"Take a whiff of this magnificent parfum!" That was the first thing I heard as I came to. As soon as the voice finished, a wave of calm relaxation washed over me, filling me with a sense of safety.
As the refreshing wave passed over me, all the pain I didn't realize I was feeling drifted away. That was amazing, whatever it was. I felt like going straight to bed, but I knew I shouldn't I was still in a forest, last I checked. Forcing myself away from the tantalizing promise of comfort, I cracked open my eyes and was met with a sea of stars.
I've never seen so many in my entire life. Er, well, lives. There was no Moon out, so the infinite ocean of the cosmos stretched out beyond me with no interruption. I was lost in the maze of space, flitting between stars, bouncing off constellations, and diving through the Milky Way.
My eyes landed on a yellow-orange dot in the sky, shining brighter than all the rest. Venus, the hottest and brightest planet in the solar system. In that way, she reminded me of fire. She was a beacon that told me the Sun hadn't set that long ago, else she would have already hidden away beneath the horizon.
I'm not sure how long I lay there, watching the cosmic light show, but eventually, I managed to tear my eyes away and come to my senses. I remembered where I was.
With a groan, I sat up. "Would you happen to be alright, young miss?" Shocked, I whipped my head around to see a short young man with orange hair and a pretty face. "I hope you don't mind, I took the liberty of using my Pain Relieving Parfum to heal you, men." He was a twelve-year-old with a squeaky voice, but I knew those inflections anywhere.
I'm really not on Earth, huh?
When I didn't say anything, the boy seemed to startle. "My apologies, I didn't mean to throw so much at such a young lass!" Look who's talking, you haven't even hit puberty yet. "My name is Ichiya Vandalay Kotobuki, men! What might yours be?"
I sighed. That confirms it, I guess. I'm really, truly, in the world of Fairy Tail. I'm in the world of Fairy Tail, in a seven-year-old body. Thinking about this and once again taking stock of myself, I also noticed my hair for the first time. It was long enough that I could see it, and a yellow-orange color, similar to the color of a sunset. Nothing like the stark black of before.
What does this mean for me? Am I in a fictional universe? This sort of stuff doesn't happen in the real world. Was I even in the real world in the first place? Was my entire life nothing but words on a page, or drawings on a tablet? Did anything I do even matter? Was Hydrus never real? Was our friendship nothing but make-believe? Does anything-
At that moment, a pair of hands gripped my shoulders. "Huh?" I managed to squeak out.
"Young miss, calm yourself, you are safe!" The shock of orange hair only a few shades darker than mine, and tanned skin threatened to send me spiraling deeper until I noticed something. Ichiya's face was thin. He had yet to grow the rectangular shape he would have later in life.
Later in life? That's right, Ichiya's a prepubescent kid right now. He's growing. Fictional characters don't grow, not physically at least. Ichiya was never shown to be a child once, and yet here he is. If this was a fictional universe, he wouldn't even exist until he was needed.
But he was right here.
It was that thought that allowed me to regain my sense of reality. Yes, I'm in a fictional universe, but my heart is beating, I can taste the dirt I was just laying in, and I certainly bled. If that doesn't make this universe real then what does?
Slowly, my breathing slowed—I was hyperventilating?—and I could feel the tears still falling down my face.
Ah, that was embarrassing. "Sorry." I managed to say.
Ichiya's face lit up. "Ah, the young lady can speak, men! It is certainly nothing to apologize for. You survived a very dangerous situation! It is only natural that that would be hard to process for such a young lady!" As he was saying this, he patted me on the shoulder.
"You keep calling me young, but you're not much older than me," I said. Was he already trying to put up that image of a host?
"Nonsense, I am nearing the age of thirteen! You appear as if you were six. That is half my age, men!"
"What do you mean six? I'm eight!" Wait, I am? That's news to me!
"That is still years younger than I, men!" Ichiya valiantly defended his point, huffing, and puffing.
I just sighed. "Why are you acting like you're an adult, you haven't even hit puberty yet."
Ichiya just ignored the question and look at me seriously. "Are you still hurt?"
"Huh?" I didn't feel any pressing pain at the moment. Testing myself, I finally got to my feet and began shaking my limbs. "I'm sore, but not really in pain."
Ichiya smiled softly. "Good, that means my new Pain Relieving Parfum worked."
New, huh? Guess I got lucky that I ended up in this time and not sooner, then. Taking a look around me, I noticed I was still next to the river I passed out at before, and that Dino-Hulk's body was still partially submerged. How did I do that? The heat I felt… If I was in Fairy Tail, then that would mean that that was magic, right?
I closed my eyes and concentrated. Deep within my gut, I could still feel that heat churning, bubbling, waiting to be reached out to. It wasn't begging to be used or anything like that. Instead, it felt dormant, like it was lightly napping.
