Ripples Chapter 55: A Birthday Bash, a fairy tail fanfic

I'm sorry this took so long, I wanted to make sure that next chapter was outlined enough that you wouldn't need to wait super long for it.

Enjoy!

Chapter Fifty Five - A Birthday Bash

While all of the idiotic boys in my guild were being stupid in late February (something I probably should have caught on to, considering how quiet it was), I decided to visit the Royal Family, especially since I wasn't as busy as I was last year.

"Ellie-nee, Ellie-nee!" Hisui cried, running for me (having adopted Lucy's nickname for me).

It was only a little over two months since I had last seen her, but still….she had grown.

Hard to believe she would be two in less than half a year.

"Hey, Hisui!" I said, scooping her up. She was getting a lot better at her motor skills, that was for sure. She was certainly running better.

"It's good to see you, Elle," Ame said softly, smiling at me. She was looking pretty well, though I noticed she moved a bit slower than one normally would.

I couldn't help wondering if we healed everything.

I hope we did. I'd check with Phoenix later.

And then a few hours later, after sharing the story of Snow White with Hisui (having caught their attention because of Lucy's words), another problem arose.

"You want me to what?" I asked.

"I think it would be a great idea!" Toma said happily.

I stared at the Queen. "Ame, I couldn't do that! It would be stealing!"

"Then give all the profits to charity," Ame said, shrugging. "I think it would be a good idea."

And that's what brought us here.

"No, that's not what I'm saying," I said, sighing for the umpteenth time.

"I understand the concept, but how would we 'stream' to the lacrima modules?" the man asked.

I sighed, once more. "Okay, the Magical Council has the Etherion, right?"

The man nodded, still confused.

"It's done through satellites," I said.

He was still confused.

"So you stream it with satellites!" I was practically yelling now.

"Ohhhhhhh!" the man said, finally understanding

You see, Ame wanted me to share the stories (like Disney) with everyone, which lead to not only movies, but this world's versions of television.

At first I felt kinda bad about stealing someone's idea, because I know that eventually, this world get TVs, but I found out that someone already patented the idea and they were going to help building the televisions.

The creator got 30%, I got 5%, the builders got 50% and the sellers got 15% of the profits.

The money I got would go to charity.

Especially considering that I have absolutely no idea who it was who made TVs in my world in the first place, so…

The second thing we were doing was mass producing movies.

First, they were all recorded and stored so they could be streamed via satellites.

Honestly, making channels were the easiest part of it.

And then, we made this world's version of a DVD player.

And this was how Cana got rich.

First, I would get money off the profits for making the movies – even though they were really just my memories – and then Cana would get rich because we stored all of the memories on her Memory Cards, which I had her patent before this.

Honestly, I'm surprised by how many laws from my original world carried over to here.

After all, most of Mashima's rules are a little screwy, or just not all there.

In addition to that, I had her create another type of card which could be used to store people's own memories, for home movies and videos and stuff, and could be played by a version of a DVD player (except it played cards) that Freed created.

And so Cana and Freed ended up getting really really rich.

Enough so that Cana, at least, would probably never had to go on a job if she had to, but she still decided to continue going on jobs, after saving around 75% of her money and giving the rest to charity, like me.

Freed decided to save all of his for now.

With this came the creation of better cameras, in order to film and stream live.

And then I was done.

It took awhile to finish the prototypes, so much so that I had to visit Laki and Max for their ninth and eighth birthdays. We also celebrated Makarov's seventy-ninth, Gray's ninth, and Gildarts's thirty-sixth birthday.

I actually managed to finish up the prototypes before Juvia's eighth birthday, (fucking finally) because I'd let the workers handle the rest now that they understood what was going on. I also created a market for movies and shows by talking to a few fictional authors and some people who really really liked the non-circluar lacrima cameras which were already used for pictures (because someone with common sense decided it would be stupid to try and take pictures with a ball).

And I sort of created a whole job market – Fiore's own Hollywood.

Oops.

But also not really my problem anymore.

I had originally suggested creating another version of Fantasia to happen in April, where we could stage fights and battles and make a festival.

Except they postponed that because they wanted my help, and I didn't get the memo that I was in charge of it.

So because I was so busy with Fiore's Hollywood, we weren't able to do our 2nd Fantasia.

Or 1st Fantasia, considering that April is before October…

So that was put off for another year.

And then my twelfth birthday came, and this is when things started getting stupid.

Laxus had been listening to my music for months, and had asked me which songs I liked best, and so I made him a playlist - or rather, a handful of Memory Cards to listen to.

And then my birthday was upon us.

"Good morning Ellie-nee!" came a lot of shouting, and my bed shook as if someone was jumping on it.

