Chapter Forty Four - Nab

"How did it go?" Evergreen asked as we appeared.

"Pretty well," I said, shrugging. "I got a bit hurt, but I'm good."

Or I will be, anyway, once Porlyusica clears me.

Though my shoulder still stings a bit.

I noticed Enno (who is more often in the main hall than not) sitting in the corner next to Macao, sniffling and wiping away tears.

"Enno?" I asked. "What's wrong?"

Apparently, it was pretty bad, because Enno burst into tears and turned to hug Macao. While Macao still looked a bit confused on what to do, he almost automatically gave her a hug.

She sobbed harder, and most of the other kids looked concerned, while Evergreen and Bickslow (who appeared to know what was happening) only looked sad.

"What happened?" I asked, turning to the others.

Makarov answered. "Enno's aunt passed. When Enno turned sixteen, she left her home and joined the guild, where she's lived for three years."

Enno cried harder.

"She got the letter this morning," Makarov continued. "She's going to need to pick up her little cousin. Enno's parents had died when they were much younger, and she moved in with her aunt and her cousin. Her uncle let. Now her cousin is the only family she has left."

"Do you want me to take you?" I asked her.

She cried harder, but let go of Macao and hugged me. "Yeah, thanks Ellie-girl."

"Let's go," I said, taking her hand. "Where to?"

She named the town and grabbed my hand, as I whisked us off. We appeared in a small looking village, and I pulled off my wrist cuffs for all of the requipping I was going to have to do. My power was a bit wild, and was especially excited to be fully used again, after all the fighting I did earlier. It was glad that I was going to be packing up a house. I tried to mentally shush it for being so disrespectful. Then I realized what I was doing, mentally screamed, and continued forward.

Enno lead me to her house and knocked on the door, which opened almost immediately.

"Enno!" cried a small voice, and a boy rushed out and tackled her, crying.

As she cried and embraced her younger brother, I was surprised to recognize him.

Nab? I thought.

Looking back and forth between them, there were many things they had in common – the hair, the eyes, their skin. Though Nab's skin was darker and Enno's hair was light enough to tell it was purple. The biggest thing they had in common was the way they dress. Before the seven year time gap, Nab was pretty well built, too.

Eventually, Enno and Nab released from their hug, and Enno turned to introduce me, wiping away her tears. "Nab, this is Ellie. She's a member of my guild, too. Remember the letters?"

He nodded, turning to me. "Nice to meet you, Ellie. Is it okay to call you that?"

"It's fine," I said. "It's nice to meet you, too, Nab. I'm here because of my teleportation and requip skills. I'll help you move to Magnolia."

Enno nodded. "Alright, let's start gathering what we can take and what we have to leave behind."

"Enno, you know I can take it all, right?" I asked. "Even the furniture."

She had a look of shock on her face, and I realized that beside Gildarts (and maybe Makarov), none of the other adults really knew how much I could carry.

"I suggest you group things together, or try to organize them, though," I suggested.

While Nab got his room into order, I went around and started requipping what they wanted to keep. Enno had me leave the furniture, so they could sell the place fully furnished.

I requipped Nab's things, and I gave Enno one of my Call Cards, which she left with the neighbor, who would monitor the house and contact me when someone was interested.

Which reminded me, did someone rent Levy's house yet?

With our quest finished, Enno and Nab took one last look at their house before I popped them back to Magnolia.

After depositing Nab's things in Enno's apartment, I put my wrist cuffs back on and we walked back to the guild, so Nab could see Magnolia.

Nab was currently nine years old, and he hasn't started learning magic.

"Alright, Nab, and this is Fairy Tail," Enno said, somewhat quietly.

"Come on!" I said happily. "You can get your guild mark, and start training with us!"

"But he doesn't know magic," Enno said, confused.

"He will!" I said, dragging them inside and into the training room.

"Wow…" Nab said a bit quietly.

"Where do you want your insignia?" I asked, grabbing the stamp. "And think of the color you want."

"Um….I don't know," Nab said, before he started mumbling. "Maybe my arm? Or my chest? My hand…"

"Take your time," I said, handing the stamp over to Enno and getting on the trampoline. Now that it was properly installed, we all loved it, and Macao, Wakaba (and even the rest of Team B), had completely forgiven us for selling them out for it.

In one corner, it led to a pit I had made, which we filled with some of Cana's giant fluff and foam. The trampoline spanned the entire wall, and led to the other end. Outside, Makarov was having a pool built, and when it was done, we would also be able to jump into the pool from the trampoline. Now though, there was a steel door that was closing that section off because of how cold it was outside.

In this life, I finally had time to try doing all the things I couldn't do before – like gymnastics, or ballet or hand to hand combat. After many many tries, I finally learned how to do a front flip off the trampoline, which I then proceeded to do.

"That looks like fun," Nab said wistfully.

Enno had a tick mark on her forehead. She had obviously forgotten how indecisive her cousin was when she was away. "The faster you pick a place for your guild mark, the faster you can get on."

