A Magical World
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Neirah was suspicious as she quietly swept through her house to the sound of silence. In fact, her heart was racing about as quickly as her bare feet were carrying her. "Alex?" Color started to drain from her expression when she wasn't offered a response.
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She reached the top of the stairs in her home before shuffling towards her son's bedroom door and throwing it open while simultaneously praying he wasn't at the back of it. "Alex?!" Between her accelerated tone filled with panic and her thundering heart, she had almost missed the gentle snivel to emit from across the hall. Her lips parted, her brow furrowed in vexation. Even though relief should have started to settle her riled nerves, she couldn't help but panic for the fact that her four-year-old's sniffle was coming from her and her husband's bedroom.
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She swiftly padded towards the partially opened door with a heavy heart and shoved it open to see her toddler sitting in the centre of their California king buried beneath the regal sky white fluff of his father's Wizard Saint jacket. She sighed her concern as she invited herself into the room, watching her son slowly stroke the smooth edges of his ebony dragon scale. "Alex, Sweetie, what's wrong?"
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She asked the question like a doting mother but was careful to scan the room to make sure her son hadn't accidentally stumbled across something that might make him think a dog was in their near future. "Honey, why are you crying on Mommy and Daddy's bed?"
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Alex smeared his shirt sleeve over his face to catch the drainage caused by his distress. "Daddy's never coming home," he whimpered heartbrokenly. "That's why he left me behind. He never goes anywhere without me and his coat."
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Neirah couldn't help but smile meekly at the boy's dramatics. "Alex, that is not true in the slightest," she assured him kindly. "Your father was in a rush this morning so he must have forgotten it." She approached and took a quiet seat at the bedside. "As for you, there was an emergency at the guild and you were still in bed when he left."
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"No," Alex denied frantically. He swatted his mother's loving touch away from where she tried to remove the fur lining from her son's perspiring brow. "He hates me and doesn't want to take me with him anymore!"
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Neirah's heart sank into her throat as her expression grew sterner with her concern. "Sweetie, what on Earthland would ever make you say something like that? Your father loves you more than anything."
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"He doesn't!" The boy argued through a fresh fit of tears. "He's a wizard and works at a wizard guild! That's why he won't take me! I'm not a wizard yet!"
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Neirah retracted her fingers from the thrashing boy in utter bewilderment for his passion. She hated how Alex had grown to value the wizarding community over anything else. "Alex, your father just had a lot of work to do today. Honey, he didn't want you to follow him and then forget to feed you lunch or something silly…"
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"Miss Mira can feed me!"
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"Alex, you can't just impose yourself on all of Daddy's friends. They have work to do too," she cautioned. "He just thought that you would have more fun at home. That you'd be more comfortable here."
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"I won't have more fun at home!" Alex raged. "I want to be with Dad! I want to be where the wizards are! I don't want him to think I'm like you!"
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Neirah could feel the tears rising in her bright eyes as her heart started to wrench in her chest. "L-like me," she instigated. "I… Is there something wrong with me?"
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Alex shot his defiant pout away with the force of his instant guilt to his mother's disheartened expression. He had made her sad, and when he did that, Laxus hurt. "Dad leaves you behind because you're not a wizard," Alex explained certainly.
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"Alex, I stay home to make you and your father comfortable when you get back. I clean so you don't have to, I cook when you're hungry. I could go to the guild if I wanted to, but I just…"
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"Then why don't you?!" Alex shouted tearfully. "Why do you always hurt Dad with your sadness!? Why didn't you learn magic when you were my age?!"
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Neirah blinked profusely as she diverted her gaze and tried to dry her eyes without making it seem obvious that she required it. "Maybe… it's because magic scares your mother," she murmured meekly. "Not… not all magic is good magic, Alex. Some magic… it's very dangerous and bad."
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Alex seemed to be surprised that not all magic was fun and games. He gave his sniffling face another wipe and settled his snivelling. "Bad…? How…?"
