I don't own Fairy Tail
This is beginning of Elizabeth's story in Fairy Tail.
PROLOGUE
The girl sat under a tree in Magnolia Park, quietly enjoying the breeze. Her eyes closed to the world, she felt the wind tug gently at her hair. Delicious smells wafted over from the nearby markets. After living in the forest outside of the city for as long as she could remember, she had decided to make her way out and into Magnolia for the first time. All she had on was the simple dress her mother had made her before she had disappeared.
One of the reasons that she had made her decision to come here was that she could feel something strange coming from the city. It was similar to the feeling that she got around the forest Vulcans that she constantly hid from, only stronger and warmer by far. It felt welcoming, and happy, not like the Vulcans. They felt angry and greedy, as well as something else she didn't understand.
As she sat there, she could feel that presence, that feeling, getting closer. Her excitement grew and she finally opened her brilliant blue eyes. Walking towards her was a short man, she could tell even from where she sat that she was taller than he was. The power he radiated was more telling to her than his size. She could feel it rolling off him in waves. It was comforting.
Quickly getting to her feet, she saw his eyes travel quickly up and down her. He closed the remaining few metres between them with a casual walk. He stopped in front of her and stared for a moment.
"Hello there, aren't you a bit young to be wandering around on your own?" the man inquired. He seemed to be concerned, although she wasn't sure why.
"I don't think so, I've been alone for a long time, since my mummy left me. I live by myself in the forest." The girl spoke honestly, she had never actually spoken to a person since her mother left, thus the idea of lying never even came to her mind.
A look of shock flashed across the old man's face for a moment, before he smiled and laughed. His whole tiny body laughed with him. "Haha, my mistake, I should have realised that you weren't from the town judging by your clothing. What's your name, br… child?"
The girl stared at him confused for a second, wondering what he had been about to say, then answered quietly. "My name is Elizabeth, what's yours old man?"
"Elizabeth, that's a wonderful name! My name is Makarov. Would you by any chance know any magic, Elizabeth?"
"What's magic?"
The simple question floored Makarov. People not having heard of specific kinds of magic, or never having seen or used it, that he was used to. For someone to not know what magic was at all? That was new.
"Magic is simply a different kind of ability that some people have. Some people use magic by using tools, like lacrima or weapons. Others can manipulate different elements to create magic. For example, I can use Titan magic, so I can change my size as I see fit."
Calling on his power, Makarov rose up to the size of an average man, around six feet tall. Elizabeth's eyes lit up with amazement, and her face exploded into an open-mouthed smile. He thought to himself that this was a proper reaction to his magic.
Returning to his usual size, he offered his hand to Elizabeth, and spoke kindly to her. "Would you like to see if you have any magic?"
Nodding furiously, Elizabeth grabbed hold of Makarov's hand tightly. He led her as quickly as their short legs would allow to the home of one Porlyusica, an old comrade and friend of his.
When the old pink-haired woman opened the door to the visitors, she was only half surprised to see a child with Makarov.
"What is it this time, you old fool? Another eye to replace?"
The spite in her tone was obvious, but Makarov ignored it, knowing that she was simply bitter to humans in general.
"I would like for you to examine this girl, Elizabeth, to determine whether she will be able to use magic or not. She hadn't even heard of magic until today, so I had no choice but to come to you."
The woman harrumphed and stood aside, allowing the two visitors to enter.
"Sit up on the bed little one, I'll just fetch something to test you with." Turning her back on them, Porlyusica headed over to a shelf and began looking for what she wanted. She returned a few seconds later with what looked like an armband, a small light lacrima attached to it.
"Alright child, I'm simply going to put this around your arm. If you do indeed have any magic, then the lacrima will light up, if you don't then it won't. I promise it won't hurt." Smiling at the small girl, she gently took her hand and began to put the armband on her.
CRASH! TINKLE!
The moment that the band had touched Elizabeth's skin, the light lacrima had shattered. Despite her obvious shock, Porlyusica had seen the lacrima light up for a fraction of a second.
