Chapter 1: A Wintry Summer's Night
"If miracles only happen once, what are they called the second time?"-Ichigo Kurosaki
"Will you shut up, Flame Brain? At this rate you're going to get the entire town mad at us!"
"Like you can talk, freaking stripping in public!"
"It's not my fault that I was trained that way!"
"Well it's not my fault I have a loud voice!"
Lucy sighed as the usual bout of argument ensued once more between the two wizards in front of her. The day had been going relatively well, the peace very effectively maintained by a certain Erza Scarlet, who had only to look in the direction of the duo for them to turn into the "best of friends". It was a terrifyingly tense, false peace but nonetheless it was peace, and the group learned to accept what they could get in that regard. The group had recently gone together on a rather tiring mission, which entailed getting rid of some bandits in the next town over. While when encountered they were quick work, it was soon evident they knew when to run and hide. As a result, by the time they had finished the mission and made their way back into the streets of Magnolia, night had fallen quite spectacularly on the town with nothing but the light of the street lamps to act as a guide.
Magnolia itself happened to be in the height of its summer months at the moment, which meant that the night was far from unpleasant, quite the opposite. The lamps on the streets showered the whole town in a warm glow, accented by the pure greenery of the trees and the twinkling shine of the river reflecting the stars. The rads were mostly empty, due to the time of night, and warmth crawled on the mage's backs, as if congratulating them on their success on the so called "battlefield".
However, warmth was not a place for an ice mage. Hence the beginnings of the argument in question.
Too tired to possibly deal with the situation, Lucy attempted to simply divert her attention to the river she knew so well. Normally when she walked home she would always be greeted by men on a boat, always telling her jovially not to fall into the river, but due to the time of night eve they were nowhere to be seen, leaving the river in a calm and still serenity which she thought could never be interrupted. However, it was on this warm inspection that she realized that something was rather off about the picturesque scene of nature. Lucy was sure she had seen an illusion, because it seemed so wrong.
In the clear river, there should not be blood.
"H-Hey, guys?" Lucy asked, tentatively. The two males of the group turned to her sharply, as if she had done them a personal wrong, before seeing her expression.
"What?"
The blonde raised a shaking hand to the river, pointing. "Look at the river."
The group made their way to the edge of the river, soon seeing the same thing Lucy had seen. Erza narrowed her eyes, turning back to her abnormally large stacks of luggage.
"It seems to be coming from farther up the river. I should have medical supplies with me, let's see if we can pinpoint this." She said, not waiting for any form of answer before marching ahead. Gray followed soon after, leaving Natsu with a very concerned Lucy. Natsu seemed to be sniffing the air intently, eyes completely void of whatever humor they had once held.
"Lucy…"
"Is something wrong, Natsu?"
The pink haired mage shook his head, giving a slight hit to the head of his blue furred companion who had been slumbering on his head previously. The cat woke up with a start.
"Ow! Natsu why did you-"
"Happy, get me to the other side of the river, will ya?" Natsu asked, eyes still fixed on the water.
Happy seemed taken aback by this, but after glancing at the serious expression on the normally brash and temperamental mage's face, decided against questioning his friend. If even Natsu was serious, then the situation was dire.
"Aye." And with the spread of long, white wings, both cat and boy took to the air, leaving Lucy behind.
"Wait, you're just leaving me here?!" She called, before huffing and running to catch up with the other two.
As Lucy ran, it seemed as if the temperature was getting colder and colder. She couldn't quite tell at first, whether it was her nerves, impending terror, or simply a trick of her body. It was only when she saw frost begin to form on the grass which she now walked on that she realized that it was indeed getting colder, and at an alarming rate considering it was the height of summer. She turned to Gray, who was a small ways ahead of her.
"Hey, this isn't you, is it?" She asked tentatively.
The ice mage shook his head. "Not a chance. Whatever the hell's doing it though, I don't like the feel of it."
Before the blonde could reply, Erza's voice called back to them from farther up ahead, urgency laced into the commanding tones that Lucy had grown so used to.
