It took them five days for them to complete their journey to Fiore. This time, they were able to afford the train and shorten the traveling time thanks to Ur's help.

During the whole trip, Karissa was able to see so many new things from behind a glass window. She saw several creatures she never saw before. She saw a lot of four-legged animals but the thing she remembered clearly was the weird family of jelly monsters just hopping away together. She nearly asked her sister if they could stop to observe them closely.

Whenever they stopped to catch a new train, Pandora had to keep a close eye on her little sister since she kept trying to look around the unknown area. Van was the one who had to go fetch her and drag her back when the train was a minute away from arriving. They couldn't blame her for wandering off with her own curiosity, she couldn't really do anything on the train aside from drawing and talking. After that, she'd end up wanting to walk around the train to find something interesting to do.

They were once able to keep her busy by showing her a photo album that they were able to salvage. Not all the pictures were inside since they had fallen out and some were a bit damaged since they found them out of the album. Pandora and Van were also able to salvage some personal items that they wanted to keep, it wasn't much but it was better than nothing.

Karissa also used the commuting time as an opportunity to show her siblings what she learned with Ur. She chose to do something easy and created small stars. They couldn't believe their eyes when they saw it the first time.

It was the first time any of them learned magic. Seeing her magic up close made them feel excited about learning magic themselves. Since they were planning on joining a magical guild, they might as well play the part too.

Pandora mentioned once that their parents told her that, just like them, they had the affinity to magic, giving them a chance to learn if they so wished it. Pandora and Van occasionally felt magic power but they just never took the opportunity to train themselves and learn magic since they never needed it.

Van was actually able to use magic for a brief moment when they were waiting for their train. He had asked Karissa how she was able summon magic in the first place since he was bored. She just gave him the basics on how to feel magic power inside of him so he could use it. He was confident that nothing would come out of him but he still tried anyway.

But then Pandora, Van and Karissa screamed simultaneously when the pavement suddenly cracked under his foot.

Whenever it was time to sleep on the train, Karissa had asked for her stuffed animal that they kept after finding her bag. She slept in her sister's lap who just leaned her head against the window while mindlessly playing with her sister's hair, a gesture that easily made the younger girl feel sleepy. Van had the privilege of hogging all the space on the seats in front of them by lying down. The three of them slept with the blankets that the train's staff gave them.

When they finally arrived in Fiore, five days had passed. They stopped in a town called Clover. From there, they asked for directions in order to find the guild Fairy Tail. It was located in a town Magnolia. Karissa learned from her sister that Magnolia was a type of flower. They took a train from Clover that brought them all the way to the town of Magnolia.

...

...

...

Karissa watched the other children her each run around in the streets happily. The atmosphere in the town was just as peaceful as the town at the bottom of the mountain where Ur lived atop. However, Magnolia was brighter and more colorful, it was probably because there was more nature around due to the lack of snow. They walked further into the town and came across a large cathedral.

"Hey," Van nudged Karissa's side and pointed to his left. Karissa looked at where his finger pointed and found a man giving a picture book story time to a bunch of children that gathered around. Curiously, Karissa drifted away from her siblings when Pandora was busy trying to ask someone for directions. Van had to follow after her to keep his eye on her.

Karissa stood behind the other children and looked at the pictures that the man was showing to the kids. She wondered if he drew it himself. She recognized the story he was telling: it was Hansel and Gretel. He plucked away the picture, revealing an illustration depicting a house of candy. Then, he lifted his hand and his picture started glowing. The next second, the candies that were in his picture appeared in the air, prompting all the other children to gasp and cheer. A piece of candy landed in the children's hands, one for each. Van and Karissa each got a piece too.

Van blinked and just stared at the piece of chocolate. Cautiously, he lifted it up to his mouth and bit it. Immediately, he pulled it away and gave it a shocked look. It was real! He looked at his sister and found her with a green lollipop in her mouth while staring back at him.

"It's real." Karissa said in awe.

"Crazy right?"

"Uh-huh."

They chuckled together.

"Hey! You guys, don't run off!" Pandora shouted at them from behind. They both flinched and scurried away from the storytelling gathering to join their sister who had her hands on her hips as she watched them come back.

"Where'd you get that?"

Van pointed at the man telling the picture book story. "That guy used magic and made candy appear from his drawings."

