A note to all my readers that this story is being revised and uploaded to AO3. I've already got most of it up over there and I'm hoping to have the last of it up within a week or so. I will continue to update here, but if that's your preferred site then this is just a bit of good news for you. :)

"This guild is massive."

Harry noted the slight awe in Kosmos' voice as he turned her way and gave her a welcoming smile. He nodded at the seat next to him and she hopped up onto the barstool and stared into the little kitchen area in front of them.

"And the members seem... troublesome."

Harry laughed at that. There weren't many guild members left in the guild hall, although more were showing back up by the minute. Even so, the small assortment of people left were odd to say the least and yet somehow they paled in comparison to the group Harry had fought with in Crocus. These members seemed almost tame next to Natsu and Lucy.

"They seem fine to me." Harry propped his head up against a hand and gave her a winning smile.

"You two made it?"

Harry nearly jumped out of his skin as a voice sounded just behind the bar. A rather haggard looking Mirajane was stood there obviously having just arrived back if her windswept hair and small suitcase were anything to judge by. She was beaming at the two. Hand held to his chest in an attempt to ease his own racing heart Harry gave her a shaky smile in return.

"Just got here actually." Harry admitted.

"We joined." Kosmos summed up, giving Mira a flat look.

"That's great!" Mira looked genuinely happy at the news and didn't seem at all perturbed by Kosmos' tone. "Did you already get your guild marks?"

"Guild marks?" Harry repeated the words with confusion. Kosmos just showed off a pale green mark near her collar bone in answer. Harry instantly prodded the girl's skin. "Is that a tattoo?"

"Of course not!" Mira spoke up before Kosmos could explain. She seemed to be happily grinning as she produced what looked to Harry like a large wooden stamp. On its rubber surface Harry could see the mark that he'd spotted plastered on that Fairy Tail members he'd stumbled across thus far. "This is our guild stamp. When you receive your mark it means you've officially been recognized as a member of our guild."

Harry gently took the stamp from Mira's hand, much to her confusion and turned it over and over in his hand curiosity evident. "How does it work?" he asked, prodding the rubber section. "I don't see any ink. It doesn't look hot enough to brand someone and brands don't turn different colors anyway."

"Magic." Kosmos said simply.

Mira was just watching his assessment with open amusement and more than a little bafflement. She retrieved the stamp from him when he nearly dropped it after the fourth rotation. "Where would you like yours?" she asked.

He paused. "It's permanent?"

Mira's smile faded just a bit, but she seemed to catch that he wasn't so much indeterminate about being in the guild as he was wary about magic he didn't understand. "The mark will remain as long as you're a Fairy Tail wizard."

He caught her gaze and gave her a reassuring smile and held out his hand. She could just make out pale lines etched into the smooth skin before he pointed for her. She pressed the stamp to his skin and then withdrew, allowing the stamp to work its small magic and bind him into their guild. The mark glowed for a brief moment before fading into a a brilliant emerald green. Harry turned his hand over in front of his eyes, examining the mark with curiosity.

"How odd." he murmured more to himself than anything.

"So how long have you two been in Magnolia?" Mira started, putting away the stamp and starting to move things about behind the bar. "You'll be needing a place to stay. There's a dorm not too far from here if you're interested, but it's women only so they couldn't put you both up there."

"Both?" Harry repeated the word and looked at Kosmos. "That's not necessary. She can stay in the dorm if she'd like. I'm sure I can make do."

Beside him the pink haired girl was quickly going beet red, whether in embarrassment or anger Mira didn't get to find out because at that precise moment the guild hall doors swung inward with enough force to bowl over any unsuspecting wizard who was stood in their path.

"We're back!" came and exuberant yell, followed swiftly by a boisterous laugh, and then a loud smash as the original speaker was smashed clear through the floorboards.

"You shouldn't be so reckless." declared a second person whose voice Harry recognized even as he turned toward the commotion. "You'll damage the guild hall."

"Didn't she do more damage?" Kosmos muttered beside him.

"Right..." came an exhausted agreement from the rubble as a dizzy Natsu extracted himself from the hole Erza had hit him into. More guild members were filing in around the two, some headed toward the bar and others toward clearly familiar spots amongst the many wooden tables. The noise level instantly ramped up as the new arrivals got comfortable.

"Ah! I know you!" Harry tilted his head toward the pink haired boy rushing his way eagerly. "You're the guy from Crocus! Harry!"

It felt like even the people who had been ignoring him before the arrival of this new group were suddenly interested. Natsu's fists were quite suddenly encased in flames as he came closer. Harry leaned backward, completely thrown for a loop.