Makarov was stunned. He'd never seen someone break a lacrima like that before. Usually you would have to direct a magic attack or a physical blow at them to destroy them. How the hell had the girl done that?
"Elizabeth, it's clear that you do, in fact, have magic, even if you don't know what it is. Would you please wait outside?" Makarov grinned cheekily, trying to seem somewhat comforting to the girl, who probably hadn't been expecting the be covered in shards of lacrima.
Once the girl had shut the door behind her, Makarov's face took on a far more serious expression. Porlyusica was wearing a very similar expression, although it looked less out of place on her.
"Do you have any idea how that happened, Porlyusica? I've never seen something like that before."
For a full minute the medicine woman simply stared at Makarov in silence, who was waiting patiently for an answer.
"Yes, I have an idea. I believe that the girl has a very rare ability, possibly even unique. Before you ask, it isn't lost magic. It's far older and more primitive than that, by far. I think that the girl is capable of directly manipulating ethernano. Therefore, the reason that the lacrima broke would be that she unconsciously gathered up ethernano because she was nervous, and when she came into contact with it, the gathered energy was released."
Her face was unreadable. Makarov let the information sink in, trying to figure out if he'd ever heard of such a thing.
"Would you think that the girl will be safe in Fairy Tail?"
The question startled Porlyusica; never before had the old man asked her anything about potential guild members.
"I believe that she will be safe. Just make sure that she learns to control her ability as quickly as possible. I'll drop off some books for her that I have stored away, she may be the first Ether Dancer in eight hundred years."
Surprised at her generosity, Makarov's eyes widened. "Why are you doing this for her? I thought you hated humans!"
The answer surprised him even more.
"If she's an Ether Dancer, she isn't human."
TIME SKIP
The pair had arrived at the large doors to the Fairy Tail guildhall. Elizabeth laughed as she looked up at the guild in awe.
"Do Fairies have tails? Do they even exist?..." Makarov had just begun his usual spiel about the Fairy Tail guild when Elizabeth suddenly broke into a run and pushed through the doors, far too eager to stand listening to some old man when she could people laughing and having fun!
Disgruntled, Makarov grumbled to himself as he followed her in. He was so distracted by his own thoughts that he didn't even notice the two girls clashing heads (literally) in the middle of the guild. He simply headed to his office, intending to induct Elizabeth properly later.
Meanwhile, the two girls in question were standing with their foreheads together, screaming insults at each other. One of the girls had brilliantly red hair, while the other had hair that was white as snow.
Elizabeth watched as the redhead brought up an armoured fist and punched the other girl in the face. It was certainly a strange sight, she'd never seen armour before in her life.
The other girl looked dazed for a second then retaliated with a punch of her own.
At this point, Elizabeth decided to step in. By step in, I mean ask politely what was happening.
"Excuse me, but why are you two fighting?"
Both of the girls, who were taller than Elizabeth was, turned on her and attempted to punch her out of their way. They were surprised when their fists met nothing but air. Elizabeth had instantly dropped to the floor on all fours, ducking under the punches. She rolled to the right as two kicks followed up.
This little game continued for a full ten minutes before older girls gave up. Screaming in frustration, the white haired one stormed out of the guild. The other girl simply sat on a bench and crossed her arms in a stony silence.
At this point, one of the men of the guild approached Elizabeth. He, along with most everyone else, was amazed that the girl had gone through ten minutes against both Erza and Mira and come away without a scratch.
"Hi there, you must be new here! I'm Macao, and my buddy over there is Wakaba. Why don't you come and talk for a bit?" He smiled kindly, in all honesty it was the same smile he would be using a few years later when looking at his son, Romeo.
"Sure mister, I don't mind." Elizabeth followed him over to the table and sat down on the tabletop itself, so that she could see eye to eye with the two men.
The other man, Wakaba, was smoking a cigar. She had never seen anything like it, and she didn't really like the smell, so she subconsciously shifted a little closer to Macao. Sitting cross-legged on the table, she looked from one to the other, wondering who was going to talk first.
