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Hehehehehhehee new arc poggggggg
—
"So be on your best behavior," Makarov warned.
"Did you say Warrod?" Aki's head popped up from behind the bar. She had been asleep, apparently dreaming; she couldn't remember what it was about, she wasn't even sure she had dreamt, except that Natsu had heard her say 'voodoo.' Or something.
"Yes," Makarov said warily, not liking the look in Aki's eyes as she hopped up and down. He had been explaining the latest request, one for Warrod of the Ten Wizard Saints, who just so happened to be a founding member of Fairy Tail. For reasons only Warrod knew—the man was an enigma—he had requested a strangely specific bunch.
"Can I go, too?" Aki asked eagerly, clapping her hands together in front of her.
"No."
Her face fell. "Why?" she asked, tilting her head.
Makarov shook his head. "Because this is a special request. It asked only for Natsu, Gray, Lucy, and Erza."
"I won't cause any trouble!" she whined, pulling on the collar of his jacket.
"Aki," Lucy moaned, moving forward and attempting to pry Aki from Master. Unfortunately, it only exacerbated his difficulty in breathing and did nothing to remove Aki, who had latched onto the master's coat.
Wincing, he said, "Aki-tan, you can't go. Now, you five-"
"C'mon, Gramps!" Natsu said brightly, jabbing a thumb at himself, "I'll keep with her!"
Makarov frowned. "That isn't the point!"
"Aki-chan, let – go!" Lucy panted, pulling harder than ever, apparently not noticing how the Master's face was turning red.
Aki looked round at her petulantly. "No way!" she said, then, shifting abruptly to cheery, she let go, sending Lucy pitching backward onto the floor. Gracefully jumping to the side, Aki stayed on her feet, beaming at a scowling Lucy. "What?" she asked innocently.
When she only got a glare, her eyes narrowed momentarily before going wide, causing Lucy to yelp, "That's not fair!"
"What's wrong?" Makarov sighed; he was starting to wonder if the true personality of Aki, unburdened by the past, was even more like Natsu than he had originally thought. He froze as Aki turned towards him, all thoughts replaced with her absolute mastery of technique.
"Aki-tan," Laxus said, but he, too, froze when she turned on him.
Then she burst out laughing, releasing the three from their trances. She snickered as Lucy lunged at her, teleporting to the left and out of the way.
"I tried to warn you," murmured a new voice, and they all – sans Aki and Natsu – jumped, turning to see Zeref sliding up from behind the bar.
"What were you doing back there?" Lucy asked, diverted.
He shrugged.
Lucy felt a titch of annoyance, and, putting her hands on her hips, snapped, "Warn us what?"
He raised an eyebrow; one of these days she was going to kill him. "About the look," he said meaningfully, as though that were all that was needed to understand. "You should have hidden."
"What look?" Natsu asked curiously.
Aki beamed at him, chirping, "Puppy Dog Eye Technique. Only other person who can use it is you!" She poked him in the stomach.
"Ahhh," he nodded sagely, grinning at Zeref, who couldn't help a chuckle.
"Anyways," Makarov began, but Aki overrode him.
"Alright, well, if I can't go then I'm taking the day off," she said huffily, spinning around. Slightly slouched, she left the guild hall.
About half of them sighed, the other half grinning at her antics. Shaking her head, part of both parties, Lucy was happy, thinking about how far Aki had come. Both she and Zeref, who was now talking to Levy about runic books from a place with a name she couldn't honestly make out.
—
"Uhm," Aki called hesitantly, pushing the door open slightly. Zeref had stayed behind to work on some experiments, not seeming particularly interested in visiting their old pupil. She could understand why, though she didn't share the sentiment.
She entered the darkened room slowly, looking left and right to see any hint of life. "War-kun?"
"Been a while, hasn't it, Aki."
She jumped as the lights switched on, spinning around to see a tree-headed man.
"Just kidding!" it laughed. "I saw you at your trial-"
"You actually manifested the element?!" she blurted. "I thought that was just a joke!" She turned slightly red when he raised his eyebrows at her. "S-sorry-"
He chuckled, shaking his head. "I've gotten quite close with the magic you and Zeref taught us," he said easily, pointing to a table.
"Yeah, but normally…" Aki trailed off, then moved to the table and took a seat. "Uh, well…"
"A beer?" he asked.
Aki glanced up at him, a quizzical look on her face, and he snorted.
