Author's Note: The oldest cliché in Fanfiction history: A girl from the real world is transported to Earthland, home to Fairy Tail and other magical wonders. Confused, lost, and trying frantically to find a way home, an unlikely character takes an interest in her. Bickslowxoc
I make two major changes in this story regarding the characters in the anime/manga:
1. Bickslow has dark green eyes in this story (and most of my stories) instead of dark red.
2. The dynamic of the Thunder Legion is a little different than in the show. Instead of simply being 'bodyguards' that Fried put together, Laxus is the main leader and put the team together.
Having not read the manga and the fact that information on these characters is pretty limited, (at least at the time that I wrote this) 90% of the things about the Thunder Legion are made up in my stories, especially with Bickslow. There's pretty much no detail on Bickslow's 'babies' other than they're wandering souls in the manga/show, and there's not even a proper definition for what constitutes as a wandering soul. So... I took some artistic liberties and had to come up with my own definitions/explanations. That's one of the reasons that this story eventually jump started into a 9 book series- I had to come up with so many of my own definitions and explanations, that I was barely working in the Fairy Tale universe anymore.
Any who! I hope you enjoy my story! I'll be updating this story every other week- and there are 61 chapter to this. There's no concrete ending, but most chapters are story lines in of themselves, so it's not very cliff-hangery.
Enjoy!
Walking Cliché 1
Chapter 1
"Fuck it's cold." A tired voice grumbled. The owner of the voice turned over, only to curse again, feeling something sharp poke and scratch at her arm. As her eyes peered open, she blinked a few times, adjusting to the lack of light.
It smelled like trees and dirt.
Something cold dripped on her skin, and as she listened closer, she heard the soft patter of rain.
One side of her body was soaked, and at this realization she sat up, looking around her frantically with wide eyes. Her eyes were still adjusting, but as she looked up, she could see clouds between the tree branches. Face met with more raindrops, she blinked against the water, panic rising within her.
She pushed herself to her feet, looking down and trying to wipe the mud and dirt off, brushing blindly at the debris. How drunk did I get last night!? She thought to herself, trying to remember what happened the night before. She'd only had a glass of wine with her roommate, watched some Netflix, and then gone to bed. Nothing crazy or out of the ordinary.
Thankfully she'd fallen asleep fully clothed in jeans and a long-sleeve gray shirt, otherwise she'd be much colder. After working for 12 hours straight, she was exhausted, and didn't know how she'd managed to stay awake during her Walking Dead binge with Suzie.
"Hello? Is anyone here? Suzie?" She spoke into the darkness, and as her eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, she could make out the trees around her.
The only sound to answer was the patter of rain drops falling.
"Hello?" She spoke again. "Anyone?" Her voice got quieter, feeling the weight of her situation dawn on her. "Help?" She squeaked, holding her arms and rubbing them up and down, flinching away from the cold water clinging to her side.
"Okay, I took a class on this. First aid. Wait, no, I'm not injured. Wilderness survival- damn, I wish I'd taken that course." She talked to herself, trying to verbally work through what she should do. "Okay, gather facts first. I'm in the middle of the woods, soaking wet, no idea where I am or how I got here, no supplies, and it's dark. I should try and find shelter."
As she took a step forward, she closed her eyes and paused, her heart sinking with her bare foot. Mud squished between her toes, and she took a deep breath, pushing passed the gross factor and the fact and gathering up all her courage to keep moving forward.
A sucking sound was produced as she trudged through the mud. Grass, dirt, twigs- she felt crawling sometimes and had to hold back a scream- and more often than not, tripping over tree roots.
"Worst. Prank. Ever." She groaned, continuing on and trying to think of a plausible reason that someone would kidnap her and dump her in the woods. Sure, she had a few weird friends that might kidnap her in her sleep, but they wouldn't just leave her out here. Maybe have her wake up in their house or car, maybe a penis drawn on her face, but nothing like this.
All she could see were trees in every direction, and the rain was beginning to get heavier.
She kept walking for what seemed like hours, trying to keep going in one direction. Since it was raining, she couldn't see the stars to navigate, and hoped and prayed that she wasn't going in circles.
By the time the rain stopped and the sun started to rise, her feet had gone numb. Soaked to the bone, shivering, tired, hungry- she cursed, remembering she skipped dinner last night- a wry smile tugged at her lips when she finally happened across a large building. On the outside was a large sign reading 'Hakobe Library'.
Seeing no other buildings around, and just wanting to get out of the outdoors, she hurried to the giant doors. Making sure to wipe her feet on the mat, and frowning when she realized just how dirty she was, she pushed the giant wooden door open and stumbled inside.
It looked amazing.
She'd never seen a library so massive. The outside had looked pretty worn down and decrepid, but the outside was borderline magical with out clean and beautiful the wooden carvings were.
There were at least ten floors of books lining the walls, several giant ladders strewn across it, and even more free standing bookshelves on the main floor to the side of the giant room. Long desks lined the main floor, and to her astonishment, it was completely empty.
No one was there.
Feeling like she should have checked the hours before entering- maybe the librarian left the door unlocked by accident- she looked around frantically for any desk or sign with hours on it.
Although she was unable to locate a desk, she did discover that the wall next to the doorway was covered with maps.
Despite her utter confusion, she couldn't help but feel satisfied at getting indoors. It wasn't particularly warm, but she was out of the elements, and that was enough. Her blue eyes perused the wall of maps, unable to make sense of them, and stared at them for what felt like forever. Assuming she was just exhausted, and that's why they didn't make sense, she continued staring at the labels of places.