"You just took the candy and ate it?" Pandora gave him a look.

Van and Karissa glanced at each other silently. The middle child broke off a piece of his chocolate and held it out to the eldest, "You want some?"

"What, no! You can eat it." Pandora pushed his hand away. "Just don't keep accepting candy from strangers!"

Van pouted and gave his sister stink eye. "Geez, you make it sound like I always do it."

"It's... magic candy?" Karissa piped up. "It's gotta be safe." She grinned while showing her green lollipop. "I got an apple flavored candy."

Pandora sighed and shook her head. "Anyway, let's get going. The Fairy Tail guild is just up ahead."

Van and Karissa took their belongings that they left on the ground near their sister.

"Where?" Van put his backpack on.

"Over there." Pandora pointed ahead. "See that brown building over there?" Van and Karissa huddled closer to their sister to see where she was pointing. Far away from the cathedral, there was a large building that was probably almost taller than the cathedral itself. They couldn't really tell since it was so far.

"We just need to go there and we'll be at Fairy Tail."

"Finallyyyy." Karissa groaned in relief. "I'm tired of all this traveling..."

...

...

...

The three of them took their time heading to the Fairy Tail guildhall. Karissa and Van were practically sight seeing in Magnolia. They kept stopping every now and then to check out a store's products through the windows. Pandora joined their little sight seeing since there was no rush. Eventually they made it. The three of them stood in front of an impressive building with the name Fairy Tail written on a board.

Karissa narrowed her eyes at the orange banner that depicted some type of symbol.

Looks weird.

"Van, look! There's a weird bird up there."

"Where?"

"Come on. We're going inside."

Pandora pushed the doors open. The first thing they heard was joyful chatter and laughs before finally looking inside. Instantly, eyes were on them. Karissa gripped her brother's arm and kept looking at the floor while walking inside. She felt so shy about having the attention on her. Normally, she would have bathed happily in it but these were a bunch of strangers who were just ogling at them.

"Geez, what's their deal?" Van whispered to his little sister at his side. "We're not a circus crew!" he muttered.

Karissa giggled at the irritation in his voice. She reached up behind his head and lightly nudged him.

Pandora walked inside with her head up high, ignoring the stares. She saw a little old man sitting on top on a counter and he was looking at her curiously. Somehow, she felt like she could ask this man about joining the guild, any information would be good. She gave him a friendly smile when she got closer.

"Hello, sir."

"Hm, hello there. What brings you to this guild?" he smiled at her.

"We want to join this guild." Pandora told him hopefully. "Is there anyway we could join? Who is the boss here?" she tilted her heard.

The little old man let out a hearty laugh. "You're speaking to him right now. I am Makarov Dreyar, the guild master of Fairy Tail."

"Oh, dang! Seriously?" Van's jaw dropped. He obviously just judged him based on appearance since he didn't think an old man would be the one in charge.

Makarov just grinned at them for being surprised. "You want to join this guild? It would be my pleasure to let you join."

"Really? Just like that?" Pandora was baffled. "You don't need money to join?"

"Of course not." he waved his hand dismissively. "Recently, we've been getting quite a lot of young members and I don't ask them to pay any admission fee."

"What about magic?"

"You'll be fine without it for now but it would be preferable if you learned how to use magic later on in the future if you want to take on jobs from the request board." He pointed at the large brown board on his right. "That is the reason why guilds exist in the first place."

Pandora nodded. "That was one of the reasons I had in mind when I decided we would join a guild."

Karissa turned her head and found four people standing in front of the request board. She saw someone snatch a paper from it and with an excited grin.

Van was speechless. He heard that it didn't take much to join but he wasn't expecting non-existent requirements. It seemed too good to be true.

Makarov called over a random member named Presa and asked for the insignia stamp. He told them to choose a part of their body where they would like to have the Fairy Tail guild mark. It would be proof of their association with Fairy Tail.

"What are your names?" he asked when Presa stamped Pandora on her right thigh, revealing a magenta Fairy Tail mark. Pandora was looking at it with fascination. She tried scratching the mark with her finger to see if it would come off.

"I'm Van Sinclost." The boy stated, he looked at Presa and pointed at his left shoulder, asking for one in purple. "She's Pandora and that's Karissa."

