Chapter 3

(Lorelei's PoV)

Suddenly the doors were kicked open violently. A figure stood carrying something in it's arms. When the dust cleared, I gasped. It was Reina. And she was holding Minnie.

"Minnie!" I screamed as I run to my friend. She looked okay. Even her eyes were open. She smiled at me said in a calm voice,

"I'm okay Lorelei. Really, I'm fine! I just copied some of Reina's magic. I completely drained myself." She said smiling with closed eyes. I sighed in relief and looked up at Reina. She was remarkably tall.

"Hello Raina. Glad to see you back. And just in time too! We've decided that we're going to enter the Grand Magic Games!" At my last statement, Reina's eyes grew interested.

"Hello guildmaster Lorelei, yes, the Grand Magic Games will be very interesting indeed. I shall be on the team of course, but what about you? I've heard guildmasters aren't aloud to fight. That doesn't seem like your style at all." A couple members sweat dropped at the serious tone she said such blunt words with. The twins stifled a giggle but Reina's head snapped in their direction. "Something funny?" She asked, a dark aura surrounding her form. The wide-eyed twins backed off, false smiles pasted onto their faces in utter terror. They quickly shook their heads as she crossed her arms seriously. She grinned at herself and spoke happily, "That's more like it!" I stepped back in front of her, hoping to continue our conversation.

"Alright, so about earlier. True, guildmasters aren't aloud to compete, and I really want to compete, but you're a little off on your evaluation. You see, you just missed it. I'm no longer guild master. I've handed those responsibilities over to Al here temporarily. That way I can compete!" I explained this all very fastly as Reina's brow furrowed ever deeper. When I finished my speech, she had a very concentrated expression. I flinched and and closed my eyes, preparing to be told off but what I got was completely the other way around. I heard laughter and quickly opened my eyes to see Reina laughing so hard, tears were struggling out of her eyes. I gave a sheepish smile.

"That's my girl! I knew you'd find some way around it." Then her face became serious once more. "But I suggest that you go to the guildmaster's conference with Alastair. They'll be fine with it but they should be notified." I nodded. I always listened to Reina when it came to guildmaster duties. I often felt that others thought Reina or Al would make a better guildmaster. It saddened me but I kept going. I could be a great guildmaster if I just tried. There was nothing wrong getting a little bit of help here and there either. Hashi popped her head up in between us and suddenly asked,

"When is the guildmaster's conference?" My eyes widened as I looked at Reina hopefully. I had no idea. She just answered without skipping a beat,

"Tomorrow evening in Clover town." My eyes popped out of my head at her words

"TOMORROW?!" Reina nodded amusedly. I grabbed Alastair by the scruff of the neck and sprinted out the door. "COME ON CLEMENTINE!" I yelled behind me as I ran for the train station. I soon heard the flapping of feathered wings that notified me that my exceed was behind me. We ran to the train station in the nearest village, just making the last evening train for the night. I slumped into my seat and began to endure my nightmarish motion sickness as the train progressed. Alastair also slumped down until we were leaning our heads on each other.

"Aw, they're so cute together!"

"Relationship goals!"

"Why don't you lean your head on me Charles?" We heard the few people muttering to each other around us. It enraged me to hear them talking about my adopted brother that way. My mind flashed and suddenly, I was nine years old again. It had been three years since Boreas's ice golem disappeared too. He had left it after he disappeared so that it could finish my ice dragon slayer training. I was lucky that I had a few more years to learn. Boreas had even written me a book full of spells I would one day be able to master. About a year after the golem, -or Igor, as I liked to call him- disappeared, I found a white egg with purple flame designs all over it. The egg soon hatched and out came my exceed, Clementine. Now it was two years later and I sat, silently watching an older boy in a clearing from a tree. He cupped some water from the stream into his hands and threw it into the air. But instead of landing on the grassy, gravelly floor, the water droplets seemed to freeze in the air. The boy had a deep look of concentration on his face as the water droplets began swirling around him, all combining into one large water droplet until the shape stopped in front of his face. He opened his eyes and stared at the water until I noticed it beginning to take shape. It took the form of a tiny dragon and I gasped, instantly revealing my hiding place as his eyes shot towards me and the water dragon splashed onto the ground without shape once again.

"Come out! I know you're there!" He shouted. I shyly crept out from behind the tree and faced him guiltily. "Look at me." He commanded. I looked up and slowly opened my left eye. I promised myself a long time ago that I would never open my right eye again. It's effects were too strong. It gave me too much power. That was why I kept it hidden from the world. "Open your other eye." He told me agitatedly. I shook my head sharply. He sighed, giving in quickly.

