A/N: And here we are with the next chapter!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 4: Tree Top Conversations

May 6th, X784

"Goddamn it," Lillian huffed as she stomped her way through the train station, a black backpack slung across her shoulder as the people around her made way for the angry Phantom Lord mage stomping past them, "Rocco… you dumbass, causing trouble for me like this. I bet Zeke won't even show up, he's too lazy to do anything," she continued to grumble as she made her way towards the platform, only to be welcomed by a surprising sight, a white haired man with a bandanna wrapped around his neck, napping on a bench in front of her station, "How the hell?" she gawked, "Well I'll be damned, he had just enough energy to trudge his way here and then pass out," she muttered before approaching the sleeping man and giving him a good kick, "Oi! Wake up, lazybones!"

The man barely stirred at all before simply opening up one of his green eyes, giving Lillian an unamused stare, "Good morning to you too, Lilly," Zeke mumbled before letting out a long yawn, "Is the train here yet?"

"No," Lillian began to answer before being cut off.

"Then I'm going back to sleep," Zeke said before shutting his eyes again, a light snoring quickly resuming as he sunk back into the bench, a visible tick appearing on Lillian's head as her agitation with the man grew.

"Didn't Nika tell you I'm in charge on this mission?" she snapped as Zeke reopened one of his eyes.

"She did, but the mission doesn't start until we talk to the client," Zeke replied, Lillian only able to growl in frustration due to not having anything to snap back at him with and could only collapse on the bench next to him while groaning into her hands as Zeke went back to sleep.

Soon though, they would hear the noise of a train coming into the station, the large locomotive coming to a screeching halt as its brakes began their work, slowing the train down until its motion ceased and a loud whistle sounded off, signaling for its passengers to begin disembarking.

"C'mon, get up, Lazybones. It's time to get ready," Lillian ordered as she jabbed Zeke with her elbow in an effort to get him moving.

"I know, I know," he yawned in response, slowly beginning to rub his eyes as Lillian stood up from the bench.

"Excuse me?" they heard a young girl call out, "Are you… Miss Lillian Barret by any chance?"

Lillian turned her head towards the source of the voice and saw a young girl with black hair tied up into a bun holding a small Nikora Celestial Spirit in her arms.

"Puu-puun!" the small spirit called out as Lillian looked the young girl up and down.

"I just so happen to be the very same person you're looking for," Lillian answered, her mood suddenly improving, "And what would such a cutie like yourself want with me?"

"Oh…" the girl gasped, a small blush appearing on her face from the compliment, "My name is Sasha Winfield and this is Martin. Miss Nika sent us to join you on your mission with Mr. Zeke."

"Did she now?" Lillian replied happily, "Oh my, what a saint that Nika is, sending you here to help me. I knew she wouldn't abandon me with useless help like Zeke!" she exclaimed while quickly moving behind the young girl and wrapping her arms around her, "You won't have to worry about a thing. Big sis Lilly will make sure you stay nice and safe," she whispered softly into Sasha's ear, causing the girl to blush further.

"You don't have to worry about me, ma'am!" Sasha suddenly blurted out before pulling out of Lillian's grasp, "I'm a Celestial Spirit Wizard and I'm good with a sword, so I can protect myself just as well as any mage."

"My, my, what a little toughie. We'll get along splendidly, Sasha," Lillian giggled before turning towards the train hearing the call from the conductor that it was time to board, "It is time to board the train though, so shall we get going?" she suggested before walking off.

As Sasha watched the older woman, she heard Zeke finally stand up from the bench, a tired look on his face as he let out a yawn, Sasha turning to look at the man before she watched one of his hands fall on her shoulder, looking her straight in the eyes.

"Hey," he greeted simply before just walking past the girl, stretching out his arms as he did so.

"H… Hey," Sasha returned in kind, watching the man as he walked away.

"Puu-puun!" Martin called out happily, waving his arms in the air as Sasha held him.

"They certainly are colorful folks, Martin," Sasha sighed, "This is going to be a really long train ride, I just know it."

"Puu-puun," Martin responded simply, wiggling back and forth in Sasha's arms.

"I know," Sasha answered as she began to follow Zeke and Lillian towards the train, "You're right as always, Martin."

. : + : .

"C'mon, Squirt, you've almost got it!" Raoul called out as he watched a piece of metal float into the air and start to bend and contort as other scraps of metal smacked into it, twisting and contorting with each and every blow.

"It's hard!" Miyako whined as she held her arms up into the air, her hands aglow with silvery magical energy as she tried to will the metal to take on the shape she wanted it too, sweat running down her brow as she started to slowly close her fingers, bending the metal out straight until a large hole split open in the middle of it before she suddenly dropped it and collapsed on the ground.

"Squirt!" Raoul shouted before running over to Miyako, seeing that she was sweating and panting quite hard from exhaustion, "You all right?"

"Y-yeah. Just tired," Miyako huffed before being scooped up in Raoul's arms and carried over to where Nika was watching from, sitting on the bench next to the small stream in the middle of the courtyard.

