I couldn't move at all, but I could definitely feel. I was in a lot of pain for some strange reason. That's weird. I thought you weren't supposed to feel pain when you die...?

No. I wasn't dead. I was alive.

Slowly I opened my eyes, all of the red from before pouring out and returning my proper vision. I could feel the blood falling down my cheeks and into my blood-stained hair. I tried moving my arm, but it was so stiff and in pain that I couldn't even bend my fingers. Even my eyes stung as I looked at my surroundings.

Trees. A lot of trees. All of the green leaves were attached, so I assumed it was summertime. With the storm around me billowing harsh winds and icy rain, not only was I cold and soaked, but the trees were threatening to fall on me. I could also hear a river nearby, the water crashing wildly with the chance of overflowing. If that river water went over its limit, I could probably drown before a tree crushed me.

Then I realized something. Something seemed almost familiar about this place. Of course the surroundings were completely off, but there was just... something. I took a deep breath and caught a familiar scent. It was the ground. The ground told plenty of stories from the past, since it was always there.

This ground screamed blood, death, and tears. I could hear the soil moving around under my ear over the skeletons of the fallen. I could almost taste all of the magic that was used years before now. This was the battlefield I should have died on.

That raised more questions than it answered. Why was I staring at trees when I remember a field? Where did all of my living comrades go? What happened to Mavis?

Mavis. Mavis couldn't have! I would have sat up, but just the thought of it made my bones ache. She told me long before the battle that she was trying to master a spell that could protect someone from anything, including death, as well as stop them from moving forward in time. It was a spur of the moment... Could she have used that spell on me? It seemed like the only solution, since there was a forest around me when there used to be a couple of newly growing trees.

My eyes grew tired and I had to close them again. I was in no mood to sleep, though, so I just laid on the cold ground and thought things through. If that spell of Mavis's - Fairy Sphere, I think - was used on me, then I was somewhere in the future of my birth time. The thought of that creeped me out, and I was used to some really crazy things. What confused me was what time I was in. The ground had experienced so much in the time I was gone. So much darkness, and yet so much light. It hurt my head, processing it all.

But all thoughts of mine silenced when I caught the scent of my guild. So Fairy Tail is still alive after all? Just the thought made my heart soar and a smile form on my pained face. After a few moments, the wind changed direction, carrying voices to me.

"How come Erza didn't come with you?" a female's voice came, sounding tired and rather annoyed. "I'm sure she could've found shelter by now."

"She stayed behind to talk to Natsu about something." a male's smooth yet also annoyed voice replied. "I'm actually glad she didn't have him come with me. I don't want to be ticked off by some fire breather and completely miss a cave or something."

Shelter? I could feel a rather large cave in the ground nearby. Completely empty besides a couple of crabs near a stream in the back. Probably a tunnel leading to a cave system. If they walked this way, they could probably find it in no time.

"I think I see something!" the female exclaimed out of nowhere. I could hear her footsteps on the ground growing closer, then I heard another pair. The first pair stopped rather close to me, but she wasn't in line of sight to see me. She stopped at a small poor excuse of a cave that could only fit two people. "That won't work, will it?" she asked the male sadly.

"No, but good job finding it." he said to her before walking again, the girl following close behind. The male stopped suddenly, and I heard the skidding of the girl's feet. She must have run into him. She couldn't say anything though, for the male's footsteps quickened to a run. "What is-" Immediately he cut himself off and broke into a flat out sprint. He had found me.

"Oh my God!" the girl shrieked from a distance, quickly running after her friend. "What happened to her?!"

I felt large, strong hands touch me, and all of the pain in my body sparked. If I was able to scream, I would have. However, my mouth wouldn't open, and my throat only tightened. The man beside me felt cold, probably due to the rain. We were still on the ground, but my torso was lifted by his arm. "What could've done this to her? This had to have been recent; she's still bleeding." His voice was hard with anger. Just like a Fairy Tail mage to be mad at the sight of a hurt human.

"No, wait," The girl got down near my head, pressing her fingers to my neck. "Gray, this girl's alive!"