A star was next to "Mt. Hakobe", along with a 'you are here' arrow pointing to it, and then a picture of a large mountain. "That sounds familiar…" She muttered. "Fiore", "Captial Crocus", "Hargeon", "Magnolia"-
"Fairy Tail wizard guild!" Was on a small arrow pointing to it.
The woman blinked, finally able to recognize it. "This is a map from an anime." She muttered, and looked around at the other maps. "I wonder if this is a library for anime, or something weird like that? I should really move out of Portland."
Her gaze moved across the various maps, and although she didn't recognize some of them, most of them looked to stay consistent with the original Fairy Tail map.
"They wouldn't dedicate an entire library to one anime..."
Feeling the cold begin to grip her again, she started moving, walking along the wall and making her way to the bookshelves creating a wall. All of the books were magic oriented, or stayed with the Fairy Tail theme. "History of Fiore", "Fire magic: the Basics", etc.
She stopped and looked around again, confirming that no one else was in the building. Deciding to read the "History of Fiore"- because why not?- she grabbed the book and sat down. With her back against the other books, she started reading, surprised by how extensive the author was with it. Eventually she fell asleep, her eyelids drifting to a close and book falling to the ground next to her.
1.
After reading several books, most of which were history or magic oriented, and waiting in the library for a full day, she made the conscious decision that she had to leave. She really didn't want to, because the library was an excellent safe haven, but she had no idea when the next person would visit. For all she knew it was a holiday, wherever the hell she was, and they wouldn't be here for weeks. Or the area could have been closed down, or any other numerous explanations.
There was no phone, no library desk to speak of, but there were a lot of strange balls that were labeled as 'lacrima'.
Her stomach rumbled painfully, and she was starving.
For how many maps there were, she couldn't find any of the town. All she knew was that this was apparently next to a mountain, but she had no idea where the other houses or buildings were.
Reluctantly, she left the sanctity of the library after taking another cursory look at the map, and went outside.
It was actually sunny outside, to her relief. She jogged to a nearby path and looked around, her eyes widening considerably when she saw the mountain in question. It was covered in snow, and just behind the library she could see ice and snow turning to grass.
No wonder it was so cold.
Sighing, she looked up and down the path, deciding to go left, since it appeared to be going south east. Despite the similarity to the anime she watched, she hoped that the map was accurate and some goofball had simply changed the names on it. She'd been unable to find any map with names that looked real, so it was the only one she could go on.
Her clothes were relatively clean, since the library had had a bathroom for her to use. She couldn't clean them very thoroughly, but she could at least get most of the mud off, which helped immensely to make her more presentable.
Yet another sigh escaped her lips as she walked, flinching and making faces as her feet made contact with small rocks.
A twig snapped nearby, causing her body to tense and look towards the source, her eyes widening at the sight.
Huge eyes were staring at her.
Huge.
It looked at her with an expression she couldn't quite place, but it sent a chill down her spine.
The creature looked to be about 15 feet tall, with white fur and black chest, hands, and face. It almost resembled a gorilla, but as what sounded like a laugh rumbled from its giant chest, one word came to mind:
Run.
Her adrenaline spiked as she broke out into a run, and she suddenly wished that she had taken track back in high school like her parents wanted. The memory of kids picking on her in elementary school rang in her ears, taunting her for being the slowest person in her class.
That hadn't changed. She was still slow. She hated running, but right now, she pumped as much energy as she could into her legs, silently wishing for a miracle that would save her from whatever animal she was running from.
She didn't need to look behind her to know that whatever the hell that creature was, it was chasing her. It was heavy and large enough that it caused the ground to shake beneath her feet.
Hearing it getting closer, and even its hot breath on her neck, she took an abrupt turn into the forest, narrowly dodging the arms that tried to wrap around her. As she booked it into the harsh terrain, the creature yelled an 'OW', and a loud thud followed.
She didn't look back.
It felt like everything moved in slow motion for her, like she was in a dream. Her heart was pounding, wind whipped across her paled face, feet pushed and pounded into the earth with as much force as she could muster.
Run.
Run.
The word kept repeating in her head as she tried not to fall, too afraid to look behind her.
She kept running until she fell, stumbling painfully down a hill filled with branches, debris, and rocks, and eventually into a babbling brook. Quickly rolling to her knees and getting out of the water, she looked up the hill, her eyes searching for the monster that had been chasing her.
It was hard to breath.
Her chest moved up and down, trying to catch up and get oxygen into her system, but her gasps got louder as she tried to regain her breath. Throat swelling, pinky fingers numb, she fumbled to her pocket, only to find that she didn't have it.
Inhaler.
It wasn't there.
Calm down. The voice spoke urgently in her head, and she closed her eyes, trying to get her breathing back to normal. Breathe. It's okay. You're okay. You'll be okay if you calm the fuck down.
The numbness was spreading through her fingers, and she looked down at them, watching them curl helplessly.
Calm down.
It'll be okay.
Breathe.
Falling to her side, eyes wide, all she could do was try to breathe.
But then darkness took over.
2.
She woke up.
So that was a good sign.
As her eyes opened, she was met with the image of a snake slithering in front of her face, causing her to gasp and sit upright, scooting away from it. Her back was met with a boulder, which startled her, but she couldn't help feeling relieved at haven woken up.
Give me all the snakes if it means not dying. She thought dryly, and started looking around, trying to calm down and make sense of her surroundings.
The stars above her were magnificent, and she couldn't help but stare in awe. They'd never looked so beautiful, wonderful… magical.
"Maybe this is a different world." She whispered, and watched in amazement as small fireflies started flying around her, illuminating the strange and beautiful flowers around her.
Everything felt alive around her, calm, serene… with a heavy sigh, she leaned back, truly relaxing for the first time in what felt like years.
1.
