Chapter 3
disclaimer on chapter 1
Receiving their guild marks Mira decided to have hers on the outside of her left thigh in purple, Elfman had his in blue on his right shoulder blade and Lisanna had hers in the same place as Mira but in white.
"I don't suppose either of you know any magic?", the kindly old master asked lisanna and Elfman. Before she could answer Mira cut her off
"no neither of them can do magic.", Lisanna thought for a second, she figured it was probably best that no one know she was a dragon slayer, if they did the might ask unwanted questions and find out she wasn't related to Mira and Elfman.
The youngest two Strauss siblings fitted in with the rest of the guild seamlessly but Mira was distant and hostile to anyone who approached her, she sat around all day reading a book on takeover magic the master had given her
Lisanna while only having known Mira for the best part of a month could tell she was dejected and frustrated that she wasn't making any progress.
"Hey Elfman?", She asked her pseudo brother
"Yea?", He said
"Have you decided what type of magic you're going to use?", Elfman looked thoughtful for a second
"No not really, I haven't really thought about it" he said honestly
"Well then why don't we learn takeover magic? It's supposed to be really strong and it will make big sis feel better! That way she won't be alone", Lisanna said excitedly.
"Y'know that's a really good idea! C'mon lets go see if master has any more of those takeover books right now!", Elfman said rushing off with Lisanna in tow.
For the next week or so she and her brother learned takeover magic in secret. Lisanna's training with Neiberosa and her young age made her body extremely susceptible to change and so as a result she was incredibly good at the magic and by the end of the week was performing basic full-body takeovers of animals of a similar size to her
Elfman on the other hand was struggling to master his 'beast-soul' takeover and could only get his right hand to transform and even then could only hold the transformation for a couple of minutes at best. Even so he was proud of himself and couldn't wait to master this new magic and become strong enough to protect his family. Or what was left of it.
Lisanna loved her new takeover magic, she had always loved animals, especially small ones like birds and mice; they made her feel like Neiberosa must have felt looking after her and now, with this magic she could get closer to them than she ever thought possible.
Takeover magic works by understanding the animal or whatever you as a Mage are taking over, then using that understanding and changing your body to match what you know, as such, there are two ways to create a takeover soul:
1. Through absorption, you as a Mage use your magic to directly absorb the entity you are taking over, gaining knowledge of all its innermost workings and the entity's subsequent magic wavelength, making it incredibly simple to then transform into that entity. This method can be rejected by unwilling hosts and as a result can be quite dangerous when used against sentient or incredibly strong beings, such as demons.
2. Through knowledge, this method uses complete understanding of the takeover in theory, if you know everything about it you can use that theory to change parts of your body and even preform full-body takeovers albeit with greater difficulty that through absorption, this method allows takeover mages to preform takeovers on species long dead and also is why many takeovers are slightly surreal in colour or shape. While rare and difficult some takeover mages can even use this to mix and match takeover souls, creating brand new transformations. There are many ways to gain the knowledge for the second type of soul creation but the simplest is probably to observe the entity you are creating a soul for, it's and your magic will mingle through prolonged periods of contact making changing easier as a whole. This method also has fewer risks to the Mage than the first option and is often considered more morally acceptable.
Mira looked over the paragraph again before slamming the book shut, it's so frustrating: it says so much about other types of takeover magic like animal or beast soul but it only briefly mentions satan soul in like a paragraph, what's with that?!, She thought agitatedly
What if it isn't the book, what I just can't control this magic, or am I really cursed like those people said?, Mira thought, her thoughts continued in this fashion until she was quite depressed and feeling sorry for herself.
She got up from her table with her head down and left the guild telling herself that Elfman and that girl Lisanna would be better off without her.
At the other end of the hall a boy of similar age to Mira with spiky blond, almost gold hair and a pair of large black headphones on his head noticed the girl leave and more importantly her expression.
Laxus had seen her come in with her two siblings the other day but hadn't really talked to them. He had heard from his grandfather that they had come from a village where the townspeople thought Mira was cursed because of her magic
He thought about her expression and how sad she looked, he wanted to help but didn't want to pry. He decided he should probably go and tell his grandpa about it and having nothing better to do right now, shrugged his shoulders and went to go look for the old man.
"SHE WHAT?!" master Makarov shouted at his grandson
"She left. The new girl, the one with the white hair, the older one. She left looking depressed about ten minutes ago", Laxus said annoyed that he was having to repeat himself
"Oh dear" the master said
"What?", Laxus asked agitated
"Go find the girl's siblings and help them look for her", Makarov said to his grandchild
"What! Why? Why do I have to help look?", Laxus retorted
"BECAUSE I SAID SO!", Makarov yelled
"Ugh! Fine! I'll go help", Laxus said before stalking off to find the two newest members of the guild
He gave in easier than usual, Makarov thought as he watched the retreating form of his grandson huh. Well no matter I've still got paper work to do.
