Azuma no Yōsei
Chapter Four: Fairy Tail
Gajeel and Lily sat at the kitchen table, brows furrowed. Kiyi had fallen asleep halfway through Gajeel's story about the hare and the turtle; the men had moved out so their conversation wouldn't wake her.
"'S strange, ain't it?" Gajeel murmured, fiddling with a screw.
Lily hummed in agreement. "I don't think it's likely we'll be able to get her home. Without the Anima…"
Gajeel grunted. "We're not gonna give up, though. 'S like Salamander said: we're Fairy Tail. We'll just be realistic about it…" Gajeel sighed then, running a hand through his wild mane of hair. ""C'mon, I'll show ya your room, and we'll deal with this mess in the morning."
When daybreak had a still-sleepy Kiyi struggle out of her room and follow an amazing smell into the kitchen, it was to find Gajeel cooking bacon and eggs, he and Lily having a debate over which strategy would best suit a battle situation.
"Gajeel, infiltration is the key to – oh, good morning, Kiyi!"
Kiyi stopped to yawn cutely, before replying, "Good morning, Lily, good morning, Gajeel. Are we going to the guild today?"
Gajeel gave his strange laugh again. "You and Lily are gonna be joining today, aren't ya? Then we'll see about training your magic up, and maybe we'll go on a job."
"A job?" Kiyi asked, confused.
Gajeel nodded. "It's how we get jewels – that's the money system here. And money's what ya need to buy other stuff, like food and clothes. But ya gotta eat, first! Otherwise you won't get stronger!"
It didn't take long for the three to eat and clean up. Afterwards, they took Kiyi outside where the men ran her through some warm-up exercises, taught her some basic fighting forms to add to her repertoire, then finally had her attempt to call on her magic. Kiyi struggled today, now that her life wasn't in danger, but she did manage to produce some small fires and sparks in a flurry of smoke, after some half hour or so. Exhausted, Kiyi asked if they couldn't meditate like her brother had told her to: Dragon Slayer and cat both readily agreed, saying it was good for the soul, as well.
It was nearing eight o'clock by the time the three had showered and were ready to go to the guild – or rather, the boys were.
"Come on, Kiyi!" Gajeel growled, banging on her door. He stopped when he heard her sniff, though, and smelt salt water. Oh shit! He panicked. Not crying! "O-oi, what's wrong?"
"Gajeel, I don't have any other clothes! I can't go to your guild smelling like this, I want to make a good impression!" Kiyi wailed.
Oh, ok. This Gajeel could deal with. "We'll just ask Wendy if you can borrow something for today until we can buy you new clothes."
There was more, relieved, sniffling on the other side. "Really?"
"Yeah. You wait here, and I'll go ask her." He tried to be gentle.
"I'd be faster," Lily offered.
"I know where I'm going," Gajeel grumbled. "Fairy Hills, the dorms, they're only over the way. I'll just ask Titania to fetch the little girl, and be right back."
Thankfully, it was as easy as that. Clothing manufacturing had been a thriving business at Caitshelter, and Wendy had brought some spare clothes with her. Gajeel returned within half an hour, and provided Kiyi with a yellow and blue striped dress with white scale-like accents at the top and bottom, with white armbands that vaguely resembled feathers (there had been anklebands as well, but they didn't fit with her sandals). Kiyi came out as soon as she was dressed, struggling to tie her hair back up into a topknot at the back of her head with her raggedy pink ribbon.
"Do I look ok?" Kiyi asked shyly.
Gajeel and Lily offered her smiles. "Of course. Now, are ya ready to go?"
Kiyi cheered.
They arrived at the guild – a giant building made out of square blocks of stone, much to Kiyi's surprise – at the same time as the people from last night, and thankfully, everyone was now wearing decent clothes.
"That looks so cute on you, Kiyi-san!" Wendy exclaimed, making the other girl blush.
"Thank you!" Kiyi squeaked out.
"If you like, we can go shopping together later?"
Kiyi smiled brightly and nodded, beyond words.
Lisanna began to walk inside the building, and Kiyi watched in confusion as the guild all froze in shock, staring with wide eyes.
"S-seriously?"
"Y-you're alive?!"
There was suddenly a stampede of people running straight for the white-haired girl, screaming, "Lisanna!"
"Don't you dare touch her with your filthy mitts!" Roared her brother, Elfman, his right arm suddenly changed into something bulky and vaguely metallic.
"That's the same reaction I had…" Natsu said, sweatdropping.
"Yeah!" Happy added, whilst Mirajane chuckled.
"Thank goodness. The guild's just like it was before." Lucy added.
"I see," Gray joined. "Looks like no one knows anything about the Anima."
"Anyway, what's important is that everyone is safe." Erza stated.
"This is messed up," Gajeel said bluntly, closing his eyes.
"So, this is a wizard's guild…" Lily and Kiyi said together.
"Lisanna!" A tiny old man exclaimed, stepping forward. Kiyi hid behind Gajeel again.
"Master!"
"I believed… Everyone raised in this guild is a child of this guild. And what parent is there that doesn't worry about their child? And what parent is there that doesn't believe in their child? You can tell me all about what happened later. You too, Natsu…"
"Yeah, Ji-chan!"
Kiyi sniffled, fighting back tears.
"Anyway, you did great in coming home!"
"Master… I am back home, aren't I?" Lisanna asked. "I'm back home, right?"
"That's right. This will always be your home. Welcome home, Lisanna!"
"WELCOME HOME, LISANNA!" The guild roared together.
