it, cupping my hand over the ball of light and feeling the warmth of the energy. He looked at me with a raised eyebrow, "Do you know what type of magic I use?"

I looked at the ball of light, the magic was warm and comforting, like my Dad's fire, but it didn't hold that potential of destruction that even the coolest flames had. He'd already told me it wasn't light, so I could only think of one answer, and hoped I was right, else I'd look like a fool.

"Is it sunlight?" I asked, curiosity and confusion lacing my tone, he smiled proudly at me as he nodded.

'Yes, my pupil. My magic is known as Sun Magic. It is a discipline passed down from master to student for thousands of years, and you, Helio, are the one I've chosen to pass my talent along to." I felt a smile grow almost too big for my face at his declaration, I was to be his only student in this magic, the one he'd pass down all he knew to?

I felt resolve well up within me. I'd do my best to my master proud of me before I left to join Fairy Tail.

But for all my work on writing down and memorizing what I knew of this world, I'd forgotten one little, but crucial thing.

Every member of Fairy Tail has a tragedy at their backs, a story that led them to their new family.

Little did I know, my own tragedy would come all too soon.

Chapter Text

After revealing his magic to me and officially making me his pupil, Master Flare stepped up his training even more than before.

And even now, just a month since I began learning Sun Magic, I can safely say this…

Magic is hard.

I can see now why the absolute monsters in the show are always so ridiculously driven, you have to be or else you'll just stagnate and never reach your full potential. Thankfully, I had my own motivations to keep me going.

My new family, and my future one at Fairy Tail.

When I'd been bullied and alone when I was in middle school, I could always come home and watch my favorite show. I fell in love with the world, the characters, and the idea of Fairy Tail, the guild and its members, always moving forward and never giving up, even when things got rough. I loved that, it's what kept me moving, what kept me motivated and helped me smile through the pain.

I had come into my own in high school, getting real friends and becoming a complete theatre geek, but Fairy Tail never left my heart. I still watched every episode, and if I'd had the money, I probably would have owned every single issue of the manga, but I had to content myself with the anime since I didn't have that luxury.

Fairy Tail had become as permanent a place in my life as breathing at that point, it was a habit to come home and watch the newest episode before I did my homework. It might have been an addiction at some level, but I don't exaggerate when I say that Fairy Tail saved my life, which is ironic now that I really think about it.

I might have a divide between my first life's memories and this one, as if they were partitioned off to allow me a second life without making me a young adult in a kid's body, but I still owed Fairy Tail. I owed those wonderful people who helped me through three years of hell, helping me overcome my grief and depression.

For them, I would become as strong as I possibly could.

Then in true Fairy Tail fashion, I'd push even further until I could stand side by side with the likes of Natsu Dragneel, Erza Scarlet, Mirajane Strauss, Laxus Dreyar, and Gildarts Clive. I owed those guys my first life, the least I could do is live this one in honor of that.

I shook my head as I walked up to my house, smiling widely as I pushed open the door and yelled excitedly for Mom and Dad. The two rushed into the living room at my yelling, their faces confused as I beamed up at them.

"Helio Dart, what did I say about yelling in the house?" Mom said sternly, I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly, curse my childish impulses!

"Sorry Mom, but you've got to see this! It's the first spell that Master Flare taught me! He said it was the very first stepping stone to becoming a powerful mage!"

He also told me it was the first step in my magic changing my body to fit it, but he didn't explain what exactly would happen.

I shook my head, running over to the table by the door with my parents' sunglasses on them, I handed them over and made them put them on before I explained.

"Watch this, Mom, Dad! This light shows me things like invisible ink and cleaned up stains and stuff!" They seemed to shiver a bit before I cast the spell, was it really such a cool concept to them? I shrugged as I gathered the energy in my hands.

"UV Light!"

The ball of light appeared in my hand and I shined it around the room before I made the biggest mistake of both my lives, even more than getting killed the first time.

I shined it on the couch.

I screamed and put out my spell, closing my eyes even though the light couldn't affect me.

'The horror! The horror!'

Mom walked over to me and placed a hand on my shoulder, "Honey, are you alright?" I shuddered and broke away from her touch.

"Mom, I'm burning the couch, and the coffee table…and possibly the entire living room…" I turned around and walked out the door, "I'm going back to Master Flare for now… I-I can't look at you two…"

I shut the door and shuddered even more.

"I need a bath…" I paused and thought about using my bathroom before I shuddered even harder.

"A bath far away from my parents."

Then I stopped and remembered the look on Master Flare's face when I told him I couldn't wait to show my parents.

That bastard!

"On second thought, I think I'll just bathe in the river and sleep outside tonight."

That was the last time I would ever use my magic in the house, I'm fairly sure I'd just scarred myself for life.

A few months after that, the changes Master Flare mentioned began.

As summer faded into autumn, then autumn into winter and the clouds and chill began to roll in, I noticed that even when the other monks' tans began to fade as the sun was hidden more and more behind clouds and fog, Master Flare and I stayed golden brown.

"Much like puberty changes our bodies to make us into men, magic sometimes changes its user to make our bodies better acclimate to it" He explained to me, "Like how the mythical Dragon Slayers take on traits of dragons, Sun Mages are perpetually affected by the solar energies that we generate with our magic, you will notice more in the coming months what I mean, my pupil"

It started with my skin staying golden brown, then progressed from there, my magic always making me rise with the sun, my body remaining pleasantly warm in even the harshest weather, being able to stare at the sun without any sort of pain, my golden blond hair fading into a lighter shade as it was bleached by my own magic, and even my eyes gradually becoming a more pine green than the lighter green I'd gotten from my parents.

I figured it wasn't too bad a trade, sure sleeping in now only happened when I was injured and my magic was depleted, and I was almost impossible to wake up during the night, but it was far better than what happened to some people I remember, like Wally and his brother Richard.

I did not want to become a blockhead, thank you very much!

My magic teaching went rather slow, Master Flare making it clear that he was teaching me the basics and spells that weren't meant for combat before we stepped up to magic that could damage me.

By my eighth birthday, on top of UV Light, I'd picked up a couple more spells, like Flash. It does exactly what it sounds like, a flash of light that would blind people around me and allow me to escape or defend myself with the hand to hand combat he'd been teaching me. He'd also taught me a rather weak spell for practice with combining heat and light together, Sunburn. Like the name implies, it causes a sunburn on whoever it is cast on if it's cast with the correct amount of magic. Underpowering it basically turns me into Mom's personal tanning booth, and overpowering it, according to Master Flare, can leave debilitating burns on whoever it's cast on.

When I asked Master Flare why my teaching was going so slow, he'd looked at me with that wise air I'd come to associate with him, and he simply replied. "Because my pupil, if you learn too quickly, you'll never master your basics, and in pitched combat, your basics will be what you fall back on the most." He had then smiled paternally when he saw that while I accepted that answer, I didn't particularly like it. "Also, it will help prevent Magic Overload like I had as a child when my Master taught me too quickly. So until you're nine or ten years old, you will have to learn the weakest spells, or the ones that rely more on the sun itself over your own magic power."

"I suppose that makes sense then, Master. Magic Overload doesn't sound pleasant." I had vague memories of Ultear having it, and that Brain had tortured her to drain the magic, telling Ur she was dead and then handing her over to Master Hades of Grimoire Heart.

"It is not," Master Flare grimaced in what I presumed was remembered pain. "I cannot accurately describe the experience myself, but suffice to say that I am focusing on your physical training, and taking your magical training slowly to ensure you do not suffer as I did at your age."

I nodded in acceptance as he then came at me with his staff, which I barely managed to parry with my wrist encased in solar energy. "Understood Master." I replied, falling back into my fighting stance, "Thank you for sparing me the experience." I said sincerely as I quickly slid away from his next strike.

"Of course my pupil." He said affectionately before his speed picked up and I was quickly and unceremoniously slammed into the floor with a staff poking the back of my head. "You still have much to learn in physical combat that will more than make up for the pain of Overload."

I groaned into the mat as I slowly raised myself up, cursing that damn staff and Master Flare's ridiculous amount of strength. "I assure you I figured that out on my own Master." I said as I painfully stood on both feet.

My slave driver of a Master simply chuckled at my pain as he made me retake my stance and proceeded to beat me into the ground for the fifth time that day, and it wasn't even lunchtime yet.

When December x773 rolled around, my Master gave me my Christmas present early.

Well he said it was a Christmas present, but I was more inclined to believe it was a punishment of some sort at the time.

"You're making me do what?!" I asked incredulously, my voice raising in pitch as I recoiled away from him.

Master Flare simply laughed as he put a hand on my shoulder, "Easy my pupil, I would not send you against the others if I did not believe you could handle it." He smiled wisely, "The way you are learning now is simply countering me specifically. If you wish to become a truly competent fighter Helio, you must fight against many opponents, magical or not, for if you only fight me, then you will only be good at fighting me." He gently guided me onto the mat in front of a younger looking monk, or at least I assumed he was, they were all bald and in good shape, so I couldn't really tell how old they were unless they were wrinkly. "Now that you've mastered the basics of our style, you will practice the more advanced forms against more opponents so that you don't develop any bad habits." He patted my shoulder, "I will keep an eye on your matches Helio, I won't let you come to grievous harm through inaction." I relaxed slightly at his assurances and bowed to my opponent, who introduced himself as Yuan, before we slid into our stances.

"Now, begin!"

As my ninth birthday came and went, Master Flare had stepped up my training even more, I was beginning to think my physique was actually unhealthily healthy for a prepubescent child, and I was getting to the point that I could hold my own against a few of the younger monks in the temple in hand to hand.

Still though, I couldn't deny the results, no matter how much I wanted to. I was definitely far stronger than I had been two years ago, and I was still growing with each day, even if I wished Master Flare would go easy on me sometimes.

I was brought out of my thoughts by Master Flare's presence behind me, his magical aura felt like a summer's day, despite the fact it was early September, and for someone who could sense it, it felt quite reassuring.

"There is much on your mind, my pupil." It wasn't a question. Master Flare had the old, wise mentor trope down to an art form, sometimes the man even helped me solve problems I hadn't had yet! I loved the guy like a second father, stricter and more enforcing than my real Dad, but he loved me all the same.

I shrugged in response to his statement, "I'm just reviewing old memories, Master; they will pass with time." He nodded and sat beside me, the two of us were meditating on the Eastern balcony, facing the rising sun. While I didn't worship it for obvious reasons, I still found the exercises that the monks went through day by day to be incredibly relaxing, and good for training. So I showed them all the respect they deserved, regardless of how silly I thought the whole thing was.

"You've been doing this for years now, my pupil. You know how to clear your mind and reach into yourself, purge those thoughts from your mind, and focus yourself inward." He said serenely, I smiled faintly and did as I was told, focusing in on myself, feeling out my magic container.

I'd been working on expanding it even before I'd become Master Flare's student, and now with two years of serious magical training under my belt, it had come quite a long way from that pathetic little thing it had been when I first reached out to it six years ago. Of course, like my prepubescent body, there wasn't really a whole lot more to be done with it until I started maturing more, lest I risk Magical Overload, or worse, rupturing my container and destroying my ability to wield magic. So it was simply an exercise of touching my magic and letting it flow through my body then back into the container over and over again, warming my body beyond its now normal increased heat, and bringing with it a wonderfully calming and liberating experience.

We continued like this until the sun was over the horizon, rousing us from our meditation and signalling that it was time for our lessons to truly begin. Wordlessly, so as not to disturb the other monks that were meditating around us, Master Flare and I headed back towards the dojo, where I learned magic and was mercilessly beaten into the ground by my master.

"Now," Master Flare began as soon as I shut the rice paper screen door, "today is going to be different, I shall teach you the most advanced of our magic's effect spells, and once you're able to perform it adequately, we will move on to attacking people with your magic." Holding myself still out of sheer willpower, I forced myself to pay full attention to Master Flare, getting distracted just resulted in large amounts of pain when we began sparring practice.

"What spell will I be learning, master?" I asked, my curiosity and excitement bringing a slight smile to my master's face as he began to explain.

"Well, my pupil, this spell, while being unable to hurt people takes a lot more magic than even some of the more advanced sun spells, it is a healing spell, known as Solar Power" I couldn't help my excited smile, nor could I help the shaking in anticipation that took over my body as he explained. "While Healing Magic is indeed a lost art, Solar Power allows the caster to bolster their own body with the energy of the sun itself, speeding up the user's healing process dramatically." He smiled at my excited expression, but it quickly turned into a stern glare, "However, such a spell does not come without a cost, Solar Power is a very draining spell, and as such should never be used in combat, and is best used during the daytime, as you don't have the reserves to substitute the sun's rays with your own magic just yet. It is powerful, and when you master it, you should be able to heal broken bones in mere minutes, but as you are now, the most it will manage is sprains and minor burns. I will give you an example of the spell's power." With that, my batshit crazy master walked over to the fireplace, and stuck his arm in, keeping a serene smile on his face the entire time.

He pulled it out after a few seconds, his arm now a mix of an angry red black and disgusting bubbles of skin forming on his hand, with that damn smile still on his face. I looked at him with wide eyes as he simply moved his arm around, as if it were some sort of amazing new invention he wished to show off from every angle. "Now, observe, my pupil." He said, cupping his hands together,"Solar Power."

A magic circle appeared in his hands and underneath his skin, his body glowed a faint yellow as he basked in the mid morning sun, the burns on his arm disappearing as though they were never there.

I was slack jawed in amazement at the spell's effects, I was reminded once again just how lucky I was to have gotten Master Flare, insane slave driver he was, to teach me his magic.

Master Flare smiled at my excitement, before sitting cross legged in the middle of the dojo, I joined him without a word, sitting across from him, my attention completely on him. "Now my pupil, the first step to casting Solar Power is simple, meditate in the sun's beams, feel how they warm the skin and imagine your body absorbing them as a sponge does water…"

As usually happened when we meditated, I felt the world fall away from under me as I felt my magic respond to my imagination, I envisioned myself like a plant undergoing photosynthesis for sustenance, the sun providing me with the necessary energy to heal myself as I let its light flow through me. I felt a slight tap on my shoulder and Master Flare looked at me proudly as I opened my eyes, I looked down at my hand and saw it, along with the rest of my body was glowing with a warm light that I recognized immediately.

"Very good, Helio." Master Flare said proudly, "Now for the difficult part of learning Solar Power." He pulled out a small but sharp knife. "You can't learn how to heal yourself if you don't have anything to heal, can you?" He asked with a mischievous spark in his eye.

"Uh Master… couldn't I just try to soothe my aches and pains after a spar instead?" I asked nervously, Master Flare shook his head firmly.

"Not until you can properly cast the spell, it helps to have a small, superficial wound to practice on rather than a more hidden pain at first. When you can heal small cuts completely and not leave a scab behind, then you can use it after your spars." He looked at me sternly, "I shouldn't have to tell you how dangerous this spell could be to you if you didn't fully understand it before you attempt to use it on a wound you cannot clearly see." I nodded in acceptance, but he kept looking at me sternly.

"Yes Master Flare, I understand." He finally nodded at me and handed me the knife.

"Now in order to heal yourself, you will of course first have to injure yourself, cut your palm open, just a small shallow cut will do…"

Two weeks and a concerning willingness to slice myself open later, I finally managed to heal progressively bigger cuts quickly and efficiently, leaving only a small white line behind on only the deepest of cuts.

Master Flare nodded at my newest achievement and cleared me for using it after spars.

Of course, to ensure I did it properly, he was my exclusive sparring partner for the next week.

Because I was now getting more and more advanced at physical combat, he stopped holding back as much.

Thankfully, Solar Power is very good at healing bruises, otherwise I wouldn't have been sitting for a month.

One month after first learning Solar Power, I stood across from Master Flare in the dojo, he was holding two buckets of water with an almost noticeable aura of amusement as I tried to figure out what the hell we were doing.

"Uh, Master? What's with the water buckets?" I asked bluntly, there's really not a way to beat around the bush here honestly, I was just too damn curious to not question it. Master Flare finally smiled at me as he began to speak.

"In just a moment, that will be self evident." He said mysteriously, "Because today my pupil, I shall show you the first and most simple attack spell of our magic, Flare." He looked at the target, and a small magic circle flared up on his hand. "Flare." The attack shot across the room, a jet of pure sunlight that slammed into the target, causing a large flash.

Thankfully, our magic keeps us safe from large flashes of sunlight, and I could tell he'd managed to burn a hole through the bullseye. I felt a smile cross my face in anticipation, I loved magic!

"This spell is simple to learn Helio, manifest your magic around your hand like you do when you use Sunburn, but I want you to compress it into pure sunlight, make it dense enough to hold together, and fire it at the target." He explained to me, I nodded as I did just that.

"Flare!" I called out, my newly formed spell looked pitifully tiny and it wobbled slightly as it left my hand, but if flew true and hit the bullseye of my own target, leaving a small scorch mark. I grimaced but I knew my first casting wouldn't be perfect.

"Again."

This time it flew in a straight line from the beginning and hit the bullseye again, that's the best thing about most magic, with enough control over it, it hits where you aim it, unless it's dodged or another person's magic acts upon it. Master Flare nodded once again, and I cast again, this time setting my target alight with the heat. My eyes widened and I rushed to one of the buckets and quickly splashed a little on the small flames. I turned and smiled sheepishly at Master Flare who simply smiled at me.

"We're going to go until you burn through it without leaving flames." He said firmly, and I nodded back.

"Of course Master."

I turned back and focused once again on the target.

"Flare!"

By my tenth birthday, Master Flare had taught me a respectable amount of attack spells, if not as many as I could learn, according to Master Flare, and the spells he showed me out of the only book about our magic.

Unfortunately, as I found out, our magic was annoyingly underdeveloped. Sun Magic didn't actually have all that many spells for it, there were a few useful ones beyond what I'd already learned, and then there was the complete overkill.

Sure, I'd learned the basic forms, UV Light, Flash, Sunburn, Sunny Day, Flare, Flare Punch, along with Solar Power, but there was a concerning jump from those basic ones to ridiculously overkill.

Supernova was absolutely overpowered as fuck, knowing canon, the only times I would ever need to use what is effectively a goddamn nuclear weapon were against the most powerful members of Tartaros, Alvarez, and Acnologia himself.

Thankfully through strict experimentation, I had discovered something that previous users of my magic hadn't.

Sun Magic used all forms of solar energy, not just sunlight like my predecessors assumed.

Solar Flare, a spell that was one of the more practical of the more powerful spells, had given me the idea when Master Flare told me it could mess with delicate magical instruments if used near them, something that solar flares in my first life did to electronics if they were strong enough.

Supernova proved my theory when Master Flare had told me of it, he said he wasn't powerful enough to cast it, and I'd realized it was essentially a nuclear weapon, just with radiation hazards that lasted minutes, rather than months or years.

So I began working on my own spells, or at least making my own theories of their use seeing as I hadn't been a nuclear physicist in my last life and only knew the bare basics of nuclear fusion and I didn't yet have the raw power to force the issue.

This is where I ran into problems.

There was a very good reason why Sun Magic was as underdeveloped as it was.

It was a very structured magic, unbending when you didn't know what you were doing, and as such I asked Master Flare how to create new spells for them.

"I am afraid my pupil, that I do not have an answer for that. I have never needed to, nor did I ever have the desire to." His answer was disappointing, but I was forced to accept it. Spell creation would need to wait for the future, and I had to be okay with that.

Seeing that I would be forced to wait whether I liked it or not, I immediately scribbled down ideas for spells to make later on when I learned how to make them and could take advantage of the knowledge.  Things like proton storms to take out weak enemies with radiation sickness, notes on possibly adding some facsimile of fusion into my existing attacks, and a spell idea that would undoubtedly be useful in the future. A spell I'd tentatively named Solar Storm, a spell capable of distorting the local magnetic fields, and hopefully making it difficult for lightning mages to use their magic effectively in the mess it would produce.

That was all a ways off for now unfortunately, Dad's magic shop didn't have any books that helped, and Master Flare couldn't either, so I was forced to be patient until I met someone who knew how.

Until then though, I was unfortunately limited by what my unfortunately ignorant predecessors had developed.

Hopefully Master Flare and I could craft them together, his experience and superior magic power combined with my knowledge on how the sun actually works meant I could quite possibly manage S-Class before x784 if I worked hard enough.

Unfortunately, all those grand plans came crashing down around my ears in August x775, when my father finally managed to awaken me from my Sun Magic enhanced slumber and my senses were immediately assaulted by the acrid smell of smoke, along with a mix of wood and meat that almost smelled appetizing to my half awake senses.

I should have known something would go wrong.

Chapter Text

I looked around in confusion as I fought off the grogginess associated with not enough sleep and looked up at my Dad, unable to comprehend the situation in my half awake haze. "Wha's goin' on?" I mumbled more than spoke as I was ushered out of my bed insistently. "Too early fo' cookin' Dad." Dad shook his head and looked at me more sternly than I'd ever remembered him looking in my life.

"The village is under attack Helio, I need you to pack your absolute essentials and get out of Sun's Valley understand?" He asked sternly. I shook the cobwebs out of my head and nodded slowly, walking over to my wardrobe and simply requipping the entire thing as I became more alert.

"What about you and Mom then?" I asked as I hurriedly grabbed my shoes and a pair of socks from my chest of drawers before requipping it as well. My stomach was dropping as soon as I saw the look on his face and I felt my heart leap into my throat as soon as he looked at me with what I could only describe as sad acceptance.

"Your Mom and I are two of the only mages in town, we're going to join the defense." He said grimly. I felt tears come to my eyes as I took in the look on his face. My Dad knew he and Mom were possibly going to die, but he was going anyways, I went to speak up, but Dad grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me into a hug before I could say anything. "Son, I need you to get out of here, they came from the western end of town, so I'll need you to warn the Temple on your way out, okay?" He asked seriously, I nodded against his shoulder, planning how to help already as he abruptly stood and ushered me out of my bedroom and down the stairs, where Mom was already waiting at the door with bags of food held out to me, as soon as I requipped them, she hugged me tighter than she ever had before, and I realized she knew she was probably going to die here as well.

I felt so damn dirty.

I had lived and died a life before this one, it had been a short one, but it had still been a life, and here I was, ten more years than anyone else ever got, and I'm the one being told to run and live another day.

"Helio, I need you to be strong okay?" Mom said tearfully as she peppered my face with kisses, I nodded miserably, "I know you're shaping up to be a powerful mage, but your father and I need to know you'll be okay, so you have to leave town for us. We'll meet you by you and your father's camping spot okay?" She stated more than asked, "If you hear anybody coming that isn't us, or if we're not there in two hours, you've got to keep heading east until you reach a guild called Blue Pegasus, got it?" I stood silently, tears running down my cheeks as I felt like the ten year old I was. No degree of future knowledge had prepared me for this moment, I might have been mature for my age thanks to my first life's memories, but right now, I was a child that just wanted his Mommy and Daddy to run away with him. To leave the town and get to safety, and damn the consequences.

But they were mages, and they had a duty to use their magic to save the townspeople, and I couldn't make them run away from that, so I nodded through my tears and gave what I was sure would be my final hug and kiss to my parents, forcing myself to not break down all the while.

"I- I l-love you, Mom, Dad." I said through a sob, the two of them smiled at me proudly and hugged me together before an explosion nearby ruined the moment.

"Helio, you need to go now!" Dad said, pushing me out the door, opposite the way of the explosion. "Remember, warn Abbot Flare, then get to our spot. If we don't show up soon, keep walking until you reach Blue Pegasus!" I nodded, "We love you Helio! Make us proud son!" And with that, they disappeared into the smoke.

I forced my emotions away as they threatened to overcome me and ran towards the temple, Master Flare was powerful, he could help, and hopefully he could beat the invaders back.

As I ran, I frantically thought who the hell our attackers were, Dark Guilds, Zeref cultists, the list went on and on, but I didn't come any closer to the answer until I literally ran into it as I scrambled around the remains of the butcher's shop.

The person looked down at me, their face hidden by a white mask with a guild emblem on it that I vaguely recognized as one of the most powerful, their body shrouded in a black and purple robe that concealed their figure, and a wicked looking spear in their hand.

"Sorry kid, Master Hades' orders." A masculine voice, distorted by the mask he wore, said. He raised the spear over his head, and that was enough incentive to snap out of my shock and scramble away from him, my magic begging to be released.

Without even thinking about it, I attacked him, my hand lighting up in a spell even before I called it out, "Flare!" The ball of compressed sunlight struck true, burning through his cloak and leaving an angry red mark on his chest, surrounded by blackened skin. He backed up and one of his hands left his spear to cradle his wound, and without thinking, I ran towards him while he was distracted, my fist lighting up once again, "Flare Punch!" I slammed my fist into his exposed chin and sent him falling to the scorched ground unconscious.

I didn't take the time to admire my handiwork though, I just kept running towards the temple, the few words the man had spoken echoing in my mind.

"Sorry kid, Master Hades' orders."

"Master Hades"

I gritted my teeth in anger, even without the Seven Kin of Purgatory, Grimoire Heart was able to pull this sort of stuff off?! I pushed that thought to the back of my head, but kept what I now knew in mind.

Because now, I had someone to blame.

'Hades, you and your Guild are gonna pay!'

I pushed my anger down for now, rushing through destroyed streets and buildings, running into a few more grunts that had my magic container close to empty by the time I reached the temple and was panting heavily, both for air and the ethernano in it. I looked up in shock as I finally managed to take in what used to be the Temple of the Sun.

Death surrounded me, whether it was members of Grimoire Heart or the monks I'd seen everyday for three years, corpses laid from the ground to the top of the ruined steps, and I couldn't help but let myself cry at the sight.

"Yuan, Li, Zhao, Song, Hikari, Ren…" I said frantically, checking each of them, rolling their bodies over only to see the mortal wounds that had killed them. Burn marks from fire magic, water pouring out of their mouths from being drowned, stab wounds from swords and spears, it didn't matter, their bodies were cold by the time I'd gotten there. I fell to my knees, eyes unseeing as I stared at the corpses of the monks who had been my friends and teachers ever since I first stepped foot in this temple.

Yuan, the stoic but well meaning man who taught me almost as much about physical fighting as Master Flare.

Song, the woman who wasn't really one of the monks, and her husband Li, the two of them helped keep the place clean and made sure we didn't starve ourselves in meditation.

Hikari was the worst though, her face was permanently stuck in an expression of surprised alarm, her body was at the top of the steps, but her head had rolled down them, stopping when it ran into Zhao.

"Why…."I muttered to myself, "Why?!" I shouted at the sky, glaring at the stars as if they'd give me an answer.

"Easy kid, because Master Hades demanded it." Said a malevolent voice behind me, I turned towards it with a glare, uncaring of how low my magic was, at the moment all I cared about was killing the bastards that had killed my friends.

The man in front of me was clearly still a grunt, dressed in robes and wearing a mask that I now recognized had Grimoire Heart's guild mark stamped on the front of it, but he was a lot bigger than the other grunts I'd seen, his muscles had muscles, he looked like he could crush my head like a grape.

"I normally don't kill kids, but well, what Master Hades wants, Master Hades gets." He cocked his head to the side in an exaggerated show of emotion, "Nothing personal kid, just orders, I'm sure you understand." He pulled a massive war hammer from his back and twirled it like I would twirl a stick.

Then the head of the hammer caught on fire.

I sighed in a mix of exasperation and exhaustion, but I powered through it under the nuclear force of my own rage as I dodged under his first swing and punched him in the gut, not using any magic to save my reserves for when I might need it, only to have to dodge away as I cradled my hand in pain. The man laughed at my expression as he ripped open part of his robe covering his stomach, revealing hardened leather armor that had me gritting my teeth in irritation.

"Sorry kid, but I'm a step above the trash you've fought your way through to get here." He twirled his hammer again, "Now at least give me a bit of a challenge!" I growled as I had to dodge out of the way of another strike and pushed any thoughts of magic exhaustion out of my mind as I dug into my reserves and began my assault.

"Flare Punch!" I roared, my fist glowing with solar energy as I slammed it home into his chest, the intense heat and force sending him sliding back as his armor shrunk and curled around the impact point. I smiled ferally as I pushed his weakness, slamming home a Flare Punch from inside his guard and feeling sick satisfaction as the armor gave under my assault and my opponent bent over around my fist.

He coughed and wheezed for a moment before suddenly kicking me in the stomach, sending me flying back a few feet, barely catching myself as I felt exhaustion creep up on me. I pushed through it, shaking my head and focusing on my pain and rage to carry me through the wave of exhaustion. "Good job kid, been a while since I faced someone who could punch through my armor, but it's time to quit playing around, and finish you off." He raised the hammer above his head and charged me, his near supernatural speed almost making me lose my head before I could roll out of the way, ignoring the way my body protested the action.

"Don't… count me out yet…" I said quietly, "I won't lose to you!" I dodged his next swing and got into his guard again, exploiting my small size as much as I could, punching the inside of his knee and unbalancing him before putting a Flare Punch into his unprotected chin, sending him sprawling on his back, soaking himself in the blood of his fallen comrades and my dead friends.

Not willing to believe that finished him, I ran towards him, both hands encased in solar energy as I jumped onto his stomach, kicking down into the hole I'd made, making him cough before kicking him once more in the chin and preparing my final attacks.

"Flare Punch!" I slammed it into his mask, cracking it open like a nut and sending shards of it into his face, making him hoarsely shout, I brought my other fist up, and with a shout Flare Punched him into oblivion, caving his face in and adding a worrying amount of blood to the already thick pool around us.

' Oh God….' I turned to the side and vomited into the puddle around me, the shock of taking a man's life enough to finally hit home through the adrenaline and rage. I wanted to just sit there and cry over my lost innocence, but an explosion from the village knocked me out of my funk.

I jumped off of him, exhaustion rolling over me as I panted tiredly, my muscles felt like they were on fire and my eyelids were getting heavy, I knew I couldn't stop here, but sleep sounded so very good right now that I almost didn't care.

I heard fighting coming from the inside of the temple, and that was enough to shock me into moving, forcing my eyes back open and gritting my teeth through the pain, I followed the sounds of combat.

The inside of the temple was burning and covered in blood, small fires were slowly growing larger as they licked at the screens and wooden walls; it was a far cry from the usually clean and peaceful temple I had grown used to. Finally reaching the dojo, the sounds were at their loudest, I ducked through the hole in the wall, ready to fight by the side of whoever was still alive, hopeless though it may be.

What I found gave me at least some hope, surrounded on all sides by the corpses of Grimoire Heart wizards, and silently staring down the one he was currently fighting, was Master Flare, his magical presence heating the room and peeling the wallpaper, rice paper screens igniting under the sheer power of his fury.

His robes, normally immaculate and spotless were now tattered, blood staining bits of it as he glared at his opponent, but they clearly weren't enough to stop my teacher. He didn't even spare me a glance as his opponent flashed forward, a silent Flare Punch sending his opponent backwards.

His opponent who looked like an oddly human goat and was wearing red samurai armor, wielding a katana.

"Helio." Master Flare said, holding out a hand towards me as the only book of Sun Magic in existence appeared with a flash. "Take it Helio, and leave this village, else our legacy will die with you." He said seriously, never even looking at me as his opponent dug himself out of the debris he'd landed in.

"Damn you, monk!" The goat man said angrily, "I'm going to enjoy killing you." A malicious smirk formed on his face, "When you reach the afterlife, tell them Yomazu sent you there." Master Flare's face stayed stoic as he attacked, and I suddenly found myself ignored by both parties as I stood shocked.

"Helio!" Master Flare shouted as he parried Yomazu's blade with his bare fist, slicing open his palm, if it hurt, he didn't let it show. "He has an entire squad of accomplices, and a partner that will return soon, you must leave now, my pupil!" He kicked the goat man away, "Run and don't look back Helio! Know that I will always be watching you!" I felt tears fill my eyes and nodded at him, running away once again.

"Solar Beam!" I heard behind me as I sprinted out of the temple, my Master's voice supernaturally loud as a beam of pure yellow shot through the side of the temple, I saw a shadow flying at the front of it, but before he could slam into the nearest tree, he was grabbed by what I could only call an anthropomorphic chicken.

"You're letting him beat you? Bok bok!" The… chicken man? Said malevolently, Yomazu simply stood, holding his blade ready as Master Flare jumped from the building.

"Shut up, Kawazu!" Yomazu said angrily, "I was toying with him while I waited for you to finish killing the villagers!" If I hadn't taken too many shocks today, I probably would have been shocked once more, but now I was just feeling numb as they casually talked about killing my family and the rest of the village. "Now that you're here, we can finish this!" He flashed his blade towards Master Flare, "Slice!" A Kanji formed in front of him, and a compressed wave of magic shot towards him, slamming into him and sending him flying into the temple.

'I don't stand a chance here…' I thought miserably, 'I've got to leave or I'll only distract them with worry!' So, as I heard what surely was my Master's last stand, I turned on my heel towards the east, and did as I was told.

I ran.

Abbot Sheen Flare wasn't a fighter.

Traditionally, users of Sun Magic used it in their worship of the sun itself, the fighting techniques simply a way of expressing the sun's power to those who didn't understand its might.

But now, surrounded by his fellow monk's corpses, his blood draining from the massive wound in his side, Sheen Flare wished he was.

'Please Helio, get away from here.' He thought to himself, his final thoughts focused on his pupil, and if he were to be honest with himself, the boy he thought of as his own son. 'Don't let this be the end of you, my pupil, else our legacy ends with you.'

"What a disappointing fight," The monster who'd slaughtered his temple said as he sheathed his blade, "I would have thought the master of a lost magic such as yourself would have been a worthy opponent." He clicked his tongue as his equally monstrous partner clucked beside. "Let's go Kawazu." He turned his back on him with a huff, "At least we are now one step closer to a key to one of Zeref's seals." He stopped for a moment before looking at Kawazu once again, "There was a child who got away during my fight with the monk, we should get rid of him as well."

The giant chicken nodded in agreement as the two of them walked out of the temple where a wall used to be.

Sheen Flare weakly laid his head back, looking up at the night sky through the destroyed roof, gathering his final wisps of magic power and then pulling harder on his own reserve, pulling his own life force out with it.

"O' Apollo lend me your strength,

Grant me the power of the dying sun,

Let if fall from the heavens and show the world its might,

SUPERNOVA!"

As the miniature sun formed in the skies above the burning remnants of Sun's Valley, Master Flare couldn't help but smile as he let his eyes close as his magic's most powerful technique plummeted towards their destroyed village.

'If I cannot defeat you and live, then I shall simply take you with me. Let not vengeance consume you, my pupil. I shall take it on my shoulders for you. I will be watching over you Helio, always.'

Then the world went white, and Master Sheen Flare left this world with a smile on his face.

The explosion went off just as I began to run through the trees, hoping to throw anyone pursuing off my trail, if they were slaughtering the whole village, there's no way they wouldn't send at least somebody to chase after me. 'Although,' I thought to myself as I used a tree to shield me from any shrapnel, 'I don't think anybody will be chasing me after that.'

I turned back towards the village in morbid curiosity, and was rewarded with the sight of a massive fire ball and a mushroom cloud rising into the sky.

'Master Flare….' I thought miserably, a dismayed expression crossed my face as I realized he had to have killed himself pulling that out, either through using his own life to force the last bit of the spell, or from being at ground zero of his attack.

Sun Magic users aren't Dragon Slayers, we can be damaged by our element, even if we are preternaturally resistant to it, if he were a little further away, then he could have survived provided he didn't use life force to cast it, as the radiation was negligible, and the heat would have been little more than an annoyance.

I shook my head, Master Flare had told me that he wasn't powerful enough to cast that spell, and I believed him. Master Flare may have been a harsh slavedriver, but he never lied to me, which meant he had to be dead.

I numbly felt the tears roll down my cheek as I began walking through the forest, using the trees to hide me from Grimoire Heart's airship if they came looking for me, but staying close enough to the road to be able to not get lost. I had a map of Fiore in my requip space, but I didn't want to risk someone sensing my magic use until I was sure that Grimoire Heart was gone from the area.

A few hours later, as I set up camp, I couldn't help but wonder when it would hit me.

Turns out the answer to that question was as soon as I woke up almost eight hours later as the sun was nearing its zenith. My wounds and magical exhaustion must have kept me down long enough to replenish my magic.

I had a short groggy moment where I failed to stand due to the fact I wasn't in my bed at home, and was instead in my tiny tent I kept in requip space for emergencies, and then once I realized that no, that wasn't a fever dream, I felt all the emotions that had been numbed when I fell asleep suddenly hit me over the head like the staffs the monks I sparred against used.

It felt as if my heart had shattered into a million pieces, ripped asunder and left bleeding as I collapsed into my sleeping bag with a cry of anguish I didn't know my ten year old body could make. I laid there sobbing, the looks on the faces of my parents and Master as they each sent me away, and I couldn't help but feel like scum.

I had an entire previous life in my head, I'd gotten ten more years than anyone else had ever gotten, why the hell was I the one being protected?! Why couldn't I have just fought alongside them? I cursed myself as two answers made it in my head at once.

'I would have died with them, and they didn't want that, no parent wants their child to die, and Master Flare told me why he needed me to run, our magic would have been truly lost.'

'I was almost out of magic after just fighting ten of those guys plus that lead grunt, I wasn't strong enough to fight with them.'

I cursed my small body then and there, I'd only just gotten old enough to not worry about Magical Overload anymore, Master Flare was going to step up my training to take advantage of it, he'd told me yesterday my training was about to become even harder, and I'd been so excited to pick it up!

I knew it wasn't my fault, I knew I shouldn't blame myself and that Mom, Dad, and Master Flare wouldn't have wanted that, so I didn't. I let my tears run dry, and waited until I calmed down before I packed up camp, got out my map, and plotted my journey to Blue Pegasus, the nearest guild where I could rest up, tell them what happened, then begin my the next leg of my journey.

It seems the Universe decided it was time for me to make my way to Fairy Tail, and in a few years, I would be repaying Grimoire Heart tenfold for their crimes.

Chapter Text

August 25th, x775 Eastbound from the ruins of Sun's Valley

I looked up at the sun, judging its position at just past noon almost instinctively as I massaged my feet. Times like this, I really hated the fact that I only had three pairs of shoes to my name, my running shoes had been ruined during my flight from Sun's Valley, and my sandals I wore to the temple weren't the best for walking long distances in, though they were better than my dress shoes, those things killed my feet in minutes even when I wasn't walking!

I facepalmed when I remembered that I was a wizard and let out a relieved sigh as the pain abated as I used Solar Power to heal them, and I leaned myself against a tree, requipping out one of the massive bags of food Mom had passed me the day before.

"Helio, I need you to be strong okay?"

I shook my head, forcing the images out of my mind, forcing myself to breathe calmly and deeply as I rode the wave of emotion. I reached into the bag and pulled out what I would need to make a sandwich along with the older vegetables we had.

Mom seemed to have packed all the food we had in the house in the time it took for Dad to wake me up. 'At least I won't starve to death on my way to Magnolia,' I thought sadly as I ate my lunch in silence, polishing it off before I slipped my sandals back on and began my trek once again, checking the legend on my map and sighing quietly.

"This trip is gonna take a while." I said to myself, glad at least that I had learned enough Requip magic to not have to walk with it all on my back. I didn't fancy dying of exhaustion anytime soon.

According to my map of Fiore, updated by Dad from his old map from his travels to include a few villages that weren't on it, ours included, Sun's Valley was about 50 miles from Blue Pegasus, with nothing but farmland and woods between here and there according to my map. I sighed and requipped it away once more, and began my walk.

Due to my magic, I could walk longer than most children, and I hoped I'd be able to average 25 miles a day, otherwise I would go insane from loneliness before I could make it to another town. Sun's Valley was in Fiore's northern mountains, nestled in obviously, a valley that long ago served as a pass between them, until plenty of towns popped up around the mountains, making it safer, and with carriages, then magic mobiles becoming commonplace, faster to simply go around it.

I walked in silence for the most part, enjoying the warm summer's day dressed in shorts and a t shirt exploiting the hell out of the fact my magic kept my body immune to sunburn and heatstroke. I was thankful that I would be alone for the next couple of days, as it at least gave me the time to mourn and work through the tangle of emotions that clouded my mind.

I might have had the memories of my twenty three year old self, but I wasn't really him. Sure, I had his knowledge and his experiences, but it was like they were partitioned off from the rest of my mind, so as mature as I might be, I was still an emotionally immature ten year old, with all the experiences that entails.

And an emotionally immature ten year old that just lost all his friends and family?

Yeah, I was an utter mess, gibbering like a baby periodically as I walked, forcing myself to continue my way to Blue Pegasus, a guild I was really very wary of, considering it was basically a host club and their guild master gave me the creeps.

Thankfully, I could lean on my first life's experiences with grief to cope with the overwhelming loss I felt, and it helped for a while, I was still angry that I couldn't have helped more, and I would always miss my friends and family from Sun's Valley, but there was nothing I could do about it now, so over the next two days, I cried my tears and mourned my loss, beginning to feel much less burdened as I walked into the small town that was springing up around Blue Pegasus.

August 28th, x775 Blue Pegasus

My trip ended up taking three days.

My emotions running high, and my late start on the first day made me slower than I really could have been on foot. So for the last three days, I'd been alone in woods, then plains, screaming myself awake at first light, and passing out not long after sunset from exhaustion

I breathed a sigh of relief as I entered the town of, well, Blue Pegasus as the sun began to set. I'd not realized how much I missed the reassuring background noise of other human beings. Small things like conversations, or just the sound of footsteps on dirt and cobblestone that reminded me that even if I didn't particularly want to interact with them, other people were there. It was a noise I'd gotten used to in Sun's Valley, and one that I appreciated the reemergence of.

I feared having to ask for directions to the guild building, but as soon as I'd entered the town, I saw it. The city had arranged itself around their guild hall, a row on either side of the main street, the guild hall at the very end of it. I entered the building itself with a slight fear of what I would see, my knowledge of this guild making me very apprehensive of what I would find on the other side of the door.

Thankfully, it appeared to be rather tame, a fixation on blues and pinks aside, making me think of an upscale bar more than anything, even if it reeked of perfume, cologne and expensive alcohol. The customers and mages didn't pay much attention to me either, thankfully. Thus making it easy for me to walk over to the bar where the person I needed to talk to, and one of my main reasons for trepidation about this place stood serving people.

"Ohhhhh aren't you just a little cutie pie!" The far too feminine voice of the far too masculine Master Bob said as I approached the bar, face set in a blank stare to avoid offending anyone present. "What can I do for you today?" He honest to God giggled. I shook my head and thankfully my still fresh loss made it much easier to not lose my composure in front of him.

"I need to speak to the Guild Master about a Dark Guild attack on my village." I said quietly. Instantly, Master Bob stopped acting like a literal fairy and bent under the bar, grabbing a mug before filling it with orange juice and setting it in front of me, then grabbed a notepad and pen.

"Oh honey, I'm so sorry," he said sympathetically, "I'm Blue Pegasus' Master, Bob. Tell me what you can about it so I can inform the Magic Council, okay? Take all the time you need." I nodded, taking a sip of this really quite good juice.

"The Dark Guild, Grimoire Heart," I stopped for a moment as Master Bob froze before writing it down. "They attacked my village, Sun's Valley, along with the Temple of the Sun, three days ago, destroying both and as far as I know, leaving me as the only survivor." Bob looked at me, his eyes full of pity, and I simply stared into my drink.

"Sun's Valley?" Bob said curiously, "That's fifty miles from here, and you made it here in three days?" He asked incredulously, I shrugged, fifty miles really wasn't that much when you were a physically fit mage that could heal any blisters and aches in just a few minutes, the only thing that made it take that long was that I had to stop for food and I couldn't really see in the dark.

"I'm a mage, it wasn't that big a deal." Bob simply nodded, "I only caught the name of two of the mages, though I'm fairly sure they were the leaders of the whole thing. Kawazu and Yomazu, Kawazu looked like a humanoid chicken and used some kind of egg magic, and Yomazu looked like a humanoid goat. He used a sword and I think some sort of Script Magic that used kanji instead of words." I took a sip of my juice as Bob wrote it down, "I don't know much more about the attack myself, only that a Master Hades ordered it, and that there wasn't supposed to be any survivors."

Master Bob nodded once more and then looked at me seriously, "I know this must be hard on you young man," he paused for a moment, "actually, what was your name? I need it for the report and it's just so rude of me to not have asked earlier!"

I shuddered slightly, "Helio Dart, sir." He nodded, writing it down as well before looking at me once again.

"Now, I know this must be hard on you, Helio. I can't imagine the pain you must have gone through, I'll arrange you a place to stay tonight, and we can talk about your next step tomorrow, if you want?" He said compassionately, I felt a smile cross my face in spite of how creepy the man was, I could tell that this man (?) was a good person at heart.

