A/N: The Fairy Tail manga, world and characters belong to Hiro Mashima. I take no credit for any repeated quote or event from the original source.

Freedom of the Heart

Chapter 1

She opened her eyes, inhaling deeply, only to choke on the lack of air as she franticly looked around.

I'm alive?

That couldn't have been possible, she remembered being killed. She remembered how much it had hurt, every cell in her body burning in pain, unresponsive as she had taken in her last breath.

So why was she alive?

"..."

She didn't know.

She couldn't move, but she knew she had a body. She could feel it. Her body was unresponsive, her muscles felt week, almost inexistent. But she was definitely alive.

Probably alive...feel...tired...

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"Get moving your brats!" A voice said as her eyes slowly opened.

She felt... wet? Yes, her body was defiantly wet. Opening her eyes, she was momentarily blinded by the light, her eyes quickly readjusting as she saw her surroundings... Was she in a container?

"Didn't you hear me? I said get moving now!" The voice said again, anger filling it's tone.

She looked at her surrounding, moving her head slowly. She was inside a small, organic like container, the front part having open, the liquid she had previously been in now only reaching her knees.

How long had she been sleeping? Her body felt week, much like that of a person's that had been in a vegetative state. Her muscles where week, twitching with the slight movement her body made.

She blinked in surprise when she saw her own reflection in the water. Her dark blue hair seemed to have grown in the time she had been unconscious, almost reaching her own waist. Her mystic like green eyes where also there, alongside some features that made her look more... feminine looking compared to the androgynous looks she was used to always seeing.

"I said get moving, NOW!"

Following the movement unconsciously, she stepped out, following a dozen of other children that couldn't be any older than five.

"Well? Get to work now, brats!" One of the men shouted as they all started obeying him without question.

Not understanding what was going on, she did as she was told, ignoring the slight shaking of her unused body. Picking up one of the rocks as she carried it to one of the storage containers, following the example of the other children.

As she got into a rhythm, she allowed her brain to wonder to a more questioning line of thought. The children seem to show no signs of awareness, acting like mindless drones rather than the liveliness characterised in they age group.

Her wrists had, or at least what she assumed where magical cuffs. Slightly digging into her skin, she recognised the red stone at the top almost instantaneously. They where made to cause pain to whoever had authority over them, which could only mean one thing. Slavery.

But there was still one question standing at the top, irking her to no end as she tried to rattle her brain with infinite number of theories, each more unlike than the last. Why was she alive?

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She wasn't sure how much time had passed. Out of shear boredom, shed started counting how many seconds passed... She had given up before reaching two hounded. She had no sense of time in... where was she again?

She really should have been paying more attention to her surroundings, but her thought where something she could always take comfort from. It become a form of defence at this point, she could simply go through her thoughts while her body went on autopilot.

She was in a underground mine of shorts, she knew that much. There had been dozen of guards, each of which got enjoyment from making the slaves suffer from the magical cuffs, electrocuting them if they as much as slipped. It was inhumane.

"Are you sure?" A female voice said quietly.

"We shouldn't let rumours fill us with fear dear, everyone disserves a chance." A much more elder voice said in a kind tone.

"If you sure..."

She opened her eyes in a slow manner, looking at the direction from where the voices had come from. An elder looking man slowly approached her while the child she assumed had been speaking with him stayed behind, standing on the wall as she observed her.

"You are new here, aren't you little one?" He asked kindly.

She observed him carefully, slightly tilting her head before slowly nodding. He smiled, humming in response as he sat down next to her.

"Oh? Not much of a speaker, are you?"

She blinked in surprise. She hadn't really talked yet, had she? It had seemed so irrelevant to start a conversation, all the children she worked with where mindless drones, unaffected by the few attempts of interaction she had attempted.

"Not... used to it..." She said hoarsely, her voice being a higher pitch than what she had remembered it as.

Her sent her a pitied glance as he nodded in understanding as he indicated the girl to approach them. She seamed doubtful, sending her a weary glance before slowly walking towards them.

"Erza, I'd like to meet our knew friend."

"P-Pleasure to meet you." She said nervously.

"...Same..." She responded, her through already hurting.

"Oh my, I'm afraid we haven't introduced ourselves." He said as he let out a heart-warming laugh. "Everyone calls me Grandpa Rob, please feel free to do the same." He said with a smile before looking towards the girls direction.

"Erza Scarlet" She murmured quietly as Grandpa Rob nodded approvingly before looking towards her.

"And who may you be?"

