Still don't own anything
I can't think of anything more unpleasant than that feeling when you aren't sure if you're dreaming or awake. That drunken haze, and the uneasiness of your limbs. I flailed my rebellious appendages fruitlessly at the air, as if that would chase away the clouds floating through my field of vision. An ungodly noise rang out, piercing through my head like an arrow. That noise was accompanies by a much softer, more familiar one.
"Hey, hey… its okay. Everything's okay." A voice cooed to me. A familiar figure moved into sight. My mother looked at me with an expression I had never seen before. Discolored bags hung below her normally hard eyes. Her hair, always neatly combed, hung like frayed linens from where they framed her face, and tickled my forehead. "How do you feel?" she asked in an almost pleading voice.
I gave an inglorious grunt, "If everything's okay, then why do I feel like I was run over by a train?" I tried to sit up but quickly gave up, reasoning that sloth was preferable to the bolts of pain that lanced through my body with every movement.
She bit her lip. "Do you remember what happened?"
"I was at the Grand Magic Games being showered with candy and applause when the moon fell on me." Her eyes widened as fear passed over her face, "…That was a joke. I remember. I fought to demons. And won, I might add."
She looked me up and down, "Is this what victory looks like?"
"Don't let my appearance fool you, I feel fantastic." I sardonically replied.
She reached her hand to touch my face, but quickly redrew it before it could make contact, as if my skin would burn her. She stood up and turned away in a hurry, "Do you need any water or anything?"
"Water would be nice." She stepped away, presumably to fetch some water. From across the room I could hear her muttering under her breath, talking about how it was too dangerous and something needed to change. It was at this point that I registered my surroundings. I wasn't outside, and this wasn't the inside of a tent, so I must be in a building. A cursory evaluation of the room told me that I was in a hospital. My mother returned with the water and handed it to me. When I noticeably flinched while reaching for it, she insisted on feeding it to me directly, even though it really wasn't necessary. The water was so cold that it was almost uncomfortable going down my throat. "We were at least a day away from the nearest town, how long was I out?"
She turned away and wiped her eye with the back of her hand, "It took half a day to get here, give or take, but–" her voice cracked and she sighed dramatically, "but you've been unconscious for a little over a week." Her statement hung and turned stale in the air. I opened my mouth to say something but couldn't find the words. This didn't make any sense. It stuck like a splinter in my brain. Surely I couldn't have been hurt that badly. The cold realization that I didn't know the extent of my injuries sunk it. I sat up, ignoring the pain and pulled the covers off myself. Aside from the bandages, everything looked normal. I wiggled my fingers and toes to make sure I still could. Everything seemed fine. I placed my hands gently on my torso to make sure that it was real. "You don't have any lasting injuries," my mother sniffed, "You've actually healed better than the doctors expected." I looked at her, my lingering question plain on my face. "You weren't unconscious because of any physical injury. You completely exhausted your reservoir of magical energy and pushed your body past its limit. The shock of using so much energy so quickly put you in a coma. There wasn't any doubt that you'd wake up, but…" she trailed off, seemingly not wanting to give voice to her fears.
I reached over and placed my hand over hers where it rested in her lap, "I'm okay. I am better than okay. I fought two demons and won, and I did it all because of your training. I did my job, you did yours, and there aren't going to be any lasting consequences of this." She turned her hand over to hold mine, then used the back of her other hand to wipe her nose. She smiled at me. Normally when she smiled, it was either coy or teasing, but this one felt warm. "Now, I successfully fought two demons, and I am in the hospital, so I think I deserve some ice cream."
She rolled her eyes, "You never do miss an opportunity, do you?
"Those demons can attest to that firsthand." A twitch pulled at the corner of her mouth at my words before she wordlessly stood up to retrieve some ice cream.
lll
Mother sure wasn't kidding about my injuries healing fast. Aside from the broken rib, which still an issue, all my injuries were negligible at this point. I absent-mindedly rolled my shoulder at the thought of how it had been dislocated during the fight. Luckily, we had been near a fairly large city, with a big enough hospital to have some talented healing wizards.
