Walking through the streets of Hargeon, one might actually be surprised to learn that there was in fact a mage guild located there. A beautiful coastal town to be certain, the layered layout allowing those at it's highest point to see the whole town and the ocean beyond in one breathtaking view. One could certainly call that magical, figuratively speaking. But that guild no one had heard of and the one magic shop were the only things in Hargeon that could be described as literally magical.
"Fate Butterfly?" a randomly chosen civilian clarified. "This town actually has a mage guild? Why, I've lived here three years and had no idea!"
Another who overheard added his two jewel. "Oh, yeah! There was a big thing about how the old guildmaster died in an experiment or something. Figured they'd disbanded, myself. Try asking at the magic shop on main street. The owner might know where they are now."
The would-be mage with short grey hair (or silver, as he would vehemently insist) sighed to himself. It seemed he may have miscalculated the value of this guild he'd agreed to join. Upon looking up the name in the guild registry he'd found it did exist and his dream wasn't just a dream. He also found it was quite possibly the most unremarkable guild in Fiore history. 'Best teachers in the world', he reminded himself as he approached the magic shop. 'It'll be worth it.'
And the fact that the mysterious masked man could torture him in his dreams if he backed out now had nothing to do with his determination.
Adjusting the heavy backpack hanging over his shoulder, the grey haired boy entered the magic shop only to stop short at seeing two familiar faces. "Oh? Looks like I wasn't the first one here." he said aloud, getting their attention.
"Eh?" the girl said, her attention diverted from the display of rings she was looking at. "Ah! Naoya, look! It's grey-hair!" she exclaimed, pointing as she nudged the boy with the pierced ear next to her.
"It's silver." he gritted out in response as his eyebrow twitched before forcing himself to calm down. "I'm Seta. Nice to meet you."
"I'm Hamuko!" she chirped. "And the guy playing with the colour change magic is Naoya."
Seta glanced at the other boy, noticed his formerly grey outfit was now hot pink and that he was mumbling to himself about 'all the pretty colours' and decided he'd be better off talking to the sane one. "You two found the guild yet then?"
Hamuko shook her head. "Not yet. We were gonna ask the owner of this place but we got..." She glanced at Naoya, his clothes now resembling a rainbow, "distracted."
"Hey, old man! How much is this?" Naoya shouted, grinning.
"4,000 jewel." the shopkeeper answered, not mentioning the extra thousand he added to the price for the 'old man' crack.
"Bargain!" Naoya slammed the money down onto the counter and went back to playing with his new toy.
As the two other prospective guild members watched him, they came to a conclusion. "Creepy mask guy picked the four of us entirely at random, didn't he?" Seta asked, emotionlessly.
"Sure seems like it." Hamuko agreed before both sighed simultaneously and got back to the reason they were in the shop in the first place. "Hey, old man!" she shouted, not noticing his twitch at being called old again. "We're looking for the mage guild. Know where it is?"
"Yep. Magnolia. Next train stop to the north. Big building at the centre of town with the words 'Fairy Tail' on the front. Can't miss it."
Seta and Hamuko glanced at each other before Seta tried again. "No... We mean the local guild. Fate Butterfly."
"Ah..." the shop owner murmured, suddenly trading his mild ire for mild depression. "Such a shame what happened to Master Weaver. He was a good sort. Kept to himself mostly but hadn't a bad word to say about anyone. Eh, so why are you three looking for it, if you don't mind my asking?"
"They're recruiting. Us three and one other will be joining." Seta answered.
The shop owner's eyebrows rose at that. "Joining Fate Butterfly? Huh. Well... I hope you kids know what you're doing. The guild building is on the top layer of town, overlooking the west ledge. Building has a butterfly symbol on the front in two colours, white and black split down the middle. Got it?"
"Got it! Thanks, old man!" Hamuko said, ignoring the poor shopkeeper's dismay at being called old again. "Oi, Naoya! C'mon, we'll get something to eat before we heat to the guild!"
"Huh? Oh sure." he answered, following behind the others, trying to figure out how to buy food when he'd just spent the last of his money.
-(-)-
"Oya? Looks like the gang's all here.", a familiar brown-haired boy in a tailored suit greeted the three as they went into the restaurant. "Tatsuya Suou, at your service." he introduced himself with an exaggerated bow.
"Good to put a name to a face." said Seta. "I'm Seta, that's Hamuko and... Naoya, please stop playing with the colour change."