"I already have a plan," I said quietly, "I want to join a mage's guild and get stronger, so I don't have to run like I did two days ago." I looked up at him and noticed the torn expression on his face, obviously debating whether I could join or not. "I've already decided on a guild as well," he slumped microscopically in relief, "I want to join Fairy Tail." Master Bob's face lit up in pleased surprise as he patted my head like one would a dog.

"Oh, Maky's guild will be perfect for you!" He cooed, "Fairy Tail will be far better at helping you than we could," he sounded somewhat regretful, but he shook it off, "I'll go make the arrangements at the inn, and I can see you off tomorrow morning!" He picked up his notepad and phased through the bar, heading upstairs to call the council and the inn I supposed.

"I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with Master Bob." A voice said from behind me, I turned towards it only to be greeted with a man that even I would call handsome. "I'm sorry for you loss." He held out a hand, "My name is Ichiya Vandalay Kotobuki, I hope that the people behind that despicable act are brought to justice!" My brain froze as he introduced himself.

How the fuck was the six foot six textbook fucking Adonis, Ichiya?!

Deciding I'd had quite enough of this guild and its oddities for now, I thanked him for his condolences and asked him to inform Master Bob I was on my way to the inn, citing that I was tired from my long walk and looked forward to a hot meal and a warm bed.

I began greedily breathing the fresh air as I left the guild hall, happy to be done with that… experience, and with a quick inquiry, I was on my way to the town's inn, where I ate a hearty supper and passed out before my head hit the pillow of my warm bed.

I would prefer the nightmares that were sure to haunt my dreams over trying to figure out how the fuck Ichiya could be anything other than an ugly short guy.

The next morning I awoke with the sun as per normal, and was rather generously given breakfast by the owner.

"Master Bob didn't give me details, but a ten year old boy at an inn by himself tells me something bad happened to you, the least I can do is get you fed." She said sweetly, I thanked her profusely and was just on my way towards the edge of town when I was stopped by a shout from behind me.

"Wait!" I turned with an eye raised, being met by a boy who was dressed rather smartly in a suit, dirty blond hair spiked up in an attempt to look messy, but looked obviously styled. He took a few deep breaths as I waited for him to speak before he smoothed out his suit and smiled. "I'm Hibiki Lates, I'm from Blue Pegasus." He introduced himself,holding out his hand, I shook it and nodded to him, "I already know who you are, Master Bob sent me to give you something before you left, he didn't want to worry about you getting lost on the way to Magnolia, so he had me prepare this with my Archive Magic!" He told me, waving a hand that materialized the closest thing to a computer I'd seen since I was reborn into this universe. He quickly brought up whatever he was talking about on his floating screen, a map, much like the one I had in my requip space, which I pulled out to show to him.

"I've already got a map, Hibiki, thank you for the offer though." I said sincerely, he shook his head at me though, making me raise an eyebrow.

"No, this is different, you see with my Archive Magic, I can download the map into your head so you can follow the best path to Magnolia, that's where you're going right?" I nodded confusedly at him, and he smiled even wider. "Perfect! I've got two versions of it here, one that will take you straight to Oshibana so you can take the train, with instructions to Shirotsume so you can spend the night in a town, and another that will take you to Magnolia by foot if you'd rather not ride a train." I blinked in surprise, this boy seemed incredibly eager to please, and to be honest, I didn't really have all that much money on me in the first place, I had enough for a week of food when what I had ran out or spoiled, but probably not enough for a train ticket to Magnolia.

I 'hmm'd in thought, looking at the Archive Map then mine, Magnolia was 150 miles away from here, I could manage that in just under a week if I pushed it, I had to pass through Oshibana no matter what, I could cut my trip down a bit if I bought a ticket to Onibus then walked the twelve or thirteen miles to Magnolia.

Nodding to myself, I looked up at Hibiki with a smile, "Gimme the map to Magnolia, I'll walk to Oshibana then take a train to Onibus if I don't have enough jewel to ride the train that far." Hibiki nodded so fast I was afraid his head might fall off as he tapped a few keys then swung his hand towards me.

Having knowledge downloaded into your brain is… odd. Not wholly unpleasant, but not exactly fun either. It felt kinda like someone poured water on your head, but instead of running down your neck, it all goes through your ears and is soaked up by your brain.

Like I said, it's weird.

"There ya go!" Hibiki said excitedly just as I felt the knowledge become full in my brain, I could almost hear a GPS voice telling me exactly how far it took to go to Shirotsume town, like magical Mapquest. "I better get back to Master Bob, good luck on your journey! Be safe, Helio!" He yelled over his shoulder, already sprinting back to his guild.

I shrugged at his eagerness to help then get away from me, and turned back towards the road, walking out of town and leaving the sound of humanity behind, Shirotsume was my next destination, exactly 43 miles away, and I'd be there in exactly-

This was going to get annoying.

August 30th, x775 Shirotsume

I walked slowly into Shirotsume, the map in my head was still annoying me, constantly pinging the fact I needed to turn around to continue on my way to Oshibana, and it was driving me absolutely insane!

'If this goddamn map doesn't shut the fuck up I'm gonna walk back to Blue Pegasus just to kill Hibiki.'

Suddenly the annoying pressure stopped, simply leaving the directions in my head to be followed at my own will, I felt my eye twitch. "ALL I HAD TO DO WAS THREATEN HIM TO MAKE YOU SHUT UP?!" The people who'd heard me looked at me funny, some warily, before continuing on their way, and I had to choke back a growl. The next time I saw Hibiki Lates, I was going to punch him into the fucking stratosphere.

I forced a polite smile on my face as I continued my way into town, stopping over just long enough to sell the pelt and antlers I'd collected from the deer I'd killed so I could have some meat to keep me from getting weak on my way to Magnolia. He even threw in a bag of magical ice to ensure it didn't go bad inside my requip space, which was nice of him. That would explain why all the meat from home was spoiled, which had forced me to hunt the deer in the first place. I couldn't exactly live healthily off of carrots, celery and rice.

I was feeling much less angry as I left Shirotsume, not paying any mind to the people who edged away from me, they must've heard my perfectly reasonable reaction to learning how to shut up the magical GPS in my head.

I might have to hunt down a whole herd of deer to afford a trip to Magnolia, because at this rate, I might actually go insane.

Oshibana is exactly 49.992 mi-

Godfuckingdammit

August 31st, x775 approximately 25 miles from Shirotsume

The roads so far had been empty of people walking, the occasional carriage or magic mobile would come rattling by every now and then, but all and all, my journey had been a quiet one so far. I'd honestly expected trouble at some poin-

"Well well boys, look what we got here."

Fuck you Murphy. Fuck. You.

"Looks like a little kid who don't know how much trouble he's in." A high reedy voice said walking out of the trees. A group of six bandits, all non-mages I assumed from the lack of magic energy coming from themselves or their weapons, walked out of the treeline, and I cursed myself for my inattention.

"Think we can ransom him off to his parents, boss?" A tall bandit asked, he looked like the stereotypical dumb mook I vaguely remembered from movies I watched in my first life. "He'll probably get us a pretty penny." His laugh was deep and slow, as if he had to consciously think about how to perform the action.

A shorter one came forward, wearing a ratty old tunic that had a frying pan of all things strapped to his shoulder along with some other assorted scrap metal on a bandolier. "I reckon we could use him as a slave if they don't car-" He was cut off by my fist burying itself in his face.

"Talking isn't a free action." I said as I let my magic charge in my hands, jumping at the tall dumb one. "Flare Punch!" He stumbled back, and I kicked him in the back of the knee, knocking him out with a Flare Punch to the temple. I jumped out of the way of a staff with a knife taped to it, stomping where the two weapons met and breaking the knife's blade as it buried itself in the dirt. I took advantage of his shocked disbelief to punch him in the stomach, burning a hole in his shirt and probably giving him first degree burns and he fell down cradling his middle, muttering expletives.

The next one actually had a real sword at least, he looked like he was in his early twenties, covered in dirt I couldn't tell if his hair was brown or if his hygiene was just that bad. I moved slightly as he stabbed at me, giving me an opening to punch his elbow, making him lose the sword before I punched him in the stomach, then kicked him in the head to knock him out.

The last two actually bothered to double team me, but they got in each other's way more than anything, one of them using a rusty old rapier, and the other one holding a war axe. I dodged their strikes and made them get tangled up in one another before I knocked them both out by knocking their heads together to send them to the ground then kicking them in the head.

I rolled my eyes at their idiocy, requipping out some rope to bind their hands together. How the hell did these guys exist for any length of time if they were that incompetent? Was I just too used to sparring with the monks that actually had skill, or were these guys just terrible?

"-Client said that the bandits were usually along this stretch of- Oh hey, they've already been taken out." A voice said as I was musing over the bandits' lack of even basic competence while I tied their hands together, I looked up at them, cautious of what the three people across from me could possibly want.

One of the men was a wearing a blue long sleeved shirt and white pants, he had black eyes, his hair was purple and there was stubble growing on his chin.

The second man had the most ridiculous looking pompadour I'd ever seen, he was wearing a tan leather coat, orange shirt and a pair of black jeans, he also wore shades and had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

The last one was slightly shorter than I was, her hair in a high ponytail, and she was wearing an orange checkered sundress, her eyes were violet, looking between me and the bandits curiously as she absently played with a small deck of cards.

"Uh, hi?" I said awkwardly, waving at them with a lost expression. The purple haired guy finally spoke, thankfully breaking me from the awkwardness.

"Did you take these guys down yourself?" He asked me, his eyes had a glint of appreciation in them, I just shrugged.

"It wasn't that hard honestly, they were kinda stupid." He looked down at them and his eyes darkened as he looked them over.

"These aren't the bandits we were sent after." He said flatly, looking them over, "They look like they just decided to play bandit and chose near an actual successful bandit hideout to do it."

"Yep, and we're glad you took them out for us kid, saved us a whole lot of trouble." A sinister voice said from the trees, causing the four of us to look towards it while I inwardly groaned at my complete lack of situational awareness..

This group of bandits certainly looked like they were bandits, and not the stupid kind either, the lead one, who I assumed was the leader, wore a set of leather armor that looked like it might have been tougher than what the guy I'd fought outside the temple had been wearing. His black hair was in a high ponytail and his blue eyes had a glint of cruelty in them as he looked over the four of us, lingering longer over the girl than any of us, twirling a sword that I could feel magic coming from in waves.

The two flanking him however were dressed in brown robes, their hoods hiding their features and their hands held in what I recognized as a ready position for casting ranged spells, I could feel magic power rolling from them like ripples in a lake, they weren't incredibly powerful, but they were definitely mages.

The final two behind them were twins and had heavier armor on that looked like some sort of steel plating, claymores held in their hands like I would hold a butter knife, they were taller than either of the two men with us, a whole chest, shoulders, and head taller, but didn't have a lick of magical power in them. Their brown eyes held the same cruelty that their leader's did, the two of them cracking their necks in anticipation.

"So, if you'd so kindly hand over the kids, your valuables, and the idiots who tried to use our reputation to make some quick cash, we'll let you two leave here alive." I felt magic power begin to roll off the two men with us as their faces hardened and they activated their magic, purple flames rolling around the purple haired guy's hands, and smoke forming in a cloud around the other guy's as the girl with them pulled three cards from her deck and put the rest in her bag.

I felt a jolt of realization as I suddenly knew who the three mages I'd run into were, before I smiled hungrily and let my hands light up as I prepared a spell.

I must have Main Character Syndrome to have run into Macao, Wakaba and Cana, but I sure as hell wasn't complaining.

Their leader looked at us in disdain as his sword suddenly caught fire, "We were being so generous too."

"Flare!" The balls of pure sunlight left both of my hands, flying towards their leader, who stepped out of the way and let them harmlessly impact the twins' armor. I growled in annoyance before forcing the emotion down and focusing on the fight.

"Purple Wave," called out Macao, the flames going towards them in a horizontal wave, that their leader cut through with his sword and let the two mages behind him take on the nose, knocking them both into the twins who were now pushing them behind them as they charged Macao and Wakaba respectively. "Crap, you kids be careful, okay?" He said hurriedly before having to lean backwards lest he lose his torso.

"Smoke Crush!" Wakaba yelled, the smoke around his cigarette solidifying into a fist that punched his opponent in his unprotected face, giving him time to make some distance between the two of them as three tendrils of smoke solidified and wrapped around one of his opponent's ankles, yanking him off balance and giving him the chance to smack him in the back of the head with another Smoke Crush that sent him into the dirt.

Unfortunately, this only served to annoy the man as he stood up and swung his claymore at Wakaba, cutting his cigarette off right in front of his lips and also relieving him of a few inches of his pompadour.

"Earth Fist." The hooded man that seemed to have chosen me as an opponent said blankly, a magic circle appearing in front of him before it formed into a hand as large as I was, rocketing towards me. I 'eeped' and dove out of the way, my hands lighting up as I caught myself in a roll.

"Flare!" The balls of sunlight this time were faster than before, my adrenaline fueling my magic power as much as my body, slamming into my opponent with the force of a gunshot and burning the clothing around its impact, He staggered for a moment and patted out the flames, giving me time to close the distance on him. My hands were already lighting up for a Flare Punch, before I heard him mutter something and suddenly I was caught in a hand made of earth that was slowly compressing me.

"Don't bother struggling child, my Earth Fist is unbreakable by one as young as you." His voice held a tone of mocking that I endeavored to make him regret. "Just relax, it'll all be over soon." I growled, my body glowing intensely as I collected the sunlight around me, focusing it all into my hand, pressed palm first against the fist.

"Solar Beam" I said faintly, the beam of collected light burning through the dirt and rock binding me and slamming into my opponent, also sending him through a tree and laying him out against a second one. His hand fell apart when he lost his concentration, so I fell to the ground gasping for breath, a short application of Solar Power, and I was ready to go again, if a little winded.

Macao and Wakaba had finished the twins and were now double teaming the leader, who had a harried expression on his face as he sliced through Wakaba's smoke only to be hit by Macao's fire. His hair had fallen out of its ponytail, and he looked as if he was on the verge of going insane.

Cana however, was still fighting her opponent, cards flashing towards him as she barely dodged a wave of water. "Summoned Lightning!" She called out, the bolts flying towards him only to dissipate against the water attacking her, which then sent her backwards.

"Foolish girl," He said arrogantly, "I use pure water specifically to defeat lightning mages far better than what your silly little cards can accomplish." Cana stood, pulling more cards silently as she panted slightly, "I've had my fun, but it looks as though my leader needs help, so now you must die."

"Flare Punch!" I slammed into his side, not so much burning as melting his robes as I impacted him, sending him tumbling down the road with second degree burns on his side. He howled in agony, standing shakily, only to be finished by Cana.

"Prayer's Fountain!" The attack slammed into the unbalanced mage and put him down for the count. I looked at Cana with a grin as she panted slightly, she grinned back through her exhaustion as we turned to see Macao rip the sword from the leader's hands with his magic, Wakaba knocking him out with a fist shaped smoke cloud.

"Thank you," Cana said quietly, holding her right arm shyly. I smiled at her and shrugged.

"No problem, I'm sure you would've done the same." She smiled back at me and nodded. "Helio Dart by the way." I introduced myself, hand out in greeting, she took it as she introduced herself.

"Cana Alberona." She looked at me curiously, "What type of magic was that? I've never seen it before."

"You wouldn't have, I use a Lost Magic, Sun Magic." I said proudly, "You use Card Magic, right?" I asked despite knowing the answer. Cana nodded, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Yep! I still have a lot to learn though, so Macao and Wakaba," She pointed at both of them respectively, "have been taking me on jobs with them so I can practice." I nodded as I requipped out another length of rope, tying the mage's hands together before dragging him with me to Macao and Wakaba, who were pulling what I assumed were magic nullifying cuffs out of their pockets and placing them on the other mage.

"That sounds fun," I smiled at her, tying the twins' hands together, before looking at them and deciding on hogtying them instead so they had a harder time breaking out. "I guess you're part of a guild then?" I hated asking questions like this, since I obviously knew the answer, but Cana nodded excitedly, and I didn't really care that much anymore.

She was so fucking adorable.

"Yep!" She said happily, "I'm part of Fairy Tail!" She went to pull up her dress and froze for a moment before laughing nervously, "I guess I shouldn't have my guild mark on my stomach if I'm going to be wearing a dress…"

"Thanks for the help kid," Macao said as he came over, a carefree smile on his face, "Name's Macao Conbolt, member of the Fairy Tail Guild. Nice to meet ya." He thrust out a hand which I gladly took, shaking it firmly.

"Helio Dart, sir. It's an honor to meet Fairy Tail wizards!" I said excitedly, I couldn't help my excitement, a few days ago I might have been subdued about it, but my inner fanboy would not be held back now.

"Careful there kid," Wakaba said teasingly, "Don't wanna get old Macao's head anymore inflated than it already is with all this "It's an honor" talk." He laughed, "I'm Wakaba Mine, good work dealing with that mage, and thanks for helping lil' Cana out like you did." Cana's face lit up in a blush and I rubbed the back of my head nervously.

"It was no problem, anyone else would have done the same." Macao smiled at me as Wakaba turned away to pull out a communications lacrima, probably calling the Rune Knights then. "I was actually headed towards Magnolia." I said excitedly, Macao raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, you looking to join up?" He asked, I couldn't help but nod like a bobblehead, I probably could have helped the excited jumping, but I really didn't care at that point. "Well, why don't you come back with us? I'm sure Cana would like having a friend that doesn't strip all the time." If I didn't already know about Gray Fullbuster, I probably would have been shocked, but it would appear he was already a member of Fairy Tail at this point, good to know.

"...Um, okay then." I said instead, the habit was probably exaggerated by the anime and manga anyways, so I'm sure it wasn't that bad. "When can we leave?" I asked him, feeling my body shake slightly in excitement. Macao laughed at my expression, ruffling my hair.

"As soon as the Rune Knights take these guys off our hands," he looked at both groups of bandits, "They'll probably have to split them up since most of these guys don't use magic." Macao shrugged, "Eh, it's not our problem, hey Wakaba! When are the Knights gonna get here?"

"They said an hour or so!"

Macao nodded, "There's your answer then kid, why don't you and Cana get to know each other better, we'll keep an eye on these guys." I was suddenly grabbed by the hand and yanked a little ways away by an excited little girl.

'Well, this trip suddenly got a lot shorter, and I'm definitely not complaining,' I thought happily to myself as Cana and I started talking about ourselves, and Cana regaled me with tales of her guildmates. 'This is gonna be awesome! I can't wait to get to Fairy Tail!'

Magnolia is approximately 72.9 mile-

Goddamnit Hibiki!

Chapter Text

September 1st, Magnolia

'You have arrived at your destination.'

"Finally! Screw you magical map!" I shouted exuberantly as we stepped off the train, the other three wizards giving me odd looks along with the rest of the platform. I smiled sheepishly at them, rubbing the back of my head. "Eh, heh heh, I got a map magically downloaded into my head by a Blue Pegasus mage, it's been bugging me since I left that town." I explained, the three nodded as we made our way into town.

The trip to Magnolia was surprisingly fun, Cana was a great conversation partner after I finally managed to talk her and the others out of splitting their reward with me. She told me rather excitedly about Fairy Tail and its members. She seemed to take particular joy in telling stories about Macao and Wakaba, especially embarrassing ones that made them shout in indignation when we both ended up cracking up laughing at them. I smiled as we left the train station, Macao and Wakaba sulking slightly as Cana finished telling another embarrassing tale about them before they perked up as a few women waved happily at them while others glared menacingly. One in particular though looked like she couldn't decide which one she wanted to castrate with a trowel first. I winced at the heat of her glare as her grip crushed the trowel's wooden handle.

"What did you two do to her?" I asked curiously, my eyebrows raised in morbid curiosity. Macao and Wakaba smiled smugly as they fist bumped one another.

"What didn't we do to her is more like it!" They said with a laugh, Cana looked confused and I simply narrowed my eyes at them.

"I know exactly what you mean by that." Wakaba laughed harder as Macao blanched.

"What do they mean, Helio?" Cana asked curiously, I suddenly froze myself.

Nope. I was not giving a nine year old Cana Alberona the Talk.

"You'll learn when you're older, Cana. Come on, show me how to get to the guild!" I said in an attempt to change the subject, luckily it worked on her if not on our older companions who were laughing at my awkwardness.

The Fairy Tail guild hall was a thing of beauty to me, and I couldn't help but stare at it in pure awe, then again it could be that little tavern from the timeskip and I would still be awed by it, because it was Fairy Tail. It wasn't the building that enticed me, it was the people.

"It ain't much, but it's home." Macao said contently from behind us, Wakaba making a noise in agreement as I suddenly stared at the doors apprehensively. Cana gave me an encouraging look and lightly pushed my shoulder, I took a fortifying breath and nodded to myself.

Fairy Tail would make me stronger, and I would make it stronger in return, I had to get stronger so I could defend my new friends, and maybe one day, my new family.

This was the place I had been working towards since I learned which world I was in. This was the culmination of everything I had been through so far, every injury, tragedy, and happy memory had led me to this moment. I just had to walk through those doors.

I wouldn't be forced to run away again.

I put my hands against the doors and pushed them open, being treated to my first sight of the Fairy Tail guild.

It was rather sedate actually, I guess it wasn't always rowdy until more of the kids of our generation cough Natsu cough got here. There were people gathered in their own little groups at tables, talking and drinking, some of them leaned over to other tables to interject and some were crowding around the job board.

And there sitting on the bar in a red robe and silly hat was the man I was looking for.

Makarov Dreyar, the Third Master of Fairy Tail.

"Well what are you waiting for?" Macao said, lightly pushing my shoulder towards the bar, "the Master is on the bar, he'll let you in, don't worry." He looked down to Cana who'd been watching me with an amused look on her face, "Cana, why don't you take him over there?" Cana nodded and grabbed my hand and began dragging me towards the bar.

"You don't need to yank my arm off Cana!" I said as she pulled me through the crowd, I saw someone who I vaguely recognized as Reedus I think, and before I knew it, I was standing in front of Master Makarov. Cana pushed me in front of her and nodded encouragingly as Master Makarov looked down at me with a curious glint in his eye.

"Hello there child, what brings you to Fairy Tail today?" I gulped slightly, he may have been like two feet tall, but Master Makarov had a presence. I had to take a fortifying breath before I could even think clearly.

"I would like to join Fairy Tail sir." I said quietly, he looked at me seriously for a few more moments before he broke out in a full grin and the presence evaporated away allowing me to take a deep breath.

"Well, I can take care of that!" He said happily, stretching his arm behind the bar to grab a box that held a magic stamper. "I'm Makarov Dreyar, the Third Master of Fairy Tail, what's your name kid?"

"I'm Helio Dart sir, it's nice to meet you." I said happily, he nodded and held up the stamper.

"Where do you want your guild mark then?"

"J-just like that?" I asked in a daze, I'd expected some form of questioning at least! I had put Lucy's easy entry down to Natsu bringing her and Juvia had the support of team Natsu plus the Master being a pervert, there's no way it was this easy in reality! It couldn't be!

"Just like that Helio, just like that." Makarov said happily, "We get wizards from all walks of life here, what type of person would I be if I turned them away on an arbitrary interview, hmm?" He asked rhetorically, I stared at him in stunned fascination before doing my best to stop looking like a fool. "Now, I'll ask again, where do you want your guild mark, Helio?"

I paused in thought, I needed it somewhere visible but also easily concealable if I had to go incognito, I thought for a moment longer before rolling up my shirt sleeve, baring my left shoulder to him. He nodded, "Alright then, just think about what color you want it in, and the magic will take care of the rest." I nodded, thinking of how I wanted my mark, I vaguely remembered someone having a two tone mark so I concentrated on that as the stamper was pressed to my shoulder. "There ya go Helio! Welcome to Fairy Tail!" I smiled widely, looking down at my new guild mark, the mark was orange with a black outline, it was amazing.

It was mine.

"Thank you Master Makarov!" I said excitedly, he simply waved it off.

"It is no problem, child. We here at Fairy Tail always welcome new members to our family." He said wisely, before reaching for his mug and chugging down the contents of it, thoroughly ruining the image. "Now go on, go meet your new family Helio!" I nodded excitedly at him, turning towards a similarly excited Cana, and a smiling Macao and Wakaba. I bared my newly marked shoulder to them, smiling widely.

"It looks good on you, Helio." Macao said, his arms crossed, nodding at my new mark.

"Welcome to the guild, Helio, you'll love it here!" Wakaba said around his cigarette, puffing out a smoke ring before giving a two fingered salute and disappearing into the crowd with Macao right behind him.

"Come on, I've got to introduce you to everyone!" Cana said suddenly, dragging me around the guild, telling me the names of other wizards and then running off before I could remember most of them, I only really caught Enno, Reedus, Wan, and a couple of others before I found myself at a table with Cana and a kid who was currently pulling his shirt off.

He was a little shorter than I was, probably a year or so younger than me if I had to guess, with black hair and a cold indifference to what was going on around him. I recognized him almost instantly, but Cana's introduction only confirmed my suspicion.

"And this is Gray, he's the only other one our age in the guild." Gray suddenly started taking his pants off, "He also strips without noticing." She said, pinching her nose. Gray suddenly looked down, noticing his pants were halfway off.

"Dangit! Why does this keep happening to me?!" He yelled, pulling his pants back up and grabbing his shirt off the floor. He turned to me with an annoyed stare as he pulled his shirt over his head, "Yeah I'm Gray, what do you want?" I smiled, extending a hand towards him, he reluctantly took it.

"I'm Helio Dart, I just joined, it's nice to meet you Gray!" I said happily, if I was any older I guarantee I'd be falling over in exhaustion the way I was being dragged around, but right now I just felt like an endless font of it, and meeting Gray Fullbuster only made it worse.

"Whatever," Gray said, crossing his arms over his bare tor-

"Where did your clothes go?!" I asked incredulously, somehow in the time it took for me to introduce myself, he'd lost his shirt and pants. I had thought it was an overexaggerated character trait, not an actual thing! Beside me, Cana sighed in exasperation.

"He does this all the time." She said, her tone laced with fond annoyance. She looked under the table, before popping up with his shirt. "Here, try to keep it on this time." Cana's tone projected just how little hope she had of that happening. She turned back to me, smiling once again.

"Welcome to our crazy family Helio, it's nice to have someone else our age here." She said sincerely, I smiled widely in response.

"I'm glad to be here, Cana!" I plopped down at the table next to us, Gray already back to ignoring the two of us as frost began wafting through his clasped hands, a look of intense concentration on his face. I froze for a moment as I realized something I should have thought of beforehand.

I had no place to stay, and I had nowhere near enough money to rent a room, if I could even find somewhere that would take business from an unaccompanied minor. I sighed and leaned forward into the table, banging my head against it a few times for my stupidity.

Man, this is a really fucking hard table, surprising considering how one gets broken like a toothpick basically every time we see the guild.

"What's his problem?" I heard Gray ask annoyedly, clearly he didn't like that my realization had interrupted whatever it was he was doing.

"Helio?" Cana's voice grabbed me from my self inflicted pain. "Why are you banging your head against the table?"

"I suck at planning." I said into the wood, not raising my head from its position. "I made a plan to get here and join the guild, but past that, nothing." I lightly banged my head against the table for good measure.

"Considering how you ended up here, I think you can be forgiven…" Cana said slowly, I sighed.

"How'd he end up here?" Gray asked, curiosity shining through.

"I don't wanna talk about it right now, okay?" I said flatly, the last few days had helped me a little, but time to think about it and grieve or not, it had only been a week since my entire life had been uprooted. I think I was owed just a little bit of privacy. Gray crossed his arms and looked away, a scowl on his face.

"Yeah, whatever."

Cana seemed to be the most mature of the two, as she simply laid a hand on my shoulder and gave me a sad nod. I gave her a small smile and went back to staring into space, hoping to figure out my living situation.

"I know a place you can stay, Helio." Cana spoke up a few minutes later, breaking me from my thoughts. I gave her a curious look and cocked my head to the side.

"You do?" Cana nodded happily.

"Yeah, come on, I'll show you!" And once again we were off, Cana leading the way out of the guildhall and me being dragged by the arm struggling to keep up. From what I could just barely make out over the tops of the buildings, we were headed in the same general direction as the cathedral.

"Cana, where are we going?!" I asked incredulously as it began to feel like my arm was being pulled out of its socket.

"The church nearby runs an orphanage, it's where Gray and I sleep, we're going to go ask if you can stay there too!" I slowed for a second and had to speed back up as my arm was almost torn off by an overeager nine year old.

"Thanks Cana, I didn't really have much of a plan, to be honest." I said earnestly, Cana just gave me a smile as we turned a corner.

"It's no problem Helio, it'll be nice to have someone else to talk too, Macao and Wakaba are nice, but they're old, and Gray's…"

"Gray?" I offered, Cana giggled and nodded.

"Exactly!" I smiled, Cana was a regular ray of sunshine, it seemed. As she was about to speak again though, we finally reached the church she was talking about. It was a simple, stone built affair, something that would be expected of a church. "Come on, Father Brock's in here!"

I suddenly felt a bunch of nerves, but shook them off. I knew my thoughts of being booted out because I was a wizard or previously belonged to a group of sun worshippers had to be exaggerated; for one thing, wizards and religion both still existed, and Cana and Gray lived here, so they couldn't be all bad.

"Father Brock! Father Brock!" Cana called out excitedly, running towards a backroom behind the pulpit. I ran after her, thankful for Master Flare's hellish training allowing me to keep this sort of pace for so long. I don't think I've walked since we left Fairy Tail.

"Calm down, child, I'm coming, I'm coming." An elderly voice called as the door opened, he was dressed in a very colorful bishop's attire, he looked down at us with a patient smile, "Cana, who's your friend here?" Cana smiled and pushed me forwards as I smiled nervously, it was one thing to be the lonely orphan that was simply passing through, or to be the new kid and have no one know of your past, but asking for aid from the local church for a place to stay had my heart beating out of my chest.

"This is Helio Dart! He's the newest member of Fairy Tail, Father Brock!" Cana's tone dipped low, "He's alone, like me and Gray, can he stay here?" Cana asked in a surprisingly meek tone. On instinct, I was already placing an arm on her shoulder, understanding passing between us.

Gildarts is definitely learning about Cana when I meet him.

Seriously, sad Cana hurts my heart.

Father Brock gently pat Cana's head while looking me over, as if judging me.

He might not have a drop of magic in him, but Father Brock almost rivals Master Makarov's stare. It felt as though I was being put under a microscope and judged for every minor sin I'd ever committed.

Then the smile returned, and the kindly old man was back. "Of course he can Cana, show him where the boys sleep, we always have empty beds for those in need." Father Brock looked over at me as he spoke, "You will always be welcome here, Helio, it would go against all morals to let a child sleep on the streets." I smiled at him, my sight going misty.

"Thank you Father." Father Brock smiled and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"I am simply doing unto others as I would have done unto me, Helio." His smile gained a slight smirk, "All I ask is that you return here by ten every night as that is when I lock the gate. If you were to attend Sunday services every now and again, you wouldn't be remiss either." I nodded at him.

"I'll try my best Father." I might not be a religious man, but I could attend a sermon every now and again as thanks for taking me in.

Crap, I'd need to add dress slacks and shirt to the list of stuff I'll need to save up for, won't I?

"Come on, I'll show you to the boys room." Cana said, her tone still somewhat subdued from earlier. I smiled at her in thanks, placing an arm around her shoulders and giving her a hug in thanks. She gave a half smile in return, and I simply hugged her again.

The rooms were communal, much like one would expect from a small orphanage, and the boys were mostly alright. They had an odd sort of almost hero worship once they saw my guild mark, and I was more than happy for Cana to drag me out under the pretense of showing me the rest of Magnolia.

"Are they always…" I tried to fish for a word that wasn't rude, but Cana spoke before I could.

"Creepy?" I nodded, pointing at her, Cana smiled, "They'll get better, just give them a few days, or hang around Gray." She snickered, "They dropped their hero worship of him real quick once he started stripping." I laughed along with her.

Cana showed me the way back to the guild at a much slower pace this time, pointing out stores and restaurants along the way, and talking about the jobs she'd been on as we entered the Guild.

"You can only go on out of town missions solo if you're ten or older, but they have to be day jobs and the Master has to personally approve of it, otherwise you have to take an older member with you." Cana explained, "And so far Macao and Wakaba are the only two wizards with enough time on their hands to take me on one."

"Are you calling us lazy?!" Macao and Wakaba's voices echoed over the din of the guild hall, Cana giggled at them.

"Anyways, because of that I'm mainly stuck doing small jobs around town, like telling fortunes, walking dogs, or picking magical plants in the forest. It's pretty boring honestly, but the pay is good enough." I nodded along with her.

"It sucks, but it makes sense, I guess. Master Makarov doesn't want us to go get in over our heads before we're mature enough or powerful enough to work on our own." I shrugged, "It'll be nice to have some backup until I'm capable of standing on my own." I knew I could be powerful, heck, for my age I was powerful, but powerful for a ten year old is a lot different from powerful for an adult, or even a teenager. "Magic power growth is slow at our age, unless you were born with it." Or a dragon slayer, I would assume, if only because they seemed to break the rules of magic just by existing. Cana nodded along, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Maybe… still sucks though." I snorted.

"You're not wrong, Cana, you're not wrong." I sighed lightly and looked over at the board next to the bar, "Although I am curious about what's on the board that I could take." I began walking that way, Cana following behind me.

"Just remember what I said about the rules." Cana said, I nodded absentmindedly.

"Dog walking, plant picking, babysitting?" I looked over at Cana with an incredulous expression, "What's with these jobs? I get that some plants require a wizard's touch,but really?" A giggle from the bar broke me from surprise.

"Yeah, people will hire a guild to do just about anything, if you want the exciting stuff you have to show up early or be an S-Class Mage like Gildarts." A purple haired woman said, dancing on the bar. She smiled, "Maybe you'll get there someday kid, name's Enno." She then went back to dancing, I smiled at her. I noticed Cana looking sullen for a moment out of the corner of my eye, I looked at her, but she quickly smiled again.

That whole Gildarts thing must really be messing with her, huh?

I looked back at the board, before noticing the time, and decided I'd worry more about that tomorrow. Today I had joined the Fairy Tail guild, and I wanted to milk that elation for as much as it was worth.

I suddenly yawned, feeling the near endless energy seep out of me.

Guess I wouldn't be doing that for much longer either.

Still, today was a big day, a culmination of the dream I'd had since I realized just where I'd been reborn in, and I couldn't wait to experience more.

Chapter Text

September 2nd, x775 Magnolia Town Orphanage

"AH-mpph!" I shot up in bed, barely covering my mouth in time as I did so. I looked around frantically, phantom faces glaring at me accusingly as I shook the last vestiges of sleep from my head before thanking whoever was listening that I didn't wake anybody up. Without even looking towards the window I knew the sun was just beginning to brighten the sky, so I carefully pulled myself out of the bed and began my morning routine.

Hoping Father Brock wouldn't consider it blasphemy, I climbed through the window and began my morning with meditation in the rays of the rising sun, allowing it to bathe me in one of the last warm days of the year before the chill began rolling in. I did my katas as well, working a little harder than usual to make up for my more lax routine the last few days before finally climbing back into the boys' room and freshening up to face the day.

As I was leaving the bathroom I bumped into Father Brock, nodding at him as I headed towards the church's entrance.

"You're up early, Helio." Father Brock noted placidly, I nodded again.

"It's part of my magic, Father. I always wake up at dawn." He 'hmmm'd' as he began dusting a statuette of Jesus. How the hell did Jesus work around here, anyways? I'd have to crack open an Earthland Bible at some point.

"Yet I heard a loud noise for just a moment from the direction of the boy's dorms." He said as if commenting on the weather. I flinched slightly, but really I should have known somebody would hear it.

"I'm not ready to talk about it Father, not yet.." He nodded at me, an understanding look on his face.

"Of course my child, I won't force you." He turned back to his duties before speaking again. "The kitchen is down the hall, if you're hungry." I nodded, despite him not being able to see it.

"Thank you Father Brock, but I was planning on eating at the guild, I've got to get there early to get my first job." Father Brock 'hmm'd' again.

"Then don't let me keep you, have a good day, Helio."

"You too Father Brock! If Cana or Gray ask, can you tell them where I went?" He nodded without speaking, "Thank you!" With that, I ran out the door and began my walk to the guild.

I didn't really get the best chance to admire it yesterday, with my excitement over joining the guild, then being dragged around by Cana, but Magnolia was beautiful. It was an odd mishmash of medieval and almost modern architecture from my first life, but it made it work. The people in the market were just setting up their stalls and opening for the day as I passed through, and waved at me as I smiled back, it was like Sun's Valley but a hundred times larger. I had expected more of a bigger city feel, but considering my village had five hundred people living in it at most, I suppose fifty thousand wasn't that much more in the grand scheme of things.

It didn't take me long to arrive at the guild just as an older man in a stereotypical chef's attire was unlocking the door, a bleary eyed Makarov holding a large pile of papers next to him.

"Good morning Master!" I said happily, Makarov blinked a few times before answering.

"Oh, good morning Helio, you're certainly up early." He half spoke, half mumbled. "Hoping to get a good job before anybody else gets them, I take it?" I nodded.

"Yep! I want to see what all I can take before choosing one, no offense to them, but dog walking just doesn't sound like a mage's job, and I think I'm a bit young for people to trust me babysitting for them."

"Don't worry kid, it's not just the fighting jobs that pay well, I'll show ya what I mean when I get set up." The big man said as he opened the door. The Master stumbled his way to the request board, using his magic to cover every inch of the board in requests. I noticed a slight pattern as he did it, the monster subjugation and dark guild assault requests were tacked at the top, followed by retrieval and bandit removal, then pest control and finally the non combat requests below that. With a jaw cracking yawn, Master Makarov made his way back to the bar where a cup of coffee as big as the Master himself was already sitting.

I stopped paying much attention after that, reading over the jobs. Obviously I wasn't ready for the stuff near the top, and I doubt Master Makarov would let me take them anyways, so I mentally crossed those out and focused on the lower end of the board.

'Lost and Found, Search and Rescue, Plant Retrieval, Escort, Pest Control…'

'Pest control?' I thought to myself, looking over the request.

PEST CONTROL

RANK: D

I recently bought an old building in Magnolia Town for a steal, only to learn its basement is infested by giant rats! Please clear them out, and I will pay you most handsomely for the work!

PLACED BY: Joey Gant

REWARD: 50,000 JEWEL

Oh my god, it was literally the first quest in an RPG, I couldn't not take it.

"Decided on a job yet?" The man from earlier asked, I turned around and nodded my head at the request I was eyeing. "Pest Control, eh? Not bad for a first job, giant rats deserve to be eliminated." He shuddered, "Were are my manners? I haven't introduced myself, name's Genkei, Genkei Shingen, I'm the chef around here." He pointed at a request at the bottom of the board, drawing my attention to it. "That's one of the well paying non combat jobs I was talking about."

MAGIC SHOP ASSISTANCE

RANK: E (NON-COMBAT)

I'm the owner of the most successful magic shop in Magnolia, Magic of Magnolia (est. x750), and if you've worked for me before you know what this request is about.

Despite being the owner of Magnolia's best magic shop, I am sadly not a wizard, so I must rely on the wonderful members of Fairy Tail to charge some lacrima and keep some of my demonstration devices topped up. Stop by before or during regular business hours (Weekdays 7-5, Weekends 8-3) and I'll pay you handsomely for your service!

PLACED BY: Colin Valentine Farrington

REWARD: 30,000 JEWEL

"He's a pompous little man, but pays well, and tends to give younger members of Fairy Tail old stock if you do well. Just make sure you have good control of your magic if you do it." He winced, "Laxus took one of those jobs a while back and blew up a couple of items, almost made Mr. Farrington start choosing other guilds." I snickered at the mental image of Laxus holding an exploded lacrima, covered in soot. I'd seen him yesterday as I was leaving the guild, he looked like an arrogant brat, and the thought of him sullied like that was hilarious.

"Can I take both?" I asked curiously, 80,000 jewel for my first day on the job would be sweet and get me well on my way to renting an apartment when I got a little older. Especially since one of my plans was to at least find Wendy Marvell and Edolas Jellal before Wendy ended up in Cait Shelter. I'd be in charge of at least one child in two years, and I would need to have a good amount of savings to ensure I could do so.

"You could, but do you have enough magic to do so? Fighting some giant rats," he shuddered again ", and recharging magic items will be draining. I'd recommend doing one then coming back and doing the other." I nodded at his reasoning, I had a lot of magic for a ten year old, but it would be absolutely pathetic to wear myself out refilling magic items just to get killed by giant rats, or run out of magic before I finished refilling the items.

"I'd recommend doing the same Helio." Makarov sounded much more awake now, his coffee cup making a clunk as it hit the bartop. I nodded and decided it would probably be best to do as they said, senseless recklessness would get me killed, and I planned on living a very long life. Pulling the pest control request off the board I presented it to Makarov, who nodded and marked something down in a little book he pulled from under the bar. "It's registered to you Helio, good luck on your first job!" He said cheerily, I smiled and rushed out the door around a couple of unfamiliar people who were just entering the guild.

The building I was looking for was on the edge of Magnolia, just a little ways from the East Forest. It didn't look so bad from the outside, the paint was old and peeling in places, but the brickwork looked like it'd had a good power washing recently. I walked over to the door, and considering it looked like an old hotel, I just walked in.

A weedy, nervous looking man in a suit was standing behind the counter, tapping his fingers nervously as his eyes darted towards a darkened hallway. He noticed me and clammed up for a few moments, stuttering a nervous greeting.

"H-he-hello, h-h-h-how m-ma-may I h-he-help y-you?" I heard a faint scratching noise that had him jump slightly before he smiled in a way that looked more like a grimace. "Don't m-mind th-the n-n-noise, it's s-s-simply a dog!" I raised an eyebrow and held up the job flyer, he fell forward, crying into the countertop.

"Oh thank goodness someone's here! Those rats are driving me crazy! I wanted to open my own hotel, but the previous owner neglected to mention the place had an infestation of giant rats!" He looked up at me through bloodshot eyes, looking like he hadn't slept well in days."Thank you so much for doing this for me, young man!" He reached into his coat and pulled out an old brass key, "Here, use this to unlock the basement door, I'm going to hide in case a rat gets out." With that, he darted towards the stairs, not even giving me time to introduce myself.

I blinked a couple of times before shaking my head and walking down the hallway the scratching was coming from. The basement door was at the end of it, and the noise was getting louder. With one hand already lit up and ready to attack, I stuck the key in the lock and turned the knob...

Only for a rat the size of a border collie to come bounding up the stairs the second the door began to open.

"FLARE!" The attack left my hand and slammed into the rat's face, sending it into the door frame as I slammed the door on its back half. The rat struggled for a moment, squeaking as it clawed weakly at the wound on its face before going limp. I sighed and carefully opened the door again, kicking the corpse down the stairs and fumbling around for a light switch.

Flicking it on, I could see why it was called an infestation.

There were ten of the bastards, not counting the dead one they were currently trying to eat.

He was also apparently the runt of the litter.

"Fuck this." I gathered magic in my hand, preparing an attack that could hopefully kill the bastards before they decided I looked delicious.

"Flare!" Charged more than the one I had used just a moment ago, the attack flew into the center of their scrabbling and exploded outwards, throwing them back into old rotten wood crates and the concrete walls of the basement. The rats squealed and screeched alongside the thumps that echoed through the basement, but I didn't really think I'd killed them all. Jumping down the stairs, and thanking magic for the fact it made you preternaturally durable, I ran to the nearest one and axe kicked it in the neck, before turning towards the one that had been put through a rotten crate, letting out feeble weak squeaking noises.

I didn't bother using magic on this one, simply requipping the shovel I kept on me and driving it into its neck.

A quick check with my shovel ensured that the rest of them were dead before I piled them all up in the middle of the basement before heading back up the stairs. Mr. Gant was back behind his desk, no longer shaking like a leaf, but looking rather relieved. "They're all gone then?" He asked hopefully, and I smiled at him.

"Yes sir, I left the corpses in a pile for however you wish to dispose of them." He shuddered at the thought.

"I- I'll pay you an extra ten thousand jewel just to dispose of them yourself, please?" He practically begged, "The back lot has a fire pit to use for it, if you would be so kind."

Ten thousand more just to destroy the corpses? This guy really hated dealing with these things, not that I blame him, because they're disgusting, but still, I wasn't about to turn down ten thousand jewel just to haul them out back and set them on fire.

"You've got a deal sir!" I enthusiastically agreed, he slumped forward in relief.

It didn't take but thirty minutes to haul them out of the basement and into the lot after I had used the remains of the crates I'd destroyed to haul them out like a sled, and after setting the fire and collecting my pay, I was on my way back to Fairy Tail.

I'd half expected to uncover some sort of criminal activity or an ancient evil considering how batshit this world was, but I guess sometimes a milk run is just a milk run.

