Chapter Fifteen
Alex sat bundled in heavy clothing, a gift from his mother, a heavy down feather jacket, in particular keeping him warm during the frigid mountain nights. He had been sticking to mountain trails and roads in his journey across Seven, and because of this had been foregoing a campfire at night, as up on the mountainsides his position would be visible for miles. Seven's southern mountain range also functioned as their border with Bosco, so this was especially prescient to avoid the more daring and enterprising slavers who were willing to brave the hardships that came with traveling mountainous terrain.
The moon this night was close to full and gave off more than enough light for Alex to attempt to read by. It was why he found himself propped up against a tree, an in-depth manual on the deconstruction of Requip magic and how it functions resting on his knees. It was a book of pure magical theory, much of which Alex knew for a fact was incorrect with his knowledge of how his magic interacted with the world, but was still combing through in an attempt to ferret out the nuggets of clues he needed to build a pocket dimension of his own.
Regardless, what was supposedly a basic magic that any wizard could learn, Alex had been trying for months and had yet to establish any progress in mastering the ability. He had even brought it up to Master Makarov after the first month of failures. The fact he watched Erza manage it in a few days only incensed him, so he finally broke down and asked the master for advice.
"Sit m'boy. Go through the process one more time. Let me get a look at what you're doing." Alex did as instructed, dropping cross-legged into a seat on the floor and closed his eyes. Doing as the book indicated, he first pulled on his pool of internal power. His personal reserves. A tendril of pure ethernano extended out as he coaxed it from the metaphysical representation of power within him, flowing from his stomach up to his shoulder, and then down his arm until he had a line of mana linked to his source hovering just beneath the surface of his palm.
Ethernano was a bizarre energy, and wizards' abilities to use and influence the power was just as strange. It treated a wizard's body as a container to be filled, yet could be flexed and worked as if it was a muscle, trained to increase in size and power. His own mental depiction of how his mana functioned was a fairly standard image, though there were many alternative interpretations that worked just as well for other mages.
Normally, when utilizing his magic, Alex simply opened the natural dam holding back his power and allowed it to flood out of his concentrated well in certain amounts to fuel whatever manifestation of his innate magic he was picturing. For his inborn magical abilities, he had no need to specify how the fuel for his powers should react and interact with his desires, which was not the case for establishing a Requip space. The instructions stated he was to weave his ethernano into the fabric of space itself to open a pocket dimension anchored to a point on his body. Most of the heavy lifting was done by imagination and the mysterious properties of the energy itself, but for whatever reason, once Alex began the process of creating the space, it inevitably, invariably failed. This exact process played out before Makarov's eyes, Alex's pure energy doing as instructed, but simply dissipating instead of creating the spatial pocket. He blinked with a blank look for a moment as surprise stumped him.
"Honestly, m'boy. I have no idea why you haven't succeeded yet. That was a perfect representation of the process." Alex simply stared down at his hand in silent frustration. Makarov placed an elbow on his thigh and propped up his chin on a fist as he thought over what he had just seen. "Do it once more for me." Alex repeated the process, the result identical as Makarov hummed in thought.
"The only thing I can think of, it may be your innate abilities interfering with the formation. It's the only explanation that I can imagine since your abilities are a more advanced spatial manipulation than anything Requip allows for. Your subconscious mind may simply be rejecting this as an option and thus self-sabotaging your attempts."
"So… I can't use Requip?"
Makarov shrugged.
"Appears so, but with your magic, it's likely there is an alternative option available for you. I'd go as far as to wager this will be the case for any other spatially oriented magic. Take little Minerva for instance. Her magic is a spatial domain, but you already have a similar ability to that, don't you?" Alex nodded in understanding.
"I see. So, I'll just have to build my own version from scratch."
"So it seems, brat."
