A/N: Slightly shorter chapter, but I've got more in the works. I swear, once we get to Acnologia+GMG, I'll have plenty to post-just can't seem to write chronologically.
Have a Happy New Year; 2020 can shove it.
Talia spent the rest of the afternoon meditating. Mira, Lucy, and Wendy had gone back to the Guild Hall to escape the cold, but Talia remained in the fallow field with the Dragon Slayers. Grey went off somewhere else to "escape those noisy idiots". Master had apparently clarified earlier in the morning that opposing combatants in the exam were to refrain from sparring together before the trial, so Natsu and Gajeel trained at each other's backs. Every once in a while, an iron lance or a rogue flame careened into the other Dragon Slayer's domain, causing tensions to flare.
It wasn't a good thunderstorm, but the magic boost from their ruckus was more than adequate. Talia focused on expanding and focusing her magic power, a silver halo of pulsation growing and shrinking around her like a massive heartbeat. Expansion and contraction. Breathe in and breathe out. Vibrations through the air, the whistle of the breeze, the crunch of boots on the dry grass. Amplify and soften. It seemed like such a simple task, but sound is constantly in motion, and constantly not where you want it to be. Stabilization of an inherently jittery element was tricky and required much-tested patience.
Small black eyes watched the sound mage as she quietly navigated her meditation. This was a type of magic wholly new to him, and he didn't trust it. He had seen many different types of magic since his move to EarthLand, but hers felt. . . different. He didn't know how to describe it, and he was still new enough to this world of overflowing magic that he was unsure of the intricacies.
Gajeel joined the little black Exceed in the brittle grass. He wiped sweat from his studded brow and fixed the laces on his left boot.
"You know Talia from your old guild, correct?" Lily prodded, his eyes not leaving the redheaded mage.
"Yeah, what of it?" ground Gajeel.
"What is the nature of her magic? It feels strange."
Gajeel hummed and leaned back on his hands, his eyes turning to the meditating sound mage as well.
"I don't really know. That spar with Mira is the most I've ever seen her fight," Gajeel tried to think back to any other instance of her magic. "She never really used her magic around me, she was usually only around the guild hall to pick up Dimitri."
"Was her fight what you expected?" Lily was still trying to understand—he felt like he was missing something. Gajeel laughed and shook his head.
"No."
"I just don't know what it is," continued Lily, "Her magic feels different; kind of like how Dragon Slayer magic is different. It's odd." The pair studied her in silence.
Behind Talia's closed eyes, she sat on a branch of her many-armed willow. She focused on moving the fingerling leaves that hung all around her. In and out, the wisps puled like a giant lung—expanding out and sucking in with her will.
"Find the absolute center of the leaves. Feel the veins on the surface," came the weathered voice of the Old One, standing at the base of the tree. She watched as the willow continued to breathe, but one point in the center stayed still. "Good!" The tree continued with Talia's temperance, the center tendrils unmoving despite the rhythmic undulations of the rest.
"Now narrow further—find the strand at the very center and let the rest continue in your rhythm." Slowly, the center stillness narrowed. The center column lost its outer rings as Talia's focus honed further inward. One by one, the wisps regained the rhythmic breathing of the rest of the tree until only three were left. The Old One watched Talia's brow furrow in concentration and noted her jaw clench.
"Breathe. Too pointed, and you'll drive the energy too far. Let the sound surround you and exist outside your periphery in its rhythm. Balance a pearl on the tip of a blade."
Talia inhaled deeply and released the breath slowly. She loosed her tether on the outer branches and brought her hand up to heart-level. Fingers closed softly, only her index remained skyward. Balance the knife. Then balance the pearl. Stillness is surrounding, balance is centered. Another wisp peeled away to join the rhythm of the rest.
"Allow yourself to feel where the vibrations want to be, then gently guide them otherwise." The second tendril intertwined with the willow's expansion and contraction. One wisp hung still amidst the measured movement. A smile formed on aged skin and silver eyes shone with pride.
"Beautiful. Just exist in this feeling." Talia could feel the singular stream of focus, a silvery line held just between her eyes. But with her lids closed, she felt the thread extend without fully knowing that the branch had stilled. But it felt right. Stillness at the pinpoint of breath. The beat of silence in the middle of a symphony. She explored the feeling—it was cooler than she expected. Like a drop of water held in the center of her forehead. She took another breath and released the magic to dissipate around her.
Green eyes opened slowly to the quiet whispers of the willow leaves conversing against each other. The tendrils swayed in a languid motion—released from her magic, they undulated to the light breeze. Talia turned to the Old One below her and rested her elbows on her knees. Her breathing was deep; the focus having taken more of a toll than expected.
