Some things never change. During her near-immortal life, Ria encounters her soul kin in their other lives 5 times. One time they find her. Or a Reincarnation not AU because the narrator outlines a mortal's lifespan
This bit me in the brain and I had to write it. Keeping it to short chapters to help break it up
Ria must admit that she's surprised the guild has survived as long as it did. The current guildmaster- she doesn't quite remember their name, some descendant of Erza that bares her blazing red hair, told her its been almost seven centuries since the founding. The kitsune's five tails flare around her as she carefully makes her way down to the tree's roots, where the current crop of hopeful S-class mages are resting. A hush falls over the group as her form winds her way through towards the guildmaster. They frantically straighten their bodies, unsure wether or not to bow. The young mages hastily bend at the waist as the current guildmaster does- long red hair falling around her body like a curtain. If Ria looked just right- she would've sworn that Erza was standing before her.
"Honorable spirit."
The fairy tail mages squint at the glow and watch as the fox turns bipedal, a young girl left in its place. Long silver hair runs down to the back of the kitsune's knees and a worn purple bow keeps the hair from falling into her face.
"Isn't she like- a thousand years old? Shouldn't she be older looking than a twelve year old," one asks, his casual chewing on a handful of nails the first thing Ria notices as she turns.
"Time to a kitsune is a useless concept. I prefer to look this way… besides I'm only around five hundred years old. I'm still very much a teenager, thank you very much," Ria snarks as she runs a hand through her hair. "And you are a Redfox. Unless more metal dragonslayers have joined since I came here."
"Yes, he is. And he's just as troublesome as every other dragonslayer I've ever had to deal with. Honorable-"
"You don't need to call me that. It's weird ya know- to have some teenager calling me honorable anything. I won't bother your trials. Just like to see the new blood every now and again, Scarlet. Wait, you humans change your last names when you mate so that probably isn't your name anymore…" The kistune shrugs. "Whatever, either way. Good luck and just- don't destroy anything too important looking."
The girl turns to leave, her socializing for the year over, when she notices one of the young adults spurting balls of fire lazily into the air. Her body is thin and tall, hair long and straight and dark as pitch behind her. Tan skin pinches at the corners of eyes as she notices the kitsune's staring.
"What do you want?" the woman all but snarls and the boy at her side elbows her harshly in the side.
"Juniper! The kitsune has been a fairy for centuries! You can't be so rude."
"Don't tell me what to do, you oaf. Just because everyone else is impressed by some demon, doesn't mean I am."
Ria's ears twitch at the words and her nose at the smell. Fresh grass and the young blossoms of spring… purely Evergreen. Ria's head tilts and she smiles slightly.
"Juniper, huh? I like it," Ria bares a fangy grin and feels her heart throb at the surprised look she received. "You know… I bet you'd do really well with light spells. You should try it sometime."
It's night time days later when Ria sneaks down to the base of the big tree again. She watches the trials as she does every year, it is the most exciting thing she's bound to see until the same time next year. Evergreen… wait it's Juniper now, Ria's got to remember that, is sprawled out on a sleeping bag, too hot to sleep inside it.
Ria had doubted it when the elder she ran into or, more accurately, the elder that plowed her into a cliffside as she rampaged in a grief fueled rage after the death of her last friend from the original time stated she did not need to cry tears. Her favorite spirits were not lost to her world. They had not fled to one she could not follow. Spirits return to the earth and blooms again, as the dying corpse always makes way for plants. When Ria said that she didn't want Asuka to turn into a flower, the old kitsune laughed and patted her shoulder. Said she'd see it eventually as long as she did not throw her life away fighting dumb battles and nearly getting thrown off cliffs.
Ria did understand now at five hundred and thirty six years old. Because this was Evergreen before her, clear as day. Her hair is no longer the gray it had been the last time she saw her. Her skin is smooth of wrinkles and scars and is now a tawny brown. But her magic still glows a warm yellow and her words are still sharp. This Ever is better at making connections, she doesn't cling so strongly, and that makes Ria happy to see her dear aunt no longer fighting off a distant loneliness.
Five tails curl around her fox body that never grew to quite the size she expected. Be it her faulty blood or just an unlucky draw, she was stuck at the size of a large dog. There was always hope for another growth spurt, she still had more tails to grow. However, her smaller frame does fit into the space between Evergreen's current life and the fire. It's probably a little creepy, but Ria's too relieved to care. She never thought she'd see anyone ever again.
The fire had gone out, only a mesh of burning soot and the curling whisps of smoke warming the air as the morning sun started to peek through the Tenrou tree's roots. It's dreadfully early to any human, but Ria is no human, so she lifts herself out of the dirt and wakes up her mind.
"Morning, hun."
Ria swiftly turns, Juniper is staring at her with a blank daze and a small smile too reminiscent of Evergreen.
"You're up early, Ria. What's that about?" Juniper slurs sleepily and reaches a tired hand out to rub at the kitsune's ears, right where Ever had always known where to scratch. "Your ama wouldn't…" Juniper yawns out and closes her eyes, falling back into slumber.
When Ria shows herself again at the end of the trials, body shaded by the tree and watching as other congratulate the Redfox boy and another on their new titles, Juniper sidles over to the kitsune.
"Does your demon magic give everyone weird dreams or is it just me? Because I keep seeing weird stuff in my dreams and for some reason you're always in them. I think… I don't know, you had less tails."
"Maybe I knew you in a past life," Ria answers and tilts her ears to gauge the response.
A disbeliving scoff. Yeah, Ria supposes she isn't surprised. Evergreen did not like to depend on rumors and fables, no matter how much she enjoyed to hear them.
"I doubt it, but you're the thousand year old demon."
"Five hundred and thirtysix actually," Ria says through a fanged smirk that causes a laugh.
"You're pretty cool," Juniper manages around her snickering. She quiets and they both enjoy the shade protecting them from Tenrou's heat. "You know… it's pretty boring here. When you know, fairies aren't going around destroying everything. I doubt anyone would care if you came back to the guild, bet you'd do real good in the GMG. The others wouldn't even know what was coming at them!"
"They still have that dumb thing?" At the exasperated nod Ria laughs a cackling fox pitch. "Yeah, maybe I will."
For the first time in over three centuries, Asvoria Strauss Dreyar leaves the sacred land of Tenrou.