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Despite his reluctance, she tugged her perspiring boy out from beneath his father's warm jacket and set him in her lap before tucking his thighs beneath the fur lining. "A very bad magic killed your grandpa," she started softly. "Your mother's father that you have never met. The same kind of magic tried to take your daddy away from us before you were even born. Many years ago, my father gave his life for our friends and family. He gave his life to save your daddy."
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Alex watched her glossy gaze carefully for a long moment before shaking his head in denial. "No," he announced confidently. "It doesn't matter because Dad can beat any magic."
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Neirah smiled sadly and gently stroked her fingers through her son's wild mane. "I thought the same thing too, once," she whispered. "I didn't think anything in the world was stronger than Fairy Tail. When your uncle Gajeel and your father worked together, nothing scared me.
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Alex caught the distress in his mother's voice as she stared down into the bedding with a solemn expression. "But… they still couldn't beat the badness could they…?"
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She adjusted and turned her grim smile to face her smart little boy. "No," she whispered breathlessly. "Your father and uncle, your aunt Juvia, Miss Mira and Erza, even your Great-Grandpa Makarov… none of them could stop him that day. If it weren't for the help of a special friend, they would have ended up just like my daddy."
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Alex pondered her words carefully. "Who was the special friend?"
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Neirah's expression started to brighten as his demeanour grew kinder towards her stories with his trumping curiosity. "Her name was Mavis. She was a very powerful wizard too."
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"Did she use scary magic?"
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Neirah smiled humbly. "No," she whispered. "Her magic was very good. She wasn't scary at all." Despite the fact that she was a ghost, that was.
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Alex's brow creased in thought. "Is all scary magic bad?"
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Neirah sighed musically and shifted beneath him. "I don't think so," she theorised. "Miss Mira has pretty scary magic but she doesn't hurt anyone with it." Alex diverted his gaze. "Come to think of it, your father's magic can be pretty scary too."
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"But Dad doesn't hurt anyone either," he defended swiftly.
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"You're right," she affectionately crooned. Her heart swelled with the need to record her child's words about her husband. After all that Laxus had been through, the boy's positive opinion of the man warmed her.
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Alex inherently started to fidget with his fingers in the fluff of his father's jacket while he sat in her lap. "Mom?" She hummed curiously to promote his inquiry. "Why didn't you just learn magic?"
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"I told you, Sweetie. It scares me."
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"But you said Miss Mira and Dad have scary magic too, but they don't hurt anyone. How do you know? How can you know that it will be bad magic? What if I learn bad magic and don't know?"
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Neirah stumbled on her words in defeat. "Oh, Sweetie, don't worry. I'm sure you will only use the good kind. You'll learn magic just like your daddy's."
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"But how do I know that I will be good with his scary magic? What if I'm bad?"
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"Shh, Alex you won't be bad, I promise," she soothed in a nurturing tone. She placed a strong kiss on the top of his head. "I guess what I was really afraid of was that I wouldn't be strong enough to face the bad magic, the scary ones who want to hurt me. I guess I thought that if I didn't have magic, if I was so boring, the bad people with scary magic wouldn't care to find me and hurt me."
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Alex tipped his head back and looked up at her. "Is that why you like Dad so much? Because he's really strong, Mom. You know, he wouldn't let anyone hurt you. He told me so."
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Neirah's broken heart slowly started to mend. "Is that what he said?"
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"Yup," he confirmed. "He told me so. And someday, I'll help him too. Don't worry, Mom. I won't use any scary magic for bad. I'll use it all for good like Dad does."
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"I'm glad," she whispered fondly.
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Alex climbed to unsteady feet on the bed and wiggled off balance. "I'll use it to protect people only, well, unless they're mean to me."
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"Alex…" Neirah cautioned gruffly.
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"I'm kidding!" His demand was giddy as he toppled back into her lap in a giggling pile. He settled down for a moment before turning to face his mother. "So, Dad is coming home, right? Because he has to protect you…"
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Neirah smiled and ruffled his hair. "He'd better or I won't bake him any more cookies."