Makarov perked his head up at the sound of the familiar name. He pointed his finger at Van and moved his finger back and forth between the three of them. "You said Sinclost? You wouldn't be children of Zack and Domilia would you?"

Pandora silently gazed at Makarov when he mentioned her parents' names.

Karissa looked up from her cerulean insignia that was placed on her right waist. "You knew my mommy and daddy?"

"Of course, I did. They were members of my guild." Makarov lowered his hand with a small smile. He had heard what had happened to the two. They had died and left no trace of their existence behind. He didn't hear anything about any children they might have left behind in this big world.

But here they were standing before him.

Van stared at the old man and wondered just how old he was.

"No wonder you struck me as a bit familiar when you came in." He told Pandora, his hand under his chin. The older girl looked at him in confusion and just dumbly pointed at herself. "You were their first born. You were born in this town before they decided to move away from Fiore."

"Oh… really?"

"I remember the day you yanked on my mustache…" Makarov stroked his mustache with a painful look on his face.

Van let out a loud snicker which made Pandora whip her head and glare at him. Meanwhile, Karissa had her lips in thin line while staring at her sister like she just committed a most grievous crime. Pandora sheepishly looked back at Makarov and then scratched her cheek with her finger.

"… Um sorry about that but I don't remember."

"Well, I don't blame you. You just turned four at the time." Makarov shuffled closer to the edge of the counter before landing with ease. "Now then, I suppose I should show you where you'll be staying since you have no where to go. I could use the little stroll." He smiled at them and motioned them to follow after him.

They followed Makarov out of the guild, they were walking further away from the guildhall and soon noticed two standing buildings from afar.

He told them that there were two dormitories for members who needed a place to stay, one for the boys and one for the girls. Fairy Tail wasn't just some guild where they gathered to take job requests, it was also a home. Ergo, he decided to create the dormitories. Karissa never imagined living in a house filled with a bunch of other people inside. It kind of made her nervous.

"Is it not possible to for us to live together?"

Makarov stopped and looked at Pandora. He sighed a little, making her avert her eyes. "Sorry, I'm just so used to taking care of Van and Karissa."

"We're not little kids anymore." Van muttered.

"Hmm… you must have been carrying a lot of responsibility to care for your family. I admire that sense of responsibility but now that you are here, you don't need to always be so focused on your brother and sister. From now on, you are going to be surrounded by people who will grow to care for them just as much as you have. You won't be alone in looking after them anymore. But that's only if you allow them to be cared for by others."

He was telling her to not shelter them away.

Pandora bit her lip. "But…"

"Let others look after you as well." Makarov put his hands behind his back. "I'm sure that's what Karissa and Van would want for you."

Karissa glanced at her sister who was just staring at the ground. She shuffled her feet as she approached her, and then she shook her arm lightly. "He's right. You always do so much for us. So, like, take it easy, yeah?"

"Karissa…"

The older sister looked at her brother to see what he had to say. But all he did was smile at her silently, agreeing with his little sister. They didn't want her to always carry the burden of taking care of them all by herself.

Van reached for his little sister's head and ruffled her hair for saying what he thought. Karissa narrowed his eyes at him and pushed his hand away, making him laugh. Honestly, sometimes she just wished he would stop messing up her hair all the time.

It was going to be tough to try and reprogram herself to not always be there for them now and thinking about money all the time now that other people would be involved in making sure they were okay.

Pandora lowered her head. "Yeah, okay."

They continued walking to the dormitory and Makarov gave them more information. He told them that the second floor in the guild was off limits to them since they were not S-Class, it was a ranking given to mages who have shown their exceptional magical prowess. They held an annual trial for people who are candidates for S-Class rank. Hearing about how the reward for those jobs usually rewarded a lot of money made Pandora's eyes sparkle a little. Yeah, her desire to earn money wasn't going to go away that easy.

Their rent for their room in the dorms, which was 100,000 jewels, is covered until the age of fourteen, and until they age of fifteen only half is covered. Makarov reassured them that the jobs they get at the guild would definitely allow them to earn 100,000 if they worked hard. So, they didn't need to start panicking about the future just yet.

Makarov said it was important not to rush young members to venture out of Magnolia due to the pressure of needing to earn money. He saw his guild members as his own children, meaning he wanted to make sure they could properly prepare to take care of themselves when they went out on a job. He didn't want them going out while they didn't feel confident.