The conversation is what had led to his current situation. He had been learning and attempting to build a pocket dimension utilizing his own magical abilities for months. He began by saturating a single rectangular plane of spatial fabric. Alex gently cut out his desired pattern with his ethernano, separating it from the overall weave, the universe automatically correcting the imperfection moments later. Alex continued, pulling individual strings from the fabric within arm's length until he held a bundle of the material in one hand.
This was a vastly different use of his abilities, one he had never really taken the time to contemplate, but mentally noted that he needed to invest some training into researching different utilities available with his magic. Alex stared at the bundle of silvery-white shimmering strings carefully grasped within his hand, a similar shimmer coating his palm to allow for his body to interact with the material. With careful and precise applications of his magic, he cut incisions into the saturated rectangle, removing sections and mentally folding it into the shape of a box. He then took the individual strands and began weaving them into the edges as if he was sewing them together with the strings as thread.
Upon completion, he held a box the size of his palm. Grasping one last string, he imbued it with intent and connected it to one face of the box, anchoring it to the tip of his middle finger. He let out a breath as he released his magic, the box and its connecting string fading from the visual spectrum as his magic departed. Channeling a bit of his mana into the string, he pushed his fingers out, the tips dipping into an invisible object. A relieved smile graced his face which soon morphed into chuckling as he relaxed.
"Finally. I finally fucking succeeded." He murmured to himself. The box itself was tiny in comparison to what a devoted Requip mage could accomplish, but now that he had a foundational pocket anchored to his body, he could simply begin adding in additional spatial fabric whenever he needed more space and the pocket itself would incorporate the additional substance into its structure similar to how the universe it was constructed from would mend any imperfections or inconsistencies.
He grabbed a pebble from the ground next to him, pushing mana into his construct to access it, then tossed the pebble inside. He then withdrew his mana, causing the pocket to fade. A second passed, then another. Just as Alex was about to relax, the sound reminiscent of fabric gradually ripping could be heard.
"No! No, no, no, no, no!" He immediately attempted to push his power back into the cube, but it was far too late. He watched as his first stable success splintered, ripping apart at the seams. The fabric and strings dissipated, immediately reincorporated into the universal weave while the pebble fell back to the ground from whence it came. Alex sighed, leaning back and knocking his head gently against the tree trunk.
"Fuck."
He mentally reviewed the process he had gone through, his eyes closed as he recreated the steps in his mind, his fingers dancing out in front of him and interacting with his imaginary project. He murmured to himself as the process played out in his mind's eye.
"The fabric was fine. The pattern and box itself were sufficient, the edges matched perfectly this time… it must have been the threads." His hands dropped as his eyes opened, hand going to his chin in thought. "I'll have to make a stop by a tailor's shop and have them show me their strongest seam weave. My basic stitching must not be strong enough to support anything more than the construct itself."
With a course of action in mind, Alex glanced up at the moon above him. With this new development, his nights from this point on would have to be spent developing his mental defenses. Levy had requisitioned a copy of a basic defensive magic called Mental Shield from Eon's magic library. The ability's introductory description stated it was an active magic which provided protection against any kind of magically afflicted mental states.
It wasn't a perfect defense by any means, since it would only counter things like Charm magic, Mind Control, or other similar magic types, and did not protect from certain magics such as Evergreen's Stone Eyes, but defense against mental attacks and influence was more than enough for Alex to choose to invest time in mastering it. He had already spent some time in achieving proper activation but was still working on maintaining an activated state with distractions. He had a long way to go yet to have the shields up during combat, but further practice could wait for the next day's travel. He needed to get some proper rest in order to maintain awareness of his surroundings as he traveled.
Alex stretched out his domain as far as he could, pushing the distance further and further until he had encompassed several full-length American football fields worth of area around him. Once he finished confirming he was safe, Alex bounced himself up into the boughs of the tree above him, settling into its limbs to get some sleep.