I woke up, rubbing sleep from my eyes. "Lucy? What are you doing here?"

"It's your birthday, and we need to celebrate!" she shouted happily, springing around and collapsing on top of me, trying to hug me. "Especially since we didn't get to do it last year!"

I yawned and stretched. "Alright Lucy, but I need to get changed first."

"You need to look nice and pretty!" Lucy told me, bouncing off of the bed.

I had no doubt that she would make me turn back around and change if she didn't like what I was wearing, so I pulled out the dress from the royal ball. Even though it was from over a year ago, it still fit pretty well, and it was mostly the accompanying jewelry that made it so fancy.

"How do I look?" I asked her, stepping out of my room.

She hustled me over to the center of the room and walked around me, inspecting my dress.

And then she whipped out a key. "Virgo!"

I blinked.

Lucy was already shortening her spells?

Spells work in an odd way. Not only do they give a focus, but they also help by gathering Ethernano to convert into magic. Generally, the longer a spell is, the more powerful it is, which is why Gildarts always says the entirety of his Absolute Heaven and Empyrean spells, verses his regular crush spells. It's also why Urano Metria and Fairy Glitter is so long, and why the Dragon Slayer Secret Arts also have multiple parts to them.

But, as time goes on, most spells can be shortened or done away with altogether. Gildarts has stopped using 'Crush' and is instead simply casting it, because he's refined it enough times. Makarov doesn't have to say anything to use most of his powers (like his Titan Magic), but he has to speak the spell to cast Fairy Law. Laxus, during the Grand Magic Games in the original timeline, defeated Raven Tail without using most of his spell incantations.

The fact that Lucy was able to summon them like that is impressive. Speaking of which…

"Lucy?" I asked her. She looked at me as Virgo circled me and started messing with the back of my dress.

"Yeah, Ellie-nee?" Lucy asked curiously.

"Have you tried summoning any of your spirits without their keys?" I asked. Virgo's tampering paused.

"I'm not just talking about shouting their names, or asking Corvus and Phoenix to come out," I continued. "I mean, for instance, putting one of the keys in my bedroom and trying to summon them out here."

Lucy frowned, and Virgo went back to her tampering. "I'm not quite sure, Ellie-nee." Holding up Virgo's key, she studied it intently. "Keys don't only open the door, but they also lead us to the door. The way you can call out Corvus and Phoenix by calling their names would be like standing outside an apartment place and shouting really really loudly, and hoping they come out to meet you on your own."

"Okay," I muttered, thinking. "But can you open doors without a key?"

She looked a bit thoughtful, and I realized she'd be eight in exactly a month - and that today, my twelfth birthday, marked my third year anniversary of entering this universe. "As long as I could get to the place and find the right door, I might be able to break it down. I just don't know how to get there."

Virgo's tampering stopped, and she moved to face us. "I am finished, Elle-sama and Hime-sama," she said, before pausing. "If I may make a suggestion?"

"Sure," I shrugged.

"Astral Projection," Virgo said. "I believe it is possible to visit the Celestial World through the Astral Plane by astral projecting."

"That's a theory," I muttered, before turning to Lucy. "Think you're up for practicing astral projection?"

"I don't know how," Lucy said, shrugging.

"It is much like meditation, Hime-sama," Virgo said. "But you follow the flow of outside magic, not inside magic."

That made sense, actually. If meditation was pulling in Ethernano and using it to fill the magical container, if one got into a completely meditative state and followed where the Ethernano was coming from…

I made a note to look it up later, as Lucy jumped at me. "Come on, Ellie-nee, we need to go to the guild!"

Virgo nodded, and said, "Happy Birthday, Elle-sama," before disappearing in a golden flash as Lucy dragged me out the door.

I'm still not quite sure what exactly it was supposed to be, but there was (what seemed to be) a makeshift stage in the center of the guildhall. There were even curtains closing it. Everyone else, with the exception of the boys, were currently gathered in the hall.

Lucy dragged me into the guild, and Layla met me on the way in, hugging me. "Happy Birthday, Elle," she said quietly.

I relaxed into her hug, tension bleeding from my shoulders, feeling like I was flying in a heaven for hugs. "Thanks, Layla," I replied.

There was more welcoming from the rest of the guildmembers and I ended up with a seat right in front of the stage.

"What's this about?" I asked.

"It's part of your gift!" came several echoing voices, reverberating around the room.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," someone announced, and I recognized it as Erigor. "We present to you…. EXTREME AWESOMENESS!"

The curtains started to part.

"More like EXTREME ASSHOLES!" Cana yelled.