"Did you come to fight me!?" Natsu jumped his direction and Harry did the first thing that popped into his head at the sight of fire coming straight for his face. He cast an over powered aguamenti charm. He even put a bit of extra effort into the attack thanks to the weird imbalance the world had been dealing with lately. Unfortunately he didn't know that Natsu and the group behind him had just returned from the spirit world where they had set nature back in balance. This resulted in a massive torrent of water knocking the kid flat on his face and pinning him that way until Harry stopped panicking and canceled the overpowered spell. He stared wide eyed at the result of his magic before hopping off his stool hastily.

"Oh man!" Harry stooped down so he was next to the twitching dragon slayer. "I'm so sorry! You startled me. Are you alright?"

Even as he panicked the stunned silence around the guild hall seemed to breaking into uproarious laughter.

"He's alright in my book!" someone shouted. A few others agreed.

"Looks like we know who he's gonna be picking fights with now." someone else added gaining a new round of laughter.

"My apologies." Harry glanced up at the hand being offered to him. "Natsu can get a bit heated when it comes to challenging people. Try not to take offense. He's a hot head, but he means well."

Harry took the hand and shook it even as he stood back up. "Erza." he greeted with a smile.

"Harry, right." she released his hand and gave Kosmos a glance over his shoulder. "It's good to be meeting under pleasant terms again. What brings you to Fairy Tail?"

"Well." Harry displayed the mark on his hand. "We joined actually."

Harry wasn't sure why, but the look of brief shock that crossed the girl's face was sort of unnerving. He hadn't thought he'd given the guild reason to think he disliked them any particularly large amount. Still, the look was gone soon enough to be replaced with a pleasant, welcoming smile. "It seems a welcome party is necessary then."

The guild cheered behind her.

"You certainly are a lively bunch." Kosmos sighed from her stool.

"It's more fun that way." Mira gave a small laugh as she set a plate in front of the girl. Kosmos gave the food a distrustful look and then another look to Mira.

"I don't have any money." she pointed out.

"That's okay." Mira waved it off. "You're new to the guild. You can pay it back later after you've taken a few jobs."

Kosmos didn't take a bite until the white haired girl turned to start making some other dishes. She sighed into the bite. It was good. She watched as Harry got dragged into an energetic retelling of the adventure Natsu had just gone through. She wondered if perhaps them joining a guild would mean that the two of them grew further apart. Would she be replaced with someone who was stronger, like Erza or Mirajane? She swallowed the food and watched as Mira sauntered off to have a short conversation with her brother who in turn joined in on the conversation Natsu and the others were having.

"You're Kosmos, right?"

The plant wizard nearly startled out of her seat. She turned to find a familiar girl and cat at her side. Wendy was propping herself up onto the stool next to her and the scowling cat at her side was giving Kosmos an evaluating look.

"I am." Kosmos answered after a small pause.

"It's nice to meet you under better reasons." the girl offered her a genuine smile that threw Kosmos off. "My name is Wendy and this is Carla. You're part of Fairy Tail now?"

Kosmos glanced at the cat and then back to her food. "I suppose I am."

"Is everything okay?" Wendy seemed concerned with her quietness, Kosmos supposed that being in a guild with the people here now had made the girl unaccustomed to more stoic people.

"Everything is... fine." Kosmos finished weakly, taking a bite of her food.

"If you need us to show you to the dorms later we can." Carla offered a sort of knowing look on her face that Kosmos didn't care for at all.

"Kosmos." she tried not to jump as a hand fell on her shoulder. "Some if the guild members mentioned a cabin on the edge of town we could rent. Let's go take a look."

Harry was grinning behind her. Kosmos felt her heart stutter a moment under the gaze and she was growing a bit warm. Harry hesitated, smile slipping a bit when she didn't instantly agree.

"Is that really appropriate?" Carla argued. "Two people of your ages living together alone?"

Harry's eyes traveled to the cat, to Kosmos, then back. He went bug eyed a second later and his face went red. "I, uh! It's supposed to be a two bedroom! And I get it if you don't want to. It was never my intention to be forward or anything!" he rambled, face bright enough to look like a stop sign.

Kosmos slipped from her seat and passed the rambling wizard who seemed more to be placating the guild members listening in than Kosmos herself. She felt a small smile tug at her lips as she grabbed his sleeve and tugged. "Let's go." she said and cut him short. He allowed her to pull him from the hall, leaving behind their new amused guild mates.

"They seem nice." Wendy commented, smiling at the door they had just slipped through. Natsu was hustling to follow them with food shoved in his mouth and Happy trailed behind him. She turned to Carla who was watching the door intently. "What's wrong?"