Curious, I called to it, asking it to lend its power to me. It obliged, and I felt the heat traveling through me again, building up in my palms. As the boiling point approached, words spilled from my mouth unbidden. "Sol: Sun Ray!" At that moment, a small, thin cylinder of golden light, around the size of a chopstick, shot out and drilled itself into a tree in the distance. "Wow!"
"What a shocking parfum!" Ichiya said beside me. "Though, that seemed quite small. Certainly not enough to fell a brute like that Lizardman."
Lizardman? Was that what Dino-Hulk was called? Never mind, that didn't matter. What mattered was the magical attack I just let loose. Sol: Sun Ray? Where did that name come from? And why was it so small? The one I used on the Lizardman was bigger than my fist, and yet that one was just puny.
Ichiya hummed in thought. "Well, that's quite enough. I shall take you to town, young miss."
"Stop calling me young miss! My name is Eris!" Yet more unknown information popping up. Seriously, what was going on?
Ichiya nodded. "Very well, Eris-san. Let us depart, if we hurry we should arrive before midnight."
I nodded, and Ichiya began leading the way to town. Looking up at the stars again, my eyes drifted once more to Venus. Something about it seemed much more alluring than usual.
"Eris-san?" Ichiya called, looking somewhat worried.
"Coming!" Shaking off my weird attraction, I jogged to catch up to the stout young man.
When we arrived in town, I noticed that most of the stars hid behind the street lights. This was normal of course, but for some reason it made me want to turn around and run back into the wilderness. Luckily, I was able to keep myself under control this time and followed Ichiya.
"Eris-san, where is your home?" He asked me.
Ah, somehow that never crossed my mind. Do I have a home or even an identity in this world? Was this body created for me, or did I possess some unfortunate kid? I'd really rather get information before I proceed any which way, so I need some way of getting Ichiya off my trail. It was time to see if my acting skills had gotten rusty.
I turned to him, mustering the biggest, saddest eyes I could. "C-can I stay with you?" I felt a little guilty about using my status as a little girl to trick him, but it's a small cost to pay when compared to the possible danger if this got out. Fairy Tail may be a lot less dark when compared to other similar Shounen, but it still has insane cultists kidnapping children and forcing them into slavery to revive an evil wizard. That and all the stuff that happened to Ultear when she was a kid. I'd rather avoid daily torture and experiments, thank you very much.
Maybe I should do something about that… No, focus! I'll figure that stuff out later, for right now I need to find a way to survive.
Ichiya hummed to himself. "What about your parents? Wouldn't they be worried?"
From somewhere inside of me, I felt a pang of sadness. For some reason, it didn't feel like my own. It must have shown on my face, as Ichiya quickly backpedaled. "Well, it's not with me, but I certainly know a place." He grabbed my hand and practically dragged me along without wasting a second. So he's bad with sad children, huh.
Walking through town, I noticed myself looking at all the buildings we passed. It was nothing like I'd ever seen, outside of paintings and pictures of course. Everything was distinctly European, reminiscent of the rural areas of Germanic descent, such as England or Germany. Having grown up entirely in urban North America, it was like stepping into a brand new world, which I suppose was apt in this situation.
Even though the architecture and street layout was similar to rural England and such, from what I saw arriving, the size of the town is closer to a smaller city back home. I assume the only reason it wasn't bigger was because of the limited speed people could travel.
Fairy Tail was a world of magic, and as such didn't use stuff like gasoline, instead they ran cars through magic, taken directly from the driver. The reason this limited city size though, was likely due to the fact that only 10% of the population had access to magic like wizards do. As such, vehicles such as the Magic Four Wheeler that used SE-Plugs weren't widely used.
All of this meant that walking through whatever town this is felt like walking into a time capsule. Even in modern rural Europe, people used cars every day. Here, however, there wasn't a motor vehicle in sight, and it gave me some pause.
Fantasy worlds are amazingly strange.
The other strange thing I noticed was that all the signs throughout the town were written in English. Perhaps I should have expected that seeing as guilds like Fairy Tail or Lamia Scale were in English, but I still had an idea that most things would be written in Japanese. Thinking back to the series itself, however, led me to remember things that just don't work if it were in Japanese. Stuff like Daybreak being an anagram of Dear Kaby, and Wind-Reading Glasses throwing English letters at the reader.
It feels like all I've done today was reaffirm that I'm not on Earth anymore. Maybe that's why I feel so much more attracted to the stars right now. They were the same as they were back home. Venus was still where she was meant to be.
Nearly everything has been dead set on reminding me that I'm in an unfamiliar land, with unfamiliar customs and people, but the stars haven't done that. They allowed me to seek comfort in them.
"The stars would never let me down." I found myself saying.
"Hm?" Ichiya turned to me, a question on his tongue.
Before he had the chance, I had already begun explaining. "I feel like the stars will keep me safe. I'm not sure why, but ever since I woke up, it's almost like I can feel them." A thought deeper for a moment before correcting myself. "No, not the stars. It's the planets that are protecting me, watching over me at all times." I looked up at the sky, and despite being in a well-lit city, I noticed that both Jupiter and Mars were playing in that inky playground.