Immediately, very cold substances began covering me. It felt good over my wounds, and it relaxed my tense muscles. I mustered the strength to open my eyes, light blinding me for a short moment before my eyes cleared. A man with black, almost navy blue hair was holding me, using his ice to cover me. Based on how much there was, I must have been pretty beaten. I locked my eyes with his dark ones just for a moment before his entire face flooded with relief. "You arealive."

I heard a happy sigh come from behind me. I leaned back my head slightly to see a girl with blonde hair and brown eyes. "Thank goodness! For a second I thought you were dead!" She put her hand on my chest, feeling my rather slow heartbeat. "You aren't doing too good, though. Gray, we need to find shelter."

". . . Shelter..." I forced my mouth of open and say that one word. I then lifted my heavy and shaky arm, pointing in the direction of the cave. "... A cave... Over there..."

"A cave?" the girl repeated before standing and walking over to where I was pointing. "There is a cave over here!"

Good, I still have my connection to this place. There's that. So that must mean I still have my magic, right?

A crack of thunder sounded really close to us, making the girl squeal. The male shifted me into his arms and lifted me up, yelling above the storm, "Go get the others and take them to the cave! We'll be there waiting for Wendy!"

"Okay!"

Then they were off, going in separate directions. The travel was short, but still bouncy due to a slope. He tried to hold on to me without it being painful, but no matter what he tried to do, it still hurt. As soon as we got inside the cave, he laid me down with my back against the wall so I could sit up. The first thing I noticed when I opened my eyes again was my stomach. My Fairy Tail mark, which was on the right side of my stomach, wasn't there anymore. It could have come off as I was dying; my brother died mere seconds after his mark disappeared into nothing. Even though it was logical and probably what happened, it was still sad.

I then looked at the man who was still trying to temporarily patch me up. He looked pretty tattered himself, which told me he and the others with him were on a job. He had no shirt on, so his toned muscles were completely exposed. His navy blue guild mark was on his right pectoral muscle, telling me that I was right about them being from Fairy Tail. My eyes widened when I saw a long, bloody gash on his stomach. It wouldn't leave a scar if healed properly, but it was still bad. "...hurt." I tried to say 'You're hurt', but my voice didn't work properly. When he seemed confused, I reached out and glided my hand along the gash.

He looked at it, then did something that surprised and confused me. He laughed. "Here you are at the verge of death. You would have probably died if I didn't see you. And you're worried about some scrape?" He shook his head with a chuckle before sitting back. "That's definitely different."

I forced myself to nod at him in agreement.

He chuckled again before smiling at me. "I'm Gray. Gray Fullbuster. Who are you?"

"...tori..." My voice, being stupid again, only mustered the Tori of Victoria. It was close, though, so I didn't try to correct myself.

"Nice to meet you, Tori." he replied with a greeting nod.

At that moment, three other people came running up, tattered and wet. The girl from before came after them, obviously breathless. "You... Could've... Slowed down.. Y'know."

"My apologies, Lucy," a woman with scarlet hair said to her friend, obviously holding a lot of energy in her. "But when you said someone was hurt, we couldn't afford to slow down.

"Whoa!" A boy with messy pink hair came running over to me, sitting down rather close to me and shoving his face into mine. "You ARE beat up! What'd you fight, the Army?"

He was yanked on the ear by the girl called Lucy. "Geez, Natsu! There's something called personal space, y'know!"

A young child with blue hair came on my other side and sat on her knees. "I don't know if I can heal your wounds completely, but I can close them. Just hold still for a moment." She held her hands over me and produced a sky blue light. The ice was removed and my wounds began to close. The pain went away as well, and I felt my strength return. The light went away to reveal closed wounds and slightly cleaner skin. "There. Is that better?" she asked me, her voice soft and filled with uncertainty.

I smiled gently. "It's much better. Thank you so much." I noticed my voice wasn't broken or weak anymore, as did Gray and Lucy. I felt so much better! I stretched my arms into the air, feeling and hearing a lot of bones popping. Everyone else did, too, and they laughed because of it.