Wakaba smiled, and then began to talk. "That was pretty impressive, young lady. Keeping up with those two is difficult even for us older wizards. You did real good! Were on earth did you learn to dodge like that?"
Elizabeth giggled. If those two girls were almost as good as the two men, then none of them stood a chance against a forest Vulcan. "Oh, I learned that in the forest where I live! It's full of Vulcans, so I learned to dodge and run and hide so they wouldn't catch me and eat me." Not noticing the shocked looks on their faces, she asked a question of her own.
"Why do you two feel different from the short old guy, Makarov?"
Confused, Macao shrugged. "I don't know, what do you mean by feel exactly?"
Elizabeth looked at him curiously. "You mean you can't feel it? Makarov feels like warmth and comfort and light, you two feel more like smoke and fire."
Wakaba dropped his cigar and Macao nearly choked on the drink he had just started to sip.
"HOW? H-how did you figure out our magics?!" Macao nearly screamed at her, barely controlling himself.
Wakaba was just as shocked, although he hadn't spoken for fear of swearing in the presence of the young girl.
"Oh, I can feel everyone and everything around me, I didn't know that it was your magic. Like the red-haired one, she felt really… empty, like she had this big hiding place somewhere close to her."
Jaws were hitting the floor across the guild as more and more people started listening in on the conversation. The 'red-haired one' in question slowly rose from her seat, having heard every word, and made her way to Macao and Wakaba's table, causing them to flinch and everyone else to return to their own business.
Speaking with a quiet voice that definitely didn't match up to the loud and abusive one she had used only a few minutes ago, the girl stuck her hand out to Elizabeth.
"Hello, my name is Erza Scarlet, it's nice to meet you. Good job evading all of my attacks, I've never seen anything like that before."
Elizabeth smiled and took the proffered hand. "Ok, hi Erza, I'm Elizabeth. Makarov brought me here today. He said something about joining Fairy Tail, but I don't know where he went."
Erza happily returned the smile, glad to be making a new friend, and pointed up the stairs. "The Master is up there, don't worry about going up, I'll call him down for you."
Turning her attention to the balustrade, she yelled "MASTER!" loud enough that most people at the neighbouring tables covered their ears.
Makarov made his appearance within seconds, standing on top of the railing, before jumping down to the table where he could see Erza and Elizabeth. He walked along the table length to where Elizabeth sat, with a stamp in hand.
"Right Elizabeth, welcome to Fairy Tail! Where do you want your guild mark and in what colour?"
"Oh, could you put in on my arm, here (she pointed to her upper left arm) and in blue please?"
Erza looked surprised as this was very similar to her own guild mark.
Makarov stamped the girl's arm and she simply glowed with happiness.
TIME SKIP
The next morning, Elizabeth arrived at Fairy Tail early, having spent the night sleeping out in Magnolia Park. Her stomach growled and she kneaded it gently with one hand. Soon enough, Makarov arrived and unlocked the guildhall. While he was doing this, he spoke gently to her.
"Try not to cause too much trouble, we've already got enough with Mira and Erza. If it looks like they might start fighting, please try to convince them to take it outside. I'd rather not pay even more for damages than I already am." Chuckling darkly to himself, he stepped to one side, gesturing for the girl to enter first.
She bounded in excitedly, ready to get something to eat. While she waited for the kitchen to open, she thought about Mira. Last night, Erza had told her that the white haired girl that she had been fighting was Mirajane Strauss. She seemed to be somewhat similar to Erza in terms of strength, and she had a peculiar feel to her, like there was a whole other person hiding inside her.
Honestly, she had a lot of fun dodging around their attacks last night and couldn't wait for another opportunity. She'd already asked Erza if she could have a fight with her. Erza being Erza, she had accepted.
It seemed that Makarov was feeling good that morning, as he personally fetched a plate of meat, bread and cheese for Elizabeth. She stared for a moment at the silverware he put beside the plate, then proceeded to pick up everything with her hands and eat it in huge bites.
Shaking his head and laughing quietly, he supposed that was to be expected. She had lived alone in a forest for years.