The Moon had also peeked out, not quite bold enough to hang as high as Jupiter and Mars, hiding herself close to the horizon. She would likely find her confidence later in the night, waiting until it was close to sunrise to become emboldened and dance with her friends.
As I looked back down at the streets, I noticed we had stopped walking, and were in front of a large pink building with wings on it, and a central tower at the center with a light blue dome. In front of the building were two small columns holding up a sign that said BLUE PEGASUS. Behind it, on the front of the building itself, above the doors was the Blue Pegasus Guild Mark, a blue horse head with two feathers surrounding it.
Ichiya grabbed my attention by saying, "I am not certain of what you are talking about, Eris-san. However, I have a feeling Master Bob may know, men."
I nodded and followed along silently. Master Bob… He was once on a team with Master Makarov, the Guild Master of Fairy Tail and basically adoptive father to the whole guild. He wasn't really in the series a whole lot, so I don't really know much about him.
We'll see how this goes, I suppose.
Ichiya opened the doors, saying, "I have returned, men." Looking inside myself, I saw the infamous host club itself, though no one was really in there at the moment, aside from the cross-dressing man himself, Master Bob.
"Ah~ Ichiya-kun! Don't you know I was just about to finish cleaning up and head home?" He asked as he phased through the counter to greet us.
Ichiya flamboyantly pointed finger guns at Master Bob whilst saying, "Indeed, however, I came across this young girl in the forest, and she wishes to be protected, men." Boy, these two were just two peas in a pod, huh?
"Oh?" Master Bob prodded, looking at me with a curious glint in his eyes.
Ichiya nodded solemnly, becoming serious once again. "After I completed my mission, I took a shortcut through Constance Forest. While there, I ran into young Eris-san passed out next to the body of a Lizardman. I healed her with my Pain Relieving Parfum, and brought her back here, where she told me she did not want to be alone."
After Ichiya was through explaining my circumstance, and I had sent him a glare for calling me young again, Master Bob adopted his own serious look and hummed thoughtfully. "You say she was next to the body of a Lizardman?" He eventually asked.
"Indeed! The foul beast had a hole that went straight through its chest, men." Ichiya said excitedly as if he was boasting about his own accomplishment. "Though, when she showed me the spell she used, it had quite the puny parfum. Certainly not enough to blast a hole straight through such a monster."
"Oh~" Master Bob turned his serious gaze on me. "If you would be so kind, young lady, as to show me?"
"But what if it comes out powerful again?" I really did not want to be in debt, even if I do trust these men- er, men. Oh god, it's spreading.
Master Bob just laughed, however. "Ohoho, don't worry my dear, if something does break, I'll fix it up."
Well, if you say so. I held up my hands once more and called to the heat inside me. It rose, once again eager to assist me. The heat pooled around my palms, and once more the words came, "Sol: Sun Ray!" As it shot out and sailed into the wall, I noticed something.
It was even smaller than last time! If the last shot was a chopstick, this was a sewing needle. It didn't even leave a dent where it landed…
Feeling rather upset, I turned back, ready to see amusement from Master Bob, but instead, he looked even more serious than before. Was he expecting more? As I thought that, he released some of his magic energy, the type that made even Natsu quake in his boots.
"Eris-san, was it?" He asked me, and even Ichiya had taken a step back. Was I wrong to trust Master Bob? I thought it would be fine, he was once part of Fairy Tail.
But then, so was Ivan Dreyer.
Is there a reason Master Bob left Fairy Tail? Was he excommunicated?
Did I fuck up?
"Where did you learn that magic?" He asked me, face not giving anything away.
"Uh." What did he want to hear? Does he want the truth? Can I even trust him with it? Making a snap decision, I bent the truth a little. "I was born with this power, I think. Today was the first time I used it!"
Master Bob's face changed a little at that, but I was too scared to think about what that meant. "What's your full name, dear?"
How was I supposed to know, I only just got here! "Eris Actaea!" I shouted without realizing it.
Suddenly, the magic energy filling the room dissipated as if someone had just sucked it out. "I see, sorry for scaring you, deary." Master Bob said, with a calm smile on his face.
"Wah-" I looked over at Ichiya, who seemed just as stunned as I was.
Ignoring us, Master Bob continued. "My dear, you have an ancient type of magic many thought lost to the ages."
He looked me in the eye as he said, "The Lost Magic, Planetary Magic."
Bam! Chapter 2! And with it, we learn our protagonist's (new) name and her magic.
If you've read Ripples, as mentioned in the note for chapter 1, you may recognize Planetary Magic, but I'm doing it a little differently, so I didn't just steal it. Though again, go read that fic, it's good.
Also, Ichiya! And Master Bob! Blue Pegasus! I decided pretty early on that I was kind of bored of the main character always being in Fairy Tail, so I wanted to change this up. It led to a few problems I had to solve though, which you'll see a bit later. Anyway, I'll stop rambling here.
See y'all next time!