"What's your name then?" He asked.

"Lorelei!" I told him proudly. He arched an eyebrow at my enthusiasm that wasn't there just a second ago.

"Well, Lorelei, my name is Alastair." And he held out a hand for me to shake. I took it.

"I saw you made a dragon out of water earlier and I couldn't help but wonder… Are you a dragon slayer?" He looked startled at my question. I could tell he wasn't expecting me to know what that was. Then he put on a heroic grimace and looked at me.

"You bet kid! I'm the Water Dragon Slayer!" He said grinning. At that, my face split into a huge smile.

"Really? I'm an Ice Dragon Slayer! Just like you!" His eyes widened but his mouth stretched into a smile even larger than mine. He flew forward and wrapped me in a huge hug. His face burrowed into my shoulder even though he was over half a head taller than me.

"Sister…" I heard him mumble. From that day on, we were inseparable. We found a little wooden hut in the mountains and fixed it up together. Soon we created our own guild called Avalanche. We discovered two young twins who were both about two years younger than me. Hashi and Shiro. They were orphans but we took them in. Incidentally, they both knew very old forms of magic that complemented each other's nicely. They spent a lot of time in the Libraries down in the various villages, studying up to become powerful mages. One day they brought back a shy girl who was a year older than Alastair. Her name was Minnie. She didn't know any magic but sometimes, she would get visions inside of her head. We quickly discovered that she could see the future. She soon became one of my best friends. With her help, we built up the walls of the hut until it was solidly made of stone. A lone traveler appeared one day. His name was Curios. He soon took interest in our little independant guild and joined. He stayed and helped with the heavy work until a year later when Alastair turned eighteen. By then, a green haired boy named Sebastian had joined the guild after much begging from the twins. They said they wanted another normal person on the team. He was only a year older than me but BOY was he a flirt! Then Curios disappeared nearly completely, only stopping by every once in while to take a job. I had only talked to him once. Around the time that Curios disappeared, a young woman who was about a year older than Minnie appeared, telling us that a man named Curios pointed her in this direction and told her to join. She did, becoming one of the most powerful in the guild, with her Dragon Soul Takeover Magic. Her name was Reina. We all became a family. We had all practically grown up together. Clementine, Alastair, and I certainly had! That was what made Alastair my best friend. He was always there for me at times when I needed him most throughout my life. He was the best brother a gal like me could have.

Suddenly I was awakened from my dream when I noticed Alastair shaking me like a maniac.

"Oh hey Al, you were in my dream last night…"I said drowsily. He just shook me awake again yelling at me.

"Lorelei! Clover town station is next!" At that, memories of two hours ago flooded back into my head and I gasped, cheeks reddening with embarrassment at what I just said. Alastair didn't seem to care so I shot up quickly, but fell back down again, this time on top of Alastair as both of our motion sicknesses took hold. We were in luck because just then, the train stopped, allowing both of us to shoot up with newfound energy. We lept out the doors and out of the station. Then we slowed to a walk as we searched for an inn to stay the night.

"You know what? We don't need a place to sleep! We got one!" I said, enthusiastically marching out of town and into the woods until we found a clearing that overlooked the entire town. "Perfect!" I said, and summoning the extent of my magic power to create a little cottage made entirely out of ice. Inside was well insulated and warm, even though the walls were made out of ice. I threw two giant sacks at Alastair. "Fill 'em with water." I told him. He complied and soon, we had two makeshift water beds. I used my magic to create two bed frames to set the water beds on. Soon, we were lying on our beds, both fairly comfortable. The cold didn't affect me but Alastair was shivering violently. Then, I got an idea. "Hey Al?"

"Y-yeah?"

"You can breath underwater right?"

"R-right."

"And your water heats up depending on your emotional level right?" I asked slowly.

"Mhm." At this, I smirked evilly. Using my magic, I created a tank made of ice. Suddenly, my open eye started glowing.

"Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Healing Ice." After I cast the spell, the ice shone with a purple sheen. I touched it. Sure enough, it was as good as glass. I turned to Alastair. "Make some warm water and sleep in here for tonight." It was more like an order than a statement. He sighed and walked up to the tank. I knew he had to be blushing to produce warm water, so this was gonna be good. He grew a look of far off thought until his eyes seemed to return back to reality. His eyes darted at me and I smirked. I made a kissy face at him and a dark rose color burned in his cheeks as he gave me a mortified expression. Still focused, he pointed at the inside of the tank. Water shooting out of his finger, steaming. He smiled as he admired his handiwork.

