As the next year passed I learned a lot from the guild. I made friends and I was accepted for who I was. A shy and socially awkward person with an aversion to loud noises. I had become a bit of a book worm since meeting one of my closest friend, Levy McGardener. She enjoyed books as much as I enjoyed silence, and used Solid script magic, which can make anything. It was cooler than most people gave her credit for.

It was weird to begin with, living in Fairy hills. There was always sounds. It was never quiet to the point of being able to hear her tinkling of the bird's chirps. There was always someone moving or breathing loudly, and every now and then there would be someone trying to procreate. On those occasions I would run to the guild and hide behind the bar. Laxus thought it was hilarious. Of course, he did. Half of the time it was his fault I had to hide in the guild from the inappropriate activities! Natsu was nice enough for a little guy, he was eleven years old and a little spit fire. He had helped me settle in and he showed me how to work and how to interact with the rest of the guild. After the first few weeks Natsu started to leave me to my own devices and I was taken under Laxus's wing.

He was calmer than the rest of the guild and he had a scar across his face. I was curious about how he got it, but I didn't want to ask. I had once asked Arc where one of his scars came from and he got upset and angry. I suppose that scars are private matters. He was nice enough to me, and he lent me his sound pods whenever things got to much for me to handle on my own. But we didn't do missions together. Laxus worked alone. Or he did until about two months after I joined, when he brought a green haired boy to the guild. He looked different from everyone else in the guild. More regal. And he spoke with a weird accent.

"Laxus, why does Justine talk so weird?" I asked one day when the green haired kid was at the bar. I had decided that he was my rival. He had thought it was a good idea to get his guild mark on his hand, which was lower down than mine was. I was a declaration that he thought he was smarter than I was. I know it was. I watched Laxus huff and stretch in his seat.

"That's just how he talks small fry. He probably thinks you talk funny. Seeing as you can't pronounce words like anemone right. And his name is Freed not Justine," Laxus replied as Freed started to head back over.

"Well he introduced himself as Justine. Freeze Justine. Free… Free… shut up!"

3rd person POV

Laxus barked with laughter as the younger mage failed to pronounce the ruin mages first name. "Its not funny," she insisted. Freed watched the two from a table over in confusion. He didn't understand why the brunette didn't like him. He hadn't done anything to her, so he didn't understand why she was always glaring at him and calling him by his last name, and she was really quiet too. Most of the guild were quiet around her. It was confusing, but he went along with it, lowering his voice when he was near her. He couldn't help but feel that there was always someone in the guild listening to every word he said, and not in a good way.

"Laxus-Sama? Did something happen while I was gone?" he asked softly. Laxus snorted at glanced to the angry looking brunette, as if telling her to answer him. She only glared at the blond, and then at Freed, before she shadowed away to the other side of the guild, muttering about stupid blonds and weird talking weirdos. Freed looked from the now empty seat to Laxus in confusion.

"She doesn't like you. Don't ask because I don't know why. She thinks you talk strangely because she's never met anyone from the east before now, at least not anyone who ever talked to her. She also can't pronounce Freed right. It's hilarious watching her struggle to say it. That's why she calls you by yours last name. She ain't much used to people. Only been here about two months and didn't stay anywhere too long before that. She'll come around eventually," The lightning mage explained. Freed frowned.

"So, she thinks I am weird? She is rather odd herself. And why is everyone so quiet when she is around? I've seen the guild much louder and rowdier than this before when she wasn't here." Laxus sighed as he watched the little dragon slayer leave the guild with a stubborn look set on her face.

"Because she just heard everything you just said."

Freed froze and watched as the noise in the guild sky rocketed.

"She got real sensitive hearing, hears just about everything within a mile radius at least. We figure the quieter we talk the more likely she is to just drown it out or focus on the noise of the town. And you just pointed it out to her that we act different when she's around. You'll have to apologise for that. Dragon slayers can really hold a grudge," Laxus mused. He may have liked Freed and he may be the little ruin mages team mate, but Rekai was alone most of the time and he wasn't letting her be driven off just because of something like sensitive hearing.

"Oh, I didn't know. And why didn't she stick around anywhere long before Fairy Tail? She's just a kid," Freed pointed out. He didn't understand how a little kid could be left on their own like that. Left to wander. Sure, he had been alone for a while but that was his choice. He left so he could be a mage. But he tended to stay close to home until Laxus had brought him to Fairy Tail. It didn't make sense to keep moving and never stay in one place too long. Laxus only shrugged and kicked his feet up one to the table.

"That's her story. Ask her after you fix things up with her." Freed scowled at the thought. Sure, he had pointed out that the guild acted differently with her, but so what. It wasn't his fault. No one bothered to tell him, so how could he have known. He had nothing to apologise for. Nothing at all.

While Freed was convincing himself that he did nothing wrong, Rekai was wondering around the city, trying to figure out what all of the different smells were. She hadn't don it before, although she as meaning to. She kept catching a delicious smell near one of the cross roads of the city. She knew where it was but there was a weird glare on the signs in the city and she couldn't read them properly. She just knew that the smell was sweet, like berries were, but it wasn't fruity. It was odd. And she wanted to find it.

Eventually she found that the smell was coming from one of the shops on the corner. She was hesitant to go inside, but she wanted to know what the smell was. She pushed the door open and heard a bell. It was loud. The door creaked, and her little shoes squeaked against the clean wooden floors. The smell was over whelming, it was sweet, so unearthly sweet. What was it?

It was welcoming inside the shop. It was filled with earthy colours and yellow. Sun yellow decorated the details on the walls and shelves.

"Hello there. How can I help you?" the man behind the counter had noticed the little bell chime when she arrived. "Are your parents around? Are you lost?" Rekai looked at the men behind the counter. His hair and eyes were dark like hers were. He seemed older, maybe Macau's age perhaps. "Do you need me to call someone?"

"No, sir… I'm from Fairy Tail," she mumbled back. It sounded loud to her but the man behind the counter barely caught what she said.

"Fairy Tail you say?" Rekai nodded and the man nodded as well. "Are you here for some Chocolate then?" Rekai tilted her head at the foreign word.

"What's Chalk-let?" the man behind the counter looked stumped at her question. Had she said it wrong?

"You don't… well… it's a treat made from Coco. Would you like to try some?" Rekai hesitated.

"If it safe?" Her mother had always taught her what was safe to eat and what wasn't, but she never mentioned something called Coco.

"Of course, it is," He said, placing a small square of the chocolate on the counter and stepping back a little bit. He didn't want to scare her. Rekai looked at the new thing and hesitantly picked it up. She looked to the man before she took a small bite out of it. The flavour hit her like a train. She had never tasted anything like it before. She couldn't put it into words, but she knew she liked it.

"Its good. I like it," Rekai chimed. She smiled up at the older man and decided that she had just found her favourite place in Magnolia.

"My name is Jaques by the way. What's yours?"

"My name is Rekai."