It had taken her a week to finally make it to Magnolia, and by that time, her shirt had been torn and shredded so much that she had to tear the sleeves off. Mysterious berries filled her mostly empty belly. She hoped she could get away with it looking stylish rather than homeless, which would have worked easily in Portland. In the land of Fairy Tail, she had no idea if it would work or not.
Despite her initial doubts of whether she'd actually been transported to this world, the monster, strange plantlife, and eventually just stepping into the city convinced her. The magic was too real, Fairy Tail was spoken about as a legitimate thing, and it just felt different.
Either she was in a coma or she'd been transported to another world.
In either situation, she was stuck. If she was in a coma she didn't think she could have an asthma attack or feel pain, so she was inclined to believe that she was still alive and kicking, but the question was still there.
Fairy Tail was the only place she knew was safe. Everything had so far lined up with the anime she had watched for the past year, so hopefully the wizard guild was just as accepting and open-minded as she remembered.
Stepping into the Guild Hall was extremely strange and eerie.
It was so real.
The wizards fighting and bickering, the smell of alcohol, laughing and cheering filling the air. Her eyes locked with the Guild Master, a small old man across the room, who was quietly nursing his drink. In the show he had accepted people regardless of their magical ability, so she desperately hoped that that was the case now.
She strolled right up to him, acting confident as ever, and asked him if she could join the guild.
He looked up, briefly looked her up and down, muttered a 'sure', and nodded quietly.
Not wanting to change his mind by questioning his decision, she thanked him and walked over to the bar where the beautiful Mirajane was pouring drinks. She looked even more beautiful than in the anime, and she suddenly understood why the other characters fell head-over-heel for her.
"I just joined the guild. Where do I get the symbol thingy?" She asked awkwardly when the woman looked at her, and she nodded, smiling sweetly to her.
"Give me a minute and I'll get it set up for you. Do you know what color and where you want it?" Mira asked, and she blinked, pausing. "Take your time. We don't like changing the placement of our emblems, so be sure where you want it when you get it. Why don't you take a seat over there while I finish getting drinks to people?"
"Alright." The new guild member nodded, and walked over to the table she had pointed to. Her blue eyes wandered around the guild, recognizing most of the wizards instantly, while others it took her a minute to put a name to. Some of them she had absolutely no idea, and guessed that they simply weren't given names in the anime.
"New to the guild, sweet cheeks?" A voice spoke near her, causing her to look up, finding a wizard that she didn't recognize standing there. One of the first episodes flashed through her head, remembering that Lucy had been hit on relentlessly when she first joined.
"Just joined." She confirmed, nodding.
"What's your name?"
"Claire." She answered, and he smiled.
"Claire. That's a nice name." He said with a glint in his eye she recognized all too well. He looked almost twice her age, and although was fit and not terrible looking, definitely not her style. "Where you from?"
"From a galaxy far, far away." She said, and was happy when Mirajane approached her, that same carefree smile on her face.
"Have you decided?"
"Yeah. Purple, upper right arm." She said, and the woman nodded, taking a seat next to her. When Claire didn't return her gaze to the older man, he took the hint and walked away, not bothering to pursue it.
The white-haired mage reached her hands up to the woman's arm, and her hands glowed as she cast a spell.
"Is there a guidebook or anything I need to read for joining the guild?" She asked the younger woman.
"Nope. Have you been in a wizard's guild before?"
"Honestly, I don't know magic yet. I was hoping I could find a teacher here."
"If you ask around, I'm sure that there are some wizards willing to teach you. For your first few missions you should probably pair up with someone, so you get an idea of how we do things. If you're too nervous, I can pair you up with someone." She explained, and Claire let out a sigh of relief.
"That would be awesome, thank you. I may not know magic yet, but I'm a hard worker."
"I'm sure you'll be a great fit here." She said, and put her hands down. "All done. You're officially a wizard of Fairy Tail. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Everyone here is pretty friendly."
"I'd like to start work as quickly as possible." Claire spoke, and Mira nodded in understanding, then looking around her. Her eyes locked with a brunette in a bikini top guzzling a huge barrel of booze.
"Kana!" She yelled, and the sound of her name, the alcoholic set her drink down to look up at them. "Are you busy?"
"Nope. Whatcha need?"
"What was your name?" Mira whispered to the woman.
"Claire."
"This is Claire, and she's new to the guild. Would you be willing to go on a job with her?" She asked, and the brunette smirked, looking to the short haired woman.
"Sure thing, chess girl!" She stated, referring to the woman's hair. Claire had gotten a buzz cut a few weeks ago and checkerboard squares died into her hair, and even though she'd gotten strange looks at her previous job, she blended right in with the wizard guild.
2.
Her first job was simple- some yard work for an old woman across town. The pay wasn't great, but it was enough to buy Claire her first full meal in days, along with some extra cash for future meals.
It was hardly enough money to get her a place to stay for the night, but she wasn't too worried about it. After the job with Kana, and finally eating, she'd made herself comfortable in the Fairy Tail library.
She may not have been the best student, but she did learn how to research during her years in college. Given her very strange situation, her best bet was to gather as much information as possible before indulging her situation to others. Books were piled around her on the table she sat at, and skimmed most of them, looking for relevant information.
On her way back to the guild she'd stopped by a small store and bought a notebook and pen to take notes. After only an hour she'd filled several pages, both with notes from the book and from memory. She made countless lists on what she needed to do and in what order, but she was so scattered all she could do was reorganize the information without really absorbing or learning it.
"Whatchya readin'?" The voice caused her to jump, having been so engrossed in her notes that she didn't hear him approach. When she looked up at him, she froze, recognizing the strange wizard standing only a few feet away.