It only took an hour of sitting at the bar for the target of her interest to show her face. Mirajane herself, in the flesh, walked in and of course noticed the brunette straight away. Strutting over confidently, she placed a firm hand on the girls shoulder. She didn't know the new girls name, as she hadn't stuck around the guild last night. All she knew was that she was annoying.
Elizabeth faced her bravely, straight on. Not that she was actually scared. She wasted no time in asking what she had wanted to since last night. "Do you want to have a fight with me?"
This took Mira completely by surprise. The new girl thought she could go up against Mira, did she? Clearly this girl was stupid, and Mira planned on explaining that in the most painful way she could.
A vicious smirk was plastered across her face, seeing that the girl didn't even look confident. She simply looked excited, obviously she was an idiot. Didn't she know that she was challenging the strongest wizard here? Mira wasn't ready for what next came from Elizabeth's mouth.
"My name's Elizabeth. You and Erza fight well together, you should team up on me!"
The eldest Strauss sibling thought she was being mocked and responded hotly "I don't need the tin cans help to kick your ass!"
And that was how the two versus one match came about. It was a fight that honestly changed the future of Fairy Tail for the better.
It was noon, and most of the guild had gathered themselves together on the grass outside the hall, ready for three of their young women to throw down. Someone had started a betting pool on the outcome of the match. Almost every single bet placed was on Erza and Mira, the reasoning being that both of them were very strong and the new girl looked very skinny and weak. Only the Master and, strangely, Laxus, bet on Elizabeth. The odds were being placed at 50-1.
You had to feel sorry for them.
Once all bets were placed and the contestants were all properly prepared, Makarov stepped forward and held out a weird stick with a green and a red circle on opposing sides. Holding up the green side to face the girls, he called out "Start!"
Erza and Mira simultaneously engaged their magic, obviously hoping for a quick finish. Erza was actually thinking that despite Elizabeth's speed in a physical fight, she wouldn't be able to keep up in a magic fight. As for Mira, she wasn't really thinking, she just wanted to fight.
"REQUIP!" Erza's form eclipsed into a white glow and when it faded, she wore in a different armour, this one made her look like a steel angel.
"TAKE-OVER: SATAN SOUL!" Mira underwent her own transformation, her body twisting into that of a horrific winged demon.
Watching all of this with wide eyes, Elizabeth forced herself to focus. This magic was clearly powerful, she could now feel far more power coming from them than any Vulcan she'd found. Her eyes darted back and forth between her opponents.
Mira was the first to make a move, screaming some spell that Elizabeth didn't hear, focussed as she was on watching for her tells. A powerful blast of dark magic shot out of her hands towards Elizabeth, who threw herself to the right, landing and rolling back to a standing position. Then she jumped straight up as another blast hit the ground in front of her.
As she jumped, she saw Erza move and curled into a ball, flipping over the hasty sword swipe. As she completed the flip, Erza was directly beneath her so she grabbed onto her shoulder, pulling the larger girl with her. As she hit the ground, she once again rolled, flipping Erza over her back and then letting her go. The Requip mage landed hard on her front hard, knocking the breath out of her.
Seeing another blast headed straight for her, Elizabeth sprung backwards. She landed on her hands, before completing a second half-flip to bring herself upright. This blast landed squarely between Erza's shoulders, driving her deeper into the ground.
Not losing focus, Elizabeth used the dust from the explosion to get as close as she could to Mira. She could only avoid the long distance attacks for so long, it would be much more advantageous to her to get in close.
The dust cleared and all Mira saw was Erza back on her feet. Her eyes widened as a whistling noise reached her eyes a split second before a very calloused foot made contact with the back of her head. Falling to the ground, Mira landed on her feet, but rocked unsteadily. Elizabeth used yet another roll to break the momentum of her fall, before continuing its momentum forwards, turning it into a tackle straight to Mira's midriff.
Mira hit the ground, the air driven from her lungs as Elizabeth planted her hands and cartwheeled over her.
Erza had waited for Elizabeth to move away from Mira, so she had room to use her Heaven's Wheel armours best offensive capabilities. "DANCE MY BLADES!" she yelled, as a dozen swords appeared and flew through the air at Elizabeth, who had just returned to her feet, and was facing Erza.