Karissa couldn't help but feel touched by his concern for younger members like herself.

They were going to get allowances through the head of their dorm. Hearing that part of the expenses made Karissa and Van smile a little. She was glad that they wouldn't be a tight financial situation anymore while he was looking forward to actually spending his own money on things he wanted. He was already making a list of potential things he could buy.

When they reached the point where the path was diverging, Makarov let them head on by themselves and told them that Presa had notified the head of each dorm of their arrival, it made Van wonder how the heck she told them since she never left the guild.

Van was a little uneasy about going in by himself but he forced himself to go on his own after Karissa started teasing him for being a chicken. Karissa could have sworn she saw his fingers trembling. When Karissa and Pandora arrived at the front doors, they were greeted by a little old lady. Her name was Hilda. The old lady practically pushed them inside the dorm, telling them that they should hurry up and get to their rooms and unpack instead of standing outside and waiting for the sun to set. Unfortunately, Pandora and Karissa's rooms were not on the same floor. Pandora was on the third while Karissa was on the second.

After Hilda brought them inside, the first thing they noticed was people in the lobby. Some were standing and talking while others were sitting on the couch playing a board game. When the residents saw them for the first time, Pandora and Karissa were targets of curious stares. Most of the staring came from younger members. It was just like Makarov said, there were many young members. The two sisters did their best to ignore the staring but the older one had to smile politely to give others a friendly impression. They climbed up the stairs together until Karissa had to find her own room on the second floor. She insisted that she would find it on her own as soon as Pandora asked her if she needed help.

Karissa found her door quite easily since there was a piece of paper attached to it with her name on it. With her two bags, she glanced over her shoulder and checked to see if anyone was watching her. She couldn't help but feel anxious about being watched. She couldn't help it since she was in a place that she wasn't familiar with. Her fingers grabbed the paper when she thought of ripping it off her door but they froze when she worried about the consequences. She wasn't sure if the matron would approve of her taking it off yet since she just arrived. She didn't want to get scolded by that old lady. After all, she wasn't exactly rainbows and sunshine when she greeted them at the front.

With a sigh, she turned her doorknob and peeked inside.

The first thing her dark brown eyes spotted was the bed at the other end of the room that was right under a window. The window had a light brown curtain with floral patterns, it looked antique. When she stepped further inside the room, she saw a white desk placed against the wall on her right. It had three drawers on the left side. She looked to her right and found a long framed mirror just tilted back against the wall. It was next to a closet that was near the foot of the bed. In the middle of everything in the room was a brown fluffy carpet.

Her room was really simple. It was probably going to stay simple for a while since she didn't really have anything to add as decoration.

Karissa dropped her bags on the side and just kept turning her head to stare at her new room. The only thing she didn't like about it was the fact that the bed was right next to the window. She didn't want to have sunlight on her face in the morning. The first thing she wanted to do before anything else was move around the furniture like the way her room used to be back in her hometown. She wanted her desk to be on the opposite wall, and then she wanted to have her bed take its place in a parallel manner. She wanted to sleep next to a wall.

"Might as well start now before anything else." Karissa sighed. She practically kicked away her bags lazily into a corner on the other side of the room to make space. She picked up the brown carpet and rolled it up before setting it down in the same corner.

"I wish Van was here to help with this…" she groaned as she started pushing her bed away from the window with difficulty. Thankfully, it was only sliding against the floor and not scratching it thanks to some pads under the legs. It made the job slightly easier. When the bed was parallel against the wall while not touching it, she moved around to face the longer side and literally shoved it against the wall with her foot, creating a loud thump on the wall.

"… Okay… now the desk."

She stared at it for a moment. Her bed and desk were both against the same wall.

Maybe I should have moved the desk first…

She was worried about having limited space if she wanted to turn the desk when she moved it.

"Whatever, I'll figure it out." She mumbled to herself with a sigh.

The black haired girl pulled the chair away and set it aside in the corner before tugging on the desk. It was a bit difficult since the desk was heavier than the bed.

All of a sudden, she heard a knock at her door. She froze.

Oh god I hope that it's not that old lady!

Karissa looked like a deer in headlights.

"C-Come in…?"

After allowing entry to whoever was on the other side, her door was pushed open without the turning the doorknob. She realized that she didn't even close her door properly. The brown door opened and Karissa didn't dare to move a muscle, bracing herself for a potential scolding. In the milliseconds of the door fully opening, Karissa was regretting moving the furniture in her own room.

