tree. She wished everything last night was only a dream, a crazy, realistic dream. She just wanted it to be anything but reality, just so she wouldn't feel so confused of who she really is. Laxanne let out a sigh and walked down a level in her tree, but hearing the rowdy noise outside, showing it wasn't just a dream. She sighed, looking out into the forest through a balcony window. She could see the guild Gaia had brought to our forest were happily exploring the area. She opened the balcony doors and stepped out onto the balcony, leaning down to see the guild members staring up at the biggest tree in the forest, or at least the biggest tree that was in the most random place. She focused her hearing on the world below.

"This would be a fun training exercise." Natsu grinned, looking the tree up and down. "It has no visible grapples."

"Would you stop thinking about that flame brain!" Gray's cold voice could easily be heard by Laxanne even without her stretching her hearing.

"Shut up, Ice Princess!" Natsu retorted.

Laxanne sighed and closed the doors to her balcony before taking to the skies. She landed behind the group gathered around the tree while they were arguing in an intangible mess about whether or not to climb her home. Laxanne shook her head, knowing full well that they should have sensed her presence by now. "I would much prefer it if you didn't climb my home." She said bluntly.

The group jumped at hearing the female voice and slowly turned to see Laxanne standing there with an almost amused expression. "If this is your home, how do you enter, huh? There are no doors." Gray posed, trying to get out of looking stupid. Although he looked even dumber now that he asked that question.

Laxanne's expression fell to one of annoyance, mostly because the statement was so stupidly obvious. "Uh… I don't know." She said sarcastically as she flapped her wings.

Gray groaned. "Damn it… wings."

"It has an entrance, but it is out of reach of just about everyone, since there are very few people who can fly." Laxanne explained. "I don't like people just stepping into my home. There are things in there that most are not allowed to touch or lay their eyes on."

"Then shouldn't they be under the protection of the magic counsel?" Erza stepped forward and asked.

Laxanne laughed. "Normally one would think so, especially people from… your society. And in an attempt to bridge the world within the wilds and the people outside it, we gave them a book to protect and guard. It held only the darkest of forgotten incantations. You wish to know what happened to it?" Laxanne questioned, approaching Erza.

"Please." Erza replied while everyone stayed back, not wanting to anger the re-quip mage.

"It was stolen." Laxanne said her dark aura swirling. "The magic counsel didn't heed our warnings and didn't put tight security around the book and it was taken. Then the perpetrator went to an innocent little village. One wit just ordinary people going about their normal lives, giving little heed to the cloaked figure entering their town. By the time suspicions were raised their fate was sealed."

Gray stepped forward, "What do you mean 'their fate was sealed'?"

Laxanne turned her gaze towards the ice mage. "The perpetrator used the village as a massive sacrifice to turn himself into a legendary beast of hell. With all the souls he gathered he was too powerful even for the legendary group of wizards you worship." Laxanne stated. "The thirteen guardians had to defeat him, and when they did they gave it to the guardian of the lost and forgotten magics."

The group before were horrified. "There are things even master can't defeat?" Erza seemed even more stunned than before.

"Yes. There are even things guardians can't, but there are things we can do to sacrifice ourselves to save others. Even these legendary wizards have some as well." Laxanne closed her eyes. "There are many things in this world, many things that will kill at the first chance they get. So with each generation new guardians are selected, people who will take on the responsibilities of the last, no matter where their paths in life take them. That is how our lives are in the wilds."

Lucy tapped her chin. "So the children of the previous guardians take up the torch like a birthright."

"Not really. It isn't necessarily the children of the guardians." Laxanne said with a shrug.

"What do you mean?" Lucy questioned, cocking her head to the side.

"While sometimes the children of the guardians are selected, it's merely a coincidence. The spirits of the forest choose the guardians when they are very young. They select them by means of a ritual that takes place. Depending on the outcome will depict if you are a guardian or not. So if a child of a guardian is selected, they are more likely to be a different one from their parent." Laxanne told them. "But it typically is other children in the forest."