After I woke up the doctors ran a few tests to make sure all my faculties were functioning as they should. When they were satisfied, they released me. My mother had been in such a rush to get me medical attention after she found me that she hadn't packed up our camp or brought anything with her, and when I was unconscious she refused to leave my side, so I had to wear the same clothes I had on when I was brought in. The nurses were nice enough to wash them for me, but some of the blood stains refused to come out, and the sight of them made me a bit queasy so I tried not to look at or think about them. They also smelled like death, although that may have been my imagination. Currently, we were walking through the city. Mother had been suspiciously quiet since we left the hospital, and wouldn't even tell me where we were going. I had thought we would walk back to the camp to get it packed up, or to retrieve the bounty for the demons that she and I had killed, but the client lived on the outskirts of the city, and the camp was well outside the city and we were heading towards the center of the city. I couldn't help but worry about her. It wasn't unlike her to be quiet, but she seemed almost pensive.
Soon we arrived at a small restaurant close to the markets with outside seating in the form of tables with umbrellas in the center, giving shade. We went inside and mother ordered two meals before heading back outside to sit at one of the tables. Wordlessly, I began to eat before I noticed that she had not touched her food and was staring at me intently,
"Aren't you hungry?" I asked, feeling small under her gaze.
She blinked as if awakened from a trance, "Oh… yeah. I was just thinking. I…what happened?" I had forgotten that she hadn't actually heard the story of my conflict with the demons. It must've been eating at her this whole time. I couldn't' help but admire her restraint in not pestering me about it until now.
"Oh, uh, well…I was just practicing a little and they came up from behind and attacked me. I fought back, and won." I felt deeply uncomfortable discussing this with her for some reason. It might've been the way she stared at me, or maybe it was just still too recent for comfort.
"That's it? That's all that happened? Cause from looking at the area, it seemed that there was a lot more to it than that." She stated tersely.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I want to know what happened. In detail."
I put down my fork, sighed, and thought about where to start, "One of them hit me from behind and sent me skidding. I used a lightning javelin…" she interrupted me with a disapproving grunt, "…and the one I didn't hit charged at me. I dodged behind him and threw a bolt at him from behind, but the other one punched me from behind. After I stood up, the injured one charged at me and I-I…" the memory of raking my fingers through his wound washed over me and I resisted the urge to gag, "used his injury to incapacitate him. The other one grabbed me and, honestly, things get a little blurry from then on." As I finished my tale, I realized I had been avoiding eye contact with my mother and I looked up at her. She looked irate.
"So… you allowed them to catch you off-guard. Being vigilant, we've covered that. Then you tried to use a technique that you know is too advanced for you," I opened my mouth to protest, but she levelled me with a glare, "which must've put who knows what kind of strain on your body. Oh wait, we do know… it was enough to put you in a damn coma!" from the look she was giving me, I was afraid she'd grow fangs and sink them into my throat. "If that weren't bad enough, once you gained a tactical advantage you took your eyes off your enemy and allowed them to catch you flat-footed for a second time. Again, vigilance. Through some miracle you took one of them down without getting yourself killed, and then you let yourself get grappled by a stronger enemy and were damn near killed for it." She looked off into empty space and let out a short laugh, "I don't know what god took pity on you, but you should be dead. You. Should. Be. Dead. You were sloppy. I trained you better than that. Every single mistake you made was something I've warned you about time and time again. Were you not listening, or did you just not care?" she looked to me for a reply, but I was afraid that if I said anything, the hot tears welling in my eyes would fall. "This is life and death. You don't get to be lazy and live. The next time I can guarantee you won't be so lucky." I wished I could find some dark recess inside myself that I could retreat to, but no matter how much I desired it, the present remained facing me.
