"...Tell me...what have you forgotten?"
Those words surprised Rufus. No—they amused him. What this boy was suggesting in his sleep was laughable; Rufus forgetting something? That was the same as Fairy Tail actually winning the games this year: impossible.
Despite how ridiculous this scene appeared to be, he couldn't help but note how entertaining this boy was. A smile formed on the masked wizard's face, something the sleeping boy would never see. But when he spoke, his tone contrasted with his expression. "Your words are in vain. Everything that happens to me, I remember without fail. It's impossible for me to forget. But I will say this: whatever can't be found in my memories has no value to me."
"...I see..." The blonde boy snored lightly, something which got on Rufus' nerves because of Orga. Every year when they made their way to Crocus, if Orga fell asleep on the way, it was hell for everyone riding with him. "...so if you can't remember anything at all...if a person lost all memory of who they were...what would you say to that?"
"Then that hypothetical person," Rufus replied, "had no value to begin with." Such is the way of the world, he thought to himself, recalling a time when a wizard failed to return from a mission for months. Jiemma refused to dispatch a search party for his subordinate and then the wizard came back, devoid of memories except for the fact they were an apparent member of Saber Tooth.
And apparent became former when Jiemma dismissed his subordinate like a teacher would to a class.
"...Is that really what you think?" he asked, his breathing slow and steady as ever. Was it his imagination or was the boy's hair focused more on the shade of brown?
"It's not a thought. It's a belief."
The boy fell silent; Rufus could have sworn he saw the hint of a malevolent grin on the child's face, making him wonder if he had been awake this whole time. But as he exhaled, his hair paled back to its fair shade. This time the boy yawned widely, blinking several times as if he were beginning to stir. But a sudden snore told an annoyed Rufus that he wasn't.
"*yawn* Well...if you say so...then it must be true."
The train screeched to a halt as the conductor announced their current location. "Here's my stop," the boy mumbled sleepily, getting up from his side of the compartment to slide the door open.
Even Rufus couldn't deny that this boy was interesting as he said honestly, "Should you reenter my memories, I'd like to see what you have to say when you're awake."
"Hm." The schoolboy rounded a corner to leave, but not before he said, "À bientôt, Monsieur Lore."
Rufus' head jerked to attention at the change in the boy's voice. Not only did he speak another language—not to mention that it was his late grandmother's native language—but he did so with a perfect accent to his voice, not even a break in his intonation.
But there was still one thing that caught Rufus' attention. It wasn't the fact that the boy somehow knew who he was when he didn't give out his name, but one curious thing about the sleeping child.
"How do you speak Minstrel in your sleep?"
Lamia Scale
It was a slow day for the second-best guild of Fiore. It had yet to become noon, and many members were out on a job. And some of them were conducting other business.
The doors opened widely, revealing a man with unusually large eyebrows with a dog-like man accompanying him. "We're home!" Toby announced loudly.
"Quiet down," Yuka advised he approached the bar, setting down his messenger bag.
"Well?" Ooba Babasaama, the guild master of Lamia Scale, spun into view. Her arms spun in a circular fashion as she spoke. "Any luck?"
Yuka shook his head. "Nothing, Obaba. Jura and Lyon are still helping with the search party, though."
"Tell them to search harder! They're not putting their heart into it!" Ooba yelled at them. The duo had their ears covered at her outburst. As she spun away, she said to herself, "I know you're not dead, Makarov. Can't you hear your own guild calling out to you?"
The doors opened again, but the newcomer wasn't one of Ooba's subordinates. The newcomer was—a newcomer. The blonde schoolboy walked in casually, taking no note of the open glances he was getting from the resident mages of Lamia Scale.
"Hey, kid!" Toby waved a hand in front of the boy but he payed no attention to the dog-like man and simply walked past. Ticked off, he grabbed for the boy's cap. "Don't ignore people when they're talking to—!"
Toby never got to finish what he meant to say. What happened next went by so fast, Yuka wondered if it actually happened. One minute, the boy grabbed the hand that was on his cap. And now, Toby was somehow pinned to the ground, his hands restrained at his back by the boy, who stood on Toby's back along with his hands.
"I dare you to touch my hat again," the boy snarled dangerously. "The next time you try to touch it...I wonder what you'll use in place of those hands of yours."
"Who is that kid?" One mage whispered to his friend.
"I dunno," the other replied, "but how did he move like that?"