"Man, I want my bones to pop like that!" the pink haired boy exclaimed with a toothy grin. "It sounded awesome!"

"It sounded like it hurt," Lucy disagreed, rubbing her arms. "Like she's been asleep for years."

She couldn't have said something else? She had to say the exact truth? I sighed and leaned back on the wall, now stretching out my legs and making more popping. "It sure felt like it. I haven't been this tense in ages." I then looked at them all one by one. "What brings you out here, anyway? Did you get lost?"

Lucy's gaze moved to look at a blue cat sitting by her, her expression turning to a glare. "We weren't lost until this one took us on the wrong path."

The cat jumped up on his hind legs like a human and flailed his front legs - or arms? - around. "I told you not to blame me!" he squealed with a squeaky voice. "It was the rain's fault!"

"Don't go blaming the weather, stupid cat!" she yelled, hitting him square on the head.

I looked away from those two as they bickered. A talking cat. Huh. That was new. I turned to the red-head, coming up with questions that didn't make me sound like a former Fairy Tail member. "Where were you coming from?" I asked her.

"A different part of the forest," she replied calmly and simply, as if the argument in front of her wasn't taking place. "We had a job we had to do out here."

I tilted my head to the side. "Job? What job would be out here?"

"We had to take care of a Vulcan infestation near someone's old home," the pink-head piped in. "It was great! There were more than twenty of 'em!"

I gave a smile to the fiery boy beside me. He had real excitement coming from him. A true Fairy Tail burn. "Sounds like a job for guild mages to handle."

"We are from a guild!" he said to me with a bright grin. "You've heard of Fairy Tail, right?" When I didn't respond, he continued talking. "It's the guild that's been named number one in Fiore. We're over in the city of Magnolia, if you know where that is." He then put his thumb on his chest, pointing to himself that way. "I'm Fairy Tail's Fire Dragon Slayer, Natsu Dragneel."

Hold on. Fairy Tail is the number one guild in Fiore? Magnolia is still alive, yet alone an entire city? There's a different Dragon Slayer in the guild? That's all too amazing to be true! I was stunned for a moment before I smiled brightly at him. "Nice to meet you, Natsu. I'm Victoria Natrux, the Earth Dragon Slayer. Call me Tori."

Natsu's mood went from prideful to excited, and the blue-haired child appeared to be very happy as well. "You're a Dragon Slayer, too?!" he exclaimed.

"That's so cool! An Earth Dragon!" the little girl exclaimed. "I'm a Sky Dragon Slayer! I'm Wendy Marvel!" She then bowed slightly, trying to be polite. "It's very nice to meet you, Tori-san."

I gave her a kind smile and gave a bow of my head in return. "Pleasure's all mine, Wendy." I looked at the red-head again, giving a smirk. "Don't tell me. Let me guess... Swordsman?"

"In a way, yes," she replied. "Erza Scarlet. Re-Quip magic is what I specialize with."

I smiled politely at her before looking over at Lucy, who had finally decided to join the conversation. I didn't even have to guess her magic; her keys were as bright as day. "You're a Celestial Spirit user."

She nodded proudly. "Yep! That's me: Lucy Heartfilia, Fairy Tail's only Celestial mage!"

"I had a friend that used that kind of magic," I said, pointing to the Maiden's key. "She had Virgo."

Lucy brightened up. "Cool! Did she treat her well?"

I nodded. "Yes. Very well."

Natsu butted in on the conversation, sounding very eager to know the answer to his question. "Hey! The dragon that taught you your magic - did he or she disappear on July 7, 777?"

Me being me - a fantastic improviser - I came up with a story on the spot. "I don't know, to be honest."

Gray, who was silent all this time, tilted his head to the side. "What do you mean you don't know?"

I faked a rather convincing sorrowful look. "Actually, I can't remember at all. I can't remember anything from my childhood."

Wendy's eyes widened. "Amnesia?"

