Alright everyone, I'm back in Boston (tomorrow is the first day of school).

To celebrate and thank Dark Rose Charm who reviewed on every single chapter and got out review count (on fanfiction) over 2,000, I spent my time on the plane finishing up this chapter.

Though it will also probably be a few days for the next chair until I get used to my schedule.

Chapter Ninety Six - Dragon Slayer Boot Camp, Part Three

I practically woke up blushing, still remembering the dream.

Before I could do anything else though, there was a shriek beside my right ear, and when I turned to look, Erik was already in a tree.

The kids lying on me and Laxus woke up, looking around.

"Is it a Vulcan?" Gajeel asked.

"Can we fight it?" Natsu asked eagerly.

"No," I said, rolling my eyes. "It's Erik. He's fine now, he just didn't want to wake up near you guys."

Natsu laughed.

"Is….is he still scared of me?" Wendy asked quietly.

"…YES!" Erik yelled from the tree.

Wendy started crying again and hugged me.

I picked her up and stroked her hair. "Don't worry, he'll adjust eventually."

I turned to glare at Erik. "Erik, get your ass down here. We still need to train."

He complied, though looking at the kids warily the whole time.

"Alright, we're gonna pair up," I said, still glaring. "And we'll join back here for lunch. First; Laxus and Natsu."

Laxus gave out a huge sigh while Natsu jumped for joy.

"Gajeel and Rogue."

Rogue gave me a small smile, and Gajeel, though he huffed, seemed happy to be with one of the ones he didn't actively dislike (cough Natsu and Sting, cough).

"Erik and Sting."

Erik heaved a sigh of relief, but he still eyed Sting warily.

Wendy cried a bit more.

"And me and Wendy," I finished.

She clutched me tighter.

I glared at Erik. We're gonna fucking talk later, I mentally told him.

He gave a small nod.

Until I could understand what his problem was with Wendy and Rogue, the idea was to adjust him to a smaller slayer, but the only one he wasn't actively scared of was Sting.

"Alright, we're going to separate and practice on control, alright? Then we'll move to new attacks."

I took Wendy and started walking her ways away.

"What are we gonna do, Ella-nee?" she asked.

I requipped out my bow and arrow. "We're going to practice your strength."

Ever since my period, I'd been training with a bow and arrow, and with a bo staff, because I wouldn't be able to use magic on the potion. Porlyusica said that if I was powerful enough, I might be able to, but I still haven't reached a point of being strong enough, so I was practicing with weapons to defend myself.

With the amount of pain the cramps put me in, I think it would honestly be harder to fight without the potion, even if I had my magic.

"I want you to stand to the side," I said. "I'm going to be putting some arrows in that tree over there. I want you to blow them off-course."

Wendy nodded, a bit frightened, but also a little determined.

We practiced like that for awhile; Wendy using roars to knock my arrows off-course until she was able to merely do it with a wave of her hand.

And while it wasn't much off-course (I hit the tree next to the one I was aiming) it was a good enough start.

We regrouped with the others for lunch, and Laxus complained about Natsu being unable to control himself.

I sighed and requipped a pair of the magic cuffs I had had, adjusting the settings on them to allow for practicing at refinement.

"Put these on, Natsu," I told him.

"Why?" he whined.

I glared at him. "Because I said too, and you'll never get to meet your princess until you can."

He brightened. "I get a princess? Awesome!"

"Why do you care about a princess?" Gajeel grunted.

"All dragons need a princess!" Natsu declared. "That's what Igneel told me."

"Well your dragon is stupid!" Gajeel declared.

"You take that back!" Natsu shouted, tackling Gajeel across the clearing.

I sighed.

But abruptly, Gajeel punched Natsu in the other direction and turned to me. "Hey, Lynx, where are we gonna live?"

"Well, there are several places you guys can stay. There's Fairy Hills, for girls, Fairy Valleys, for boys, and Fairy Fields, for double suites. For instance, if one of you guys want to live with someone else, then you could do that. You also don't need to pay until you turn thirteen."

"But I'm thirteen," Gajeel said, crossing his arms.

"And you start out at zero," I said. "First rent of month is free. Second is 10,000 Jewels, and another 10,000 is added to rent each month until you hit normal rent amount, which is 100,000 Jewels. Fairy Fields is 150,000 Jewels a month, but you're also splitting the rent in half, and you get a discount if anyone living there is under the age limit.

Gajeel turned a curious look to Rogue, and I figured he was considering rooming with Rogue to save money.

"Still…" he said, grunting. "Didn't really answer my question."

I frowned. "Then what was your question?"

"He wants to know if there's anywhere around here he can hide his hoard," Erik said.