"Nerfen nerhm" Naoya mumbled in response with a dismissive hand gesture. None of them quite knew what Naoya was trying to do at this point. He seemed to be trying to figure out how the device worked but somehow his clothes were still cycling colours. Just about anyone who saw what he was doing decided to give him an extra wide berth from then on, including his companions.
"O... kay. So, food then?" Tatsuya hazarded, trying to look away from the rainbow disaster waiting to happen.
"A-aye..." Seta and Hamuko agreed.
-(-)-
Somewhere in Magnolia, a flying blue cat sneezed.
-(-)-
"So does anyone know anything about magic?" Hamuko asked after their food arrived.
"Mm." Tatsuya agreed while swallowing. "A little. My parents were traders and let me deal with customers once in a while. There was this one guy, had at least one ring on every finger and I, being the very image of a curious eight year old, asked what they were for. By way of answering the question, he gripped one between two fingers and his outfit changed from his travelling clothes to a cheap suit. He explained he was a mage and gave me a quick crash course in what mages do and how they do it. The way he explained it magic is like one of your muscles. Everyone has the potential to use it and if you exercise it properly you can make it better suited to doing certain things. But for the most part, mages are specialised. It's like training to be a body-builder versus a runner. They require completely different conditioning and if you wanted to switch from one to the other it'd be worse than starting from scratch and practically impossible. So you couldn't train to be an ice mage and then suddenly start learning fire magic. Or you could, but your ice magic would be near useless before you even learned anything useful about fire manipulation."
"So when we start training under mask guy, we have to pick something and stick with it?" Seta asked.
"Well... Not necessarily. I figure as long as the fields aren't diametrically opposed-"
"What?" Hamuko interrupted.
"Exact opposites." Seta clarified, to which she nodded in understanding. "So... Something like ice and water magic might work?"
Tatsuya inclined his head. "Or fire and lightning. Sure, I guess. Though we'd be better off asking the people at the guild questions like these instead of a layman like me."
"True." Hamuko agreed with a thoughtful expression. "So any ideas on what you want to learn? I mean we could learn anything, right?"
"Hmm." Seta audibly pondered. "Well I don't know many types beyond what mask guy told us about. And three of those were element users. Spirit mages are those ones that summon things to fight for them. Sounds kind of cowardly to me. And from what little I could find on Take-Over, it has to do with letting your instincts take over to some extent. I'm really not into that at all."
"Ooooh, I thought Take-Over sounded cool." Hamuko pouted. "I agree with the spirit mage thing though. Unless you have a second skill-set to join in with, I guess."
"I like fire." Naoya supplied, terrifying everyone within earshot, especially his companions.
"O-oya. That's... That's great, Naoya." Tatsuya stuttered before shaking off the worrying thoughts that bloomed at that one short sentence. All of Hargeon going up in a blaze in all colours of the rainbow. "A-anyway, I like the idea of ring magic but it's probably not reliable enough. I mean, lose the rings and you lose your power, right? So... something innate to start with and then look into rings as a backup, I think."
-(-)-
"So... This is the guild, huh?" Tatsuya observed, disappointment evident in his tone.
"In fairness, how long ago did mask guy do his thing? Four years?" Seta reminded him.
"Yeah, but would a little maintenance killed them?" Hamuko complained.
"Unlikely. But it would seem a wasted effort when we finally rebuild this place." a new, male voice spoke from behind the four.
As one, they turned to see the owner of the voice. A man in his mid-twenties with short white hair and yellow eyes. His attire was reminiscent of a bellboy, blue suit and tie, white gloves and a blue hat. Under his left arm he carried a thick tome with a star design on the cover.
"Hello. My name is Theodore, a member of the guild. You must be the new recruits we were informed about. Please, come inside. We have much to discuss." Theodore spoke with formality, as though he were actually a greeter for the guild. He walked through a gap in the four to open the door for them and wave them through.
Passing through the entrance and offering a mumbled thank you to Theodore, the four were immediately greeted by beautiful operatic music with a single piano accompaniment. The sounds washed over them and the four visibly relaxed as they continued to listen. Naoya was the first to spot the two performers. In a corner standing next to a piano was a woman – clearly the singer – with greying hair and grey eyes. Sat at the piano was a man, the most striking part of his appearance being the blue blindfold covering his eyes as he continued to play. His blue-black hair was tied into a ponytail and he wore smart casual attire and the top two buttons of his shirt were left open.