"It was a joke! How about tea?"
She nodded faintly, looking back down at her hands. "Wait, no!" she blurted, only just registering what had been asked. When he looked at her, smiling, she explained abashedly, "I- I don't want you to go to the trouble-"
"You are not cursed anymore, right?" he interrupted, starting a kettle on the stove.
Aki blinked. "Y- yeah…"
He nodded vaguely. "So that really was why you stayed so far from us?"
She bowed her head, mumbling, "Well, yeah…" As the silence stretched, she started, "I came- well, I came for a couple reasons… mainly, I wanted to apologize."
He turned to her, eyebrows furrowing. "For what?"
"Well… I mean… It was our fault that-" Her voice hitched, and when she resumed it had risen an octave. "-that Mavis was cursed, and that- that she died…"
He frowned at her, eyes narrowing.
Power hazed around him, a forest green glow that radiated the power of life, and Aki couldn't help but relax within the deluge. It was strong, and he was one of the few wizards who could, probably, give her a run for her money, but it was so full of life and the ancient soul of the earth that she couldn't help it. Even as she winced when he stepped towards her, frown deeper now, she cherished the warmth that emanated from every ounce of power surrounding the Wizard Saint.
She had always loved the feel of his magic – had always loved how opposite it was to her own – well, to her curse. Even now, it felt so bright and happy and good that she wondered if she had really lost the darkness that had tainted her magic, or if it still lingered in its flavor; no longer able to harm or control, but still hovering, covering up what might have been a magic, if not as good as, then even half as good as his.
She didn't flinch as he reached a hand towards her, schooling herself to not act, not harm, not protect, not run. She had come to apologize, and if he decided to fight her, then she had already decided that she would not resist.
No, all she would do was survive. She wouldn't let herself die – not anymore.
It wasn't a feeling for herself. It was for her family; she knew she couldn't leave them, however many justified vengeance seekers came after her – knew that she, a small part of her, raising its head after centuries slumber, wanted to live, a thought that brought joy and, more often, fear.
Warrod patted her head lightly, setting a cup in front of her before turning away, sitting down in his own chair at the little table.
Aki blinked for a minute, staring blankly at the teacup in front of her. Then she twitched, looking up at him in bewilderment. "… what?"
He shook his head, winking. "Mavis loved you like a big sister, and you were our teacher."
"That doesn't mean anything-" Aki denied emphatically.
"And you were cursed," he continued easily.
"But we still-"
"And you have asked for forgiveness from me." He looked at her with warm eyes. "And you have received it."
She stared for a whole minute, and he could almost see the battle waged in her eyes – a battle he could tell she had been learning to fight only recently. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, and another, and another. Then she looked up at him, eyes bright as she smiled. Yet, for another moment, she struggled, mouth forming words she had learned were not right for others, or for herself.
Finally, she managed, scratchily, "Thank you."
He beamed at her. After a couple minutes of her sniffling, he prompted, "So, what was the other reason you wanted to come?"
She chuckled, sweat-dropping. "Well, I have a lot of things to do, so I forget what I'm supposed to be doing," she explained, tone not noticeably different from when she had first arrived, yet somehow distinguishably lighter, more lifeful. "And I always tried to ignore whatever I could, and it's been a hard habit to break. When Maka-chan was talking about the job request you sent to Fairy Tail, I was reminded of, well, another thing on the long list I know I have but can't find" —she laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head— "in other words, you."
That isn't a reason… He smiled at her, keeping his thoughts to himself.
"Another thing was that, well, I wanted to see how you were…" She glanced away. "But you're so much older than me in appearance now that it feels really weird."
He laughed. "I do look like an old man, don't I?"
She giggled. "Although," she added, a light sparking in her eyes, "you're still a young'un to my actual age."
"What, eleven?"
She scowled. "No, four hundred and- and…" She frowned. "Twelve? Thirteen? I don't know, but older than you!" she ended triumphantly.
"You act like an eleven-year-old," he said innocuously.
"And you do, too," she retorted, grinning.
He laughed again. "I'll give you that, since it's a compliment for most people over the age of sixty to be seen as young."
She snorted. "By the way," she added suddenly, "do you have any interesting magic that we didn't teach you?"
He blinked at her. "Do you have Copy Magic, or something of the sort?"
She bobbed her head. "Although, it doesn't work with the highest-level spells of individual fields of magic. Dragon Slayer," she added.