Returning to Fairy Tail and confirming the job as completed with Makarov was quick, but now it was only ten thirty in the morning, I had sixty thousand jewel burning a hole in my requip space, and I was bored. I gave a quick look at the request board, hoping to find that magic shop job, but it was gone, the only E ranked jobs left were babysitting, tutoring and dog walking.

"Helio!" Came the familiar voice of Cana over the light din of the morning crowd, I turned towards her with a smile on my face. "There you are! Father Brock said you'd headed to the guild, but I didn't think you'd be here already!" I smiled sheepishly as I waved for her to follow me to the bar. I'd meant to eat breakfast before I left, but I had been a little bit excited for my first job, and now my stomach was reminding me quite forcefully that I'd not eaten since last night.

"I actually got here just as Master and Genkei were opening the guild." Cana's jaw dropped.

"That's way too early!" She said in horror, I shrugged. "How are you so upbeat at being awake so early?!"

"Easy, it's a side effect of my magic, a weird one, but a side effect nonetheless." I stopped talking to Cana to order a steak omelette and a tankard of orange juice. "The sun wakes me up every morning if I don't get up earlier." Cana looked honestly disgusted at the very idea of being up before sunrise.

Yeah, I remember those days too kid, cherish the fact you're in a guild and can set your own hours.

"Earlier?!" I laughed at her reaction.

"Yeah, I used to go to the temple in my village and meditate to the sun rising with my Master…" I stopped speaking, blinking furiously to keep the tears out of my eyes. I'd had two whole days of being a blubbery mess, I wouldn't cry here. Cana got an understanding look on her face as I stopped talking.

"So, what have you been doing since you've been here for so long?" Cana asked in a not at all subtle attempt at changing the subject. I smiled in thanks at her.

"I took my first job!" I held up the flyer for her, a proud look on my face. Cana snatched the flyer from my hand and read it before smiling at me.

"Nice work Helio! I thought your first job would have been something simpler, not pest extermination!" I smiled widely as I took the flyer back and requipped it. I might not have a place of my own to display them just yet, but I was going to keep at least my more important job requests somewhere, for nostalgia if nothing else.

"Job done Helio?" Genkei's voice pulled me from my conversation. I nodded and pulled my flyer out again, smiling like a fool as I did. He laughed as he placed my breakfast on the counter. "Good job! Any day that begins with less of those things existing is a good day in my book!" I smiled and began digging into my food.

"Thanks Genkei! This is amazing!" He ruffled my hair and moved before I could do anything other than stiffen in surprise.

"No problem Helio! Only the best for Fairy Tail!" He called back as he returned to the kitchen. I didn't answer him this time, my mind had short circuited for a moment upon his contact.

"Helio?" Cana's voice brought me out of my thoughts, and I looked at her while I went back to eating my food. She looked at me for a moment before shrugging away whatever she was thinking of and looked over at the board and back to me, a contemplative expression on her face. "Would you like to go on a job together sometime? Gray usually prefers to work alone, even if it means only doing local jobs, so it'll be nice to have someone my age to work with." I thought about it for a moment and nodded with a smile as I swallowed my last bite of omelette.

"Sure! Just let me know when, okay?" Cana nodded excitedly.

"Awesome! I don't need to take one today, that bandit job paid out 33,000 jewel between me, Macao and Wakaba, so I won't be hurting for money for a week or so, my cards and supplies aren't that expensive." She 'hmmm'd' for a moment before she spoke again, "So do you have anything else you need to do today, or are you free?" I closed my eyes in thought for a moment before shaking my head.

"As far as I know I'm free, I've already completed my meditation and martial training, so unless I wanna do magic training I'm free for the rest of the day." Without replying, Cana smiled widely and dragged me out the door, running past a tired looking Gray.

"Good! Because Gray needs to do a job today, and I would have been bored out of my mind otherwise!" She said as I was once again dragged through Magnolia.

I went with it and let Cana drag me, it had been a long time since I'd just played with someone my age after all.

Chapter Text

October 1, x775

'The last few weeks sure have flown' I thought to myself as I walked through the guild, deftly avoiding a thrown tankard as Fairy Tail devolved into a brawl.

I had gone on a few more jobs over the last few weeks, a couple more pest exterminations, some ingredient gathering with Cana and that magic shop job, but nothing exciting. I was saving up my money for the future at the moment, it was really easy to build a nest egg when your food was cheap and your room and board were free.

Well I say free, but Gray had shown me his and Cana's system for living at the orphanage; it wasn't required, but they had been sneaking around ten percent of their job money into the charity box at the orphanage ever since they'd lived there. It wasn't much, but it helped keep the lights on for Father Brock and the kids, and that was enough for us.

Still, that saved up money of mine was going to go to good use in a few years, I had plans that would need quite a bit of savings built up to ensure I didn't go bankrupt over any periods of time when I couldn't go on a job.

Clearing my thoughts, I smiled as I approached the bar, where Cana was playing around with her cards and Gray was… brooding?

That kid is way too young to be doing that.

"Did you guys hear?" A wizard who's name I hadn't learned yet asked as I sat down. At our confused looks, he smiled widely before continuing, "Gildarts will be back soon!" With that, he grabbed Gray's mug and chucked it at someone's head before disappearing into the brawl.

Gray looked somewhat excited, smiling a little for once in his life, while Cana…

Cana looked like she was going to vomit from anxiety as she quietly shook against the bar.

"You alright Cana?" I asked, wrapping a shoulder around her. She nodded and gave me a shaky smile that wouldn't have fooled a blind man.

"Y-yeah, I'm f-f-fine, w-why wouldn't I be?" She tried to say innocently, Gray and I both looked at her with a raised eyebrow. She looked away from us nervously, "I-it's nothing…" I saw Gray narrow his eyes but he didn't say anything else.

I squeezed Cana's shoulder and smiled at her, "We're your friends Cana, you know you can talk to us whenever you need to, right?" She gave me a watery smile before throwing an arm around Gray and I and pulling us into a hug. "

"You guys are the best." She said quietly, I noticed Gray quietly grumbling, but he didn't try to escape the hug. I hugged her back quietly.

'What should I do?'

'I wonder how Cana's doing', she was pretty shaken up about Gildarts coming back' I thought to myself as I walked out of the bathroom the next morning; brushing my hair out of my eyes. 'Gonna need a haircut soon…' I sighed as I rubbed my eyes before heading out the door, barely avoiding knocking into Cana…

"Cana?" I asked surprisedly, "What are you doing up this early? Are you alright?" The "You look terrible" was left implied, as I had enough sense to not say that aloud if I wanted her to speak to me for the next week.

Cana rubbed her eyes, her hair, usually kept up in a ponytail, was unkempt, and her dress was wrinkled and backwards. She looked up at me with tired eyes, blinking heavily before finally answering. "I-I wanted to see your exercises?" She said in the most unconvincing lie I'd ever heard in my life.

"Cana, it's seven thirty, I've already done my exercises." She blinked a few times, before finally balking.

"Already?!" I rolled my eyes before deciding to help my friend out, taking her by surprise as I gently grabbed her arm and led her out to the yard where we could talk without waking up anyone else, or risking anyone but Father Brock (the sneaky old man) eavesdropping.

Sitting her down against the lone tree behind the church, I looked around for anyone else before plopping down beside her and crossing my legs. "What are we doing?" Cana asked curiously as I closed my eyes.

"I'm going to meditate, if you want to, you're free to join me." I said before I began my breathing exercises, "If you don't know how, just do as I do." I murmured as I began looking inwards, feeling my magic flow through me before paying more attention to the sounds around me over going deeper.

Cana tried her best, it was obvious someone had taught her how to meditate, but it wasn't long after her breaths evened out that they became soft snores. I opened my eyes and smiled at her before beginning to actually meditate so I wouldn't disturb her.

My senses told me it had only been an hour before someone came out the door and pulled me from my meditation. I opened my eyes to see a shirtless Gray looking between us with narrowed eyes. I quickly shushed him before he spoke, pointing to Cana, "She's asleep." I warned him in a soft voice, he nodded irritably.

Or maybe that was just a normal nod, Gray always seemed irritable to me.

"What's she doing up so early?" He whispered to me, I shrugged.

"I think she had a nightmare or something, there were bags under her eyes, and they were bloodshot." Gray pinched his nose.

"She's having nightmares again?!" Gray grumbled, I looked at him with an eyebrow raised before he explained. "It's happened every now and then since I joined the guild, probably before then too. She'll wake up in the middle of the night and be real scared and sad all day afterwards. She won't tell me what's bugging her, not that I wanna know or anything!" He quickly denied, huffing slightly as I looked at him flatly. He rolled his eyes at me, "If she doesn't want us to know, we'll never know, unless you want to spy on her as she's sleeping or something."

"Maybe we cou-"

"Dad! No! Please!" Cana shouted out as she roughly awoke, her head whipping around wildly as she began to realize she was awake. I leaned over and placed a hand on her shoulder, her eyes were wild for a moment before she blinked and suddenly remembered where she was. "D-did I fall asleep?" She asked embarrassedly, I nodded. "Sorry Helio, I didn't mean too…"

"It's not a problem, Cana," I assured her before turning completely towards her. "Are you alright? That sounded like some nightmare you just had." Cana looked away for a moment, tears shining in her eyes as she thought something over.

"You can tell us anything, you know that right? Gramps isn't just spewing crap when he says the guild's a family you know." Gray cut in, his head turning away from us as he spoke. Cana looked up at the two of us, obviously conflicted before she nodded to herself.

When she spoke, it was in a sad tone, her voice wavering slightly, but it was clear that she was determined to say her piece. "My mother died when I was little, she told me to come to Magnolia and find my dad here." She shook slightly with suppressed sobs as she spoke "He's a member of Fairy Tail, and everyone loves him, but I can't tell him who I am! I'm not good enough yet!" She took a deep breath before she continued, "It's Gildarts... "

Gray did the appropriate response of jaw dropping and "Whaaaa?!" I just blinked and shrugged before standing up and holding out a hand to help Cana.

"You're taking this way too well Helio…" Cana said warily as she took my hand. I shrugged again as I pulled her up and into a hug. She melted into it as I patted her on the back, rubbing slight circles as she suppressed what sounded like a muffled sob.

"A rose doesn't decide where to grow, and a child can't choose their parents. If Gildarts is your Dad, then we should tell him. Whether you feel good enough or not. If he's as awesome as the rest of the guild thinks he is, then he'll be a great Dad, no problems whatsoever!" I was of course cheating with my knowledge of how Gildarts reacted to Cana being his child, but hopefully Gray and I could get her to tell Gildarts before she let it simmer for another nine years.

Cana shook in my arms slightly, but I couldn't tell if she was crying from the support I was giving, or fear that Gildarts would hate her. Luckily I didn't need to find out as had finally rebooted and was working again. "Yeah! Helio's right Cana! Gildarts will love you!" He sounded slightly forced, likely because Gray has trouble being anything but broody or irritable, but he at least sounded sincere enough.

"Thank you…" she whispered, just barely loud enough for either of us to hear it. She nuzzled into my shoulder and hugged me a little harder.

Cana shook again, and this time I tried to lean back to see her face, only to realize that the shaking she was doing wasn't crying, but rather snoring as she'd fallen asleep again. I looked up at Gray with a flat expression.

"I hope she remembers this, because I am not staging another one." Gray simply grumbled and stomped away.

Luckily, Cana was light, and thus I didn't need Gray to help me carry Cana back to the girls' room and after a silent point by one of the others, I had her laid out in her bed.

Deciding that Cana would probably be out for the next few hours, I scribbled out a note and placed it on the edge of her bed before I headed for the guild. I needed to try to get a concrete date on Gildarts' return, and maybe see if I couldn't find a job for Gray, Cana and I to do so we could talk about it without risking anyone overhearing.

Thankfully the walk to the guild was quick, and Master Makarov was alone on the bar, which made it easy enough to ask him about Gildarts' return without anyone but him being curious.

"He said a couple of weeks, but knowing Gildarts, it's probably safer to say it's closer to three than that. He's a bit absentminded at times, so he'll probably get lost somewhere along the way." He raised an eyebrow at me, "Any particular reason you wanted to know?" I shrugged at him.

"Everyone seemed pretty excited to hear the news, so I thought I'd ask." It wasn't necessarily a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth. Makarov nodded with a slight smile.

"Gildarts isn't around as much as we'd really like. He normally takes the more dangerous and long lasting jobs so he can have a bit of a challenge. He's our Ace, after all." He chuckled, "He'd be considered for the Wizard Saints if he could quit destroying things." He sipped from his mug "Keep my wallet a lot thicker too." He mumbled, I had the feeling I probably wasn't supposed to hear that part. I walked over to the request board as I turned the information over in my head.

It wasn't hard to understand why Cana felt like she had to get to S-Class to tell Gildarts, she had one hell of a legacy she felt she had to live up to, after all. Still, Gildarts had the right to know, and it would be far easier on both of them to get it out there before Cana was too old to really need her father in her life.

Granted, I don't think 9 year old Cana will appreciate the over protectiveness that much more than 18 year old Cana, but at least she'll get to experience it far earlier.

Now we just had to get her to actually tell Gildarts, hopefully without the need to do something insane to get Cana to fess up. I really didn't like my sudden idea of having to fight him to get Cana to admit the truth.

I looked over the request board, discarding the ones I knew we couldn't do out of hand, no matter how fun it sounded to go take on bandits or monsters together. A lot of the higher ranked jobs we could take were thrown out as well, we needed to talk, not be focused on fighting.

Thankfully, there were a few ingredient gathering jobs to be done, and Cana, Gray and I could handle those and get this conversation out of the way as quickly as possible.

PLANT RETRIEVAL

RANK: C

I'm looking for someone to retrieve a magical plant from the depths of the East Forest, the elusive Moon's Tear, please come see me at the Hotel Latham for details.

PLACED BY: Grammy Chira

REWARD: 50,000 JEWEL

Yes, this one would do nicely, close enough to be back by supper, possibility to fight things like Gorians, and we could talk on the way in and out. The cut wouldn't be the greatest between all three of us, but I could live with that. I'd split my reward between Cana and Gray if I needed to.

I took the job from the board and looked around for Gray, but it seemed like he was training or going clothes shopping for the third time in as many weeks, so I'd need to find him after I ate.

Thankfully, Gray was easy enough to find, training in his boxers by the shores of Sciliora Lake. He was a little uncomfortable with the idea of having to talk to Cana about telling Gildarts, but he decided to go along with it.

Cana showed up at the guild by noon, and after quite a bit of stuttering and finger twiddling, finally allowed herself to be dragged out of the guild hall and straight to our client. Cana didn't speak at all on the trip to the guild to the Hotel Latham, and we didn't try to engage her, we could both tell she was well on her way to just running off if we pushed her too hard.

Hotel Latham was a nice enough hotel, from what I could see. It wasn't some luxury resort, but it wasn't a rat's nest either, it looked clean enough as we went to our client's room.

Grammy Chira looked like a rather stereotypical hag, if I was being honest. Oh sure, she seemed nice enough, but when a woman has a wart and a big crooked nose to go with her stringy white hair and beady eyes, hag is the first word to come to mind. Her voice was rather grating as well, I decided, as she told us about the Moon's Tear and the importance of the picking method. That being a young maiden picking and transporting it without any use of magic to contaminate it.

Certainly explains why she hired a guild to get it for her.

She sent us off without much fanfare once we recited the instructions to her and shut the door rather unceremoniously.

As we entered the East Forest I finally started talking to Cana. Gray looked like the tension would drive him mad if I didn't.

"So, Gildarts will be back in about three weeks according to the Master," I said casually, looking over at the two. We had Cana in between us, mostly to keep her from bolting. Cana shivered slightly, clearly remembering our conversation before she'd passed out this morning. "I was thinking we either wait until everyone is finished mobbing him, or we ambush him outside of town to get it all out of the way as quickly as possible. I'm open for either one, personally, but I think we should get it over with quickly."

Cana shivered slightly as she nodded along. "Are you sure we should tell him now, though?" The poor girl sounded so terrified that I almost wanted to call it all off and let her keep her secret, but that would just be worse. I pushed through my hesitance at the pitiful look on her face and nodded resolutely.

"Yes, the sooner he knows, the better, in my opinion. If you keep pushing it off further and further, you'll regret it for the rest of your life. You never know when one of you might not come home, after all." Cana looked stricken, and Gray looked pained. He'd been quiet except for when he had almost mockingly recited the instructions to our client, but he spoke up now.

"Helio's right, Cana. You need to tell him." His voice held a cord of steel, without any of the harshness I'd come to associate with Gray's voice. I looked at him in surprise for his sudden interjection, but he was stubbornly facing forwards.

Granted, I suppose I should have seen that coming, who knows how many things Gray had wanted to tell his parents or Ur before they'd died?

Oh shit, that reminds me, I have to find Lyon. Preferably before he starts fucking with Galuna Island.

I shook my head and focused on the now, I could deal with those problems in the future, after I'd dealt with this one.

Cana was silent for the next few minutes, her brow furrowed as she stared at the ground, only Gray and I's gentle nudges and pulls keeping her from tripping on the underbrush. We were near our destination before she spoke once more. "You guys are right." She said, her near whisper echoing through the clearing. Gray and I both turned to look at her, she still sounded so terrified at the prospect that I wasn't sure she meant it, but her eyes flashed with determination when she looked up at us.

"I'll tell him when he gets back, I will!" Her gaze flicked between us for a moment, "You'll both be there for me, right?" I met Gray's gaze around Cana's shoulder and nodded at him. With a small grumble, he threw an arm around her shoulder as I grabbed her in a hug.

"Cana, you didn't even need to ask."

"Be a pretty bad friend if I wasn't."

Her smile was nearly blinding, even in the dimness of the deep forest, and I could just make out Gray giving her an actual smile.

Our huddle was broken a few moments later as we realized we really needed to get a move on if we wanted to get this job done before dark, but Cana kept that small smile on her face the whole time.

Finding the plant wasn't hard at all. The drawing had been spot on, almost down to the last detail. The Moon's Tear looked more like a jewel than a plant, a teardrop shaped thing with a sapphire glow.

Gathering it had been easy enough as well, for all that we'd been made to recite it over and over to the woman before we'd been dismissed. Cana, after handing me her cards and the little handbag she kept them in; had simply picked it like one would a cabbage.

It had been simple really, a simple pickup and away we were; making sure Cana was between us the entire time in case we were attacked. We were making great progress too, the sun was still well above the horizon, and then it happened.

"That was too easy!" Gray had innocently bragged, and as if Murphy himself had been listening from on high, that was when disaster struck.

"Woooomaaaaaaan…" Came a dark, gravelly voice, accompanied by the sounds of something very large moving very fast. For a long, terrible moment, we were all practically frozen in place before Gray and I were pushing Cana between us as we circled around her, scanning the bushes for our pursuer.

"It's a Gorian!" I whispered urgently. Cana was shaking, the plant in her arms wobbling back and forth like luminescent jello. "Cana, stay between us, unless you can set that thing down where it won't be destroyed, you've got to stay where we can protect you, okay?" She nodded unsteadily.

Unfortunately, before we could properly strategize, the Gorian descended from the treetops in an explosion of movement, massive hands already stretched out and reaching for Cana.

"WOMAN! YOU'RE MINE!"

"Flare!" I fired it straight at the beast's face, blinding it slightly as the attack made contact, and the smell of burnt hair wafted over us. "Gray! Try to keep it still! We can't let it get Cana!"

"Got it!" He called back, wisps of ice already emitting from his clenched hands. "Ice Make: Ice Geyser!" Unlike my journals' recollections, his attacks took a moment to form, instead of near instantaneously. Gray seemed to know how much he needed to compensate though, as it still trapped the Gorian's ankles as it ran over the magic circle that the geyser had burst from.

Suddenly off balance, the monster fell over, its jaw slamming into the dirt with a meaty thud. It immediately began kicking within its confines, the ice already beginning to crack.

With an urgency I'd not felt in weeks, I had my next spell prepared even faster than the last. "Flare Punch!" The heat of my spell burned off the fur around its face before I'd even made contact, increasing the stench from before, but it certainly hurt the monster far more than my first attack had.

"You…." It growled at me, the bare skin around its face and where it had once had hair was a mix of raw pink and burnt black. "I kill you first…" Then it let out a deafening roar as it broke free of the ice, sending splinters of it flying through the clearing, shattering against the trees and buffeting the three of us. I caught a glimpse of Cana spinning around to shield her front and the plant from damage as I dodged out of the way of the Gorian's maddened lunge.

"Gray! Little help!" I screamed, throwing Sunburn after Sunburn at it. I admit I might have slightly panicked, just a little, as I scrambled in the dirt, just barely avoiding its next swipe. "Anytime now!"

"I'm working on it!" He shouted, "Ice Make: Hammer!" A warhammer half the size of the Gorian formed above its head but missed and instead hit its spine, producing a mighty crack as it made impact, causing the Gorian to howl in anger and confusion as it suffered an onslaught from multiple directions.

With the pressure off, I wasted no time in pressing the attack once more, my hands lighting up the clearing as I prepared my next attack, "Flare Punch!" My strike hit the Gorian directly in its left eye, and I had to hold back a retch as I felt it crush beneath my fist. Normally an attack like that would have put just about anyone or anything down for the count, the trauma would just be too much. Not for a Gorian, though.

Luckily, it seemed Gray didn't hear the eyeball pop, else I'm afraid he would have hesitated and this fight would have had a much more gruesome end.

"Ice Make: Lance!" Luckily for me, who had just barely avoided becoming this thing's new stress ball, the attack flew true and struck the Gorian in the base of its skull. There was a soft squelch and it was over. The Gorian fell over like a puppet with its strings cut, and moved no more.

We all stood around the clearing for a moment in shock, before it finally sunk in that we'd won. All of a sudden, it seemed as though the fight hadn't happened. Where Gray and I both had been slumped slightly in exhaustion, we suddenly had all the energy in the world. We whooped and hollered and jumped around in excitement, and it was only pure dumb luck that we didn't end up crushing the plant between the three of us. Cana had joined in the celebration, but it seemed she was the only one to have a clear enough head to keep this having been for nothing.

With our heads held high, the three of us arrived back in Magnolia just as the sun began to set behind the taller buildings, casting long shadows across the streets. We returned to the Hotel Latham and proudly displayed the plant to her, wearing our dirt and scuffs like medals.

She looked at the three of us with a narrowed gaze, from Gray to I (Cana still being in the middle, of course) and with her harsh reedy voice, commanded us to come inside so she could pay our reward.

"I hadn't expected the three of you to return so quickly, so I don't have it ready quite yet…" she trailed off before suddenly turning around and cracking the Moon's Tear open over Cana's head, soaking her from head to toe in its luminescent juices. Gray and I froze for all of a second, but that's all it took for her to turn on us with a spell on her lips; and before we could even begin to defend ourselves, we were out like a light.

Chapter Text

October 2(?), x775

Gray and I came to in a panic as we tried our best to move and were met by bindings. We thrashed uselessly for a few moments before a familiar grating voice met our ears.

"Ah, I see you are awake my dearies, just in time to watch me work too!" Her laugh was just as unpleasant as her voice, and made me thrash harder in an instinctive attempt to plug my ears. "No use fighting it, just watch ol' Grammy work!" She laughed again.

The scene she had set was bleak and we had front row seats. In addition to being tied up in a dimly lit room, there was an altar ahead of us that Cana was strapped on top of. She was struggling as hard as she could, but from what I could tell, those straps were tight. She could barely wiggle her fingers and toes, let alone free herself from them.

The hag kept monologuing, something about rituals, black magic and forcefully stolen youth, but I was a bit preoccupied with trying to get free to pay too much attention to be honest. It wasn't until she started to maniacally laugh that I remembered something simple yet vitally important.

She didn't know I had Requip.

She knew we had some kind of magic, she just didn't expect us to be able to use it the way she'd tied us up. The ropes she used were made of some kind of magic resistant material, the kind I remembered seeing for sale in the magic store, meant for tying up magic creatures to prevent them from escaping. If I remembered correctly, it was meant to resist magic affecting it directly. So Gray and I both were out of luck when it came to breaking them with our magic.

There was a major downside though.

They had to be cut somehow, and were in no way resistant to regular old blades.

I began running a mental checklist of all the items in my requip space that might help, and it didn't take me long to think of one, which was probably a very good thing because Grammy was chanting really quickly.

I quickly requipped a paring knife and with what little room I had available, began sawing back and forth in tiny strokes, trying my best to avoid cutting myself as I worked the ropes loose. Gray was yelling himself hoarse at the woman, still struggling vainly against his bonds.

Her chanting was getting louder and louder by the time I'd freed my wrists and was rubbing the feeling back into them, and I wasted no time in requipping my hunting knife to cut my feet free and quickly did the same to Gray.

Cana was beginning to scream as a magic circle flared to life beneath the altar, glowing in black unlight.

"Why didn't you warn me you were gonna do that?!" He asked coarsely, his throat sounded raw from all the yelling he'd been doing. "I was trying to freeze them!"

"Magic resistant rope, Cana would be dead long before you froze them." I said tersely, "Now less talking, more fighting." Grammy's chanting had reached a fever pitch, and Cana's thrashing was getting more and more panicked as the ritual continued. Luckily for her, her friends were free and could end this quickly.

"Ice Make: Lance!"

"Flare!"

Our attacks flew true, and slammed directly into Grammy, but she barely stumbled before rounding on us with a spell already lighting her hands.

"Oh you've made Grammy mad now, children! I've gotta spank the both of ya!" Her voice had somehow gotten more grating after all the chanting, but it didn't seem to slow her down any. "Darkness Make: Starless Night!" The already dim room plummeted into pitch black, and Gray and I were left looking around blindly for a moment as I backed up and prepared my counter.

"Darkness Make: Club!" Pain flashed across my senses as her spell clipped me in the ribs, knocking me to the ground with the impact. The club made a second impact, and this time I felt something pop in my chest as I went down. "Grammy can see you just fine, but you can't see me!" She cackled. "Grammy's gonna teach y'all to behave yourselves!" "Darkness Make: Fist!" I heard Gray scream, but there was nothing I could do about it, not without bunching us up and making ourselves an easier target. The pain in my chest was a new feeling, and made it hard to even think, let alone fight in the dark like this! Thankfully, Gray was putting up one hell of a fight, the room's already cool temperature had fallen even further as he shouted out spell after spell, desperately trying to defend himself.

Which left me just enough breathing room to shed a little light on the situation.

"Sunny Day!" Unimaginatively named, this spell was a lifesaver in situations like this. A ball of pure sunlight shot forth towards the ceiling and lit the room like a summer afternoon, exposing Grammy, who had been inches from slicing Gray open with what looked like a knife made of pure darkness.

Everyone in the room was forced to cover their eyes except for me, and I took advantage of the moment to fire a Flare into Grammy's side before sprinting to the altar and requipping Cana's bag.

"Thanks." Cana mumbled as I got the last strap open. She was shaking, but she was still quick to pull a deck of cards from her bag and leap into the fray. Grammy had recovered from my light show very quickly considering she'd been wailing like a banshee when I did it, and was now back to holding her own against Gray.

Gray would send an ice lance at her, and Grammy would make a barrier. She retaliated with an arrow made of darkness, and Gray would dodge out of the way. This fight would be one of attrition if allowed to continue in this vein, and neither Cana nor I were about to allow that.

Cana drew a few cards, throwing them like shuriken at Grammy, and they sliced across her side, making her howl in anger as she made a spherical barrier that completely obscured her from view.

Gray slammed his hands together, an icy mist emanating as he created an ice geyser underneath the barrier, driving it upwards, towards my ball of light, and we could just make out her silhouette preparing some spell. I grinned as an idea came to me.

What better way to destroy darkness, than with overwhelming light?

"Guys, cover your eyes! Solar Beam!" The light from Sunny Day was pulled into my spell, amplifying it and making the brightness go from "sunny afternoon" to "midday on the sun". The beam shot forth from my hands and washed over her barrier of darkness, erasing it like an errant scribble. I put my hands on my knees as I caught my breath and winced as my injured ribs protested. That spell took a lot out of me, and Sunny Day wasn't exactly free either. Gray seemed to be in the same boat as me; we hadn't exactly been in prime resting conditions since our fight with the Gorian, and it was catching up to the both of us.

Thankfully this fight was no longer a two on one and Cana hadn't cast a spell all day. She'd taken advantage of my attack to pull a series of tarot cards and the spell was already on the way as our opponent was preoccupied with her shield's evaporation.

"Summoned Lightning!" She cried, lightning flying forth in a flash that lit the dimming room for just long enough to see Grammy looking horrified before it made contact and with a flash of light and a deafening clap of thunder we were greeted with the smell of ozone and barbecue.

I straightened up and filled my hand with a small amount of Sun Magic. It was inefficient, and was mostly used for showing off; but it made a passable flashlight, allowing me to find Grammy, medium rare and twitching in a heap against the wall. Her hands were twitching slightly, mouth moving silently, but her eyes were narrowed and focused on the three of us. I could almost see the spell she was forming before Gray knocked her out with an icy hammer. With her down for the count, I let the magic dissipate and instead requipped a much more efficient, but infinitely more breakable, lacrima lantern and stared at my two friends.

"So… what do we do now?"

Turns out the answer to that was "tie Grammy up even tighter than she tied us and find the exit."

The room we were in was making an ominous rumbling, and after knocking down a locked iron door, we were dragging her up the stairs and pushing open an old cellar door as quickly as we could with three exhausted children dragging an unconscious geriatric psychopath.

The door's opening let the sun's rays blind two-thirds of our little party as we stepped into the fresh morning air and were welcomed by the sound of nature. Finally able to see the sun again, I could tell that it was roughly seven thirty AM, presumably -hopefully- the next day.

The cellar we'd been trapped in was connected to a rotten old cottage, mostly reclaimed by nature, and hopefully still in the East Forest. I turned to Gray and Cana, who were taking a break to readjust to the light, and smiled at them. The expression was contagious, and before long the clearing was echoing with raucous and almost hysterical laughter.

The laughter hurt like a bitch, but I pushed that aside at the feeling of elation I had just from being alive.

Now we just had one problem.

"Anyone have any idea where on Earth Land we are?" Gray and Cana's last giggles and chuckles died out almost immediately, and we were left staring awkwardly at one another. Just as we were considering actually letting Grammy wake up so we could get her to tell her where we were, a voice rose from just out of view.

"What are you children doing here?" An aged voice called. I spun around, already preparing a spell despite my exhaustion. I saw Gray shaking slightly and Cana looking slightly terrified, but didn't put much thought into their reactions before the figure stepped out of the trees, aged red eyes glaring like hot coals from behind pink bangs.

"Porlyusica!" Cana sounded an odd combination of both excited and afraid at the woman's presence, and just like that my stance collapsed. Even with the sun's energizing effects, I had trouble keeping my eyes open as the adrenaline finally left my system and I felt the full brunt of my injuries.

Porlyusica's look was incredibly severe, and in my exhausted state, I really was not looking forward to her interrogation, especially as this was my first time meeting her.

So, I did the smart thing in this situation.

I hid behind Cana and Gray and kicked Grammy in the face to ensure she stayed down for the count.

I wasn't wrong about how our meeting with Porlyusica would go at all, really. She'd looked us over, gave Grammy a look that would have curdled milk and proceeded to lead us all practically by the ear to her tree home.

Her bedside manner was just as legendarily bad as I had feared as well.

Porlyusica ranted at us for our recklessness, about Makarov for his carelessness, and after we managed to explain ourselves between her rants about us and how she hated people, she ranted at Grammy, despite the fact she was unconscious.

I think she just likes ranting at people.

At least it was somewhat educational if you could catch what she was saying in between the vitriol towards her fellow man. She went on and on about proper harvesting techniques for Moon's Tear, how the only reason she'd do it this way was some kind of sacrifice and we should have known better than to trust her. I felt a little insulted, but Porlyusica wasn't the type to let anyone get a word in edgewise when she didn't feel like it.

It was made even more difficult by having medicines shoved down our throats whenever we tried to defend ourselves.

Finally, at long last, she seemed to run out of words. She gave one last huff and glared at Grammy so hard I thought she would catch fire. Without saying anything, she pulled a jar of liquid from her shelf and poured a small cupful down Grammy's throat. She turned around from putting it back and glared at us. "Well? What are you still doing here?! Get out!" We might have been Fairy Tail wizards, but there was no time wasted in beating a very hasty retreat, leaving Grammy behind.

"Is she always that scary?" I asked Cana as we trudged down the path, the day now nearing noon. She looked slightly traumatized, whether by the experience of the last day or Porlyusica alone, I couldn't tell you.

Cana didn't speak, she just shakily nodded.

Gray didn't look much better, and I probably looked like death warmed over, even after we'd rested at Porlyusica's. Thankfully, even though she lived in seclusion in the East Forest, the walk from her home to Magnolia was only a couple of hours in our injured states. All three of us were relieved to slump our way into the guild and practically threw ourselves onto the nearest table.

"There you three are!" Macao called as he came over to our table, Wakaba behind him.. "We thought you'd just gone home after you finished the job, but when none of you showed up at the guild today we started to worry." His face betrayed just how worried he really was and Wakaba didn't look much better. "What the heck happened to you three?" We each looked at each other, and a nonverbal game of Nose Goes ensued between us.

I lost.

With an exhausted and exaggerated sigh, I dragged myself to my feet and grabbed Macao and Wakaba by their sleeves so I could drag them with me.

Thankfully, Master was sitting at the bar, so the walk was thankfully short, and with a very thankful nod at Enno -who handed me a hot chocolate-, I began stumbling through our tale, from the moment we headed out yesterday afternoon.

Master Makarov was usually a very lively and happy old man, he made jokes and told stories that had some of the older members trying to cover our ears as he told them, but when he gets angry, that changes immensely.

I knew, intellectually, that Master Makarov was strong. That despite his diminutive appearance, the man was one of the Ten Wizard Saints. I think this was the first time I had ever actually felt even an iota of the power inside him though.

His face stayed calm, his eyes were closed, but for just a few moments as I told them how Grammy was going to sacrifice Cana and do God knows what to us, that control slipped loose and I felt it.

The room quietened down, his staff creaked ominously, and just existing felt like a chore, like the atmosphere had lost all air and the gravity had tripled. I stopped speaking for a moment as the feeling spread, but as soon as I felt it, it vanished.

The room went from cold and oppressive to light and carefree, a warm feeling spread through my gut, and it felt like I was being hugged from all directions. The Master had opened his eyes and had a soft expression on his face, using his magic to extend his arm as he placed it on my shoulder.

"Please, my child, continue." He said in a soft voice, radiating care and worry.

So I did. I picked up the thread and told the rest of the story in a much steadier tone, Master's magic making me feel much more at ease than before. He didn't say another word for the rest of my report, simply nodding along, but the warmth stayed there all the same.

When I finally finished both the story and my hot chocolate (and holy crap does Enno make the best hot chocolate!), Macao and Wakaba were both looking upset and Master was giving me a stare of caring and relief.

"I am glad that all of you returned safely, my child. I'll inform the Council they need to be more stringent with their screening in the future. This never should have happened in the first place!" For just a moment, a look of absolute fury crossed his face, but he covered it up so quickly I only barely had time to register it before it was gone and he was smiling once more. He patted me on the head and ushered me back to Cana and Gray with a tray of hot chocolates and a plateful of cookies.

I returned back to the table almost in a daze, handing out the hot chocolates and placing the cookies down on auto pilot as my brain whirled despite the exhaustion that was seeping into my very bones. I sat there long after Cana and Gray had passed out, their noses stuck in their empty cups and crumbs still on their faces, thinking the past day over furiously.

We'd been lucky.

I'd put that thought aside, when we were all high on life at our escape. Then later, when we'd been exhausted and escaping Porlyusica, it had been easy to not think about, but telling the whole story, beginning to end, made the uncomfortable truth abundantly clear.

If Grammy had been a bit more clever, or if I'd not known Requip, then this could very well have been our last day on Earth Land. I'd almost gotten us all killed in my attempt to get Cana and Gray alone so we could discuss Gildarts with her properly.

I had known from day one that I was going to change things. From the moment I'd known it was an option, I knew I would be a Fairy Tail wizard, because there was nothing else I would rather be. Retelling our adventure had forced me to acknowledge the very real consequences changing things might bring.

I knew this world wasn't sunshine and rainbows, that people suffered and died, Sun's Valley had made that abundantly clear (My heart ached at the thought of my old home and family). I knew I wasn't invincible, that if I didn't keep moving forward, getting stronger and stronger that I would die long before x784, let alone x791 or 92…

But I hadn't spared even a single thought to the possibility of getting my friends killed as well.

For Cana and Gray in the original timeline, this day didn't happen. They didn't have a tearful conversation about Gildarts, they didn't take a job to harvest the Moon's Tear, and they didn't nearly die. This was just another day, Cana had trouble sleeping, Gray trained, and life went on.

I had changed that and it had almost killed all three of us.

I wasn't blaming myself for Grammy's decisions, that would be foolish. It wasn't my fault that she was an evil old hag that wanted to kill a kid for her youth, but I had led us into that situation.

So next time a job went sideways, I needed to be ready.

I couldn't rely on them all being stupid enough to allow the use of Requip magic, so I needed to avoid capture in the first place.

I needed to beat them before that was an option.

I needed to be stronger.

That night, even through the haze of my own exhaustion, that need blazed bright within me.

Tomorrow, I would plan, and take my first step towards ensuring I didn't need to rely on luck ever again.

If I wanted to see all my changes come to fruition, I would have to.

October 11, x775

For the next week, that same fire burned within me. I would awaken before dawn to do my usual exercises and meditate in the dawn's rays, but after that I would train until near noon and go to the guild for food followed by more training.

I had convinced Cana to join in, but the problem with Cana training any harder than she usually does is that her cards have to be replaced and that costs money. So our sessions had to be capped off with a job or two so she could afford to continue training. I'd also gotten Cana to begin experimenting with new types of cards. Hopefully she could come up with new combos she'd not thought of before.

Gray was more of a solo act at the moment when it came to training, but he'd been up for a few spars here and there, and he was pretty damn good already. The three of us had had a few free-for-alls behind the guild hall, and the score was annoyingly even. Cana had squeaked a couple points lead, but I was sure that would even out over the next few fights.

Unfortunately, my training was feeling like it was hitting a bit of a plateau.

The book of magic that Master Flare had given me was great, but it was really all about using it to worship the sun, mixed in with some instruction on how to cast, how to better channel solar energy, and a lot of religious pageantry. There was barely any actual magic in it, and that was what I needed right about now.

Sun Magic had been made with the intent of using it as a religious tool, a spiritual way of life. What little attacks there were looked as if they had been added later. I needed to learn advanced magical theory if I wanted to develop it further.

Cana and Gray weren't much help with their specializations, so I was left with much fewer options, either pester Master about it, or one of the other adults.

Although… This could be the opening I needed to properly meet a member of the guild I'd been looking for a chance to talk to.

"Hi! I don't believe we've met!"

The teen jerked his head and quickly reached up to catch his magic headphones before they fell off his head. He met my eyes and scowled at me without much heat, but he certainly didn't look happy either.

"What do you want?" He might have sounded properly rough and intimidating, if his voice hadn't cracked. His face burnt red for a moment before his scowl returned.

I sat down across from him with a smile.

"Nice to meet you too Laxus, I'm Helio Dart, and I could really use your help."

Chapter Text

October 11, x775

Laxus tried his best to be intimidating after I'd asked for help, -apparently the whole "Of course he's good at this, he's Makarov's grandson" thing had left its mark already- and he had almost managed it more than once.

But he was 14 years old, trying to intimidate someone who knew he would never seriously hurt a member of the guild, and had dealt with worse than a moody teen.

The fact his voice kept cracking didn't help him either.

I'd managed to wear him down with sheer determination, a small amount of begging, and a promise that if I got too annoying I wouldn't bug him about it again.

And you know what?

Laxus' teaching wasn't half bad!

He led me to the archives and grabbed a couple of books before letting out the most dramatic and theatrical sigh I'd heard in either of my lives. He then gave me a lesson on general magic theory of such high quality that if it weren't for his surliness, I was sure he would have been a great teacher.

He started with the basics, things I already knew, magic container growth, healthy practices for its expansion, and basic channeling practices. I let him go on for a few minutes before I finally managed to get his attention by raising my hand like a good student.

Laxus had smirked as he answered me, but to his credit, he had actually moved on to more advanced theory that I needed; things I hadn't had the chance to learn from either Master Flare or my parents. I requipped an empty notebook and pen, taking notes as he spoke, hiding my eye roll as he drew himself up importantly.

Sure, he was a bit of a prick when I asked a question, but he did know the answer to basically everything I asked, so I figured he got a pass.

Thankfully Laxus' lecture gave me what I needed along with the beginning of a friendship, and when I finally left the library a few hours later, a grudging acceptance to help me test out new attacks when I was ready to do so.

"Gramps would be pissed if I let you kill yourself trying to figure it out on your own." Pfft, he really was a softy deep inside!

I shook that thought from my head as I began flipping through my notes. Putting book knowledge into practical use is always a lot easier said than done, and it was no different with what I learned from Laxus.

My notebook was full of advanced magical theory and exercises. I would be busy for days studying and practicing them, but if I wanted to ensure I wasn't going to need luck to keep myself and my friends alive, then I had better get started.

October 17, x775

It had taken a few days of basically nothing but studying, training and meditating, along with sharing a copy of my notes with Cana and Gray to make them stop bugging me, but I managed to accomplish the simple, yet vital first lesson I'd been given.

Spell creation.

While I wouldn't be more magically powerful just knowing the basics of how to create a new spell, it was the vital first step I needed to take in order to move forward. If I wanted to get main character strength, I needed far more variety in my magic than the four or so attacks I had now.

Unlike Maker, or even Card Magic to an extent, Sun Magic wasn't as easily molded to the user's desires. It was structured in such a way that unless you approached it from a certain angle, all you would do is blow yourself up or waste a crapton of magic power for nothing more than a fancy flashlight.

Seeing as Laxus had known what I had needed when I asked, I assumed Dragon Slayer magic was similar.

As much as I wanted to jump straight into making more attacks, I decided that a more simple spell would work better as a first attempt, and it had come together quite well.

"Infrared" I spoke solemnly, solar energy gathered in my hands before floating into my eyes. I blinked a few times as I got used to the new sensation, and then took the time to appreciate my handwork.

Seeing as UV Light was a thing, I had long theorized that Sun Magic allowed the caster to filter certain parts of the light spectrum, and this had proven it.

I had secluded myself in a supply closet at the orphanage to test my spell, and instead of the pitch black I had seen before I cast it, I could now see everything in black and white. This would have been useful to have when we were fighting Grammy, but that was in the past. Now at least I would have a solution for any future encounters with mages capable of something similar that didn't also give my position away.

Making new attacks would have to wait though. Now that I had made some tangible progress, I could finally do what I should have been doing since I first noticed it was needed. Something far more important than this obsessive drive to improve that our last job had instilled in me.

Cana needed help.

Gildarts will return soon, and she needs mine and Gray's support more than I need to obsessively study.

She'd gotten more nervous as his return grew closer, and her sleep began to get more restless. More than once I would wake up for my exercises to find her sitting in the kitchen or in the yard with her chin on her knees as she stared at the ground. I'd not had much luck getting through to her the last few days, but I was hoping I'd manage before she ended up hurting herself beyond some sleep deprivation.

I didn't say anything as I sat down next to her, the early morning air chilling the both of us. Cana was staring at the grass, her hair was messy, halfway in a ponytail, half out, the skin around her eyes baggier than a college student near finals. She didn't acknowledge me when I sat down, but I was expecting that, to be honest. Cana had been ignoring Gray and I both the last few days, disappearing off to wherever she went to hide and be alone.

Cana might only be nine, but she'd been here longer than Gray and I, she knew Magnolia better than either of us. If she didn't want to be found, she wasn't going to let herself be found. If it weren't for the fact I was sure Cana would hate me, I was tempted to go to the Master or Macao and Wakaba, they'd been here longer than Cana had been alive, they were bound to be able to find her.

Thankfully, it didn't seem I would be needing to make that decision today, as she seemed content to stare at the grass as though it held all the answers in the universe. I sat next to her for a moment, waiting for her to speak first, but I'm fairly sure she just hasn't noticed me.

Well either that, or she's ignoring me.

"Cana?" I asked quietly, but she didn't say anything. I waved a hand in front of her face, she blinked. I poked her cheek, but she didn't say anything, so I went the whole way.

I tickled her.

Her facade was broken by a high giggle, followed by a smile breaking across her face as she fell over and her laughter rang across the backyard. With a smug smile, I pulled her back up to my side and threw an arm around her shoulders. "Now that I've got your attention, what's got you so worried, Cana?" Her smile quickly faded into a small frown as she leaned into me.

"Gildarts will be back soon." She said quietly. I nodded and gave her a slight squeeze.

"Yep. Have you changed your mind on telling him the truth?" Cana shook slightly, but she shook her head.