"You'll need to find a way to begin these practices in the physical world," said the Old One, her wrinkled hands rested comfortably on her wooden cane, "And soon you'll need to practice the full spell. You're almost there. For tomorrow, ponder how to sway the center wisp against the others—you'll need to find your offbeat to the melody."
"Begin with working in my form and only move up to Morrigan's when you're comfortable. Triskellion as a Banshee is called Keener's Cry," the Old One winked mischievously, "But be careful who you practice it on—done properly, it will knock a strong mage into the infirmary for two days."
Talia smiled, "Thank you for the lesson." She slid down from her perch and landed a few feet in front of the small woman.
"A pleasure as always, little one." Her long grey braid swished against her back as she turned toward the slight breeze. "I believe your Dragon Slayers have exhausted their training energy for the day." Silver eyes met green, "Go, you have more than earned your supper. Work tomorrow in your physical world, but do come to me if you have difficulty."
Talia bent down and hugged her. The small woman's form was thin, but sturdy, and her embrace was warm and strong. Talia stepped out of her arms, but wiry, veined hands caught her fingers; she paused.
"And take time tomorrow to confront your terrors," her silver eyes were warm, but forceful. This was a task assigned, not a request. "You have faced your memories, but not your reality. You must fully weather the storm to find the dawn."
The redhead dropped her gaze to their hands; she felt sadness settle through her beneath the resolve. She knew the Old One was right. And at least she was kinder about it than Morrigan—ever blunt and direct, the dark-haired woman seemed to have little patience for Talia's conflictions. Her green eyes met silver once again and the Old One's small, encouraging smile.
"Tomorrow, then." With an encouraging squeeze from her wrinkled hands, they parted.
Mira had revamped the menu since Talia had been gone. Carrot-apricot soup, pork tenderloin, veal shank—Talia's mouth watered at the thought. The cottage in Blackthorne had been cold and drafty, and to call the fire pit a stove would be far too generous. The little conveniences of city life were addicting after a year by the frozen sea. She and Lucy put their orders in at the bar, but stayed for each other's conversation.
"So you've been up north for a while?" asked Lucy. Talia nodded.
"It's just as cold as you think. The sea air burns with the chill. But it has its redeeming qualities."
"But why there? Seems like there are an awful lot of other places to go if that one is so uncomfortable."
Talia's smile turned wistful and she watched her hands run along the wood grain of the bar.
"Sometimes, no matter how far to go from your roots, they still call you back. My mother was from there. I wanted to visit and pay my respects."
Lucy let out a sigh. She knew what that was like.
"My father and I aren't really on speaking terms," she offered, "After my Mom died, it felt like any semblance of a family just dissolved away." Talia gave her a sad look.
"I'm sorry to hear that, hun," Talia brought her eyes back up to the blonde's brown orbs, "Have you tried reaching out to him? Maybe some time apart has made him realize what he was missing?"
Lucy let out a huff of a laugh and looked up to the ceiling. "No . . . I don't think it did. He caused a whole lot of trouble for the guild a while ago. He actually commissioned Phantom Lord to bring me back by force. It was a mess."
"Oh!" remembered Talia, "That's right! Gajeel mentioned something about that," She gave a sheepish grin and nervously ran a hand through her hair, "But I'm afraid I don't remember all of what he said. I was a couple drinks in and at the end of a very long day."
Lucy waved off her awkwardness. "It's amazing you weren't on your ass like the rest of us," she joked, "I barely made it home!" She chuckled, but sobered, remembering how much danger her friends had been in to protect her.
"It's the reason the guild hall had to get rebuilt. Dad all but put a hit out on me. And Phantom Lord took it as an excuse to challenge the guild as a whole," she shook her head, "And especially Gajeel. I know he's not exactly warm and fuzzy, but he was downright scary."
Talia cocked an eyebrow, "That tin can? Nah." She gave a goofy grin, "You just have to remind him who's boss!"
Now it was Lucy's turn to look nervous. "Yeah, well, that might be easy for an S-class mage like you, but it was kind of terrifying for me." The memory of the guild hall pierced by dozens of iron clubs from all directions still freaked her out. They were lucky Gajeel was just crazy and not sadistic like his guild master had been.
"That whole guild was a bunch of very unhappy people," Talia reached for her nearly-forgotten water glass, "But they had nothing to fight for, and therefore fell pretty easily." A cheeky smile spread across her face, "I remember I shot a guy through the rafters once. Master Jose was pissed. But the rest of the guild just laughed—they knew the he had been pestering me for weeks and nobody really liked him, anyway."
Lucy laughed, "I wish I could've done that to Gajeel! And the whole Element Four—except for Juvia, of course, now that she's on our side, she's a sweetheart."