"Spoiled…" I muttered as he gave a sigh of relief, stepping into the hot water, already changed out of most of his clothes. Now he just wore his boxers and I rolled my eyes at the silly faces he pulled at me as I tried to sleep.

(Alastair's PoV)

I honestly couldn't believe myself. Stupid Alastair! Thou dost not thinkest of thy sister in such a way! But it was too late. A memory from last year had flashed through my head. Lorelei had been sixteen. I was eighteen. I hadn't knocked at her bedroom door but I figured it was alright. She couldn't possibly be doing something that bad, right? Boy was I wrong. I shuddered as an image of an unclad Lorelei danced to some unknown music on her radio, wearing nothing but her underwear and bra. When she noticed me, I knew I was screwed. I probably had an aching brain freeze into the next week. I shot a glance at the monstrous temper sitting on the ingenious bed down below me. Steaming hot water shot out of my hand and I grinned. Well, at least one good thing came out of that experience. I quickly strpped down into my boxers, not caring if Lorelei saw me. She'd seen me in a bathing suit right? I got into the water. My face split into a wide grin as I was fully submerged in water. The water seemed to turn me into a whole other person. My energy spiked and my emotions and feelings became crazy positive. I laughed and giggled underwater, making faces at my sister. She just rolled her eyes and turned over to face the wall. Then, I was alone as I lost my sister to sleep. I silently admired the ice house she had created. I knew she could do better, she was just conserving energy, but still. This place was super nice. Suddenly, I heard a noise outside the house. It sounded like voices. I growled as I thought of some meddling teenager, come to ruin my sister's beautiful work of art. I quickly got out of the tank, praying that the water would still be warm when I got back. I quickly changed, feeling fueled by my swim. I stuck my head out of the door to see two figures I couldn't make out standing awfully close to the house.

"Hey! Just what do you think you're doing!" I spoke softly, but knew they could hear me when their heads snapped in my direction.

"Just admiring the architecture." An all too familiar voice sneered at me. I groaned.

"Ohhhh, not you two again!" I nearly yelled but remembered my sleeping sister inside. Sting just smirked.

"Is your sister here too?" He asked trying to peer around me to get a look inside. I put my arms up to stop them from entering.

"Stop right there. You won't be getting any further." I said with as much command as I could muster. Rogue simply 'tched' at me and suddenly he disappeared, leaving a shadowy figure instead, which flew above me left arm through the doorway. I spun around to stop him but he was already inside, now standing at the foot of her bed, watching her. I felt Sting pat me on the shoulder as he passed me too. He took his spot next to Rogue, sending weird looks at the water tank next to him. He looked at the rest of the little cottage.

"Did she do this?" He asked. I could hear from his voice he was impressed. I nodded and his eyebrows shot up, but he said nothing more. I felt more than uncomfortable as I watched them watch my sister. "So what brings you two here to Clover town?" Sting asked, still staring at Lorelei.

"Lorelei decided that Avalanche would be competing in the Grand Magic Games this year. She wanted to play so I stepped in as temporary guildmaster. Now we're headed to the guildmaster's conference to become a legal guild. After the Grand Magic Games are over, Lorelei wants to step back into the position. I don't mind. That's why she's attending the conference as well." I shrugged like this was no big deal. Sting and Rogue didn't react either. They just looked at each other.

"I've been guildmaster for over a year and nobody has raised any questions about my competing in the GMG." Sting said nonchalantly. I nodded.

"That's probably because you're a crowd favorite that the audience knows. We don't have anyone outside the guild. If we meet someone we like, they join too. Nobody outside our guild knows us. We'll be an easy target for the world to hate. We're gonna have to work for fame, and that's something we're all willing to do for each other. If that means I step into the position of guildmaster so that one of our best fighters can have a shot, then so be it." Sting and Rogue listened thoughtfully to my speech.

"Yeah, I suppose that's true. I remember when Rogue and I were just a couple of nobodies. You guys kind of sound like us, except a whole lot weaker." Sting said as he stepped towards the exit. Rogue followed silently behind him and they took their leave. When I had made sure they were completely gone, I let out a sigh of relief. I quickly strpped down to my boxers and slipped back into my water tank. Thankfully, the water was still warm. I drifted off quickly into a relaxed sleep.

(Lorelei's PoV)

I woke up comfortably still sleeping on my handy waterbed mattress. Unfortunately, when I tried to sit up, I realised the entire bag had been frozen solid around my sleeping form. I had sunk so deep in the mattress that my ankles and wrists were now stuck.