Maybe there's a rule here that says I can't move stuff.

Oh man. We just got here and I probably broke the rules.

I'm going to get kicked out of Fairy Tail… I'm gonna have to live in a box in the streets or something!

Instead of an old lady screaming at her, she found a girl, that was probably around her age, poking her head inside her room with a curious look on her face. Karissa relaxed a little. Just a little. The girl had dark brown hair with matching colored eyes. She was wearing an orange plaid summer dress.

The girl looked surprised to see her there.

Karissa blinked.

Um…?

The girl's surprised expression was easily replaced with a friendly smile. "Hi, there."

"… Hello." Karissa answered dumbly.

"Are you Karissa?"

Karissa wanted to answer sarcastically considering that her name was literally outside her door but she chose to hold her tongue.

She opted to nod her head instead.

The brown haired girl opened the door wider so that she could properly show herself to the black haired girl. "My name is Cana. I live in the room next to yours." she pointed at the wall on Karissa's right where her bed was currently against.

This made Karissa start to sweat since she figured that must have been making too much noise.

Oh nooooo…

"Sorry, I just heard some noise when I was in my room and I was wondering what was going on in here." Cana laughed sheepishly.

"Sorry about the noise." Karissa puckered her mouth a little from the shame. She put her fingers on the edge of the desk and held onto it tightly as if to suppress her embarrassment.

Cana looked at the way her desk was awkwardly angled in the middle of her room. She pointed at it, "Do you need some help?"

"Um…" Karissa scratched the back of her head. She thought that this Cana girl was just going to pop in her head and just leave. Help from her was the last thing she expected. "If it's okay with you. It's pretty hard to move it around."

"The desks here are pretty heavy to move around. I get it." Cana laughed at that and closed the door behind her when she walked inside. "I had to ask for some help from other girls in the dorm when I wanted to move around my stuff." She stood next to the desk and hovered her hands. "Where do you want to put it?"

Karissa pointed at the left wall. Without another word, Karissa and Cana started pushing the desk together towards the left wall until it touched it. They gave one final push to make sure it was properly against it.

"There we go." Cana put her hands down to her side. She looked at her and gave her a small grin. "Do you have anything else you need help with? I don't really have anything else to do at the moment. I could help you put your stuff away."

Wow, she's nice.

Karissa just sighed and lazily glanced at her bags in the corner. "I don't really have a lot of things. It's mostly just clothes. I lost most of my stuff when my hometown got destroyed."

Cana gaped. "Oh, geez. That's terrible. Where was your hometown?"

"In Iceberg."

The brown haired girl gave her a shocked look. "And you came all the way to Fiore from Iceberg? How did you do that?! I could never travel that far… it seems impossible."

Karissa grinned proudly. "My older sister brought me and my brother all the way to Fiore. She's really smart and stuff. She's the one who came up with the idea to come to Fiore and join this guild since my parents used to be part of Fairy Tail before they died."

"Wow… how old is your sister?" Cana asked curiously. "Sixteen?"

"She's thirteen."

"Whoa." Cana stared at her in awe. The brown haired girl was curious as to why a thirteen year old was traveling to Fiore all the way from Iceberg. But she figured that Karissa and her siblings were one of those children who ended up being orphans. It actually wasn't rare to find orphans in the guild lately. It was just a hunch but it's what she felt.

Cana remembered that Karissa was literally a new member that was joining their guild. She didn't know anyone in the dorm.

"Hey," Cana spoke as Karissa went over to the carpet. "After you're done, I'll give you a small tour around the dorm." The brown haired girl offered.

"A tour?"

"Yup. It won't take long."

"Um, sure."

A tour right away? Aahhh, Cana is nice.

With Cana's help, she put her clothes away in her drawers rather quickly. The only thing that 'decorated' her room was the coloring pencils she had in her bag that she brought when she stayed at Gray's house along the stuffed animal. Those two items were salvaged by her siblings when they went back to the wreckage that was once their hometown.

She really glad that she still had it in one peace.

They were both placed on her desk.

After that, she followed Cana around.

Cana told her that even if every room in the dorm had its own private bathroom, there was an open bath in the dormitory that all the girls could use.