"What do you want me to say?" came my small reply.
"I don't want you to say anything; I want you to do better!" The tears began to fall. I felt pathetic sitting at this nice restaurant, in public, crying like a baby while my mother looked on, ashamed of me. She didn't say anything else. We both sat there for a while before leaving without finishing our meals. She took me to an inn and paid for a room, then left me in said room and departed. I had no clue where she was, but it was getting dark and I curled up in the sheets of one of the beds and tried to sleep. I laid there for what felt like hours, replaying her words in my head. I felt like I had let her down. All I could do was promise myself that I would do better so that she would stop being so disappointed and could be proud of me.
lll
I couldn't remember falling asleep, but I woke up the next morning to the bustle of the city. I rolled over in my bed to see my mother sitting on her bed, looking at me. She looked like she hadn't slept.
"Get ready, we're leaving in 15 minutes." Was the only greeting I received. I couldn't tell if she was still angry, but I didn't want to take my chances. I shook off my drowsiness and got myself ready.
Once again, she lead me through the city, and once again I had no clue where we were going. Eventually, we came to a large building with a peculiar symbol hanging from a banner on the front of the building. She lead me through the doors into a spacious barroom, with all kinds of people talking, laughing, and, in a few instances, fighting. I followed her as she walked towards the bar. A very short, old man seemed to notice her and made his way towards us. When he saw me, his expression softened,
"Hello, young man, what's your name?" he asked me warmly. Despite his age, he was eye height with me. Normally I wasn't a fan of adults I didn't know, but him not towering over me made him seem less threatening.
"Casteel. Casteel Raekin. Who are you?"
He smiled and extended his hand, "I'm master Makarov, it's a pleasure to meet you." I tentatively shook his hand, unsure of what was going on, "Do you know what this place is?"
I gave the interior another once-over, "A bar?"
He gave a dry laugh, "You're too far off. This is the hall of a magical guild. The Fairy Tail guild, to be specific."
My mother leaned down to look me in the eye, "You're going to be staying here for a while." I could tell she was trying to give me a comforting expression, but it landed wide of the mark.
I looked back and forth between Makarov and my mother, "What? Why?" my heart felt like it would burst from my chest. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It had always been her and I. Why would she change that?
"It's just too dangerous to have you around while I work. Something bad could happen again, and I'm not going to risk your well-being."
"B-but couldn't you do something else? Something less dangerous?"
She looked to the side and bit her lip. "I hunt demons. That's what I do. Besides, look how fun this place looks! There are plenty of other kids, and you could use some more interaction with kids your age. Plus, it's a magical guild, so you can keep up with your training. It's like a magical daycare!" she put on a clearly fake smile that faltered when she saw the hurt expression on my face.
My eyes started to burn with unshed tears, "Is this because I disappointed you?" I hugged her leg, "Please don't leave me! I'll do better!"
She pulled me off her leg and held me at arm's length, looking into my eyes, "I've made my decision, don't make this harder than it needs to be. Don't worry, I'll come to visit you between jobs. This is only temporary." Looking at me like this, she seemed older than I had ever seen her. When I didn't say anything else, she hugged me and told me that she loved and would miss me, then left. I felt weightless. Just floating some artificial reality, as if I were in a waking dream.
I was pulled from my stupor by a hand on my shoulder. "I know this is hard for you, and if there is anything I can do to make you feel welcome, then just name it. This guild is a family and I see all of its members as my children. If you'll let us, we'd like to be a family to you too." I nodded. Noticing that the tears on my cheeks had dried and crusted, I wiped them. His words comforted me, but I wouldn't truly understand them until years later.
lll
It had been two days since I had been dropped off at Fairy Tail. They had set me up with a room, the first time I had ever had a room to myself. Apparently, adult members had to pay rent, but kids received rooms free of charge. Speaking of which, it seemed as if half the guild was my age, which I neither understood nor questioned. I would've spent my time sitting in my room, but whenever I did, I felt loneliness weighing down on my shoulders. Therefore, instead of confronting my existential solitude, I chose to spend my time sitting in the corner of the common room, observing everyone. People came up to speak to me every now and then, most notably Makarov and a man named Macao, who, to his credit, seemed to be good with kids. I would speak and be polite, but in truth, I hadn't felt like talking to anyone.