"I'm scared." She said in a small, broken voice, I noticed a tear going down her cheek. I pulled her into a proper hug and rubbed her back. "What if he doesn't want me?" She whispered quietly. Cana was worrying herself sick with this, and there wasn't really a lot that I could do to appease it. Comfort only helps anxiety so much, and I don't think she would take kindly to suggesting any sort of medicine to ease her nerves.

So I did the only thing I could do in my position.

I held Cana close and whispered assurances in her ear that Gildarts would love her. That she was worried over nothing, and that she didn't need to worry.

I don't know how much it helped, I could only hope it was enough. Cana's my best friend, and freaking her out like this wasn't my first choice. In the long run, it's better to do it now, rather than wait and hope that in nine years, Lucy can convince her.

If events would even fold out that way anymore. Lord knows what x784 will be like. I'm hardly going to fade into the background after I change this one thing. I had plans, plans that would make the canon timeline weep.

Those plans could wait though, because right now I had an armful of emotional nine year old, and she's way more important than whatever is happening months or years down the line.

Gray showed up a little while after I'd started comforting Cana. He tried to look like he hadn't been looking for us, but he did a terrible job of hiding it.

He chipped in his own two cents about Cana's worry, looking panicked when she'd gone from holding me like a limpet to shoving her face into his chest, but he recovered admirably.

"The whole guild's already family, who says Gildarts doesn't see you like a member of it? It'll be fine." He patted her on the head, stiffly at first, but slowly getting more relaxed. I rubbed Cana's back before she finally looked up, a small smile on her exhausted face.

"You guys are the best, you know that?" She asked, her voice sounding slightly choked. Cana reached around with one arm and tugged me into a group hug with her stuck in the middle. We stood there for a few minutes, Gray's grumbling conspicuously absent as we had our little moment. Finally, after what felt like both an eternity and yet no time at all, she let go and the moment ended.

"Gray, your clothes." She pointed out, the smile still in place as Gray panicked and looked for his shirt.

I smiled along with her. She'd get through this, she just needed her friends.

Huh. So this is what the main characters feel like.

October 18, x775

It was midday when it happened.

The sun had risen on another beautiful day in Magnolia, Cana had slept yesterday and most of the morning away before she had awoken, and we had just entered the guild together when we heard it.

A bell began ringing across Magnolia, louder and more resonant than the one in Kardia Cathedral. The guild went silent as the bell rang, all of them looking up and smiles breaking out across their faces.

"We are entering Gildarts Shift. I repeat, we are entering Gildarts Shift."

"He's here!" Gray shouted, a genuine smile on his face. "Gildarts is here!" He suddenly coughed and looked away. "The old geezer finally showed up. Took him long enough." I smirked at him.

Cana looked scared, but there was a cord of steel in her stance. She may have been nervous, but she looked determined to go through with it, no matter what. I threw an arm around her. "It'll be alright Cana, you've got this." Gray placed a hand on her shoulder and nodded.

"Look! You can see him now!" Someone cried out. The guild began pushing and crawling over one another trying to get to the front of the crowd to see for themselves. Gray and I both dragged Cana through the crowd, dodging elbows and clamoring guildmates to reach the front.

And indeed, they weren't lying. There, slowly ambling his way towards the door was Fairy Tail's strongest wizard, and at the moment, its only S-Class mage.

Gildarts Clive.

Our guildmates started cheering as he got closer and we could properly make him out beyond a silhouette. His head was bowed, and he was lugging a sack over his shoulder. He lifted his head once he reached the final approach and looked around, confused, before he spoke.

"That's new." He tapped on one the giant concrete slabs currently holding Magnolia above his reach and cringed as bits of it crumbled. He rubbed the back of his head before he spotted the guild staring at him and waved a hand at us all.

"I'm back!" He declared with a grin.

The entirety of Fairy Tail was quiet for but a moment.

" WELCOME BACK GILDARTS!" The silence was broken with a deafening cheer as he walked towards the doors.

"Ah it's good to be home." He grinned.

I should have seen this coming, considering just how much the guild loved Gildarts. What I had hoped would have been a quick welcome followed by Gildarts being mobbed by the guild before being free turned into one of the biggest parties I'd ever seen. Everyone was clamoring over themselves to talk to him.

Gildarts was eating it up too. He was sitting at the bar, talking seamlessly between Master, Macao, Wakaba and flirting (terribly) with Enno. Macao was somehow managing to happily talk to Gildarts while simultaneously shooting him a venomous glare whenever he began speaking to Enno. Wakaba was laughing at him even while speaking to Gildarts.

"I dunno what you're laughing about Wakaba, weren't you the one that got abducted by Circus Night because you wanted to mope around and get drunk?" Macao shot at him with a smirk. Wakaba went pale as Gildarts snorted a mouthful of beer through his nose.

"You got captured by Circus Night?!" He laughed, "Oh that is rich, Wakaba! How did they manage that?" Wakaba's face was red, but he muttered an explanation all the same.

"They ambushed me while I was drunk! I was talkin' to Gray and some other kid and they beat the crap out of all of us." He grumbled as he downed his drink and waved for another one from one of the servers. Gildarts' smile went from sly to surprised.

"Gray? That little punk made it here?" He beamed around the guild, "Hey Gray! Where are ya? Get over here!" I saw the opening, even if I had no idea what they were talking about, and pulled a frozen Cana behind me as Gray jumped onto the bar and started arguing with Gildarts.

"Who are you calling a punk you old geezer?!"

"You know, for all your disrespect, you seem to have followed my advice." Gildarts gave him a shit eating grin and laughed. He reached over and began ruffling his hair, ignoring Gray's protests.

"Screw you Gildarts!" Gray was blushing while everyone was laughing at him, Enno saying something about being adorable. Gildarts quit patting Gray's head and looked around, pausing as he noticed Cana and I staring up at him in awe and nervousness.

Three guesses who had what emotion.

"Hey little Cana! Good to see you again!" He patted her on the head, and she lit up like a traffic light. Her nervousness was replaced with what looked like pure bliss before he stopped and leaned down to look at me. "You're new, aren't ya?" He smiled at the two of us as I nodded eagerly.

"Yessir! I'm Helio Dart! I joined Fairy Tail a month ago!" I answered excitedly. It was apparently my turn to get headpats. Gildarts' hand felt odd, heavy yet gentle, his strength just barely contained.

"Nice to meet ya Helio!" He grabbed for his mug and chugged the rest of it down. He seemed to be about to start paying more attention to Master, we wouldn't get a better chance!

"Wait! Gildarts!" He paused halfway through a sip, raising an eyebrow. "Cana needs to talk to you, it's really important!" He raised his eyebrows, before setting his mug down. Cana looked like a deer in the headlights, her eyes were wide and she was shaking like a leaf. I threw an arm around her and tried my best to support her.

To his credit, Gray was only a second behind, scrambling off the bar and standing on her other side. "Yeah! It's super important! You have to know!"

"What do I need to know?" He sounded so confused. Wakaba, Macao and Master Makarov all stared down at us as well. Cana was shaking with Gray and I on either side in support. "Cana? Are you okay?" He was steadily looking more worried, and the rest weren't much better.

"Remember, we're all here for you." I muttered to her. Gray patted her shoulder and nodded.

Cana took a deep breath and seemed to reach some inner peace as she looked Gildarts in the eye and uttered the one phrase Gray and I had worked so hard for her to say.

"Gildarts, I'm your daughter."

A mug fell to the floor, and beer began soaking into my shoes.

"Y-you're my what?"

"You're my Dad."

Gildarts looked stricken, staring down at Cana with a look of utter terror, but he rallied himself admirably."This is a joke right?" He asked with a weak smile, "Gray put you up to this, right?" He actually sounded nervous! Gildarts Clive was nervous! Cana grit her teeth.

"No. It isn't." She was glaring at him now, but Gildarts seemed to finally realize this was serious.

"Y-your mother…" His gaze intensified as he looked at Cana, as though he'd never seen her before. "Cornelia was your mother, wasn't she?" He gave Cana a much closer look, getting off the stool and lowering himself to his knees, directly into the puddle of beer. Cana nodded sadly.

Then, faster than almost anyone could see, Gildarts grabbed Cana and pulled her into a hug, clinging to her like some precious jewel. "She never told me." He said slowly, his head laid on top of his daughter's.

The guild had gone quiet, having noticed Gildarts' movement.

"What's up Gildarts? Cana? Is something wrong?" Someone asked.

"Cana, you alright?"

"Gildarts, you guys okay?"

Gildarts looked up from the embrace with his daughter, "Everything's perfect you guys!" He grinned, sweeping Cana up in his arms and presenting her to the guild. "This is my daughter! Isn't she awesome?!"

The guild went silent again.

"WHAT?!"

October 19, x775

After Gildarts' announcement of the news, there had been a whirlwind of explanations and exposition on his ex-wife. He told everyone about Cornelia and how she'd left him because of how busy he was with work. The whole time, Cana had been on his lap or beside him with an arm around her. She'd looked a mix of shell shocked, over the moon, and as Gildarts began to wax lyrical about his daughter's strength and how adorable she was, horribly embarrassed.

The party that kicked off from that announcement made the one from Gildarts' return look like an introvert's birthday party in comparison. I woke up in the guild hall the next morning hanging from the rafters. I remembered a lot of sweets and what looked like pixie sticks being mixed into an energy drink, and then it all went blank.

Sugar hangovers are officially the worst thing ever.

The rest of the guild didn't look much better. All over the hall, they were either passed out or groaning quietly from their hangovers. Macao was in a tangled heap with Enno, both snoring away in each other's arms. Wakaba was upside down, hanging from the second floor's bannister. Cana was being held by Gildarts who was snoring like a buzzsaw. Gray was passed out on top of the bar, laying in some kind of puddle. Master Makarov was snoring away on one of the benches, a tankard on the floor beneath him. Hell, even Reedus had partied too hard! He was covered in paint, and it looked like he had passed out painting the scene if it was done by Picasso and M.C Escher. The guild hall was in a hell of a state, it looked like someone had set off a lot of bombs in the middle of the guild.

Chairs and tables were in splinters, pillars -that I really hoped weren't load bearing- had chunks taken out of them, and light fixtures were busted, showering the debris with a light sprinkling of lacrima dust.

I laid my head against the rafter I was on, a smile crossing my face despite the headache and dry mouth. Cana had told Gildarts the truth, and he had accepted her with open arms, like I knew he would. Things were pretty darn good.

Mission accomplished.

Now how the hell do I get down from here?

Chapter Text

October 21, x775

The next three days brought a lot of changes.

Cana was moved out of the orphanage two days after she'd told Gildarts. He'd been running all over Magnolia in a panic, almost destroying multiple buildings as he tried to find a better house for the both of them. He'd finally managed to find one close enough to the guild that he wouldn't destroy multiple blocks on his way there, and it didn't take long after that for Cana to leave the orphanage behind.

That isn't to say Gray and I saw her any less, we just saw Gildarts a lot more, and he was…

Overprotective might be a bit light of a word.

The morning after the reveal, Gildarts had looked at Gray and I and flared his magic with a dangerous look on his face.

"What are your intentions with my daughter?!" His face was like evil itself, his eyes glowing red and his power rising behind him menacingly. Gray and I couldn't breathe, we fell to our knees gasping desperately as Gildarts loomed over us.

"Gildarts! Dad! Stop!" As soon as Cana threw herself in front of Gildarts, the feeling stopped and we both fell on our backs breathing heavily. "Gray and Helio are my friends! They're the ones who convinced me to tell you who I was in the first place!" From what little I could see from my position, Gildarts looked suitably chastised, comically begging his daughter's forgiveness. He grabbed Gray and I under our arms and pulled us to our feet.

"Sorry about that boys, gotta keep my little girl safe, you know." He rubbed the back of his neck.

Cana rolled her eyes as Gray and I leaned into each other for support. "I was doing fine without you, ya know!." She said indignantly. Gildarts responded by hugging her.

Cana looked like she was trying not to enjoy it.

It surprisingly only took a day or so for Cana to start tiring of Gildarts' shit. She would still melt into his hugs and embraces, but she didn't take any of that overprotective crap. Thankfully, he seemed to acknowledge that members of Fairy Tail wouldn't hurt her, and instead started engaging Master Makarov in "my kid's better than yours" competitions. He compared Cana to Laxus in just about everything, and Gramps encouraged it! The only good thing that came out of this was Laxus and Cana were bonding over how horrible their parental figures were. They would huddle next to each other, faces red as their respective parent waxed lyrical about how great they were.

"God they're awful." Laxus muttered as he smacked his head against the wall. Cana nodded into her knees.

"I don't regret telling him, but does he have to be so embarrassing?" Laxus then did something I don't think anyone expected.

He laid an arm around her shoulders and nodded.

"Parents are the worst."

Not how I expected Laxus to make friends, but I'd take it.

Alongside that though, are preparations for something I'd not thought about at all.

It was October in Magnolia Town, and that meant the Harvest Festival was starting soon.

Which for Fairy Tail, meant the Fantasia parade.

According to Cana, the kids all shared a float for the parade, except for Laxus. He either rode with Gramps or by himself.

While Gildarts had been panicking about getting a house so Cana could live with him, Cana had pulled Gray and I to our usual table, and immediately started drilling me on how to implement my magic into their routine.

"I've had this planned out since Gray joined, but since you're here, we can make it even better!" She looked excited, apparently Fantasia was serious business.

She pulled a sheaf of papers out of her bag, covered in scribbles with a stick figure throwing rectangles into the air with arrows pointing to everything. I could just barely make out the handwriting detailing what each drawing was.

"God, these plans are terrible, who drew these?" Gray grumbled as he squinted at them. Cana's smile became fixed before she grabbed her bag and started beating Gray with it.

"They're perfectly understandable!" Cana yelled, as Gray started trying to duck and dodge her bag, covering his head with his hands.

"I'm sorry! Just stop hitting me!" Cana hit him a few more times before returning to her plans.

"Alright, so here's how this is going to work! We were planning an amazing dance until someone" -Gray grumbled about girliness- " threatened to drop out of the parade over it, so we planned a fireworks routine using our magic instead! With you here, we can make it even better though! So, you're going to come with me and you're going to perform all the spells you know until we find combinations that work! This is going to be the best Fantasia ever!" Cana dragged us both towards the back door, a gigawatt smile on her face. I could hear Gildarts screaming about how adorable his daughter was from over at the bar.

I have to agree with him on that one. The smile on her face was one of the most adorable things I'd ever seen.

October 28, x775

The next week was stamina training from hell, physically and magically.

The moment I finished my exercises, Cana would be standing by the gate, waving me over with a grin, and then she'd drag Gray and I straight to the guild hall for practice. Turns out that practice for Fantasia is worth losing an extra hour or two of sleep for Cana.

I saw our routine when I slept now, every step, every spell, I could hear every beat like it was my own personal metronome. I could probably do it in my sleep, but Cana was insistent on continuing to practice, wanting to ensure it was absolutely perfect.

Even though I got where she was coming from, I still felt like she was going completely overboard. She was incredibly stubborn about it though. Even Gray had given up arguing against her! He grumbled the entire way to the guild, but at least it wasn't directed at Cana anymore. I managed to keep quiet, I knew better than to voice my complaints by now.

As adorable as Cana was when she tried to lecture us on diligent rehearsal habits, I didn't want to endure another one.

Thankfully for Gray and I, today was the day of the festival and I wouldn't have to worry about the return of this hellish routine until next year.

I wasn't dumb enough to think that she wouldn't try this again, but hopefully she'd calm down a bit.

Thankfully for us though, Genkei was awesome, and knew our usual breakfasts by heart, so he had them fresh off the stove every time when we got in from Cana's hellish routine. I tore into my steak omelet more viciously than was strictly necessary, Genkei laughed.

"Cana's worked you hard then, huh?" I looked up from my breakfast and nodded. Gray snorted into his eggs.

"She's a slave driver!" He said angrily. "All this work for a damn parade, it's so stupid!" Genkei smacked him over the head with a spatula.

"Language Gray. Fantasia is a special time for Fairy Tail. It's a parade celebrating the guild and its members, why wouldn't you take that seriously?" `Gray grumbled, but he didn't say anything else.

"Yeah Gray, why wouldn't you take that seriously?" I teased. Gray glared at me.

"Shut up Helio! You hated all that practice just as much as I did!" I shrugged.

"Yeah, but I kept quiet about it." I gave him a cheeky grin as his glare intensified. Genkei smacked me over the head this time.

"Now boys, behave and eat your food. You've got to have a lot of energy for the parade today, after all!" We both nodded and went back to tearing into our food.

The Fantasia Parade was huge. I know most of the guild was injured in the one we saw in the manga and the anime, but I thought that was just a little bit smaller than the usual parade.

No, if I had to guess, that was maybe half the size of the whole thing.

Floats lined up as far as the eye could see, Fairy Tail wizards all performing final checks on their floats and costumes, some were doing a last second run through of their routines, and more than one was having a sudden attack of stage fright.

Cana had the jitters, she couldn't stay still now matter how hard she tried. We'd already warmed up, done two final dry runs of the routine, and checked over both our float and the next two in line, yet she still couldn't calm down. She looked so excited that I thought she might throw up.

"Cana, calm down. We've got this." Gray said, completely relaxed as he lounged against our float. Should have seen that one coming, really. The little showoff wouldn't know stage fright if it kicked him in the teeth. His eyes were closed as he laid back half naked…

"Gray! Clothes!" I barked. We might not have had a costume like Cana wanted due to his little stripping habit, but that didn't mean we wanted him flashing half of Magnolia!

"Again?! Shit!" Gray's calm was shattered as he scrambled around the grounds, gathering up his shirt and pants. I rolled my eyes as I turned back to Cana, who looked like she might pass out.

"Deep breaths Cana, won't be long now. Don't want to pass out in front of your adoring public, do you?" I teased, Cana nodded excitedly and closed her eyes, trying to calm down.

Considering she was still bouncing on her toes, I don't think she was succeeding.

"There's my adorable little girl!" A loud voice shouted over the din of preparations. Gildarts walked through a couple of signs, prompting squawks of indignity from the poor bastards that had been carrying them. "Look at you!" He picked her up and held her at arm's length. "You're going to be the best part of the entire parade!" He hugged her tightly. Cana tried protesting the treatment, but it was muffled by his chest. Her struggles were getting weaker, so I tried my best to distract him.

"You're going to be in the parade, Gildarts?" I asked, he loosened his grip on Cana to look down at me.

"Nah, I'd probably walk through most of the floats." He looked sheepish for a moment before his grin returned ten times brighter. "I'm gonna be watching from the sidelines." He squeezed Cana again. "Especially for my little girl!" Cana finally managed to smack him hard enough for him to notice and he released her with a wince as she started gulping down great lungfuls of air. He looked like he was about to say something else, but the music began playing and the people upfront began moving, so he simply patted Cana's head.

"Good luck you three! I'll be looking for ya!" He gave the Fairy Tail salute as he turned and somehow managed to disappear into the organized chaos as everyone started boarding their floats or lining up behind them.

It was a tense few minutes as we waited for our turn to move forward, our float was near the back, just behind Laxus but ahead of Master Makarov, and the waiting was even beginning to eat at Gray's nerves.

When at last we started to move, it was a relief for all of us. The routine had been practiced a hundred times or more by now, and getting ready to begin it helped dispel the doubts that the waiting introduced.

It was all routine now. No time for doubts or second guessing, just doing.

I took a deep breath as I counted down the seconds until we'd begin, the turn was coming up, and I could almost feel the swell of the music as it started.

3…

2..

1…

Showtime.

We rounded the corner onto Magnolia's main street, and the routine began. Cana flashed a hand of cards, casting Prayer's Fountain as solar energy flared in my hands.

"Sunny Day!" The spell shot through the fountain at its zenith, creating a cascading rainbow above our heads. Gray jumped onto the back of our float, a cold mist following him.

He didn't cast any spells, simply releasing a handful of ice energy, freezing the mist into tiny ice crystals.

Cana went again, flashing another hand as one of her new combos, Wind Edge, blew the falling crystals upwards into a cloud, just above Sunny Day. With a breath as the cloud finished forming, I cast the last spell of our performance.

"Solar Beam!" The beam shot from my hands into the night sky, absorbing the Sunny Day as it shot through it, turning the light from bright yellow to white. It pierced the cloud of ice crystals, and created a kaleidoscope of colors in the shape of the Fairy Tail guild mark, with the rest of my spell diffused into a rainbow shining in the sky above.

The crowd let out an audible ooh as the crystals melted and the spell faded. I grinned widely as I waved at the awestruck crowd, getting beside Cana as Gray stood on her other side. With linked hands, we all gave a bow to their cheers and quickly ran to reset for the next leg of the parade, grins stuck on our faces the whole time.

"I love this guild!" I shouted over the noise, Cana and Gray both beamed at me as we began the performance again.

Best. Day. Ever.

"That was exhausting. '' I moaned as the three of us slumped over the bar, a mug of hot chocolate awaiting each of us as Enno walked off to speak to Macao. Despite our physical exhaustion, the three of us were still wide awake from the excitement of the parade. We'd done that performance six times, once for each section of the parade, so that everyone there would get to see it, and my magic container was dry. Solar Beam cost a lot of magic power for a kid, and that alongside Sunny Day had me wiped out. I don't think I could cast a single spell, regardless of how little it cost.

"It was fun though!" Cana chirped happily, still all smiles and rainbows. She cast a shrewd look at Gray "Except for the third performance where you started stripping." Gray rolled his eyes and grumbled. Suddenly, she was all sunshine again. "Now we've got to plan for next year!" Gray and I both looked at her wide eyed.

"We just finished this one!" Gray and I both cried in surprise. Cana smiled as she pulled a notebook and pen from her bag.

"Exactly! It's the best time to think of something new! Now for next year I think we sho-" Cana's planning was mercifully cut off as Gildarts ran through the doors -literally- and barreled his way to the bar, scooping Cana up in a hug so tight I could almost hear her ribs creak.

"Oh my little girl's performance was the best performance of all time! Nobody could ever top it! She's so perfect!" He honest to god squealed as he raised Cana above his head. "Her act was the best! Wasn't it guys?!" Most of the guild cheered, but I doubted a lot of them knew just what they were cheering for, just that there was cheering.

"Laxus' was better!" Gramps' voice cut above the din. His words were slurred, he'd been drinking since the second he got back to the guild and it was starting to show. "My grandson was amazing out there!" He shot out a hand and laid it on top of Laxus' head. "Did me proud out there, he did!" Laxus started turning red as he ducked around the next drunken attempt at affection.

Cana quickly wriggled her way free of Gildarts' hold as he started into another "My kid's better than yours" competition and joined Laxus in the darkened corner of the guild. Gray and I shared a smirk at her reaction.

While I was all for Cana getting Gildarts to let up on the praise, neither of us would be complaining about his timing on this one. If we were lucky, her plans for next year would be postponed until at least next month.

October 29, x775

'I'm sorry, what?" I asked dumbly. Gray just blinked with a dumbfounded look on his face.

Cana rolled her eyes at us. "I'm going on a job with Laxus. Master's letting him take me to Malba City for a Search and Retrieve mission." She showed us the poster.

SEARCH AND RETRIEVE

RANK: C

Placed by: Kenneth Grayden

I need a wizard to search Malba city and its nearby surroundings for my missing crup! All non magical methods have failed and I want my best friend back!

REWARD: 40,000 Jewel

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Laxus, is going with you on a C rank job to find… a two headed dog?" Cana huffed.

"He grabbed a job for himself as well. It's just that Dad and Master won't shut up about our performances yesterday, and we both just want out of the guild for a while." I looked over at the bar, and sure enough, the two were still going at it. It was quieter than last night, but then they were a lot more sober than last night as well.

Yeah, I could see why he agreed now. I nodded at her and pulled her into a hug. "Be careful and have fun then Cana. See you when you get back." She grinned at us as Gray said his farewell.

"I'll see you in a couple days, guys!" With that, she ran to the doors where Laxus was waiting, leaning next to them and nodding his head to the beat of whatever music he was listening to. He opened his eyes as Cana approached and nodded at her before leading her out of the guild.

"Laxus never does anything with us. I'm surprised he agreed to take Cana with him." Gray said. I shrugged.

"Laxus is a big softy deep inside." Gray looked like he was legitimately worried for my mental health. "If it was you getting embarrassed like that, you'd agree to a lot of things you wouldn't normally do to get away from it." He looked conflicted still before he nodded.

"Yeah, fair enough." We sat in silence for a few moments before either of us spoke again.

"Want to go out back and spar?"

"Heck yeah I do!"

October 31 x775

I don't think Gray and I realized just how little we did together without Cana there to engage us until she was gone. We weren't awkward or anything, but the last two days had been a lot more banter and sparring instead of talking or playing. It wasn't bad, just different. I think the both of us liked just being able to sit silently for a while without saying a thing until one of us decided we should trade barbs or fight again.

Currently I was reading aloud from my lessons with Laxus while Gray listened attentively. Neither of us had been in a fighting mood, so this seemed the next best thing for now.

"When creating a new spell, one should always be careful when preparing to cast it for the first time. Ensure that standard safety procedures-" The door being opened distracted me from my reading as I looked up to see who it was.

Cana came dashing into the guild, holding in giggles as she sat with us.

"Welcome back, Cana." I said with a smile, requipping my notebook away as I threw an arm around her shoulder. "How'd the mission go?" Cana finally started laughing her tail off, either ignoring, or unable to answer our questions.

"You alright? You're being weird." Gray asked with narrowed eyes. Cana simply nodded and pointed at the still open doors.

That seemed to prompt the thing she was laughing at to enter.

Laxus walked in looking harried as he dragged a little girl in with him.

"Is this really Fairy Tail? It's so big! Look at all the mages! Wow Laxus, this place is so cool!" The little girl said all this very quickly, never pausing for breath.

Laxus let out a heavy sigh, but he answered in one of the nicest tones I think anyone had ever heard from him.

"Yeah squirt this is Fairy Tail. Welcome to the madhouse." The guild, which had been struck silent by Laxus arriving with one more child than he had left with, finally had the spell broken.

"Awww!" Seemed to be the order of the day, with a few "she's so cute" and "Laxus is being nice?!" Thrown in for good measure.

Honestly, I was stuck in both of those camps.

Partly because Laxus was being this nice to some kid he'd probably just met.

Partly because that adorable little blue haired girl could be none other than Levy McGarden.

Ladies and gentlemen, best girl has arrived.

Chapter Text

October 31, x775

Levy's introduction to Fairy Tail was different than mine.

Where I had joined the guild without much fanfare beyond Cana dragging me around to introduce me to everyone, Levy was passed around the guild with excitement and cheer.

I couldn't blame them, Levy was frigging adorable. She showed off her magic a few times when she was asked, with little spells like wind and bubbles to the applause of the people she showed it to. She asked everyone who spoke to her a lot of questions as well, and when she eventually asked a question the person she was speaking to didn't know the answer to -or was too awkward to tell a little girl-, she was passed to the next person looking to meet our newest member.

It took a while for her to finally be led to the table the three of us were sitting at. Cana was already grinning at her, Gray was smiling arrogantly, and I was beaming. She smiled widely as she ran over after Genkei pointed her in our direction, throwing herself into a seat next to Cana.

"Hi!" She said excitedly, beaming at us. "I'm Levy McGarden! What are your names?" She spoke quickly and excitedly, like she wanted to learn everything as quickly as possible. Her attitude was also incredibly infectious.

"I'm Helio Dart!" I smiled at her, "It's nice to meet you Levy!" Gray's arrogant smile somehow intensified, and I could almost feel the smug oozing from his pores.

"I'm the Great Gray!" He declared, lounging in his chair as though it were a throne. Cana and I both rolled our eyes at him.

"Where did your clothes go?!" Levy squealed, her face turning every shade of red, and I swore I could see steam coming from her ears. Gray's arrogant stance was immediately shattered by Levy's question, as he began stuttering and looking around in a panic.

"Gah when did that happen?!" Cana and I both broke into laughter as he scrambled around the table, looking for his clothes.

"So much for the "Great" Gray, eh?" Cana teased him, smirking evilly. Gray tried glaring holes into the both of us.

"Eh?" Levy sounded incredibly confused, and I recovered from my laughter before Cana finished teasing.

"Don't mind Gray, he always does that." I waved at him hurriedly putting his clothes on and waved my hand around the guild, where nobody was paying it any mind. "You'll get used to it." Levy nodded uncertainly, I guess she wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing. I didn't really blame her.

"Anyways!" I said, masterfully changing the subject. "How'd you meet Cana and Laxus?" Levy blushed slightly before smiling and launching into her tale.

"I was walking around town with this new book I got from the library and I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." She scratched her cheek. "Laxus grabbed me out of the road before I got hit by some bad guys in a magic mobile." She smiled again, "He stopped the bad guys and told me to be more careful, and then he dragged them off to the guards! He's awesome!" I laughed at her description. Cana hopped in before Levy could continue.

"What she's not telling you is that she followed Laxus around until we got to the train station. We had to make her go tell her grandma she was going to join Fairy Tail before she hopped on the train with us." I raised an eyebrow, was her grandmother senile? Letting an eight year old run off to join a guild, who does that?!

"She was okay with that?" I asked incredulously. My parents had made it clear that they didn't want me running off to join a guild until I was at least a teenager, and Levy's Grandma just let her run off with a teen and a kid she just met to join a guild almost two hundred miles away?

Levy shrugged.

She's probably better off here than with her then.

I shook my head, "Well you're here now Levy, and you're a member of Fairy Tail!" I grinned at her. "Welcome to the guild!" She grinned back at me.

"Thanks Helio! I hope we'll all be great friends!" Cana threw an arm around her, dragging Gray into the embrace by his hair.

"You bet we will!" Cana said ecstatically, Gray grumbled as he fixed his hair, but he didn't resist Cana's pull.

This was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

It didn't take long for Levy to prove herself even more different from us than we first thought.

When I'd shown her the archives, I knew she'd be excited. I'd almost ditched Laxus's lessons just to dive into the nearest book I could grab, but she looked so excited I thought she would pass out.

As night fell, I'd been forced to drag her out kicking and screaming to get food in her and force her off to Fairy Hills, with many assurances that the archives would be there tomorrow, but if she didn't take care of herself then I'd tell Master.

The puppy dog eyes she shot me at the threat were deadly.

Thankfully, the matron of Fairy Hills had dragged her inside to get her ready for bed before I could cave to those weapons of mass adorableness.

November 5, x775

Somehow the siren calls of the archives weren't enough for our newest member though, as evidenced by the sight Cana and I found when we returned from a job less than a week after she'd joined.

There, sitting across from a very confused and almost naked Gray, was Levy in what looked a lot like a school uniform.

She was looking at a worksheet with a look of concentration that threatened to set the paper on fire as she tapped her pencil against the table in thought. Cana and I both looked at her in shock.

School wasn't mandatory for kids in wizard's guilds,one of the perks of being in one at such a young age, I suppose. Cana, Gray and I had been told we could attend one of the schools in Magnolia when we had joined, but each of us had shot the idea down immediately. We were kids being told we didn't need to go to school anymore, of course we'd been glad to be free of it!

Levy looked in her element though, she tapped the paper a few more times before she started filling it out at a blistering pace.

"What's with the uniform?" Cana asked as we sat down on either side of Gray. He huffed and crossed his arms as he answered.

"Levy wanted to go to school, obviously." Cana shuddered, and I felt the same instinctive urge as well. I had enough memories of going to school to know I didn't want to go ever again, thank you very much.

"I knew she liked learning, but school?" Cana looked absolutely disgusted. Gray nodded.

"I told her she was crazy." Levy looked up at Gray with a scowl, pulling a pen from her backpack.

"Solid Script: Clothes!" The word shaped clothes formed above Gray's head and showered him. "Wanting to learn isn't weird!" She shouted at him. Gray glared through the sock stuck to his face.

"No but wanting to go to school is just crazy!" I rolled my eyes while Cana giggled.

"What made you want to go anyways?" I asked, "I thought I was going to have to get Cana to help me pull you from the archives again." Levy pouted at the reminder, but her smile made a quick return.

"Magic is great, but I want to learn about more than just that!" She beamed at me. "I want to learn about everything!" I grinned at her, leaning over the table to ruffle her hair. "Hey!" She puffed out her cheeks. I laughed as she tried to look indignant but only managed to be adorable.

At this rate it's not dark guilds, dragons or Zeref that will kill me, it's diabetes.

November 12, x775

"Alright Laxus, let's see if I did this properly!" I shouted out, Laxus leaned against the back of the Guild Hall and nodded. I was facing out towards Lake Scilliora in case something went wrong so I wouldn't break anything. There were a couple of dummies planted near the cliff edge as well, to let us better see the effects it might have.

"I ain't gonna stand here all day, let's get this over with." He grumbled, but I could tell that his heart wasn't in it.

"Alright." I took a deep breath to prepare myself, before shooting my hand out towards the first dummy. "First spell! Fusion!" The spell formed much like a Flare, but it was brighter, and more unstable. It shot out of my hand at a blistering speed and slammed into my target, not so much burning as melting through it.

Then, with a mental command, the reaction destabilized, and exploded inside of it.

Laxus and I both had to dodge some flaming shrapnel, but the grin on my face betrayed my true feelings with the results.

"Hmph, not bad, runt." Laxus said as he patted out a flame on his shirt. "Watch the debris next time." I looked around at the small puffs of flame spread out across the back lawn.

Definitely need to be a bit more careful next time.

After a few minutes of stomping out the small fires, I can't wait for Natsu to show up if this is how my attack tests go! I moved on to spell number two, a variation of my first one, but a second spell nonetheless.

"Fusion Punch!"I launched from my starting point and leapt at the dummy target. The attack connected, and with the same mental command as before, the attack exploded and sent it flying.

This time though, the explosion happened before I had penetrated the target, and acted more like a shaped charge, sending the debris flying in a cone behind it as it shot off the cliff and into the lake.

The added boost that fusion -or at least the magic bullshit version of it- gave my attacks was immense. Flare could burn through those dummies like butter, but it wasn't as fast or as explosive, nor did it or Flare Punch send them flying even half as far as my enhanced versions.

"At least you didn't try to burn the guild down this time." Laxus commented. I felt the heat on my face before I turned around.

"But I didn't!" I said, perhaps a bit petulantly. My smile made a return as I prepared my third and final new attack spell. "Alright, this is my last one, let's see how good it is!" I said excitedly. Theoretically it was stronger than Solar Beam, but not as strong as Solar Flare. It was a step up without getting into "seriously overkill" territory. A niche of power I desperately needed.

I aimed at the clustered together training dummies and took a deep breath, feeling my magic begin to respond to my needs. I closed my eyes and felt it form between my hands as I cried out the spell and opened my eyes, "PHOTON BEAM!"

The attack left my hands as a beam of light. I could just make out the shadow of the wooden dummies as they were vaporized, the beam flying out across the lake before it finally cut out a few hundred feet from where I stood.

Holy shit.

It was definitely stronger than Solar Beam.

I fell to my knees breathing heavily.

It had the cost to match too.

Laxus whistled. "Damn, runt, that actually wasn't bad." He eyed me critically for a moment. "Might wanna work on your magical stamina though. Spell that strong is worthless if it puts you on your ass." I gave him a thumbs up as I laid back on the grass. "We done here? I got stuff to do, you know." I nodded tiredy, Laxus grunted "Remember, you got a lesson with me tomorrow. You better be there." With that, he went back inside.

I laid there taking mental notes on how to refine the spell, I had felt a lot of wasted magic in that spell. It was useful as a beam, but most of it hadn't hit anything after it carved out a trench and vaporized the targets. I'd have to work on making it narrower so that all that damage wouldn't go to waste.

I could cast Solar Beam and Sunny Day about six or seven times each before I was completely drained, but just one of those plus the Fusion spells had me on my back.

Photon Beam was powerful, but not that powerful.

I'd have to refine it, at the very least figure out how to narrow it if I wanted to use it in a combat environment without being useless afterwards.

When I could finally move my arms again, I put the mental notes to paper before deciding an afternoon nap was just what the doctor ordered.

November 15, x775

While I was proud of the progress I had made, there was no way I would use any of those spells against Gray or Cana. I knew they were strong, but the thought of punching my best friends in the face with a magical nuclear reaction rubbed me the wrong way, so I did the next best thing.

"You want to do what?!"

I smiled at him with my most innocent grin. "I want to fight you, Wakaba! It'll be nice to get some practice against a more experienced opponent! Especially one as good as you!" Enno giggled from her spot beside Macao.

Okay, so maybe I was laying it on a bit thick, but Cana had told me the best way to get Macao and Wakaba to do what you wanted was to either blackmail or flatter them into it. Considering I hadn't spent as much time with them as Cana had to gain the former -and I wasn't going to buy it off her, not at the prices she was asking- I decided the latter was the best course to take.

Wakaba smiled arrogantly around his cigarette and looked at me with what I assume was meant to be gravitas. "Well, it is the duty of the older generation to teach their juniors." He paused for a moment and nodded. "Alright Helio, let's take this out back." He stood up and stretched before waving me onwards with him.

Cana was giggling madly by the door, and Gray was grinning excitedly, giving me a thumbs up. I flashed them a grin and headed after Wakaba.

He stood in the middle of the backyard, his hands stuffed in his pockets as he glanced at me over his sunglasses. "You sure about this, kid? You might learn some neat tricks by fighting me, but I don't want ya to get hurt." I grinned at him as I got into a ready position.

"No pain, no gain, right?" Wakaba grinned, Cana ran between us.

"This fight will end when one side is either unable to fight, or forfeits, do you both understand?" The both of us nodded, she leapt out of the way and sprinted back to her spot beside Gray. "Then begin!"

"Lesson one, kid, always take initiative! Smoke Crush!" Fist shaped smoke came shooting from Wakaba's cigarette, and I was forced to roll to the left to dodge. He cast another three and I was forced to keep moving to avoid the attacks. He was putting on pressure, but it wasn't the best he could do, I could tell. He looked far too relaxed to be trying too hard.

My observation had me trip over a tendril of smoke, and I was put on my ass by another fist.

Alright. That's enough of that.

I leapt up from my position, dodging around a smoky foot before jumping over one last fist, my hands held together, and went on the offensive. "Flare!" Wakaba leaned to the side, the attack almost hitting him. "Fusion!" He sidestepped to avoid it this time, and I grinned as I triggered the explosion, sending him flying. I cast Flare twice more, keeping him on his toes as I closed the distance.

"Nuh-uh kid!" Wakaba jumped away from me with a smirk. "You're better than I thought you'd be, but- urk!" His sentence was cut off by a Flare Punch in his gut. He groaned as he doubled over, but he recovered quickly.

"What the hell was that, Helio?!" He said angrily.

His anger wasn't helped by the fact I was forcing him to dodge again and again as he tried to speak.

"This is a fight, not a conversation."I stated plainly, "Fusion Punch!" Wakaba dodged it again, but he seemed to have learned from the first attack that Fusion meant explosive, as he leapt instead of leaning or blocking.

"I see how it is! Smokescreen!" The landscape was immediately covered in a thick layer of smoke and I had to force back a curse as I started to turn warily, trying my best to sense Wakaba through it all. "Smoke Fake." The spell was spoken quietly, but I heard it all the same.

I had to be careful here, smoke reflected light, if I used the wrong attack, or missed, then I would be good as blind and this fight would be over in a second. Í could see multiple silhouettes through the smoke, but my senses weren't sharp enough to pick out which Wakaba was the real one.

"Smoke Crush!" I was forced to dodge an attack from all sides, groaning in surprise and pain as I punched in the gut before being slammed into the ground. I had to get out of this somehow, if this smokescreen lasted much longer, then I'd be toast! I pulled myself together, just barely managing to dodge his next attack.

"Feel free to forfeit, I know how tough it can be to find your way in there." Wakaba taunted me. I grit my teeth.

"We're both Fairy Tail wizards, old man! We don't know the meaning of defeat!" I called out into the smoke, Wakaba's response was joyful laughter.

"That's the spirit, Helio! Let's see how you get out of this!" The smoke thickened further, and even the silhouettes of Wakaba's fakes became indistinct. I didn't have much time before the next attack. I had to think fast.

I had a spell that could work, but it hadn't been tested out yet. It was now or never if I didn't want to lose. "Solar Wind." Sunlight streamed off of me, the heat skyrocketed as wind began to kick up around me, I waved an arm to direct it, and the winds blew to my left, which should put it over the lake…

"Damnit Helio! Watch where you're aiming!"

Or directly into Cana and Gray's face.

Guess I'd gotten turned around.

"Sorry!" I shouted before I jumped back to dodge Wakaba's next attack. A barrage of fists landed in the general area of where I'd just been standing. "Fusion!" I triggered the explosion just as it passed by Wakaba, buffeting him, but not doing much damage as he dodged. He grinned around his cigarette, and I felt one cross my face as well.

Wakaba seemed to be done playing around, because he wasn't even trying to speak now, simply sending attacks after me relentlessly, barely giving me any time to breathe. It was a good tactic, he was an adult, by definition he had more magic power than me. In theory, he could just keep up the barrage until I tired out.

Luckily for me, my newest spell had given me a hell of an advantage.

I just had to get enough space to cast it.

I stepped more than dodged around the attacks, conserving energy as I dipped around fists, feet and bats made of smoke, looking for my opportunity. I kept my eyes locked on Wakaba, waiting for just the right moment, for him to just breathe- there! He was tapping the ash off his cigarette!

"Solar Wind!" The winds whipped up once more, and I directed them towards Wakaba. He looked surprised for a moment before he was buffeted by the strong winds and heat, his Smoke Crush blown away.

I took advantage of the opening, I wasn't naive enough to think that was it. I rushed into attack, my fist glowing with solar energy as I leapt at Wakaba. "Fusion Punch!" He bent over my fist as I uppercut him in the gut and triggered the reaction, sending him into a front flip over my head.

CRASH

Directly into one of the windows.

"WHICH ONE OF YOU BRATS IS TRYING TO DESTROY MY GUILD?!" My eyes widened at the shout, and with fear beginning to bubble in my gut, I turned and came face to face with a very upset looking Master Makarov standing in the doorway.

I grinned sheepishly at him and waved nervously. "Hi Master! I didn't know you were back from your conference!" I could almost see the vein on his forehead twitch.

That wasn't good.

"Helio Dart! Inside! Now!" Cana and Gray were looking at us both with wide eyes.

"Oh man, he got the full name treatment." I heard Cana say quietly. Gray nodded.

"Gramps ain't happy." I felt my heart in my throat as I shuffled inside, my thoughts going into overdrive on worst case scenarios.

I only made it a few steps inside before Master placed a hand on my shoulder, his face now completely unreadable as he looked me in the eye. I held his gaze, trying not to look away, this was almost worse than if he just yelled at me-

"Good job son! That was a heck of a punch!" He said, his face breaking out in a grin. I could almost hear Cana and Gray's jaws hit the floor. "I've not seen a kid beat a member of the guild that much older than them since Laxus was your age!" He laughed heartily. "Did you think you were in trouble?" He asked with a mischievous look, I nodded dumbly. His expression turned stern again, "Good! Don't go breaking my guild in your spars! It doesn't matter how impressive it was!" Then he was all smiles again as he tottered off. I turned towards Gray and Cana with wide eyes.

"Scary" The three of us mumbled. The spell was broken by Macao's guffaws.

"You got beat by a kid!" He managed to get through his laughter. "Oh that was priceless! You should have seen the look on your face, man!" Wakaba rubbed a bump on his head.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get him next time." He said, I grinned at him as I walked over to their table.

"You do know how weird that sounds considering you're talking about a kid right?" I said. Macao started laughing again, Wakaba gave me the stink eye.

"I'll be ready next time, ya caught me off guard, that's all."

"Excuses, excuses." Macao jabbed, Wakaba groaned.

"I'm never gonna live this one down, am I?"

"Not in a million years."

When Levy returned from school that day, I was still keyed up from my win, and was more than happy to fill her in on it when she asked.

"Wow Helio, that's amazing! You actually beat a grown up member of the guild?!" I grinned, probably more than a little arrogantly as I nodded.

"It was just Wakaba, I can probably beat him too." Gray cut in, popping my bubble of happiness.

"Good luck getting him to fight any of us now, I don't think his pride can take another loss like that." Cana said with a smirk. "Still, it was impressive, just not that impressive."

"My poor ego, gone before its time." I mumbled. Levy, the little traitor, giggled at my perfectly justified reaction.

"If you wanna be really impressive, try beating Laxus or something." Gray smirked.

"Do you want me to die?" I shot back. "How about I just beat you instead?" I smirked, lighting my fist. Gray gave me a challenging grin.

"Just cause your spells explode now doesn't mean you'll beat me!" Cana rolled her eyes at both of us.

"Ugh, boys." I looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Like you're not gonna join in." She stopped for a moment, then shrugged.