Lisanna was playing with her brother and some of the other children in the guild when a boy with spiky blond hair and a smell similar to that of the master walked up to where they were playing.
"Are you two Mira's siblings?", He asked bluntly, pointing to her and Elfman
"Yes we are", her white haired brother replied
"Well your sister left about fifteen minutes ago and gramps told me to get you and then help you look for her"
"Big sis left?", Lisanna asked confused
"yea, she was looking all depressed and stuff, c'mon lets go look for her", Laxus replied
It took them about half an hour to find Mira, and it was Laxus who first spotted her. She was holding a large cleaver, as Laxus looked on curious she raised the large knife above her demonised arm and began to swing down
SHIT! Laxus thought as he rushed forward and grabbed Mira's wrist stopping the cleavers deadly arc but not before it cut slightly into the girls arm
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?", they both yelled at each other at the same time
The teenagers yell attracted the other two Strauss children and as they rounded the corner Elfman looking defensive and Lisanna apprehensive, Mira quickly pulled her arm from Laxus' grip and hid the knife behind her back
"Hey sis what's that behind your back?", Lisanna asked sweetly
"It's nothing Lisanna", Laxus replied surprisingly as Mira looked at him like he was crazy, he shot her a glance that clearly said 'don't do anything stupid with them around'
"Hey sis why are you sad?", Lisanna asked. Laxus turned to leave and brushed past Mira and as he did he grabbed the cleaver out of her hand before continuing on and turning a corner
"I'm not sad, why would I be sad?", Mira said unconvincingly
"Laxus said you were sad", Lisanna replied
"Who's Laxus?", Mira asked with one brow raised
"That boy that just left", Elfman supplied
"I don't know why your sad big sis but I know something that will cheer you up!" Lisanna butted in excitedly
"Ready Elfman?", she asked
"You bet!", He said, completely forgetting about the blond boy that had helped them
"TAKEOVER ANIMAL SOUL! DOG SOUL!", Lisanna yelled turning into a small white dog
"TAKEOVER BEAST SOUL! BEAR HAND!", Elfman yelled with his hand in the air which then became covered in thick black fur and grew claws
"Isn't this cool sis?", the little white dog that was Lisanna asked
"Now we have takeover magic, just like you!"
"Yea.", Elfman put in as they dropped their magic
"Now you're not alone anymore"
At her younger siblings revelation Mira began to cry which confused Lisanna because she thought it would make her happy not sad, but just as she thought this Mira began laughing as well, in her seemingly hysteric state Mira grabbed them both and pulled them into a hug
"Thank you. Thank you, I'm sorry", she hiccupped
After that incident Mira began working doubly hard to master her magic and after a week of nonstop studying and trips to the library Mira managed to turn her arm back to normal, granted with a small scar from where Laxus had saved her from cutting off her arm.
With her magic under wraps Mira started to fit in with her guild mates more, she got on well with Laxus and a girl named Cana, the others like a boy named Gray and the guilds two fatherly figures Wakaba and Macao liked having her around even if she was sometimes a bit violent
Unfortunately not everyone got along with them, a red headed girl in armour named Erza had started a rivalry with Mira, both being new to magic at the moment, their fights mainly consisted of verbal abuse and fisticuffs. But the whole guild knew that when the two girls learnt magic, well let's just say furniture repair ain't cheap.
While she didn't have anything against the other two Strauss children, Erza's personal war with Mira led for her to largely ignore Lisanna and Elfman, while they both got along well enough with everyone Lisanna didn't really feel like she had made any proper friends
Gray was cold and distant to everyone, Erza refused to talk to her, Macao and Wakaba were both old enough to be her father and Cana and Laxus hung around with her sister who she didn't want to disturb for fear of her wrath, Jet and Droy both acted like lovesick puppies around levy and when she wasn't around all they talked about was her, in fact the only people that Lisanna could really call friends was her brother Elfman and levy: a small girl with navy blue hair and a love of learning, but still levy was hardly ever around; either being chased by jet or Droy or learning more about… Well everything.
She loved the guild she really did. It was like they were all one big family, but still Lisanna couldn't help but feel that she didn't really have anyone to talk to.
That is until a boy who looked to be the same age as her with spiky pink? Hair was brought it by the master who proudly informed everyone present that the young boy had fought off a couple of thugs from a local dark guild and that he would be joining them at fairy tail.
When the young boy was asked by Erza what his name was and what magic he used, he puffed up his chest and looked incredibly proud of himself
"I'm Natsu. And I'm a dragon slayer!"