Prologue

X784, Late November

Somewhere near Magnolia

My Ma and big brother and sister are on the floor of our front room, lying perfectly still in puddles of their own blood, their faces pale and ashen, with all the light snuffed out from behind their eyes.

I am so frightened that I almost forget to breathe, and well I should be, with the dark mage's too-sharp scythe just centimetres from my bare neck.

A knock comes at the door, and the dark mage elbows me in the back so that I call out

"Who's there?" in a voice that I hope doesn't shake too much with fear.

"It's me." I am relieved to hear the deep voice of my Da, even though he sounded as scared as I felt.

"Enter," the dark mage commanded, and Da did as he was ordered, carefully shutting the front door behind him.

"I posted the request at the guild. Someone should be coming quite soon now." He looks down at the bodies of our family. "They were alive when I left." His voice trembles with a mixture of fear and grief.

"Yes, they were," the dark mage agrees, wickedly cheerful now that his plan was being carried out to his satisfaction, "but I got bored while you were gone. This one's still alive, though." He shakes me roughly, and laughs evilly.

"May I have my daughter back, now?" Da asks, trying to remove the fearful and grief-stricken tremble from his voice and replace it with careful, calculated politeness.

"When the Fairies arrive, and not a second sooner." The dark mage snarls, and brings his scythe a little bit closer to my neck.

So we wait in tense silence for what feels like an eternity before a sharp knock comes at the door.

"Who's there?" Da asks, his eyes never leaving the dark mage's scythe.

"Mages from Fairy Tail!" a young man calls in response. "This is the right address for the request, right?"

Da looks at the dark mage, and the dark mage nods.

"Yes, come in." Da calls, and the dark mage, true to his word, shoves me towards Da and floats upwards, eerily weightless, ready to attack the moment the door opens.

I don't see what happens next because Da pulls me to him and hugs me tightly as soon as the dark mage is well clear. I hug him back, grateful that I have not ended up as Ma and my siblings have, but still, like Da, I'm terrified as to what might happen next.

And then... shouting, the smell of blood and magic, carried by a strong, but artificially created breeze, and then my Da's pained yell takes forefront in my mind. I do not have any idea what is happening when suddenly I am dragged by my collar by a strong hand, and am now in midair, with the dark mage's scythe a hair's breadth from my neck once again. I look down and I see the three mages who came to answer the request my Da posted for the first time.

My first impressions are of a prince, a knight, and a fairy princess: I am, after all, a child who enjoys fairy stories. This impression, however, changes in an instant as the green-haired prince turns into a monster, the knight sticks his tongue out and directs some flying dolls to fight, and the fairy princess gets knocked to the ground by a gust of the dark mage's wind.

Even though the fairy princess is down, the prince-turned-monster takes flight on glowing demonic purple wings and shatters the dark mage's scythe with only his fist. The dark mage, taken by surprise at the monster prince's attack, drops me, and I tumble through the air, falling headfirst to join my Ma and my siblings, bleeding on the marble floor.

Except that the knight catches me just before I hit the floor.

"Are you hurt at all?" he asks me, in between barking orders at his possessed dolls.

The fall had knocked my breath away, so I could only nod my head shakily.

"Good," he says, while he gently lowers me to my feet, "Now keep behind me until we beat this guy, okay?"

Again, I nod, and hurry to hide behind him as he and the monster prince renew their attacks on the dark mage.

A few seconds later, and the dark mage plummets to the floor, out cold and beat up.

The prince, undoing his monster transformation and floating down to the floor, seems hurt, too, and he sways as he walks to my Da's unconscious but breathing form.

"Da!" I shout and run towards them when he draws his sword and raises it as though to strike Da. He looks at me, seeming slightly confused, as though he has forgotten that I exist.

"Oh." He says, upon remembering who I must be, "What's your name?" he asks. His voice seems kind, but taxed of most of its energy.

"Rosemary," I answer in a whisper, terrified of his still-raised sword.

The prince slowly lowers his sword and then lowers himself to one knee so that he and I are on the same eye level.

"Well, Rosemary, my name is Freed Justine. I'm a Fairy Tail mage, you see?" He shows me his guild mark on his left hand. I recognize the Fairy Tail emblem, but am still cautious. He sees the suspicion in my face and continues, soothingly, "My magic is Rune Magic. I draw runes with my sword here," he holds up his sword, though not in a threatening manner, and I see that the sword, as well, carries a Fairy Tail emblem. "And right now, I'm going to draw some runes around your Da there so that he doesn't die before we can get help. Is that okay with you?"

I am still suspicious, but Da does seem to be hurt very badly, and Freed does seem to be telling the truth. So I nod.

"Thank you." Freed tells me politely, then stands up and looks to the knight. "Bickslow, go and see how bad Evergreen got beat up, then go into town and get a doctor and a Rune Knight, if you can find one. Tell them that we tracked Erigor down."

The knight-Bickslow- nods, and goes to check on the fallen fairy princess while Freed swings his sword stiffly, making glowing purple writing appear on the floor around Da. Immediately, Da's breathing seems less pained and his expression seems more peaceful.

I stand, uselessly, by them, in the middle of the front hall, soaked with my family's blood. I have to remind myself how lucky I am that I remain unhurt despite the loss of my Ma, brother, and sister. As Bickslow leaves, Freed finishes the runes around my Da and looks at me, the pity clear in his expression. It is only a fleeting look, for he soon busies himself with writing a different set of runes around the dark mage, who is still completely passed out on the marble floor.

"Rosemary, do you know who this man is?" he asks, his tone of voice nearly unreadable.

"No." I shake my head. I do not know who the dark mage is, nor do I have any idea as to why he had attacked and killed much of my family.

Freed finishes writing the runes and looks sadly at my dead Ma, brother and sister. "But he still killed your family, didn't he?"

I don't answer. I don't have to: Freed knows that what he has said is true.

He is silent for a moment, and then shakes his head, as though trying to rid it of cobwebs.

"Can you do magic?" He asks me, changing the subject abruptly.

"I've never tried, so I don't know." I tell him truthfully. He looks mildly surprised.

"Really? So you don't know one way or the other?"

"No idea."

He ponders this for a moment, then shrugs, adding "You should try. It won't make your life perfect, by any means, but magic can help you to move on from your past. And even if you aren't a mage, as long as you never forget that you're living for your family's sake, I'll bet that you can overcome any obstacle that gets in your way in your future."

His words are kind, though I do not fully understand what they mean. I am, after all, only ten years old.

But his kindness would be the reason that, three years later, on my thirteenth birthday, I joined Fairy Tail. I didn't care that the guild was losing almost all of its members as its reputation spiralled down the drain. I didn't care that it was the weakest guild in Fiore after losing its core group of mages in a freak island-sinking accident. I only cared that it was kind and had heart, despite the hardships it suffered, and the losses, too... just like me.

Author's note: Yes, yes, it is narrated from an OC's point of view... yes, I'm sorry. No, it's not about to change. Please read and review, even if you don't like it.

Thank you

~Lucinda