I laughed as I hauled myself out of fluffy pit.

I really loved this guild.

After meeting with Porlyusica (in which she put a potion on my shoulder, declared me perfectly fine and I told her to talk with Laxus until she kicked me out and hit me with her broom), I returned back to the guild hall. It had been a long day, and I hadn't realized it was already late at night.

Walking into the training room, I was a bit surprised to see Makarov alone, looking at the chart I made.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

He turned and looked at me. "Oh, Elle?" He hmmed and went back to the chart. "I'm surprised you haven't figured it out. After all, it's almost December."

December...that was right.

"The S Class trials," I said.

He nodded. "Yes. We haven't even had any nominations for the past few years, and I've been considering the ones who competed in this years games. However," he gestured to the chart. "I'm not quite sure you agree with me."

I hesitated. "I don't think any of us are ready yet. Even if we are magically strong enough, we don't have nearly enough experience. And as for the adult team...the strongest was probably Macao, and I would still say that you should probably still give him another year to grow."

"Yes, I was thinking along those lines," he said, sighing. "I'm more worried about the other guilds, and how their reactions will be to only having one S Class member. Especially after winning the games."

I shrugged. "None of us have reached the proper level yet, but in a few years, you'll probably have more S Class wizards than regular guild mages."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

I nodded. Thinking it over, I had realized that Cana was nominated for her first S Class when she was twelve - in X778, only five years from now.

"I can understand why you might want to nominate some of us kids," I said. "But I think you should wait a bit longer. And I also think that you probably shouldn't nominate anyone underneath twelve, no matter how strong they are." I eyed Lucy's pin.

Makarov nodded. "Yes, that seems right. I was barely considering it, anyway, but I wanted to hear your opinions."

"Thank you," I said, glad to be included.

Though after I left, I couldn't help wondering if it was some sort of test in humility, and arrogance.

Jeez, Elle, now you're getting paranoid.

After the first job we did, we added it as a new component to our schedule. Every weekend, we would go on a job. No matter what combinations we made, there were at least four kids together (with some sort of adult acting as a babysitter, if needed). Bickslow and Evergreen joined us eventually, and they actually did a pretty decent job in battle, though they of course did a lot better when they were in a group with us. They were more confident about having backup, and we were able to take care of any blind spots.

When I mentioned that Laxus and I were going to be leaving, I made a rule about going on solo missions. No one under the age of sixteen can go on a solo mission.

At which point Erigor glared at me and pointed out he would soon be sixteen and that he should be able to go.

I ignored him, told him to take care of the house, and that I would fucking kick him out if he fucked it up.

I found out that Levy has been renting the house and store out for awhile, even over a year now, but had neglected to tell us because we were busy training to defeat Gildarts at the time. I looked over the contract she made and high-fived her; she had gotten more money for the house and the store than I thought she would. With the exception of Lucy and Cana (though that money was really earned through their father's jobs), she was the richest one of us.

I'm not counting my magical appearing bag of jewels.

Nab fit in pretty well, though people have already started trying to find ways to get rid of his indecisiveness. I introduced then to the Jeapordy! theme, and from what I know of Psychology, I may have started training him with positive reinforcement, which means that the faster he made a decision, the more treats he would get. If he didn't make any decisions, he didn't get any candy and lost his trampoline privileges.

Though he activated his magic pretty quickly, and Enno was ecstatic as it was a Family Magic they thought was lost, he still had a lot of trouble controlling it, so he spent more time meditating than anyone else.

I found out his birthday was back in June, and I mentally added the date to my mental calendar.

October ended, and November passed quickly, only stopping to celebrate Wakaba's twenty fifth birthday, and Laxus's. Laxus's thirteen birthday was a bit odd, because it officially marked him as a teenager, which he seemed extremely happy about.

While Porlyusica attended the party, she still didn't tell him she was his grandmother, and I told myself that if she didn't tell him at this point next year, I'd do it for her.

I also sent her a very indiscreet note telling her that.

There may have been some extreme capitalization involved.

November was followed by December, where we celebrated Erigor's sixteenth birthday (and while he was happy to be an adult, he decided to continue living with me), as well as Christmas.

Originally, Jude and Layla (at some point after the Fantasia parade but before Loke and Corvus's fight) had invited me over to spend Christmas Eve with them. Instead, I turned it around and invited the two of them, along with Lucy and Brandish, and told them to join us for Christmas.

The biggest reason Jude was afraid of joining us (which I found very sweet), was that he was unsure of what gifts to give everyone else.

"How about this?" I had said. "I'm going to be gone most of next year, and the kids have started to go on missions. Since I can teleport, I've been bringing them directly to certain towns. I'm not going to be here, though, so they'll have to ride the train. How about passes or something?"

Jude thought it was a great idea, and both he and Layla agreed to come with the kids.

On Christmas Eve, we had a huge party, (wherein most of the guild decided to get drunk), and all of us kids gathered and passed around presents.