Then something strange happened. Elizabeth raised her arms in front of her, turning her face away, and the blades just… stopped. Erza felt her control over them disappear. Elizabeth waited a moment, then, not feeling any cuts or stabs, opened her eyes. Turning back to face Erza, she saw the swords motionless in the air. 'I wish they'd just disappear', she thought.
Then they did.
All hell was breaking loose in the crowd now, they had no idea what was going on.
Taking advantage of Erza's shock, she dashed forward, stopping just in front of her. She pivoted on her left foot and smashed the heel of her right foot into Erza's temple, knocking her out.
She brought her foot down and stood still for a moment to catch her breath. A moment too long, as it happened. Another of Mira's attacks connected with her side, knocking her through the air. She landed as she had before, rolling to deflect the impact, but this time she accidentally twisted and her side pulled a bit tight. Gasping for breath, she was barely able to keep up with Mira's relentless barrage of magic. Eventually though, she could tell that Mira was tiring.
Then Mira made a mistake. Realising that she was almost out of magic, she gathered up everything she had left, and cast one of her most powerful spells.
"SOUL EXTINCTION!"
The huge blast rocketed towards Elizabeth. However, it just missed, thanks to her timely jump. Mira's Take-Over faded, and she fell to her knees. Elizabeth immediately went on the offensive, ready to put Mira on the ground again, when the Master put one hand, enlarged thanks to his Titan magic, in front of her.
"I declare that Elizabeth is the winner of this fight!"
Stunned and somewhat angry, the crowd all emptied their pockets and handed the jewel over to Cana, who then passed them all along to the Dreyar men, who were laughing and hugging each other. Or at least, Makarov was hugging Laxus.
After that, the crowd gradually dispersed back to the guildhall. Elizabeth simply sat down on the grass next to Erza, who had recovered enough to sit up. Mira was lying on her back, simply looking up at the sky, exhausted.
"That was an incredible fight, Elizabeth! To beat both of us without any real magic… I don't know anyone who could have done that. You were incredible! I just…" the scarlet haired Requip mage's voice trailed off.
"It's ok Erza, go ahead." Elizabeth spoke softly and kindly, smiling at her friend.
"I just wanted to know how you stopped my swords." She looked embarrassed, not really willing to believe that her control over her weapons was weak.
Elizabeth looked thoughtful. "I guess… I just reached out and touched your magic. I've always been able to see what I learned yesterday is called magic, and feel it. Sometimes when I was in a life or death situation like running from a Vulcan, I could touch it too. When I touched their magic, they just froze and ran away. But when I touched your magic, I could feel the magic that was actually controlling the swords and I sort of… held onto it. I didn't really realise I was doing it, I guess. Then I wished that they would go away, and they did! I still don't know why though."
Erza was speechless. She had no idea that abilities that incredible even existed. To be able to touch magic? That would be amazing! She wondered what kind of magic it was. Maybe some kind of control magic?
Seeing Erza's face simultaneously in shock and deep in thought, Elizabeth did the only thing she could think of; she dragged the bigger girl into a hug. It was then that she realised the Erza had gone back to her regular armour. 'When did that happen?' She thought.
Erza stiffened for a brief moment, then relaxed and put her arm around Elizabeth's shoulder, drawing comfort from the girls closeness.
Meanwhile, Mira had turned away and watched on with jealous eyes.
WELL holy badass, that took forever. This is the beginning of the rewrite I have planned for Elizabeth's Fairy Tail. The original was poorly thought out, so I'm redoing it all. I'm also attempting to have much longer chapters, so expect at least a week between updates on this one. Also, my Natsu and Laxus fic is still currently my main fic. When that one finishes, this might get updated quicker.
I love every single person who reads my work, and I hope that you enjoyed it!
ALSO I AM ISSUING A WARNING
At multiple points of this story there will be references to and descriptions of torture, beatings, and various other horrible things. If that offends your sensibilities, you don't have to read it. People will die, and die horribly, so be prepared.