"Pretty huge right?"

"Yeah… but who would want to bathe with other people?" Karissa felt weird about stepping into the floor in her bare feet. It was wet. She didn't like walking barefoot in a public place.

Karissa grimaced.

Cana tilted her head a little as she did a small smile. "Apparently, the older members like to bathe together. They said it's good for bonding with other girls and stuff."

"Seems embarrassing to me." Karissa spat and shuffled to a towel on the side that was meant for drying feet.

Then again… I did sit in an ice tub with Lyon and Gray for training… but that's not the same thing since we were literally freezing to death to even think about bonding.

Her mind started thinking about Ur and her two friends until Cana snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Right? I wouldn't want to bathe with others." Cana shook her head. "I find it embarrassing too."

Cana brought her to the resource room next. Karissa was like a fish gaping its mouth when she stared at the number of books packed full into the shelves on the floor she was on. When Cana told her there was more below, Karissa practically ran over to the rail and looked down below. There was a large table along on the lower floor and it was surrounded by more books like Cana said. She was about to let out a huge cry of surprise until she noticed someone. She quickly backed away from the rail to avoid being seen.

"What kind of books are here?" Karissa whispered to Cana.

"There's all sorts of things." Cana grabbed her arm and pulled her along with her to some random section. She pointed at one bookshelf, "This over here is a section for magic. You can actually try to learn magic by yourself if you study these books."

"Whoa… that's cool." Karissa reached for a random book on Wind Magic that was reachable with her height and just started to flip the pages just to check out how much writing and pictures they had. "Do you read any of these books?" she asked Cana without looking away from the book.

"Yup, I started reading ones about Holder types before choosing a type of magic to practice." The brown haired girl walked away from her while swiping her fingers across the books' spines. She pulled out a book and held it up for Karissa to see. It was a book about Holder magic.

Ur had once explained it to her when she explained that ice molding magic was a Caster type. Their type of magic was something that came from within them. Holder magic was a type of magic that allowed the user to produce magic through an external source.

"What do you practice?"

"Magic Card. I just started getting into it recently so I'm not all that good yet."

"…"

Cana just stared at the odd look Karissa had on her face.

"… So like… you do magic tricks?" Karissa moved her eyes in different directions weirdly. "You make cards... appear and disappear?"

"No!" Cana shook her head with quiet laugh. "It's a type of magic that can do a bunch of things. Like I can summon lightning, wind or fire from a single card."

WHAT?!

"You can summon lightning?!" Karissa exclaimed loudly, causing Cana to slap her hands on her mouth in a panic when her voice echoed in the library. A few people on the second floor looked up in confusion.

Instead of continuing their tour inside the resource room, Cana had to pull her out of there and just move on. Karissa apologized quietly with her fingers on her mouth.

"Do you practice any magic?" Cana asked curiously while they went down to the first floor.

"Yeah. A branch of ice magic. It's called ice molding magic."

"Oh! The type where you make stuff?"

Karissa nodded enthusiastically. "I learned from a lady named Ur. I trained with her for like three-ish months with two boys. The training was pretty rough though."

"Really? How did you train for it?"

"Up in the mountains… in the cold… in our underwear."

"What?!" Cana looked at her like she had another head.

"Yeah… I know. But it helped us use magic."

"Can I see?" the brown haired girl asked.

Karissa grinned and eagerly slammed her fist in her palm like as if she was just waiting for Cana to ask. A bit of frost swirled around her palms before four pinwheels spun around them. The brown haired girl stared in awe as the pinwheels circled around her before flying upwards and shattering away into tiny ice fragments, ending the little show-and-tell.

"That was so pretty!"

"Really?" Karissa asked bashfully.

"Definitely."

The two girls smiled at each other.

"What else can you make?"

"A bunch of stuff! I can make anything I want except for moving sculptures since I don't have the ability for it."

"You gotta show me!"

"Okay, okay!" Karissa laughed.

They went down to the lobby where Cana showed her the place where they all usual eat their meals along with the hangout room where they could chat and play board games when they had no thing to do. Other than that, there wasn't really anything else. The boys' dormitory was pretty much the same. After that, they decided to go outside and show their magic to each other. It was fun to see what the other person could do so far. Karissa was obviously the better magic practioner since she learned under someone's guidance but Cana was good too. Karissa was literally blown away by how Cana made a small water fountain from just a simple card.