Talia's brows knitted in confusion as she sipped her water. She placed the glass back on the bar. "The Element Four? What were you all doing with them?"
"Trying not to die!" Lucy squeaked, "And Master Jose had this Guild-Hall-Giant-thing and he hit Erza with a Jupiter Cannon!" Horror came to Talia's eyes.
"What? Why? Why would he assemble the Giant against you all?"
"I don't know. He went ballistic and wanted to hold me hostage to get at my Dad for his money. And Gajeel kind of . . . um . . ." she trailed off uncomfortably.
Talia's horror was quickly turning to anger. "He. What." she ground out.
"He. . . beat me while he was waiting for Natsu to find us. I mean, I'm obviously ok, but it wasn't exactly fun."
Talia's eyebrow twitched with irritation. Mira brought their food out and placed it in front of each.
"Mira," said Talia, "How bad was this whole thing with Gajeel and Phantom Lord?
"Ah, so that's what you two were talking about," smiled Mira, but her gaze turned thoughtful, "It was pretty bad. A lot of guild members were injured in the attack, and we had a lot of rebuilding to do. It took a while, but we managed."
Talia hummed in acknowledgement, but her jaw was set. She picked up her bowl and water glass, turned, and walked toward a chattering table. Lucy grasped her own plate and followed.
They both settled at a wooden table with Team Shadow Gear-who did not seem to be happy about a decision Levy had made.
"But why would you choose him over someone from your own team?" wailed Droy.
"I mean," the tiny solid script mage tried to reason with her friends, "I didn't exactly choose him, he . . . offered. With a good degree of finality."
She was clearly trying to let them down easily. She had chosen her exam partner, and it wasn't them. Jet and Droy had been in love with Levy for as long as Talia could remember them being in the guild. But as much as they adored her, she was right to pick a different partner. Unfortunately, they weren't the brightest or best in a fight, though they tried their darnedest for her.
Talia took a few sips of her soup. She pushed the voices to fade into the background, trying to dull her ears and focus on eating. She was irritated and wanted quiet. Of course Gajeel has his aggressive streak, but I didn't think he'd cross the line to base brutality. She quietly circled her spoon in the orange soup and blew on it so as not to burn her tongue. She took a few more spoonfuls before a borderline-irate Jet cut through her muffling.
"But Levy—don't you remember what he did to us? You can't trust him!"
Talia felt her anger bubble up again. Whatever Gajeel had told her yesterday, it clearly wasn't the full story. She set her spoon against the side of the bowl and crossed her arms. Her eyes fixed Team Shadow Gear in their stony gaze.
"What, exactly, did he do?" her voice was flat and cold. The other mages around the table all froze and looked to her. Except for Jet. After meeting Talia's gaze, he turned to glare at the Iron Dragon Slayer a few tables down.
"He fucking beat us and crucified us to a goddamn tree in the square. And then he shredded Levy's shirt and carved the Phantom Lord sigil on her stomach."
Talia could feel her anger crackle and pop in the air around her. The ends of her hair danced along the sound waves and her fists clenched. She stepped out from the table, eyes shaded, and walked toward Gajeel.
He heard their conversation. No, he wasn't proud of it, but there wasn't anything he could do about that now. He just ignored it and carried on eating his bowl of bolts and screws. His teeth crunched down on the iron and he felt the shards slide deliciously down his throat.
Talia was only a few paces from him now. She still hadn't made eye contact. Team Shadow Gear and Lucy watched from their table, as Erza, Natsu, and Gray glanced in her direction.
Talia brought her fingers up and snapped.
A sound pulse slammed into Gajeel's chest, throwing him out of his chair and crashing into the stone wall behind him. The impact knocked the breath out of him and a guttural OOF was wrenched out of his throat.
"Hey!" he growled, "What the hell are—" more pulses blasted him flat against the stone at his back, pinning him to the wall. The pressure was concussive and forced his arms up parallel to the ground. His ears and eyes felt like they were going to burst. His head pressed against the jagged stone painfully as the pulses slowly forced him up, higher and higher on the wall.
Talia walked toward him, hand outstretched. Her body was rigid and her stride even. The pulses continued to plaster him to the wall, battering his body. He was splayed out—arms wide. The percussions forced him higher, until he was a good ten feet off the ground.
Levy saw what she was doing. "Talia!" she called, "Please, stop! It's ok. Really, we're fine." She heard a disbelieving hum from the redhead.
"Afraid that's not quite how this works, my dear," Talia's voice was cold and distant.
Gajeel groaned in pain as the pulses continued their relentless pressure. He managed to open one eye and met her gaze. Her glare was as cold has her voice had been, and he felt a tinge of fear creep up his spine.