Gajeel froze before turning and trying to punch Erik (who heard it coming and dodged). "We're not supposed to tell non-slayers about that, idiot!"

"Calm down, we can trust Elle," Erik said, batting Gajeel away. "If anyone can help you find the right place, it'll be her. In fact, she might even give you some stuff to start it off."

"Hoard?" Laxus asked, frowning. "I haven't felt the urge to hoard anything."

"What about Elle?" Erik teased.

Laxus flushed and looked away from me.

I rolled my eyes.

"Besides, you do hoard things, you just don't seem to really realize."

"Like what?" Laxus asked.

"Music, for one," Erik said, gesturing to the SoundPod tucked into Laxus's pocket.

Laxus blinked and looked down at it. "Yeah, I mean….I guess you could say I collect music…"

"You like soft things too," I commented.

"What makes you say that?" Laxus asked.

The first thing I thought of was his iconic fur coat, which I had yet to see in this timeline. But I ignored that and continued with some of the obvious. "I dunno, I just remember you mentioning the fluff a lot and talking about how comfy the beds in Mercurius were."

"Elle is soft, too!" Natsu piped up.

Laxus's forehead twitched. "And how do you know that?"

I tried to stop giggling, before turning to Erik. "What do you collect?"

He shrugged. "I like sounds. Souls in particular can be pretty nice to listen to. It's actually the way I became best friends with Macbeth."

I gave him a questioning look.

Erik looked away. "Even with everything that was around us, his soul was…nice. So I followed the sound."

I resisted the urge to 'awww' and instead just hugged him.

"What's wrong?" Wendy's voice asked softly.

"A lot of people in Fairy Tail have bad pasts," Laxus said quietly. "Most of us are still recovering."

Erik pulled out of the hug and I turned to change the conversation. "Natsu, what do you want to hoard?"

"Gold!" he shouted. "Because Igneel said that all classic dragons hoard gold!"

"Yeah, well Igneel is stupid!" Gajeel shouted, tackling Natsu this time.

I rolled my eyes. "You know, Gajeel, I happen to know that your father had a great deal of respect for Igneel."

He stopped mid-fight. "Really?"

I nodded and turned to Natsu. "And Natsu?" I continued in a sing-songy voice. "What if I told you that your princess had golden hair?"

His eyes lit up. "Really? That's perfect!"

He was so excited he was practically on fire. "I can't wait to meet her!"

I put my hands on my hips as he actually did burst into flames. "Natsu, you're on fire right now. You can't meet her until I know you can have your magic under control."

His flames went out immediately, but not because of control; but because he was extremely sad now.

"How about you Gajeel?" I asked him.

"Food," he grunted, and Sting nodded.

"You guys like to hoard food?" I asked.

"They mean their elements," Erik explained.

"So precious metals and things that are…white?" I asked.

They both nodded.

"I like shiny white things," Sting said, nodding.

I sweatdropped. Well, Sting was probably going to want the most expensive things.

Like diamonds.

Of course he was.

"Wendy, Rogue? What about you guys?"

"I don't know," Wendy said softly. "I haven't really felt the urge to hoard anything yet…"

"Probably because you're so young," Gajeel grunted. "Plus, I've heard that female dragon slayers don't start hoarding until they hit an older age. Don't know whether or not it's true, but it could be a few years before you start collecting anything specific."

Wendy nodded.

"What about you Rogue?" I asked him.

"I guess I like animals," he said hesitantly. "Maybe I could get some pets or something. Snakes are kinda cool…"

"NO WAY!" Erik shouted, looming over the small boy. "SNAKES ARE MY SHTICK! GET SOMETHING ELSE!"

And then he remembered he was scared of Rogue and hid behind me.

I sighed.

"Like what?" Rogue asked.

"I dunno, an amphibian or something! Just stay away from reptiles!" Erik hissed behind me.

"I guess I like frogs…" Rogue said.

I tried to hide my laughter.

I wonder why Frosch wasn't dressed up like a snake last time around? Unless something happened that turned Rogue off of snakes. Or maybe Frosch didn't want to be dressed up as a snake, but a frog. Or maybe Rogue just found Frosch that way and realized he liked frogs.

Or maybe I'm thinking into all of this too deeply and should stop.

"Animals are nice…" Wendy said softly. "I like birds…maybe I could collect feathers. Some of them are really pretty…"

"Wendy, do you want to collect feathers because you feel an urge to, or because you don't want to be left out of the hoarding process?" I asked gently.

She looked down. "The second one."

I scooped her up. "Hey, don't get yourself down, okay? You know what? Last time around, you ended up getting your Dragon Force at a young age."