Bickslow.
To be honest, she never really had a strong opinion of him in the anime, but he did control souls, which was on the creepy side. In person he was much more intimidating, his tall form and padded outfit adding to his bulk, and skulls on his shoulder pads. His 'babies' were nowhere in sight.
His tongue was sticking out, as per his character, the Fairy Tail emblem gleaming at her covered in saliva.
"Uh…" She muttered, and looked back to her book, turning back to the title. "Fire magic."
"You're a fire mage?" He asked, grinning.
"No, but I was thinking about learning it."
"Are you new here? I don't remember seeing you around." He asked, stepping over to lean against a nearby bookshelf, hands comfortably resting in his pants pockets.
"I just joined today."
"Wow, so you're really a newbie."
"How long have you been here?"
"A few years… I guess 5 years, now?" He said, pondering it quietly. "Man, time flies."
"How do you like it here?" She asked, a bit unnerved by his presence, but starting to get used to it. Having grown up in Portland, Oregon, home of the weirdest individuals imaginable, it was easy to get used to his strange clothes. His magic, on the other hand…
"It's alright. Things are going to change a lot really soon, though." He said, still letting his tongue hang out.
"How so?" She asked, watching him chuckle and shake his head. He didn't need to tell her, she already knew- 'The Battle of Fairy Tail'. At least that gave her an idea of where she was in the timeline.
"Laxus, the Guild Master's grandson, is going to be making some changes soon."
"Is the Guild Master planning to retire?"
"Yeah. Old geezer is getting on in his years." He replied, and during the pause in conversation, she guessed that he was looking her up and down. Given her days traveling and work earlier that day, she felt a bit self-conscious, but reminded herself that she was working with what she had. "So, have you always been in Magnolia?"
"Just moved here."
"Where are you staying?"
"No offense, but I don't know you very well…." She spoke, causing the man to nod in understanding.
"Don't worry about it. I'm sure we'll become friends soon enough. Mind if I ask what's with the hair?"
"I thought it would look cool." She said with a smirk, remembering what he looked like under his visor and hood. Tattooed face, glowing green eyes, and blue hair in a quasi-Mohawk shape.
"It does." He agreed, and then pushed himself from the bookshelf. "Anyway, I should get going. I'm looking for my friend, Fried, but it doesn't look like he's here. See you around?"
"Maybe you will." She said with a smile, and watched him walk away, his flying dolls oddly absent. Even though the guy gave off a creepy vibe, it was still the longest conversation she'd had with someone over the past week. The smile on her face was genuine, and for the first time since she'd arrived, she felt like she'd made a real connection with someone.
It didn't matter that he was creepy, or that his motives for talking to her were slightly questionable.
After what she'd been through, and how far away from home she was, the attention was nice. Whatever the reason, he'd talked to her like she was a person- not because he had to, but he just felt like talking to her. Mirajane had been nice, but she handed her off to the local drunk as fast as she could, too busy with other things.
A sniffle caused her to shake her head of her thoughts, clearing the tears in her eyes that had formed, and went back to her notes.
3.
A few days later, she found herself enjoying a very delicious mojito on the second floor of the Guild Hall. After working her ass off for the past few days, she'd managed to make enough money for a new outfit, a little make up, backpack, and granola bars. She made full use of the showers, so she was clean, and she was pleasantly surprised at how different she looked.
Her skin looked smoother, limbs thinner from being overworked and lack of food, not to mention sleep deprivation causing small bags under her eyes, but she looked strangely healthier. Growing up she was used to having pale skin and teased for looking like a vampire for it, but here, it looked tanner. Make up easily covered the bags under her eyes, and her new clothes accentuated her features, unlike her previous outfit.
Men were talking to her a little more frequently now, and other wizards much more friendly. Whether it was the change in her physical appearance or simply getting used to being around them, she wasn't sure, but she liked the familiarity. Since Lucy and other female wizards got so much attention from the males, she was a little surprised at her lack thereof, but wouldn't dare complain about it.
Just like the anime, practically every male was teeming with muscle. Men and women alike wore little to no clothing, in Gray's case none, and she couldn't deny enjoying the view.
She could have been transported to worse animes, that was for sure. Every once in a while they reminded her of home, some random comment she overheard or just the silly vibe she got, but she pushed the feelings back.
Mojitoooo~
Sipping away at her drink, she went back to her notes. Attempting to keep others from reading her notes and realizing that she knew way too much for being a new wizard, she'd attempted to mix English and what little broken Japanese hiragana she knew. She'd figured out about when she was in terms of the timeline, but she was finding it difficult to recall all of the events afterwards.
She'd been sitting there for some twenty minutes trying to create a list of dangerous things that would happen in the future, and how to avoid them.
On one of her many 'things to do' lists, was to research how to get back home. She'd done a little research on her own, but only the basics, and had hoped to ask Lucy for help when she returned with Natsu and the others. They were fighting Jellal and that whole fiasco at the moment, which Claire had no idea when they'd be back. The anime was hardly clear on how much time was passing between episodes and story arcs.
Bickslow and his team had been absent, which was hardly a surprise. They wouldn't be social with the guild for a while….
Thinking back to the seith mage, she couldn't help but feel butterflies in her stomach. Out of all the wizards, for whatever reason, he was the only one that she actually saw herself hanging out with. She'd gotten plenty of offers to go out on dates, which actually made her quite flustered at times, but he was the only one on her mind. The other guys gave her a sleazy vibe as well, like she was simply a pet to talk into bed with them, and although she recalled Bickslow being a little perverted in the anime, he didn't act that way in person. He'd had a simple, civilized conversation with her.
She sighed.
She'd gotten side tracked again.