"Over here!"
Lucy found herself running even faster than Gray, unnaturally eager to reach the scene. She vaguely wondered why this was so important, why she had to get there before anyone else, but soon realized why when she saw it.
White and red clashed so violently, she soon realized, that it almost made the scene in front of her look beautiful.
At this point, snow covered the ground, and flakes of ice floated around the area almost acting as a mist. Yet in the center of it all, there were only flecks of dark red. Laying in the snow was a small boy(he couldn't be older than ten, she thought) with a shock of white hair and an almost equally pale complexion. His eyes were closed, and the boy seemed to be unconscious, though seemingly trembling from some kind of pain, or cold. He wore a black uniform of sorts, though it had been ripped and shredded to the point it was hard to tell what it was supposed to be. The only thing that seemed to be fully intact was a green sash that held a sword longer than the boy himself, on his back. Deep gashes covered the boy's body, all bleeding profusely into the river which was nearby, while his breathing was ragged at best. The sight was ethereal to say the least, the boy seemed almost inhuman, lying in the snow during the height of summer.
On the snow, Lucy saw footprints which she knew very well.
"Natsu's been here already." She stated, not looking at the boy. She couldn't, not without wanting to faint from either the cold or the blood.
"We can find him later. For now this boy needs to get back to the guild hall immediately. Gray, could you cover the wounds? He seems to be the source of the cold, so it shouldn't have any adverse effects." Erza said, before standing up and changing into her flight armor. Once Gray had sealed off the wounds with thin sheets of ice, she gingerly picked up the boy, holding his tiny form in her arms, before taking off towards the guild at unimaginably high speeds.
The two were left in cold silence, flecks of ice and snow still filling the mage's vision.
A loud swear broke the silence as Gray's fist could be heard slamming against the bark of a tree nearby, causing the bark to snap off due to being so brittle from the cold. Lucy jumped nearly a few feet in the air.
"W-What?"
"The blood is fresh, Lucy. If we came a little sooner the kid might not have been attacked." he muttered. "Natsu probably went to hunt down the bastards."
"You mean they're still in the area?!" Lucy breathed out, unconsciously beginning to look around frantically as if the perpetrators would jump out at any moment. They very well could.
Gray shrugged. "Doubt it. Then again, Natsu is the one with the super smell, not me. But judging from the silence I doubt he found anything." he explained, kneeling down to the pool of red where the boy once lay. "You know him. There would be some serious carnage."
Lucy nodded. She understood perfectly well that Natsu Dragneel was not known for subtlety, quite the opposite in fact. He had a habit of making a show of things, wanting to get them done as soon as possible without any form of buffer or wait. When someone was hurt, be they his friend, or someone innocent, would not stand by idly and likely get angry instead. They would be lucky if the fire mage decided to even return to the guild hall before the morning came.
Instead Lucy tried another approach. "What do you think happened?"
"You think I know? All I know is that the kid was armed, but he didn't use his weapon. He probably got taken by surprise, then his attacker left him here to bleed out." Gray said, standing up from the pool he had been sitting next to, shaking his head.
"But that's… horrible!"
"Lucy, you head back to the guild. I'm going to try and track down Natsu. I kinda want to get at this guy too to be honest." Gray said, not looking at the girl as he spoke. She nodded hesitantly. Gray was that type of person, and Lucy knew that she would be more useful back at the guild.
The week passed without any more word about any form of attack or progress on the boy, although Mira said he should be waking soon. Apparently he was not anyone native to Magnolia, and any trace of the attack had been completely erased from the forest, along with the strange snow which seemed to be all but gone, the only evidence of its existence being the destroyed bark from Gray's anger. The guild members had taken turns guarding the boy, or looking around for the cause of the attack. As the main guild of Magnolia, it was their job to prevent attacks like this.
