Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail, I certainly don't own Hiro Mashima. I do own Zanna and sort of Yuki.

Chapter One

A Clean Slate

The human mind is a strange thing. Sometimes it torments you with nightmares, sometimes strikes fear into you at the sight of an everyday thing. Sometimes it makes you scream at shadows that never once moved. Sometimes it buries your memories.

Zanna knows this. For example, she remembers she turned fourteen the day of the accident. She remembers her parents; a tall father with stark black hair, a kind mother with hair dyed sea-green. Their names, Dritan and Jayna Baker. She remembers it was dark. She remembers being scared. She remembered wishing that somehow, by some magical miracle, they would make it through.

But there is far more she doesn't. She doesn't remember the bright yellow headlights, the crunch as the driver side door caved with the impact. She doesn't remember how the car rolled down the hill, flattening the roof of the car. She doesn't remember the pain as she hit her head on something cold. She doesn't remember the limp body of her father as he hung in his seat belt. She doesn't remember the laugh, the fear it struck into her. She doesn't remember the unnatural cold that followed.

And she doesn't remember her mother's sacrifice. How Jayna Baker gave her life to save her daughter. How a shining blue light, edges tinged with silver, bathed her, protected her.

Of course she doesn't remember the magic.

(-Zanna-)

I awoke with a jolt, cold sweat matting my hair. My hands gripped the blankets so tightly that my knuckles had turned white. I ran a shaky hand through my hair and a few of the sea-green strands fell in my face. I had begun dying it after… After it, as a tribute to my mom.

I couldn't remember the last time I'd had a dreamless sleep. It'd been a whole year, a year in this sorry excuse for an orphanage. I really shouldn't insult the orphanage itself. It had a big adoption day each month, and at least one kid went each time.

But I hated adoption days. After all, no one wanted a girl with diagnosed PTSD. Quite a chunk in therapy bills. Also money the orphanage itself couldn't pay. But I was fine, I just didn't sleep amazing like everyone else. It just served as a reminder to what was lost.

"Zanna! Wakey wakey!" A sudden weight on my gut shoved the lingering dream from my mind. I looked up to meet the honey eyes of Tanner, a five year old. He was grinning from ear to ear.

"I take it you remember what day it is?" The boy's excitement practically flowed into me. I didn't know why, considering I wished it was any other day.

"Adoption day!" He cheered jumping up and down. "I'm gonna get adopted, and you're gonna get adopted!"

"Neither of us are gonna get adopted…" Before any hurt could register in his face, I grinned, "If we don't get dressed!" The shock on his little face was priceless, and he dashed off. Yeah, he was gonna get adopted, no doubt.

As soon as Tanner left the dread instantly returned. I sighed, getting up and walking into the bathroom. Another thing about the orphanage; absolutely no privacy. Yeah, there was a separate bathroom for girls and boys, but each one was public to the appropriate gender. There were already six or seven girls, ranging in age but all younger than me, already in the bathroom.

Instead of fighting for the showers, I took care of the other necessities first. You know, basics. As I brushed my hair, I watched my eyes. In the- Trauma to my left eye caused complete heterochromia. Meaning my right eye was still its original light brown, but the left had pale to a freezing ice blue. The very edge of the blue often a pale silver, but it was just a trick of light.

After showering and dressing in a simple lilac shirt and gray pants, I went down to the kitchen. As I passed a group of kids trying to convince one another that there was some portal to another world in the basement, I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Kids were entitled to believing in magic. It was a right of being young.

I slipped into my morning routine, leaving my past in the back of my mind. I helped Oma make breakfast. Oma was one of the caretakers, a short old woman who insisted we call her the German word for 'grandma'.

I let the happy emotions in the room wash away my own distress. I would not let my crappy mood ruin a day that should be celebratory. There would be plenty of kids going to a permanent home; I should be happy for them.

After breakfast, all of the kids made their way into the massive living room, including me. They busied themselves, playing, all around being kids. I went straight to the corner with the bookshelf. It took me a few moments, but I found what I was looking for.

I pulled the manga from the shelf. It was called Fairy Tail, and I felt drawn to it. I had only made it through the first four arcs, the starter arc, the short Daybreak arc, the Lullaby arc, and the Galuna Island arc. But I felt attached to these characters. Though, oddly, the older, side characters like Makarov, Macao, Wakaba, and even Reedus, and I was pretty sure he hadn't even talked yet. It was almost… familiarity?

I shook my head, deciding instead to focus on the manga. Adults began coming in, introducing themselves to Oma, playing with the kids. I smiled watching a few of the pairs just click with kids. I began guessing who would pick who. And I was always right.