4.
When the Battle of Fairy Tail was taking place, she made sure that she was well hidden in a corner of the library, curled up with a book. The only wizards that frequented the library were Levy and Fried, and the occasional other wizard, but for the most part it remained empty.
She knew that eventually someone would catch her sleeping in the library, but she'd been sleeping at such odd hours, she hoped she could get away with it a bit longer.
Working every day, now able to do solo missions, she'd accumulated quite a bit of wealth. In the next few days she would talk to Erza about Fairy Hills, the women's dorm. After sleeping in the woods, libraries, and even a nearby park once or twice, she was looking forward to a bed.
Pay was much better than her previous employment.
Clients were a hit and miss in terms of pleasantness, but she didn't mind. If she didn't like one, the job was usually just a few hours, and then she'd be gone, looking for another paycheck.
Explosions had started around the city.
Claire sighed, hoping that she wouldn't be roped into it.
5.
"What's up, Checkers?" The voice caused her to jump, waking up abruptly. A large book was open in her lap, and she was in her usual corner of the library, cuddled up with a blanket around her shoulders.
Her blue eyes met his visor, and for a second she just stared at him, trying to blink the sleepiness from her eyes.
"Sorry if I scared you. I thought you were reading, not sleeping." He said, smiling at her. Like before, he leaned against a nearby bookshelf, hands in his pockets. "I'm surprised that you're here so late."
"I must have dozed off reading."
"You look pretty comfortable. Blankie, book… all you need is some hot chocolate and a cute guy to cuddle up with." He said, sticking his tongue out at the end.
The woman smiled, chuckling as she looked up at him, rubbing her eyes. "Are you offering?"
"Maybe. I'm known to be quite the cuddle monster." Bickslow said, still smiling with his signature grin.
"Are you looking for your friend again?" She asked curiously, changing the conversation as a small silence fell between them.
"Nah, I just felt like walking around and being social. After yesterday, my friends and I have been trying to be a bit more friendly to our fellow guild mates." He explained, awkwardly scratching the back of his head as he shifted his weight.
"How's that going for you?"
"It's weird… I didn't see you during the battle, so I'm guessing that you avoided it, but it got pretty bad. Everyone is still mad at us, and Laxus got kicked out of the guild." He explained, looking away from her. "I've never been a very social person, so it's been kind of weird talking to so many people."
"I can relate." She said, causing him to look at her again.
"Miss bookworm isn't social? I'm utterly surprised."
"I'm not usually a bookworm. I actually work… used to work at a café. It required socializing, which forced me to be around people much more often."
"Why'd you quit?" He asked, not expecting to see how watery her eyes got at the question. She took a deep breath and turned, trying to regain her composure. "Sorry, I didn't mean to push your buttons. Not that you don't have other very cute buttons I'd love to push, if you know what I mean."
The absurd comment caused her to laugh. She'd smiled, chuckled, even giggled once or twice the past two weeks- but this was the first time she'd actually laughed. After everything that had happened, it felt nice to fill the silence that had surrounded her with that sound.
"You have a nice laugh." He commented as she started to calm down, her eyes watery from the laughter. Finding that he was enjoying the conversation, and she didn't seem to have anywhere to be, he sat down on the ground near her. Still leaning against the bookshelf, his legs were now bent in front of him, only a few inches from her own.
"Thanks." She replied, wiping away the tears on the side of her eyes, and then closing the book on her lap and setting it to the side.
"So how are you liking Fairy Tail so far?"
"It's weird." She admitted, and he snickered. "But the pay is good, and the people are friendly enough."
"Are you going to stay?" He asked curiously. "Most people tend to bail after the first few days."
Looking at him, she was able to see a glint of his eyes with the lighting, and for a moment she wanted to tell him everything that had happened to her. How she had no idea what she was doing, that she feared she'd never see her family again, that she was scared as hell. "Yeah, I'm going to stick around for a while."
"Good. We need more level headed wizards in the guild."
"Why do you wear that visor?" She asked curiously, even though she already knew the answer.
"I can see souls. This visor makes me unable to use figure eyes, part of my soul possession magic, on them."
"So if you took the visor off, would that make you 'soul possess' anyone you made eye contact with?" She asked, honestly unable to remember if he would or wouldn't.
"Most people are surprised when I tell them I can see souls." He commented, probably looking at her suspiciously under his visor. "You already knew about my magic, didn't you?"
"I know a lot of things." She said with a shrug. "I know that you use souls that possess dolls, and that when you make direct eye contact, you can control someone's soul. I don't know the full details of your magic."
"Who told you about me?"
"A little birdie told me." She said, watching as he bit his lower lip, probably lost in concentration. "You never answered my question."
A small silence fell between them as he sat there staring at her, and he finally shrugged. "I can look people in the eye without soul possessing them. It's a spell that needs to be cast."
"So why do you wear the visor?"
"It makes people more comfortable." He said with a shrug. "It's also more epic during a battle. Freaks people out when I suddenly announce that I'm about to possess their soul." He laughed as he spoke, and she couldn't help but smile, remembering his fight with Lucy. "Do you want to see what I look like?"
"Sure, if you're comfortable with it. And promise not to steal my soul." Claire spoke, still feeling a bit dazed and comfortable from her earlier nap. Her blue blanket, covered in penguins, was still wrapped around her shoulders.
Slowly, Bickslow took off his visor, revealing his face to her.
It was a lot less climatic than she thought it would be. She thought that seeing his face would actually freak her out a bit, even a little, but it didn't. Living in Portland, she'd gotten used to seeing tattoos and died hair, so it was actually comforting to see the rest of his face for once.
"You look nice." She commented after a moment, entertained when he gave her a baffled expression.
