Chapter 4

Learning Magic

Me: Yo, what's up peoples?
Lucy: That's grammatically incorrect! And peoples isn't a word!
Me: And grammatically is?
Lucy: Yes, it is!
Me: Why are you reading a dictionary?
Lucy: I'm researching for my novel!
Natsu: Ehem...neither El or fairyhearts owns Fairy Tail. If they did, I wouldn't be in it...I'd be dead and Lucy would be going out with Gray. *puke
Me: I'm a complete NaLu supporter.
El: So am I.

"Harder! Harder! You have to get this right!"
"Alright! Just one second, I need to catch my breath"

Charis bent over the sink and splashed water on her face. She was exerting everything she had into learning magic. She stared into the mirror. She could hardly believe it had been a whole month since she had left behind her old world, she felt like she had been here her whole life. She was already looking different. Her eyes seemed to be getting greener and her instincts were getting sharper. Her once light brown hair had darkened a shade or two and was now constantly held back in a loose bun with two strands persistently straggling down the front of her face. She used to always have her hair down and made sure it was perfectly straight every day. She couldn't care less anymore; all she cared about was avenging her mother and getting strong enough to do so.

Charis tucked her stray hair behind her ears and straightened her back. Makarov smiled approvingly and pointed at a person-shaped target with a target marking the heart. Charis stared at it apprehensively as she remembered her mother. Was this what her killers visualised when they killed her? Charis couldn't and wouldn't become a monster. She shook her head fearfully and whispered, "I can't do it, I just can't do it." Makarov sighed and wondered if he had brought it on her too soon. He pointed at a different target and watched as she pulled every ounce of her strength into directing a burst of energy at it. He decided to finish for the day because of how much energy she had to put into the shot when it had barely damaged it. He couldn't understand it. She was capable of so much power but it was all locked inside her and she seemed unable to reach it.

Charis watched Makarov as he walked inside and knew that he was disappointed in her. She dropped her head in dismay and followed him. Suddenly, she knew that the bottle on the shelf in the hall was going to fall on him. If she didn't stop it he was going to get really hurt. "Watch out!" Charis cried, "Wait!" She rushed into the hall after him and grabbed the bottle just as it was flying through the air. She sighed in relief as the path of Makarov getting hurt was extinguished from her mind. She was getting all of these possible paths of what was going to happen in the future embedded in her mind. She could only see a few days forward at the moment but she was sure that she would get better with practise.

Charis stopped in the kitchen where she knew Makarov was going to question her. She decided to save him the trouble of calling her there.
"I'm already in the kitchen," she called. Makarov appeared.
"How did you know that I was going to call you to the kitchen?" he asked.
"That was silly of you. If I knew that the bottle was going to fall, I would have known that you were going to call me into the kitchen even if I hadn't got the paths."
"The paths?"
"That is what I call the way I see the future because there like paths. Lots of them can reach the same conclusion but all in different ways."
"You can see in the future?"
"That is what I was saying, wasn't it?"
"Aaaaah. I think I get it now."

Makarov smiled, a whole load of things were becoming clearer now. Maybe all this power that she had stored up had nothing to do with attacking power. Maybe it was the power to see the future. That was a power that very few people had. In fact, the only person he knew who had that power was Charis' father. He shuddered at the thought of telling her who her father was. No, that story would have to wait. She wasn't quite ready yet.

Charis smiled as she saw that Makarov was away in his own world of thought. She knew that he wouldn't emerge from it for a few hours. She walked away and went to her room to get ready for bed. She thought about how things had changed between herself and Makarov since she had arrived. She had allowed herself a certain amount of trust and affection for him. It was the most trust she had for anyone since her mother had died. She was now calling him "Papa" affectionately because that was what his son used to call him. Charis knew that he missed his son, but at least he still had Laxus. Laxus was the only other person she had ever seen in Makarov's house. He was also the only other person who knew who she was. He was the person she told her lies to as well. She called herself Charis Moonheart when she introduced herself, like the name her mother had called her in the letter to The Council. She never used her mother's name anymore. She never called herself Charis Chishiki anymore.

The following morning, Charis brought Nini for a walk and prepared herself for the day to come. She knew that Makarov was probably going to have lots of new training techniques planned for today seeing as he knew that she could see the future. She had utterly no idea what was going to happen. Walking Nini helped her to relax and enjoy what was to come. She smiled as she walked along and started to look forward to the day ahead.

When Charis got back she went to the usual training area but instead of finding the usual targets for her to fire at, there was just a whole load of rubber mats on the floor. "What is going on here?" she asked quizzically.
"We're going to try a new defensive technique today," Makarov growled, "We're going to be learning some physical defence skills."
"Oh," Charis replied, slightly disappointed.
"OK, first we are going to do…" Makarov droned on about how to do all of the defensive manoeuvres and that she shouldn't expect to win first time. Charis yawned as she listened to him. She'd been doing martial arts since she was five. She wasn't worried at all.
"Now, we're going to start with me doing a simple attack on you and you retaliate, OK?" Makarov asked.
"Sure," Charis replied.

Makarov started towards her as he prepared to make his move. Charis narrowed her eyes and turned her senses to high alert. She noticed the twitch of his right hand and his eyes wandering to her left shoulder. He was going to try and flip her over by putting a lot of pressure on her left shoulder. Charis smiled. She was so going to take him down. As he reached out his right hand Charis moved slightly to the right and, with lightning speed, swept his legs from underneath him. Makarov let out an "Oomph" as he landed on the floor. Charis grinned at him and held out her hand to help him up. "I did martial arts for ten years when I was in Earth," she explained. Makarov grunted as he pulled himself off the ground. "I'll just have to up my game then, won't I?" Makarov grinned in excitement. Charis sighed. He was enjoying this way too much.

The rest of the day continued in a similar way. Makarov would attack Charis but almost always end up on the floor. Charis quickly got bored. "Can't we do something like we did before?" Charis moaned, "This is way too easy. I was really enjoying doing the target practise." Makarov sighed and started walking back inside. He was finished for the day. "Hey, Papa!" Charis called, "Wouldn't it be cool if I was able to spin that target around?" Charis pointed at a target on the wall. Makarov gave up trying to rest and went back outside again. "Show us what you've got then," Makarov challenged.

Charis pointed lazily at the target with one finger, not expecting anything to happen. She imagined the target spinning around in the air and sent a small burst of magic energy from her finger. She looked at Makarov as though daring him to laugh, but he was staring at the target with wide eyes. Charis turned and saw it spinning around in the air. She looked in awe at her finger. "Did I do that?" she asked incredulously. Makarov just nodded. "You've got both of your parents' skills," he whispered in awe, "You can keep time like your mother and see the future like your father!"
"You know who my father is?" she asked but Makarov wasn't listening.
"This is impossible," he said, "Nobody has had two powers like that before. Maybe two smaller powers, but never as big as those two." Makarov set his face in determination. He was going to have to do a lot to keep Charis in check. It would be terrible if she turned out like her father.

Me: Who is Charis's father?!
El: You'll find out *Sweet smile
Mira: You guys need anything?
Me: Chocolate milkshake.
El: Vanilla milkshake.
Both: Please!
Mira: Sure thing.
Me: You're writing more, right?
El: I have my HB pencil, I'm ready for anything.
Happy: That's a good Erza impression.
El: Thanks, I've been practicing.
Me: Yes...ON ME! Please, review mina!