Minerva was panting with exertion. She and Erza had been so careful, approaching the depths of the mountains cautiously in order to avoid the exact situation they found themselves in. The area had long been rumored to be home to a hive of massive insects which they had discovered the hard way was less rumor and more fact after Erza had indiscriminately crushed one of the hive's lone worker drones on a previous mountainside. She had thought nothing of it at the time, but now the pair were fighting tooth and nail to escape the swarm pursuing them.
Had Levy been there, she would have warned them against agitating the bugs, the pheromones released from the slain insect permeating the pair to mark them as enemies. Minerva tapped into her domain, swapping her location with another of the insects, causing her target to take the brunt of four other attacks in her previous position. Tapping into her magic again, she swapped positions with an insect about to land a hit to Erza's unguarded rear.
"The lake!" She gasped out, incinerating an insect as Erza cut another down. She grabbed a glaring, sweaty Erza by the back of her armor and whisked them away to the furthest edge of her Territory. "In the center of the valley! We can swim and escape!" Erza flicked insect fluids and body matter off of her sword before returning it to its sheath and dropping it, the weapon returning to her Requip space as it fell through the air. Grabbing Minerva's hand, she turned and began running downhill at full speed while using the tree trunks as leverage to regulate their descent, bouncing between the towering giants as quickly as possible as the horde of insects renewed their pursuit, thundering their way down the slopes.
The pair hit the rocky beach at a sprint, Erza's armor vanishing into her pocket dimension as their feet splashed into the shallows. The giant ants were hot on their heels, a wave of the creatures scuttling across the rocks, mere yards behind them as the water reached their knees forcing the two girls to fully dive forward, the bottom falling away quickly beneath them. When they both resurfaced further out into the water, they turned to look back at their pursuers, the ants having stopped in the shallows, most stamping about and waving on their hind legs threateningly as the girls continued to tread water.
"Come on, Minerva." Erza stated, making motions to turn and swim towards a further shore. Minerva suddenly shrieked, vanishing and reappearing further away.
"There's something below us!" She shouted, immediately bursting into a sprint as she swam away. Erza felt something brush beneath her feet moments later, a chill not caused by the temperature of the water shooting up her spine as she stiffened. Mimicking her sister, she immediately began swimming, small bursts of telekinesis against the floor of the lake helping to push her along. The pair stumbled out of the lake at the same time, collapsing onto the pebbled shore just as the creature that had been lurking below burst from the water at the far shore.
Nine heads rose from the water, striking down into the mass of insects where they devoured groups of the creatures indiscriminately. The massive creature slowly pulled itself from the water, its heads never ceasing their feast as the ants first attempted to swarm their new attacker, but soon after began to flee as the hydra indiscriminately crushed and consumed their numbers. A few minutes later, the girls watched, huddled together with wide eyes as three of the heads let out resounding roars in concert, the other six heads still chewing their bounty as the body slowly began sinking back beneath the surface of the water. Almost as quickly as it had appeared, the massive magical monster vanished below once more, the area returning to stillness and silence. Minerva turned to Erza, both holding onto each other as they shivered from both nerves and the cold.
"Rule number eighteen for adventuring: Never swim in unknown water." Erza nodded in agreement.
"Rule number nineteen for adventuring: Never kill random giant bugs unless already under attack." It was Minerva's turn to nod, though it quickly turned to giggles as the adrenaline from combat and flight drained from her system. Erza gave her a strange look, though soon hesitantly joined in, her small chuckles soon blossoming into true laughter as Minerva stared at her with wide eyes, the pair alternatingly bursting into giggles as they held each other, sharing warmth.
It was a few minutes of laughter and shivering until Minerva finally separated from Erza, pulling her companion to her feet as they both continued to drip, sharing smiles all the while.
"Let's get a fire going so we can dry off and get warm." Erza gave a nod and the pair moved into the trees to find fuel. "I can't wait to tell Alex about this. He's going to be so jealous that we got to see a hydra." Erza returned Minerva's smile at the thought.
"Yea. He always gets overly excited when he talks about the magical creatures he spots on his trips."
