Fairy Tail is not mine and I have no rights. Also thank Desna for the Pradeshes.
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Waking up in a completely unfamiliar place was...scary. Scary enough that she totally freaked out and fell right out of the bed. It hurt. The floor hurt, her head hurt, it just... Ow.
She looked around frantically at the sparcely furnished room. Simple wooden dresser, same with the bedframe. White sheets and a quilted blue blanket. She was alone, so that was good. There were three doors that were all closed. One window looking straight into a tree's upper branches. And a single chair. A chair full and overflowing with the purchases they had made... Yesterday? She guessed it was yesterday. It had been late when they boarded the train home. She was still in her clothes.
She pulled herself from the tangled blankets and stumbled a bit before heading for the nearest door. It was an empty closet. The next was a small bathroom, tiny sink, mirror, toilet, walk in shower. Door three must be her exit then. She found the rest of a small apartment on the other side of that door. A sitting area, breakfast bar, and small kitchen. She found the travel pack Myst had got her next to the front door. There was a set of keys on the kitchen counter along with a note.
Sister,
You fell asleep on the way home. Juvia wasn't sure where you wanted your things so she left them in their bags. Bickslow carried you from the train and Erza brought you here. Mira and Erza say you haven't been in your home yet. Juvia would be happy to help you decorate.
Thank you for inviting Juvia to go with you yesterday. She had so much fun. She is so happy in Fairy Tail. Juvia will see you at the guild in the morning. Evergreen says to tell you that drinking water will help your head if it hurts.
Juvia
Alanza chuckled a bit at the fact that Juvia signed her name. Like she couldn't tell who wrote that note. Slowly she pulled her canteen and her morning kit from her travel bag. She freshened the water and sipped at it as she got ready for the day. Teeth, shower, hair. She didn't have real towels yet, so she wrapped herself in her topsheet while she slowly combed her hair.
She internally giggled at the memory of how baffled Myst had been by the fact that she had chosen unscented soaps instead of the 'smell good' stuff he had assumed she would pick simply because she was female. She liked to smell good, but she also didn't want to assault dragon slayer noses. Once she figured out how sensative they actually were maybe she would start buying the warm scents she used to enjoy.
She dressed in her new clothes. An pale amathyst top that fell off one shoulder, bold ruby shorts, and long socks that matched her guildmark. She spun the front of her brigjt tangarine hair into a small bun, shoved her sarcasm hat down to hide it and pinned the whole thing in place with the pretty pearl hatpins one of the girls had left in the bag with her hat. Then she added her black leather, stomping into her boots, settling her purse belt around her hips, pulling on her gloves, and admired how freaking awesome she was.
"Man! I feel like a woman!" She locked the door behind her and danced her happy ass down the hallway towards where she hoped the exit was. "The best thing about being a woman! Is the prerogative to have a little fun and! Oh, oh, oh, go totally crazy! Forget I'm a lady! Men's shirts Short skirts! Oh, oh, oh, really go wild yeah!"
"Morning, Alanza." She grinned as Levy popped out of her own room and joined her. "You look so sassy! I love it."
"Thanks! I'm hoping Gajeel will be here today so he can fix my hat."
"Gajeel? Why? What's wrong with it?"
"See the flower?" She tipped her head a bit so Levy could see easily. "I want it to be a Fairy Tail symbol instead. Juvia said it should be an easy thing for him to do with his magic."
"Cool!"
Sticking with Levy made it easy to pretend she had known where she was going. Juvia was at the bar next to Cana when they got there. Juvia was wearing her hair in long waves instead of the single physics defying curl it had been in yesterday. Alanza and Levy joined her there and soon had breakfast and their preferred morning beverage placed in front of them by Mira. Alanza cradled her coffee and hummed happily at the warm elixer of life.
"Anybody seen Wendy this morning?" Juvia shook her head.
"Mira told Juvia that Wendy and Carla left with Mystogan very early this morning." Alanza was glad for that, though she had hopped to see them before they headed out.
"I still say we need to find a way to unwrap that man." Alanza snorted.
"Pretty sure Myst will fight you on that, Cana."
"Oooh. Kinky." Levy and Juvia blushed.
"You want that kind of kink go hunt one of our dragon slayers." Levy glared at her and she panicked a bit. "Uhh... Not Gajeel though. Don't hunt Gajeel."
"Why?"
"Uhh... Cuz?" Wow. That was super lame.
"Should Cana hunt the fire slayer then?" Alanza glanced at Juvia and followed her wide eyed stare to where Natsu and Gray were literally head to head glaring at each other. Cana scoffed.
"Not sure Natsu even knows what sex is." Alanza opened her mouth to reply when the guild doors slammed open and the Thunder Legion flew in. Literally. The strange thing was that none of the three looked as put together as they normally did. In fact they were wearing work out clothes and covered in sweat.