The blonde boy's head bobbed once and his eyes opened slowly. He stretched his arms, yawning widely. "Wait..." The boy blinked as he took note of his surroundings. "What was I doing?"
Jaws dropped at his statement. How could he not know what he just did to Toby?
As if he heard their thoughts, the boy looked down and saw Toby under his feet. "Ah!" Immediately, the boy got off and helped Toby back up. "Are you all right, mister?" he asked, panicking.
"WHAT?" Everyone stared in disbelief at the boy. One second he had Toby pinned down and threatened and now he was asking if he was all right?
"How can you have the nerve to ask that?!" Toby yelled indignantly, pulling his hand away from the boy.
"O-kay? I'm sorry for helping?" he apologized in a small questioning voice. The boy looked around the guild filled with dumbstruck mages. He snapped his fingers. "That's right...I was gonna join a guild...So where's the guild master?" Still gaping at him, everyone pointed to Ooba, who even pointed a finger to herself.
Everyone watched as the mysterious boy made his way towards Ooba. He came to a stop before her and bowed. "Ooba Babasaama, right?" Ooba nodded slowly, never taking her eyes off the boy.
The boy came back up, determination set in his eyes. "I'd like to join your guild."
"HUH?" The entire guild hall chimed.
"No way!" Toby shouted at the boy.
"But he pinned Toby!" Another called.
"Don't tell them that!" Toby begged.
"I couldn't even see him," Yuka added.
Ooba held up a hand, bringing her guild's opinions to a halt. "Young man...what are you?"
"Pardon?" The boy asked, confused.
"You came in here...you pinned down one of my fastest mages..."
"I did?"
"And somehow...you don't even know your own feat...how?" she finished.
"I...I did that?" The boy held his head momentarily, confusion etched clearly on his face. Realization soon took its place. "Oh! Well...some people consider it a talent...but according to them—since I'm never awake to see it—" He pointed a pinkie at himself. "—I'm an active sleeper!" he laughed to himself.
"An active sleeper?" One mage exclaimed.
"You mean he's a sleepwalker?"
"Sleepwalker, my foot! He's a sleep-fighter!"
"No way!"
"Hush!" Ooba ordered. At once, her guild quieted down. She scratched her chin. "Active sleeping, huh? Now that's a talent worth bragging about. I wouldn't mind having a sleep-fighter...but can you use magic?"
"Why not?" The boy spun around, pointing his pinkie finger at Yuka's bag. The bag floated high off the table before dropping back down at the same pace.
"I see..." Obaba retreated to her office.
"He passed the test, Obaba!" A chubby man called out.
"He seems pretty cool, too," another added.
"But he is young," Yuka shot in response.
"Too young!" Toby added angrily.
"All right, shut it or you spin!" Ooba returned with a large binder, a pen, and a guild stamp. She set it down on the bar, making Yuka and the boy jolt at the sound that was made. Ooba opened the binder, revealing many pages with names written across each page. "You're going to have to spell your own name, sonny," she grumbled as she flipped through until she stumbled upon a fresh page. "This helps the Council keep track of who goes where, so get to it!"
Not wanting to cross his soon-to-be master, the blonde boy took the pen and wrote quickly, filling in the essential information such as name, birthday, age, etc. Though he peeked over his shoulder inconspicuously, Yuka couldn't make out the boy's handwriting.
As soon as he set the pen down, Ooba brandished the stamp. "Now where do you want it, boy?"
"Uh..." The boy looked at his body, wondering where he should get his mark when one spot in particular caught his eye. Pulling the zipper down on his left boot, he tapped his ankle. "Here, please. In green."
"Are you sure?" Ooba received a nod in response, to which she sighed. "Next time, choose a place that won't stink," she said as she pressed down on the boy's ankle. When she removed the stamp, the tattoo of her guild in green stared back at her. "Welcome to the guild—er..." Ooba squinted at the boy's paper, unable to decipher his handwriting. "On second thought, can you tell me your name?"
"My name's Platin," he answered. "...Just Platin, if you will."
Author's note:
Eesh, people. Is one review really too hard?
Fiore is one of the countries of Earthland, Minstrel is another. Later on, I plan on mentioning another country. And in this story, I made Minstrel the Earthland equivalent of our France.
And there was only a bit of French to this. For example:
À bientôt —See you later
And to any francophone out there, I am sorry if I spelled the French translation wrong.
French is the third language of Madam Facilier.