Finally towards the end of the day, a single woman came in. Her hair was platinum blonde, pale pink streaking through it. It was long, tied back in a braid. Her eyes were a brown that just bordered on red. Her clothes were mostly white with bright red vine patterns on it. Basically, kinda flashy.

I strained my ears to hear what she was saying to Oma, but they were speaking to softly. The red-brown eyes scanned the room. When they reached me, they widened, as did her smile. I laughed nervously as she walked purposely over to me.

"Dang, Zanna, you've grown!" Okay, lady I've never seen before knows my name. Awesome.

"Um, do I know you?" Seriously, freaking me out here…

"Don't remember me, huh?" She sighed. "Didn't think you would. Call me Yuki-chan! I'm an old friend of your mother's."

"You… knew my mom?"

"Yeah. She left- Oh hey!" She cut off, grabbing the Fairy Tail volume from my hands. "Looks like little Hiro actually did publish those visions! Pretty accurately, too…"

"Excuse me?"

"I'll introduce myself again. I am "Akai" Yuki, mage of Fairy Tail!"

Apparently my first instinct had been correct. "You are completely off your rocker."

"Fairy Tail members are supposed to be."

"Magic isn't even real, and you're delusional."

Yuki looked like she'd been punched in the gut. "…Jayna and her stu- Dritan really never told you about Fairy Tail? About magic?"

"I'm leaving now." I stood up. This chick was really freaking me out.

Yuki grabbed my wrist. "Yes. Yes you are. Oma, I'm taking Zanna-chan here."

"Don't let her get into too much trouble." Oma just stood smiling, even waving as the crazy woman dragged me out the door. "Yuki, hon, don't blow anything up!"

What? My head swirled with confusion. Oma knew her? And more importantly, Oma knew her and was letting her drag me to God knows where?! By this point I had given up on stopping, just following Yuki wherever she was taking me.

She had been silent, so when she finally spoke it surprised me. "Hiro Mashima was Fairy Tail's resident clairvoyant a while back. He'd have a lot of visions about certain future members of Fairy Tail. So when Gray, Erza, and Natsu joined, he didn't want to watch all of the things he'd seen happen. So he left."

"You expect me to-"

"Don't interrupt me. There's this… mist that surrounds Fiore. It makes it impossible for people who don't have their own source of magic to pass through. Everyone in Fiore has some amount of inner magic, whether or not they use it. Several years before Hiro left, Fairy Tail had two members that decided to live in this magic-less excuse for a world."

"And you're going to say it was my parents." I rolled my eyes. I had to admit, she'd covered most of the bases. Didn't mean she didn't belong in a mental hospital.

"Yup. Jayna the Soul Seer and her lou- and her wonderful husband Dritan! Two great mages who decided to take their two year old daughter to this magic-free cesspool!" She sighed sadly. "Makarov somehow heard that the Bakers died in a car accident a year ago and- Hey, are you okay?"

My body had stiffened while my heart raced. Images of a dark night, a laugh, blood. Fear. Greif. Cold. So cold. I shivered all over. I was falling into a mindless black.

Violent shaking of my shoulders began pulling me back. "Oi! Snap out of it!"

"W-What happened?" I held my head and Yuki let out a sigh of relief.

"You okay?"

"'Course." I brushed it off. "Please, nut bar, feel free to continue."

"Hmpf. Basically, I didn't believe that they could be offed so easily, so I came to investigate. Oma's my real grandma, so I stopped by her first. I guess I got my answer, huh?"

"Wait, Oma's your grandmother?!"

"Didn't I just say that?" She rounded a corner and headed straight down the alley. "What do you know of Japanese honorifics?"

"Um, not a whole lot. I know –chan, -kun, and –san, but I'm never sure what situations to use them in." I raised my eye brow as she began randomly tapping the stone walls. "Why?"

"It's just, they're real common in Fiore. I'd stick with –san 'til you're familiar with them."

"What makes you think that I'm going anywhere with you?"

"The fact that you don't have a choice!" Yuki grinned. Before I had a chance to react, a bright red light flooded my vision. I felt almost disembodied for a minute. The red faded to gray, and little drops of water hit my face.

As soon as the mist was there, it was gone. I was standing on a cobblestone street, alone. A canal ran next to me, the water clear and blue. I was startled by a small pop next to me, and turned to see Yuki.

Though Yuki continued to lead me through the streets, I wasn't paying one bit of attention. It was as though my voice had been turned off. I tried to think of any possible explanation, one that wouldn't give up and accept that it was something as stupid as 'magic'.

"Here we are!" Yuki announced. I gaped at the building ahead of me. I didn't know what it really was, but for all intents and purposes, it was identical to the Fairy Tail Guild's design.

"What in the…"

"Welcome to Fairy Tail! A place where you can forget your past and make a brand new future! Tabula rasa, a clean slate, if you will."

I didn't know what to think now.