"Boss!" *bossman, hurry, out of the way. "Laxus!" *craziness, Laxus.
"Laxus!" They were all shouting and talking over each other and all but running over anyone in their path.
"Excuse us!"
"What?" Laxus jumped from the upper balcony and they came skidding to a halt in front of him.
"My dad called!"*daddy's daddy, so awesome, totally freaking out.
"We have to go!"
"Go where?"
"They found him!" *alive, Pergrande, kill them all, so happy.
"Please, Laxus!"
"Calm the fuck down and tell me what's going on!"
"I don't know how, but Zen is alive!" *stole him, rescue him, bring brother home, hurry, have to go. Cana reached out to nudge Alanza's shoulder.
"The hell are they talking about?"
"Bickslow has a brother everyone thought was dead, but he isn't and now they are about to rescue him from the jackasses who stole him when he was a baby. Arman must have waited to tell Bix till they had confirmation." Suddenly the babbling stopped and four sets of intense eyes were focused on Alanza.
"Confirmation. Secret magic. You told my dad where to look for him, didn't you?" *look for Zen, find brother, you told him, best of secrets.
"This is why you called his dad the first day you were here." Laxus had this... Emotional look on his face and she wasn't sure how to feel about that. "You were telling him how to find Zen."
"I...guess?" That was a stupid thing to say, but they were making her really nervous. She made an undignified squawking noise when Bix snatched her up into a hug. "Uhh, ok. You're welcome. You can put me down now." Displays of affection made her feel all kinds of awkward. The instant Bix started to loosen his hold she found herself jerked backwards and dangled in midair while Laxus held her up at his eye level by her shoulders.
"You can play chess without us for a while, right?" She nodded. "Good, cuz we have to go do deal with this." He dropped her and she would have fallen if Ever hadn't pulled her into another hug. Her head was going to pop off if they kept this up.
"Thank you so much!"
"I... You're welcome?" When Evergreen released her she held up her hand to ward off Freed. "I do not need any more hugs."
"Very well." His eyes glinted and instead of hugging her he bent her back over the bar in the most shocking kiss she had ever seen, experienced, or even heard of. He pulled away with a smirk, leaving Alanza feeling like she had just been tossed out of a tornado. Laxus, Evergreen, and Freed headed toward the door. Alanza blinked a few times, then blinked some more as she stared at where Bickslow was liplocked with Juvia.
"Bix! Let's go!" Bix had a huge grin on his face when he pulled away from the shell shocked water wizard.
"Stay sunny while I'm gone, Dewdrop!" Bix took off, his babies trailing behind him laughing and chanting. *stay sunny, be happy, stay sunny, be happy, stay sunny. Then they were gone. In the silence Alanza could literally hear Juvia steaming.
"Keep it together, Juvs! You don't wanna end up as mop water on this floor!" Juvia nodded jerkily. Mira screamed and hit the floor with a thump. That seemed to release the rest of the guild from their frozen with shock states.
"What just happened?"
"Why are they kissing people?"
"Where are they going?"
"Who is Zen?"
"Since when are they friendly with anybody?"
"How come-"
"Chess Club to the Hall!" Erza began shoving and pulling the remaining Chess Club members up the stairs. Mira revived enough that she was able to walk up the stairs on her own. "Natsu! Find Master Makarov!"
"Aye Sir!"
"Gray! Make sure Juvia does not melt!"
"Huh?"
"Explainations will be provided when we return! Nobody leaves the guildhall!"
"Why not?"
"We are not to be disturbed unless attack is imminent!"
"Attack? What does that mean?"
"Does she mean a guild brawl?"
"I don't know. Wha-" The sound cut off as Erza slammed the door shut and leaned back against it. The girls all stared at each other in silence for a long moment. Cana, of course, was the first one to break.
"What the hell do I have to do to get one of those Thunder kisses? Cuz kazam!" Levy, Lucy, and Mira broke into giggles. Alanza's chuckles escaped her when Erza slid down to sit on the floor with a dazed look on her face. "Bickslow is one thing, but what got into Freed?"
"I told him he couldn't hug me. Pretty sure he was just making a point. Bickslow is Boscan after all, and the whole team is like a family. I imagine some of the culture has rubbed off. They may have even spent some time over there. He was just trying to say thank you."
"So You and Freed aren't..." Levy waggled her eyebrows at Alanza.
"No! It was just a thank you kiss."
"But... You would be so cute together!" Mavis bless them all, Mira's eyes were throbbing hearts. It was terrifying.
"No. No we would not." They really wouldn't. They just weren't each other's types. That kiss had been pretty sexy though she had to admit.
"What about Juvia? Do we need to take action regarding her assault? Has her honor been threatened?"