"He always carries an image lacrima just so he can take pictures. He's pretty much completely covered the board behind the bar at this point."
"I can see why. I wish I had been able to take a picture of that hydra to show everyone. It might be good to start packing one. I bet we could use it for a lot of other things as well, like collecting evidence."
"Ohhh, that's a good idea, Erza." The pair dumped their piles of sticks together and Minerva immediately flexed her Territory to set it alight, the girls letting out a shared sigh of relief as comfortable warmth began seeping back into their bodies.
"I wonder if Gray and Laki are having as much excitement as we are hunting for more of these fountains?" Minerva and Erza exchanged a look of mutual consideration.
"Nah."
"Yea. I doubt it."
They both burst into giggles.
Gray was currently swearing under his breath as he forced his way through more mud and muck. Laki was humming along cheerfully behind him as the low hanging vines and limbs of trees carried her over the swamp mire below. Finally, Gray couldn't take it any longer and let out a scream of frustration.
"I can't take it anymore! Ice-Make: Road!" His magic burst out, freezing the mire in front of him for as far as his eyes could see. Unfortunately, that included his immediate surrounding area as well, discovering it the hard way as he went to lift his feet from the muck only to find himself frozen in place. He let out another yell of frustration as he ineffectually thrashed in placed, Laki nearly tumbling from her perch above him as she clutched her stomach in hysterical laughter.
"Y-you…" Laki attempted, only to burst into laughter again as Gray glared up at her.
"Ice Make: Hammer!" A giant ice construct came slamming down next to him, fracturing the ice and mud, freeing his feet. He shot another glare up at his cackling companion before stomping forward along his new path. He'd get his payback later, once they weren't surrounded by her own element.
Cana had two of her card lady manifestations out, one of which was stirring and portioning out dough, the other plating food as orders were finished. Cana herself was carefully monitoring the stovetop and Mariela was manning the grill. They were putting together the last orders of the day, Levy running completed plates out to the waitresses.
"Thank you, dears. You've been an incredible help."
"It's no problem, Mom. It's the least we can do."
Mariela gave Cana a big smile at her unintentional name.
"Yea, Momma Mari," Levy chimed in as she grabbed a pair of plates from the counter, distracting the pair from Cana's slip. "You should really hire someone else to give you a hand. We can manage with the extra hands, but having an actual professional to help you would be incredible." She slipped out and back in quickly after depositing the plates on the appropriately marked tray.
Mariela wiped her palms on her apron as she formally finished turning off the grill for the day.
"I actually have an interview scheduled for this evening with a young woman who says she used to do the cooking for her family's inn in the capitol. If she's telling the truth about the name of the inn, she'll be a great addition to our kitchen." Both girls gave matching sounds of interest.
""Ooooooooooooh!""
"Can we meet her?" Cana asked.
"I don't see why not. She'll have to get used to all of you kids running around and stopping by, so letting her know ahead of time should be fine as long as we both decide she would be a good fit here."
"Great!" Cana bounced on her toes in excitement. The group soon got to work cleaning and wiping down the kitchen, Cana's card girls lending their hands after depositing the completed dough in the large refrigerator. Once the remaining customers had finished their meals and vacated their tables, and the waitstaff had finished their own cleaning, the three sat around a table as they waited for the applicant to show up. Cana and Levy were both happily snacking on bowls of ice cream, one of the more recent desserts that Alex had come up with, having put the finishing touches on successfully creating the treat a few days before he left for his mission. The door's bell tinkled as it swung open, a timid voice calling out to the group who turned to look at the newcomer.
"H-hello?"
Mariela turned on her megawatt smile, standing to introduce herself and usher the young woman to a seat at their table.
"Hi, hi! You must be Janelle! Please, come in and have a seat!"
"Ah! Um, yes. Thank you."