"Alastair!" I yelled. Trying to look around and find my brother. In a flash, Al came running into the cottage, a mild look of terror on his face. I was touched at the worry he showed for me. I tried moving my arms and legs to show him I was stuck. He realized what the problem was and started laughing.

"You're… Haha… Stuck, in the water bed?" He couldn't suppress a giggle as he said the words. I nodded in defeat and he burst into laughter again. "Sorry sis. I guess we're gonna have to find a fire mage to get'cha out of there, but even then, I fear your ice will be way too cold for any regular fire mage to melt." I gave him a hard glare.

"We'll see."

"Ahem." A different voice cleared it's throat amidst our squabbling. I pinpointed the cause of the sound and I almost died with relief. Clementine stood in the very corner of the room, expectantly holding a flames potion in her little, purple paw.

"Clementine! I was just about to correct Al here! He says that we need a powerful fire mage? I scoff at the idea! What we really need is a purple exceed with adorable dark spots under her green eyes and an uncanny knack for potions. One of her flames potions would fix me up, good as knew! Geez Alastair! Even I knew that!" I said, hoping against all odds that the purple exceed bought what I was trying to tell her. She just rolled her eyes.

"Yeah sure." And with that, she poured the contents of the fiery liquid over the rest of my icy bonds, finally releasing me.

"Yes!" I screamed, rushing to my savior to give her the biggest hug I could.

"You- may-Release… Me- now!" Clementine gasped as I restricted her airways with a tight hug. Blinking widely, I quickly dropped the exceed.

"Oops! Sorry!" I said as quickly as possible.

"Do you have a plan for what you want to do today? I know we have a meeting tonight but for the rest of the day, I say we get our bearings on this Clover town. It seems like a well enough place for tourism and I can't help but wonder why." I nodded at Clementine's words. We took off together, me, Alastair, and Clementine, on a journey. We walked through the town finding little shops for Clementine, who couldn't resist the sparkling potions sets. She dragged us into all of the culinary stores to buy ingredients for her various "Projects" as she called them. I rolled my eyes at the spendy little exceed.

"This is getting our bearings on Clover town?" I asked sarcastically. She simply waved me off over her shoulder, then caught sight of a tiny, portable, oil, stove top in the window of an electronics store.

"This is solar powered! I wouldn't have to simply store my ingredients waiting to get back to the house!" She said with hearts in her eyes. We physically had to drag her away. Alastair and I were done. After an entire twenty minutes of struggling, she finally gave up against us. I suspect it probably had something to do with my threat to encase her in ice and throw her off the bell tower in the middle of town. She just turned her back on me, and flew slightly ahead of us. I put my hands behind my head and casually walked on, creating a marble of ice and rolling it over my fingers. We walked to the icy cottage without a problem when we got there, something occurred to me.

"Alastair, don't we need to dress somewhat nicer for the conference? I mean we should make a good impression." He shot me a sideways glance.

"Your first impressions are almost never good. I wouldn't worry about it. You can win them over with your fiery charm." He shot me a wink as I protested.

"I'm not fiery! I'm as cool as ice. I am an ice dragon slayer after all!" I said, proudly creating the avalanche emblem in the air with my element. The emblem looked like a triangle shaped snowflake. Two branches crossed each other at the ends, while a third crossed over the first two, forming a snowy 'A'. Alastair had a tick mark in his forehead.

"How many times have I told you? You don't say you're an ice dragon slayer. You're the Ice Dragon Slayer! You're completely unique." My face darkened at his words.

"And alone." I muttered. His face softened and his eyes widened as he realized what I had said.

