I'm a little early posting this chapter, but I was already done. So I had no reason to not upload it. Please give me a review, it would really help me out. I need to improve my English and writing skills.

Of course, I was thinking that I was fell short paying my part of the rent. And maybe I was right. With even two jobs at Fairy Tail and the other restaurant I only earned 20.000 jewel a month. Less than half Lucy's rent. And we also had to pay for groceries. Lucy was working as hard as she could. Together with her team (Gray, Erza, Natsu and Happy) she went on jobs almost thrice a month. We where able to manage, but that was all. Partly because Natsu and Happy often joined in eating. Even talking/flying cats didn't suprise me anymore.

But well, at long last I decided to go study magic. But then there was the the question, what kind of magic? When I asked master Makarov, he said that I should ask Cana, who was very good at fortune telling. I wondered if I could really trust that. But Oh well, this world couldn't get any weirder right? This was probably considered to be normal. So I asked Cana what kind of magic I should study.

Secretly I respected her a lot. Aside from the fact that she could consume huge amounts of alcohol, she simply looked like a really strong person. She wasn't scared to give her opinion about something and she walked around wearing a bikini without being embarrassed. So yeah, someone with a lot of self confidence. And she used Card Magic, so fortune telling seemed really fitting for her.

When I was done working, I asked her if she could predict what kind of magic I should use. We sat down face-to-face at one of the tables in the guild. Cana drew her cards and explained how it worked.

"First, I need to adjust my cards to you, so we'll start with looking at your past. Then you can tell my if the cards are correct." She said.

I giggled. "Then we have a problem. I don't know my own past. How can I say if you're correct?"

Cana grinned. "Yeah, that's a little difficult. Err... Then we'll just have to assume that it works. I expect it to. I haven't made any mistakes since I was a little kid, or that time I was possesed by someone."

I shrugged. "No objections. Let's get on with it. But are you still going to look at my past?"

Cana thought about it for a moment, and then said: "No, I think that I'm going to rely on the present for now. It's harder to say if I'm using the cards, or just using the things I know about you. So I maybe need to reveal some of your secrets. Then I can see if the magic is working. It must be something that I can't know."

I swallowed nervously. I didn't want anyone to know about my dream. I really wouldn't want to scare them with something that could also be just my imagination. Cana started laying down cards on the table. She put three in front of me, five in the middle and two in front of herself.

"Alright, it works like this: the cards in front of you describe your present. The five in the middle describe your destined magic. And the two in front of me describe your future. But you we don't have to look at them, if you don't want to. Now, can you turn around the left card in front of you?"

I did as she asked. On the card, there was the picture of a singing bird. The upper left corner said "Music". Cana and I burst into laughter. It was right! When I wasn't talking to someone, I was singing. Everyone would love to shush me one day.

"Well, it isn't what you call a secret. But it is the truth." Cana kept laughing for a moment, but then she was serious again. "Turn the middle one."

I stopped laughing too, and turned the card in the middle: this time it was the picture of someone who was dreaming. One half of the face looked peaceful, but the other look tensed. Like the person was having a nightmare. I swallowed nervously. This was what I was afraid of. I had to make sure that I didn't say anything about the book.

"Do you dream a lot?" Cana asked.

I took a deep breath. I shouldn't give away anything. "Yes, I do. The dreams often don't have a meaning, but they are there. And sometimes there are also nightmares. But just those common things, like not being able to run away from something." It wasn't an entire lie. I did dream a lot, but it weren't really nightmares. They were short dreams, where I would walk through a house and do everyday things. Things like brushing my teeth, eat, read and so on. The only thing that bothered me was that the house where my dreams took place, seemed so familiar to me. And of course I couldn't remember why.

"Hey, Ilse! Is everything alright?" Cana snapped her fingers in front of my face. With a shock, I came back to reality.

"Sorry, I'm a little tired. I had to work an extra hour in the restaurant, because I had broken one of the plates. The owner is really fond of his china." I yawned. I really was tired.