"Or maybe it's the opposite way around and girls mature faster?" Gajeel muttered. I ignored him.

"So why don't we try and beat that record, okay? Let's try to get you to Dragon Force by the time you're eight."

She smiled a bit. "O-Okay, Ella-nee."

I hugged her and plopped her down on a seat.

"Ella-nee?"

I turned. It was the first time Rogue had called me that. "Yeah?"

"What do you mean by 'last time around'?" he asked.

I sighed. I guess I never really explained that properly, huh.

"Laxus will explain the whole story to you," I said, standing up.

"I will?" he asked surprised.

I rolled my eyes and tossed some blank Memory Cards at him. "Just use these, geez. I need to talk to Erik."

"Why?" Erik asked warily.

I glared at him. "Because I'm mad at you and I'm going to get even angrier if you don't come talk with me."

He slumped, and I dragged him off while leaving Laxus to tell my slightly traumatizing story.

"Alright, you're going to tell me your problem with Wendy and Rogue, and you're going to tell me now," I said crossing my arms.

Erik looked away, slightly in shame. "Look, I – it's a long story."

"So is my own," I said. "And if Laxus finishes that, I'm sure he can reset the memory cards with something entertaining enough to keep them occupied. Start talking. Now."

Erik sighed again. "Look, I know they're kids and all, but…well…" he frowned. "Give me a bit, uh….Okay, so the Tower. When I was there I lived in a pretty much constant state of fear, right?"

I nodded.

"Eventually, though, all of us began to adjust. As horrible as the Tower was, the group of us was together, so it wasn't that bad all the time. As long as we didn't do anything too troublesome, like trying to fight back, sneak out, and steal food, we were okay. Yeah, there wasn't a lot of food, and we were always working, but we adjusted."

"Okay," I said. "So…"

"I'm getting there, Elle," Erik said, sighing. "After that…after that, Brain took us away. At the time, it was like he saved us, but it wasn't much better there, and I think, on some level, all of us realized that, even Macbeth. Back when he still practically worshipped Brain as his father. But despite the fact that he looked up to him (and we all did, except Richard, until a certain point) we were still wary; we could never fully relax."

I waited.

"Up until you saved us, the most scared I've ever been was when one of the guards were going to hurt Macbeth, because he had fallen asleep when working. We protected him, and I thought for sure I was going to die. In a way, that day scarred me. Things that leave a big impact reside in the soul, not the mind, and that's why it's so easy for me to remember the damn thing."

I frowned, holding up a hand. "Wait."

God had said that I would eventually remember, but that she blocked my memories of my previous life because they hadn't been very good. And what about people who block their own memories when something traumatizing happens?

"But some people specifically block their memories," I said.

Erik nodded. "As far as I can tell, that's when it becomes a fight between mind and soul. The mind blocks it off and tries to forget it, but it's still etched in ones' soul. So some of the things they do are still in line with anything that had happened to them previously."

Alright, that made sense. But getting back to the topic…

"Okay, so about the time they were possibly going to kill Macbeth?" I asked.

"That was the day Brain arrived. Probably another reason why Macbeth looked up to him so much. He interrupted the guards and ended up taking us away. But that day…I still remember the fear I felt."

"So where are you going with this?" I asked.

His eyes looked up. "But that fear is shadowed by a different time. The time you were kidnapped."

I raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"We were all scared and sad when we had to leave, Elle," he said softly, hugging me, and I absently hugged him back. "But not that scared. Freedom was on the horizon; there was mostly hope in our minds. And then I heard you get knocked out and them take you away. And when we got to the guild and had to deliver the news…that's when I was really scared."

"Why?" I asked.

He pulled back and smirked at me. "Your boyfriend went all 'crazy hero' on us, trying to find you."

I tried to hide my blush. "I still don't get where you're going with this, Erik."

He sighed. "That day, Laxus's dragon was probably the scariest thing I'd ever heard. Ever. I remember being absolutely relieved that the anger wasn't focused on me, and I was astounded by how he managed to control himself. If they couldn't actively hear him, they just thought he was mad. But he was on a whole different level, Elle."

He looked back to where the other Slayers were, even though neither of us could see them. "Those two kids…they're nowhere near what Laxus was on that day, but they're extremely loud and angry. It makes it even worse considering their age. They're fucking five. That's why I'm scared of them. It's not right."

I paused. "Okay, I get it. I'll admit, that's actually a pretty valid thing to be concerned about. But also try and remember that neither kids seem to know about how terrifying their inner dragons are, and that they're still five-year-old kids who are hurt by what you're doing."

He sighed, looking away. "Yeah, I get it."

I smiled at him, taking his arm. "Come on then, let's go."