AN: I'm pretty sure that all authors suffer from having a bunch of plot bunnies and just can't resist the temptation to type it down so here I am, instead of focusing on my other works. Shame on me.
Cold Blooded Chapter 1
Step.
Step.
Step.
The child, a young boy about ten years of age, trudged slowly through the forest, his face showing a lot of effort for each simple step. His memories were blank, having no idea of where he is and how he got there in the first place. All he could remember was a big, blue ball, a lot of snakes and his name.
After several minutes that seemed like hours to the boy, he reached the edge of the forest and he found himself on a small hill overlooking a large city. The signpost that he, for some reason, could read from about half a kilometre away said 'Magnolia'. And so, he continued on his way, stumbling every couple of steps, his short legs carrying him as fast as they can until he reached the town's edge and he stared in amazement at the assorted people that went about their everyday lives. He barely made another step when his legs gave way and the ground zoomed in on his face.
The boy blearily opened his eyes, squinting a bit at the sudden intrusion of bright light. He groaned and tried to sit up. A pair of soft hands assisted him in the endeavour and he flinched in surprise.
"Are you okay? Master found you unconscious on the road."
Instincts he never knew he had burst forth and he dived away from the unknown voice, doing a semi-graceful, semi-desperate roll ending with him crouched and facing the voice's owner. He blinked when he saw a pretty girl, around his age, staring back at him, mouth slightly agape. The girl seemed to realize it too and she shut her mouth, her teeth making an audible click.
The two of them stared at each other until the girl seemingly lost her patience and snapped, all previous gentleness erased from her voice.
"What are you staring at, you creep!"
Those words stung the boy a bit, memories he didn't know he had rising to the surface.
Creep.
Freak.
Monster.
Before he knew it, he was glaring back at the girl, and for the first time, he noticed several features of the girl that rung several chords in his non-existent memories. She had white hair, oddly reminiscent of someone he seemed to know, and her temperament also seemed to remind him of someone he didn't think he'd ever met, although phantom pains of a fist being buried in his face or in his gut accompanied the strange memories.
He shook his head and hissed at the girl, surprising both of them. Hissing just came naturally for him, and it was not the hissing of a mongoose or some other small mammal but a decidedly reptilian hiss.
The girl seemed to glare at him even harder at that, taking the hissing as a sign of hostility, which for all intents and purposes , it was.
"You want a fight, huh, punk?"The girl demanded of him. At the word fight, the boy's eyes widened. He didn't know why, nor did he care why but the idea of fighting a strong opponent seemed to reawaken an emotion he thought long lost: happiness. Did he enjoy fighting? He didn't know but as long as it keeps invoking this feeling, then he'd fight the girl anytime she wants.
"Yessss... let's fight."
Makarov Dreyar was a man who believed that there was good in everybody, no matter how they look like or what their past actions are. Of course, there is a point of no return when it comes to nefarious deeds, but those are things better not said. So when he found a young child passed out onthe outskirts of the city, he took the boy in, not caring about the strange paleness of the boy's skin or the fact that the boy seemed too cold to be alive.
What he was thinking when he asked someone like Mirajane to watch over the boy is unknown, but it;s probably due to the fact that she might not care much about the boy's appearance since she was known as a Demon herself. But the fact that Mirajane was one of the most aggressive members of Fairy Tail (and that's saying something) seemed to slip out of the old man's mind for a while. And when he heard that Mirajane, the Demon of Fairy Tail and candidate for this year's S-rank Trials just challenged the previously unconscious boy to a fight, he wondered if he should have asked Erza to watch the boy instead.
"Since you just woke up from your beauty sleep, how about you make the first move."The white haired girl in front of him stated mockingly. The boy's reptilian eyes stopped looking around at their sudden audience, most of which bore the same mark that the girl in front of him did, and narrowed. His apparent opponent smirked.
"Well, if you're too chicken to go first, then I will."she said before charging at the boy. In the middle of her assault, her right arm shifted to a demonic looking version of itself and the boy knew that being hit by that thing would hurt. A lot.
"How do you like my Take Over magic?"The girl yelled before slamming her fist into the boy's gut. There was a disgusting squelch sound and her fist punched through the boy's stomach, thick liquid dripping from her knuckles. The girl stared wide-eyed at the apparently mortal wound for a few seconds before the boy melted into the same thick substance and splashed all over the girl.
The girl spat out some of the liquid and blinked in confusion.
"Mud?"
Off to the side, the boy marvelled at his own achievement. He never knew he could create a copy of himself using mud. But just when the girl was about to pound him into the earth, his instincts seemed to take over and before he knew it, he was out of the girl's way and staring at himself. His mud self. A small smile formed on the boy's lips. Maybe, just maybe, he would actually stand a chance against this girl and her evil arm.
Makarov stared in wonder at the magic that even he, in his age, has never seen before. Was it a lost magic? A branch of Doll magic perhaps? Or maybe it's a brand new creation? A magic where the side effects involved reptilian properties? He looked around and saw most of the guild stare in amazement as well. Natsu, he noted, seemed to be excited about this newcomer's strange ability and Erza seemed torn between wanting to keep the peace in the guild or the chance to see her rival get beaten by a weird looking guy.
From the corner of his eye, Makarov noted the appearance of what he assumed to be the real boy and he was surprised to see a smile on the boy's face. Was it the because of a successful trick? Did he perhaps find Mirajane's mudbath amusing? Or was it something else? Did he, like the majority of the Fairy Tail guild, enjoy fighting and magic?
The girl glared at the boy who seemed to be taking amusement at her situation, covered in mud as she is. The snickering of her red-haired idiot of a mortal enemy did not help at all.
"You think, that's funny, huh?" A circle of purple light erupted beneath the girl's feet.
"Take Over: Satan Soul!"
The girl started to transform while the boy stared, transfixed at the sight. But before long, both children found themselves in the hands of a giant.
"This has gone far enough."The giant's voice boomed. The boy glanced at the girl and saw that she was still glaring at him, but he still heard her mumble an apology. Whether she was apologizing to him or to the giant, he did not know. The giant put them down before, to the boy's amazement, shrunk down into a tiny, old man sporting a very wide smile.
"Now, Mira. Is that how you treat a guest?"The man then turned to the boy, still smiling.
"My name is Makarov Dreyar, the Guild Master of Fairy Tail. What's your name?"
The boy hesitated. His name was one of the only things he remembered in his old life, but the memories attached to that name, although vague, held negative emotions, as if the name was the very embodiment of evil. He didn't know what the memories were and whose memories they were, but he did know that he has yet to make some good memories for himself. And as he looked around, at the entire crowd of people, the majority of whom gave him small grins, or in the case of an excited pink-haired boy, a thumbs up. He glanced back at the girl who was still glaring at him and made a decision.
"Orochimaru."