"That applies to anyone, though," he pointed out, sipping his tea.
"Well, the way my magic works is that I can use any spell I know, and I have a supplemental ability that allows me to 'scan'" —she made air quotes— "other's magic. The problem is that I can't use the higher-slash-highest level spells in any given set. So, Green Magic, I can use it, but not, say, Carpet of Verdure, the spell I think you used to push back against the spreading of the Batkvha and various other deserts.
"If I tried to use a spell that was close to that cap limit, I wouldn't be able to match someone who was skilled in that magic. Starting at the top ninety to ninety-five percent of spells, I get progressively worse, until I eventually can't use it. This applies to each set, as I like to call them, of spells differently. By that, I mean each type of magic, such as Green Magic, has a different cut-off point, and if you contrasted it to, say, Animal Soul, a comparatively weak magic, I wouldn't be able to pull of a spell with the same power as a simple Green Magic spell, because the highest-level spells in that set only reach a low mid-point of the spells in Green Magic."
Warrod nodded slowly, hand to his chin. "Well," he sighed, "I'm afraid I don't have anything for you."
Aki groaned, dispirited. He grinned.
"Does that mean that you can use Dragon Slayer Magic?"
She blinked, then shook her head. "No. No, no. Well, sort of, but not really. Certain magics have a separate requirement that I can't bypass. Like, taught by a dragon, as I'm sure you know." She nodded at him. "I can't use ones that require genes, or stuff like that, almost at all. I can sort of work with Dragon Slayer Magic, but only because it's not entirely reliant on that factor – it is absolutely exhausting, though," she added, resting her chin on the table. "If I use a series of spells, I'll end up completely drained, and any spell I do use is far weaker than any a proper Dragon Slayer—or even someone with a Dragon Lacrima Implant—could do."
"Oh, if it isn't Zeref!" Warrod called abruptly, making Aki spin around. No one was there. Turning inquisitively back, she saw Warrod grinning toothily. "It was a joke," he laughed lightly. "A joke."
Aki scowled – though the effect was somewhat undermined as a smile forced itself to be known by tugging at her lips with ardor. As usual, it didn't last. "Do you know about…" she cut off, looking depressed. He waited patiently, not breaking the silence. "About Bocchan?"
Warrod chuckled. "You still call him that?" His own face fell. "From the trial, I know he started the dark guild Grimoire Heart, and that he is obsessed with your legacies."
"He was," she corrected wearily. "He attacked Tenrou, thereby summoning Acnologia and, well… breaking me and Zeref from- from the fragile stability we'd gained." She glanced away. "We - killed him."
Warrod nodded solemnly. "It is unfortunate that he fell so far. Do you know what caused it?"
"No," she said quietly. "And we didn't even ask before-"
"Aki," Warrod interrupted.
She bit her lip. "We… don't know what happened to him."
A knock came from the front door, and Warrod's attitude shifted almost as fast as Aki's often did, from sullen and weighty to, well…
Lucy, Wendy, Erza, and Gray leapt about a foot in the air as Aki stuck her head up from behind Warrod's back, he having just finished his explanation. "Time to go?"
Erza's eyes darkened. "How dare you disobey the Master's-"
"I'll have you know that I have not disobeyed his orders whatsoever," Aki interrupted petulantly.
Erza's eyes flashed. "Master told you not to-"
"Off we go!" Warrod declared, and a second later they were shooting through the air on top of a twisting, vine-like tree, Aki having landed beside them in the nick of time.
She grinned at Erza, who was towering over her. "Master told you you weren't allowed to come with us!"
"I didn't come with you," Aki preened, smug.
"Aki-chan," Lucy said, "Master said you couldn't go on this quest."
Aki smirked, clearly enjoying the deluge of murderous aura that currently had Lucy, Gray, and Natsu cowering. "I would like to point out that I am not coming with you right now as a Fairy Tail mage, but as a random person you met at Warrod's house-"
"And how could you bother someone so important!?" Erza exploded, restrained from killing her only by how unsteady fast travel by branch is.
Aki blinked innocuously, tilting her head. "Bother?"
"Yes! You realize that Warrod-sama is one of the Ten Wizard Saints?!"
Aki nodded. "Warr-kun has gotten pretty strong, yeah."
"Warr-kun?!" Lucy, Wendy, and Natsu blurted.
Aki blinked at their confusion, then laughed. "Ah, right, you don't know. I've known Warr-kun for a while."