"Fascinating…" She heard an intrigued voice from behind them. She turned and found a man with green hair to rival Fenris. "So the guardians have no claim to a birthright." Freed mumbled. "Who are these guardians? I would like to know more about them."

Laxanne cocked her head to the side. "Most of them are away either training or trying to resolve an issue. Fenris should be down at the Moon Pool, Seras will be by the bud so you wont be able to approach him, and I'll be around."

"May I ask why you included yourself?" Freed questioned.

Laxanne sighed a little with a wry smile. "Because I am one as well. But I must train a bit today otherwise I will never get the chance." Laxanne said. "But I think I have something that may start your search. Hold on." Laxanne flew up to the balcony into her home again, entering the doors and heading up into her library a floor just before the top. She pulled three books pertaining to the guardians and flew back down and out of her house, landing before Freed. "These should get you started. They have a bit on things in there." Laxanne said, holding the books out. "Feel free to ask for more if you ever wish to read more. I have many in my library." Laxanne said with a gentle smile. "One of my many duties is to pass knowledge along through the generations, current and future."

Freed just stood there stunned, his eyes locked on Laxanne holding out the books with bright white wings behind her. He was frozen in time, seeing an angel drop from above and holding out books with a bright expression. Laxanne pulled the books back into her chest and waved her hand in front of the man's face. "Hello?"

Freed shook his head and blushed. "Th-thank you for allowing me to read your books." He said as he finally snapped out of it. Laxanne giggled and held the books back out to him. Freed took the books and probably would have started to drool if he didn't have more self-restraint than he already had.

Laxanne flapped her wings. "Please excuse me. I must attend to my training." Laxanne burst into the bright sky, she took in a deep breath and let it out in a happy sigh. She flew over to Phoenix Rock. Okay, phoenixes didn't really live there but it has an environment that is almost natural for phoenixes to want to flock to it. The only reason Laxanne hadn't was to stay close to Gaia. It was a nice relaxing place to relax and think. So it became her prime meditation spot. Laxanne sat down on a tall spire and crossed her legs. She let out a long breath as she focused her energy. The air around her began to swirl as she fell into her mind.

"You seem to be more confused than usual, human child." A deep voice permeated her mind and she turned to see a large phoenix standing on its legs, looking down at her.

"Yes. Gaia has revealed I have more blood relatives than I originally thought, and now these family members wish for me to just instantly believe I feel love for them." Laxanne replied.

"Why don't you?"

"Because I don't. Or at least I think I don't." Laxanne sighed in her mind. Speaking to her inner Phoenix was something Laxanne constantly sought out its insight.

"But they are your family, are they not?" The phoenix leaned down and looked in Laxanne's face.

"But it doesn't feel… real. Besides, the wilds are my home." Laxanne argued.

"Do they say that you may not return? That as soon as you choose to go with them, you must remain away from here?" The phoenix interrogated.

"No…" Laxanne mumbled, "But I can't see them as family! They just suddenly show up! And they pity me! I don't want pity!"

"You might be lost now. But to us, family is sacred. You know that much. If you take the time to get to know them you may find you have much in common with them." The bird ruffled its feathers. "People will always be falling into your lap and choosing to stay, but also choosing to leave." Laxanne listened idly. "But it is up to you whether or not they qualify as family, friends, or just acquaintances." It reminded the girl.

"And mates are chosen by fate." Laxanne said with a sigh. "Alright," Laxanne gave a small smile. "I promise to TRY and get to know them. I will try not to run away." Laxanne said with determination.

"Very good." The phoenix said before she finally left the inside of her mind and returned to reality.