I shrugged. "Most likely." This story couldn't have been father from the truth. I hated lying to Fairy Tail members, but I didn't want anyone to know I was from the very beginning of Fairy Tail. I didn't learn my magic from a dragon, but from a master Dragon Slayer who learned from a dragon. Complicated, yes. But he was a great teacher and a fantastic father. And since he was human, he taught me many more things that only humans could do. His name was Letralux - well, that was his last name. I could never remember or pronounce his first name. I missed him, but I learned to get on without him looking over my shoulder.

There was an uneasy silence in the cave now that everyone knew that I had 'amnesia'. It made me uncomfortable until that blue cat screeched. Everyone looked at him to see him running around screaming... With a crab clutching his tail. "GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!" he repeated over and over until Natsu grabbed the crab and removed it from the cat's tail. He sighed with relief, rubbing where the crab pinched him. "Thanks, Natsu."

"Geez, how did you manage that?" a second cat said with a displeased tone. This one was white and female, wearing a dress. By the way she was standing by Wendy, she must have belonged to her. "Be more careful!"

I looked at the two cats with a smile. "I don't believe I got the cats' names."

The blue one looked at me with a cute little grin. "I'm Happy! I'm Natsu's best friend!"

The white one looked at me for a moment before letting out a scoff. "Carla." she stated simply.

I smiled at the both of them. They just seemed so cute for some reason! I've always had a weakness to cats and cute things. Both of them were mixed together in the form of talking cats. I would have said something, but sudden pain in my chest made me wince and clutch at my very torn shirt. Everyone reacted, ready to do something if I was reacting badly to something, but after a moment I relaxed again. "Sorry. I guess I'm still kind of weak from before."

Erza suddenly stood up, as if she was a commander or something. "We should all get some rest. When the storm clears, it will probably be night." She walked over to the stream all of the crabs were at and roughly stepped on one. "Natsu, can you cook these crabs up for us?"

"Sure thing!" Natsu jumped up and ran with a happy Happy over to the stream to start collecting food.

"You might have to be a torch, too," she said to him before walking back over to the rest of us. "We won't have firewood tonight."

Is this an opportunity I smell? I hope I still have working magic. I focused on a spot in the center of our little circle and thought about a plant I remembered Letralux teaching me about. Sure enough, the cave floor opened and up came three large flower pods. Everyone was confused for a second before I smirked. "Who needs firewood when you have me around?" With a snap of my fingers, the pods opened to reveal three beautifully large flowers letting off an amazing glow. The pale light filled the whole cave, and they let off a slight heat.

"Whoa!"
"So pretty!"
"How'd you do that?"
"Awesome!"

Everyone made their flabbergasted exclamations towards the flowers, fat grins on their faces. I had a grin of my own going on. Not only was I happy to see people taking an interest in my flowers, but I did indeed have my magic. Even after all this time, I still had it. That, alone made me relieved.

Natsu handed each of us our own crabs that he cooked himself, and without another word, we all stuffed ourselves. It was only at that moment that I realized how hungry I was. Well, why wouldn't I be? It's been years since my last meal! When Wendy gave out a large yawn after she finished eating, I waved my hand and created beds out of large amounts of leaves and soft grass. Huh. I wanted to add vines into the mix so the beds would have support. I guess I still couldn't use a little bit of my magic.

As we all laid down in our 'beds' and I closed the flowers until only a dim glow remained, I found it difficult to lay down without my back sending off a lot of pain. Before anyone could move to help me, Gray stood up and came over. He found a knot in my back and pushed, cracking my back loudly and releasing me from my pain. I gave him a smile of thanks and settled down in my pallet of leaves.

Just as Gray sat back down on his pallet, he looked at me and asked, "Hey Tori, how did you get so hurt anyway?"

My entire mood changed. A dark, sorrowful shadow loomed over me, and my eyes became hollow. Everyone could sense the pain and guilt so clearly that they all moved to look at me with worry or confusion. I then replied to him, my voice dull and pain-filled. "I couldn't protect my friends from harm. I suffered the consequences." With that, I rolled over and said no more.