"Come on, let's finish this. Everything is correct so far, right?" Cana ordered a glass of beer for herself and took a drought. I nodded. "Okay, then turn the last card."

Hoping that it wasn't something embarrasing, I turned the last card. It showed a kneeling person with a weight on his head. Above it said: "Conscience"

Cana studied the card."Do you have an uneasy conscience? Did you do something unauthorised?" She sniggered.

"No nothing like that. I only feel a little guilty because I don't contribute much to Lucy's rent. I would like to be able to help more. That's also the reason I want to learn magic." I stared at the cards. Altogether, they exactly described who I was at the moment. Cana was amazing!

She hiccuped. "Good, now we know that that's correct, we can move on with the cards that describe your magic." With one move, she turned around all five cards.

Curiously, I leaned over the table to see them better: they said "Art, Imagination, The writer, The Pencil and The Ink.

Cana studied every card carefully. "Hmmm..." she muttered. "It doesn't directly point to a specific kind of magic. At least not some kind I know. You'll have to find out yourself. Or maybe you could ask Reedus to learn you the basics of Pict Magic. Maybe you can develop it further yourself. 'Cause it does look like the cards point towards that direction. Although I don't understand what The Writer has to do with it."

I stared in the distance. Me again. Drawing was one of the things I just cannot do. Once, I had tried to illustrate Lucy's novel. But I didn't come further than some stickmen. And I had to learn Pict Magic? Fate was just playing with me.

"Well, since this is done, are you interested in your future? Cana brought me back to reality.

"Err... No thank you. I think it's better if I don't know what is going to happen." I wasn't really curious about the future, I already had my doubts.

At that moment Gildarts came in, Cana's father. She sighed, rose from her chair and walked towards him. And then, I did something really stupid. If I hadn't done it, things could maybe become less scary. When Cana had left, I turned around the future cards, and regretted it. One said: "The betrayer". The other said: "The Ravine" Quickly, I turned them around.

My first thought was: I have to make sure Cana doesn't see this. I stacked all the cards on the table and walked to Cana. Before she could stop me, I took the pack of cards she had in her hand an shove my cards between them. Then I wished her goodnight, waved at Gildarts and ran home.

Lucy wasn't home yet, and I was so relieved! I had actually expected her home today, but it often happened that she stayed away a few day extra. So I didn't really worry about it. Right now, I could enjoy a moment alone. There were things I needed to think about.

First, there were the future cards. Was someone going to betray me? Could I trust the people I knew? The betrayer couldn't be me right? I would never, ever betray my friends! Of course, there were some people in the guild who I found suspicous. But if I had learned something, it was that the wizards of Fairy Tail were really loyal towards each other. Even Gajeel, who I found kinda creepy, seemed to have a soft side. Especially when Levy was around. Maybe it was someone I hadn't met yet? This was really giving me a headache! Time to start thinking about something else. I had chores to do.

Lucy and I had agreed that I was the one to do all the indoor chores when she wasn't home. When she was home, we didn't have a chance to clean the house at all. Because most of the times we had finished cleaning the house, Natsu and Happy bardged in. And we could start from the beginning. I smiled. Although he always came in uninvited, he also cheered everyone up. Or annoy them to death. While I made the bed/couch, cleaned the bathroom and Lucy's desk, I sang as loudly as I could. Partly because I just didn't want to think about this night's events anymore. I delayed my magic studies till tomorrow too. Right now, I just wanted peace in my mind. When I had finished cleaning, eating and bathing, I layed down on my couch. I was a little scared to dream again, after what had happened today. But I needed my sleep. I had to learn magic. It was my destiny.

"Come on Ilse, we're catching up on them!"

Gasping for breath, I ran after Gray and Erza. It was easy for them. Their endurance was fine. But I had worked as a waitress for months. So I hadn't got any chances to exercise.