She blinked in surprise. She could hardly use the name associated to her death, and she wasn't sure who she was now that she was alive. She shook her head. "No...name." She tried explaining. She hadn't realised how much of a reclusive shed become.

A look of sadness crossed both of they eyes.

"Well we cant have that, can we?" He said as his smile reappeared on his face. Pausing thoughtfully for a moment. "Have any ideas? I'm afraid I've never been one for names." He said sheepishly as her rubbed the back of his head.

She closed her eyes thoughtfully before a ghost of a smile appeared on her face. "Ela" She said simply as the elder nodded in approval.

"Ela, as in Elizabeth?" Erza asked curiously as she blinked in surprise. No, that hadn't been where she had thought of the name, but she smiled none the less, it had a ring to it that struck home. Painfully so.

"No... Elizabeth sounds good." She responded in a soft tone as the read haired girl smiled proudly.

"Then it's a pleasure to meet you, Elizabeth!"

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She wanted to vomit.

How could anyone call this food? It was beyond disgusting, starving to death honestly didn't sound like such a bad idea anymore.

"Don't worry, it get better once you get over the taste." A voice said as she turned around. "I'm Jellal."

"Elizabeth." She said with a nod as she restarted glaring at the object called food.

He sat down next to her, letting out an amused chuckle.

"It's not going to taste better no matter how much you glare."

"I suppose not..." She admitted as she tried chewing the food, trying her best not to vomit as she swallowed it.

"New here I guess?" He asked curiously as she nodded. "I'm surprised, everyone thought you where one of the cursed ones." He said thoughtfully.

"Cursed... ones?" She repeated questioningly.

"Sorry. It's what we call the children you work with. They unresponsive to everyone and always arrive in a small group. Since you arrived with them we sort of assumed that you would be one too." He admitted apologetically.

Cursed ones... Did it have to do with the container she had been inside? Looking at it logically her first coherent memory had been the second she had left it, so perhaps her previous memories explained why she wasn't as unresponsive as the others.

"Anyway, do you want to join us? I know you already spoke to Erza, but it's always helps to make friends." He said, a cheerfully smile forming on his face.

Her heart tightened. Her last attempt in making friends had ended... terribly was better word than many she could use. She nodded in a slow fashion, not having a chance to give a response before Jellal grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the rest of the children.

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She was sure that at this point she had spent years in the tower, she wasn't sure how many, but she could now at least make an approximation of how much time passed by using the guards sifting times.

"You're up early, Elizabeth," Grandpa Rob greeted kindly, as she looked up with a slow nod. "I'm glad to see you fitting in, at the beginning I was worried you would find it difficult, but it seems to have simply been an old man pointless worry."

She gave another nod in understanding. She had also been surprised by how quickly she had been accepted. Perhaps it was because children more than any other needed someone to depend on. Perhaps it was why she had become dependent herself, a strange thought seeing how she had lived before. But there it was, Milliana, Jellal, Wally, Sho, Simon, Erza and Grandpa Rob. They where all people that she had slowly started to trust.

Out of the children in the cell, it was Erza and Elizabeth that trusted Grandpa Rob the most. While the rest of the children did trust him to a certain degree, there was a hint of doubt created by the guards that had tortured many of them whenever a mistake was caused. She usually spent her free time listening to his many stories of the unfamiliar world, almost always with Erza, as he told the story after story of his own adventures.

The world he spoke of was so different from her own. She had studied magic, she had been in her own share of fights, but the magic he spoke of seemed much more integrated into society, instead of that of her own world where magic had been a coin toss between admiration and fear.

"And then, Makarov turns around only to realise he had destroyed the whole mansion. Master Precht never allowed him to hear the end of it." He finished saying as the two girls let out an amused laugh.

"Fairy tail sounds amazing, I whish I could join a guild like you did Grandpa Rob." Erza said as Elizabeth nodded in agreement.

"It was, but don't feel discouraged, I'm sure one day both of you will be able to do so." He said fondly.

"You really think so?" Erza asked excitedly as he nodded.

"Yes, the biggest dreams always start with a small spark of belief."

"Belief?" Erza asked curiously as he nodded thoughtfully.

Indeed. Everything starts from belief that grows in our heart. Think about it like this, magic is much lie religious faith. Fortune telling healing and even praying. They all are miracles that only those that believe will ever experience.

"So... we just have to believe?" She asked with a combination of doubt an awe.

"That's right, as long as you believe in its power and have faith in yourself... oh and strive to live in harmony with nature, you'll be able to use magic. That's what it takes to be a wizard. Doesn't sound so hard, now does it?

