Hello again, and welcome to chapter 2 of my first fanfiction 'Manarath's Fairy Tail Adventures'. I found some motivation to continue this story even if I still don't really have an idea what I want to do with it yet. But! when I get there you will all find out since I will have written it and you will read it :D
But other than that I hope you enjoy this chapter :D
I have updated chapters 1 and 2 to fix some grammar mistakes and make them more comprehensible.
I own nothing except the idea of my OC
POV: Manarath
Standing up and towering over people has always gotten me funny reactions. The fact Makarov is so small he's most likely used to people being taller than him means I don't get a reaction out of him, which is disappointing.
"So, where are we going? Because I do not know where we are actually going." I say out loud to Makarov as I get to my feet. "Because as you might remember I have no idea where I am or how to get to where you are going" As I finish my small rant I look at Makarov for answers, and I see him go from a friendly old man to a sheepish old man. I get the feeling he most likely forgot I do not know where we actually are.
"Ahh yes, I was on my way back to my guild. I was just taking a more scenic route before I get home to the brats," Makarov says with a fond look on his face when he mentions these 'brats'.
"You have children?" I ask him, with a confused look on my face. Makarov has to be at least 70 years old, and him having children he actually calls brats means he is either an active old man or the type of old man that calls everyone younger than him 'brats'.
Makarov gives me a look of confusion before it dawns on him "No no, they aren't actually my children, but they are a part of Fairy Tail, and every member of Fairy Tail I see as my children," He tells me with a proud and slightly somber look on his face.
I chuckle a bit at his explanation "Whatever you say, old man. Must be one hell of a guild if everyone sees each other as a family. I know me and my family could get rowdy when we were all in the same place," I say with a small smile.
Makarov gives me a skeptical look. "What?" I ask.
"You have a family?" Makarov asks, sounding somewhat bewildered.
"Of course I have a family! How else would I exist!" I tell Makarov with a big laugh at the absurdity of his question.
I see Makarov cringe as I laugh at his question. "Makarov, just because I'm undead doesn't mean I don't have a family. But I know why you ask, and yes I still have living family members. To be exact, my mother and father are still alive," I say with a chuckle as I recall all the good times I had with my family before my so-called accession into becoming undead.
Remembering my family was not always something I could. When I first got turned into a Deathknight by the then Lich King, any memories about my life before was stripped from me, and to test me and see if I was truly loyal to him, the Lich King had me kill my brother. I remember him pleading with me and saying how much mother missed me and dad was still being his own zealous self back at home and if I just snapped out of it, we could both return home. To hear someone who meant nothing to me sound so passionate. It made me stop for just a moment. But I think he finally saw that I only had a small idea of who he was and that if one of us needed to make it out of there, I needed to finish what they had ordered me to do. It turned out to be a dangerous move on the Lich King's part because the act of killing my brother made me able to snap from the Lich King's control and remember who it was he had me kill. In the end, it was my brother's sacrifice that set me free and made me able to get my fellow Knights of the Ebon Blade a chance at perhaps not redemption, but the chance to atone for the sins we committed when we were under the Lich Kings control.
When I finally could recall my family and had the chance to reunite with them, they welcomed me back. Of course, I was still looked at with some scorn by my father who was and still is a devout paladin of the light, but my mother, my sweet dear mother was just happy she still had one of her sons back, even if I was undead. Eventually, with time we became a family again. When I held back a swarm of undead from swarming a village of farmers by myself until my father's band of paladins came to help.
I must have zoned out, because Makarov is jumping high enough to wave his hand in front of my face to get my attention. Which is a feat with how small compared to me Makarov is.
"Sorry, you were saying?" I ask Makarov.
I hear Makarov grumble something about young people and not respecting their elders.
"I asked about what you have planned" The question gives me pause. What am I going to do? I, of course, need to get home. But the Deathknight's back home are most likely going to find out I'm missing and track me down, so it's just a waiting game for me at this point.
"Wait for my men to figure out I'm missing, and then wait for them to find me. Other than that I have no other plans," I tell Makarov.
"although, while I'm waiting, I might just see what this world offers when it comes to smithing and runes. Might as well use my time stranded here as a vacation from everything," I say with a thoughtful tone, which apparently amused Makarov.
"Interested in magic, are you? Didn't you say you were a knight?" Makarov asks.
"A DeathKnight Makarov, the only reason we can have this conversation is because of the necromancy holding my spirit in my dead body," I say.
"With that connection, I get access to three different aspects of death magic, Blood, Unholy, and Frost. I have spent a lot of time with frost and blood magic with a bit of Anti-Magic"
I can tell Makarov gets uncomfortable when I explain the different aspects of the death magic I can use.