"No way," grunted Gray.
"Oh, I certainly do. I remember when he was twenty and didn't know any magic," she said reminiscently, moving to the edge of the platform of leaves. She sat down alarmingly close to thin air, feet dangling over the edge. "He was originally part of a Bounty Hunter's guild-"
She yelped as Erza punted her over the edge with a kick to the back, quickly swallowed by the rushing air.
"Erza!?" Lucy shrieked, scrambling around to the back of the platform; she couldn't see any trace Aki.
"She's fine, Luce," Natsu breezed, clapping her on the back so hard she nearly fell over.
"I NEARLY FELL OVER FROM THAT, NATSU!" she screeched, struggling to douse her heart attack. "ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?!"
"Don't worry," Aki was suddenly back at the front edge, still dangling her legs over its side. "I would catch you if you fell."
Lucy sweat-dropped. "I'd rather not fall at all…"
"And I haven't disobeyed Makarov," Aki was saying to Erza, wholly unconcerned, apparently, with Lucy's response. "I came to see Warr-kun because I wanted to visit an old friend" —everyone but Erza gawped at her— "and I'm coming with you regardless of guild affiliation."
"That's still betraying him!"
Aki frowned, looking down at her feet. "I mean, I could get Warr-kun to say he wanted me to come, too, written down and official and all that," she muttered, hanging her head. "That was the only reason Makarov objected."
Erza twitched.
"That'll be fine, right, Erza-san?" Lucy appealed. "Aki-chan can get a new job request with her name added."
Erza eyed the back of Aki's head for a solid minute before nodding grudgingly. "Fine. If you can get the new job request."
Aki perked up. "That's good," she said, out of breath. "I was worried for a second."
Lucy raised her eyebrows, but Happy beat her to the punch, asking snarkily, "So, Aki-tan has learned to fear the great Erza?"
Aki shook her head, chuckling slightly. "No, I was just worried I'd done something really wrong, Happy-bo ," she said pleasantly, placing a great deal of emphasis on his name; Happy jerked, looking horrified, as Aki grinned at him. "Do you have a problem? Ha-ppy-bo?" she repeated, closing her eyes and tilting her head.
Happy shook his head frantically, darting behind Natsu. "She's just as scary as Erza sometimes," he whispered fearfully as Aki stood, not facing them.
"Yeah," Natsu agreed, though not troubling to keep his voice down – and, for that matter, sounding more proud than anything else. "See ya soon, Aki-ki!" he waved.
"What- AKI!" Lucy yelped as Aki took a literal dive from their leafy ride.
"I'll be back in a second!" came a distant laughing response.
A few minutes later, Aki teleported back to their sides. "Here you go!" she panted, grinning as she handed the paper over to Erza, who gazed at it. And gazed at it.
And gazed at it.
Finally, she held the paper up for the rest to see.
Just kidding!
Aki gaped at it as the rest erupted into laughter. After a minute of staring, she took the paper, looking peeved. "He thinks he can do that, huh?" she muttered, plopping down in the middle of their platform. "Thinks he can outdo his teacher, huh?"
"Teacher?" Erza asked interestedly, her rage having subsided.
Aki nodded vaguely. "We ran into them – well, they ran into us, more like – when they were travelling with Mavis."
"Mavis?"
"Mhm."
"Who were the others?" Lucy prompted as Aki continued to pour over the paper.
"Let's see… if I move a bit of the E-tetril…"
"Aki-chan?"
She waved a hand at her, "Others were Mavis, Bocchan - I mean, Precht, to-"
"PRECHT?!" they all shouted.
"-you, and Yuri Dreyar," she continued unconcernedly.
"Dreyar?!"
She glanced up at them. "Yeah?"
"Then you knew Gramp's Dad?" Natsu asked excitedly.
"Are we just forgetting 'bout her knowing Hades?" Gray grumbled.
Aki flinched, but nodded to Natsu. "Yeah. He was a real hyper, distractable guy. He learnt his magic – magic you're supposed to learn by meditation – by doing squats," she snorted.
"Really?!"
Aki snickered. "Get this," she whispered conspiratorially, "he hated rules, but only ones that didn't suit him! Otherwise, he'd swear by them up and down. Actually, I guess Maka-chan has that same mentality," she conceded to herself, going back to the note.
"You don't even realize how crazy that is, do you?" Lucy sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.