In the real world Laxanne let out one final cleansing breath before she opened her eyes. Not surprisingly, she had been in her mind much longer than one would think. It was starting to get close to sunset. It was an odd occurance, even if one stayed in their mind for what seemed like a few minutes, time around them speeds up. It was something that always made Laxanne question it. Laxanne stood up and gave a long stretch. She looked up at the slowly falling sun with nostalgic eyes as a memory floated to the front of her mind.

"Come along, Laxanne." Gaia kept walking with the confused child she rescued from her imprisonment of her selfish father.

"Gaia, where are we going? I can't leave or father will get mad." Laxanne said hesitantly, her voice quivering.

Gaia ground her teeth. "That low life is no father to you! He is only a bastard who wants to turn a pure girl into a weapon for war!" She spat making Laxanne freeze in fear. Gaia took a deep breath and calmed herself from her rage at thinking about what that lowlife was doing to the poor girl. "I'm sorry to startle you, Laxanne." She looked at the girl with gentle eyes. "Now come here, I want to show you something." She held out her hand with a kind smile.

Laxanne accepted it and Gaia led her to the top of a spire, the top of all the Wilds. "Woah!" Laxanne called out in awe of it all.

"This is the wilds, child." Gaia said with a commanding voice. "This…" Gaia smiled to herself. "This is your new home."

Laxanne's jaw dropped. "This place?! You mean I'm going to live here?!"

Gaia laughed. "Of course. This will be your new home," She kneeled down to be eye level with the girl, "with me."

Laxanne at first felt hesitant. She didn't know how this new person would treat her. But now she could see she was much nicer than her father. He would punish her severely every time she messed up, failed, or wasn't strong enough. But something about Gaia, something made her senses tell her she needed to accept. That this was the path she needed to take. Laxanne finally gave the woman a smile, "I-I want to stay… here with my… my new mother."

Laxanne laughed at the memory. She had just randomly called Gaia her mother, even though she barely knew the woman. But as a child, Laxanne felt like she was the first to really save her, from everything. Laxanne gave a small chuckle to the air and flapped her wings, shaking off any dirt that may have gotten on it. For some reason, white feathers were practically magnets for anything to mar their pristine color.

"Come on, Bickslow! At this rate we might miss her!" She heard an elegant voice from behind her, coming up the spire. Laxanne laughed and flew down the path, hovering in the air beside the climbing bunch.

"If you needed me so badly, you could have asked anyone to show you the reflecting pool." Laxanne stated with a laugh as she curled up in the air.

Laxus grumbled. "Well she's here now, Freed, just ask her your damn questions so we can go back."

Laxanne flew over and flicked him in the forehead, hard. "Don't order people around. Besides, if you climbed down, you'd miss one of the best things here in the Wilds. But if I show it to you, you guys have to promise to keep it a secret."

Everyone looked between themselves and shrugged. "Whatever you say, birdie." Bickslow drawled, his tongue rolling out of his mouth in his usual fashion.

Laxanne giggled and started flying up the path. "Come on, hurry! You don't want to miss this and you're almost at the top!" Laxanne called to them as she rushed to the top. She could hear the footsteps of the group running up the rest of the spire, only to stop in awe at what they saw.

"Heavens…" Evergreen breathed out, her breaths came out a bit hitched.

"Beauty that no book could ever describe." Freed proclaimed in a sigh.

Laxus just stood shocked as Laxanne walked up next to him. "Beautiful, isn't it?" She asked softly, earning a nod in reply. Laxanne smiled, "this is the first thing Gaia showed me when she brought me to the Wilds." Laxanne said smiling at the memory, "She said this was my new home. And this is how she showed me the beauty of this place, the magic that doesn't have a big explosion or wave, just simple beauty and happiness.

"Your queen sure knows how to welcome someone." Evergreen quipped.
Laxanne nodded to the woman's statement. "I love it here, but remember, keep it a secret. I've only brought Fenris up here so far and I don't want my favorite place to become overcroweded." She reminded them as she spun on her heels and started walking away. "We should get back, dinner will be soon." She mentioned as she did the rare thing of walking down the spire. The girl tended to favor flying over other modes of transportation.