Carla's eyes met Wendy's and her frown deepened just a bit. "No need to worry." she said contradictorily, but Wendy knew her friend was worried about something. She wouldn't push, for now.

"Wait up!"

Harry paused as the pink haired Natsu came running into sight. He still had some sort of meat in his hand that was munching on contentedly. He stopped as he drew near and gave them a warm smile.

"You need someone to show you where the place is right?"

Harry paused and then nodded. He'd been flustered at the insinuations inside and he'd let Kosmos drag him out without much fuss because of it.

"Well you're in luck!" Natsu bellowed loudly. "Cause that cabin's real close to where Happy and I stay!"

"Aye sir!" Called the small cat, startling Kosmos who'd been closest. Neither had seen the cat that had apparently run up with Natsu.

"Let's see, it's... this way!" Natsu pointed off to their left with a grin.

"Lead the way." Harry said starting to walk in the direction indicated. "You and Happy have your own place then?"

"Aye!" Happy answered cheerily. "But we go to Lucy's a lot."

"Lucy's?" Harry gave the cat a look. "Why there?"

"She lives really close to the guild and she always has food." Natsu replied like it was obvious and he should have known.

"Right..." Harry gave Kosmos a disbelieving look. "So why's rent so cheap for this cabin anyway?"

Kosmos perked up, curious.

"No one's lived there for a long time." Happy started, a bit less chipper than usual.

"Does it need to be fixed up or something?" Harry went through his mental list of cleaning spells.

"Kinda." Natsu supplied. "But mostly it's cause... it's haunted!" he delivered the last bit while giving Harry a deadpan stare that was obviously meant to be frightening. Harry just blinked and raised an eyebrow at the antics.

"Haunted?" Kosmos asked, curious.

"I doubt it." Harry shook his head and continued walking. In all the time he'd spent wandering he hadn't come across any spirits. It should have been possible considering the amount of magical energy this world now held, there was more than enough for a spirit to manifest, but he just hadn't seen one and he hadn't heard of anyone who'd seen one outside of what were obviously superstitious ghost stories.

"Aw come on!" Natsu whined. "You don't believe in ghosts?"

"I didn't say that." Harry countered. "Just haven't seen any in a long time."

He could hear the group halt behind him, and he turned back to see them all eying him like he'd just admitted to something extremely weird. He raised an eyebrow, even Kosmos seemed put off by the statement.

"You see ghosts?" asked a nervous sounding, shaking Happy. "Are there ghosts here now?"

"I just said I hadn't seen any in a long time..." Harry trailed off, confused.

"Oh man, talk about scary. Its gotta suck to see ghosts all the time. Does it have something to do with your freaky magic?" Natsu asked eying Harry in a way that made the wizard bristle just a bit.

"What do you mean freaky magic?" Harry asked edgily. "And Wendy told me you guys saw a dragon's ghost in Crocus, how is that any different?"

Natsu and Happy froze for a second before loudly exclaiming. "You're right!"

Harry turned back in the direction they'd been heading with a put upon sigh. "I'm the only one who's never seen a ghost?" he heard Kosmos mutter next to him. He glanced over to see she looked entirely too disappointed about that fact.

"That's it!" Natsu jogged ahead of them just a bit, pointing out a small cottage tucked into a grove of Oak trees. It was pretty small, all things considered, but if it proved too small for their liking Harry could always cast extension charms on the inside. The outside of the cottage was weather beaten and worn down like no one could be bothered to properly maintain it and weeds covered its small porch, but the building itself seemed sturdy.

"And look!" Natsu declared pointing off to the side with a grin. "There's our place."

Sure enough, within sight was another small cabin even smaller than the one they were in front of and somehow looking worse for wear than the disused one. Theirs seemed to be absolutely covered in plant growth and cracked walls. It seemed a strong wind might topple the unsteady structure, but Natsu was pointing it out proudly. "I see..." Harry nodded at the structure approvingly. Natsu seemed the excitable type and he'd hate to disappoint the boy.

"Who owns this place." Kosmos had strode forward and placed a hand against the wall of the house they were surveying.

"Mira!" Happy supplied well... happily. "It used to be where she stayed with Lisanna and Elfman."

"But they live in the dorms now." Natsu finished.

"So why does everyone think its haunted?" Harry asked. He pulled open the front door to reveal a dusty front room.

"Dunno." supplied a cheerful Natsu as he strode into the empty house.

"Mira said no one ever stayed longer than a week cause they'd heard things and stuff would get moved around." a shaking Happy explained, his nervousness from earlier reappearing.

Kosmos pulled open some drapes and light flooded the room. In the sunlight the room seemed far from threatening, and Harry wasn't feeling anything that might suggest an other wordly presence. "What do you think?" he asked his pink haired companion.