"No Lorelei. That's not what I meant! You have me, you-" But I was gone. I ran outside, the cottage somehow instantly disappearing into a melted puddle. Alastair frantically kept our stuff dry by directing the water to fall around the items. I knew he would. Always so thoughtful and uptight. He was nothing like me. Nobody was anything like me. I was alone. I heard what people said when they realized that Alastair was not the guildmaster. I was. It hurt when people's eyes widened at the shock that occurred at discovering that such an immature girl could possibly be a guildmaster. Must be a pretty bad guild if she's their guildmaster. I hear ya. If she's the guildmaster, They must not get anything done! It hurt so much! Tears formed in my eye but I froze them, creating a glassy film over it. I kept running away. Away from everything. I had finally snapped. All of the comments muttered under breath, all of the side glances of exasperation. They all came crashing down on me at that moment as I let out a deafening scream. My cry filled the forest, scaring away all life. Good. I was already alone. I kept running until I nearly crashed into a huge boulder, blinded by frozen tears. Still screaming, I punched the rocky wall as hard as I could. I heard a snap in my knuckles but I didn't care. I plopped down onto a nearby rock and cried some more. Finally, I took a peek at my broken knuckles. I let out a groan as I saw the skin split and the fingers pointing in odd directions. The knuckle bones themselves were spaced out now, with enough space in between each other to fit three extra knuckles. My hand was busted up pretty bad. With a sigh, I reached down and painfully squeezed my knuckles together, back into place. The new pain seemed to take my mind off the reason I had punched the wall in the first place. Now I groaned as I set each of my fingers in the right direction. I conjured ice in my left hand- the one that wasn't busted up- and cradled my right hand in it. I sighed at the relief. I used my small extent of healing magic to ease the pain and grow the broken bones back together. When everything inside felt fixed, my skin began to close up, sealing without a mark. Now all that was left was my own bloodstains, which I didn't even bother cleaning up. My head snapped up when I heard a twig break, just behind the shadows of the forest. I hit myself mentally. Why didn't I sense it coming? Some dragon slayer you are Lorelei!

"Come out! I know you're there!" I said in a warning tone. A chuckle answered my they stepped out of the shadows, my heart twisted in disappointment at the "Twin Dragon Slayers". "Oh, it's just you." I said disappointedly. Then I remembered I still hadn't rematched them. "Hey! It's you! We have to fight!" I yelled at them, causing both of them to laugh this time.

"Sweetheart, you didn't even scratch us last time we fought, and that was yesterday when you had Sharkboy, Miss. Lavagirl." I growled. He talked to me like I was so much younger than him.

"Don't make me feel like I'm four! You're just the same age as me!" At this, Sting laughed.

"Really? I'm nineteen. So is Rogue here. And… you are?" My face heated up at his words. They were two years older than me? They didn't look it!

"Uh-W-well I-" I cut myself off to shoot a glare at him as he arched an eyebrow and gave a smirk. "That's very rude of you. Don't you know not to ever ask a lady her age?" Phew, that was close. At this, he laughed.

"Whatever. I bet you're like, seventeen. Am I right?" He asked as he saw my cheeks redden even more. "Guess I'm right." At this I tried to punch him but flinched halfway through as I realised it was my newly broken and healed hand. The punch turned to spaghetti and he caught my fist easily, this time frowning as he examined my hand. "What happened to you?" He asked, suddenly in a caring tone. I looked away and muttered,

"I punched that rock… over there." We both looked in the direction I looked. On the rock wall, a spatter of blood dotted the rocks. He gave me a concerned look and I just shrugged. Suddenly, Rogue was stepping in front of Sting and leaning down to look me straight in the face. I leaned back uncomfortably, red still staining my face. Then he spoke, which was very rare. I was surprised.

"What's wrong with your eye?" He questioned me. I gasped, remembering the frozen tears and conjuring a shard of ice reflective enough to see how bad it looked. Sure enough, my one visible eye was covered in a frost sheen of blue. I could barely see my actual iris as I stared in shock at the reflection. I sighed, knowing that I had to melt it.

"I'm sorry. Just one second." I said closing my eyes. I concentrated on withdrawing my magic energy from my eye until I felt the ice melt back into tears. Closed eyes could not stop the tears from leaking. Sting and Rogue let out startled gasps as I opened my eye and all of the tears fell out, making my eye look like a water faucet. "It's just, I was crying earlier. Tears would have made me seem weak." I muttered to them as they just continued to watch me cry. I'm guessing they didn't know how to deal with crying women. Then I felt a hand on each of my shoulders. Each of them looked at me with a pained expression and I was startled. "Wh-why are you guys being so nice all of the sudden?" I choked out. Then Sting gave me a funny expression.

"Why are you not trying to bite our heads off right now? You seemed much angrier yesterday when we fought?" He asked casually and I let out a sad laugh.

"We were fighting silly."

"Exactly."

A/N: Okaaaaaay this chapter was super long! I hope that's okay with you guys.

Anyhoooo, I think there was just one new character in this chapter so here's the description.

Curios: In late 20's early 30's. Long thin brown hair that is kept in a ponytail. Green eyes. mustard yellow guild mark. Not too buff, but definitely muscular. Kind of skinny(But certainly not unhealthily so!).

Yeah and I think that is about it... No wait! I'm sorry I kept forgetting about Clementine in this chapter. So sorry if you missed her!

Alright! In the meantime, Imma keep doin what I'm doin. You go on and do your own thing.

Yours truly

Roonil