"Yeah, that's fair." She looked over at Levy. "You want in on this? We've not had a chance to see what you can really do yet." Levy looked absolutely terrified at the thought.

"Nononononono!" She said, waving her hands frantically. "You'll kill me!" The three of us looked at her, very alarmed.

"No we won't! We wouldn't go that hard on you!" I said quickly, throwing an arm around her in comfort. "How about this, instead of the three of us all fighting each other, we go out back and you can show us how your magic's coming along? We can give you tips and stuff." Cana nodded quickly, Gray looked stuck.

"I kinda wanted to fight though." I rolled my eyes, trying to grab him by the shirt, only to find it gone.

"Gray, your clothes." He looked down and grabbed his shirt from the floor. "I'll kick your ass later, if you still wanna go. I want to see what Levy can do though, we haven't seen her use much of her magic yet." Gray grumbled, but he didn't say anything else.

"C'mon then, let's go!"

Solid Script was a very versatile magic, but it had its limits, which Levy had been more than happy to explain to us after she finished showing off the spells she knew.

"My magic depends on how much I understand the thing I'm making." She'd explained like a teacher giving a lecture. "It also costs more the more specific I am. Sunlight would cost more than just light, oxygen more than air, that kind of thing." She shrugged at us, "It's got a lot of possibilities, but I have to learn a lot more to get strong like you guys!"

It wasn't hard to understand. If Levy could just walk into a room and cast Solid Script: Black Hole, she would be incredibly overpowered. It made sense that she was limited to more basic concepts and attacks. We'd have to help her understand things better when we got the chance. It would only help her in the long run, and Levy had a lot of potential. Still, that didn't mean she couldn't gain a bit more utility earlier on.

"I found a book on Rune Magic if you're interested." Levy nodded excitedly.

"That would be awesome!" She squealed. "Runes are so cool! I've read about them, but I hadn't thought about learning how to use them yet!" I smiled and motioned for her to follow me. Giving her more utility would be useful, and the idea of Levy teaching Freed how to use his own magic is funny to me.

"Alright, it's in the Archives, if you actually follow me, and don't get lost in the stacks, I can show you where it is." She pouted at my teasing, but followed along eagerly nonetheless.

To her credit, Levy did manage to follow me without getting distracted.

She just waited until I handed her the book before she disappeared into the stacks.

You know, in hindsight? I really should have seen that coming.

Chapter Text

January 5, x776

Time passed, as it does, and before I knew it, Christmas and New Year's had both flown past, leaving the chilly winter weather, but none of the good cheer. Gray was insufferable about how little it bothered him.

Cana and Levy were using me as a space heater whenever I used my magic to warm up.

There wasn't a lot that happened in the last couple months, but I suppose Fairy Tail can't always be having earth shaking revelations or fast paced newcomers to keep us on our toes.

The S-Class Trials hadn't happened. Gramps apparently didn't think anyone was ready this year, so we just didn't have them. Which was a bummer, I wanted to know who of the older wizards in the guild had S-Class potential. I wanted to know who I needed to measure myself against!

Levy had managed her first few runes, along with managing new spells with her Solid Script. She wasn't very powerful yet, but she was starting to branch out. Her love of learning was only helping her when it came to her magic.

Cana had all but pushed Gildarts out of the guild as soon as he'd recovered from his New Year's hangover. They'd settled in together rather well after the growing pains of Gildarts finding the sweet spot of how much he could embarrass her and Cana had gotten used to actually having a Dad. He'd even started teaching her a few things, like how to better control her incredibly dense magic power.

I had gladly taken advantage of her newfound control to finally teach her Requip, no chance of losing her cards now!

The breaking point for Cana's tolerance though, had been going on a job with him.

They'd set off to a small village a few dozen miles from Era to fight some bandits, and according to Cana it had been a cakewalk until Gildarts had gotten carried away. What should have been an easy job for 100,000 jewel had dwindled to nothing when Gildarts let loose just a bit too much and destroyed most of the village.

That had been all it took for her to convince Enno to smuggle her upstairs when she was helping Gramps out, and she'd stuffed a sack full of S-Class requests and shoved them at him before pushing him out the door. He'd been a bit over the top in his farewells to her, but Cana bore it with good cheer as she sent him on his way. A couple months away from one another would probably do them both some good.

Or at least restore what was left of Cana's sanity.

Gray was bettering his casting speed, he still wasn't almost instantaneous, but he was getting faster. It was interesting to watch him make something new only for him to cast it over and over, trying to make it form quicker.

I'd not been idle either, Laxus' lessons were getting more intense as he demanded more of me with every lesson I learned. It was hard, but I loved the challenge. I was hardly going to consider learning magic work.

Now though, Laxus had gone off on an A Class Monster Subjugation quest near the border of Bosco, and that left me without a teacher for a few days. I figured it gave me time to test my spells out against more threatening combatants than gorians and rodents.

Who to go with though? If I wanted to leave Magnolia for a few days on a request, I'd have to take a more experienced member of the guild with me, and Gramps had made it clear that more experienced did not mean Cana.

"But she's been in the guild for years!" I tried to reason with him. Master gave me a stern look.

"Yes, but she's younger than you. Pick someone older." I sighed. Older than me meant Gray was out, even if he'd been in the guild longer than me -according to him, three months made a huge difference- , Wakaba said he was going on a training journey -I think that's code for get drunk and try to get laid-, so that left me with only three choices.

Reedus, Enno and Macao.

I'd not spent as much time with Reedus as I might like, and I would love to go on a job with him, but he wasn't one for Monster Hunts, so unfortunately he was out.

Really, of the two, I only know the capabilities of one of them, so the obvious choice was…

"Hey Macao!" I said cheerfully, sitting down across from him. He looked up from the newspaper with furrowed brows.

"What do you want, Helio?" He asked warily. I suppose I couldn't blame him for that reaction, considering the last few times I sat down here had been to wheedle Wakaba into a rematch -which was getting harder to win each time-, but it still hurt, just a bit.

"Do you wanna go on a job with me?" I held up the job request.

MONSTER HUNT

RANK: B

Help! The Love & Lucky Guild needs a mage to find and exterminate a pair of owlbears that have been attacking the caravans for food. Speak to Sue Chanidot, the Guild Master at our guild hall in Acalypha Town for more details.

PLACED BY: Love & Lucky Merchant's Guild

REWARD: 50,000 JEWEL

Macao looked over the request for a few moments before nodding. "Sure, why not. I could use an extra twenty five thousand jewel right about now." He looked at the clock hung behind the bar. "Register the job with the Master and meet me by the carriage station in an hour. If we go now, we should get back by evening." He gave me a stern look. "While we're on this job, I'm in charge, you got that, Helio? I don't expect it to happen, but if I have to give you an order I expect you to follow it. If I tell you to run, you run. Do you understand?" I looked up at him, surprised at the sudden tone change.

"Run and don't look back Helio! Know that I will always be watching you!"

I shook my head to force the memories away. "I understand, Macao. It won't come to that, but I understand." He gave me a hard stare before nodding and standing up.

"See you in an hour then, Helio. You know where the carriage depot is, right?" I nodded. "Good, see ya then."

After registering the job with Gramps, I got a packed lunch from Genkei and rushed to the orphanage for a change of clothes and my toothbrush in case we were there overnight. I made it to the carriage depot before Macao, who looked surprised to see me.

"Huh, figured you'd be here later." He shrugged, waving me to the carriage drivers. We paid for the passage to Acalypha, and before we knew it, we were on the road.

"Now Helio, this is your first out of town job, right?" Macao asked, I nodded. The bandits probably didn't count, I wasn't exactly a member of the guild back then. "I thought so, you would have mentioned it otherwise. Now, when we get to Acalypha, I want you to follow my lead, alright? We'll head to the Love & Lucky guild, and speak to our client, then we're gonna scout out the area they tell us the owlbears are most active in. They're mainly nocturnal, so if we're lucky, we'll find them asleep, and we can take them out that way. Got it?"

"Got it."

"Good. Now enough of this serious stuff, what have ya been up to other than finding more ways to chip away at Wakaba's dignity?" I grinned as I talked about the training Cana, Gray, Levy and I had been doing, and he whistled as I listed off the stuff Laxus had been drilling me on.

"Damn kid, what are you trying to do? Show us all up?" My grin turned devious.

"Like we need to work this hard to do that." Macao gave me a wounded look, I smiled and punched him in the shoulder. "Nah, it's not like that's all we do. Training is just something we all like to do together. Life would be pretty boring if all we did was work to get stronger." I told him about some of the other stuff we did, games we'd taught one another, how I was pretty sure Cana was a cheating card shark, and that Levy had to be crazy for still going to school despite being a member of the guild.

"Not much different from when we were kids then." He said with a reminiscent grin. I cocked my head to the side in curiosity.

"Really?" Macao smiled in nostalgia.

"Oh yeah, Wakaba and I got into all kinds of trouble together. We didn't join the guild as early as you four have, but we grew up together. It was the two of us versus the world back then." He laughed, "I remember how we joined the guild! There was this woman at a bar in Crocus-" He coughed. "Probably not the best story to tell ya right now. I'll tell ya when you're older." He ruffled my hair. "My first job though, that I can tell you about. Me and Wakba got this request to clear…" The hours slid by as we spoke, Macao was full of stories, exciting, funny and embarrassing. I looked forward to the day I was in his place.

We arrived in Acalypha a little before noon, glad to be out of the carriage and walking around on our own two feet again. The day was clear and warm, the perfect kind of weather for hunting nocturnal monsters.

Love & Lucky wasn't hard to find, it was one of the bigger buildings in town, and it was right near the outskirts as well. The receptionist, a kind looking old lady, waved us back towards an office after mumbling into a communication lacrima.

Sue Chanidot was a very severe woman from what I could tell. Her black hair was in a tight bun, and she wore a respectable women's suit. She waved for us to sit in a pair of chairs across from her and she steepled her hands before looking at us.

" You must be the mages from Fairy Tail." She cast a shrewd look at me before continuing to speak. "As you know from our request, there is a pair of owlbears on the road that have been harassing travelers and our caravans. We're worried that they're mated, or will be soon, and would like them dealt with before a pair becomes a parliament." She stood up and walked over to a framed map she had on the wall behind her. "This is where the most attacks have happened, their nest should be nearby, or failing that, there should be a clear enough trail to lead you to it." She gave the both of us a severe look. "Any questions? Time is money, and I would rather not waste any more than I already have." Macao stared at the map for a moment longer before shaking his head.

"No ma'am, I think we're good. We'll be back when the job's done, come on Helio." He turned and waved for me to follow, I gave a small bow before turning my back to her.

"Well she was… pleasant." I said as soon as we were out of their guild hall. Macao hummed.

"She was indeed, but it's something you've got to get used to as a guild wizard. You've accepted their request, and they're paying you, not the other way around, they don't owe you anything more than that and maybe some extra details if they've got them." He shrugged, "You'll get used to it, Helio. I've been treated worse by better, just remember the reward money and bear it." I nodded in understanding.

"I'll keep that in mind." Macao ruffled my hair with a grin.

"Now enough of that, we've got owlbears to find. If we're lucky, then they'll be waiting for another caravan, and we won't have to trek through the brush to find them!" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Way to go, you jinxed it." Macao rolled his eyes.

"Thousand jewel says that we'll run right into them, no tracking required." I nodded in agreement.

"You're on."

"So Macao, about that bet…."

"Shut up Helio."

Unfortunately, I was right. We'd been stalking through the underbrush for over an hour, and there was not a single owlbear in sight. I think I was being very reasonable in waiting this long before I resorted to acting petty.

It wasn't that the owlbears were hard to track, far from it, in fact. We'd been following this exceedingly obvious trail since we first found it. The problem was that owlbears had the endurance to hunt far from their nests without any problems and were clever enough to do so.

"Wait." Macao threw out an arm and stopped me. "I hear something." I slowed my breathing and concentrated on the sounds around me.

There were voices.

I furrowed my brow, the owlbears should have eaten these guys already if we were anywhere near their nest. I had a few ideas as to how these guys could be fine for being right in the middle of an owlbear's path, and few of them were good. From the way Macao's eyebrow was furrowed, he was on the same track.

"I don't like this." I murmured to him, Macao nodded.

"Me either, let's get closer." We crept silently forward, being careful to make as little noise as possible. It seemed like the end of our quest was just ahead, and I had a feeling neither of us were going to like it.

We got right to the edge of the clearing we'd heard the voice from, and were finally able to properly hear what they were saying.

"- I'm telling you Nu, we gotta move soon. We'll be found!" A reedy voice said in a rush. Someone, presumably the person he was talking to, scoffed.

"The owlbears will deal with whoever they send after us, isn't that right girl." His harsh tone went soft as he spoke to someone, something else. "Who's a good monster? You are! You are!" There was a slight cough before he spoke again, "Besides, give it another week and we'll get paid. That Merchant Guild can't be doing too well with all their shipments being attacked like this."

"I'm not saying abandon the job, I just think we should move our base just in case they hire someone to deal with the attacks!"

"Bah, I already told you, Kylie and Kohl will handle anyone! Now stop your bellyaching, you'll stress poor Kylie out." He made a cooing noise, "Is the mean human making you nervous? Who's an adorable monster? You are! Don't let the mean old party pooper get you worked up!"

Macao and I looked at each other in alarm. This request just got a lot more complicated.

"Your hubby should be back any minute now, Kylie, yes he will!" The voice continued, completely oblivious to the panic it had inspired.

"Rooawhoo!" A horrible monstrosity of a roar sounded from directly behind us.

Panicked, the two of us gave up on any idea of stealth, and leapt out of the way of the owlbear's claws.

"What the-!" Shouted the harsh sounding guy, Nu, if that was his real name. "Mages! Kill 'em boy! Go on Kylie! Help Kohl get his dinner!"

"I told you we'd be found!" The reedy one whined.

"Shut up Wust! This'll all be over soon! One of them's just a kid!"

I cursed as he opened the gate for the other monster. I really should have expected something to go wrong, I am a member of Fairy Tail, after all.

Nothing is ever simple.

I dived out of the way of Kylie's lunge, shooting a Flash at it to stun it as its head turned 180 degrees to try and snap my head off. Macao was using his fire to grab at the other, but I couldn't see what exactly he was trying to accomplish before I had an unholy abomination in my face.

Ducking underneath a bite just to have to slide out of the way of a claw, I let myself fall back on my training. The footwork was as natural as breathing at this point, and there was no wasted movement as the sow tried her best to maul me. I took my chance to jump back and finally effectively fight back.

Deciding the kiddy gloves were worthless, a Fusion flew from my hand and struck home in the monster's chest, making it roar in pain as its fur burned away, leaving irritated pink skin where I had hoped there would be a grievous burn. The explosion at least stunned it, but I could already tell I'd have to be a bit more clever than "throw a big honkin' spell and call it a day."

"Haha! You don't stand a chance kid! Owlbears are resistant to heat!" I shot a Flare behind me and was rewarded with a yelp as whoever spoke had to dodge.

Probably not mages or fighters then. Else they would have attacked us by now.

Unfortunately, that had cost me a crucial moment, and the owlbear was too close for me to hit with a spell that would actually do anything.

I just barely got out of the way of a snapping beak and instead got run over by a half ton of monster. Sent spiraling to the ground underneath it, I honestly wasn't sure I shouldn't have risked losing an arm instead.

Thankfully, I managed to prepare a spell before it decided to trample me, and with a vindictive grin, I let out a Solar Wind directly into its stomach.

"ROAAAAWWHHHOOO!" It cried as it flew through the air, slamming into a tree with a mighty crack!

She struggled to her feet and I had an epiphany, wind already swirling.

'Resistant to heat, but not wind.' I let loose another blast of wind, knocking it over as I requipped my hunting knife.

With a leap onto its side, I ended the fight with one final stab. It let out a few whimpers and futile kicks before finally going still.

"You little bastard! I'll kill you!" The tough guy yelled, letting out a roar as he charged me. I put my knife back in my requip space and instead pulled out my staff. I'd not used it against another person since Sun's Valley, but it was the only way I could beat this non-mage without possibly breaking something.

Luckily, it seemed between his rage and reliance on his pets, he'd neglected his own skills, and with a simple sidestep, I slammed the end of my staff into the back of his head. He slumped over into the dirt and went silent.

A shot of panic went through me before I checked his vitals and let out a sigh of relief at his strong pulse. I composed myself and turned to the reedy looking guy, but Macao had him trapped underneath the other owlbear, looking at me with a smirk.

"Good job kid, I'll take it from here." His magic flared, and he had the two of them captured in a fiery prison. Wust! That was the reedy dude's name! Wust was gibbering in terror, poking his friend, Nu, trying to wake him up.

"We'll take 'em back to town. They pretty much admitted to murder earlier, and they were the ones responsible for the owlbears in the first place. I figure the guards will want to have a few words with them." His grin was sharp as he turned it on the duo. Wust shivered, despite what I was sure had to be a toasty prison cell. I nodded and turned towards the way we came.

"Thankfully, backtracking our way along the trail should be easier than getting here." I said, already heading out of the clearing. "I'll lead now, since you've got those two to worry about." Macao raised an eyebrow. I rolled my eyes, "If that's okay with you." He held the look for a moment before he smiled.

"Good plan, Helio! I was about to suggest it myself!" He waved me on. "Lead the way, I'll keep these two entertained." The look he gave them was very dark.

Really glad I'm not them right about now.

Thankfully, the walk back was peaceful, if not quiet due to our prisoners. Wust moaned and gibbered the whole way down. Nu, as that was his real name, had started mourning the loss of his precious owlbears once he'd awoken. It had taken Macao shrinking the prison by a small amount to get him to quit his crying and go right to panicked gibbering at the thought of being roasted alive.

Honestly? That was probably better for everyone involved.

His gibbering was much quieter than his sobs.

Heading back into Acalypha, we were met with stares, and a few panicked people running away at the sight of a man walking around with two crying men in a cage made of purple fire. I couldn't really blame them for their panic, but it did make it slightly annoying to get directions to the guard barracks.

The guards seemed to have the same problem at first, drawing their spears and brandishing them towards us, at least until I had rolled up my sleeve and showed him my guild mark. They were a lot more understanding after that, and they gladly took the two murderers out of our hands.

Master Chanidot had listened to our tale, nodding along. "I see. I will look into this. Our guild will not be intimidated into closing our doors!" With that declaration, she handed us our pay, and then not so politely told us to get out of her guild hall. I had been tempted to be rude back, but Macao had nodded, grabbed my shoulder and guided me back out.

"Yes, Helio, she was rude, but that doesn't mean we have to be rude back. The only time you should be rude to a client is after they've paid you, and you don't want their business again. If they insult your friends, or the guild, let 'em have it. Just expect the Master to give you a talk afterwards." He jerked his head back towards Love & Lucky, "She wasn't worth the hassle. Take her money and forget she exists." I nodded and followed after him, headed back to the carriage station.

The ride back wasn't as nice as the one there, but that was probably because the both of us were tired. Still, true to Macao's prediction, we made it back to Magnolia that evening, disembarking at a quarter past six. We both headed back to the guild hall, deciding that Genkei's cooking was just what the day needed to be capped off.

"Ah man, your job was way better than mine! I just had to use my magic to keep some stupid plants fresh!" Gray's tone was very jealous, I did my best not to smirk at him.

Judging by the way Cana rolled her eyes and Levy giggled, I failed miserably.

"Choose better jobs then." Gray gave me the stink eye. "What? It's not my fault you chose something boring, next time you ask someone to go with you." He huffed.

"Those geezers would make me look bad, I'll just wait until I can go by myself." I shrugged.

"Stop complaining then." I smiled as an idea came to me, " Hey my birthday's in July, I can go out of town solo at that point, how about the four of us make a team then? That way you can't complain about geezers making you look bad, and we can travel together!" Cana looked interested, Gray was trying not to be, and Levy seemed torn.

"That would be awesome!" Cana said excitedly. "I like Macao and Wakaba, but they're so weird sometimes!" She shuddered a bit, "The less said about working with Dad the better."

"Better than being solo, I guess." I swear, Gray couldn't decide between broodiness or arrogant bravado.

Levy looked at the three of us. Of all the kids in the guild, Levy was the only one who'd not actually been in a real fight yet. All the jobs she had taken so far were all non-combat ones around Magnolia. She was more into helping the magic shops with topping off their items, or the libraries with magical tomes than combat. Considering the three of us all tried to get as many combat jobs as possible, her hesitance made sense. "I want to join… but what about school? I don't want to miss too much!" She fretted, her hands waving around in childish panic.

Okay, guess her hesitance was for a different reason.

I placed a hand on her shoulder, "It's not like we'll be gone for weeks, Lev. How about this? You join us on day jobs, or during breaks and the weekends. That way you get out of Magnolia for a bit but don't miss-" I shuddered, "school." Levy looked thoughtful after she finished giggling at my overreaction to schoolwork. She was quiet for a few moments, obviously deep in thought, before she nodded.

"That sounds great, Helio! Count me in!" Cana and Levy's smiles were bright enough to light Magnolia. Gray grumbled something about being crazy about not wanting to miss school.

I grinned as we began planning what type of jobs we would take. Sure, it was a few months from now, but the excitement was very contagious between the four of us. I'd been looking forward to leaving town solo, but in the end, going on adventures with my friends seemed like a lot more fun.

Chapter Text

March 25, x776

I'd been looking forward to working with Reedus. He was a pretty cool guy with some pretty cool magic. I'd wanted to work with him for months, so when the opportunity presented itself with the perfect job, I jumped on it immediately.

Then in true Fairy Tail fashion, what should have been a relatively easy overnight job had turned into two weeks of utter hell.

How could such a simple job have gone so wrong?!

I shook my head violently. No! I was not going to think about that ever again! The job was done, we'd been rewarded, and I was now traumatized for the rest of my life! I had had quite enough of the past fortnight, thank you very much!

Reedus' trembling hand came down on my shoulder, grounding me in the present rather than the memory of- stop that! I looked up at him, he honestly wasn't doing much better.

"You alright, Helio?" He asked, his tone was unsteady, but the concern was audible. I nodded shakily.

"Not yet, but I will be. Let's just get back to the guild and pretend this never happened, alright?" Reedus nodded enthusiastically at that idea, and began almost sprinting back to the guild.

Things seemed normal as we got closer to the guild, a low murmur was audible, even through the doors. I felt the tension and stress of the last two weeks melt away, leaving only a tired contentedness even before I got up the stairs.

It's amazing how quickly you can relax once you've gotten home.

Reedus pushed through the doors and I followed him, already beginning to unconsciously smile as I noted who was here and who wasn't. Seemed just about everyone but Gildarts was home at the moment, that's good.

Wait, what were they all looking at?

I peeked around Reedus, who had stopped a few feet into the guild and was greeted with the sight that had everyone staring and muttering.

'She's here already?'

There, standing over a barely conscious Gray, was a one-eyed Erza Scarlet.

'Not how I expected today to go.'

I sighed tiredly as I walked up to them. I was not going to put up with this right now. I was hungry, I was tired, and I wanted nothing more than to eat, sleep and forget that job ever happened.

So I did the first thing that came to mind, no matter how ill-advised it might be.

I walked up behind Erza Scarlet and grabbed her shoulder.

Erza looked surprised.

Gray looked mortified around his efforts to stay conscious.

"Gray, what did you do?"

He grumbled something along the lines of "Screw you, Helio." Erza coughed slightly, before she turned to look at me with a creepily mature stare.

"I don't believe we've met. I'm Erza Scarlet, I joined two weeks ago." She stepped away from my hand on her shoulder and nodded at me.

She's so… mature for a ten year old girl.

'I can't believe I missed her because of that job!' Seriously! She must have been in town when Reedus and I left! Memories of paint and pain threatened to overwhelm me before I beat that trauma into the mental lockbox it would be staying in for the rest of eternity.

I shook my head and nodded back at her. "Nice to meet you Erza, I'm Helio Dart." My stomach grumbled as I fought back a yawn. "I'd be more lively, but I'm beat. Let's talk later, yeah?" I waved at her as I headed to the bar. Genkei was looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Job so bad you can't get excited for a new member of the guild?" He asked, already pulling out a glass and filling it with juice. I shuddered. "I knew it was taking too long, but was it really that bad?" I took a long pull of my drink before answering.

"I just want to forget it ever happened." I said tiredly, Genekei nodded with a grimace.

"I know the feeling. How about I whip ya up something special? Help wash away the bad memories." I looked up at him with an exhausted grin.

"You're the best, you know that?" He chuckled as he went back to the kitchen. I laid my head against the bar as I waited. I didn't want to fall asleep and waste Genkei's food, but I was just so tired.

My mood wasn't really improved by Erza's arrival, either. I'd been looking forward to it all year, and that job made me miss it! She'd been here almost two whole weeks, and by her behavior, I'd missed something important to her development.

Whatever it was, I was sure it involved Gray being a prick.

I sighed into the bar. Helping Cana had been easy, she'd just needed friends who knew her secret and could give her support. Gray was mostly fine, beyond being his friend, there was nothing I could do for him until the Galuna Island job showed up on the board.

Erza didn't have problems that could be fixed with a good long conversation and a hug. Erza was part of a long-term hostage situation. The Tower of Heaven would hang over her head like the proverbial Sword of Damocles until Jellal sent her friends to bring her back.

Which was a plot I couldn't derail. At least not until I found the Tower and was either strong enough to kick Jellal's teeth in, or had some way of purging him of Ultear's possession.

The Tower of Heaven was in my journal in detail, from the plot around it, to what I remembered of the magic of everyone involved; but it had a very crucial addendum:

DIRE CONSEQUENCES ASSURED IF APPROACHED EARLY

Erza's friends were hostages. If Jellal/Ultear had even a hint of her approaching the Tower with the intent of freeing them, there was nothing stopping him from murdering them all in cold blood. I didn't want to try to free everyone early just to cost Erza her friends. So all I could do for her at this moment was be her friend, and help her in any way I could.

There were some things I just couldn't do anything about, this might be one of them.

"Here ya go, Helio! Best eat it up now before you fall asleep!" Genkei pulled me from my musing with the smell of something divine.

Figuring out how to help Erza could wait, supper and my bed were calling my name.

March 26, x776

The next day brought a return to my routine, and the usual energy I got from a good night's rest and the sun's rays. I was whistling as I walked up to the guild hall, waving at a few merchants that were opening up nearby. Nothing I didn't do every morning when I was in town. Said routine continued until I spotted someone other than Gramps and Genkei that beat me to the guild.

Erza was sitting at the bar, eating with almost impeccable manners.

'She's in my seat.' I shook my head to clear the irrelevant thought and sat a few stools down, waving at Genkei as he refilled Master's coffee. "Good morning, Erza!" I said happily, she looked up from her plate, her lone eye scrutinizing me before she nodded.

"Good morning, Helio." She turned away and went back to eating.

Well that was curt.

We sat in silence for a few minutes before I finally spoke again. "So, how are you enjoying the guild so far?" She ate the last of her food before looking up. "You've been a member for a couple weeks, right?" She nodded and set her fork down, wiping her mouth.

"It's been… nice, so far. Gray's stripping is disgusting though." I snorted.

"Is that what got him beat up yesterday?" He was in his boxers, wasn't he? I'd just quit noticing somewhere in the last few months. She nodded firmly in response.

"It's a habit that needs to be broken." I laughed, getting a raised eyebrow. "What's so funny?" I raised a hand in supplication.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm not laughing at you, but don't you think we've tried? Cana tried spraying him with water every time he stripped, I tried giving him sunburn, and Levy tried covering him in runes that wouldn't let him take off his clothes, but it never works. Gray's stripping transcends logic." Erza pounded her fist into her palm.

"Then I will simply try harder." That look in her face was scarily determined.

"Good luck."

I honestly don't know if I directed that to Erza or Gray.

She nodded, "I have a feeling I will need it."

"Anyways," I asked, "What type of magic do you use? You don't seem like a normal magic swordsman." I pointed to the cutlass on her belt. She leapt off her stool and nodded.

"I'm not. Master is helping me with my Telekinesis and Requip abilities." She glowed for a moment before her dress and breastplate changed into a set of chainmail with a white gambeson over it. She glowed again and was back in her usual attire.

I blinked.

I knew how hard it was to requip into a new outfit. I had tried on and off for years to manage it, and while I could, it took too long and was usually quicker to just do it myself. To manage it with armor, not long after first becoming a mage?

That is incredible.

I had thought it would be simple, Erza did it all the time, in battle and out. Turns out that being able to change into armor -even armor as simple as mail and a gambeson- in a second was a feat many couldn't accomplish. Bringing items to your hands was one thing, any third rate mage with a frail grasp of how to use magic could do it, but getting them to form around you was hard. Even if you accomplished it, managing to change quickly enough to be efficient took more effort than most were willing to put in.

Doing it in the middle of battle, and working into a fluid and deadly style of combat?

Even at ten years old, Erza Scarlet was a very impressive mage.

I whistled, "That's impressive, Erza. How are you with a sword?" Our conversation was interrupted by Genkei casually twirling his knives to cut up an assortment of vegetables without even looking.

"She's better than I was at her age, that's for sure!" He said, smiling proudly at her. "I've been giving her lessons the last week or so, and she's a natural! She's soaking them up like a sponge!"

Erza turned to him, cheeks pink as she failed at hiding her bashful smile. "Thank you, Master Genkei." Genkei stopped what he was doing to wave his arms at her.

"No need for any of that, now Erza! I told you that just Genkei is fine!" Erza blushed a little more, and nodded.

"Hey Erza, what do you say to a spar?" I asked. I wanted- no, I needed to test myself against her.

If I wanted to be one of the strongest members of Fairy Tail, who better to measure myself against than the future queen?

Erza looked pensive and I began speaking again, "Not right now or anything, just sometime soon, yeah? You seem strong, and I want to see how good we both are." I grinned, Erza gave a small smile and nodded.

"I think I would like that, Helio." I whooped excitedly.

"Yes! Just let me know when, okay? This is gonna be awesome!" Erza gave a short chuckle.

"I'm looking forward to it myself, maybe later today? I don't want to be too tired for my lessons though, would afterwards work?" We stood there planning for a while longer before Master interrupted us as the other early birds began to file in.

"Erza, Porlyusica said it's ready when you are." She turned from me to Gramps so quickly that I blinked and missed it. Her face went from closed off but happy, to almost painfully hopeful in a heartbeat.

"I'm ready." She said, the hope and joy leaking into her voice as she shook. Master nodded solemnly.

"Then come along, child. You should be back by dinner at the latest." Erza turned from him to me.

"Sorry Helio, our match will have to wait." She sounded honestly apologetic. I shrugged with a smile.

"No problem Erza, I can tell this is more important, go on." She gave a small, honest smile before turning around and meeting up with Gramps at the door. I leaned against the bar and took a sip of my drink.

Guess that's her new eye, good for her.

I looked over at the board, since I wasn't gonna be sparring Erza, I suppose I could do a job or two.

March 31, x776

Our spar ended up delayed for the next few days. Things kept popping up that made one or both of us busy.

Erza needed to get used to her new eye and then she needed to focus on her lessons with Genkei to account for her returned depth perception. I had a lesson with Laxus. Gray, Cana and I all got into a free-for-all. Levy wanted someone to help her with her magic. I had a new spell to test out. Erza had an important lesson with Gramps.

Finally, we'd managed to both be free at the same time, and we were practically itching for a proper fight.

Fresh from the Tower, or everyone's favorite Fairy Queen, Erza was still a Fairy Tail wizard.

There's not one of us that doesn't love a good fight. 

"Are you both ready?" Cana called, standing off to the side. Erza was already in the mail and gambeson she'd shown me days ago, her hand tight around the short sword in her grip.

Neither of us spoke, holding our gazes, sizing each other up.

Then, almost in unison, we nodded.

"Begin!" With that verbal command, the both of us leapt into action.

Instinct almost had me begin with my usual combination, but I couldn't treat her like Wakaba or Cana.

Erza, unlike my usual sparring partners, was most dangerous up close.

But so was I.

So instead of the fight being opened with a barrage of Flares and Fusions like I usually did to harry Cana or Wakaba as I closed the distance, I treated it like Gray.

A quick Flash to obscure sight, followed by getting in her face.

Where my Flare Punch was met with cold steel.

I narrowed my eyes as I ducked and dived under multiple swings, Erza already changing from a short sword to a long sword to keep me out of my preferred range. She glared at me, eyes flashing as she leapt into action, keeping me on my toes rather than providing me with the crucial moments I would need to properly retaliate.

Even this new to swordsmanship, she's able to keep this up?

She has some impressive instincts.

Instincts however, will only take you so far.

I parried her blade with a Flare Punch and pulled out my staff, taking advantage of my newfound reach to keep her away as I got some distance, knocking aside her sword before leaping into the air and landing atop the back door's overhang. I knew better than to let the fight continue like that for too long.

Even as a rookie, Erza would be able to beat me if I fought her with my staff.

Staff sent back to my requip space, Flare after Flare flew from my hands, slamming into Erza and the ground around her. She was doing everything she could to keep them off of her, leaping and even catching them on the blade of her sword. She took the attacks she couldn't dodge or parry with a grunt as she forced her way through my barrage. Her gambeson was damaged, seared and peeling along the seams, but her mail was holding strong. With a wordless roar, she leapt up to meet me, and I shifted my stance to meet her.

Erza's long sword flashed in the noon sun as it angled for my neck, going for the quickest way of ensuring my yield.

I slid underneath it, blade centimeters from my scalp and planted a Flare Kick right into her gut.

I could smell the metal heating up as I made contact with her before I spun around and roundhoused her into the ground below.

She almost recovered.

I kicked her sword away and brought a fist shining with sunlight inches from her face.

"Yield." I demanded flatly, my eyes narrow as I watched for any sort of trick. Wakaba would be throwing his weight against me, Cana would be trying to be sneaky and blow me away, Erza could do any number of things, and I wasn't going to let her try…

"I yield." Erza's voice was shaking slightly, no longer the mature tone I had grown accustomed to the last few days. I felt a bit of shame come over me as I stepped off her.

This wasn't Titania. She wasn't the strongest woman in Fairy Tail yet. She was a ten year old girl who had been in the guild for less than a month.

Impressive Erza may be, but she had almost no experience.

I might have gone a tad overboard.

I held out a hand to help her up, a smile already on my face. "Good fight, Erza! You're way better than I was when I first joined!" I pulled her to her feet, "Sorry if I went a little too hard on ya." She glowed for a moment as she changed back into her normal attire.

"It's fine." Her voice was back to its usual tone. "I'll learn from this and get better." Her eyes flashed, "You won't win so easily next time." It was a statement written in stone. My answer came with a wild grin.

"I look forward to it!" Actually, speaking of next time… "What do you say I teach you some hand to hand? I'm no master or anything, but I can give you the basics and let you find a style from there. A solid grounding to build from will be good, and a fight won't end just because someone took your swords." She closed her eyes in thought for a few moments.

"I'll take you up on that." I nodded.

"We'll start after your lesson with Genkei then." She nodded and walked off, her head bowed in thought. Cana took that opportunity to jump on me.

"Went a little overboard, huh?" Cana asked with a smirk. I blushed and turned away.

"No. I took her seriously." Gray snickered. "Shut up, Gray. Unlike you, I actually beat her." He scowled.

"Screw you, Helio."

"What was that? I can't hear you over the sound of how much you suck."

"I only lost cause we weren't using magic!"

"Excuses, excuses."

He growled, "I'll show you suck! Get over here dammit!"

"Bring it!"

Chapter Text

May 15, x776

The next month and a half seemed to fly by in a mix of jobs, training and Fairy Tail being Fairy Tail.

In that short amount of time, Erza had gone from a surprisingly easy victory to working me almost as hard as Wakaba did. She hadn't quite beat me yet, but it was getting closer. She was definitely stronger than Gray and Cana, even if it was just barely.

Seriously, when it comes to magic combat, her ability to learn outstrips Levy!

Gray was properly scared of her now. It was kinda funny watching him get the heebie jeebies when she glared at him.

Still, that wasn't what was important right now, Mine and Levy's current situation was.

"Please Laxus?" Levy asked, puppy dog eyes in full force. She held up the job request, "It's my first combat job, and I can't leave town with just Helio!" Laxus was sweating, his attempts at surliness broken by Levy's adorableness. He took the flyer and stared at it for a moment before throwing it at me. He looked almost constipated before he finally spoke.

"Fine." He ground out, looking like he'd rather stick his leg in a woodchipper. "We'll leave tomorrow morning. Don't be late." With that he stood up and went to a secluded corner.

Levy looked like all her Christmases and birthdays just came at once. "Yes! Yes! Yes!" She did a little happy dance before stopping abruptly. "I've got to get my books together!" She ran out of the guild so fast I thought she'd learned how to teleport.

I honestly couldn't blame her, this was both her first combat request and her first out of town job as well. Excitement was definitely a justified reaction. I uncrumpled the job request to read it over, beyond knowing what type of job it was, I didn't know anything else.

MONSTER EXTERMINATION

RANK: B

PLACED BY: The University of Crocus

Please help! The University of Crocus recently uncovered a set of ancient ruins in Clover Canyon, unfortunately it is full of ancient defenses and monstrous guardians! We need capable mages who can clear them out! See Doctor Connor Barnes at their camp for details.

REWARD: 100,000 Jewel

Why on Earth this job ended up at Fairy Tail of all places was beyond me. Clearing an ancient, fragile ruin of monsters would only end one way if we went.

I shrugged, not my problem, destruction of ruins or no, it sounded like a lot of fun!

"Uhh Laxus? You okay?" I asked, an eyebrow raised in confusion.

He glared at me, his mouth firmly clamped shut. Levy looked up from her book, first at Laxus, then at me.

"I don't think he likes trains." She whispered. "He was like this the whole way back from Malba." The glare switched from me to Levy. She eeped before hiding behind her book.

"Just don't talk to me for the next couple hours, got it?" He ground out, glaring at us both before leaning back and closing his eyes as he adjusted his magic headphones.

Levy and I looked at each other and shrugged.

"So, is there a reason you wanted me along for this, Levy? I'm not complaining, but Laxus is more than strong enough to cover you if you need it." I asked, pulling out a book from my requip space. Levy looked up from her own, smiling sheepishly.

"Yes actually, we're going into ancient ruins, right?" I nodded, raising an eyebrow. "Well, the ruins will be dark, and lacrima lanterns are fragile, so…" She blushed, "I didn't think Laxus would be okay with being a flashlight.." She mumbled quietly.

"And you thought I would?" Oh God she's giving me the puppy dog eyes! That's just not fair! I closed my eyes and smacked my head against the headrest.

"I can see your logic, but some warning would have been nice." She giggled, I looked over at her with a narrow glare. Her smile looked like it was taken straight from Cana.

"Gotcha!" She giggled, "If I'm gonna be on a team with you, I want to work with you, duh!" She grinned, "It's like a test run!" I rolled my eyes and grinned before launching myself to the other side of the car and trapping her in a noogie. "Hey! Helio! Stop it! That's not fair!"

I didn't stop.

Laxus made very unhappy noises at our commotion.

We ignored him.

We arrived in Oshibana Town without much fanfare, where we ran into a minor, but incredibly annoying obstacle.

"What do you mean we can't rent a magic mobile?! I've got a license!" Laxus said angrily. The rental person just looked at him with a disinterested gaze.

"Exactly what I said, young man. Store policy is that you must be at least 16 or in the company of an adult to rent a magic mobile. If you must get somewhere more quickly than walking, might I suggest the carriage depot near the train station?" With that, he turned around, nose in the air, and walked off.

Laxus's fists shook and sparked.

Levy panicked and ran in front of him, "Wait Laxus, don't!"

I pinched the bridge of my nose.

To the carriage depot then.

Three hours, more jewel than any of us wanted to spend, and an incredibly grumpy Laxus later, we finally arrived at the camp in Clover Canyon. A man in a khaki shirt and pants looked at the approaching carriage before running off into the camp with a shout.

"Guess they know we're here." I said, ignoring Laxus's grumbles. Levy shook from excitement before she leapt from the carriage before it had completely stopped. She jumped in place as I hopped out and barely dodged Laxus, who practically threw himself from it, somehow landing on his feet in the process. He brushed himself off and took a few deep breaths before taking charge.

"Let's go talk to this Doctor then." He grumbled, stalking into the camp. A few people looked like they were about to ask what we were doing here, but he just glared at them until they walked away.

Luckily neither Levy nor I had to ask any of them where their boss was, as he ended up striding up to us, bold as brass. He was an older gentleman, in khaki shirt and shorts, a pith helmet on his head. He managed to look distinguished, despite his obvious misgivings about three minors showing up for his job request.

Personally, I think that was due to his glorious mustache.

"I presume you three are the wizards that answered the university's request?" He asked, face impassive. Laxus grunted as Levy nodded excitedly. "Excellent. I am Doctor Barnes, the representative for the University of Crocus. Come, there is much I must tell you before you can begin." He turned on his heel and led us to the biggest tent in the campsite.

Entering, he waved for us to take a position around the table that took up most of the available space, already pointing at the map that sat upon it. Laxus looked over at Levy before he sighed and picked her up so she could see the whole thing. She smiled at him in thanks, but he just jostled her a bit and jerked his head towards Doctor Barnes.

"Now, as you no doubt know, the ruins are overrun with ancient guardians and more than a few traps and defenses that are far too strong for my team and I to work through." He traced a finger along the map, "This is as far as my team managed to get, even with one of our more quiet compatriots sneaking through as much as he could."

The map was full of annotations and drawings, different elemental golems, pressure plates and more than one pitfall. It was all very typical for an ancient ruin. I began trying to plan my attacks on the tougher golems while taking notes on the multiple traps.

I felt the sudden urge to don a whip and fedora.

"Should you clear the entire ruin, I'm afraid I don't know what you'll find at the end. All the runes we've decrypted so far only mention a great kingdom ruled by an even greater king. It waxes rather poetically about the prosperity he brought with both his magic and his wisdom. We're not entirely sure why his tomb would need such extravagant defenses though. He ruled through a time of peace, not war. There must be more to the story deeper in the ruins." He looked positively frustrated at the hindrance. "I must implore you to be as careful as possible while clearing the ruins, please. So much history would be lost if you were to cause damage to them." Laxus looked a strange mix of offended and embarrassed at the insinuation, and Levy looked absolutely mortified at the idea of destroying priceless historical artifacts.

"We'll do our best sir." I spoke up before Laxus. "You can count on us!" Doctor Barnes nodded.

"I suppose I will have to." He cleared his throat. "Now, onto the types of golems that we know are defending the ruins." We paid close attention as he told us everything he knew about what we were facing. He did an admirable job of restraining himself from going off on tangents as well, his mustache would twitch, and he'd visibly force himself back onto the subject at hand.

I'd say that knowing what we were going to face would hopefully help us not destroy something important, but not only would that jinx it, the university hired Fairy Tail.

Something's gonna get destroyed whether he likes it or not.

Unfortunately, the extra information wasn't as much as we had hoped. We knew there were your standard rock and iron golems, along with water and sand as well, but he had no idea what we would meet further in. I hoped those and the traps were the worst we'd see, but I'd watched enough Indiana Jones to know that it would only get worse the closer we got to the burial chamber.

Entering the ruins, Laxus and I were immediately met with a problem.

"Oh my gosh look at these carvings! I wonder what they say?!"

We were in a ruin older than most known civilization, surrounded by the history of an era we barely understood.

Levy was in heaven.

She was running from wall to wall, intently studying every inch. From the statues set into the walls, to the art worked into the wall itself. If she could work out how to fly, she would probably be hovering against the ceiling as well.

"Hey squirt, get back here!" Laxus called out, huffing at Levy's pout. "We didn't come as sightseers, we have a job to do, remember?" He took the lead with a sniff. "Last thing we need is you running off and getting hurt."

"Yes Laxus…" She pouted harder at his back. I rolled my eyes as I put my lantern away, switching to Sunny Day and trying to make out the faded carvings. Levy noticed what I was doing and practically glued herself to my hip as she squinted at them.

"Hmm, Doctor Barnes was right." She said, musing over the carvings. "I'm new to Archaic Ishgarian, but they are talking about the great peace their king brought about." I raised an incredulous eyebrow at her.

"Levy, you're eight years old and reading a language that people need university to understand. What the hell are you doing in school?" She turned and stuck her tongue out at me.

"Just because I'm good at language doesn't mean I'm good at everything Helio!" She said with a tone that implied the "duh".

"Shh!" Laxus called back in a soft but harsh whisper. "We've got company!"

Immediately, my guard went up, and with a soft apology to Levy, Sunny Day faded and with a murmur Infrared took its place. The darkness lasted a bare second before I could see again. Levy's arms immediately locked around one of mine as she shrieked.

"Helio! Turn the light back on!" She pleaded, I could feel her shaking against me in fear.

"Just a second." With another murmur, I hit Levy with Infrared as well, and she immediately let go of my arm before looking around in awe.