It was only her first day as a member of Fairy Tail but Karissa already felt a bit at ease thanks to Cana. The other girl was kind to her. For once, she didn't feel like she had to be careful about how she acted around another girl. Cana was breaking down her prejudice she had of other girls when it came to how they would think of her.

Perhaps it was because they were both mages in the same guild.

Two hours later, Pandora found Karissa and Cana in the lobby playing an intense game of jenga. The older sister was taking her time putting away her things and that she completely forgot about her younger sister. She thought that Karissa would probably be curled up in her room, too shy to leave since she didn't know anyone. She kind of panicked when she couldn't find her in her room. She felt the biggest relief when she found her just sitting in the lobby with Cana.

After introducing Pandora and Cana, Karissa had to leave with the first. Pandora insisted on getting some stuff for their rooms such as newer clothes and items for their own hygiene. Thankfully, Hilda handed them their allowance for the month on the way out which added more money to their current funds. Pandora knew that she had to make sure that her younger siblings didn't go on a spending spree with this rare amount of money that they could actually spend for themselves. They never really had allowances.

After calling out Van from his dorm, the three of them went to town together. Pandora had to keep running after her siblings since they kept darting off in different directions in Magnolia to check out the shops.

The older sister couldn't help but smile at their carefree attitude. To her, it served as a good sign. Her decision to move to Fiore and start a new life seemed so unreal since she was so used to struggling with her siblings. It was already starting to feel like a load off her shoulders.

Two days later, the Sinclost siblings were able to learn more about their parents than they thought, Apparently, there were mages in the guild aside from Makarov that were acquainted with them, Obviously, those members were the older mages. According to most of them, Van strongly resembled his father in a youthful way.

They knew that their parents were mages but they never heard any mage-type of stories. The tales went from saving a town from a dark guild to taming down a scary wyvern in the mountains.

Karissa didn't know if the stories were really something to be impressed about but she knew that she suddenly grew to love hearing about them more. She wanted to know more about her parents in a light she'd never seen before.

That's when they learned that Makarov had actually erected graves for them two years ago when he learned of their passing. Two years ago, Pandora couldn't afford to make a grave so she ended up making two wooden crosses in the back of their house so that Van and Karissa would have a place to visit them. When Karissa heard that there was actually a grave in Magnolia to honor their memory, she instantly wanted to go check it out. Meanwhile Van practically hugged the life out of Makarov.

When Zack and Domilia died, there was no trace of their body. There were only reports of eye witnesses who had seen them dying somewhere before fading away in light.

"One's magical powers are tied to one's life force." Makarov explained after Van released him. "I imagine that something must have happened to them and their power depleted to the point where their life faded. There have been many cases like that in the past."

"Does the amount of magic power you have make a difference?" Van wondered. "Like, if you had a lot then could you still live?"

Makarov looked up at the ceiling as he thought about it. He nodded once. "I suppose. It's a bit different when the caster is the one expelling their magic power themselves compared to when their magic is drained. Those with more magic power in their bodies suffer more damage when their power gets drained all of a sudden."

"… So, like me and Van?" Karissa frowned.

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Wow, that sucks." Van huffed, crossing his arms.

"Zack and Domilia had a lot of magic power, so much that it was practically abnormal. It would explain why Van and Karissa have so much magic power in the first place."

"Does having magic power make someone powerful?" Pandora inquired curiously.

"Having a lot magic power is one thing but learning how to use it through magic is another." Presa said as she appeared behind Makarov and slid a mug of booze. "You could have a lot of magic power but still be an average mage if you don't have the skill."

Makarov nodded. "Precisely." He picked up the mug. "Zack and Domilia were skilled mages, and their large amount of magic power served as an asset in ways where they were able to last longer in battle."

Karissa blinked. She recalled when she used to spar against Lyon and the times where she would watch Gray fight against Lyon. When Gray fought Lyon, he usually got a bit more exhausted than Lyon since the latter was more skilled than the former. However, when Karissa fought Lyon, she usually found herself lasting longer than Gray. Lyon was better than them since he learned ice molding magic first, allowing him to build more magic power within himself. Karissa and Gray learned at the same time, so they should have been at the same level with it came to magic power.

Now she understood why things ended up the way they did.