"Still splitting the metal in half, huh?" Nika said as Miyako was laid onto the bench, using Nika's lap as a pillow, "I guess that's still better than when she started."

"Normally people struggle more with actually getting the metal to bend," Raoul mumbled, thinking back to when he learned the magic, "Y'know. Magnet Magic ain't really meant to be used how I use it and all."

"You do use it more like an actual Metal Magic, or like Gajeel's magic," Nika smirked as she watched agitation appear like magic on Raoul's face from the mere mention of the Iron Dragon Slayer.

"Why you gotta bring up that asshole?" Raoul huffed, crossing his arms.

"Oh, I just enjoy how it gets you riled up is all," Nika said softly as she stroked Miyako's hair, the girl starting to lightly snore, having fallen asleep from the exhaustion of training.

"Tch… Of course you do," Raoul muttered before lifting his hand in the air towards the metal Miyako was using for training before bending and molding them into a shape of a chair with his magic and floating it over to him, catching it and setting it on the ground before sitting down in it.

Across the courtyard, tucked away in a small pavilion sat Azielle, who was switching between watching the scene and reading a rather large book she had brought with her while a now empty mug of hot chocolate sat on the table next to her book.

Across from her sat Delia, Dr. Darling's daughter, who was reading the day's edition of the local newspaper while a mug of black tea sat next her on the table. Both girl's were rather similar to each other, so not much was said between them as they were engrossed in their reading and silent company.

"Is she all right?" they heard Dr. Darling ask, both of them looking up to see the man, his dark brown and silver streaked hair tied up into a bun, while Iva stood next to him, her black hair also tied up into a bun on top of her head while she was wearing more comfortable clothes than she was the day before while a mug of hot chocolate could be seen in both of their hands.

"She's just tired, dad," Delia answered as she folded up her newspaper and picked up her tea, "Just a couple of minutes ago she was practicing Magnet Magic with Raoul. Didn't look like she made much progress from last week though."

"She's improved," Azielle countered, closing her book with a snap, "She just needs to learn to control her strength is all. She's trying too hard to force it to work."

"I see," Darling mumbled before taking a sip of his hot chocolate, "So long as they're letting her rest regularly then. It's the best treatment for magical exhaustion," he added while Iva looked between all the young kids in front of her and in the courtyard.

"I didn't know this was a daycare," she mumbled before taking a sip of her own hot chocolate.

"Ah, that's right," Darling spoke up, "Miss Dragomirov, this is my daughter, Delia," he said in introductions as he pointed the young girl with choppy bronze hair, "And this is Miss Azielle Morgan," he continued as Iva looked between the two young girls in front of her.

"I get why Delia's here, but why you?" Iva asked, looking at Azielle.

"Miyako over there," Azielle answered shortly, pointing towards the trio in the courtyard, "She's their student and I'm here to watch out for her."

"Oookay then," Iva huffed with a roll of her eyes before taking another sip, Azielle giving her an unamused stare before opening her book back up.

"I should really go check on her," Darling muttered before trying to walk around the table before Delia grabbed him by the lab coat.

"She'll be fine dad, just like every other time. Nika and Raoul know what to do," Delia stated, "If Azielle isn't concerned about her, neither should you be."

"But…" Darling tried to say before being interrupted by his daughter.

"No buts, Dad," Delia snapped, "Besides, I think you have a missing patient to look for," she added, gesturing to the now missing Iva.

"Missing…? Oh no…" Darling sighed as he turned around, Delia letting go of his coat, "She's gone off on her own again. I had just tracked her down for her morning check-up too."

"You should probably go find her then instead of bothering Miyako," Azielle suggested as she turned the page of her book.

Darling let out a sigh, knowing the young girl was right, "I probably should, but you let me know if Miss Ranji needs me," Darling said as he looked down at Azielle.

"I will, don't worry," she responded quickly as she turned another page.

"Thank you, Miss Morgan," the doctor said before heading off to find Iva.

. : + : .

Iva walked through the forest that surrounded the guildhall and all of Jaborosa, the calm and gentle sounds of the wilderness filling her with peace and warmth. No noisy sounds, nosy doctors or arrogant pricks in sight. It was just her and the chirping of the birds and the swaying of tree branches in the morning light. Though she let out a sigh when she realized she was still holding Dr. Darling's mug in her hands, but then shrugged and took a final sip of the hot chocolate, emptying it out at last.

"A really good one might be around here," she said with a sigh as she continued forward, the feeling of grass between her toes tickling her feet before her ears twitched, "A river is pretty close by," she mumbled to herself before walking towards the sound she could hear in the distance.

After a few minutes of walking she eventually came to the covered shore of one of the two rivers Jaborosa Town sat in between before she started looking around, her eyes eventually setting on a very large tree near the river. She thought about climbing it the old fashioned way, but her eyes settled on the mug in her hands and she sighed again, "The boring way it is," she huffed before kneeling down and placing one of her hands on the ground before a slight rumbling could be felt in it, a large tree root emerging from the ground beneath her and carrying her up into the tree branches above before the root disappeared back beneath the ground.