"You guys go ahead. Just let me catch my breath for a minute." I hadn't finished my sentence yet, but Erza grabbed my arm and dragged me with her.

"You wanted to help us with the job right? Then you are coming with us!"

"Oof, alright alright. I'm running already. Let go of my arm, would ye?"

We ran along. For the request, we had to catch a gang that had been making rampage in this village for a while. They robbed people and destroyed stuff. We caught them in action when they tried to rob Lucy, who was the bait. Then we had split up in two groups to chase them. Lucy, Happy and Natsu went via the main roads while Gray, Erza and myself wanted to cut the gang's pace by taking alleys and backjards. I was really excited. This was my first job, en although my endurance was crap; I didn't want to screw up.

Something moved at my left. And then at my right. Crap! We were being ambushed!

Gray and Erza stopped running, and I bumped into them. Suddenly we were surrounded. Apparently, the gang had brought some reinforcements. Only three men had tried to rob Lucy. And we were surrounded by nine!

Erza was the first one to start fighting: "Requip!"

"Ice make: Lance!" Gray yellled behind me.

He took three men, and Erza five. That ment that there were two left for me, and they attacked me. This was the moment to prove what my magic was worth

."Ink magic: Binding!"

(This may need a little explanation: my magic works by means of a pencil and ink. By drawing figures in the air, I can use different attacks. If I draw a spiral, like I did now, my enemies are binded by a black rope, made of ink.)

Unfortunately, my magic wasn't really strong yet, so they easily broke the ropes. "Single cross!" I drew an X.(You can compare this attack with the slice of a sword.) This one worked. One of the two bandits got blown away, but the other blocked my attack. I pulled out a second pencil from the bag hanging from my belt. "Ink magic: Double binding." With both pencils, I drew another spiral in the air. This time, the ropes were stong enough. De man lost his balance and fell on the ground.

The battle was over. Now I noticed how silent it had become. Had Erza and Gray watched me the whole time? A little ashamed, I walked back to them. "

Err, how did I do?" I was so ashamed!

Erza nodded approvingly. "You're not that strong yet, but if you train hard it'll come. This was good for your first job. She tapped one of the unconscious men with her foot. How fast had she beaten them? "Let's go find Lucy and Natsu and bring these morons to jail. Then we can get our reward and go home. Can you tie them up for us?"

I smiled. I was nice to have the feeling that I was needed, although it was only for tying up bandits.

Natsu was complaining all the time it took to go back to Magnolia. Half of the time it was about how he hadn't had the chance to beat up some criminals, and the other half he mumbled that he had to throw up. Oh well, that's Natsu for ya.

That evening Lucy and I invited Natsu, Erza, Gray and Happy to come over for dinner. Normally, they would come without an invitation. But this time we had actually prepared a meal for them. Wendy and Carla were there too. It was to celebrate that I had become an official member of Fairy Tail! When we came back from the job, Erza and Lucy had taken me to Mirajane. She had stamped the guild mark on the inside of my wrist. I was so proud! I had earned my place among these people. During the entire night, I could only smile. We ate until we were full, played hints and held a pillow fight. In the end, when Erza, Gray, Wendy and Carla had left, we had to drag out Natsu and Happy. They had fallen asleep already. Once outside, we threw a bucket of water on them. Then we could finally go to bed(or couch). And for the first time in months I didn't dream.

But we didn't wake up peacefully. Nope! Erza rushed inside our room, threw us out of our bed(and couch) and gave us our clothes.

"Make sure you are at the guild in half an hour. We have a problem!"

I moaned and searched for my socks. Erza rumbled with her fingers on Lucy's desk. She looked nervous. Wait a minute, Erza nervous? This had to be really bad. Erza always looked cool, even under preassure. What was going on? I grabbed my pencils and mini ink jar. Lucy checked if she had all her keys, and we ran towards the guild.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my fiction. If you have any tips, or noted any mistakes, please leave a review and tell me!

IamInk