"I can see!" She whispered quietly. I rolled my eyes before ruffling her hair. "Hey!" She said in an indignant whisper.

"Quiet!" Laxus said, having whirled on us while Levy had been looking around. "There's a couple rock golems and an iron one in the room ahead, do you want to fight them in this hallway?!" We shook our heads quickly. "Then be quiet so they don't come looking for us!" He hissed.

"Sorry." The two of us murmured. He huffed at us.

"You and the squirt will take the rock golems, I've got the iron, ready?" He asked with narrowed eyes, making it clear it was hardly a question. We both nodded. "Good. On three."

Levy squeaked as I took a deep breath.

I narrowed my eyes on my golem. It was a lot less developed looking than modern golems and rock dolls did. Standing what had to be ten feet tall, it stood nearly motionless next to its brethren. The chamber ahead was quite a bit larger than I would have expected of an ancient ruin. Probably to allow room for the three of them to stand guard and fight any intruders.

"One."

There was an oddly shaped gemstone sprouting out from its back that I could just make out the tip of over its barely recognizable "head". It looked important, which probably meant it was a power source of some sort,

"Two."

I could just make what could only be joints that connected the golems' appendages to their torsos, as opposed to the modern method of magic holding them on. The rock would be thinner there.

"Three!"

With Laxus's proclamation, we moved into the chamber, a bright flash of lightning from Laxus nearly blinding us as he was suddenly above the iron golem, sending a wicked lightning bolt into its head. I tore my attention from witnessing Laxus fight for the first time to focus on my own target.

The rock golem was slower than I expected, and I took ruthless advantage of that fact, running between its legs and slamming a Flare into its knee joint, making it stumble slightly as I scrambled my way up its opposite leg, slamming a Fusion Punch home into its hip joint, feeling the thin, brittle rock crack under my fist.

The golem whirled an arm down, striking its own leg and jostling me loose. I let myself fall to prevent being smashed and let loose a Fusion that flew true and finished breaking the joint, sending it crashing down with only one leg to support it. Dodging its flailing arm with ease, I circled around it and put a Flare into the gemstone on its back, cracking it open and making the golem seize up and lay still.

My fight over, I looked over at Levy and smiled as she stood just inside a small alcove in the chamber, using her Solid Script to great effect.

She was sending a jet of water into one of its joints, then freezing it, before sending a club made of words to smash it and repeating the process as she avoided the golems attacks by simply being in too small of a space for the golem to reach. I simply leaned against my defeated opponent and watched her work.

It didn't take but a few more moments before she was done, the joint cracked open, and she sent the club flying into the now visible gem. It shuddered and fell before staying still.

"I did it!" She cheered gleefully, posing atop the fallen golem with a grin. I returned the expression with an exuberant yell.

"Hmph." Laxus broke the silence. "Not bad, squirt, but we're nowhere near done. Come on." He stalked off, leading the way. Levy shrugged and scrambled down the golem as I fell in behind.

Our exploration of the ruins followed much the same pattern after that opening battle. Laxus led us through the ruins, being very surly and grumpy whenever we slowed down to look at something. Levy and I would take turns mapping the ruin between fights, adding onto the one we'd copied at the camp.

The golems we ran into varied greatly, especially for their age. Sand golems that could take a beating, but didn't like getting wet, iron golems that shied away from heat, water golems that shattered when frozen or steamed away when exposed to high temperatures, and one that I think was meant to be a lightning golem, considering Laxus killed it in seconds when we weren't looking. The fights required different tactics and made a decent challenge for Levy at least, but their weathered and outdated construction made them quick to dispatch as we went deeper than the expedition team had managed themselves. The further we went in, the walls and decoration got more and more ornate and an odd feeling of darkness began to seep into our senses.

Where before Levy and I had been lighthearted but alert as we dodged pressure plates and ancient rotten tripwires, now we were getting tense and silent, mirroring Laxus, who was trying his best to be subtle as he sniffed every few feet as went deeper and deeper into the crypt.

Tiny sparks were jumping between strands of his hair and his fingers as he got more worked up, he'd stopped talking a few floors ago, answering only in grunts if he answered at all. Levy was reading the mood and reacting accordingly, getting more jumpy than she'd been even before I'd cast Infrared on her that first time.

The air had begun to feel as if it was pressing down on us, the feeling of oppressive darkness assaulting each of our senses. There was something rotten down here, and whatever it was was advertising its presence to anyone who'd made it this far.

Which meant it was either too stupid to suppress its power, or it was too strong to care.

Finally, after what felt like hours of tense silence and a battle against a final set of sand and iron golems, we arrived before the most ornate door I'd ever seen. It was black as night with golden inlays that flowed in artistic swirls with odd sharp turns and darkness' presence had reached a peak, and the inlays were glowing with a soft unnatural light.

"Wait." Levy spoke up. She edged past Laxus and squinted at the door. "These runes are way more modern than what we've seen in here." Her tenseness seemingly forgotten for now, she pulled a book from her bag and began referencing it. "This isn't Archaic Ishgarian, this is Ancient Ishgarian. It's at least a thousand years younger than the rest of the temple." She put the book down and began mouthing the words to herself.

"Let the power of this ancient place be the seal protecting the world from the evil within." She said quietly, turning towards us with a furrowed brow. "What could they possibly mean by that?" She asked, clearly not expecting an answer.

Laxus and I both seemed to come to the same horrible conclusion.

"The gems…" I breathed.

"They didn't just power the golems…" Laxus continued.

The walls shook, showering us in dirt and dust as though confirming our theory.

"Oh no…" Levy said quietly. "What did we do?"

Malevolent laughter was our answer.

The doors swung open, and sheer darkness pulled us within.

The doors slamming behind us rung with finality.

I don't know how far we were pulled, only that when the darkness had receded, we were within what could only have been a burial chamber at some point.

I say at some point, because by now the chamber was corroded, corrupted beyond whatever its original occupant had planned. Where what I was sure had once been ornately carved statues and fine pieces of art were now just dust, shadows, and some form of fluid made of pure darkness, roiling and bubbling with malevolence.

"Do you feel that?" I said quietly, shivering from the sheer hatred that surrounded us on all sides.

"It feels… evil." Levy murmured quietly, shaking like a leaf. From what I could see, she was trying her hardest not to cry.

Laxus was sparking brighter than he'd been throughout this entire quest. Stray bolts were arcing off of him and grounding out onto the floor or the corruption around us. "It's dead is what it is." He said angrily, I could practically hear his teeth grit as the lightning around him shone brighter than before, practically blinding Levy and I through Infrared.

"If you're gonna glow like that…" I murmured, canceling the spell on Levy and I and instead setting up a Sunny Day. Besides a few wispy tendrils shying away from the center of the room, the darkness didn't react. "So, what do we hit first?"

As if in response, the malevolent bubbling laughter returned, a shape forming from the other side of the chamber, rising from what I had a sickening feeling had once been the sarcophagus that held the king that this tomb belonged to.

It was pure black, a shadow that had gained a third dimension. Shaped in the vague approximation of a human being, but with no definition or features.

Except for the wide, evil grin that showed the wall behind it.

"That." Without another word, he leapt into action, bolts of lightning piercing the darkness and leaving gaping holes that were just as quickly filled in.

"You heard him Levy! Let's go!" A Fusion flew from my hands, burning its way through the midsection of the monster before exploding and leaving its form in tatters. Laxus kept up the barrage of bolts, and Levy and I followed his lead.

Elements of all kinds, water, ice, light and fire, flew from her words, as she tried her best to keep up with us. It was almost beautiful, in a destructive way.

Our barrage of attacks continued for a while longer before we finally stopped, breaths heavy, but still ready to fight as the dust died down.

The shadow was wrecked, riddled with holes were chunks of it weren't just gone. It looked as if someone had shot a squirrel with a 12 gauge. The grin was still there, unbothered, even with most of its face missing.

"No way was it that easy." I said through my panting. The darkness began roiling, bubbling and hissing as it flowed from the walls, rising from the floors and revealing half rotted furniture and corroded stone as it gathered together.

Instead of a single shadowy human shape, it seemed to decide that spreading itself around was the better option, making a cage of darkness, shadow, and malevolence around us as it coated itself against the ceiling, burbling in what could only be anger as we kept fighting back the attacks around us.

This form seemed to be more than just a simple cage though. The malevolence it was projecting came with an amalgamation of fear, despair and sadness. It's like it was trying to demoralize us as much as it was trying to simply kill us. For every tendril of darkness destroyed, another dark thought would plant itself in our minds, for every bit of pain we caused it, a stab of futility would burrow into our hearts.

This battle was mental as much as it was physical, keeping faith in ourselves and each other as the entity tried to demoralize us even more.

'What's the point?'

'I've already died once, what's the worst that could happen?'

'Is it really worth it?'

I screamed as foreign thoughts tried to overwhelm my own. Fighting back was getting harder, the feeling of futility threatening to overwhelm me, but that must mean we were hurting it, right? If it had to resort to this, there was no way it was strong enough to beat us at our best!

I fought back with renewed vigor, the thought buoying me as I tried to get to one of the others. Laxus was almost completely surrounded by a thick curtain of darkness, but he kept zapping his way out of it. With every attack, it seemed to reform slower and slower, getting thinner as it did so.

Levy needed my help more.

She was still casting spell after spell, her light pen constantly glowing as she wrote word after word into the air. She was sobbing though, stumbling through the spells now, instead of sending them with the easy confidence she'd had in our earlier fights.

With a grunt of effort and more than a few Flare Kicks and Fusions, I fought my way through the surging shadows and darkness to reach her side, forcing a smile at her before putting my back against hers.

"We've got this, Levs, just you watch." I willed my magic outward, a gentle glow enveloping the both of us. It wouldn't stop any attacks, but it seemed to make Levy feel better. Her sobs were getting softer, and she was standing straighter against me rather than leaning.

We fell into a rhythm then, the reassuring feeling of the other's presence stopping the worst of the invading thoughts as we fought back to back, trusting each other to cover the other without a word.

Our renewed fire held the darkness back in the face of our onslaught, and with quite a bit of teamwork, we even managed to gain ground as we moved towards Laxus, hoping that together, the three of us could send this thing back to whatever dark corner of hell it had crawled from.

Our opponent wasn't stupid though, it returned our renewed vigor with interest as it let out a burble and the darkness got thicker and far more cloying than it had before.

Then suddenly, things somehow got worse.

The feeling of hatred and evil that had been pervading our senses intensified, making it hard to think, let alone fight. The foreign thoughts of despair and futility threatened to break through, and it was all I could do to think for myself. I fought the feeling, having fallen to my knees as it burned its way into my senses. I could hear Laxus screaming in anger, could just make out flashes on the edge of my vision that had to be him fighting back far better than I was. I grunted and groaned as I forced myself to my feet, light gathering over my body as I fought it off.

Then I heard it.

Crying.

I fought even harder, drawing from a well of willpower I didn't know I had, and forced myself to turn towards the sound and was met with a sight that would assuredly haunt me for years.

Levy was crying, the darkness encroaching upon her from all sides as she shook in terror. The tendrils were toying with her, lashing out at her and stopping just short of actually hitting her. I fought harder, forcing myself to my feet before turning on my heel and grabbing Levy in a tight hug, murmuring reassurance as I did so. Her cries gradually stopped, basking in the warmth as I forced my magic out of my body once more, hoping I could repeat the performance of before.

The thing had other plans though. It abandoned the cage formation, falling to the ground with a deceptively soft landing, roiling, burbling and hissing in malevolence as it formed into a vaguely sphere shaped ball of pure evil. I could feel its focus on us, the hatred and need to utterly destroy us as it swelled in size, towering over us all and reaching the top of the chamber.

My magic came to me easier than it ever had then, burning just beneath my skin, begging for release as I stood in front of Levy and spread my arms akimbo, shielding her from the darkness that was trying to crush us all.

This thing wasn't taking anyone from me.

Not Laxus.

Not Levy.

With a wordless shout of rage my magic burst from me, a corona of light burning away the weaker shadows that had been encroaching on us. I planted my feet and entered a stance I'd only ever read about, the spell in my hands forming almost on instinct.

Not my friends.

Not my family.

Not again.

"H-Helio?" Levy's voice came out shakily, but it was clear she was pulling herself together.

"Cover your eyes!" Was my only warning before I cast a spell that I had never used, a spell that, before today, I had thought would be needless overkill against any enemy I'd face this early in my career.

"SOLAR FLARE!"

An explosive force of white-orange burst forth, everything went white, the roiling burble went into a pitch inaudible to human beings…

Then I knew no more.

Levy opened her eyes, blinking the spots from them as she stood. What spell was that? She'd never seen Helio practice it before.

She looked towards the largest concentration of darkness, what Helio had been aiming at, and felt a shock of fear go down her spine as she saw the results.

The spell had burnt through the monster, splitting it straight down the middle and destroying a large portion of it, if what she had seen before she'd closed her eyes had been any indication. It was hissing and bubbling as it tried to reform, slowly but surely knitting back together with a sound almost like laughter as it grew to its original size.

It hadn't been enough, she realized with an almost calm finality.

Helio was on his back, out cold from the strain of a spell that powerful, and the monster was still reforming. Levy felt tears prick in her eyes. She'd chosen this job, she'd led them straight into this! They were about to die and it was her fault!

A guttural growl interrupted her spiral of despair.

"Stay behind me, squirt." Laxus' voice was low, almost a snarl, and nothing like his usual roughness.

"I've had enough of this." The air became more greasy, burning away the feeling of darkness and despair that had clogged her senses as Laxus seemed to grow. His tattered shirt ripped the rest of the way off and the feeling of something far more powerful and primal than this monster surrounded him.

Levy watched in awe as he shot out a hand and caught a spike of the darkness that had flown for him, and with a bzzrpt, it dissolved into nothingness.

"Gramps is gonna be pissed I showed off, but saving you two oughta even it out." Wild bolts of electricity shot out at the stray bits of darkness and made it shrink back. "You think you can scare us into giving up?!" He shouted. "That you can kill us while we cry in the corner?!"

The darkness gathered higher, splashing against the ceiling as the magical pressure from Laxus skyrocketed. The feeling of fear and despair was a bleak memory to Levy now, as she pulled herself to her feet and glared defiantly.

"Well that ain't gonna work on us!" Laxus' voice was brimming with confidence and bravado, so sure of himself and his words. "We're Fairy Tail wizards! If anything, you should be scared of us!" His magic seemed to explode at his words, the corona expanding into an electric aura that climbed high above his head. His hands moved in front of his mouth as he inhaled, almost as if he was holding a horn or some kind.

"Lightning Dragon's Roar!" A torrent of lightning flew from his mouth and met the darkness halfway, locking against its own attack and holding even. Slowly, both spells died out, and Laxus let out a huff as the shadows and darkness seemed to shiver.

"You're tougher than I thought." He said, for all intents and purposes sounding like this had been a friendly spar.

"Laxus… lightning." A voice gasped behind her. Levy turned from her transfixed stare at Laxus to see Helio watching Laxus's battle in a bleary haze.

He was panting, sweating like a pig, and he looked like death warmed over, but he was awake. "Helio?" She asked quietly, holding out a hand to help him up. Helio waved her off as he struggled into a sitting position.

"Used up too much magic power, couldn't stand if I tried." He shook his head. "That was Dragon Slayer magic." He said through his heavy breaths, "It's Lost Magic, like mine, but he's way stronger." He panted, "You've gotta help him out." He looked up at her with tired, determined eyes.

"How?!" She asked incredulously, "He's so much stronger than I am!" Helio smiled tiredly as he reached up and planted a hand on her shoulder.

"Dragons eat their element for power. Can't eat their own magic though." He shivered and seemed to be fighting to stay awake. "Give him lightning."

"I can't make lightning though! It's way more complicated than my other spells!" She said, panicked. Helio coughed and pulled himself upwards onto his knees.

"You can do it Levy, I believe in you." With that, he doubled over coughing, just barely holding himself up on his hands and knees.

Levy steeled her resolve and stood. Laxus didn't need to do this alone, she wouldn't let him! Taking a deep breath, she thought of lightning and everything she knew about it. Scientific fact and theory raced through her mind as she visualized it, her pen twitching in her hand, but it wasn't enough. She focused harder, digging through her mind before her thoughts strayed to the situation at hand and how the air had felt when Laxus had let loose. The greasy feeling, like she'd just been dumped into a pool of oil, how little sparks would jump between his fingers and the locks of his hair. Something in her mind clicked, and with a flourish, her light pen flashed.

"Laxus, catch! Solid Script: Lightning!" She felt her magic container pulse as a large chunk of her remaining magic went into the spell.

He turned from his fight, panting, and saw the spell flash towards him. She saw a grin full of fangs before a loud slurping sound seemed to make everything stand still as he sucked her spell directly into his mouth.

"Heheheh." Laxus laughed. Levy's eyes widened, his already high magical presence had surged once more, patches of his skin hardened, looking almost like scales. Lightning surrounded him, focusing around his upheld fist. "This fight is over." He said in assured confidence. "Lightning Dragon's Breakdown Fist!"

For the second time since they started fighting, Levy covered her eyes as everything went white.

There was a loud scream, followed by a sound like ripping paper.

And then it was over.

When I next awoke, I was lying on a bed, staring at the vaguely familiar canopy of a tent. I turned my head and was met with the face of a sleeping Levy. She seemed to have moved from the chair next to the bed and onto the bed itself over the course of my being unconscious.

"You're finally awake." Laxus's gruff voice said softly from a cot on the other side of the tent. I pulled myself up, grabbing a fistful of the wall to do so and nodded. "Client paid us, didn't even care that the burial chamber collapsed either, once I told him what we fought." He looked over the two of us, staring harder at Levy for a long moment before nodding. "We can leave in the morning. The Squirt would be a nightmare in the dark like this." With that, he rolled over, his back to us before soft snores were the only noise he made.

I looked at Levy, beside the obvious signs of exhaustion and a few bandages around her arms, she seemed fine. I smiled and laid back down, resting my head on my arms, careful not to disturb Levy.

More sleep sounded nice.

May 16, x776

The next morning, nearly noon by the time we'd all gotten up, the archaeologists had a carriage waiting for us and had seen us off with smiles and wallets a lot thicker than they had been this time yesterday. As recompense for sending us into what had undoubtedly ended up being a high A-Class or a low S-Class quest instead of the B-Class it should have been, our reward had been doubled to go with the official apology from the University and the much more personable one from Doctor Barnes.

We rode in silence for the most part, as our carriage ascended out of Clover Canyon. Laxus had his eyes closed, his breaths deep and heavy, and Levy sat with a furrowed brow as she compared notes from our quest to the books she'd brought with her.

"What was that thing, do you think?" Levy asked a few minutes later, as our ride leveled out. "I can't find any sort of reference to it, outside of that warning, anyways." I sighed and rested my head against the side of the carriage.

"I don't know Levy, but I do know that we won, and that's all that matters to me." I closed my eyes and hummed slightly. "There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." I smiled at her, "Maybe you'll figure it out, or maybe it's one of those things Man was not meant to know. Guess we'll find out, or maybe we won't." I looked over at Laxus, an eyebrow raised. "What about you Laxus? Any opinion?"

"We won. I don't care what it was. Now shut up. I gotta find out how to explain this shit to Gramps." He grunted gruffly. I shrugged and laid back.

"Hey Levy?" I said quietly, she looked from her book, head tilted in question. "Gray and Cana are gonna be so jealous when they hear about this." I cracked a small smile at her. Levy grinned at me.

"They won't believe a word!" She giggled. I shrugged.

"Their loss then."

The rest of the ride passed in a comfortable silence, at least until we had to get out of the carriage in Oshibana and Laxus got moodier than usual, especially when we had to get on the train right afterwards.

Still, he didn't punch anybody, so it could have been worse.

Chapter Text

July 24, x776

My day started like any other with the exception of Father Brock wishing me a happy birthday when I passed him in the kitchen. I did my exercises, I meditated, and then I left for the guild.

Sure, it was my birthday, but there was no point in taking the day off, I could always use more savings. This time next year I'll probably be taking a big ol' chunk out of it, and I do not want to go broke anytime soon.

I entered the guild at my usual time, as abandoned as it was. I wished Gramps a good morning that he tiredly echoed, ordered a light breakfast from Genkei, and then checked the requests.

The magic shop job was available again, I'd definitely be taking that. I could take a small ingredient gathering job as well, that extra bit of cash would be good. I wouldn't really need to use a lot of magic either, so I'd still be able to do my stamina training later too.

Get these done now, and I'd still have most of the day to myself, that'd be nice. I could spend some time with Levy after I get done, if she's not too busy with studying or burying herself in the archives again.

Heck, if my container isn't too low I could give her a spar too. She'd been wanting to practice her new spells a bit, and while I wouldn't go too easy on her, I'd probably still be a better opponent than Gray or Cana, let alone Erza.

Wait no, Gildarts just got home from that job he took a couple weeks ago. So Cana's going to be too busy pretending not to enjoy all the attention to spar with anyone. Definitely gonna have to be me to spar with Levy if she wants to.

The planning for the rest of my day took more attention than the jobs themselves, honestly. Recharging magic items was pretty mindless and so long as you had decent control, it didn't take too long. That 30,000 jewel reward was definitely worth a couple hours of boredom. The magical reagents was something a kid could have done in an hour or two as well, but it put a decent 10,000 in my pocket, so I wasn't complaining.

I'll have to see if there's any decent jobs available out of town, though. I'm allowed to leave Magnolia and its surrounding area without an adult now, and I want to see more of the world! Maybe I could find a job that would take me somewhere like Crocus. Seeing as the capital of Fiore was on my list of places to visit, and probably the easiest considering it had its own train station and wouldn't require a lot of walking or exorbitant carriage fees.

God I couldn't wait to buy myself a mode of transport. A magic mobile or motorcycle would be amazing. That was a long time from now though. Not only was there a frigging license test, but they were expensive too. The fact that only 10 percent of the population could use them meant they were basically made to order and had a cost to match. The equivalent to some cheap econo-box was over five million jewel, and the faster ones that I would actually want to buy were north of ten. It was no wonder that most mages just rented one whenever they needed to get somewhere quickly.

Shaking thoughts of a sports car and blazing along dirt roads at speeds far above what was safe from my head, I noticed something incredibly odd as I reached the guild.

It was noon, and the guild was utterly silent.

It was noon, Gildarts and all the kids were home, and it was silent as a tomb.

Then again, considering what today was…

I took a moment to work my face into the appropriate apprehension for the situation, and stepped into the darkened guild hall.

"Guys? Where is everyone?" I called out in what I hoped was a convincing tone. I heard a giggle and before I knew it the lights were flipped on and I was nearly rendered deaf.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY HELIO!"

I blinked in reflex as I rubbed my ears. The guild had been decorated in the few hours I was gone, a birthday banner hung from the second floor, and streamers were strung from the rafters. There was a ton of food set up on the bar and different tables. My face almost hurt from how hard I was smiling at the effort they put in.

You'd think the effect would have been ruined by them doing the same thing for Gray and Levy's birthdays.

You would be wrong.

"You guys…" I said faintly, "You guys are the best!" I shouted, the guild roared their appreciation as they broke off into conversation or raided the buffet around them.

I mean, to be honest, I probably should have seen this coming a lot earlier than I actually did, but it was touching all the same.

The party itself devolved pretty quickly into the usual Fairy Tail shenanigans, I don't even know who started it, honestly. One moment, I was standing in front of Genkei, ready to get the first slice of cake and the next Reedus was on top of the bar covered in the remains of it.

There was a deathly silence for but a moment…

Then it was chaos.

Reedus jumped off the bar and into the crowd, followed by Genkei, who was wading in with angry shouts, a cake knife in his hand and murder in his eyes. Macao and Wakaba were squaring off, Krov got tossed out a window, Master was looking very annoyed, and Gildarts was laughing like a madman.

I was still standing there, plate in hand as I tried to process the anger that was suddenly coursing through my veins.

"My… birthday cake…" I said faintly.

"Uh Helio? You okay?" Enno asked. I didn't answer her, instead turning on my heel with a growl.

I wanted that cake damnit!

With a roar of rage, I joined in my first Fairy Tail guild brawl.

"Wait Helio, it was an accident I swear!"

"DIE!"

Once I got into the spirit, it was actually a lot of fun!

Well, Niggy didn't have much fun, but then he shouldn't have ruined my cake should he?

July 28, x776

It took three whole days to fix the guild hall, such was the mess we made of it in our brawl.

Master was very upset with us.

I found out what that was.

I did not want to know what that was.

I am now cursed with that knowledge, and I shall hope I never need to see that again.

I shuddered in remembrance.

Thankfully with the guild cleaned up and the Master mostly over his anger after he'd appropriately punished us -I shuddered again-, the four of us could finally get down to what we had intended to do before my party had devolved into a brawl.

I was old enough to leave Magnolia on my own, which meant my friends and I had a promise to keep.

On July 28, x776, Cana, Gray, Levy and I gathered around our usual table, and formed our very first team.

It wasn't exactly the most perfect formation, of course. We argued over who should be leader, Cana because she'd been in the guild longest or me because I was the one who could actually leave Magnolia. I won that argument by simply reminding them that I was the only one who could take the jobs and they were coming with me, but Cana could be my second in command.

Instead of ending it though, that started a whole new argument.

Now that half of our team had a ranking of any sorts, Gray and Levy both argued that they should have one too. Thankfully, Levy was easy to please, being made our Head of Research, and Gray mostly gave up after Cana and I both offered him the prestigious title of Stripper.

As leader, I made the executive decision that our team did not need a name, and as such, we would not spend the rest of the day arguing over what it would be.

Instead, we informed Makarov of our team-up, and after a few moments of staring, he sighed and agreed that we could all go on requests outside of Magnolia together.

"It violates the spirit of the rule while also following the letter. I can't really complain, I suppose." He'd said before laughing and downing his mug of beer. "Just don't go getting in over your heads, alright?"

Enno looked down from where she was dancing on a nearby table, "Don't go fighting anymore ancient evils for a few more years, at least?" She laughed, "You'll give us all heart attacks before we're thirty."

"It's not like we went looking for them…" I grumbled as Levy assured her that she had no wish whatsoever to fight anything like that ever again.

Team formed and ribbing over, we were a team now, and that meant we needed to do a job!

The four of us huddled in front of the request board and looked over the available quests, there were no more restrictions, we could do whichever job we wanted!

Huh… all of a sudden I understood why Nab was so indecisive.

Without being limited to Magnolia and the surrounding area, there were a lot of jobs to choose from. Non-Combat jobs like fortune telling, magic tutoring, translation and cataloging old magical tomes. There were ingredient gathering jobs from retrieving magical plants from the top of snowy mountains, or even from the caldera of a volcano! There was no less variance in the combat jobs either, anything from escorting cargo and people through exotic and dangerous locales to monster subjugation or even fighting an entire dark guild!

If we chose those last two though, Gramps would probably have an aneurysm.

"What about this one?" Gray asked, pointing at a request.

Bandit Capture

RANK: B

Our roads are being plagued by highwaymen, their presence is scaring off merchants and potential tourists! Please help us! See Hu Pockett in Sharon Village for details.

PLACED BY: The people of Sharon Village

REWARD: 250,000 Jewel

"Looks good to me!" I declared, pulling it from the board. I'd need to consult my map of Fiore to pinpoint its exact location, but it was definitely a ways away from Magnolia, and the reward wasn't half bad either. 62,500 jewel between the four of us was a lot of money.

Taking the request to Master Makarov, he looked it over for a second before nodding and handing it back. "I'd recommend getting your things together and leaving in the morning, you don't want to be fighting a hideout full of bandits in the dark." We nodded, "Good to see you're actually thinking things through rather than simply running off the second I approved it."

The four of us walked back towards our table discussing what all we would be needing for this request. Thankfully, even though Sharon Village didn't have its own train station, it wasn't in some remote far flung region of Fiore. Provided the job itself only took one day and barring any catastrophes, we'd be gone for three days.

Probably best to pack for a week, just in case.

Of course as we were discussing the logistics of getting there and back, something none of us had thought of was brought to our attention.

"Wow Cana, you got Gildarts to agree to you being gone that long? I'm surprised he's okay with it." Macao's sentence was flippant, just a throwaway thought he'd mentioned as we were about to go get packed.

Right, Gildarts.

That was a thing.

"Well Helio, since you're the leader and all, I guess you're going to be the one explaining this to Gildarts!" Gray said obnoxiously. I glared at him as we trudged out of the guild hall. Gildarts was a complication I hadn't even begun to consider when it came to Cana being on our team.

He still went on a lot of requests, but he was always gone for a month at most. Knowing his daughter was waiting for him ensured that he was headed home a lot quicker than ever before.

He'd allowed Cana to go on jobs outside of Magnolia before, usually with Macao and Wakaba or on rare occasions, Laxus tagging along to keep an eye on her. This would be the first time she'd left the area for days without someone he considered responsible enough to watch after his daughter.

This could be hairy.

Or not.

Wanting to put my best foot forward, I had all four of us present a united front to him when we arrived at their house. Cana had led us in and called for Gildarts to meet us in the kitchen, as that was the only room in their house with enough seating to accommodate the five of us.

He'd walked in with a raised eyebrow and an amused smile as he saw us all sat on one side of the table facing him, and plopped himself into the chair across from us.

I mentioned the formation of our team to him, along with the fact that Master allowed us to leave the area on jobs together, and it had very obviously clicked why we were here explaining things to him.

"How are the communication cards coming?" Gildarts asked, turning to Cana. She blinked for a moment before smiling widely as she pulled out a pair of cards from her requip space and placed one on the table.

Still not saying anything, she made the card in her hand glow, and the one on the table began to vibrate intensely enough that it was steadily moving for the edge of the table. Gildarts grabbed it and smiled widely when Cana's voice echoed through it.

"I'll tell you what." He said after he finished gushing over how much he loved his "talented and adorable little girl." "So long as you call me at least once every hour-"

"-every other day."

"Two hours"

"Once a day."

"Six hours"

"Once in the morning, once at night."

"Twice a day and whenever you arrive or leave somewhere." Cana rolled her eyes but nodded nonetheless. Gildarts smiled triumphantly, "Then you can go on missions that last up to a week."

I blinked. "That was a lot easier than I thought it would be." I had thought that Cana would be arguing with him about it all night at best, not a negotiation like this that lasted all of half an hour.

Gildarts rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Master got onto me for being overprotective recently. Cana can take care of herself, I wasn't much older than her when I started going on missions that took at least two weeks to finish. At least I'll know where she is." He laughed, "Besides, she'd go no matter what I said, whether I grounded her or not. She's too much like me for her own good." Cana nodded smugly. With Gildarts' approval, the four of us went over the plan one last time. Gildarts was both proud of how seriously we were taking it, and laughing at how seriously we were taking it.

Still, with parental approval secured for Cana, we could finish preparing everything else.

Was I taking this far too seriously? Yes.

Was I being paranoid in preparing a week's worth of stuff for a trip that in all actuality would probably take three days at most? Probably.

Did I care? Absolutely not.

July 30, x776

So far everything was going very painlessly, honestly. Aside from Gildarts crying when Cana got on the train -which we really should have seen coming-, travel to Sharon Village had been uneventful.

The job itself was easy enough, the mayor of the village had given us rough sketches of the men that had been seen, and informed us that exactly one of their members, the leader, used magic. We spent the entire day tracking down their hideout and taking down the few bandits we could find within just to learn that the leader and the rest of his men were off making some kind of "deal".

With that statement -which was in no way ominous, not at all-, we'd tied up the bandits and carted them back into town on their own carriage just in time to meet their leader standing in the village square with far more men than we'd found at their base. Turns out he'd learned about the job request, and he was not happy. Not one bit.

The fight that had broken out was chaotic. His men were the poster children for cannon fodder, and he wasn't very strong either, but he made the next few minutes very confusing. He had some kind of sensory magic, and took obnoxious pleasure in subjecting us to the unholy lovechild of a rave on molly and a flashbang.

Which his men were immune to.

Because of course they were.

When the noise and light faded away and I held their unconscious leader by his collar, I finally took note of what had happened.

The village square had once been a very nice garden with very beautiful hedges that were trimmed to perfection with different market stalls interspersed in the space between. It had all been centered around an ornate topiary in the shape of the woman that had supposedly bred the bushes the village was so proud of.

Was being the operative word.

It was now a torn up, iced over, burning wreck. The topiary was just gone.

I laughed sheepishly at all the angry looks we were getting.

"Heh…heh… oops?"

July 31, x776

So, good news! We got home in the three days I thought it would take!

Bad news!

We lost out on the entire reward sans travel expenses, and Master was now tearing a strip off our hides with the verbal lashing he'd been giving us for the past five minutes.

Turns out they had been sure to send a complaint to the Magic Council as soon as we left, and they'd not minced words about it either. Gramps had been livid when he saw the amount of property damage we'd incurred, and he was not shy in letting us know exactly what he thought about it.

Finally, after almost eight full minutes of being screamed at, he held up the complaint he'd been quoting and incinerated it. "I say forget what they think! You did the job, you did it well, and you returned home without a scratch! That is a job well done to me!" We cheered at his sudden praise. "Just one more thing you four." We leaned forward in anticipation.

"WATCH WHERE YOU AIM NEXT TIME!" With that he walked away grumbling about mini Gildarts and how property damage must be contagious.

"Scary…" The four of us murmured in unison.

It seemed like Erza was the only person aside from Gramps who hadn't thought the results of our first job was absolutely hilarious.

Where everyone else had congratulated us in some way, usually with uproarious laughter or snickering, Erza had glared and told us to be more careful. Apparently the stress wasn't good for the Master's heart or something.

I had expected a far more physical confrontation, but I suppose being her regular sparring partner, it was a lot harder for a point to be made via fists.

I did notice a bump on Gray's forehead later, so I suppose she got physical with someone.

Still, it could have been worse, it's not like they made us stay and replant the garden or anything.

I did notice a job request about a plant mage helping them regrow their hedges when I checked the board a week later though.

Curiously, it specifically forbade sun mages from taking it.

Can't imagine why.

August 24, x776

August 24, x775.

It was an unremarkable day to many, a day like any other.

They got up, went about their normal routines and went to bed. Maybe they spent time with their family, maybe they met up with a friend or a lover.

For me though, it was a day that I would never, could never forget.

I woke up at my usual time and forced myself through my daily exercises as best I could. Today was a day where everything just felt wrong. I wanted nothing more than to leap back into bed and sleep until tomorrow, but I couldn't. I had things that needed to be done.

I'd already cleaned out my requip space for it, giving up now would be a waste of time.

For the first time since I joined the guild, I didn't head in first thing in the morning. Instead of heading into the heart of Magnolia, I turned around and walked out of it. I had a different destination in mind.

The hills outside Magnolia allowed for some wonderful views, this one in particular had beautiful sunsets. I had found it on an ingredient gathering request and decided it would be the perfect place for what I had planned.

There was something about the way the surrounding hills framed the sunset just so, that made them so much more beautiful than watching it from the top of the guild.

They would have loved it.

With that thought in mind, I set about my work for today, intent on getting it over with.

Blueprints, wood, nails and a hammer were brought out of my requip space and I began.

I'd had to commission the rest of it, but this one required some assembly.

The sun was on the wrong side of noon by the time I was finished. I was nearly out of nails, and if it weren't for Solar Power, both my thumbs would be broken, but I was finished all the same.

It wasn't the exact style of shrine that he would have had in the temple, but it was the best approximation I could manage considering I couldn't exactly build one in the church. .

I lit a couple of sticks of incense and stuck them in the holders on either side of it and bowed my head, saying a small prayer before I stood and began the preparations for my parents.

Where Master Flare's shrine had to be built by hand, I had to commission a couple's monument for Mom and Dad. It was expensive, but worth every single jewel in my opinion.

Dart

Anna M.        Blaise R.

 July 31, x737     March 17, x738

August 24, x775

"Brilliant lights still cease to burn"

I placed them side by side on that hilltop outside Magnolia, as perfect as I could make it. I sat down between them, and for the first time since I had met Macao, Wakaba and Cana, I let myself cry.

Tomorrow I would wake up at the crack of dawn, I would go through my daily exercises, and I would walk into the guild with a smile. In a week, I would gladly celebrate my one year anniversary as a member of Fairy Tail, no signs of sadness to be seen.

Today though, I would let myself break down between the monuments to the most important people in my life. I would pretend they were right beside me, that they could hear me as I told them about my adventures. I would pretend that the wind held promises of love and pride.

I would be sad today, so that tomorrow I could be happy.

Chapter Text

September 15, x776

Today was a day that would go down in infamy as "The day best girl started hating me."

Why, you ask?

It all started when Levy asked for a spar. I decided that it would be a great opportunity to try to get her to stop using her light pen for Solid Script magic by stealing it from her as soon as the fight started.

As much as I hated to make her angry -she can ignore you for days-, she needed to learn how to use her magic without it.

So when the fight began, I opened with a Flash followed by stealing the pen before she could begin casting anything that would let her stop me. She tried to hold onto it, but I was both bigger and stronger, making the effort futile.

I smirked at her as I twirled her light pen in my hand. "You can have it back if you can take it from me, Levs." I said, sticking my tongue out for emphasis. She pouted, but charged me all the same.

I rolled my eyes and hit her with a Solar Wind that was just strong enough to knock her over.

"Oh no, you ain't getting it back from me that easy, Levy McGarden. You've got to be more creative than that, now come at me!" She scowled, which on her face was really more adorable than intimidating.

Levy was more than smart enough to grasp the point of the fight long before I would have felt the need to tell her instead. She glared at me, cheeks puffed out, but got into the spirit of it quickly enough.

I wasn't exactly trying very hard to keep the pen away from her, after all. She could get it pretty easily if she could use her magic without it.

Once she'd calmed down and started focusing, she managed to get her smaller words working in less than ten minutes. I was dodging around small patches of ice, weak streams of water, and embers that licked my hair and clothes

By fifteen, her more complex words were getting stronger, leading to me ducking under waves of fire, chains that tried to tie me down, and leaping over vines that crept through the grass.

At twenty, she finally managed to get it back by faking me out with a pair of ropes and chains that covered up the cage she dropped on top of me.

Which, as she told me after giggling at me struggling against its bars, she would not be dispelling. Then, just to prove how serious she was about leaving me there, she walked away, twirling her light pen between her fingers.

Even after the thrashing I gave them in our spar afterwards, Cana and Gray laughed at me for weeks.

October 15, x776

Fantasia was at its regular time this year, and Cana's rehearsal schedule was absolutely unforgiving. From the end of August until the day of the festival, Cana was going to Fairy Hills at the crack of dawn and dragging Levy out of bed before going to the orphanage and doing the same to Gray.

We ran through the entire routine twice before Levy went to school and at least five times after. The routine was far more involved than the year before, the addition of Levy and the flexibility of her magic adding a new level of intricacy that we'd lacked the year before.

The four of us had our own float this year, separate from Erza. She was doing a routine with Genkei, having a sword fight with all sorts of unneeded flash and showiness. Laxus was sharing his float with Gramps, who had just barely been convinced to wear something that wasn't completely embarrassing to his grandson. It wasn't the Wizard Saint outfit Laxus had been angling for, but it was certainly better than the costume he'd had picked out.

This year, Cana had blackmailed Gray into wearing a costume, which I was fairly sure had been pinned to his body to prevent him from removing it for as long as possible. I'd been pretty excited with her idea, I even helped her design them!

Of all the memories in my head, I was fairly sure the theatre geek stuff would have been worthless and yet, here we are.

Granny Hilda had been… well not happy, but certainly less crotchety to help sew them together.

The girls were wearing flowy dresses that I'd shamelessly ripped off from a few of the portraits of Master Mavis that I'd managed to convince Gramps to let us borrow under pain of that if they were returned in anything less than perfect condition.

Mine and Gray's costumes were significantly less impressive, being a simple pair of suits. Where the girls were loose and flowy and barefoot, Gray and I were proper and had our feet pinched inside a pair of wingtips.

The act involved a complicated routine that was more of a dance than anything else, which I was fairly sure Levy had blackmailed Gray into, separately from Cana. I think it was meant to be symbolic or something? I hadn't quite been paying attention to Cana's reasoning behind it, all I knew was we went from slow and soft movement to upbeat and energetic while shooting out spells at certain intervals.

Cana partnered with Gray, because she was far better at handling him than Levy, who was partnered with me.

Our routine started simply, we faced each other, Gray and I bowed and took our partner's hands, leading them into a slow performance that matched the tone of the song being played. The music slowly built, going from a classical tune into an energetic dance song that had our respective partners taking the lead while firing off the first spells of our routine. Cana's Summoned Lightning combined with Levy's Solid Script: Glass to make an interesting effect that startled the audience and began the next portion of our routine.

Unlike the beginning, where our performance was more about the dance itself, the second movement had us all firing off a variety of spells every few beats. One of us would be pulled by our partner, and at the same time, a spell would leave our hands, flying into the air or off over the audience's heads. Seeing it in action made it almost seem more like a fight than a dance, partners battling over who got to lead. The routine ended with a lift, Gray and I lifted our respective partners as they cast their last spells of the routine. Levy used one of her more annoying spells, Solid Script: Glitter, while Cana cast Wind Edge, blowing the glitter into the air. This opened it up for the final spells, Gray created an outline of ice to catch the airborne glitter, and I used a Fusion just behind it that illuminated it before exploding and creating a beautiful (in my opinion) conflagration that resembled the silhouette of Mavis Vermillion.

The cheering and applause we got seemed to agree with me, the four of us linked hands and bowed to the crowds before we had to reset to our positions and begin again.

The four of us were dead on our feet when we returned to the guild that evening, but the applause had made the exhaustion worth it.

October 28, x776

"Come on Macao, I've been hit harder by children!" I laughed as I jumped over a tendril of flame, just barely avoiding its grasp as it flicked towards me. We'd been at this for a lot longer than I'd expected. He had the stamina to keep up a longer fight, the control to make misses become hits, and the power to make those hits hurt.

It wasn't like sparring against Wakaba, where misdirection was the name of the game if he couldn't beat you in pure power. No, Macao went all out from the start.

Lashes of fire that were ducked under suddenly changed direction, streams that were leapt over would home in and give chase, and the ones you just barely dodged by leaning would suddenly become hits or grapples.

He didn't have the raw power of some of the mages in the guild, but he had enough.

"Y'know Helio, that's not quite as horrible an insult as you think." I rolled my eyes as I jumped forward, offhand glowing bright with a Fusion. Macao leaned out of the way of the attack, and took a Flare Kick to the side instead. "I don't know if you've noticed, but you and the other kids are kinda ridiculous." He huffed out, holding his side. "You're making me feel like an old man, if I'm being honest." I grinned as I leapt over his attempt at a sneak attack.

"Gonna take more than flattery to distract me, Macao!" I let loose a barrage of Flares mixed with the occasional Fusion, hoping to catch him off guard as I closed in. He threw himself to the side with the aid of his magic and grinned cockily. Instead of speaking, he replied with a wall of fire so thick it was almost solid.

Hmmm, too high to jump over, too wide to dodge, guess I'll just have to go through it!

"Photon Beam!" The attack was more efficient than ever now. It was just a little wider than I was and a little bit taller, meaning if I had done this properly…

I felt the wave of heat pass me by and grinned as I ended my attack.

Only for the rest of the flames to grab me from behind, cocooning me in a blanket of fire that was just this side of burning me.

There was a furrow of dirt in front of me, where my attack had kept going after it cut through the flame, and to the side, with a tired grin, a missing shirt and seconds away from passing out, was Macao.

"You know, if I was half as cocky as Wakaba, I'd be pretty damn smug right now." He coughed as he released me from the fire's grip. "Good fight Helio, if you had a bit more control, I would have been the one on my ass instead." He stumbled over, favoring his right, the side I hadn't given an instant tan, and held out a hand. "We'll have to do this again sometime." I smiled tiredly.

"Definitely."

November 15, x776

A lot of the jobs we took as a team were taken over the weekend, meeting Levy at the gates of her school and walking to the train station together. We'd usually reach our destination that night, set up camp or rent a room, do the job Saturday and be home in time for supper on Sunday. The train ride usually gave Levy plenty of time for schoolwork, so the only real complaint to be heard was from Granny Hilda.

Which, considering her complaints were pretty much always "Stop being a mage," were easily ignored.

This time however, we'd taken a job on a Wednesday, and were going at it with just Cana, Gray and I. The three of us had caught sight of a type of job none of us had done before, and we were eager to try our hands at something other than monsters and bandits.

MANHUNT

RANK: B

Find the dark mage Tobias Pyre, last spotted headed into the Fiore Natural Wildlife Preserve.

Once subdued, bring him to the nearest Rune Knights garrison for imprisonment.

PLACED BY: The Magic Council of Fiore

REWARD: 100,000 Jewel

He led us on a merry chase through the forest, he'd laid a few false trails and more than once climbed into the tree tops to try and shake any tails. Finally, after two long days of our little game of cat and mouse, we'd cornered him at long last.