Aki raised a supercilious eyebrow, reminding Lucy of the small pest- ahem, past version of her. "I have so many insane things in my four centuries on this planet that no, that doesn't make the cut. It was nothing more than a chance meeting compared to, say, learning that Acno-chan was married."
"Who's Acno-" Natsu started, but Aki was already answering–
"Acnologia."
"WHAT?!" they all screeched.
"So yeah, I have plenty of insane things to worry about. Knowing Maka-chan's grandfather doesn't make the cut."
"Who was she?!" Erza all but demanded.
Aki shrugged. "I don't think you really want to know…"
"But-"
"Is she still alive?" asked Lucy.
"I don't know, actually," Aki said musingly, looking absently up at the sky. "She probably is, but I haven't kept in touch with her." Her eyes travelled to Natsu, though she didn't seem to be seeing him. "She should have arrived around when you five did… But-" She shrugged. "-I don't know."
"And I thought I had it hard," Lucy said, shaking her head.
"Oh, you certainly do," Aki assured her; Lucy wasn't sure whether to be gratified or offended. "You have to deal with being the responsible one in every situation – including when I'm there," she added, laughing.
Lucy only grumbled.
Aki grinned. Folding the paper with 'JUST KIDDING' into a crane, she murmured, "せいかつまほう." [life magic] Lucy, Erza, and Gray gasped. "ソーンズライトのたか." [Thornsright Hawk]
The little paper crane crinkled as her magic flowed into it, but the Life Magic wasn't anything like what they had felt from it before – it was light, heavenly, almost; kind. As the hawk took shape, Aki held up a hand, and a small scroll appeared there.
Tongue sticking out, summoning a pen, she started scribbling, muttering aloud, "Warr-kun, I have received your declaration of war, and shall be sending my reply parcel shortly. Or not. As you say." Grinning at her work, she rolled the paper up and held it out to the bird, who took it in its beak, taking off with an easy flap of its wings, shooting from sight almost instantly.
"Was that Life Magic?" Lucy asked, awe-struck.
Aki glanced at her. "What? Oh, yeah," she nodded. "I made it into a Thornsright Hawk because those birds are just getting rarer and rarer. People like to use their wing tips for speed potions and the like, but…" She shrugged. "I guess I thought it'd be a shame if they went extinct. Not that adding one bird to the population is going to make all that much of a difference…"
"You still play with life?" Gray hissed.
Aki stiffened. After staring down for a minute, she tackled Natsu, hugging him tightly. He responded happily, wrapping his arms around her and patting her head; Gray looked sour. "I…" she breathed, burying her face in Natsu's scarf, "I didn't mean- I- thought, hawk-…" There was a pleading note to her voice.
"It's okay, Aki-chan," Lucy said, patting her back and glaring at Gray; he jutted his chin out and looked away, staring determinedly at the passing scenery.
"I didn't mean to do anything bad…" she breathed, and it was a miracle that she could be heard at all.
"It wasn't bad, Ak-" Lucy started, but Gray interrupted—
"Then think before you do things, idiot!"
"Gray!" Natsu snarled, his pupils turning to slits.
"What-" Gray swallowed as Erza turned on him, falling silent.
Lucy thought she could hear Aki muttering, still, but it was so quiet now that the wind swallowed the sound. Natsu seemed to take it as a cue when Aki shook her head again, pushing himself up and tucking her under his chin.
Erza and Lucy exchanged worried looks, and the rest of the ride passed in relative silence.
When they reached the village—a place covered in seemingly un-meltable ice—they separated. Erza had suggested the idea to cover more ground. Natsu ran off, saying he heard the ice whispering—at least, that's what Lucy thinks he was saying—accompanied by Aki on his back. Erza had decided to explore alone, leaving Gray with Lucy, who lost no time in attempting to chew him out for attacking Aki. He, of course, ignored her and stalked away, leaving Lucy to meet an apologetic Flare on her own, as well as to learn more about the eternal flame.
Fortunately, it seemed no potential robbers had heard of the eternal flame that Warrod had mentioned should be present, as Flare informed her that it was listed for a potential high price in treasure hunter guilds.
—
Ayo. I don't know if I'll even be able to wait till next week to post the next chapter, it's so exciting. I'm getting back to my angst! Aahhhhhhhh hurt/comfort my beloved, I'm sorry I left you for so long! (n)
Anyway, send me some good will, I need it (T_T)