From her new vantage point high above the rest of the trees around her, she could see the entirety of Jaborosa Town, the puffing of train engines at the station, the large clock tower that sat in the center of town, the eastern styled roofing of the guildhall between her and the town.

"I'd guess that clock tower is as tall as the headquarters," Iva mused to herself as she looked down at the town, "Definitely dwarfs the Oak Town branch in height though."

She then took a closer look and noticed that a lot of the different buildings in Jaborosa shared the Encan designs of the guildhall before she remembered what Raoul had said the night before.

"I guess that carpenter really is good if he's done that much work around the town," Iva mumbled as she let her eyes wander around the town, figuring out what was where in relation to the guildhall and the clock tower in the center of town, "All right… if the train station is on the eastern side of town and the guildhall is in the north near the river…" she continued to mumble before the sound of a falcon's call could be heard above her, though she merely gave it a glance before going back to looking at the town, though her thoughts were cut off as the falcon landed right in front of her on the end of the tree branch she was lounging on.

Iva stared at the falcon for a moment, the bird staring right back at her, it's beady, yellow eyes feeling like they stared right into her soul as Iva reached up for a small stick and pulled it off of a nearby branch before moving to try and poke the falcon with it. Though it let out another cry, causing her to back off with the stick.

"You're a brave bird, ain't ya?" Iva asked as the falcon merely twisted its head back and forth as it continued to look at her, "Normally you guys are pretty flighty with people," she said as she sat up, reaching for it with the stick again, this time the falcon snatching it out of her hand with its beak before dropping it off of the tree, "All right, all right, I won't poke you with a stick," she relented before it let out another cry.

"Yeah, I'd appreciate it if you didn't poke Jinjo with some random stick," she heard a familiar voice say from behind her, Iva quickly turning her head around to see Vincent standing on a branch on another part of the tree near her.

"You!" Iva started to snap, but then calmed down with a sigh as she turned back around, "I came out here to be alone, so I'd appreciate it if you'd fuck off."

"No can do," Vince said with a smirk, "The doc is worried sick about ya, luckily for me, Jinjo saw you a mile away up here in this tree."

"I thought he was oddly brave for a feather brain," Iva scoffed as she grabbed another stick from the branch above her before sticking it in her mouth and chomping down on it, "But you can go tell the doctor I'm fine. I just want to be alone."

"Aww… But you seemed so happy to have Jinjo as some company," Vincent chuckled as he ran a hand through his dark violet hair, "And he seemed to like you well enough," he added, though Jinjo let out a cry of protest seemingly in response.

"I think he disagrees," Iva huffed as she pulled the stick out of her mouth and tried to poke Jinjo with it again, the bird hopping backwards on the branch to avoid getting poked as he let out another cry of protestation, Iva letting a small smirk appear on her face in response before looking down, seeing a familiar head of teal hair struggling to climb up the tree, "You dragged that idiot along too?"

"Blame the doctor," Vincent sighed as Iva reached a hand down towards Rocco, her arm transforming into a long tree branch that stretched out towards the man before wrapping around him as he let out shouts and curses in protest before she pulled him up towards her and onto the branch above her that she was picked sticks off of.

"Goddammit! Are you trying to kill me, woman!?" Rocco cursed, shouting at the younger woman.

"Doesn't sound like a bad idea to me, to be honest," Iva sighed, more annoyed than anything as she realized her new little nook wasn't going to be private after this.

"Me neither," Vincent chuckled as Rocco tried to get his bearings straight on the tree branch he was suddenly dropped on.

"I'm guessing she knows we've gotta drag her back to Darling, then," Rocco huffed as he managed to sit up on the branch.

"Yeah, yeah. I know," Iva growled, "Can't get a moment to myself around here," she added before swinging one of her legs over the branch she was sitting on before reaching up one of her arms, a vine shooting out of her hand and wrapping around one of the branches above her before she jumped out of the tree, lowering herself down slowly until she hit the ground, Dr. Darling's mug still safe in her hand before she began walking back to the guildhall.

"Looks like you're on your own to climb down, Roc," Vincent chuckled as Jinjo took flight.

"Don't you dare," Rocco growled lowly, narrowing his eyes at Vincent.

"I think I do dare," Vincent replied before his body slowly dissolved into sand and floated down to the ground before gathering back together as he reformed, leaving Rocco stranded up in the tree all alone, angrily cursing at the both of them for abandoning him.

Credits:

Ezekiel "Zeke" Moore – Grimnack

Sasha Winfield and Martin – wjolix98

Odelia "Delia" Carmasita Walsh – Cat the Alien

Jinjo – XLil MEkoX

A/N: After a nice little break after 2 chapters back to back, the fourth chapter is completed! I hope you enjoyed it!

I don't have anything special to say about this one, but I do need to remember to mention that the cover art is the eventual guild mark for Phantom Hearts and it was drawn by XLil MEkoX! So a big thanks to her for that again.

And a big thank you to Grimnack, Benthino, musicaldreams89, wjolix98, Elements08, Origm2012, Carla the wizard and Paperman0 for the reviews! They are all appreciated.

Anyways, that's all from me for now.

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Dreadburner94.