It was during the time that Erza was on guard that the boy finally stirred, and soon after opened his eyes. Erza remembered being shocked. She had expected the normal eyes of children, the ones that were wide with innocence and fear, lacking understanding, possibly warm in color. What she hadn't expected were gem like orbs that were cold, calculating, absorbing the environment and all the information it offered in seconds, before landing on her and beginning their assessment.
Quickly recovering composure as the boy sat up, she noticed the slight wince from the skin under newly changed bandages. The boy regarded her with scrutiny, seeming to desire the intent of her presence.
"I see you're finally awake. You've been out for at least a week now." she stated, not knowing what else she could say to those eyes, which still bore into her like knives.
The boy raised a pale eyebrow at the statement, but didn't follow through on his questioning and rather decided to redirect the topic. "Where am I? And who are you?" He asked. His voice was another shock to Erza, showing no fear, no confusion, and no anger, merely curiosity masked by indifference. An icy mask, easy to see through, but tough to crack. she thought.
"We found you passed out and gravely injured in the forest on the outskirts of town. You are in Magnolia, In the Fairy Tail guild's infirmary." Erza explained cautiously, doing her best to lace her words with kindness. Despite his seeming abnormalities, he was still a child, after all. "As for me, I am Erza Scarlet, the one who first found you. And what about you?"
"My name… it's Toshiro Hitsugaya. I would appreciate it if you referred to me by surname." the boy, Hitsugaya, said with equal caution which caused the red head to raise an eyebrow.
"Well, Hitsugaya, would you mind if I brought my guild master to see you, and asked you some questions? Or would you prefer to have some more rest?"
The boy shook his head. "I am fine. The sooner doubts are quelled the better. I am sorry for the trouble I have caused."
"Nonsense. Stay there while I fetch him." Erza chided, exiting the room, vaguely wondering what were the chances of the boy escaping through the very obviously open window.
To be safe, she made haste.
When the two returned, Erza was thankfull to find the boy still sitting in the bed, although certainly looking out the window as if in deep thought. He turned back to see the two had returned, and attempted to adjust himself into a more respectable position.
"Don't push yourself, Hitsugaya." Erza warned, just as she would normally do with Natsu and Gray. The white haired boy, however, merely huffed rather than screaming in terror.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Fairy Tail's guild master, Makarov Dreyar." master said, holding out a hand, with his usual grin in place(he had taken a perch on a stool, beside the bed.)
The boy took the master's hand, introducing himself in turn the same way he had addressed Erza; exactly the same, tone, wording and all.
"Well, I can tell you would rather get this over with, so I'll just start asking questions. Where are you from? You have parents looking for you?" Makarov asked, appearing to his a nerve on his first try, as the boy leveled a slight glare at the man- not that it had any effect. It was widely acknowledged that Makarov was almost impossible to deter from his goals.
"No. I have been travelling alone for some time now." he replied curtly.
The small master raised an eyebrow at this."How have you been faring?"
"As you can probably see, I use weaponry. I am perfectly capable of defending myself from bandits and such. As for resources… I make do." Probably steals from towns. Erza thought wryly. Judging from his stature, he's good at it. Takes only a bare minimum that won't even be noticed.
"Then, what happened to get you on death's door?" Makarov continued, causing Hitusugaya to shrug.
"I was taken by surprise. While I was able to defend myself and drove the enemy back, they left some..lasting wounds. Partially this was also recoil." Erza resisted the urge to question the boy further on the events that occurred, remembering the state they had found the boy in. He hadn't even drawn his weapon, which begged the question of how exactly the boy "defended" himself.
"Recoil? Recoil from what?" Makarov asked, oblivious to the suspicions of the woman who sat next to him. Hitsugaya simply looked down at the sheets, before returning his gaze to those he was speaking to.
"My abilities are rather hindered due to my..er.. Stature." He's sensitive about his stature? Erza wondered. Was it because he was skinny, or perhaps being a child entirely?
"I see. And what did your assailants look like?"