"'Nice'?! I've made children cry with this ugly mug of mine."
"Was that because you threatened to steal their soul, or just because you looked at them?" She asked, and he started to argue, but then stopped.
"That still wasn't the reaction I was expecting."
"Maybe I'm too tired to be scared." She said with a smile, giggling at his overly animated scoff and turn.
"We'll have to do this again, but in the daytime, when you're well rested. Then you'll be scared out of your mind."
"Sleep has not been my friend since I came here."
"Well yeah, when you take naps on the floor in the library, it's going to suck." He laughed, and shifted his position a bit.
"I'm hopefully getting a place at Fairy Hills soon. I'm talking to Erza about it tomorrow."
"Nice, I heard it's hella nice there. I wish there was a boys dormitory I could stay at. Where are you staying now?"
"I'm couch surfing at the moment."
"Do you have a place to surf tonight?"
"Yeah." She lied. Like before, she had the unbearable urge to spill her secrets to him, but held back. He was the only thing close she seemed to have to a friend, and bombarding him with her problems would hardly help her situation.
"Where are you staying?"
"Why are you so insistent on knowing where I'm sleeping, Bickslow?"
"So you know my magic and my name, huh?" He asked, smirking at her. Her cheeks heated up at being caught, but she brushed it off.
"My name is Claire." She offered. "And you didn't answer my question."
"You didn't answer mine, either." He countered. "But I'll answer it nonetheless: I think you're lying. Fried said that he's caught you in here almost every day since you joined, and half the time you're sleeping."
She looked away from him, sighing. She was never a good liar, and she thought that she'd done a decent job of not being conspicuous, but evidently not.
"If it makes you feel any better, Fried and I are the only ones that know, to my knowledge. You're pretty hidden back here in your little corner, so I doubt anyone has noticed." As he spoke, he watched her carefully, noting her suddenly tense disposition. "It's pretty common for people to come here with nowhere to go. You'd be surprised at how many wizards show up here homeless, with no money, friends, even families killed. People are pretty open to sharing their couches with newcomers in that situation."
"I've never been fond of taking charity." She spoke, still not making eye contact with him. "As soon as I could, I moved out, got a job, and went to school. I never relied on my parents." The woman left out the fact that she actually did couch surf for a while between apartments, but she'd only stayed with people she'd known for years.
"There's no shame in asking for help once in a while. Hell, you can sleep on my couch tonight, if you want. I promise no funny business." He said in all seriousness, putting his hands up. "I can also ask Evergreen tomorrow if she'd be willing to let you stay at her place. Since she's living at Fairy Hills, it could be a good transition for you."
"Why do you care?" She asked curiously, finally bringing her gaze back to his dark green eyes. "I've barely been here for a week."
"For one, since I'm trying to be extra friendly to my fellow comrades, it would be a good start for me." As he spoke, he held up his hand, holding up a finger for every number. "Second, I know what it's like to be homeless; my parents kicked me out when I was 15, so I know how much it sucks. Third, the idea of a cute girl sleeping on the floor somewhere makes me sad."
"How old are you?" She suddenly asked.
"22. You?"
"Same." She said, and after a moment of looking at him, his eyebrows raised in his silent question, she caved. "Fine. Since you offered, I'd like to stay at your place."
"Awesome."
6.
Bickslow woke up at some 8 AM, exiting his room with his hair in every which direction. He hated being up this early, but it was a habit formed by his team of early birds, all of whom teased him relentlessly for being a night owl.
The light breathing of his female companion reminded him of last night, and how he had a guest in his apartment. Glancing over at her, he couldn't help but smile, thinking the girl looked cute in her sleep. She was always so tense at the Guild Hall, even when he'd caught her sleeping in the library, but now she looked utterly relaxed. Blanket half falling off of her, limbs contorted to fit on the small couch, cute button nose twitching slightly- utterly adorable.
As he stared for a little while longer, hoping that he wouldn't get caught in the process, he noticed that her shirt was hitched a bit to reveal some skin. She had some major bruises underneath, and looking a bit closer at her, realized that they covered her arms, too. Guess she's had a rough week. He thought glumly, quietly wondering if she got those from working or from a fight.
Since she only had a couple outfits, and neither were pajamas, he'd offered her a pair of his the previous night. He'd be lying if he said he didn't get a little satisfaction from having her wear his clothes- it was a weird thing about him. He loved seeing girls in his clothes, even if they weren't sleeping with him.
Looking down at himself, he wondered if he should wear a bit more clothing to make her more comfortable. He had no idea how she was in terms of nudity, and when it came to girls, it was a hit or miss on whether they were okay with it.
Literally.
Erza came over once, and when he answered the door simply wearing sweatpants, she punched him in the face. Granted she was still pretty young and awkward at the time, but whenever he saw her, he couldn't help but think of that day.
Being on the receiving end of Erza's wrath was never good. Even at 14 years old, she could punch the lights out of a guy twice her size. In his case, give him a major bloody nose and a trip to Porlyusica.
Shaking his head at the memory, he continued to his original path, hoping his guest wouldn't mind him not wearing a shirt. Since he wore so much armor and clothing at work, he reveled in little clothing at home. Plus, it was his home, after all.
He got busy making them breakfast, trying to be as quiet as possible. His souls hummed around him as he maneuvered through the kitchen, sometimes helping him get supplies or plates, and all the while trying to stay quiet.
When he was at a place where he could walk away from the kitchen for a moment, he peered over at her, checking if he had woken her. Finding her absent from the couch and the bathroom door closed, he frowned, cursing at himself for waking her.
"Alright guys, you're gonna need to be on your best behavior." Bickslow told his souls, all of whom nodded and cheered.