"Magic... I want to use magic, It sound like a lot of fun. Don't you think so as well Ela?" She asked as she turned to look at her, almost bouncing with excitement as she heard his explanation.

"Who said I don't already?" She asked with an amused smile as they both started at her, the younger gaping much more than the elder.

"You can? Why didn't you say anything? What is it?" She fired question after question as Grandpa Rob also looked at her in curiosity.

"It isn't just something per see. Think of it as a family tradition of sorts..." She said thoughtfully. "The reason I dint say anything is because I didn't want to pull any attention to myself. The less wary they are of me the better, its not like I can do much at the moment anyway, it usually starts to develop at the age of eleven, give or take a month or two." She explained.

"Can you show it? Please?" She begged her as a worried look crossed Elizabeth's face.

"It's a good idea to keep it hidden, they already treat the children roughly, if they learnt that you could use magic, well, I don't even want to think what they would do." Grandpa Rob said thoughtfully as he sent a glance towards Erza, who nodded sadly in understanding.

Elizabeth suddenly stood, reaching towards the wall right next to the window before picking up some moss and placing it on Ezra's hand. The girl herself look at her questioningly before a faint green glow appeared. At an impossible fast growing speed, a white coloured flower had appeared. Her eyes widened before a smile slowly formed.

"Look at it Grandpa Rob!" Erza whispered excitedly as she showed it to him. "It's beautiful! That's amazing Ela!" She said as she hugged her, careful to not drop the flower.

"It is." He said as he examined the flower curiously. "While I'm no expert in flowers, I don't think its a common one from Fiore?" He said in almost a curios question as she nodded in confirmation

"It grew all over the place back at home." She said remembering her previously life. "It's called a Dandelion, there was a legend that if you close your eyes, made a wish, and blew the seeds into the air, it would come true." She explained nostalgically.

Erza closed her eyes as she did just that, directing her breath towards the nearby window as she opened her eyes with a bright spark in them.

"If my whish comes true, does that mean Ill be able to fly in the sky on a broom?" She asked cheerfully as she jumped on one, pretending to do so as she balanced herself on one leg.

"I cant guarantee that." Grandpa Rob said as he let out a chuckle before a fond look appeared in his eyes. "But you will gain magical powers of some sort. It just takes needing to search for it in you heart."

"I promise Ill give you a ride on my broom one day." She said before looking at Elizabeth with a smile. "You as well, Ela." She added as she bounced with excitement. Elizabeth couldn't help but smiled at the girl.

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She couldn't sleep. Her mind had gone over her previous life after her conversation with uncle Rob and Erza. Strangle enough she was... happy, she supposed. She had people she could trust in, she hadn't had that before.

"Still awake, Ela?" Grandpa Robs voice asked as she opened her eyes.

He was sitting next to her, his eyes closed, but a kind expression on his face.

"What's keeping you awake?" He asked gently, careful not to ask something to personal.

"I was thinking of what we talked about before." She stated as she sat up, leaning on the cold wall as a chill when trough her spine.

"Oh, about magic?" He asked curiously.

"No, about being a wizard and... well, and having a guild I suppose." She said more to herself as Grandpa nodded.

"The guild rather than the magic?"

"Yeah, Fairy Tail sounds like having a family." She said thoughtfully as one of his eyebrows was raised in curiosity.

"It was." He said fondly.

"That's the emblem, isn't it? The one on you back, I mean." She asked curiously as he nodded.

"It is." He said simply. "You know, surprisingly enough I can see some of Fairy Tail here." He said as her eyes widened in surprise. "Fairy Tail was always about forming bonds and travelling the lands with the people you send those bonds with. I can see it here, even now I can see as you slowly are making bonds with everyone here. Erza in particular, it meant a lot to her that you would take that risk to show her magic you know?" He said with a smile as a faint blush formed on her face.

"Every child should have a dream. It was worth the risk." She said simply as he nodded.

A peaceful silence filled the room, both lost in they own thought.

"When you talked about family..." He trailed of, not knowing how to ask her.

"I was never really liked." She said thoughtfully. "Always the odd one out, always the one to be different. Humans can be cruel like that, they hate what they don't love." She looked towards Ezra's sleeping figure as a small smile formed on her lips. "I... I couldn't see that in Erza."

"Her smile is beautiful, sometimes I think that it is only because of the two of you that I still keep going. At the end it is the simplest things that matter. It is those things that we should treasure the most." He explained as she nodded in agreement.

"You should get some sleep, it's already late." He said softly as she whished him good night.