Today there was a fight (which seemed to be a common occurrence) between a redheaded girl, and a white-haired girl. They were always at each other's throats, and mentally critiquing their fights was the most intellectually stimulating thing I could find to do while sitting in the corner. I also noticed several people playing cards at one of the tables, but couldn't see much from my perch. From what I could tell, a brunette girl in a yellow dress was cleaning up. It reminded me of times when my mother was away and I would hustle at cards in whatever bar I could find. A cocky smirk appeared on my face, but was short-lived as the fond memories were crushed under the heel of the fact that my mother had left me here. I let out a long sigh. Contrary to logic, spending 16 hours a day sitting in a corner could be exhausting, especially if you spent those hours emotionally tormenting yourself.
All of a sudden, a fire ignited deep within my belly, spreading warmth throughout my whole body. I was tired of feeling sorry for myself; moreover, I was better than this. I was a damned devil slayer for crying out loud. A week ago, I killed two of those evil suckers. It was time I put some respect on my name and did something. Banishing my sadness and ignoring my shyness, I marched up to the table of card players with the confidence of a war hero, and probably only looked slightly ridiculous doing it.
The heads at the table turned to look at me. I recognized Macao, but besides him, there was the aforementioned brunette in yellow, a smoking man with an eccentric hairstyle, a shirtless boy with dark hair, a boy with spiky pink hair, and a girl with short white hair who I think was named Lisanna (I was pretty sure she was the sister of the white-haired girl fighting the redhead). All the heads turned to look at me.
"Shit," I thought as I realized that I walked the whole way up here without thinking about what I was going to say.
"We just finished a round, do you want to join us?" the brunette asked.
"Are you playing 5 card?" I said, trying as hard as absolutely possible to sound cool.
She smirked at me, "That's all we play."
"Then count me in." they cleared a spot for me between Lisanna(?) and the dark haired boy, "My name is Casteel, by the way." They went around the table stating their names. The brunette was named Cana, the smoking man was named Wakaba, the dark-haired boy was named Gray, the pink-haired boy was Natsu, and the white-haired girl was indeed Lisanna.
"So are you a wizard too? What kind of magic do you use?!" Natsu asked. I was getting the impression that he was an excitable one.
I gave a smirk, "Yeah, I'm a devil slayer." To illustrate my point I held up a hand and summoned a small volley of sparks.
"Whoa… that's so cool! I didn't know that there were devil slayers. I'm a dragon slayer, though!" he turned his head back and breathed fire into the air.
"Laxus uses lightning too, but he isn't a devil slayer… and his lightning is yellow come to think of it." Lisanna added.
"That's cool and all, but I raise." Cana said confidently.
"Ahhh, that's too rich for my blood; I fold." Wakaba said as he placed his cards face down on the table.
"Me too." Macao too, folded.
"Oh yeah?! Well I raise your raise!" Natsu yelled, before Lisanna calmly reminded him that he was already out of chips. In the end, everyone folded except me. I wanted to win to make a good impression, and I was confident in my hand.
"Ready to lose?" I asked Cana, with a smug smile on my face.
"No, but I am ready to help you lose." She responded. In unison, we placed our cards on the table. The table was quiet for a moment as looked at the cards. I looked Cana in the eye and smiled. The table erupted. Jacks over 10s beats 8s over 2s.
"Ready now?" I asked her, pulling the chips in the center towards me. She just shook her head and leaned back in her chair. We played for several hours, laughing and having fun. For the evening, I forgot all about my mother.