The man had fought ferociously, his lack of scruples making it that much harder to capture him.

"Cana!" I yelled, barely avoiding a stream of blue flames. Gray cast a shield, but it was only a matter of time before the fire broke through.

"On it!" She called back, a trio of cards flashing into her hands as she crouched behind our rapidly melting defense. "Prayer's Fountain!"

She'd timed it almost perfectly.

The fountain splashed against the weakened ice, shattering it the rest of the way and pushed back the fire, shocking the dark mage that had thought us cornered just moments before. His concentration broken, the water slammed into him, and allowed Gray and I to get into the open where we worked best.

Now facing a three pronged attack consisting of me in his face, and Gray and Cana on his flanks, it was all over but the crying.

"Do you know who I am?! I will-" I shut him up with a Flare Kick to his side, opening him to Gray's ice and Cana's lightning.

"I really don't care." I leaned out of the way of a weaker stream of fire and put a Fusion Punch into his solar plexus.

In pain, and having trouble breathing, knocking him out was simple after that.

"Huh, that was easy." Gray said, crossing his arms over his bare chest. I requipped a shirt, handed it to him, and then proceeded to pull a length of magic resistant rope out of my pack.

"Uh guys…" I looked up from our newly hogtied prisoner and felt my heart sink into my stomach.

The woods we'd been fighting in were significantly thinner now. Shards of ice impaled trees, lightning scarred various trunks, and more than a few were smoldering or otherwise browned from heat.

"Think they'll care that we wrecked part of a forest?" I asked weakly. Cana snorted.

"This is a nature preserve, not any old woods, ya know?" I sighed and let my head fall.

"Let me hope, please Cana."

I really wanted that reward…

We didn't get it, by the way.

December 31, x776

10:00 PM.

Two hours until another year's over.

Two hours until one of the most important years for the guild begins.

Two hours until it's x777 and I've got to prepare myself for the arrival of the people that laugh at the laws of magic as we know them.

10:01 PM.

One hour and fifty nine minutes now.

One hour and fifty nine minutes until the year that I poke what remains of canon with a stick made of FOOF.

One hour and fifty nine minutes until the new year, and I'm sitting here brooding like Gray instead of partying with the rest of the guild.

Screw that!

I forced the thoughts from my mind and went to join the festivities. I might be too young to drink, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy the party.

Not to mention all the blackmail I can get on the older members of the guild while they were shitfaced.

The party was absolutely wild, as expected of Fairy Tail. There were drinking contests, brawls, and card games going on all over the guid hall, with people almost seamlessly shifting between all three at once.

I could see Laxus being goaded into drink after drink by Macao and Master, he would probably regret that in the morning.

Cana was snickering as her Dad made a drunken fool of himself, Gray was frantically searching for his boxers while Erza chased him with a sword, and Levy was… passed out at a corner table, drooling on her arm.

That was adorable.

I let myself get lost in the atmosphere, Fairy Tail's good cheer was very infectious, and before I knew it, almost two hours had flown by.

Suddenly it was 11:59 PM, and at the sudden shout from Master Makarov announcing it, the festivities stopped, as though everyone had been frozen in place.

We all ran outside, some pulling their fellow drunks, or in my case, a half asleep Levy. We looked out over Magnolia and enthusiastically counted down the final seconds of the year along with the rest of the town.

"TEN!"

This was going to be a big year.

"NINE!"

In more ways than one, really.

"EIGHT!"

Mystogan, the Dragon Slayers…

"SEVEN!"

I couldn't let myself freak out over it.

"SIX!"

The timeline was already in pieces, what's a few more changes?

"FIVE!"

I'm a Fairy Tail wizard, destroying stuff is what I do!

"FOUR!"

Whether that be physical property or a more metaphysical entity like fate, destiny, or whatever you would call a world's "canon."

"THREE!"

Brooding over the future and what ifs would be foolish.

"TWO!"

We were Fairy Tail, we could handle anything!

"ONE!"

For every change I made, for every new enemy we might face, the guild would only be stronger.

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

So ring in one of the most important years in the guild's history! I'd meet it with a smile.

I toasted alongside the rest of the guild, even if my glass was full of sparkling juice rather than champagne.

x777 had begun.

Our return to the party or stumbling off to bed was stopped by a sudden gout of purple flames from the front of the crowd. Macao, oddly sober considering how hard he'd been partying with everyone earlier, called out for our attention.

He broke into an oddly eloquent speech about his and Enno's relationship, how he'd been a nervous wreck around her until last year, when he'd been hyped up by Gildarts and Wakaba, and asked her out. To his surprise, instead of the playful rejection such declarations usually got from her, she'd happily accepted.

Enno, who had long since been pushed to the front of the crowd had covered her mouth with both her hands, it was abundantly clear where this was going.

Macao waxed lyrical about their time together, about how he'd just met her eyes one day, months after he'd asked her on a date, and had the revelation that he loved her more than he'd ever loved any woman before.

"Considering your usual time with a woman is a single night, I would hope so!" Wakaba called out, breaking Macao's stride and causing laughter to break out among the crowd.

"No heckling during my emotional speech, damnit!" Macao called back with little heat, a smile on his face. "Since I've lost my place in my speech, I suppose I'll just skip to the end then." Enno was almost bouncing in place at this point.

Macao got down on one knee, pulling a small box from his pocket and presented its contents to his girlfriend. "Will you marry me?" Enno grabbed him by his shirt collar and kissed him for far longer than what most would consider acceptable for public affection. When they finally came up for air, Macao's smile was dopey and Enno was crying.

"Yes, you idiot."

The guild cheered louder than they had when the clock struck midnight, I grinned as I joined in.

That's one way to start off the new year.

Chapter Text

February 20, x777

The new year started off slow, surprisingly. Aside from the frenzy that was Enno and her friends planning her wedding, there was nothing exciting beyond the usual Fairy Tail shenanigans. I went on a job with Gray to pick up some ingredients at the top of a mountain, took Levy on a translation job, and slept through Cana telling people's fortunes.

I didn't think today would be any different, so I'd taken the job at the local magic store and was content to waste the day away at the guild.

At least that's what I was planning to do, until Erza slammed her hand down on the table. I startled out of my relaxed state and looked up at her with a raised brow, her eyes were narrowed so much they almost looked closed, and her cheeks were half as red as her hair.

"Oh hey Erza, what's up?" This was rather out of character for her, all told. Normally she would be straight up and direct about talking to just about anyone in the guild, bar Master and sometimes Genkei. Now though, she was acting about as hesitant as I'd ever seen her.

"Master Makarov says I need a partner for a job I want to take, and you're the only one available that I trust to have at my back." I blinked.

"Thanks, Erza, that means a lot…" I trailed off, if this were anyone else I would assume they were teasing me, but Erza? I don't think she knows how to be anything but blunt and direct. Still, "Can I see the job first?" She nodded and held out the request.

MONSTER SUBJUGATION

RANK: A

The people of Nerine are in need of urgent aid from capable wizards! Our town is being threatened by a minotaur, we fear it may soon find a taste for human flesh instead of livestock. Our best tracker has managed to map its territory, but we don't stand a chance!. Please see Lelfya Lishane in Nerine Village for details.

PLACED BY: The people of Nerine Village

REWARD: 250,000 JEWEL

An A-Rank job… I'd been wanting to test myself on one for a while, but I wasn't sure I wanted to bring my team with me. I didn't doubt their strength, but a part of me didn't want to risk them on a job of this rank for at least a few more months. That said, I also wasn't sure I was good enough to take one on by myself. This was the perfect opportunity to see how well I stack up while still having someone to back me up if things went sideways.

I grinned at Erza and flashed a thumbs up. "I'm up for it! Give me a few minutes to get my stuff together and tell Cana and Gray I'm headed out." She nodded.

"Of course, I will meet you at the train station in an hour then." With that she walked back towards the bar, where Gramps was talking to Genkei and Wakaba.

"An hour?!" I yelled towards her.

She ignored me.

If I didn't know her better, I'd think she was upset at me.

Gray and Cana weren't happy I was going on such a big job without them, especially with such little notice, but they got over it when I told them who my partner for this request was.

"We'll take an A Rank ourselves soon, I promise." I told them.

"We better." Gray grumbled. Cana, sitting beside him, nodded.

"Don't worry, I keep my promises. I'll see y'all when I get back, alright?" Gray nodded while Cana smiled and waved.

"See ya soon, Helio!" I smiled back and headed for the bar, a packed lunch from Genkei would taste way better than whatever they were serving on the train.

Arriving at the train station with ten minutes to spare, I stood outside the station and pulled out a bestiary that Levy had gotten me for Christmas. Flipping to the section belonging to minotaurs, I sat back and read as I waited for Erza to arrive.

'The Ishgarian Minotaur comes in many subspecies, from the standard, yet no less terrifying brown to two known elemental variations. It is unknown how exactly this quirk of evolution came about, only that the Stone and Iron Bulls are the strongest known species of minotaur in all of Ishgar. While not always true, one can usually gauge the strength of a non-elemental minotaur by the color of their fur, brown being the weakest, followed by white and black, respectively. Elemental minotaurs are exclusively male, with stone being the weakest (though stronger than a black minotaur), and iron being the strongest.

While minotaurs as a rule are far stronger than the average man, mage or not, they are not capable of higher thinking processes. Outside of mating rituals (see fig. 1), male Ishgarian Minotaurs, known as bulls, are aggressive to a fault, and far bigger than their less aggressive, yet no less powerful, female counterparts, known as cows (see fig. 2).

In combat, the Ishgarian Minotaur relies on its hands for both offense and defense. On occasion, they may use an improvised club, usually a tree trunk, though if unarmed, might grab anything of appropriate size in their surroundings.

The average lifespan of Ishgarian Minotaurs in the wild fluctuates wildly due to the species' innate aggression. Male Ishgarian Minotaurs have had recorded lifespans as long as forty years when raised in captivity, with females reaching up to fifty.

Nobody is sure of the origins of the minotaur species. Theories range widely, however, from cattle bred and raised in ethernano rich environments, to the Celestial Spirit Taurus-'

Okay, that's enough.

"Ah Helio, you're already here." Erza's voice pulled me from my attempts to forget the rest of the bestiary entry and the figures therein.

Glad to have the distraction, I requipped the book and looked up to see Erza approaching with a wagon full of luggage.

Right. Forgot about that little quirk of hers.

She's got enough supplies for a few months, at least, and Gildarts thought my preparations were overboard!

I let out a low whistle. "Think you packed enough stuff?" I asked. If nothing else, it was probably great exercise.

Instead of a biting remark, or sarcastic laughter, Erza looked at me with a furrowed brow. "You are the third person to ask me that on the way here." She said, sounding genuinely confused. She looked over her luggage and nodded to herself. "I've double checked that I have everything, shall we get our tickets?"

Erza Scarlet, everybody.

Shaking my head, I turned towards the ticket booth and waved for her to follow. "Yeah, let's go."

Two purchased tickets and a porter that looked like he was contemplating suicide later, we were enroute to Onibus, where we would hire a carriage to take us to Nerine.

Working with Erza was an interesting experience. While she was unintentionally hilarious at times, at others she was cold, distant and professional. She took charge of any situation, from casual conversation to combat with an easy confidence that most would envy.

Aside from deciding that we should wait until we were in Nerine to decide whether we should fight the minotaur at night or in the morning and minor small talk about our training, the air between us was filled with silence almost the entire trip.

Unfortunately, with Nerine being as out of the way as it was, it took six hours to reach it by cart. Arriving near midnight meant our choice was made for us, as everyone in the village was long asleep at this point. Tired from the journey, the two of us barely got through setting up camp before we fell onto our bedrolls, too exhausted for much else.

When I awoke, I decided to let Erza sleep in while I did my morning exercise. Just because my magic woke me up at dawn barring serious injury didn't mean everyone around me had to suffer the same. I nodded at the farmers as they left their homes and explained my presence when one of the tougher looking farmers came up with a magic rifle held at low ready.

Thankfully, it was the alluring smell of frying eggs and sizzling bacon that awoke Erza, rather than the wary farmer. She seemed like the type to be very violent when woken against her will, and starting the day by concussing a civilian did not seem like the best first impression to make.

After blinking a few times, she'd gotten up, stowed her bedroll and joined me next to the grill and didn't speak until we'd finished eating and were breaking camp.

"We should ask around the village for their tracker. We don't want to risk the minotaur attacking while the farmers are in the fields, it would be better if the two of us got it in its own territory." It's incredibly odd being the one ordered around again, but I nodded, requipping my freshly cleaned cookware.

Thankfully, Nerine was the kind of place where everybody knew everybody, and the two of us were quickly pointed towards the home of one Lelfya Lishane by a harried looking woman who was trying to hang her laundry and nurse her baby at the same time.

Lelfya Lishane, or who I assumed that's who she was, opened the door before Erza could knock. She was a tall woman, easily over six feet, with tanned skin, shrewd eyes, and a stoic face. Her hair was white, cut short in a way that screamed function over fashion.

"You the mages that took the request?" She asked, her voice was harsh, but quiet, slanted with a distinctive drawl.

"Yes. I am Erza Scarlet, and this is my partner, Helio Dart. We're from Fairy Tail." I nodded at her, my face stoic in my best impression of Master Flare. "We were told you'd mapped out the minotaur's territory?" The woman nodded and backed away from the door, giving just enough room to let us through. She swung it shut the instant I cleared it.

"Lelfya Lishane and yeah, I stalked the big black bastard back to its territory after it ate half a flock of sheep." She pulled out a crudely drawn map and handed it to me, pointing at the area labeled 'Black Sheep Hollow'. "It might be too tough for us to handle, but it's dumb as a doornail." I nodded along as I studied the map, thankful for the compass rose in the corner to orient it. I glanced up and saw Erza looking pensive.

"Was there anything special about the minotaur other than having black fur?" I asked as I went back to studying the map. It was surprisingly easy to follow once you actually looked at it. She wasn't going to be a cartographer anytime soon, but I could read it well enough.

"He had a big ol' tree trunk with a rock tied to it. Dragged it along behind him like a little girl would a dolly." She let out a hum, "Dunno where he got that much rope, but I doubt it's a nice answer." She shook her head. "Anyway, he's due back soon, it'd be for the best if you went out there and finished him off as soon as possible." She gave us an angry look. "I know what you Fairies are like, I don't want y'all fighting him anywhere nearby, ya hear?" We nodded in affirmation and she gave us a scrutinizing look before nodding sternly. "Good, now git!" She yanked the door open and ushered us out before yelling after us. "Bring back that bastard's horns for me, ya hear?!" The door slammed before we had any chance to reply.

Our trek would have appeared to be nothing more than a serene nature hike if not for the clear markings left behind by our target. Its club had carved a divot in the earth, sometimes skipping a few feet where it had hit a rock and gone airborne for a short time.

With how blatantly obvious the markers were, I was curious whether it had been necessary to meet Ms. Lishane in the first place.

Erza, who had insisted on taking point for this trek, suddenly stopped and held up a hand to silence my reflexive questioning. She waved me forward and pointed into the hollow below us.

"She wasn't exaggerating, big black bastard was right…" I murmured quietly before Erza tried to slap me upside the head, I dodged, but she still gave me a stern look. I rolled my eyes but nodded at her quiet rebuke all the same.

Crude it may have been, but there was no doubting the accuracy of the statement. The minotaur below us was big. Going off the entries in my bestiary, he looked big even for a black minotaur, easily topping ten feet in height and with muscles to match. Its mane would have been majestic if its white hair wasn't knotted and matted with dirt and who knows what else.

Its club was as crude and savage looking as its maker, and closer to a crude battleaxe than a club, the more I looked at it.

The boulder that served as the head was ragged and jagged, like the minotaur had tried to sharpen it by slamming it into other rocks and had gotten lucky that it hadn't simply shattered.

Frowning lightly, I turned to Erza. "This is your request, Erza. How are we going to handle this?"

Erza's concentrated expression didn't break, even as she began speaking. "Ideally, I would rather wait until it was asleep, then hit it with all we've got. However, my own studies, and your bestiary, both say that a Minotaur is diurnal, and we cannot risk it heading towards the village before then." Her brows furrowed even more, probably thinking of her own strategies, even as I did the same.

"We shouldn't attack it head on, so I think you should go around the other side of the hollow and ambush it from cover. Then, while it's focused on you, I can close the distance."

I nodded, "Sounds like a plan. Let's tr-" my answer was cut off as my instincts screamed at me to move, and in doing so, I tackled Erza and rolled us both into a nearby bush in a tangle of limbs.

WHAM

Just in time too, as a boulder wider than either of us were tall landed where we'd been just moments ago.

ROOOOOOOOAAAR

I covered my ears as the minotaur's roar shook the branches of the trees around us, sending twigs falling to the ground.

"Scrap the plan, Erza! I'll grab its attention, try to find an opening!" She nodded seriously, her figure glowing for a second as she requipped into a mail and gambeson, drawing a cutlass.

"I'll be ready!"

Running out of our ineffective cover, I was forced to dodge a log as it flipped end over end towards me. Gritting my teeth, I ducked under it at the last moment, a shower of dirt and splinters peppering my back.

"Fusion!" The attack flew forward as I kept running parallel to the minotaur, determined to keep the high ground for as long as possible as I tried to get Erza her opening.

The minotaur ducked in a way I was almost sureit shouldn't have been able to, and instead of hitting it in the chest, the attack hit home and exploded on one of its horns, the cracking of bone echoing almost as loud as its enraged roar.

With its attention well and truly captured, Erza burst out of the bush, far faster than any 11 year old, even an 11 year old mage, had any right to go. With a roar of exertion, Erza's cutlass flashed in the light, and struck true on the unprotected back of the minotaur's knee.

Instead of a shout of anger or pain, however, the only noise that came from Erza's attack was her own shout of confusion.

"My sword!" I could just barely make out Erza's almost distressed voice from this distance, especially as my breaths were coming in ragged pants as I ran and prepared another Fusion. "Its skin broke it!"

Well shit. We should have figured a black minotaur wouldn't be able to take a standard blade, strong as its steel may be.

Still, despite her shout of dismay and confusion, Erza barely missed a beat in dodging away as our opponent turned its massive head towards her, a malevolent snort escaping its snout. I saw a flash of light as she pulled out a spear, and lowered her stance.

Fortunately, it turning towards Erza gave my Fusion the opportunity to strike hard and true, sending the beast stumbling as it once again turned towards me.

The minotaur apparently did not see Erza as the more important threat due to her ineffective attack, and instead rushed towards me, snatching up its ad hoc battleaxe, red eyes glinting like coals through its black fur.

Running wouldn't be an option here, obviously. Fast as I could be, I would never outrun that wall of muscle, so instead I closed the distance, my fist glowing with a Fusion Punch.

Ducking under its swing, my hair blowing from the force, I slammed my attack into the side of its knee, feeling the skin heat up as the fur burned away underneath the heat.

Dodging the meaty hand that rushed to grab me, I noticed that while Erza's sword had broken, it had at least broken its skin, and I could see a glint too bright to be the sun reflecting off of the thin rivulet of blood.

A shard of steel, just barely penetrating the thick skin, like a nail hammered just enough to hold itself up.

I grinned even as I was forced to roll away from the next attack, a one handed swing of its axe carving a great divot in the earth as it slammed into the ground.

"Erza! Aim for the same knee!" I shouted, hands glowing as I made my next run.

"I noticed!" She shouted back. I would have acknowledged her statement, but I was a bit too busy trying to dodge.

Thankfully, even if we were both in close quarters, the minotaur could still only really focus on one of us. Now that it had Erza constantly striking its back, and me trying to distract it, it decided to turn towards her instead.

Erza dodged the strike, barely, a chunk of her scarlet hair dropped to the ground, leaving her hair jagged and uneven.

Taking the opportunity given, I slammed yet another Fusion Punch into its knee, and it suddenly whirled, faster than it had before, a meaty fist flying just fast enough to graze me, sending me rolling in the dirt as I groaned.

"Helio!" I pushed myself up, my back aching from the blow, only spared the next punch by sheer luck as I threw myself backwards, collapsing in the dirt as I lost my footing.

"I'm fine!" I ground out despite the stars I was still blinking out of my vision, and the massive bruise I could feel forming on my side.

Erza, not one to attempt a scolding duringa battle for our lives, simply took the opportunity to slam her spear home into the burned and weakened knee, the spear finding purchase and apparently getting caught in something as she was forced to leave it behind, instead bringing out a war hammer.

Thankfully, her attack did give me the opportunity to gain my bearings, even if I could not heal myself quite yet. The pain of the attack forced the minotaur to instead focus on Erza, rather than continue toying with me.

Thanking my lucky stars for its sudden focus on Erza instead, I held out a finger gun with my left hand, and braced it with my right. Erza's distraction gave me the chance to cast something a little more potent.

A Photon Beam, this one refined, and only slightly bigger around than my finger, shot forth and pierced its uninjured knee.

"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR"

This roar, more like a wall of sound than a proper noise, felt so very satisfying.

Stumbling, it tried to turn back to me, but that only bought Erza the time she needed to complete her plan, slamming her warhammer into the butt of her trapped spear, driving through the head through its kneecap.

The injury proved too much for the beast, and it fell to the ground, desperately trying to swing a fist at us as its axe failed to support its weight and it fell gracelessly to the ground.

With that, this fight was good as over, and with a grim nod from Erza, I placed a hand against one of its eyes, now glinting with fear rather than hatred.

"Photon Beam"

With that, our fight was done.

Our triumphant return to the small village was rather lackluster, most of the people in the village were off in the fields, and the rest were busy with chores or children. Still, we did get looks from the few people that were around to notice our return due to the pair of long white horns we were dragging along behind us on a sled Erza and I had fashioned out of a few logs in the hollow. They were still rather unwieldy, but it was a lot better than carrying one each like Erza had suggested.

These things had to weigh at least a few hundred hundred pounds each!

Erza was just built differently compared to the rest of us.

Lefiya met us outside her home with a vindictive look in her eyes as she saw the horns lashed to our makeshift sled. She walked over to them and examined them one by one, poking the points, examining the ends where we had cut them from the minotaur's skull (which had been an exercise in stamina and patience in and of itself) and finally turned towards us with a satisfied smile.

"I knew I could count on you youngin's to take care of that sonuvabitch for us." She looked at the horns, considering, before looking back at us. "Y'all in a hurry to get back to your guild?" We looked at each other, before shaking our heads. She smiled, softer than the vindictive and satisfied expressions she'd shown us before. "Good, you two go on inside and get yourselves cleaned up, we've got a bit of a bonus for ya, it'll be ready in a few hours."

That night, Erza and I were subjected to a feast of homemade food that reminded me of my first life more than anything else I'd so far experienced in this one.

For the first time in this life, I was reacquainted with some of my favorite foods.

Soup beans, cornbread, collard greens, country style ribs and more had me feeling a heavy sense of nostalgia not entirely my own, before Erza commented on something and I was pulled back into the moment.

Later that night Erza and I didn't fall asleep, so much as fall into a food coma.

We didn't stir until Lelfya woke us the next morning with a soft smile on her face. We were led back outside to where we'd eaten the night before and stuffed with a truly prodigious amount of bacon, eggs, grits, biscuits and gravy, hash browns, and fried apples before our carriage arrived.

Loading all of Erza's luggage while stuffed as full as we were was not a good time, but we got it done.

The atmosphere on our return trip to Magnolia was mostly silent, but comfortable. We didn't speak much on our carriage ride back to Onibus, dozing as we were, and the train ride wasn't much different. Bar my laugh at the tortured moans of the porters loading Erza's luggage, we weren't very excitable. I simply focused on the book Laxus had told me to finish before his next lesson.

It wasn't until we were standing outside the now closing train station that either of us spoke more than meaningless small talk or what we planned to do with our half of the reward. Erza was securing all her luggage, and I was stretching my tired limbs, preparing myself for the final slog that was my walk to the orphanage when she spoke.

"Helio, working with you was… nice." Through the darkness, I could just barely make out a light blush on her cheeks. "We should do this again." I grinned tiredly at her.

"I liked working with you too. We've definitely got to do this again!" I yawned, "Just give me some time to rest, do some work with the others, and we can plan our next job together, alright?" Erza nodded resolutely.

"Of course. Good night Helio." I waved as I turned away in the direction of the orphanage and more importantly, my bed.

"See ya in the morning, Erza." I stopped and turned towards her as she headed to Fairy Hills. "Just one more thing Erza."

"Yes?"

"Give me more than an hour's notice next time."

March 15, x777

So hey, funny thing I didn't actually know about Magnolia until now?

Turns out it had a bank.

Yeah, I'd spent the last year and seven months keeping my money stashed inside my requip space when I could have had it in a bank account instead.

Part of me felt stupid for not even considering whether one existed, seeing as literally nobody had mentioned the damn place, and another part of me wanted to throttle my guildmates for never mentioning its existence.

Which, considering the first time I'd heard about it had been when an old lady handed me a check for my team's reward instead of jewel, seemed rather justified.

"Hey Cana, why don't you go cash that at the bank, and I'll go tell Gramps we're back? We didn't break anything, so it's not like we all gotta be there." Cana must have heard something in my voice, because her tired expression suddenly became inquisitive.

"Why do you need me to do it? It's not like we need the money right now or something. Just go do it in the morning." I cleared my throat a little, and noticed Levy's eyebrow furrow.

"Now that I think about it Helio, you've never mentioned going to the bank before. Do you even have an account?" Her question was oh so innocent, but I felt the sweat bead on my brow.

"O-of course I do, Levy. Don't be silly." My voice most assuredly did not break! It merely cracked, that's all! Gray's face pulled into a predatory expression though, and I started looking for escape routes.

"Then let's go cash it right now, Helio! No big deal since you've got an account, right?" Cana had caught on, and I knew I was doomed.

"Nah, it's good, I'll just do it tomorrow!" I said quickly. "Let's just get back to the guild, I hear Genkei got some really nice fish at the market this morning, and I'm starving, how about you guys?" I dared not look over my shoulder again, because I knew what expressions awaited me.

"Does the poor bumpkin need us to tell him how the bank works?" Gray taunted, and just like that, I knew I was finished.

A Flare Punch lighting my hand, I turned towards him with a menacing expression. "Tough words coming from the stripper I'm sure's banned from it."

"At least I know where it is to be banned from it, night light!" His hands gave off an icy aura, and just like that, the two of us were brawling in the middle of town.

After getting back to the guild, slightly shivering from Cana blowing us into the canal, I'd asked Gramps why it never came up before this, and gave Wakaba a Flare Punch for laughing hysterically when he overheard me asking. He'd simply shrugged and said most jobs paid in cold hard jewel as it made it easier to split the rewards between wizards.

The next day, I made a detour on my usual route to the guild to open an account and cash the reward, giving a grinning Cana, who'd apparently woke up extra early just to tease me about it, the stink eye every second I wasn't busy with the teller.

Still, with that out of the way, my savings was now in an account, and no longer taking up a good sized chunk of my limited requip space; meaning I had room for more practical things than a big pile of cash.

No matter how much glee I had gotten from knowing it was there.

April 1, x777

April 1st, x777, a day that would forever go down in infamy in the history of the Fairy Tail guild, had started out rather tame, all things considered.

Cana, Levy, Gray and I had all come together over the last few weeks and planned it all out in typical, over the top Fairy Tail fashion. Minor inconveniences to huge pranks sure to annoy everybody. I'd distracted Erza with spars and hand to hand advice to keep her in the dark, and it was finally time to watch all our hard work payoff.

Of all the days to be a little shit, what better day than this? April Fool's Day was the best day to indulge each and every childish prank and joke my team and I could think of. Laxus might have been a party pooper and said he was too old to play pranks with us, but he hadn't said no when I'd asked him to distract Erza for me.

He hadn't tried to stop us though, and there were a few more ideas than I remembered being added to our ideas notebook.

It was just after 9, time for the morning crowd to start coming in, and we were all hiding our excitement with varying degrees of success.

I bit down on my lip from my spot next to Levy, trying, and failing, to follow along as she studied yet another new language.

It didn't help that Levy had the most adorable grin on her face and was mostly using the book to hide it, even as she shook with suppressed giggles.

Gray's expression was even more obvious, even as it was obscured by him removing his-

"Clothes, Gray." I said absentmindedly. He quickly pulled his shirt back down, his smug smirk replaced by an annoyed scowl and burning cheeks.

Cana kept snickering as she kept up a constant stream of card readings, probably unable to stop herself from reading all the fortunes of our poor, unfortunate guildmates.

We could hear the low rumble of a dozen people in conversation as the early birds got to the doors, and gave up all pretense that we weren't waiting for them to open it.

The door creaked slightly on its hinges as it opened….

"And here… we… go." I whispered to myself as the door opening triggered Levy's runes and her giant GLUE dropped from the rafters, crashing down on the heads of a dozen and change innocent mages.

Cursing the air blue, Macao and Wakaba were the first to regain their bearings as we broke out in tears of laughter.

"Real funny kids, real funny." Wakaba said, lighting a new cigarette with malicious intent.

"Now, Helio!" Gray called through his laughter. I fought my own amusement down to a smirk as I spared a quick glance to ensure my conspirators had their sunglasses, I snapped my fingers.

"Flash!"

"Gah! Damn kids!"

"Levy!"

"Solid Script: Glitter!"

"Wind Edge!"

"Ice Make: Floor!"

Cackling, we made good our escape through the backdoor, ready to continue our reign of terror as we were serenaded with the beautiful symphony of our guildmates' screams.

Over the course of the day, the four of us split up, smaller pranks being set off, or dropped on them when they weren't paying attention.

Drinks spiked with laxatives before freezing the toilets, benches given a thin layer of glue, and itching powder dropped from the rafters onto people's heads. All that and more was used to annoy and generally terrorize our family for most of the day.

Of course, some had a far more personal touch, to really have some fun.

"HELIO YOU LITTLE BRAT! GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!"

Macao, currently shirtless, and with a tan line that looked like a micro bikini, chased me through the guild, whips of purple fire licking at my heels as I made my valiant escape, laughing like a madman.

"Watch where you sleep next time!" I shouted.

"Cana used a sleeping card on me and you know it, you little shit!" I cackled, leaping over a thrown stool and quickly maneuvered to put Wakaba, currently wheezing like a dying man, into the line of fire.

"Hey what was that for?!" His angry shout rose over the din of the guild.

"You got in the way!"

Their ensuing brawl gave me a clean escape as I ducked through Krov's legs and absent-mindedly swept Niggy's feet out from under him.

"Hey, you can't still be mad about the cake, Helio!" He whined, I stuck my tongue out at him as I sprinted for the doors.

"Nah, but it's fun to mess with you!" I yelled as I yanked open the doors of the guild hall and disappeared into the streets of Magnolia.

I double checked the crowd around me before I ducked into an alleyway and doubled back on my trail to continue my reign of terror on my guildmates.

Wakaba's cigarettes weren't going to be replaced with tiny explosive ones by themselves, after all.

Unfortunately, our fun ended early when Erza, Genkei and Gramps teamed up and went completely and utterly overboard in retaliation.

And of course, as Gramps loves to abuse his power, Cana, Gray, Levy and I were the ones stuck cleaning up the entire mess.

It took a week to get the paint and metal shavings out of the floorboards, and even with the help of a wind mage and an air freshening lacrima, it took a month to get the smell of raw sewage and stale beer completely out of the guild hall.

At least Gramps didn't ban any future celebrations of April Fool's Day, which was a plus, I guess.

May 15, x777

While some (read: most) would consider it premature, I had, at the ripe age of eleven, decided to move into my own little two bedroom apartment on Strawberry Street, in the heart of Magnolia.

Why yes, that is the same street Lucy's apartment is on, and by some twist of fate, I had only realized that once I paid the security deposit and my first month of rent (55,000 jewel, if you were interested).

I was fairly sure that I wasn't in Lucy's actual apartment, as if my now spotty memories were correct, she lived more in the middle, and I was one door down from the end.

I could see why Lucy chose this area though, very close to the marketplace, next to the canal, and within ten minutes walk of the guild. I was actually kind of surprised more members of Fairy Tail didn't live on this street, if I'm being honest.

I had informed Father Brock of my intentions as soon as I (and Master, because full guild wizard or not, I was eleven) had signed the paperwork, he smiled, slightly sad, and wished me well.

I gave him a small smile and hugged the man, making sure to hide any sadness as best I could. I might have spent more time at the guild than in this small church orphanage, but Father Brock was a good man, and I would miss him.

"You're not getting rid of me that easily, Father." I said as I pulled away from him. "I'll be sure to visit, okay?" He nodded at me, still with the same soft smile, before he turned to help one of the small children with their shoelaces.

It hadn't exactly been a home so much as a place to store my stuff and lay my head, but a part of me would miss this place all the same.

Still, it was a step that had to be taken, because if all went to plan, someone would be in that second bedroom very soon.

June 25th, x777

It had taken months of preparation, multiple last minute changes, more than a few sleepless nights, a fair few fights, and a slight fear of Enno, but the day had finally come.

Macao and Enno were finally getting married.

Cana and Levy were holding baskets of flowers, wearing white dresses that they were very consciously trying to avoid getting anything on. They had a purple sash on around their waists, as Enno had decided it would be the perfect color scheme for their wedding, something Macao had been very smug about.

Gray was seated beside Erza in the nave, who was making a concentrated effort to ensure his suit stayed on, just in case the many promises of bodily harm didn't help delay his habit until the reception.

I was fairly sure Cana had actually suggested gluing it to him, but that had, thankfully, been avoided.

With Gray out of the running for obvious reasons, and Erza appointing herself Gray's keeper, that left me as the ring bearer. A charge I was more than happy to take up for my uncle and big sister figures.

Enno, with one of her bridesmaids doing some last minute adjustments to her veil as another used some kind of shielding magic on her to keep her dress from getting stained, joined us a few moments before the end of Master Makarov's speech (which we, sadly, could barely hear through the thick wooden doors).

Her father, a man I was honestly surprised was around, considering the way people tend to join Fairy Tail, was smiling proudly, taking a moment to wipe away a few tears with his handkerchief.

With a smile from Enno as the music began, Cana, Levy and I led the way for the happy bride.

The nave was, as expected, packed to full with people. Not a single pew was empty until they all stood to watch as we led the bride down the aisle.

Master, in his Wizard Saint outfit as the minister, smiled proudly, and took the rings looking like he was trying very hard not to tear up.

Macao was smiling from the moment Enno had walked through the doors, and looked just a second away from deciding to just run away with his bride before he'd actually married her.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we gather here today…"

Erza sniffled beside me, even as she kept an ironclad hold on Gray's arm, tears ran down from her real eye as she dabbed them away with a tissue.

I smiled from the moment I'd entered the nave to the moment Macao and Enno's kiss went from "appropriate" to "We should probably separate them before they pass out" territory.

Somehow, as if some god was smiling down on us, we managed to get through the entire ceremony without a single thing going wrong.

I'd thought Fairy Tail could party before, but the reception put all the past ones I'd participated in to shame.

If it hadn't been for the mayor personally delivering an order to stop, I'm fairly sure it would have lasted a week, at least.

As it was, a 72 hour party was a new record, according to Gildarts.

I considered it doubly impressive, considering the guests of honor had left on their honeymoon less than six hours after it started.

I almost considered it triple, since Gramps didn't even grumble about the mess this time.

Chapter Text

July 3, x777

"WHAT?!" Two voices assaulted my ears. I made a show of cleaning one out with my pinky.

"I'm taking a few solo jobs," I repeated myself. "Why are you freaking out? I'll be gone for like, a month, at most. I even bought a communication lacrima to call Gramps so he doesn't freak out if I'm gone too long." Cana crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, looking at me like I was in the wrong, while Levy simply pouted at me.

"And why can't you bring any of us with you?" Cana asked somewhat testily. I rolled my eyes.

"What's the big deal? I've not traveled on my own since I ran into you on the way to Magnolia, I just want to see how well I can stand on my own. It's not like I can't call Laxus for help if I end up too deep." I requipped the "Call Laxus" card Cana had made for all of us a month ago. He grumbled about saving our own asses for once in our lives, but he'd still taken it without much complaint. His newly created lightning travel was the fastest way of reaching us if we actually needed help, after all. Cana begrudgingly backed down, Gray nodding along with her.

They understood how it felt, feeling like you had to prove yourself, after all.

"But you'll be gone for so long!" Levy was still pouting, however. "There was a translation job in Shirotsume that I wanted you to take me on!" I smiled and ruffled her hair, getting a blush and puffed cheeks in return.

"Don't sound so spoiled, Levy. You can go with Gray or Cana, you know? They can leave Magnolia without me now." Levy sighed.

"Cana will get bored and complain and Gray will get us kicked out for stripping." She stated bluntly. Cana shrugged and Gray growled at her.

"What'd you say?!"

"Oooh, tell us how you really feel, Levs." I said with a wince, "That was brutal."

"She's not wrong though, translations are boring, and Gray…" Cana waved towards him.

"Solid Script: Clothes!"

"Damnit, Levy! Stop doin' that!"

"I'll stop when you stop traumatizing us every five minutes!" I snickered into my hand.

"Calm down, Levy. Just because Gray is an exhibitionist-"

"Helio!" I dodged an ice lance with almost casual ease, ignoring the yelp of it hitting someone else.

"-doesn't mean you can't ask Laxus to take you instead." Levy sighed, but nodded.

"At least he won't snore or get us kicked out."

"Hey! I don't snore!"

"Yeah ya do."

"You do."

"You didn't need to agree with her!" Cana shouted. Gray and I both shrugged.

I shook my head, "Anyways, we're getting off track. My point is, that I want to go out and see a bit of Fiore by myself and prove I can do serious mage work on my own, alright? I'm not suddenly becoming a solo act or anything." I pat Levy's head. "Tell ya what Levs, I'll take ya on whatever job you want, so long as Master approves it, when I get back, alright?" She crossed her arms and pouted, but nodded all the same.

"Fine…" I smiled at her.

"I've gotta finish getting all my luggage together, but let's hang out tonight, alright? My train leaves bright and early tomorrow morning, so I won't even have time to come here before it departs."

I wasn't really lying about my reasoning, I did want to explore Fiore on my own. As much as I love these guys, I couldn't just rely on them always being by my side. I needed to prove that I could stand on my own.

The fact that this trip just so happened to be at the beginning of July and would be taking me in the direction of a certain non-existent guild, however…

Well, that was just a lucky coincidence, wasn't it?

July 6, x777

The stack of requests I'd grabbed were from all over Northern Fiore, from Oshibana to the coast and even one in Shirotsume. Some of them were simple, like exterminating a few magical pests from an old house, and some of them were a bit more complicated.

Tomorrow I'd be hunting a few magical creatures native to the Worth Woodsea and harvesting bits and pieces of them for a client in Clover Town. Right now though, I was lying in a clearing, watching the stars, counting the constellations I could find as my watch ticked its way to midnight.

Tick

Tick

Tock.

Well would you look at that, it's the seventh day of the seventh month of the seventh year, which means if I've got the time and my orientation right…

There! A streak of blue light caught my eyes as I just barely caught it through the trees as it arced through the sky from the south, flying over the mountains to the west and landing somewhere to the northwest of the forest.

I had my bearing, and if I was lucky, then I might just run into a certain someone with her.

I'd need to be a little cautious, and possibly wear my tank top with the guild's emblem on it to blatantly advertise my affiliation with Fairy Tail, but if all went to plan, well, Mystogan promised to take Wendy to a guild, did he not?

Might as well extend the offer to both of them simultaneously.

July 15, x777

My trek through the Worth Woodsea hadn't been the fastest, but I'd gotten through it all the same. I'd already harvested all the monster parts that my client wanted and I'd even taken out the gorian that a woman who lived out near the edge of the forest had placed a bounty on as well.

I was two jobs down and just under two weeks into my trip. I still had the monster parts to deliver and a few jobs to do, most of them roughly in Northern Fiore. Getting all the way to the coast to finish the collection request would be a slog, but at least I had a couple of more exciting ones to look forward to.

Exasperation with basically being a courier aside, it and the rest of my jobs -fighting involved or not- put me in the area I needed to be. That, and doing a variety of jobs was probably better than just throwing myself at Monster Hunts and other combat requests and burning myself out. The last thing I needed was to pass out for a day from exhaustion and miss the entire reason I came out here after all.

Speaking of which, I kinda hope I run into them soon…

As much as my cover story wasn't a lie, it was getting a little boring out here all alone.

Damnit Fairy Tail, you've infected me with your socialness! I was almost regretting not bringing anyone with me!

I sighed quietly. Maybe going solo really wasn't what it was all cracked up to be.

Seriously, how do they deal with the silence? I was so used to people being with me, that having no one by my side, talking, bickering or nearly running into something because they were reading instead of paying attention was becoming unnerving.

Part of me said that was a good thing, that my more introverted instincts were being eroded by my friends.

Another part of me really missed being able to go days without speaking to anybody.

The rest of me wanted to get to the next village so I could do my next job, and lamented the fact I couldn't have just hired a carriage to take me there.

Just as I was about to return to my totally not melodramatic moaning, I heard a shout from the top of the next hill, and before I consciously realized it, I was speeding up to see what was going on.

My next destination had posted a Monster Hunt request , maybe the monsters had saved me some time?

Cursing the lack of cover to allow me to get a proper hand on the situation, I crested the hill, and barely managed to brace myself as a small child ran into me.

I looked down and was greeted with a small blue haired girl looking at me with teary brown eyes.

"Mister, run!" She shouted, her voice choking with sobs. Before I could ask what it was she was running from, my unspoken question was answered by a howl.

I looked up from the crying girl and was greeted by a pack of three shaggy green dogs, each the size of a small cow, lining up with almost sinister expressions, if dogs could manage such a thing.

The village I was headed to had sent out a request to find and eliminate what they believed were a pack of Cù-Sìth that had gotten a taste for people.

The Cù-Sìth, aforementioned shaggy green dogs, were evil little bastards about their hunting practices. Terrifying their prey with loud barks, infused with just a tiny amount of their innate magic power to make it that much more terrifying. Legends said that if you weren't safe by the third bark, you died of terror.

While that might be true for more skittish animals, like rabbits, it was a bit more complicated for humans. The fear might kill a frail old civilian, or someone with a weak constitution, but for the average person, it was more like the fright of their life, or in the case of even the weakest wizard, just a very loud, albeit unsettling, bark.

For them, the real danger was what came after.

Though they very much preferred their prey to die of fright, Cù-Sìth were excellent hunters. Mouths full of sharp teeth, perfect for ripping through flesh, and steps that were more reminiscent of a feline with their supernaturally silent tread, if the barks didn't kill you, you would likely suffer a far more violent fate soon after.

They weren't very powerful, but they tended to travel in small packs, and their supernatural stealth made them dangerous for any civilian or low class mage.

I didn't have time or the space to be fancy about this. I told the girl to stay behind me, and simply jumped into action with nary a thought once I confirmed she'd listened.

A Flare to the muzzle of the biggest one caught its attention, its growl menacing as its eyes burned like coals.

Another growl and three loud barks later, and their previous prey was forgotten, solely focused on me and me alone.

"Fusion!" The spell impacted the one on the left, it flew backwards with the force of the explosion, the smell of burning flesh accompanying its pitiful whines.

Dropping all pretense of intimidation, they broke off from one another, to flank or flee, I didn't know, but I wasn't about to let them do either.

A couple more Fusions and some mercy killings later, I finally got a chance to really look at who I had saved.

The little blue haired girl, curled up in a ball and just now letting her sobs die down, looked up at me with large brown eyes.

My heart nearly stopped at the sight of what could only be a five year old Wendy Marvell with tears running down her cheeks.

"T-thank you…" She said quietly. I smiled at her, squatting down and giving her a small smile.

"No problem. My name is Helio Dart. I'm a Fairy Tail wizard. Who are you?" Instead of answering, she shot up to her feet, previous tears forgotten, and began looking around in a panic.

"Jellal?!" She shouted out. She turned back to me with a terrified look on her face. "Please Mr. Dart, you're strong right?!" She didn't even give me time to nod before she continued speaking. "Please help me! There were more of those things trying to fight my friend!" I scooped her into my arms without much thought, my sudden focus the only thing keeping me from cooing at the adorable little 'eep' she let out.

"Which way?"

A shaking finger giving me directions, I took off as fast as my feet could carry me.

It didn't take long to reach our destination, with the fire her words had lit under my ass fueling me.

Pushing through tall grass and vines, the sounds of combat getting louder the closer we got, I got my first impression of Edolas Jellal.

He was standing over a whimpering Cù-Sìth, at least six other corpses littered about our surroundings. He gave it a cold look, and without a hint of mercy, used his magic staff as a bludgeon to crush its head.

"Jellal! You're okay!" Finally noticing us, or rather, noticing Wendy, Jellal's expression changed to a far warmer look as he smiled at her, quickly catching the girl in a hug as she jumped out of my arms to run towards him. The look disappeared when he registered my existence, though.