The young woman looked to be a few years younger than Mariela. Her blonde hair was long and straight, very practically tied up in a ponytail to keep it away from her face or from falling over her front. Blue eyes shyly glanced around the table. She wasn't thin by any means, but the combination of her being well fed through her profession mixed with the physical exertion of constantly being on her feet for that same work had left her with a healthy figure. Cana's eyes traced over the woman's white shawl which hung around her neck and over her arms, draping down to a yellow dress followed by a pair of practical black shoes. Mariela spoke up, breaking her from her inspection of the woman.
"So, Janelle, some brief introductions. I'm Mariela, and these two are Cana and Levy," she pointed at each girl in turn. "They're two wizards from Fairy Tail and part of my little family." She gave them a sweet smile which they both returned. "I wanted to go ahead and let you know that should you end up working here that these two, along with five others will likely be pretty common faces around here. The other five are currently out on missions though, so you won't have the opportunity to meet them just yet."
"S-so many…" She looked between the girls with widened eyes, a look of shock at the thought of seven children. Mariela let out a giggle at her assumption.
"No, no. They aren't all mine. I only have one of my own who you likely won't meet for some time," her expression fell slightly prompting Levy to reach over and give her hand a squeeze, receiving a smile in return. "But the others all live in Fairy Hills with me. They've practically become my children at this point." She gave the girls a fond smile.
"Oh! I see."
"So, with introductions out of the way, why don't you tell us a little about yourself?"
"Well," she took a moment to think. "Well, my family runs the inn Dragon's Dream in Crocus. I've been helping my ma in the kitchens since I was a girl. Cooking is pretty much all I know." Mariela nodded along with an encouraging smile while Cana and Levy listened as they finished off their ice cream.
"If your family runs the inn, what brings you out to Magnolia looking for work?"
Janelle fidgeted slightly, her fingers clutching at the fabric of her dress as she murmured her response just loud enough for the table to hear.
"My family kicked me out. Told me they wanted me to see the world and be on my own for a while." Mariela hid her smile at the woman's pouting behind a hand.
"I see. Well, I'm glad you decided to apply to join us here. I've heard great things about your family's inn. The only thing I'll need to confirm is that your ability in the kitchen matches our standards. As long as you gain the approval of our little group, you'll have the job if you want it." She shot the girls a quick wink.
"O-of course!" Janelle immediately stood, a look of excitement on her face. "Shall I get started?"
"Certainly. Let me show you where everything is, then I'll leave you to it." The pair walked off leaving Cana and Levy to discuss.
"She's awfully timid for a chef, don't you think Levy?" Cana stared after the woman. Levy hummed in thought.
"Maybe, but we're so used to Momma Mari who isn't afraid to get bossy if she needs to." Cana gave an affirmative hum of agreement, the pair glancing up as Mariela popped back out of the kitchen, waiting for a moment at the doors before gesturing the girls to join her. The three piled together and peered through a crack between the doors to watch as Janelle began her work.
There almost seemed to be a palpable shift in the air as she finished tying the apron to her front. The timid, shy woman was instantly replaced by a focused, stern face. The three watched as their applicant began her dance throughout the kitchen. It started slow with her swooping to gather ingredients followed by tools, bowls, pots and pans, and cutlery.
Once the stage was set, the dance truly began, the three watched on in fascination as she moved, stirring, preparing, sizzling, pirouette, slicing, pouring, tasting, spin, grinding, adding, flipping, her flow through the kitchen didn't break once until the performance was over, leaving the three scrambling for their seats, exchanging impressed glances the entire time as three plates of seared sliced beef topped with grilled onions and mushrooms and a light sauce, grilled green beans, and mashed potatoes with gravy were placed before them.
"Please, enjoy." Janelle gave them a nervous smile as she took a step back.
The three each took a bite simultaneously, each pausing as the first bite of steak melted across their tongues. The two girls both shared wide-eyed glances before immediately digging in while Mariela gingerly set down her fork to look over at a worried Janelle.
"I-is everything okay?"
Mariela took a moment to critically look over the woman in front of her causing her to fidget in place.