She glanced around before nodding. "I like it."

Harry nodded too. "It's decided then. We'll take it."

The rest of their first official day as guild members consisted of a lot of cleaning. Harry stuck to general scouring charms in the larger areas like the rooms and living space while Kosmos focused on the bathrooms and kitchen. By the time the sun was setting they'd made a huge dent in the grime covering the place. They still didn't have much by way of belongings but they made a run to the grocery store for food with what little money Harry had and they made a small pallet of blankets in the living room to sleep on that was still a million times more comfortable than the ground they'd been sleeping on for the last few weeks.

As the sun edged down over the horizon and the shadows grew longer in the house they bunkered down for a small meal in their makeshift beds, both thoroughly exhausted.

"Man, what a long day." Harry leaned back, letting his pillow support him. "Who knew so much could happen all at once."

Kosmos nodded mutely beside him. He studied her for a long moment.

"You know..." He started, then paused unsure. "I'm not really... great with people. So tell me if I'm misreading this, but you seem unhappy. You know you don't have to stay if you don't want to. No one would blame you for..."

He trailed off as she fixed him with a glare.

"Okay..." he held up his hands. "Misreading it then. Is something else upsetting you then?"

"You say you're not good with people, but you're always so bubbly." she inclined her head slightly. "I just...it's nothing. I'm fine. Goodnight."

Harry stared at her back for a long moment. It obviously wasn't nothing, but she clearly wasn't ready to talk about it. "Kosmos," she tensed just a bit at her name. "when you're ready to talk about it. I'm here."

He pretended not to hear the breathy laugh or the sniffling sound that followed it. Eventually her breathing evened out and she fell asleep while he laid there mulling over the events of the day. It wasn't long before he too started to doze off.

All too suddenly he was startled awake by Kosmos shaking his arm. "Wha?" he tried to blink the sleep from his eyes as she shushed him.

"I heard something." she whispered, and sure enough now that he was waking up he heard it too. A rustling noise in their kitchen. "A ghost?"

Harry didn't want to dismiss the notion entirely. He had no idea what the increase in magic might do to spirits, but the ghosts of his time hadn't really had the ability to interact with physical objects. He got to his feet quietly and and padded over to the kitchen, just outside the doorway he peeked in not sure what he'd find. He could hear Kosmos padding up behind him, but all tension leaked out of him as his eyes picked out the figure on their counter.

"Lumos." a ball of light appeared in his hand, illuminating a passed out Natsu on the floor and Happy gnawing away at some fish above him.

"Uh oh, busted."

"Why are you in our kitchen?"

Natsu rolled over, mumbling. Happy gave Harry a nervous smile. "Sleep eating?"

Harry heaved a sigh. These brats were their new neighbors... Unbeknownst to him Kosmos had sending a chilling glare over his shoulder. Harry stooped, shaking Natsu's shoulder. "Oi, come on. It's the middle of the night. Go home."

"Mmmm..." the boy mumbled to himself for a second before popping awake with a yelp as Harry sent a mild stinging hex his way. "What the heck?"

Harry didn't even get to say a word. Instead the looming figure of Kosmos at the doorway seemed to do the trick. The dragon slayer jumped to his feet like the floor was on fire. "Out." the girl said with deadly venom in the word.

"Aye ma'am!" cried a clearly terrified Happy as he grabbed Natsu's scarf and high tailed it with the boy in tow, Natsu arguing the whole way.

"Well that mystery is solved at least." Harry stood back up, taking the fish bone from the floor with him. "Those two have probably been sneaking into the house every time it got rented out. I could see why that might terrify someone who couldn't handle them."

"Scum." Kosmos seethed.

"Let's not hold it too deeply against them." Harry laughed half heartedly. "I'm sure they didn't mean anything by it."

"My salmon..." her rage hadn't diminished and he finally seemed to grasp why. He'd let her pick out one expensive item at the market today as a sort of house warming. Apparently Happy had decided it would make a good snack and Harry was holding the evidence.

"Ah..." he frowned before vanishing the bones. "Don't worry, I'm sure we can scrounge up a job tomorrow with the guild and buy another."

Kosmos stomped her way back to the living room and plopped into her pile of blankets. She rolled onto her side so she was facing the wall and said nothing, waves of irritation rolling off of her. Harry sighed again but followed. He retook his spot on the pile and shot her one last glance.

"Goodnight Kosmos." he offered before allowing himself to drift back to sleep.

Lots more adventures to come hope you guys enjoyed!

Thanks for all the positive reviews, don't forget to drop some comments if you decide to look up the revised version on Archive of our own.

Til next time!

~Kanathia