"Fuck you, Cana!" several voices yelled. The curtains parted, revealing all the missing boys, all covered in punk clothes and eye liner and…well, looking exactly the same, for Erigor.

"You know it's boys only!" Lyon yelled.

"Don't yell at my daughter!" Gildarts yelled back.

Ur slapped the back of his head. "Don't ruin this for them!"

I looked at the boys – Laxus, holding an electric guitar, Erigor in front of a mic, with Gray and Lyon also on microphones behind him. Bickslow on drums, Freed on some sort of keyboard and Nab on what looked like an ocarina.

I felt the urge to immediately bang my head against a wall.

Those idiots have created a boy band…

…and called it EXTREME AWESOMENESS.

Jeez, I was going to have to go over band names with them.

"One, Two, Three, Four!" Bickslow started and the music started up. I was surprised enough to recognize it, almost instantly.

"IIIIIIIIIIIII've got those Jet Pack Blues, just like Judy; The kind that makes June feel like Septemberrr…..I'm the last one that you'll everrr…..rememberrr…"

I nearly started to cry.

Cana's memory cards were impressive, but they couldn't solely record sound. And we've been unable to convert them onto SoundPods. Because of this, I can only listen to my old music if I record the memory and then replay it, and it just isn't the same. Not like how it was before, when I could plug in headphones and get lost in the music streaming between my ears. It sounded distorted and unclear.

But this…they were actually doing a good job, and Erigor had a pretty good voice, one I would align with Patrick Stump and Brendon Urie.

They followed the song with several others I loved, some popular, and some not. Like Believer, from Imagine Dragons, to Lighthouse by the Hush Sound (which made them look ridiculous multiple times, because they dressed like a punk band and were almost certainly not singing punk music).

And when they were just about over, Laxus stepped up, and took the mic from Erigor.

He gulped, smiled at me (though it looked sort of strained) and said, "Happy Birthday, Elle."

"Ohhh...Ms Belieeeeveeeerrr...my...pretty sleeeeeeeeepeeeer

Your...twisted mind...is like snow...on the road...

Your...shaking shooooooouuuuldeerrsss...prove...that it's coooooooldeeeer

Inside your head...than the winteeeeer oooof deaaaaad.

IIIIIIIII...wiiiiiill telllllllll youuuuu IIIIIIIIIII looooovee youuu

But the muffs on yourrrrr earrrrss...will caterrrr yourr fearrrrrrss

My nose and feeet aaaare...runniiing as weeee start

As we travel through snow...

Togeeeetheeeer weeeeeee gooooooooooooooooooo...

Weeee geeet cooooooooooooldeeer

as weeeeee grooow ooooldeer

Weeee will waaaaaaaaaalk

Soooooo muuuch sloooooooooweeeer...

Ohhhhh Ms Belieeeeveeeerrr...my...pretty weeepeeeer

Your...twisted thoughts...are like snooowww...on the rooooooof toopppps

Please...take my haaand...we're in fooreign laaaaaand

To traveeel throuuugh snooow...

Togeeeetheeeer weeeeeee gooooooooooooooooooo...

Weeee geeet cooooooooooooldeeer

as weeeeee grooow ooooldeer

Weeee will waaaaaaaaaalk

Soooooo muuuch sloooooooooweeeer..."

The song finished, and Laxus hopped off the stage and walked over to me. "So?" he asked, a bit breathlessly. "What did you think?"

I gave a bit of a laugh. "I think that the eyeliner doesn't really fit the song."

He blushed a bit. "It was Erigor's idea! We didn't want to wear eyeliner."

I laughed some more, and smiled up at him. "You did a great job. Did you pick the song?"

He nodded. "I thought it fit last year pretty well."

"It did. And what about the line about loving me?" I teased.

He blushed. "Well...you're my best friend. And you said you'd always be by my side, so..."

I waited for him to finish.

He looked away. "...whatever," he muttered.

I hit him. "DON'T BE A TSUNDERE AT MY BIRTHDAY PARTY!"

Everyone laughed, and the rest of the boys began to clean up the stage.

"Seriously, though...do you?" I asked him quietly.

"Of course I do, baka," he muttered.

Not exactly what I was looking for, but I'd take it.

I laughed and gave him a hug, and he (acting reluctantly) hugged me back, and I smiled into his chest, falling into his absolutely amazing teddy bear hugs.

And if my smile was a bit more melancholy than usual, no one could see it.

And hey, maybe some day, someone would actually say those words to me.

...I'm sorry! I had to change the ending, right before I posted this and it somehow ended up really depressing.

And...jeez, think about her past life, alright? When would anyone have said 'I love you' to her?

So...lesson of today...go tell the people you love that you love them. Even if they already know...it's nice to be told again.