"Of course, of course!"
"Best behavior."
"She hasn't met you guys yet, so I don't want to freak her out."
"We'll be nice,"
"Oh so nice!" They echoed, and the man eyed them suspiciously, particularly Puppu, who was snickering in the back of the group.
"Morning." A soft voice spoke behind him, and he turned in his spot, smiling at the half awake woman.
"Morning. Breakfast is almost ready. Do you want tea with your breakfast?"
"Do you happen to have coffee?" She asked, and he faltered for a moment, trying to figure out if he knew what she was talking about. It sounded a little familiar, but he couldn't pinpoint where he'd heard it.
"… is that a drink?"
"Sorry, don't worry about it. Do you have any tea with caffeine in it?"
"I do have that. Several actually. Do you have a preference?"
"Not really." She said with a shrug, and sat down at his small dining table, her gaze moving to the window next to it. Judging by her anti-social behavior, he guessed that she wasn't a morning person either, and went back to finishing breakfast.
"So how'd you sleep?"
"Best sleep I've had since I got here." She spoke, watching the dark clouds in the sky assemble and rumble.
"How long have you been on your own?"
"About two weeks."
He looked over at her, wondering if she was sad or just waking up.
"I'm not a morning person. Sorry if I come off as rude." She mumbled before he could ask her, and he chuckled before going back to the eggs he was cooking.
"I'm not either. My team is a bunch of early birds, so it's become habit to wake up this early."
"Thunder Legion, right? Or is it Thunder God Tribe…" She muttered the last part, and he looked over at her, surprised that she knew that. Thinking that she'd simply been asking about him at the guild, and feeling a bit of pride over it, he smirked looking away.
"We go by Thunder Legion. We used to call ourselves the 'Thunder God Tribe', but so many people pointed out how pompous it made us sound, we changed it. Personally I liked the original name better, but both of them are good."
"Do you know much about other worlds?" She suddenly asked, turning to look at him. Since he was waiting for the food to cook, he turned and leaned against the counter, facing her.
"Not really. My expertise is in this one." He said with a shrug, and watched as her eyes now locked on his moving dolls, still lacking that surprise and fear he was looking for. He'd been ready to defend his souls, explain them in depth, or whatever else required to calm her down. But she simply looked at them, muttered a 'huh', and looked back to him. "These are my souls."
"Cute." She muttered, flashing a fake smile at him.
"Cute, we are cute!" A few of them echoed as they zoomed forward and danced around her.
"Mind if I ask whose souls they are?" She asked him, watching the dolls dance animatedly around her.
"They're wandering souls. I didn't take them out of a living person, if that's what you're wondering. They were dead when I found them." He said, and watched her relax a little, smiling. "I take souls that can't move on, that are stuck in this realm, and put them in dolls. They're my babies."
"We're cute!" The babies echoed again.
"Yes you are." She agreed, and after a few more minutes of dancing around her, they returned to the kitchen to help serve breakfast and put away supplies.
"I hope you like bacon and eggs. And toast." He said, looking over at her.
"Love it." She said, her gaze back to the window, watching as rain started falling. As he set down the plate in front of her, and Peppe brought her her tea, she reluctantly tore her eyes from the grayness and thanked him. "Thanks for breakfast and letting me crash here last night."
"No biggie, and you can stay here until you get your own place. I spend most of my time training, so I don't spend too much time here anyway."
"You're a lot nicer than I thought you'd be." She commented, and reached over to the mug of warm liquid, bringing the edge to her lips. She made a weird face, causing him to smile.
"Not a fan?"
"I'll get used to it. There has to be a coffee equivalent somewhere." She stated, taking another sip of the warm liquid and trying to hold back her disgusted face.
"What is coffee?"
"My hometown makes the best coffee you can imagine. It's a caffeinated drink made from coffee beans, and I've been getting headaches from not having it."
"Headaches?"
"I'm addicted to it, so when I don't have caffeine in the morning, I get bad headaches." She explained.
"Where are you from again?"
"I'm from a galaxy far, far away." She said, chuckling to herself.
"Since you won't tell me, I'll just refer to your 'hometown' as Coffee Land." He said, sticking his tongue out at her. A smile graced her lips, setting her mug down and looking up at him.
"That's a pretty accurate name, actually. Another one is 'Pot Land'."
He snickered. "'Pot Land'? Seriously?"
"You guys have pot but not coffee?"
"I'm not a habitual user of it, but yeah. I've even got a little bit from a friend that stayed here a while back."
"Is it illegal here?"
"Nah. It was for a while, but it didn't pan out."
"This world is full of surprises." She said, and finally took a bite of the food. She really wished she was a better liar as she tried to enjoy the food, holding back her natural reaction to it.
"I'm not the best cook. Sorry." He said, noticing her attempt to swallow it. Honestly he thought he was pretty decent and never had complaints before, but there was a first for everything.
"It's not your cooking, I just haven't adjusted to the food here. Thank you for cooking breakfast, it was really sweet of you."
"You don't have to eat it if you don't want to."
"I need all the calories I can get, and I'm not one to turn down free food." She said, and he shrugged, shoveling the food on his plate into his mouth.
"Mind if I ask you something?" He asked halfway through his meal, pausing to look back up at her. Despite her obvious dislike of the food, she was eating nonetheless, and had actually eaten more than he had at that point. Since she still had food in her mouth, she nodded to him. "I hope this doesn't sound creepy, but I noticed you had some bruises when you were sleeping. Were you in a fight, or are those just from work?"
"Some of them are from work. Before getting to Fairy Tail I had to walk from Mount Hakobe, and the trip wasn't pleasant. I got chased by a monster at some point and fell down a hill, which is where I got most of my bruises."