"But magic has always been fascinating to me. especially runes and what you can make them do," I say with a small smile on my face.
I see Makarov get a glint of interest in his eyes as I mention my fascination with runes.
"What kind of magic do you guys practice in this world, anyway?" I question.
POV: Manarath
If I had known my question would be answered in a way that had me listen to Makarov list well over one hundred different magic and the different categories those magic can be sorted into, for the time it took for us to arrive at the nearest town with a train station. Which apparently a smaller version of the Deeprun Tram just on tracks instead. I wouldn't have asked him.
Walking through the city while talking to Makarov I can see the citizen making way for me and Makarov, some of them are most likely trying to get away from me, if their scared look when they see me is anything to go by. But some of them are making way for Makarov and are smiling when they see him.
"Are you famous or something?" I ask.
"What do you mean?" Makarov says with a questioning look on his face.
"I can see that people are not making way just for me. I know I look scary and when you see me your instincts will tell you to run, so I can understand people making way," I say.
"But they are also making way for you, almost like they know you and don't want to bother you. That just screams that you are either a well-known and well-liked person. Or you're royalty, and you don't strike me as royalty," I finish with a smirk on my face.
I see Makarov stumble for a step when I suggest he is royalty and shoot me an annoyed look when he regains his footing and mumbles some choice words about respecting elders under his breath.
"Fairy tail is one of the more popular guilds, and we aren't that far from Magnolia, so they most likely know that I'm the guild master," Makarov tells me.
"It might also because of this," he says as he points to his cloak, or more specifically, the emblem.
"Are you that old you already forgot I'm not from around here? I have no idea what the significance of that emblem is," I tell Makarov with a deadpan look on my face.
"Of course I didn't forget! And I'm not old!" Makarov yells at me with a deep scowl on his face. Comments about his age must be a regular thing in this guild of his.
"The emblem marks me as a member of the ten wizard saints, ten of the strongest wizard in Ishgar," He explains, and it's my turn to stumble for a step. This old man is one of the strongest wizards?
I hear Makarov chuckle beside me, and I turn to look at him with a baffled expression.
"Okay, I guess that answers my question..." I say lowly to myself
After the revelation that Makarov is one of the ten wizard saints, our conversation turns to a different subject. And with 'conversation' I mean Makarov is just answering questions I come up with, as he explains how everything works.
Since I'm considered a wizard by this world's standard, I have to follow the law as long as I'm stranded here. This means I should probably stick to my less necromantic abilities.
Not that big of a deal. It gives me the chance of honing my anti-magic. I have already honed it so I can combine it with my frost aspect, any frost magic I make use of doesn't outright negate other magic, it just nullifies it depending on how much stronger the frost is to what it's nullifying.
Other than magic I also get the chance of honing my smithing skills, because apparently good smiths are in short supply.
Getting on the train was a bit of a hassle with my big shoulder plates, and sitting down was even worse since they built most trains to accommodate people of normal size and not people of my size.
Through our journey, I get a much better impression of what kind of person Makarov actually is. He is more or less devoted to his guild and every member. Listening to Makarov speak about his guild and the antics they end up in just go to show that he is someone I can place my trust in. I can practically smell the pride coming off of him. But this conversation has to end.
"Makarov," I say, interrupting him mid-sentence.
I see him startle at my interruption and the serious tone I say his name with. When he looks me in the eyes, I see his own expression change as well, from the Happy go lucky grandfather figure talking about all his children, to that of a serious protector that's willing to do what is necessary to keep those he cares for safe.
"I need to be honest with you. I will not stick around your guild," I tell him.
Before Makarov can comment on my decision, I continue. "My purpose in this un-life of mine is to protect the living against those that would see them destroyed. The problem with the fact I'm undead makes it so the longer I'm around the living, the more I will grow jealous of their living state, and in the end, if I'm not careful, I will try to end the life around me"
When I finish explaining, Makarov's eyes narrow at me as if to figure out why I just more or less told him I would kill the people in the guild if I stay around.
"That doesn't mean I can't be around the living. The time I can stay around the living is years before any sort of negative thought flows around in my head," I tell him, and it's true. My self-control has only improved over my many years of getting used to both the curse of undeath and the Worgen curse I'm inflicted with. If I didn't have such superb control of myself, I would be nothing but a raging machine of undeath making a sport out of hunting the living.
"The reason I'm telling you this is that even though I'm not staying in your guild, I am thankful and in your debt for helping me so far when you could have just left me bleeding on the ground," I say and bow my head towards Makarov
When I lift my head, I can see Makarov's expression has changed back to that grandfatherly look that he usually has, and smiles at me. But before he can say anything, I continue.
