Hey guys! I hope you liked the last chapter! I have a lot of work to catch up on at school, but I decided to neglect all of it for you guys. High school is scary man. Anyway let's get right into this chapter.

Disclaimer ~ I do not own Fairy Tail

I continue walking along the path, trying not to be held back by the guilt of lying to my friends.

All of a sudden, my legs give out from under me and my vision goes blurry.

No, I can't black out now. I need to keep going. I need to know what happened.

I pick up a fallen branch and struggle to my feet. I keep walking, until I can't walk anymore.

I lie down under a tree that's well out of sight and close my eyes, praying I wouldn't get caught.

When I wake, the sun is well over the horizon.

I guess they've found out that I'm not at the guild by now. Mai, please stall them. I mentally ask her, although she can't hear me.

I stand up, and I have a considerable amount of energy in my legs. I try to teleport a safe distance, so that I won't lose the amount of strength I have right now.

I barely make to where I wanted to, so I decide to walk the rest of the way.

On my way, I try to estimate the amount of time it'll take them to catch up to me. Considering, I only made it halfway by using teleportation magic and I walked maybe another quarter of the way in just over two hours, it would take around 7 hours. But that's if you count the fact that they can't use teleportation. They also probably wouldn't know where I'm headed, but since Natsu caught my scent they'll have a lead, although it shouldn't take them far. That should give me an extra hour or two.

I think I'd be able to make it there in under that amount of time. Once I'm there, I can stay with my grandmother, who cared for me when my parents were gone.

I'm so lost in thought that I don't realize that I'm about to bump into someone. I hit their shoulder and move back.

"Sorry," I mutter under my breath, leaning over to pick up their belongings.

"Crystal?" The person gasps, putting their hand over their mouth.

I stand up and take a good look at her face. The girl has light blue hair, that comes down to around her elbows. Her skin is pale, but has a sort of glow to it. She wears a green t-shirt and ripped jeans. She has three bracelets on her left hand and a gold ring on her right.

"Karin?" I ask. That was the name of the girl who tried to make my life a living hell. The only person I'd ever hated as much as I did.

I drop the things I'm holding and stare at her, trying not to drop my jaw.

"What are you doing here?" I ask. "This is the last place I'd expect to find someone like you."

"I.. I'm sorry," Karin says after a long while.

"I asked you a question," I say, not caring if I sounded rude. I had every right to hate this girl.

"I was running an errand for my mother," She replies, bending over to pick up her things.

"Isn't this village a little too far from where we lived?" I ask. I don't know why I care, but I might as well wait for an answer now.

"It's a little out of the way. The village is just a little over the hill," She says.

She seems a little more timid now than she ever was before.

"Great catching up with you, but I need to go," I say, turning around and trying to leave, but Karin grabs my hand.

"Can I go back to the village with you?" She asks, kind of out of the blue.

"Why?" I ask, a little harsher than I intended. "Don't you know the way back?"

"I do, it's just… There are scary things through the mountain pass and I don't want to deal with them alone," She says.

Any normal person would think "hey, if she's scared, then I should probably go and protect her so she'll be okay," but not me. After knowing Karin, you tend to know what she's thinking. Although she's changed a little, what she's probably thinking is "I'll go with Crystal through the mountain pass, and when the monsters appear I'll amaze her with my new powers and she'll beg to be my apprentice." There are two other possible outcomes. She's actually scared or she has an ambush planned, but considering she had no way of knowing I was coming, I can safely rule that out.

I decide to go along with her charade and help her pick up her belongings. I'm in a weakened state so the best I can do is hide us with a few concealment spells, but that's about it.

I don't speak to her as we walk through the mountain pass. I see a few shadows, but nothing too scary. I keep muttering concealment spells and ignore Karin trying to ask me what I'm doing.

The worst there is, is a really big spider, that makes Karin shriek.

I face palm. Yeah, I definitely don't know what goes on in her head.

We make it through the mountain pass and I hand her things back.

"I'm going to go now, so try not to die of fear," I say, walking away.

Karin heads back to the village and I take a short cut, making it there about a half hour before she does.

I walk through the village, which seems quite barren and arrive at my grandmother's house.

It is a pretty big house, bigger than most in the community. It has a few hallways that branch off into other rooms. Grandmother would often scold me for running through the halls, saying it upset the peace. I just looked at her, dumbfounded.

I take a deep breath and knock on the door. A few minutes later someone opens it, but it's not my grandmother. It's a woman who looks to be in her 30s

"Hello, is Aiko Akiyama here?" I ask, hoping grandmother is still here.

"She is bedridden, but I shall ask her if you can see her," The woman says, opening the door even more. "Please make yourself at home. And, if I may, may I have your name?"

"Sure, my name is Crystal," I say, stepping in and taking off my shoes.

I take a seat in the living room and wait until the woman comes back. It takes about ten minutes, but when she comes back, she leads to me a pair of black doors. She opens them and tells me to enter.

Once I do, she closes the door behind me. I approach the bed and look at my grandmothers' pale face.

"Crystal?" She calls, reaching her hand out.

"It's me," I say, taking her hand and putting it against my cheek.

"I couldn't believe it when Kurumi told me you came," Grandmother says.

"Kurumi?" I ask.

"The woman waiting outside," She explains.

I nod. "I missed you grandmother."

"I missed you too, my dear granddaughter," Grandmother says. "I assume there is a reason you came here."

"Yes actually there is," I say, trying to steady my breathing. "I have a question."

"Yes what it is," She says.

"You do know Malthus, don't you?" I ask.

"I'm familiar with him," She says.

"Is he my brother?" I ask, trying to prepare myself for the answer.

My grandmother sighed. "I was hoping you wouldn't find out about this, but I guess that was too much to ask for. Yes he is your brother."

"But I'm human and he's a demon," I say, a little confused by what's going on.

"Yes, my dear, but in the magic world, many things are not what they seem," Grandmother says.

"What do mean?" I ask.

"Let me start from the beginning," Grandmother starts. "Hitomi and Ichiro were not your real parents."

"And they never told me?" I ask, trying not to feel hurt.

"They had their reasons, but it was mostly to protect you," She says. "They loved you like their own daughter. You see, Hitomi couldn't have children."

"I'm guessing you knew too?" I ask.

"That's not the point here. I must explain everything that happened, even before you came to Hitomi." She tries to explain. "I'll explain everything, but you need to wait so I can explain properly."

I took a deep breath as she started explaining and thought to myself.

Where did I come from?

So I know I updated like yesterday, but I owe you guys a lot for missing chapters and because you haven't given up on me. I'm still trying to update but I have two tests and an evaluation tomorrow and writing this kind of calmed me down. Anyways, I've already started writing the next chapter, so it'll hopefully be out by Wednesday or around this time next week. Thanks for sticking with me! I'll see you all next time! Bye!