As the music continued, the four looked around what would be their new place of employment. It seemed more like a lounge than a place of business which seemed odd to the teens. They hadn't been inside a guild before and had no way to know it was close to the norm. A few couches and a small bar to one side were the sum of furnishings in the room.
The sounds of the music changed. They all noticed it but only Hamuko who had some knowledge of the intricacies of music placed what it was instantly.
'Where did that string quartet come from?'
Turning around, she gasped at what she saw. As the blindfolded man continued to play, the tell-tale circles of magic activation appeared around him. Instruments that previously sat silently during the performance now started to seemingly play themselves! A bow floated into place and draw itself along the strings of a double bass. Another bow did the same with a cello as it balanced itself on its endpin. A violin and viola floated in the air as though being held in the ideal position for invisible players.
Before this moment, Hamuko knew on an intellectual level that she liked magic. It was this force that you could see working everyday that no one could really explain. Basic mechanics of it? Sure. 'Do this to make this happen.' Easy. But why it exists? Where it came from? What causes it? No one could even guess. It was this mysterious power that could make anything happen.
But even in that 'anything' that she imagined, she never even dreamed of being able to create something so beautiful. She closed her eyes and just listened, and was thus lost to the world. She didn't even notice when the piece ended.
"Oya, Hamuko." she heard as a hand touched her shoulder, making her practically jump out of her skin.
"KYA!" she squealed, flinging her arm out at her assailant, bopping Tatsuya on the nose. "Ah... Sorry, Tatsuya." she mumbled guiltily, realising she'd accidentally hit him.
"'Sh fine.", he answered through his hand as he rubbed his nose. "C'mon. Apparently they're bringing the rest of the guild to meet us."
"Alright." she agreed, blushing slightly in embarrassment.
The four situated themselves on one of the larger couches in the room as more people filed into the room. Two women who shared Theodore's hair and eye colour. One also wore a similar outfit to his and had her hair cut short. The other wore more businesslike attire (though still in the same blue colourings) and let her hair hang past her shoulders.
The last one to enter was a strange sight to say the least. An old man. Bald and with an extraordinarily long nose. His dark eyebrows resembled the feathers of a large bird of prey. His eyes were bloodshot, and had dark circles surrounding them, implying some level of insomnia, or overuse of a controlled substance. He wore a formal suit with a string tie and white gloves. His shoulders were constantly hunched over, suggesting he had some spinal problems.
The three and Theodore settled themselves in the couch opposite the four newcomers. The old man spoke first after a few moments, suggesting the others were waiting for him to do so. "Welcome to the Velvet Room, home of the Fate Butterfly mages' guild. My name is Igor, the second guildmaster due to the founder, Philemon Weaver's incapacitation." He introduced himself with a slightly maniacal grin. "To my sides are my grandchildren. You have met Theodore." Theodore, on his left, nodded. "These are Margaret and Elizabeth."
"A pleasure to meet you." the two said in unison. Margaret, the one with longer hair, had a cold, businesslike tone to match her attire. Elizabeth, on the other hand, said it almost flirtatiously.
"Our founder has informed me that you wish to join our guild. Is this still the case?" he asked and received nods in response. "Excellent! Very well, where would you like your guild marks?" he asked as Elizabeth produced a stamp with the guild emblem on it. Seta had it on the left wrist in monochrome black and white, Hamuko on her left hand in purple and yellow, Naoya on his right wrist in red and green and Tatsuya just below his collarbone on the left in blue and orange.
"Wonderful! Now, I'm afraid accommodations aren't exactly high-class at the moment. You'll be staying on the second floor where the laboratory was. We've since cleaned it out but the room is a bit... bare, right now. It should suffice until we can finish raising funds to upgrade this-"
"I GOT IT!" Naoya yelled in triumph, holding his colour change device in the air. Bringing it back down, he activated it and a modified magic circle appeared, the energy not affecting clothes anymore. Instead, the energy spread out around the room. The previously cream and sickly green décor and furnishings changed to a deep blue, identical to the colouring of the clothes of Igor's grandchildren.
Igor started bouncing in his sitting posture and let out a giggle. "Oh, we are going to get along just fine, I think!"
-(-)-
A/N: Yep. Still fun to write this. One more intro chapter, I think. Then we fast-forward four years and see how things are going.
REVIEWS
Xafnir: This is three years after the dragons disappeared, four years before the start of canon.
… Huh. Shortest review section ever.
Next we have the start of training and a couple of rookie missions. And more recruitment but less in depth than it was for our foolish foursome.
Thanks for reading!