"I have but a single request for when we reach your guild. If you will let me have access to your library so that I will be able to understand this world I find myself in. Listening to you has been helpful in understanding where I am, but word from a single person can only get me so far"
As I finish my request, I can see by the look on Makarov's face that he is thinking it over. I get why he has to take his time with thinking everything over. I'm an unknown to him even if I have answered every question honestly and not withheld anything, we still only just met today. I have to sweeten the deal for him to let me stay with him.
"If you let me, I will be even more in your debt, and I will offer you my services when it comes to blacksmithing and rune-working. Or If there is something you don't want your children to deal with alone. Then for as long as I am stranded here, and maybe even further if we can establish a connection between our worlds"
After offering my services, I can see Makarov almost coming to a decision.
"And your services, do they come in the same category as you do?" Makarov asks me while narrowing his eyes.
The question catches me off-guard. Same category as me? What does that even... oh... OH.
"Oh no! Not at all! Everything you can see on me has been crafted by infusing my soul into it. If I were to craft something with normal metals and a normal forge, it would come out as a normal blade. Well, maybe a higher quality than you are accustomed to," I blurt out.
"And they can channel my runes with normal arcane energy. Well, they can be customized to do that. And I have some that aren't necromancy-related. As long as I have the right setup and materials I should be able to do enchantments"
As I finish my panicked rambling on how I'm not trying to spread the corruption of undeath through my services, I hear Makarov chuckle.
"Calm down, my boy. No need to panic. I just needed to be sure," Makarov tells me with a smile on his face.
"You can have access to the library we have in the guild. But if I were you, I would be more concerned about where you are going to be sleeping during your stay"
I have to stop at that. Does he keep forgetting I'm undead? or are the undead here different from the undead we have? Because of my undead nature, I don't need to sleep. As long as I don't do anything that takes a lot of energy, I can go without rest indefinitely.
As I think this, I raise my eyebrow at Makarov and tell him "because of my nature I don't really need to sleep Makarov, in fact, I would prefer not to sleep"
I see Makarov's eyes widen in either surprise or recollection
"So you will just be staying in the library the whole time?" He asks.
"More or less. Unless you need my services during my stay, I will stay in the library," I tell him.
With my confirmation about where I will be, I see Makarov go back to thinking. It's kinda funny being on this side of the conversation, being able to see someone go through every potential situation, and deciding what to do with you. Normally I'm in Makarov's position. Having to look at people while appearing strong and going through every single scenario that the person in front of me can create and make sure I have the advantage in every single one.
It's kind of refreshing, to be honest. The only thing that can happen to me here is that Makarov contacts this magic council, and they put a bounty on my head. But from the way Makarov spoke about this magic council, he doesn't like them all that much.
I suddenly hear Makarov ask me, "Is it possible to make things more durable with your runes?"
Without a second thought, I tell him, "Sure there is, it all depends on what kind of durability you want this 'thing' to have"
Makarov gives me a questioning look "What do you mean what kind of durability?"
"What I said, I can make things more durable to mundane things or magical things, when it comes to magic, I can even specify what kind of magic something gets more durable against," I tell him.
"for example, I can put a rune of anti-fire magic on a wall, and depending on how powerful I make the rune, there needs to put more power into fire magic to get the same effect as say ice magic"
After finishing my explanation, I see Makarov's eyes light up
"Would it be possible to put the rune on a building, and it would cover the entire building?" Makarov asks me.
"Hmm, depending on what effect you want, I can just set it up so magic will be weaker in the building, or you just can't cast spells. Or I can set it up so the building itself is more resistant to magic in general, unless you have a specific kind of magic in mind," I tell him. Wondering why he would need a building covered.
"No, just magic in general. I still want my children to be able to cast magic in the building, I just want it to be sturdier," he tells me.
"Do your children cause a lot of chaos in the guildhall or something?" I have to ask him because he sounds kinda desperate.
When I say the word 'Chaos' the look on Makarov's face morphs into that of annoyance.
"They keep fighting and messing everything up in the guildhall! We are not made of money! I can't keep having people come fix everything and buying new tables constantly!"
As Makarov continues his rant about his rowdy children and how they are going to make him take the position of Guildmaster with him to the grave because they can't keep themselves in check. I just sit back and listen to him. I need some entertainment for the rest of our journey to Fairy Tail's guildhall.
This chapter took longer than I was expecting. But with exams and my own mental health being a bitch, it took longer than I would have liked. But none the less I hope you guys enjoyed it, and I will see you next chapter :D