Expression turning cold, Jellal stared at me with a wary glare as he slid himself in front of her.

"Who are you?" He asked, he had a commanding tone that rivaled Erza at her worst. I held up my hands in peace, but my words were interrupted.

"Jellal, why are you being so mean?!" She asked, her cheeks puffed out and her tone angry. "He saved me and helped me find you!" Her eyes were practically glowing with hurt as he faltered.

"Wendy, we don't know who he is. Not every stranger you meet will be friendly." He cautioned her. Wendy's glare turned into a pout at his tone.

"Not every stranger we meet will be mean either!" She grumbled at him. I cleared my throat to regain their attention.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Helio Dart." I gestured at the emblem on my shirt and turned to show them the mark on my shoulder. "I'm a Fairy Tail wizard." I smiled brightly at them, "and I believe you might have done most of my job for me."

Jellal's expression went from wary to flat.

"Thanks again for saving me, Mr. Dart!" Wendy said excitedly, practically skipping along the road as she danced between Jellal and I. I smiled at her, noting Jellal's fond expression as well.

"You're welcome, Wendy." I reached out and ruffled her hair, getting a giggle and a gigawatt grin. "Please call me Helio, though. Jellal and I are the same age." She nodded up at me, cheeks rosy.

"Okay Helio!" Then she ran a little ahead to pick wildflowers. I grinned at her enthusiasm before turning to Jellal.

"Excitable little thing, isn't she?" Jellal nodded with a small smile, his earlier wariness seeming to evaporate under the force of Wendy's sheer wholesome energy.

"Yes, she's in much higher spirits than she was a few days ago." At my raised brow he kept speaking. "We're traveling together so Wendy can find her mother. She was very… subdued until recently." I nodded along.

"I see, hopefully we'll be able to get some information out of the villagers. What's she look like?" Once again, I was playing my most hated role of acting ignorant, but I had little choice in the matter.

Wendy, who we'd caught up with as she began tying the flowers together, answered instead. "Grandeeney is a sky dragon!" She said excitedly, taking a second to suck on the end of her finger when she stuck herself on a particularly hard flower stem. "She's really pretty! She's big and white and covered in really soft feathers!" Her eyes glittered as she talked about her mother. Her smile dimmed though, as she kicked the dirt. "She disappeared a week ago." Wendy said sadly. "I met you guys though, so it's not all bad!" Her smile was smaller now, but it was present. "Do you think we'll find someone who saw her?"

I patted her head again, getting a happy hum as I answered. "Maybe, A big white dragon would be hard to miss. We'll ask around, alright?" Wendy smiled up at me.

"Mhm! Thanks Helio!" Deciding that conversation was over, she looked back down at her flowers, returning to her work of tying them together.

I looked over at Jellal, who looked somewhat troubled, even as he smiled at Wendy. "I'll be glad to help out too. I've still got a few jobs in the general area, so I can stick around for a bit." I pulled my map out, "This'll help out a lot more than aimlessly wandering as well." I teased.

"It's not my fault there wasn't a map of Fiore just laying around when I left." He lightly grumbled.

Which was a fair point, considering his origins, but since he wasn't exactly reading me in on Edolas and the Anima, I didn't have to concede it.

"Sounds like someone isn't a very good planner." He rolled his eyes and punched me in the shoulder.

It hurt quite a bit, surprisingly.

Even without internal magic, it seemed Edolas citizens had about the same amount of strength as the average wizard instead of the average civilian.

I rubbed my arm and smiled at him. "Well, you're gonna be stuck with me for a bit, so it won't be a problem for now."

After we'd properly introduced ourselves, I'd asked Jellal if I could travel with them. Seeing his hesitance, I amended my statement that they at least stick with me until the next village, seeing as he'd inadvertently done most of my job for me. With Wendy seemingly trusting me, and my reasonable offer of two thirds of the job's pay, he'd not seen much reason to object. Especially since I had a map, and he'd been forced to use old nature beaten road signs.

When I offered to make lunch with some of the beef I had bought in the last town I'd visited, his reluctant agreement turned enthusiastic to let me travel with them for at least that long.

Turns out Jellal wasn't the best cook and he and Wendy had been subsiding on charred meat and whatever nuts and berries Wendy had known were safe to eat.

When I pulled out a small box of spices and my camp stove he almost started drooling.

After that, we'd not exactly clicked, but we had a decent rapport building. Wendy helped smooth over any stumbling steps, as she was just too adorable to make upset with any argument that might crop up between us.

We'd see how it would develop over the next day or so we had together.

"Helio! Jellal! Look what I made!" We looked down at Wendy, proudly holding up two little flower chains. "They're bracelets!" She quickly grabbed Jellal's wrist before he could object and began tying it around his wrist before doing the same to me.

"Thank you Wendy, it's beautiful." Jellal said, a soft smile on his face.

"Thanks Wen, I love it!" She grinned at us both before grabbing our hands and tried to pull us up the road.

"Come on! I want to hurry so we can ask if anyone's seen Mom!" Jellal and I shared a look, and allowed ourselves to be pulled along by an overexcited little dragon slayer.

I knew it was futile to ask, but somehow Wendy's sheer earnestness and hope almost made me believe we'd find someone who'd seen her dragon.

Still, I knew the reality of the situation, and could only hope Jellal and I could comfort her, even if we couldn't shield her from the inevitable disappointment.

July 17, x777

Oh my God, fuck these people.

Our journey to Poppy Village had been without much excitement beyond that of an energetic five year old. Jellal and I got to know each other and I had to resist teasing him too much for his lack of basic knowledge about Earthland. At one point, when I got him just a bit too wound up, I taught Wendy how to play I Spy, and made the journey just that bit more fun for her.

With my guild mark and the request shown to one of the passing villagers, we'd quickly been taken to their mayor who had been more than happy to pay out the 150,000 jewel for the request with a hearty thank you for getting rid of the problem so quickly.

A bit much for such a simple job, considering the C ranking, but when you're over a hundred miles away from the end of the train line, and even further from the nearest legal guild, you have to pay a lot more to make the trip worth it.

If that had been all, it would have been a nice, but not very memorable little place.

That, however, was not all.

Oh no, Jellal and I exited the mayor's office to collect Wendy where we'd left her on a bench with a magic toy I'd "forgotten" was in my requip space, only to see her crying silently into her hands.

While we'd been having our exceptionally short meeting with the mayor, a little boy had sat down with her, and upon being asked if he'd seen her Mom, had called her crazy and stole the toy I'd given her.

The boy's mother, while she had made him give it back and scolded him for stealing and calling her crazy, still called her a liar when Wendy had asked her the same question.

I get that dragons haven't been seen in hundreds of years, but to see a little girl crying and call her a liar instead of just playing along and telling her you hadn't?

That was just the start of why I was seriously contemplating arson though, because oh boy were these people greedy as hell.

Jellal, being from a completely different dimension, obviously didn't quite know the value of the jewel, and upon realizing this, the owner of Poppy's general store was determined to take him for a ride.

Luckily, I was there to ensure he got his money's worth, and a silent warning that involved leaving burnt, hand shaped holes in his countertop as Jellal browsed his wares got the message across.

With that out of the way, we had to look for Wendy, only to find her outside, having been dragged out by the boy from earlier along with his friends who were bullying her for getting him in trouble.

'I will not cripple children, I will not cripple children, I will not cripple children.' I chanted as I comforted the once more crying Wendy while Jellal went off on them.

Thankfully for Jellal and I, they'd been cowed into submission when I'd held out a hand coated in magic as he was yelling at them. Turns out magic scares little schoolyard bullies quite well.

I did not need the scolding I'd get from Gramps for beating up a bunch of kids if it hadn't.

I made sure to tug the ringleader's ear extra hard as I made him take me to his mother after Jellal forced him to apologize to Wendy.

Fortunately, with that snot nosed little brat out of the way, and Wendy comforted and sucking on a lollipop on Jellal's shoulders, we left Poppy village behind.

If anyone sent a complaint to the Magic Council for either situation, I'm sure Gramps would understand once I explained.

The scolding would be worth it either way.

"So, where to next Jellal?" I asked him as I held my map up for him.

He'd bought his own in Poppy, but he couldn't exactly hold it at the moment, on account of the five year old still on his shoulders.

"Which way are you headed?" He asked instead, I looked at the map, finding where we were before I traced a path that led to Cedar, a seaside town on the northern coast of Fiore.

"My next request up this way is a couple days from here, in Cedar. It's nothing exciting though. I'm just delivering some monster parts I harvested in the Worth Woodsea to a hospital there for research. After that, I'll probably hire a carriage to take me to Shirotsume for my next one before I finish up in Oshibana and take the train home to Magnolia." I told him, tracing my path for them. I smiled, "You're free to tag along for as long as you like. Running solo's not all it's cracked up to be."

Jellal hummed, clearly thinking it over, before Wendy patted him on the head from her perch on his shoulders.

"Helio's our friend, right Jellal?" He nodded, a tad ruefully to my eyes, which prompted her to continue. "Then let's go! Traveling with just you is great, but two friends sounds a lot better than one!" Jellal closed his eyes, but smiled all the same.

"You heard her Helio, lead the way." I couldn't hide my excitement as I whooped in joy.

"Alright you two, follow me!" I grinned, getting a matching one from Wendy and a small smile from Jellal as he rolled his eyes.

I know he'll be leaving sometime soon, but at least this way, Wendy won't be left alone again. Be it by Jellal or Roubal.

This time Wendy will have a family that will never let her down.

In this world, Wendy Marvell will grow up as a Fairy Tail wizard.

Chapter Text

July 19, x777

We entered Cedar in the mid morning.

Wendy had let out a very appreciative "Oooh" when it appeared over the horizon, practically bouncing in her excitement to see it, and the beach, for herself.

Entering Cedar itself though, she'd gotten a little more reserved.

While it might have barely been considered a city, it was still farmore crowded than anything Wendy had entered before. Housing over 70,000 people, if the sign was anything to go by.

Quite a bit more than the couple hundred in Poppy.

Still, though she might have stayed close to the two of us, constantly holding a hand, Wendy took in all the sights with awe and wonder.

We hit all the spots that a helpful squire of the local knights had recommended after I'd dropped off the delivery to the hospital, with the three of us falling right into the roles of enthusiastic tourists.

A park, a small aquarium and a toy store later, I dragged the two into a clothing store to their general confusion.

"We can't go to the beach without swimsuits, can we?" I asked, Jellal grinned, an excited glint in his eye, while Wendy simply looked confused.

"Why would you need a suit to swim? Don't you just take your clothes off?"

That led to the embarrassing, and - in hindsight, very- obvious realization that dragons don't have a nudity taboo.

A short explanation and ensuring she understood it later, the three of us had a set of swimwear, a towel, and a pair of sandals each, along with a pail and spade.

With those in hand, we finally made it to the beach.

Wendy practically teleported with how quickly she dropped her stuff and ran for the water, screaming in excitement.

"Wendy! Come back! You need sunscreen!" I shouted over the general din of a beach on a hot day.

Thankfully, Wendy being a Dragon Slayer meant she actually heard it.

With that taken care of, Jellal and I just barely had sunscreen on, and a blanket laid out over the sand before Wendy had us by the hands, dragging us towards the water, intent on enjoying her first visit to the beach.

Even if she'd only been told what people did at the beach a bare few hours ago.

We built sand castles, played in the waves, found a few broken seashells, and Jellal and I even managed to help Wendy start learning how to swim.

Sadly, a day only had so many hours in it, and before any of us knew it, the sun was setting, and we were forced back to dry land.

We had barely made it to our blanket before Wendy was dead to the world as she laid across our laps. Jellal and I shared a smile at the sound of her little snores before watching the sun dip below the horizon.

Huh, not how I expected my first "beach episode" to go, but I'd take it.

July 20, x777

After a good night's rest, and a free continental breakfast that was surprisingly not horrible, we made our way to the carriage depot to get a ride to at the very least, Blue Pegasus.

"Sorry kids, all our carriages are booked. Come back in a few days." I balked at him.

"How?!" I asked incredulously.

The clerk shrugged. "There are a lot of people going home from vacation the next few days. Only ones left are local carriages for getting around town. Cedar's not big, but it's popular for vacations. Would you like to schedule one in advance? We have a free one for the 24th." I sighed and shook my head.

"Nah, we're not in a hurry or anything, we'll just walk, if y'all don't have a problem with that?" Jellal shrugged and Wendy looked excited to keep walking. "Yeah, we'll just walk, then." The clerk nodded and proceeded to ignore us for the book he put down when we entered.

Walking out, I hiked up my pack and smiled at the two of them. "It'll be a few days of walking to Blue Pegasus, it should be fun though!" Wendy cheered and walked ahead of us.

"Let's go then!" She yelled, leading the way.

"Wendy, we're going this way." I said, pointing in the opposite direction. Her cheeks pinked before she rushed past us.

"Let's go that way then!"

I rolled my eyes in fond exasperation.

"Let's go before she gets lost again." Jellal said with a laugh. I smiled and followed along.

July 27, x777

Our trip to Blue Pegasus passed without much fanfare, and we booked a couple of nights at the same inn I'd stayed at on my initial trip to Fairy Tail.

The innkeeper surprisingly recognized me and after a bit of catching up allowed us to have a room with two beds for the price of a single. Wendy being a cuddlebug, didn't protest this at all.

When I had last visited, besides the Blue Pegasus guild itself, there wasn't much to do in the little town that had sprung up around it.

In the almost two years since my last visit, that had changed.

Now there just wasn't much to do for a group of two twelve year olds and a five year old.

Turns out when the guild that the town is named after is a host club, the town themes itself towards more… adult tastes.

Blue Pegasus had a better night life than Magnolia, despite being far smaller, but had little that we could actually participate in.

So we'd simply spent our time resting and resupplying for our trek to Shirotsume. There was a carriage depot here, but there was one in Shirotsume as well, and it was far cheaper according to the innkeeper.

Which brought us to now, we'd probably reach Shirotsume by tomorrow morning at our current pace, and thankfully the job I'd taken there was very low priority. I'd told the client it was at the bottom of my list of requests, and she'd simply said as long as it was done by the tenth of August, she wouldn't complain.

Which was very generous of her, considering how close it was to Blue Pegasus.

"Alright Wendy, tap the egg on the side of the pan, just enough to crack it alright? Don't want to splatter it everywhere." She did so, her tongue stuck out as she focused on her first cooking lesson. "Very good! Now, hold it over the pan and pull it open. Careful though, the pan is hot, and the last thing we need is you to burn yourself."

"Okay, Helio!" Wendy said happily before she squinted down at the egg and the pan. With a deep breath, she pulled the egg apart and laughed giddily when it all went into the pan. She threw her egg covered hands in the air in celebration. "I did it Helio! I did it!" I ruffled her hair and pulled out the salt and pepper along with a towel for her to wipe her hands.

"That you did, good job! Now, wipe off your hand and use these to season it. Not too much though, else it'll taste nasty." I looked over my shoulder towards Jellal, who had pulled out a book he'd bought in Cedar. I couldn't quite read the spine from here, but it looked like pretty heavy stuff from the bland cover and lack of embellishments. "You sure you don't want to join in? I might not work at a five star restaurant, but I can still teach you to cook stuff that isn't burnt meat or wild berries!" He looked over the cover of his book, considering. His eyes darted from me, to the book, to Wendy and back to his book before he snapped it shut and stood.

"Alright, it can't hurt to learn, I guess." He said, a small smile on his face. I smiled back at him and looked back at Wendy.

She was looking between the shakers and the egg, and I was suddenly very glad that Jellal hadn't taken too long to decide. "Just a couple of shakes each, alright? We can season it more to taste after it's finished." Wendy nodded happily and did as I said.

"Now what?" I picked the spatula off my roll of utensils and handed it to her.

"Now, we wait for the egg to-"

"Anima!" I jerked, turning towards Jellal who'd suddenly gone rigid on the other side of Wendy. He'd jumped to his feet, looking into the distance, his eyes unfocused as his hands started shaking.

Wendy jumped from her spot, lesson forgotten, and threw her arms around Jellal's waist. "Jellal! Are you okay?!" She fretted. "Jellal?"

His eyes focused, and he shook his head. He looked at the two of us and gave the most insincere smile I'd ever seen. "I'm fine, just a bit stressed I guess." He lamely excused. He sniffed and wrinkled his nose. "Do you smell that?" He looked at the campfire. "Uh Wendy? I think your egg is burning."

That got us well and truly distracted, as I had to scrape burnt eggs out of my skillet and comfort Wendy over her failure as Jellal retreated to his previous spot and started to brood.

I knew it was coming soon, it had to have been, with how long we'd been traveling together. I'd just hoped we'd make it to Magnolia first, simply to get him into Fairy Tail before he ran off.

I sighed, absently using my magic to dry my now scraped clean skillet. I'd have to catch him before he snuck off, he wasn't exactly being subtle.

He'd be gone by morning if I didn't try to stop him.

The rest of the day was spent almost entirely in silence, we'd gotten a few more miles under our belts, and we were getting closer to Shirotsume, but Wendy could sense Jellal's tension, and my own as well. Instead of walking slightly ahead of us, babbling about anything and everything, or going into the grass to pick wildflowers or chase butterflies, she grabbed our hands and walked between us, her gaze locked firmly on the ground. I felt terrible for making her pout, but I had to keep an eye on Jellal until we set up camp, otherwise I was worried he'd leave us without a word.

The sun was getting low in the sky when we finally stopped to set up camp, and Jellal was even more taciturn than he'd been when we first started traveling together. I asked him to set up camp while I gathered firewood, and he didn't even comment on me taking his usual chore.

After dinner was spent with Jellal in silence while Wendy told stories about Grandeeney, I gave Wendy a doll I'd bought her in Cedar to keep her distracted, and only then did I speak to him. He was hunched over his map, spread out on a flat rock we'd used as a table.

"The thing you shouted about earlier, the Anima, it's something big, isn't it?" Jellal startled at the word and looked at me, his expression determined, but there was something sad about it. He looked back down at his map and nodded, a deep sigh leaving him as he deflated.

"Yeah."

"Dangerous?"

"Very."

"And you're planning on dealing with it by yourself, aren't you?" I said in a neutral tone. I understood why he wanted to do it by himself. Heck, I even agreed with him! I had absolutely no desire to be turned into a battery for some stuck up asshole's hair dryer after all, but that didn't mean I liked it. The thought of any of my friends dealing with something as dangerous as the Anima by themselves made me sick.

Still, just as I knew he would, Jellal nodded.

"Any reason why we can't help? The Anima has to be bad to cause you to panic like this. I'm no S-Class mage yet, but I can hold my own. Why can't I tag along and help? Wendy may be young, but she knows to stay away from danger." Jellal closed his eyes and let out a sigh that belonged to someone triple our ages.

"I can't tell you everything, not yet. Maybe not ever." He started, his voice beginning to take on a very… controlled tone. Royal training kicking in, perhaps? "The Anima sucks up everything with ethernano flowing through it. It does not discriminate between its targets, from people to the very air itself. It's difficult to tell just how large the effect is, so I cannot allow people to help." I opened my mouth to interject the obvious statement, but he cut across my attempt. "Through circumstances I will not discuss at this moment, I am, for lack of a better term, immune to the effects of the Anima. Thus, I am the only one capable of closing them safely at this point in time." His face was blank, a mask set upon his features. I was speaking to Prince Jella now, not the friend I'd been traveling with for weeks.

I sighed. I knew he had to do it by himself, I knew I couldn't help much, if at all, but I had to offer.

With his rejection and reasonable points as to why we wouldn't be useful, I nodded in acquiescence. "Gramps always says that there are times where our paths may diverge, where one goes that we can't follow. I guess this is one of those times then, huh?" I asked rhetorically.

Jellal looked away, a brusque nod my only response.

"At least tell Wendy goodbye, alright? She deserves to know that you're leaving, even if you don't tell her why. She's been abandoned enough for one lifetime, don't you think?" Jellal turned back to me, his face twisted with conflict.

I simply stared at him and gestured towards Wendy, who was giving a lecture to her doll on how to cook.

We held each other's gaze.

Then Jellal turned away.

"You're right. I'll say goodbye, but I'm not telling either of you more about the Anima. Not right now at least. It's too dangerous for a normal wizard to deal with, and that's all you need to know about it, alright?" I nodded my assent.

"That's fair." I noticed Wendy starting to rub her eyes. "Looks like it's time for someone to go to bed." Jellal smiled faintly at the sight. "Why don't you take care of her tonight? I'll make sure you've got at least a few days of edible food before you leave. I can even give you a couple of lessons, if you're willing to put it off until morning."

"I'd like that." Jellal said as he folded up his map. I smirked at him as he went to put it away.

"I'll sleep a little better knowing you won't be killing yourself with food poisoning, at least."

Jellal rolled his eyes and remained silent, but I could just catch his lips twitching as he turned towards Wendy.

July 28, x777

The morning dawned far too quickly.

I'd awoken first, as usual, but Jellal wasn't far behind. I'd barely started the fire going again when he came out of his tent, bag in hand. I waved at him, spatula in hand, he nodded back, and after stowing his tent, he joined me.

Thankfully, Jellal was a quick study. I managed to teach him a few simple recipes and how to cook them over a campfire before Wendy's nose woke her up. She plopped herself between the two of us, and with a happy thanks, dug in, complimenting Jellal when she learned who'd made breakfast.

FInally though, our meal was done, the fire put out, and camp was well and truly broken.

I could tell that neither of us wanted to be the one to say anything, but at the same time, he knew he had to.

So, Jellal hiked up his bag and kneeled down to ruffle Wendy's hair, his smile so fake I doubt even Wendy fell for it.

"Wendy, I've got to go, okay?" Wendy's smile evaporated as tears came to her eyes. "Something important came up, and I have to take care of it." Jellal's next words were interrupted by Wendy throwing herself into his arms.

"No! You can't go, Jellal!" She sobbed into his chest. "Please don't go! Take us with you!" Jellal held her tightly and buried his nose in her hair.

"I'm sorry Wendy, but I have to handle this alone. It's too dangerous for you or Helio." Slowly, he began to rub her back. "I couldn't live with myself if either of you got hurt. I'm the only one who can stop it safely." He pulled back enough to look down at her. "I'm not leaving forever, okay? You'll see me again, I promise. This isn't goodbye, just see you later." Wendy nodded.

"You promise?" Jellal hugged her tightly.

"I promise." He whispered into her hair. "Helio can take you to Fairy Tail, or any guild you want to join, okay? I know I promised I would take you to one, but I didn't know this would happen." He looked up at me, a silent question in his eyes. I nodded.

I'd watch Wendy. It didn't even need to be asked.

"We'll meet again someday, I'm sure of it. I'll see you then, okay Wendy?" He stood, ruffling her hair one last time.

"Okay, Jellal." She said with a sniffle. "But next time, I'll be strong enough for you to take me with you!" Jellal smiled.

"I look forward to it." He looked at me, "I'll see you around, Helio." I nodded at him.

"I'll tell Gramps to save you a spot." He nodded back.

"I might take you up on that." He said, his smile faint. Finally, he turned, and with a single wave behind him, we parted ways.

"Bye Jellal! Be careful! Hurry back, okay?!" Wendy yelled at his back. She jumped beside me, shouting farewells and well wishes until we could see him no longer.

Wendy turned to me, the tears returning. "He'll be okay, right?" She asked, her brown eyes reminiscent of a puppy.

I smiled, picking her up and swinging her onto my back. "Of course he will. Jellal's strong, so don't worry. We'll meet him again, and he'll be perfectly fine, I promise." I looked back at her. "Now, how about we get to Shirotsume? You'll like this next job. We can work together, it'll be fun!" Wendy managed a wobbly smile.

"Alright Helio, let's go! Then can we go to Fairy Tail? We've got to be somewhere Jellal will find us when he's done!" I nodded, turning my head to look up at her.

"Of course we can, Wendy. We'll go there as soon as we finish this job. You'll love it there." Wendy giggled and patted my head before pointing in the direction I was walking.

"Then let's go! The sooner we finish, the sooner we can get to Fairy Tail!"

Chapter Text

August 2, x777

The Shirotsume job had gone well, it had been a rather simple one, removing magical rabbits that were very good at stealing the vegetables from the client's garden. With Wendy by my side, I had decided to simply trap them, even though she'd been raised by a dragon, I doubt she'd like me killing half a dozen rabbits.

So, after what probably would have been a comedy skit to people not trying to capture the little devils, we'd gotten some extra jewel by selling them to the local pet store instead.

Wendy had been rather sad about the fact we couldn't keep one, but well, my apartment had a no pets policy, and I'm fairly sure that Fairy Hills did too at the moment.

Granny Hilda was a formidable woman, and probably the only one in Magnolia capable of resisting Wendy's puppy dog eyes. So no exceptions would be made for her until someone less stubborn, or less immune to cuteness, took over.

Not that that was a factor though, as when I'd brought up her choices in living arrangement, well…

"No! I want to live with you! Please!"

So, my guest room was now Wendy's.

Considering I had gotten an apartment with two bedrooms with this exact possibility in mind, I wasn't complaining.

Unfortunately, I had forgotten that I'd had a job in Oshibana as well. I'd only remembered as we entered the town, and I'd had to apologize to Wendy about delaying our trip.

"Why can't we just go to Fairy Tail now?" She'd whined, it was honestly about as close to a tantrum as she'd gotten so far.

"Because I gave them my word I would do this job, and I can't go back on it." She looked confused. "When a mage takes a request, they're promising the client they'll get it done, and a wizard never goes back on their word, no matter what." Wendy nodded.

"Oh, okay then…" She pouted for a moment longer before looking up at me. "So what do we have to do?" I ruffled her hair.

"I've got to go fight some giant roaches. You get to wait outside." Wendy pouted.

"Why can't I help?" I had to look away, the puppy dog eyes were cheating! I was doing the right thing and I still felt like scum!

"Because you're five." At her pout, I expanded on my completely justified reasoning. "You're five years old and don't know any real combat magic yet." She pouted harder. "When we get to Fairy Tail, I promise I'll ask Laxus to help you alright?" Her eyes sparkled slightly.

"Laxus is your teacher too, right?" She asked, her tone taking a 180 almost immediately. I laughed and patted her head.

"Yeah, he's taught me quite a lot when it comes to magic. Outside of Master Makarov, I don't think the guild really has a better magic teacher." I wasn't about to spill the beans about his whole Dragon Slayer thing. I didn't feel like getting electrocuted. He'd probably tell her once he was sure she wouldn't go blabbing it to everyone in earshot.

Wendy let out an 'ooooohhh', "He sounds really awesome!" I snorted and patted her head.

"Laxus is great, but don't go telling him that. If his head gets any bigger, it might explode."

"Huh? Telling people they're cool makes their heads explode?!" Wendy suddenly panicked.

I snorted, then started laughing.

"Ehhhh?! Helio! It's not funny! I don't want his head to explode!"

After teaching Wendy the difference between a literal and a figurative statement to calm her down, I finally managed to get to the client and get the job done.

A giant roach is hardly a threat to a wizard, but where there's one, there's at least a dozen more, and they're like cockroaches on steroids.

While my main reason for keeping Wendy out of the building was as I had told her, but after killing three dozen of the not so little bastards, I had another valid one as well.

I did not need her image of me ruined for the totally manly screaming when three of them had jumped from holes in the ceiling.

"Helio, you're hurt!" Wendy cried out as I finally stepped out of the run down apartment building I'd been tasked to clear. Her hands started to glow green as she stood on the bench so she could reach my face easier.

"Wendy, I'm fine, it's just a scratch, really! Give me a second and I'll heal it myself." It wasn't even that deep, honestly. The cut itself had stopped bleeding almost immediately after that giant spawn of Satan had jumped from atop an old wardrobe to ambush me. I tried to ward her off, but that made her even more determined. Hopping forward so she got an arm around my neck, she yanked me down and put her glowing hand on my cheek.

Ooooh, that felt amazing.

Where the usage of Solar Power felt warm and provided a small jolt of energy as I absorbed the sunlight, Wendy's healing felt like a cool spring breeze. It was soothing and relaxing and over all too soon.

I blinked when Wendy pulled her hand away and smiled at me. Shaking my head, I ruffled her hair and helped her down to the ground.

"Thanks, Wen." I smiled down at her. "Let's get to the train station, next stop, Magnolia Town!"

Wendy cheered.

Unfortunately, my forgetting of the final job on my list meant we had to take the evening train to Magnolia, and it would be late by the time we returned. After getting situated on the train, I used the communication lacrima I'd bought before I left to tell Gramps I'd be at the guild in the morning.

I made sure to be outside the compartment to do so, both to not bother Wendy, and to keep her a secret until we got to Magnolia.

I did tell him about Jellal, and what little he'd told me about the Anima, however.

Better to have someone other than Jellal and I aware of it, if only to help prevent casualties, should it be impossible to block.

"Hmm, that is concerning. This… Anima could prove to be a threat to the people of Earthland, not just Fiore alone. I will have to notify the Council of this. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for your friend though. You talk about him as though he's a member already." He said, his concerned countenance changing to a more relaxed one. The grandfatherly air that members of Fairy Tail were far more used to.

I shrugged, "You travel a couple hundred miles with someone, and friendship tends to happen. I don't know when, but I know we'll meet again." I smiled toothily. "Anyways, g'night! I'll see you tomorrow Gramps!"

"Good night, my child." The lacrima's glow faded, and I requipped it before reentering the compartment.

"Sorry about that Wendy, I had to talk to the Master. It'll be late when we get back to Magnolia, so we'll just head home and go to the guild in the morning, alright?" Wendy went to speak, but whatever she was going to say next was interrupted by a yawn.

"Awww. Okay Helio…" She said, her voice getting heavy with tiredness. I smiled and sat next to her, putting an arm around her shoulders.

"Go ahead and sleep, we've had a long day, I'm sure you're tired." Wendy nodded against my side with her doll held loosely in her left arm.

"G'night Helio…" She mumbled, before her breathing evened out into tiny snores.

I smiled down at her and requipped a book I'd picked up in Shirotsume. It was a bit difficult to read with one of my arms holding Wendy, but I could make do.

"Wendy, wake up, Wendy." I said softly, jostling her as the train started rolling into the station.

She groaned, reaching feebly for my arm as I took it from around her shoulders.

"C'mon Wen, we're in Magnolia, we've got to get home." I cajoled, shaking her a little harder.

She finally awoke, looking at me with a bleary expression. "Go'a wal'?" She mumbled nearly incoherently.

"Yes Wendy, we have to walk." She whined quietly, her head leaning back against the seat.

"Too t'red" she moaned quietly. "Carr' me?" Her arms raised up, her face a mix of half asleep and pleading.

God, if I didn't get used to these looks, this child was going to be spoiled rotten.

I turned around and crouched. "Sure, hop on." She didn't hop, so much as slump, but still.

Thankfully, Wendy weighed about 40 pounds soaking wet, and I had carried far heavier far further so my trip home went by quickly without any complication beyond some slight juggling to unlock the door.

Stepping into the entryway and flicking on the lights, I found Gray and Cana sprawled over my couch, dead to the world.

Gramps must have told them I was coming home, then.

Cana was snoring, her foot in Gray's face, Gray was mostly naked save for his boxers, and I was honestly surprised this was the first time they broke in.

Rolling my eyes, I carried Wendy up to her room and got her tucked in, leaving the hall light on and her bedroom door open. A quick detour to the linen closet and a blackmail picture later, I threw a spare comforter over my two uninvited guests and flicked the lights back off on my way up the stairs.

My trip back to my own bed was hindered by a half asleep Wendy stumbling out of her room, her face a mix of distress and exhaustion. The latter disappeared as soon as she saw me on the landing and she nearly passed out then and there.

I smiled as she slowly slumped towards me, saying nothing. Instead of asking, Wendy merely held up her arms in silent request, and I acquiesced, sweeping her into my arms as I made my way to my bedroom.

Sleeping in my own bed after a month of tents, bedrolls and inns was divine, and with the now familiar comfort of Wendy cuddled into my side, I was asleep in seconds.

August 4, x777

Rising with the sun, I carefully disentangled myself from my sheets and Wendy's limpet-like grasp. After ensuring I didn't wake her, she might sleep like a rock, but a little caution was always good; I slipped downstairs to do my morning exercises.

The only downside to my apartment was the fact I didn't really have a yard. It made me miss the little lot at the orphanage.

It's not like I needed a ton of room though, so aside from some looks from the odd fellow early bird and people going to work, it wasn't a huge deal.

With the sun fully in the sky, I headed back inside to get ready for the day.

Part of which involved a last bout of cool down stretching, which of course necessitated pushing against the couch.

Which fell over.

Coincidentally dumping two home intruders into the floor.

"Gah!" The first home intr- I mean Gray, shouted as he was suddenly awakened by being on the ground with Cana atop him. "What the hell?!"

"Guh? Huh?" Cana said groggily as I pulled the couch back over. "Shut up Gray, I'm trying to sleep." She mumbled.

Peering over the back of my couch, I smirked down at them. "Good morning!" Gray glared up at me, tangled in the blanket I'd thrown over them, while Cana was slowly getting her bearings, her eyes passing over me for a moment before finally locking back on to my face.

"Helio!" They shouted in very different tones.

"Shhhh!" I said quickly. "You'll wake up Wendy!" I looked up at my slightly open bedroom door and sighed in relief when I didn't hear anything.

Cana jumped over the couch at me, wrapping her arms around my neck. "You're late!" She tried to say sternly, but as she was hugging me, it fell rather flat.

I returned the hug, squeezing just a little. "I said I would be gone for a month at most, Cana, and that is exactly how long I was gone. It's not my fault you were asleep when I got home." I leaned back so I could give her a look. "Speaking of, how did you get into my house?"

Cana smirked, "Blackmailed the Master!" I snorted into her shoulder.

"Threatened his dirty magazines?" I asked, Cana grinned smugly as she pulled out of the hug.

"He shouldn't have left them somewhere that obvious!" I gave her a high five.

"We'll have to find his new hiding spot before we can use that again." I said. It was Gray's turn to smile smugly. "Unless?" Gray ran a finger under his nose, looking inordinately proud of himself.

"Under the floorboards behind the bar."

"You'd think he would learn to keep those at home…" Cana said with a smirk.

"Let's just be glad he hasn't."

Basking in the thought of future blackmail, we each grinned toothily at the possibilities, until Cana spoke once more.

"Who's Wendy?" She asked curiously, an eyebrow raised. Gray sat up straight, his eyes lighting up.

"Oh yeah, you told us not to wake her up!" He nearly shouted. I shushed him, quickly looking back towards the stairs.

"If you can keep it down, I'll tell you, alright?" I said testily. Gray crossed his arms, but nodded.

"This better be good then." He muttered.

Rolling my eyes, I vaulted over the couch and put my feet up on the coffee table. "It all started about… three weeks ago, I think?" I mentally counted the days, "Yeah, almost three weeks. I was on the way to a job…" I began to explain.

Twenty minutes later, after having to shush the two of them multiple times and telling them to stop asking questions I was about to answer, I finished my story.

"I'm taking her to the guild today, to meet everyone if nothing else." I shook my head. "Even if Gramps would let a five year old into the guild, I am not about to let her join. Not until she's older, anyways." Hopefully not until I absolutely need to, but well, it's Fairy Tail. I give her till her eighth birthday before the begging really starts.

"God, you sound like Laxus with all that overprotective talk." Cana rolled her eyes. I raised an eyebrow.

"Excuse you? I am honest about my overprotectiveness." Cana smirked, I narrowed my eyes. "I am nowhere near as bad as your Dad either." She looked at me skeptically.

I ignored it.

Gray scowled however. "Watch out for the new kid when you get there. Frigging fire freak keeps fighting everyone, even when they kick his ass." I perked up.

"Oh? New kid?" I asked. I could tell from the description alone, but I wanted confirmation.

I wasn't entirely sure when Natsu joined the guild, after all. It could have been anywhere between July and September by my estimates.

Cana smiled toothily. "Gray's new best friend, of course!" She said perkily. "His name's Natsu. He's obsessed with fighting people stronger than him." Her smile dimmed a bit, "Be careful with letting him near Wendy. She might be young, but if she was raised by a dragon like Natsu, he might fight her anyways."

" Let him try." I said.

Huh, that came out rather deep. Am I catching something?

Gray and Cana shivered.

"Scary…"

I was about to ask what they meant, when a noise got my attention.

"Helio?" Wendy's voice came, muffled as it was through the comforter she had draped around her. I smiled up at her.

"Mornin' sleepy head! How'd you sleep?" I asked, standing up as she tried to hide that she'd been peeking on Cana, Gray and I by peeking through the banister. I walked over, blocking my friends' view of her as I sat down on the bottom stair. "We didn't wake you up did we?"

She shook her head. "No, I just woke up." She said quietly.

"Good, good. Cana and Gray are great, but they're kinda loud, you know?" I 'whispered' at her.

Ignoring their twin shouts of indignation that proved my point, and caused Wendy to giggle, I spread my arms. They were quickly filled by a little girl.

Adjusting my grip so she didn't slip through the blanket, I picked her up and carried her over to the couch, plopping back down and pulling her into my lap.

"Now, why don't you introduce yourself to them?" I pulled the blanket off her head and grinned at her. "They might be loud, but they don't bite, I swear!" Wendy giggled, and wiggled herself around to face my friends.

"Hi, I'm Wendy!" She said cheerfully. Cana grinned at her and Gray was trying very hard to seem cool.

And failing.

"I'm Cana, and this idiot is Gray!" She said happily, grabbing Gray around the neck and immediately breaking his "Great Gray" pose.

"Get offa me, Cana! I can introduce myself dangit!" He said, angrily pushing against her side. Finally freeing himself, he smiled and pointed at himself. "I'm Gray!"

"Helio, why is he almost naked?" Wendy whispered.

"He does that sometimes." I glared over Wendy's head. "And if he knows what's good for him, he'll go find some pants before he gets thrown in the river." Gray gulped and rushed around the room, frantically looking for his lost clothes.

"Oh dammit! Don't tell me I lost them on the way here!" He yelled angrily.

"Language!" I shouted. I pinched my nose and pointed up the stairs. "Upstairs, third door on the left is the linen closet. There's a box with some of your spares in there." Looking relieved, but rather embarrassed at the fact I felt the need to have them, Gray ran upstairs.

"I thought people had to wear clothes?" Wendy asked, turning to look up at me. I sighed.

"We do. Gray strips a lot. You'll get used to it." It said something about his problem that I could say that to a five year old with a straight face. Cana snickered.

I shook my head, sliding Wendy off my lap and onto the couch beside me. "You should go get cleaned up, Wendy. I left your things in the other bedroom. The bathroom is across from it. When you're ready, we'll go get breakfast and then I'll take you to the guild, alright?" She beamed at me in excitement, and with a squeal and another hug, rushed up the stairs.

Cana smirked at me. "Bringing in a little blue haired girl after a mission, huh? Are you sure you're not trying to copy Laxus?" I scoffed and threw a pillow at her, standing up as Gray came downstairs in a set of spare clothes.

"Alright, Wendy and I are gonna grab some food before we head to the guild hall, so y'all gotta go. I'll see ya at the guild later, alright?" Cana pouted at me.

"You're so rude, Helio! Making your guests leave without any tea or anything." I rolled my eyes.

"Ignoring the fact you both broke in?" Cana tried to whistle innocently, failed, and simply looked silly. "I've been gone for a month, my pantry is empty." I walked over to the front door and opened it. "So please." I waved my arm at it.

Gray shrugged and walked out with his hands behind his head. "I owe that pyro a punch in the face anyways." He stopped when I grabbed his shoulder. "What?"

I handed him his shirt.

Gray turned red and mumbled angrily as he stomped out of the house.

After seeing my uninvited guests out and getting freshened up, Wendy and I headed out for breakfast.

Normally, I would beeline it straight to the guild and eat there, but I wanted Wendy to get the full experience of meeting Fairy Tail, so food from somewhere else was the plan for today.

So, holding Wendy's hand, I pointed out the sights of Magnolia as we looked for a place to eat.

It took a little while, seeing as I'd not really eaten out in my time in Magnolia. I mainly ate at the guild hall, the orphanage, or later, my house, leaving me with very little knowledge about the restaurants in town. Thankfully, Wendy was having fun just walking around and asking about anything and everything until I spotted a little cafe that didn't look snooty.

A small breakfast later, and I was leading Wendy to the guild, the long way round.

We could have been there in half the time if I'm being honest, but that would have us approaching the guild from the side, and that wouldn't have settled right with me.

No, in my opinion, there was only one way to be introduced to Fairy Tail.

You had to get the absolute best view of it, from the front, as you walked directly towards it.

Dramatic? Maybe. But seeing it that way for the first time is a memory I'll cherish for the rest of my life, and I will absolutely give Wendy that same experience.

"And here it is!" I said grandly, letting go of Wendy's hand and spreading my arms. "Fairy Tail!" I smiled down at her awestruck face. "It ain't much, compared to some guilds, but it's home."

Wendy's eyes were sparkling as she stared up at it. "It's amazing!" She looked up at me, "Can we go in?!" I grinned.

"Of course! Come on!"

With it now being midmorning, there was a low din coming from inside, audible even through the thick wooden doors.

Wendy was practically shaking with either sheer nerves or excitement as we approached the doors. I raised an eyebrow at her. "Ready?" Wendy nodded with an almost unhealthily large smile. I waved towards the door. "Then go ahead, be my guest."

Wendy grinned and pushed against it, grinding to a halt against the heavy wood.

Smiling softly, I reached above her and pushed as well.

The doors opened, and Wendy finally got her first view of the guild.

I quickly reached out and caught a flying red and pink missile that nearly crashed into us.

"Woah!" I held the person out and got my first glimpse at Natsu Dragneel.

His hair was very pink, his scarf was askew, and he was half unconscious, but it was very obvious who he was.

"Ow…" he moaned, a bump already raising through his hair.

I blinked, looked past the new kid in my hands and saw a flash of red hair through the crowd.

Probably Erza, then.

I set him down, making sure he had his balance. "You must be the new kid I heard about." I greeted him with a smirk. Natsu shook his head and looked at me through bleary eyes.

"Who are you?" He asked almost woozily. I straightened up and grinned at him.

Aw yeah, time to make a badass first impression!

"Name's Heli-" My undoubtedly cool introduction was immediately ruined by another person-cum-missile.

That is to say, I took a mostly naked Gray Fullbuster to the face.

"Ouch…." I moaned quietly on the floor. "Damnit Gray…" I said despairingly.

He just had to go and ruin it! It was gonna be awesome!

"It was the pyro's fault…" He moaned in defense as he passed out.

"Helio! Are you okay?!" Wendy's wonder seemed to have been snuffed out by this sudden assault upon my person and character. Her hands were already glowing as she kneeled next to me. I waved her off, pushing Gray off of me as I did so.

"I'm fine, Gray will be too, just give him a minute." I stood and dusted myself off, looking around the guild. It seemed most of them had just had a laugh at Erza throwing these two around and gone back to what they were doing.

"Hey, Helio! Good to see you made it back in one piece!" Enno called out from her position on the bar. She was sitting on it in front of Macao, who had also turned to look at me, raising his tankard in my direction.

"Hey hey! Look who's back!" He exclaimed, Wakaba copied his motion.

"First time going out on your own! They grow up so fast, don't they?"

I waved at them, before turning around to check on Wendy.

Looks like Cana had dragged Levy over -wasn't today a school day?- and was introducing her to Wendy. Judging by Levy's smile and excited gesturing, it seemed to be going well.

"Hey Levy!" I called as I walked over. Levy turned towards me, grinning.

"Helio!" She said happily, before her smile turned into a pout. "You're late!" I smirked and ruffled her hair, getting a squeak and a blush.

"No I'm not, I got back yesterday." Levy's pout intensified. "Ask Cana, she and Gray broke into my house." Her pout went deadpan and turned to Cana.

"Somehow, I'm not surprised."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to introduce Wendy to everybody." I grabbed her hand and pulled her after me.

"Hey! Everyone!" I shouted, a couple of people, namely Macao, Enno and Genkei -who waved now that he was free from the grill- glanced over at me.

"Hey you guys!" I shouted louder. Laxus looked up for a second.

"Yo!"

"F-oh screw this! Wendy, cover your eyes. Flash!" The sudden bright light, and usage of such magic in the guild hall finally made people actually pay attention.

"Gah! What the hell, Helio!" Wakaba shouted.

"That frigging hurts, man!"

"What was that for?!"

"Warn a guy!"

These sentiments were repeated around the guild hall, in various levels of anger and annoyance.

"Now that I've got everyone's attention…" I said, my smile becoming more smug by the second. "I'd like to introduce somebody!" I grabbed Wendy around the middle and held her up in front of me. "This is Wendy Marvell, I found her while I was gone." Wendy raised a hand and waved with a smile that looked a little nervous.

"Hello!"

The guild was silent for a moment.

Then it broke out into cacophony.