Though, before Christmas, both I and Lucy had forbidden Corvus and Loke from coming out on their own and ruining the holiday.

I gave Lucy her Silver keys in a pretty little box, and she got the keys to the Argo Navis, and Telescopium, so she could use the telescope on the ship.

"So you can play pirate," I said, as she opened it. "At some point next year, you can invite some of the kids from the guild over, and you guys can play pirates or something and go flying through the sky."

She beamed. "That's so cool!"

"Could we play Peter Pan?" Evergreen asked. "I could be Tinkerbell?"

I shrugged. Ever since I had shown them the cartoon movie, they'd been obsessed with it. I guess it's a good thing that they'll never be able to find out the original version of the tale.

"I wanna be a mermaid!" Juvia said.

"I'll be Wendy," Lucy called. "and Brandish, you can be Pantherlily!"

Brandish nodded, still with a slightly reserved face. "Though... I'd rather play Peter if that's alright."

I blinked, and shrugged. "Why the hell not?"

After all, when Peter Pan is performed in theaters, Peter was generally played by a girl.

"Freed should be Captain Hook," I mentioned.

Freed gasped. "Why would I be that hooligan?"

"Because you've already got the clothes for it," I said.

The kids continued to chat about the games they would soon play, and I turned to Layla. "How much?"

She smiled. "It seems that giving Lucy Corvus's key helped. Having a Platinum key she can summon all the time has been great for her reserves. She also tends to summon Pegasus every once in a while so she can go flying. She can hold all five of her Zodiac gates open."

I turned to Lucy, who had stopped talking about Peter Pan and was paying attention to our side conversation, and smiled. "You know what that means, right?"

She nodded eagerly.

First, I requipped a golden key. "Here is your next Zodiac key. This is Gemini, who has the ability to turn into other people. However, I chose this key next because you can have Gemini turn into you, and you can double the power for Urano Metria. You know that it's usually a two-person spell, right?"

She nodded eagerly. "Wow, thank you Ellie-nee!"

I smiled. "They're also really cute, and I think you'll enjoy them. They remind me a bit of Papa – except cuter."

"Hey!" Papa yelled, buzzing around my head.

We all laughed, and Lucy took the key from me.

I smiled and requipped out a Platinum Key. "And here is Monoceros," I said, giving her the key. "You're going to be his first summoner."

Her eyes lit up, and I finally got the tackle/hug I was expecting. "Yayayayayayayayayayayayay! Thank you thank you thank youthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!"

"Calm down, Lucy, it's fine," I said, laughing a bit. "Do you want to talk to any of the other Platinum gates?"

She nodded, and I requipped the rest.

"You have all of them?" Layla gasped, as Lucy scooped up the other keys and started whispering to them.

I nodded. "I've got all the keys I need except for Aries, and some Silver keys. I've got the rest of the Zodiac, though, and as you can see, all the Platinums."

We spent the rest of the night celebrating, and at one point, the awake members of the guild went outside so we could watch Lucy summon Monoceros, who was amazing and gigantic and (like the other Platinums) always available.

Lucy would definitely be eager to play with her new spirit.

All in all, it was a wonderful holiday.

If you know psychology, then you know that what Elle is doing with Nab is much more than simply positive reinforcement. Elle, however, is (as I mentioned before) more than a bit unreliable, and doesn't know that.

Here's how psychology works, in this area.

Reinforcement - a good thing.

Punishment - a bad thing.

Positive - gaining.

Negative - losing.

If it's positive reinforcement, you're getting a good thing; ei., candy. If it's negative reinforcement, you're losing a bad thing; ei; less vegetables.

If it's positive punishment, you're getting a bad thing; ei., more vegetables. If it's negative punishment, you're losing a good thing; ie., trampoline time.

Just so we're clear.

I'm hoping my relating Nab and Enno isn't considered racist, but I'm just saying...Erza and Irene. And I think that them being related is a nice connection to Nab eventually joining, and they have the same type of floral wear.

The original take of Peter Pan only had a small mention of it, and it's easy to miss, but here is a clip from the actual book:

The boys on the island vary, of course, in numbers, according as they get killed and so on; and when they seem to be growing up, which is against the rules, Peter thins them out; but at this time there were six of them, counting the twins as two.

Even though I loved Peter Pan as a kid, looking back on it, it's a bit disturbing. He does, after all, kidnap children.

But then again, so does Elle.

Since the next chapter is the start of X774, I will list everyone's ages in the beginning of the chapter, since I've had more than a few comments regarding difficulties in keeping track of both the ages and the dates.

Thank you for all of your amazingly wonderful comments. :) I love you guys so much! I did, once again, get another bad review that dampened my mood a bit but then I saw everyone else's comments and got really happy! Some of you nearly made me cry. :D

I do want to all to know that I will finish this story (my muse will see to that), but the real reason I need reassurance is to know whether or not to continue posting the story online, or to take it down if too many people don't like it.

I apologise for the extremely long author's note, and again would like to thank all of your encouraging reviews.

Next stop: Ice Wizards.