It really did give me an advantage…

Kairssa suddenly remembered about her parents' grave in Kardia Cathedral. She started tugging on her sister's arm. "I wanna check out the graves!"

Van sweat dropped. "I doubt anyone would be as excited as you to see a tombstone."

"We never had a good one for mommy and daddy. We'll get to see a proper one for them now!" the younger girl grinned happily. "Come on! Let's go! I wanna seeeee!" she whined.

Pandora flicked her forehead, making her yelp and back away. The oldest sibling just chuckled and then bopped her on the nose. "Okay, let's go."

After Makarov gave them some directions on where the find their parents at the graveyard, Karissa eagerly went off ahead to reach Kardia Cathedral. Van had to jog after his sister since he didn't want her falling over or something from the excitement. Pandora chose to walk there and let Van manage their sister.

She was only six when her parents died. She didn't have as much time with them like Pandora or Van but she still cherished the times she could remember.

She wondered if Pandora missed them more than she did since she was the oldest. She was the first to know them and the first to be cared for by them.

Maybe.

Karissa saw parts of Kardia Cathedral appearing from behind the tall houses. She was getting closer. The girl was practically skipping instead of running now since she was nearby the cathedral. The moment she turned around the corner of a street, her heart rate jumped when she saw a body right behind the corner. With a silent gasp, she skidded to a stop which made the other person freeze in response. However, she couldn't stop herself since she found herself face first into the person's chest.

May the ground swallow her up right where she stood.

Karissa reeled away with an apologetic look. She tripped over her own feet and just fell on her butt. "Sorry, sorry." She bowed her head in shame before daring to peek at who she just ran into.

It was a boy who definitely looked older than her. She could tell he was way taller than her. He was carrying a bag on his shoulder. He had blond hair spiky hair. He was wearing a weird circular thing on his ears that had a spike protruding on each outer side. He was just staring at her with his gray-blue eyes with surprise. The most noticeable feature on this guy was the lightning bolt shaped scar on his right eye.

He just sighed before taking out one of his hands from his pockets and then reaching for her. She watched him grab her arm and help her back on her feet. "Just watch where you're going next time." was all he said before his hand went back into his pocket. He didn't look back as he walked past her.

Karissa could only stare at his back curiously.

Van caught up with his sister and wondered what she was doing just standing there. He tapped her shoulder, "What's up?"

"Oh, uh. Nothing."

Pandora was standing behind her two younger siblings. Van was standing in front of the grave of their father with small smile on his face while Karissa literally sat on the ground to scoot closer to her mother's grave.

Karissa caressed the surface of the tombstone with a small smile.

Hey mommy. We came to the guild you and daddy talked about. It seems pretty fun so far. I guess that's because there's a lot of people? Not sure.

I wish you were here to tell me what you knew about this town or about the things you saw here. I would have liked looking around with you and dad.

Oh, I also made a new friend here. Her name is Cana Alberona. She lives right next to my room in the dormitory. She taught me how to play this game called Old-Maid. It's pretty fun. I played with Cana, Van and Pandora since she said it was better to play with at least more than two people. It's a game where you have to get rid of your cards by making pairs and stuff. The person that's left with the joker ends up loosing since it doesn't have a hair. It's a fun game!

Van squatted down to get closer to his father's grave. He placed his hand on the writing that spelled his father's name: Zack Sinclost.

Hey dad. It's been a while since I've spoken to you. I just hope you're doing well with mom. It's not my fault by the way, we lost a bunch of stuff when Deliora attacked the town. It was just recently that we found out you and mom were over here too. It's thanks to that old man Makarov. He said he made graves for you here because you were part of Fairy Tail.

Now that I think about it, that 'tattoo' on your back was probably the Fairy Tail insignia wasn't it?

I hope I get to learn more stories about you and mom.

Pandora observed her siblings who were lost in their own personal conversations. In contrast to their peaceful smiles, she just stared at the two tombstones with indifference. She wasn't going to just plaster a gentle smile on her face anytime soon. She had no reason to.

Pandora breathed through her nose heavily and then looked up at the clear blue sky.

This is fine.

She blinked slowly.

Just remember the pleasant memories of the good old days.

That's all.

The oldest sibling looked away from the sky and looked at her younger siblings, her face still expressed no emotion when she stood in front of her parents' graves.

It's all you need.