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Alex looked back at her in a panic so she widened her eyes and matched his mortification. "But what about me?! Why can't I have cookies?!"
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Neirah's expression softened as she leant against him and lowered her voice to share her secret. "I'll make a secret batch just for you, but you can't tell your father unless he comes home."
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Alex snickered sinisterly like he was privileged. Surely his father would come crawling back for his wife's cookies.
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Neirah was relieved that she had been capable of consoling the boy before she and Laxus were due to go out that night. She didn't want to leave a grumpy Dreyar with his aunt Juvia, but more and more she worried that the stress of his confusion was going to upset the poor boy beyond what she could defuse. As much as she wanted to protect him from his mother's scary magic and bad past, she couldn't stand to watch him suffer. She and Laxus would have to discuss the matter that evening when they returned from supper with her big brother and his little wife. She could just imagine the smugly satisfied expression on her husband's face when she broached the subject.
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"Momma?"
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Neirah shuddered unexpectedly when the boy's innocent voice caught her attention. "What is it, Prince?"
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"If you could learn any type of magic, even the scary stuff if you used it only for good, what kind of magic would it be?"
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"Hm, that is a very good question," she whispered humbly. Neirah had never chosen her path, it was laid out before her since before she had taken her first breath; it wasn't her choice to make. Magic had become a tool for survival, of prophet at best, but it had never been hers. "I… I would choose to learn a pretty magic that was full of bright lights."
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"Daddy's magic makes a lot of pretty lights."
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Neirah huffed out a playful sigh. "Yes, Prince, but it also puts out a lot of lights."
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"Like candles?"
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Neirah smiled warmly at the boy's innocent call. "Not quite," she mused. "I would want to learn a magic that is used only for good, a magic that could only bring warm, happy thoughts. One that could help people feel loved and cherished so that no lonely orphan would ever have to fake a smile. My magic would make everyone smile and love each other." All The things she had to work so hard for so many years to achieve.
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Alex didn't look away from her as he waited for the catch, but none came. When he parted his lips to speak, she couldn't believe how pure the youth she had stolen from her really was. "I thought you said it could only be used for good?"
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Neirah wrinkled her nose sternly. "Oh? You really are your father's child. What on Earthland is bad about a smile?" Her teasing tone was met with the utmost sincerity.
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"What if they don't want to smile?"
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Neirah's world split down the middle as she pondered his philosophy.
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"Is it good to make someone happy even if they don't wanna be happy? Is that… is that still good?"
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"I… don't…"
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"Is it like when you lie to Daddy?"
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Neirah's heart sank. "Lie? Alex, what are you talking about?"
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"When you're sad… You look happy even though your lying. Daddy told me so…"
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"He did, did he?" She growled.
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Alex bobbed his head sheepishly and started to fidget with his scale again. "Daddy told me I made you sad because I didn't want to learn magic with you… He said that you lie so it doesn't hurt him when he sees you sad."
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Neirah didn't know whether to be furious with her husband or thankful that at least he was trying. "Oh Alex, you don't make me sad." She hugged the dismayed boy from where she sat behind him. "You bring me a lot of joy."
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Alex slowly turned in his seat and sat facing his mother, his gaze diverted downcast as he pet his scale. "Do you want to learn too?" He offered clumsily. He held his scale out for her to watch the sunlight dance on its reflective surface. "Maybe we can learn magic together and… and we can all go look for Great-Grandpa's dragon… together…"
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Neirah's gaze was bleakly captivated by the reflection of a scale that could very well have been her own if she wasn't certain it could never have fallen into Yuri's hands. She couldn't stop the well of tears in her eyes, the burn of pain ripping through her chest as she felt hot tears slip from her eyes. She and her husband desperately needed to talk.
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She reached out and gently joined her son in holding the scale, the two of them lowering the artifact together. "I… I would like that very much," Neirah whimpered weakly. "Just…" She sniffed back her weakness. "Just so long as you and your father promise to protect me on our adventures."
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Alex leaned forward and gave his mother a sloppy hug. "We will, Mom.
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I promise…"