"I could not tell, since they were completely obscured in the darkness of the night." the boy said, face completely straight, but with a hint of regret in his eyes. Erza mentally sighed. A lie, clearly, but delivered so perfectly that had she not been there the night in question she would have wholeheartedly accepted without even a fraction of doubt.
"I see… Now, pardon my asking, but I assume you are a mage from the explanation you gave. What is your magic?" Makarov, seeming to have picked up to Erza's cautions, decided to leave the topic alone before moving on. His voice became a bit sterner, seeing that the boy was not one to be taken lightly.
Hitsugaya paused at this, as if not sure if it was a good idea to say so much. He then sighed, saying "I am an Ice Dragon Slayer."
To this, the two had no words. It made sense, so much sense, Erza thought. The strange frost that surrounded him, the fact he traveled alone without family, why he could defend himself, and his attitude. Most likely his dragon had disappeared just like Natsu's.
"I see. That explains quite a bit for us." Makarov said thoughtfully, before nodding to himself. "Well, dear boy, how would you feel about joining our guild?"
The question seemed to throw the boy off, casing his gem-like eyes to widen in surprise. "..join? Sir, you quite literally picked me up from the woods. Are you quite sure you should be so frivolous?"
"I don't see why not. Already the guild members have been worried for your well being, you are unaffiliated, and I fear that if you wander for much longer that bony body of yours will wither away. Not to mention, there are some people in the guild who may be able to relate to your plight, we are all a kind of family." the smaller man smiled, as if the answer was obvious. Hitsugaya's eyes narrowed in suspicion, as if searching for some kind of humor, deception, or malice.
None were found.
The boy sighed, before nodding. "Alright."
"Excellent! Welcome to the family, Hitsugaya!" Makarov said jovially, before practically skipping out of the room. Erza turned back to the boy who still looked stunned at what had just occurred. As if he wasn't used to any form of kindness, let alone generosity or affection. He probably wasn't. She reminded herself.
"You can relax. The master has a heart too big for his size, almost everyone in the guild is someone who lost family or hasn't a home to return to. We thrive off of that connection and bond. That is what Fairy tail is."
At this, Hitsugaya shrugged, as if dismissing any hopefulness he had previously possessed. "We'll see."
Erza knew her gaze was softening. She knew exactly what this was. The boy, judging from his appearance, was probably exiled in some form for being too different. Most likely shunned for his icy demeanor. He learned that no one would be kind to him without ulterior motive, and grew to shield himself from believing in others. When abandoned by his dragon, he probably considered that the final sign that no one was going to stand by him, and that it was somehow his fault.
She was going to change that. Fairy Tail was going to change that.
She left the room, watching as the master told Mira to get a stigma ready for the boy, along with some new clothes. She nodded, at which Makarov turned to Erza and motioned for her to come into his office. She nodded, following.
When the door had been shut and the two had been properly seated, he asked the questions.
"So, how much of that should I disregard?"
"He's hiding who his attackers were, for reasons unknown. As for the rest, I cannot be sure. Though, if he is what he says, then it does account for all we have seen so far. The boy seems to have been burdened by the world's hardships too early" Erza stated simply. Makarov nodded.
"I thought so. Though, with the characters in the guild, we will find out soon enough. Keep an eye on him, Erza." he said earnestly, looking back at the door. "No matter how much he has been through, he is still young. He probably won't be willing to open up for a long time, too scared to trust people. It takes quite the sequence of events to allow such a young face to hold such eyes."
Erza simply nodded. "We will change that. It's the least we can do for him."
~AN. So, this is the first chapter of my first story. I'll be perfectly honest and say the only reason this got written was because of a weird dare from a friend, but I will most likely continue it unless I see no reason to anymore. I hope the characters aren't too OOC...
As per the usual, feedback is always welcome but I won't push for reviews or anything like that.
It should be noted that while I said he looked about ten, Hitsugaya is fourteen in this. No, he doesn't just look fourteen, he is.
Hope you enjoyed, if not then I wish you luck on finding a good story to read.
-jenumire