"Please, Talia!" came Levy again, "Really, we're past all this, I swear." Her pleading amounted to nothing from the sound mage. Gajeel remained pinned to the wall. Levy had almost forgotten about Talia's temper, since it rarely arose. But the couple times it did . . . those were not places she wanted to be. And right now she couldn't afford for her exam partner to be flattened just five days before their test. There had to be some way to get Talia to release him.
"Come on, Talia," she pleaded again, "He's come around since then, I swear. You know that old saying, an eye for an eye ma—" Talia cut her off, green eyes never leaving the Dragon Slayer on the wall.
"Is fair." Her words fell like a pin drop and echoed like a gunshot.
The guild hall was quiet, save for Gajeel's groans of pain and the creaks of the wall cracking.
"Talia, that's enough," Erza ordered, her arms crossed and voice sharp.
Talia's head tilted as she studied the stuck Dragon Slayer. The rivets in his arms and face reverberated from her pulses and must've stretched his skin painfully.
There was suddenly something cold and harsh at her throat, and she instinctively flinched away from it.
But after that initial step back, she was still. Her head still cocked to the side, green eyes rolled to their farthest corner. Just the slit of the glare was withering, but Pantherlilly knew that look. Eyes steady, determined, and will unwavering. Those were the eyes of a predator. He gripped his outstretched blade tighter.
"Release him. Now!" he commanded, his deep voice reverberating through the hall.
Talia huffed. And to everyone's surprise, she did as she was bid. The pulses ceased and Gajeel dropped to the floor heavily. He rubbed the back of his head under his unruly black hair.
"What the hell, Talia?" ground Gajeel, one irritated eye on the redhead. She caught his eye; her eyebrow raised and one side of her mouth cocked up in a smirk.
"That was your friendly reminder to not be a dick, Gajeel." Her tone was light and joking, but Pantherlily didn't trust it. His sword remained by her throat.
He watched her smile fall and felt her aura change. Her eye slid to its corner again, where she glared at the black battle-Exceed and his unmoving blade. She remained still, refusing to turn toward him, refusing to acknowledge his threat.
"Lily!" Levy hissed, waving her hand up and down, "lower your sword! You'll only make this worse!"
The Exceed gritted his teeth and gripped his sword tighter. He already didn't trust this woman, and now she attacked Gajeel unprovoked. Her green eyes held his, cold and steady. Waiting.
"I'm fine, Lily," coughed Gajeel, "Listen to the Shrimp."
His fingers were beginning to cramp, he gripped the hilt so tight. The air was thick between them. But after a moment, he let his sword arm drop. Neither of them moved.
"Good decision." Talia had no need or reason to fight the black Exceed. But if he struck first, she wouldn't hesitate to respond.
"You have a harsh idea of fairness," the Exceed's voice was deeper than she expected. He had never directly spoken to her before.
"It's not about fair or unfair," she responded evenly, "It's about balance. An attack met with equal retribution. No more, no less." Now she did turn to him, arms crossing. "I have no patience for those who harm my family."
"Yeah, Talia," yelled Natsu from across the hall, a goofy grin on his face, "I already handed him his own ass!"
"What?! LIKE I'D LOSE TO YOU, TORCH BREATH." Gajeel's rage was cartoonish, and Talia smiled.
"See? All good here. Just needed to clarify a house rule," her smile was warm to Pantherlily. The tension might have cooled, but her eyes were just as hard as they had been with his sword tip at her throat.
Talia walked past him and back to her soup. Conversations around the guild hall started up again with their usual banter. She looked around the room and grimaced a bit. She didn't realize quite so many guild members had been here to see that. Tch. Barely two days in and I'm already losing my temper. She shook her head in irritation at herself and sat back down at her table.
"Well you sure know how to keep the rowdy ones in line," said a startled Lucy. Talia gave a sheepish grin in return.
"Had a good amount of practice." She rubbed her eyes and ran a hand through her hair, tousling the soft curls. A huff of a sigh escaped her. "Glad that wall held, though. Mira would've had my head if it collapsed."
"Oh! That reminds me: Mira wanted me to tell you that she invited a few of the girls over to hers for drinks this evening—nothing too much, especially given the Exams coming up, but just a low-key girls' night."
"Oh good! That'll be fun," Talia's smile turned conspiratorial, "I need to catch up on all the guild gossip anyway. Has Alzack manned up and asked Bisca out yet?"
"No!" Lucy's whispered exasperation was energetic, "I haven't even been here that long and I'm dying from the romantic tension between the two. Like . . . geez."
"God, how?! It's so obvious!" They laughed together and continued their matchmaking into the evening.