"You're hired." She then continued her meal, finishing it only shortly after the girls as Janelle slumped in relief. Once they had all finished, the girls continued staring at her as if they had seen a particularly juicy prey that had wandered into their web while Mariela simply continued to give her a pleasant smile.
"If you're still interested, you can begin tomorrow. We open at dawn, though I'm typically working in the kitchen about an hour before then. As long as you show up with enough time to prepare before the morning rush I don't mind when you decide to arrive."
"Yes!" She gave a fist pump before quickly remembering her audience. "I mean, yes, I accept! Thank you!"
"Of course. Thank you for a delicious meal. I understand you just arrived in town; do you have a place to stay yet?" She shook her head in denial.
"In that case, the space above the café is available for rent. If you like, you can go up and look it over. If you decide you like it, the rent is a hundred thousand jewels a month. Your salary will be seven hundred thousand jewels a month, per the posting you responded to." Janelle nodded in understanding as she made her way to the stairs.
Mariela returned her attention to the girls still sitting quietly at the table.
"So? What do the two of you think?"
Cana spoke up first, a strange glint in her eyes as she watched the woman ascend the stairs.
"Don't let her escape." Mariela blinked and turned her attention to Levy who was sagely nodding in agreement.
"She's too valuable to allow out into the wild."
"Girls, she's not a pet."
"Of course, she isn't, Momma Mari. She's our new food slave." Mariela rolled her eyes with a smile. Alex's humor was rubbing off on them. She glanced back up as Janelle returned to the group.
"It's perfect. I'll take it!" Mariela clapped her hands together in happiness.
"Excellent. We'll get everything sorted out tomorrow, but you can go ahead and move anything you brought with you in and sleep here tonight."
"Thank you, ma'am."
"Ah, ah, ah! None of that. I may be your boss, but we're a family now. Plus, I'm not much older than you. You can call me Mariela or Mari."
"Y-yes, Mariela." Momma Mari gave a nod of satisfaction.
"Good, now, we'll take care of the dishes then get out of your hair for the evening." She pulled a key from her pocket. "This is the spare key for the building. Please make sure to lock up after we leave and you're settled in."
"Yes, of course." Janelle nodded with wide eyes as the key was placed in her open palm. Mariela gave her one last smile, the girls grabbing the dishes from the table and heading into the kitchen to do the cleaning, Mariela trailing behind them.
A/N:
Super long chapter this time. Going to be aiming for around 4k words a chapter since I've pulled my RWBY fic for now, but this one ran even longer than that at 4.7k
AnimeA55Kicker – It hurt me to write, so I feel that.
TheRangerBoy – You're right, she did, but I have no clue where that orphanage is. I feel like if it had been in Oak Town, she would have been picked up by a guild much sooner since she was so obviously magically talented with rain clouds constantly following her around. That may just be me overthinking a plot hole though. Honestly, if someone were to give me a persuasive argument for logically finding and including her in the story, I wouldn't even really fight it to write her in since it's irritating me how little backstory she has in conjunction with what seems like a pretty big oversight in her magical nature.
Guest-Questioner – It's looking like Yukino isn't going to be making an appearance until the grand magic games. Once I looked over the timeline again, she's MUCH younger than our current main cast. She's somewhere around 3 years old right now, with no indication on where she lived before showing up in canon at 18. I'll figure out something for how to get her involved in the story eventually. She's one of my favorite characters so I definitely won't be neglecting her.
TigerJacob – Good points. No spoilers but I've got some ideas rattling around for how to get her involved. I do like what you mentioned about her motivations and Sabertooth though. That makes sense with her history.
Mdhunter111 – I actually purposefully leave the character appearances a bit vague with only some basic guideline descriptions. You're free to imagine his appearance as whatever you want him to look like that way. He'll probably eventually at least learn hand-to-hand fighting as a kind of last line of defense. I don't give out relationship spoilers, so you'll just have to keep reading to find out ;)