"I'm back!" Lisanna cried, tackling the Master in a huge hug.
Lucy and Wendy both shrieked in surprise, whilst Kiyi burst into tears, hiding her face in Gajeel's shirt.
Eventually, the two girls calmed down, and it was then that the party started – although it was nothing like any party Kiyi had been to. People were shouting kanpai, drinking in excess, and laughing uproarsingly. It didn't take long before fights broke out amongst many of the male members.
Kiyi sat with Wendy, admiring the dark gold mark on her left shoulder, the same colour of her brother's eyes and in the same spot as Gajeel's, listening in on everyone's conversations and being introduced as the newest member to whomever came past their table. One girl in particular caught Kiyi's attention, a blue-haired lady that Gajeel couldn't seem to keep his eyes off. She introduced herself as Levy, a Solid Script Mage, and Kiyi could barely keep up with what she was saying – and that was before Kiyi tried to see what she was reading.
"Eh? Are you ok, Kiyi-chan?" Levy asked worriedly, noticing that the smaller girl had started tearing up.
"I can't read your language!" Kiyi wailed.
"That's ok!" Levy said quickly, waving her hands in front of Kiyi. "This isn't the language we read in Fiore anymore, it's an ancient language I've been studying! I'll teach you how to read ours though!"
Kiyi sniffled, looking up at Levy with a watery smile. "Really?"
"Yeah! Here, let's start right away!" Levy pulled out a strange looking stylus – a light pen, Kiyi learnt – and began to write in the air, instructing Kiyi in each letter and it's phonetics, and getting her to copy them out and repeat the learning back to her. Levy was a good teacher and Kiyi a quick student, so by the time they'd both past out, cuddled up next to Gajeel and Lily on the floor, she had already mastered the basics, and the next day they planned to move on to base grammar.
At least, that's what the plan had been. Instead, Gajeel decided to take Kiyi and Wendy with him and Lily to take down some bandits. Levy had come along as well, so that she could continue Kiyi's education in Fioran.
"Eh, what's that?!" Kiyi exclaimed, staring up at the big, whistling chunk of metal
"It's a train," Wendy told her cheerfully, holding her white Exceed, Charla. "It's a type of transportation."
"We need this to get to our job," Gajeel said gruffly, handing her the flier he'd grabbed that morning. "I'm going to nap; you can use that to practice your letters, figure out the job details that way."
Levy clenched her teeth. "Gajeel!" She exclaimed, looking cross. "You can't just –!"
"It's ok!" Kiyi interrupted quickly. "He's helping – if I want to know what we're doing, then I should figure it out on my own – that's how you learn, right?"
Levy sighed and grumbled, but went back to teaching Kiyi how to read and write Fioran.
It only took two hours for the train to get them from Magnolia to Daisy, the town afflicted by the bandits.
"We're going to scope the place out," Gajeel instructed carefully. "Me an' Lily first. We'll come back when we know what we're up against, and then you three and the white cat can come in, too. Kiyi, you stick close to Levy and Wendy, alright?"
Kiyi nodded, and tried to be brave like her big brother.
Gajeel and Lily were only gone for five minutes, and once they'd returned and let the girls know what they were up against, they all snuck back around again, coming in at different angles: Gajeel from the north, Lily and Levy to the south, and Wendy, Charla and Kiyi from the west.
"Testuryu no Hokou!" That was Gajeel's signal!
"Tenryu no Hokou!" Wendy joined in, ducking out from the house they'd hidden behind.
"Solid Script: Fire!" Levy's voice added.
Kiyi watched with stars in her eyes as the three Fairy Tail wizards fought against the bandits. Gajeel's strange laugh came to her through all the screaming; he and Lily had started fighting the bandits with their fists. Levy and Wendy, however, seemed to prefer mid- to long-range attacks, relying mostly on their magic. Wendy was even carried into the sky by Charla, leaving Kiyi safely behind on the ground.
"Heh, I'll use you to stop them!" A voice behind her exclaimed. Kiyi turned to see one of the bandits with a knife ready. "Legal guilds are always soft when it comes to kids!"
Unfortunately for him, Zuko had already taught Kiyi what to do if she were ever mugged – which is sort of similar to the situation she was in now, if you squinted.
Stepping forward at the same time as her attacker, Kiyi grabbed the hand holding the knife, shoved her elbow into his gut (she was too short for a sternal shot) and slipped one of her feet behind his enough to off balance him, and send him flying back a few paces. Drawing in a deep breath, Kiyi grabbed at the flicker of fire inside her, and punched forward with the hand that now held the bandit's knife, the small fire fizzling on the pavements just by his head.
Turning side on so that her new guild mark was visible, Kiyi grinned. "I'm a member of Fairy Tail, too! Don't underestimate me, gihee!"
"Aiyi!" The bandit scrambled away, giving Kiyi confidence. She could do this. She could do this!
Using the bow of her dress as a belt, she tucked the knife away and hoped for the best, she ran from behind the house and straight into the fight, jumping up and landing a solid kick in the back to a bandit who was about to attack Wendy.
"Ah! Thank you, Kiyi-san!" Wendy exclaimed, eyes a bit wide at the close call.
Kiyi grinned at her, before calling upon that flicker again, and began to perform some of the basic forms that Avatar Aang and Zuko had taught her, spinning and twirling through the bandits, magic fire falling from her fingers as if she'd been bending her whole life.
She was Firelord Zuko's little sister, the great granddaughter of Avatar Roku, and a member of Fairy Tail – she could do this!