"Laxanne-sama!" Freed's voice came running up to beside her. "I have many questions I would enjoy answers to." His eyes had a strange glint.

"Um… okay. I'll attempt to answer to the best of my ability." She replied nervously.

"As I was reading I noticed there was a guardian that protected various types of ancient runes."

"This is correct, Maxamillian is in charge of that roll."

Freed pushed his eyebrows together, "But one thing stuck out, the physical drain. Not just magic but the life force of the caster."

Laxanne nodded at his statement. "From what I know, these old runes caused much more of a drain than normal, they were developed by Phoenix harpies. So draining their life force is less of an issue as opposed to a human. The guardian is supposed to protect the knowledge of their casting and design, so I'm afraid I do not know much." She stated.

"Odd that things are even hidden from other guardians." Evergreen mumbled.

"Actually," Laxanne said with a wry smile, "Even guardians can become power hungry, by keeping much of our duties to ourselves, we keep ourselves balanced and are able to properly keep peace as well protect things that shouldn't exist."

Freed seemed astonished. "About these old magics. There is a guardian who protects them, might I be able to speak to them?"

Laxanne laughed. "I will tell you as much as I can, but not everything is able to be told. I have to keep many things a secret."

Freed froze, speechless. "… huh?"

Laxanne fought to stifle her laughter. "I am the guardian of such magics. I guard them with my life. But since I cannot store so much power in my body, a majority is stored in enchanted books and gems that I keep with me." She explained. "Many magics are lost to time, or to the frail nature of humans' own mortality. As people and beings die off magics become lost, but here in the wilds we attempt to preserve as much of our ancient ways as we bring in things of the current era. My duty is to act as a conduit of the ancient magic to enter the new era and teach it to those that are deemed worthy, since past mistakes have shown not just anyone can know of such things, they become power hungry and turn to life of selfish desires."

Freed nodded, taking mental notes of what she said. "Is there any way that I may be able to learn some of these ancient runes?"

Laxanne thought for a moment. "Yes. If you approach the three fates and they say you are worthy, you may, but if they judge you as unworthy you may not. But be warned, Maxi isn't a kind teacher, he is cruel and very, very stubborn. If you do not have an iron heart, I would advise against it." She told him sternly, for once her authoritative aura coming out.

Freed swallowed hard and nodded, knowing he wanted to do this more than many could comprehend. "I understand, I will not fail to meet the expectations of this guardian if I am judged worthy."

She smiled. "I would hope so, Maxi hates teaching the faint of heart." She laughed a little as she remembered Max teaching her about the various runes. She had wanted to cry so many times but she forced herself to stay strong, knowing he was doing it so she would get stronger. He was a bit older than her and filled in the role of an older brother for a long time. He was a great wizard, and now he's gotten even stronger, so Laxanne knew Freed would have quite the challenge facing off against Max.

She heard a mocking laugh from behind her, she turned her head to find Bickslow holding his stomach. "I don't see this guy beating Freed! He's part of the Thunder Legion, the strongest there is!" his totems solidified the his point by twirling around saying, "Strongest! Strongest!"

The group finally made it to the clearing where everyone from Fairy Tail and the other guardians had gathered. Laxanne narrowed her eyes trying to find what had everyone's attention, only to find Lillica, a large screecher standing beside Gaia on it's legs. Laxanne's smile grew as she ran over and threw her arms around the neck of the bird. "Aunty!" She cried as she hung onto the bird. "I was so worried! You were so hurt!"

The bird chuckled. "You should know I'm stronger than many think." Her beak didn't move, but her voice could be heard by anyone. "Even our kind are as strong as dragons."

A scoffing noise was heard in the crowd and Gajeel seemed unimpressed. "Like a bird like you could do a thing to-" A flurry a feathers caught him off guard and they flew at him and hit him many times, knocking him out. Everyone turned to see the large bird with its wings raised.