"Must have been a big monster." He commented, and she shrugged.
"Probably not by your standards."
"Considering the amount of magic you give off, I'm surprised that a simple monster would give you problems." He said, going back to his food and missing the surprised look on her face.
"What about magic?" She asked, causing him to look back up again, trying to gulp down his food to answer.
"I can sense your magic. I'm surprised that you don't hide it better, since you've probably been intimidating the other guild members. Have you not noticed the nervous looks people have been giving you?" He asked, surprised by her confused expression, thinking that she already knew how much power she was giving off. Having been used to Laxus's power he was hardly phased by it, and even liked it, but he understood the apprehension of his fellow guild members. He'd figured that she was playing the 'lone wolf' card and was actually a powerful wizard from another land, (kinda like Mystogan) but the more he learned about her, the more it seemed like she was just lost.
"I just thought it was because I was new." Claire admitted, and took another bite of her eggs.
"What kind of magic do you use?" He asked, suddenly extremely curious about it. There was no way she could just be born with that much magic, and even if she did, someone would have told her about it. Sure, it wasn't quite on the level of Laxus or the other S-Class wizards, and it was closer to his level if not slightly more powerful.
"I haven't learned any yet, actually. I've been so focused on getting food and supplies I haven't gotten around to it."
"Bull shit. If you don't want to tell me that's fine, but you don't have to lie about it." He snapped, and finished off his plate, standing to return it to the sink.
"Sorry." She muttered softly, and finished off the last of her breakfast, still sipping away at her tea. "I didn't mean to make you upset."
"Don't worry about it. Like I said, not a morning person." He said, and walked over to pick up her plate, not bothering to look at her.
"Bixy hates mornings."
"Yeah, mornings suck." His souls spoke from the kitchen.
"Mind if I use your shower?"
"Go for it." He said, and heard her walk away, followed by the soft click of the bathroom door closing. "I'm such a great host." He muttered sarcastically, and thought about doing the dishes, but then shrugged and figured he'd do them later.
7.
As Claire showered, she couldn't help but let her mind race and wander, contemplating what Bickslow had said. It made no sense that she would have significant magic power, hell any magic, nonetheless a lot of it. Considering the major players at Fairy Tail, it's saying a lot that they would be intimidated by her.
Then it clicked.
Edolas.
There were people transported from Edolas, and even from this world to Edolas, without a clear reason why. Whenever someone disappeared from one world, it would sometimes take their counterpart from another world and bring them here.
"Has Edolas even happened yet…?" She asked herself, trying to recall if it had. If it had, Bickslow probably would have mentioned it when she asked about other worlds. Granted, he didn't bring up the celestial world either, but that world is so strange and mysterious, she didn't blame him. "Celestial spirits." She muttered, a smile tugging at her lips.
Maybe sleep really was what she needed.
There were plenty of people in Fairy Tail from other worlds: she just had to track them down.
Making a mental list of the people from other worlds, she tried to think of the best ones to talk to, and which were actually available for her to reach. Mystogan, Porlyusica, Happy, Lucy's celestial spirits….
Lucy was actually working so often with Natsu and the others that Claire rarely saw her, so her celestial spirits were out of the question for now. Mystogan would be a pain to get a hold of, since he was so closed off to the guild. Happy didn't even know he was an Exceed yet, and Carla knew, but she hadn't joined the guild yet.
That left Porlyusica, the resident healer that hated humans.
Mystogan would be the ideal person to talk to, given his extensive research and knowledge pertaining to Edolas and the barrier between their worlds. Assuming the pink-haired woman gave her even a moment of her time, there was a good chance she'd just hit her with a broom until she left, leaving her back where she started.
But it was something.
After finishing her shower, she turned the water off, a renewed sense of hope pulling her along. She awkwardly had to search the small bathroom for a clean towel, which she found plenty of under the sink, and wrapped herself up in it.
I might be able to see my family again.
She thought with a smile, grinning at herself in the mirror. A small part of her didn't want to leave this world, feeling so happy and healthy in this magical place, but she was home sick. She'd started feeling culture shock the past couple of days, hating the strange food and just wanting a piece of home- but this new plan may just be able to get her there.
As she left the bathroom, still smiling, she looked up to see that Bickslow had been scolding one of his souls. At the sound of her leaving the bathroom he'd stopped, but she couldn't help but giggle at some of his choice words.
"Why are you so smiley?" He asked, letting his tongue hang from his mouth.
"I just realized some things while I was taking a shower. Do you happen to know where… Porlyusica lives?" She asked, making a face as she said the woman's name, hoping she was pronouncing it right.
"Yeah, but she hates visitors. Why, are you injured?" He asked, and she thought back to her asthma, realizing that it would be the perfect excuse to see her.
"I have a lung disease that needs to be checked up on every once in a while. I heard she was a healer for the guild, so I was hoping she could look at me."
"How severe is it?"
"Lethal without the right medication, which I don't have anymore." She explained, and as she spoke, realized that it was actually as serious as she was telling him. It had been stupid of her not to replace her inhaler sooner, especially since her attacks were triggered by exercise and stress, both of which she'd been getting plenty of. Pollen too, but since this was a different world, she hadn't had much reaction yet.
"Since the Battle of Fairy Tail the other day, she's been around the Guild Hall taking care of Makarov. She's probably there now."
"Awesome." She said with a grin, 'hee hee'ing to herself as she walked back over to the couch, setting her bag on the ground and pulling out her notes.
"The key to get in is under the door mat, if you decide to head out while I'm taking a shower."
"Thanks, you're awesome." She spoke, not looking at him but instead writing something down quickly.