"Humans should learn to bite their tongues." Lillica huffed in irritation.

Laxanne giggled. "You know, I'm a human too."

Lillica shook her head. "You are far better than insolent humans. You have glorious blank wings," the bird maneuvered her wings to pressed the sensitive spot on her back that made her wings spring out, "you have a beautiful voice, you're very powerful, you show respect to others and nature, and you act much more like one of us than one of them." She teased with her final reason making the girl blush and puff out her cheeks in a pout while her feathers ruffled in irritation.

"Not my fault. I grew up with limited human contact…" Laxanne pouted bringing a laugh from both the guild and the bird.

The bird nuzzled the girl's cheek making Laxanne's wings spread and her feathers ruffle happily as a content tweet fell past her lips. "Hah!" Fenris's laughter ruined the touching moment between the two. "Laxanne has a wing boner!"

Laxanne smirked, spun around and faced the laughing mage. "Oh yeah? Than what was that a week ago at the reflecting pool, Fenris?"

"Child," The bird called out to her in confusion, "What do you speak of?"

Laxanne shrugged. "Oh nothing. Just last week when I was purifying in the reflecting pool Fenris here walking while I was naked and his wings popped out of his back stiff as boards." She laughed as he turned bright red.

"What?!" Lillica screeched bringing many to reach up and cover their ears. The bird leapt up and landed on top of Fenris, pinning him to the ground. "Insolent fool! You should know better than to peep on an innocent girl!"

Laxanne grimaced. "L-Lillica… you don't need to go overboard, I mean it was only an accident."

Lillica gave the boy a hard peck on the head, effectively knocking him unconscious. She moved her massive feet one at a time as she wandered back over to the girl. "That is why you're so innocent my girl. I must return to my nest. But I do hope tomorrow you will make time to play with my children."

Laxanne smiled. "Don't force them. But I'd be happy to fly with them for some time."

Lillica gave the girl a final nuzzle before taking off into the sky. Laxanne shook her head with a smile as she watched the bird fly off. "Laxanne?" Erza called out to her and she turned to see the redhead staring at her wings.

"Y-Yes?"

"I heard that bird say you're wings are blank. But they are white. Please, explain." She practically ordered.

"Well… they are blank. I come from no specific line of Phoenixes. The one that bonded with me as a child was an extremely rare breed known as the blank phoenix. They have no specific element tie to them like the majority that exists. So they can learn all different types of phoenix magic. By utilizing my blank wings I can master all kinds of phoenix magic, even change the type to unlock the full power of the magic with these," She held up her right wrist that held a bracelet covered with colorful crystals, "Each one is a phoenix stone, they hold the powers of a specific phoenix type and I can use it to change my own. But if I'm not careful I can do something called staining where my blank wings become corrupted temporarily with that type. It goes away after a few days but it can be really inconvenient." Laxanne explained to the mage. "I understand if you don't entirely comprehend what I mean, it is only understandable. I mean I've had this power practically my whole life while you are just learning about it."

Gaia nodded her approval at Laxanne's choice of words. "Well, we better get to dinner before those dragon slayers eat everything in sight."

Laxanne shifted awkwardly and took a step back towards her home, "Actually, I think I'm going to skip. I'm not feeling too great towards food from training earlier." Gaia gave her a questioning look but dismissed her with a wave of her hand. "Thank you, good night!" Laxanne smiled and took off towards her home again.

Everyone watched as the girl retreated into the forest, bringing a small sigh from Gaia. "It looks like she's still so confused…" She wanted to help guild the poor girl, but this is something she had to learn on her own.

The night drifted by quietly with Laxanne falling asleep with no problems. But she would find the morning would not be so kind...

Here's chapter two everybody. Chapter 3 is slowly in the works. I've hit a little snag in my writing, mostly due to having to complete several requests from close friends and general life activities.

For now please enjoy and don't forget to review ^_^