"Erza!" Lucy gave her team mate an exasperated glare. "In case you missed it Juvia seemed pretty happy to be assaulted. And while Boscans are rather... Free with their physical affections they also respect personal choice. Bickslow wouldn't do anything to disrespect her." She cast a questioning look at Alanza. "Right?"
"Right. Bix seems to really like Juvia. He may be gone on this mission for a while, and he was just making sure she didn't forget him while he was away. She has trouble controling her magic. When she feels sad or lonely she can't keep herself from making it rain. He was giving her hope to keep the rain away."
"Ooooooh! That's so sweet! Blue-haired babies!" Mira hit the ground again and Erza stood back up.
"And what about this mission they are going on? What's all this about a brother?"
"Well Bix, along with five of his siblings, is adopted. Their dad has two biological sons. Farron and Zen. There was an incident in Pergrande many years ago that killed their mother Ganier. They thought it killed Zen to, however the truth is that Pergrande kidnapped him and has held him ever since. First in their berserker labs, then as a gladiator. He was a toddler when they took him. They are on their way to join wizards from Bosco to rescue him."
"How does that get you Thunder kisses?" Alanza sighed.
"I was the one who told Arman he was alive and where to look for him." Now that she had shoved her fingers into all sorts of pies there was no telling what was going to happen.
"It's kinda scary what all you know and can... Change." Lucy spoke as though she was reading Alanza's thoughts. "I mean if you say the wrong thing to the wrong person it could have disasterous consequences."
"Shoot. Lu's right."
"Trust me I know." She ran her eyes over the names on the motherboard and blinked. "Uhh... What's with the map?" There was a map of Fiore tacked under the later half of the timeline.
"Oh! I made these last night." Cana pulled some cards out of her bag and tossed them on the chibi faces of the Chess Club members looked up at them, as well as the names of all the people tacked to the motherboard. Alanza had grown enough in her magic to feel the magic humming in the cards. "I can use these to keep track of where people are and how they are doing. The closer I am to a person and the more I know about them the more accurate the cards are." That explained why her reading on Mystogan during the origional Phantom War had failed.
"Could you show us?" Alanza pushed Mystogan's and Ryos's cards back toward Cana. "I'd love to see the difference your knowledge makes." Cana knew a good deal about Myst now and next to nothing about Ryos.
"Sure. Wanna know where they are? That's pretty easy to do." All the girls nodded and Cana moved to stand in front of the map. "I usually do my readings without a map, but after our meeting I figured we were going to need this thing. It's specially designed with it's own magic to interact with my cards. I've heard of spells that wouldn't need a special map, but..." She shrugged. Alanza took that to mean she hadn't learned those spells yet.
Cana took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Even though she didn't seem to be doing anything Alanza could feel her doing... something with the cards. It was like watching a dust devil dance across the road. Then the card mage opened her eyes and tossed the cards at the board with a shout. The corner of Mystogan's card stuck in the map as if it was a throwing knife. Ryos's landed flat over the area around and north of Magnolia, it helf for several seconds before falling off.
"There you have it. I've never met the kid so all I get is a fleeting impression. If he is headed this way either by train or magic mobile he should be here sometime today. There's no telling where in that area he is though. He could be outside the guildhall right now, or way up where the other edge of the card was. Our sexy overdressed prince and his little tag alongs are west of Magnolia heading north-northwest."
"Does the direction the card is tilted tell you which direction they are going?" Levy had a hungry look in her eyes as she looked at the card in question.
"Yep."
"I need to do some research on your magic. Maybe I can even find some new spells you could use."
"Card magic is kinda hard to research. Not that I've really tried. It's... Not a concrete science type magic. You have to have the gift. At least that's what I was told." Alanza gathered up the cards of all the Oracion Seis and held them out to Cana.
"Can you do that with these cards?"
"It won't be very accurate."
"That's fine." Cana repeated the spell. All of the cards splattered over a green area in the northeast part of Fiore. As they fell Alanza lept forward and pressed her finger to the part of the map where most of the cards had overlapped. She pressed a blue tack into the map.
"If they are all in that general area then that spot is the best bet on their location, right?"
"I guess. But it's in the middle of nowhere."
"Yeah. There's nothing in the Worth Woodsea but trees." Alanza ran her eyes over the green tinged area on the map. Lucy was right. There was nothing up there.
"And ruins. I've been up there lots of times for translation jobs and artifact retreivals."
"What about... There should be a tiny ancient village. Like... an island on a little lake, with a cave. At least I think that's what it looked like. Does that sound familiar?" Levy hummed.
"Well... I think..." She pressed an orange tack to the map at a small river junction. "There was one right about here. Lots of waterfalls. It was an ancient nirvit shrine and place of worship." That had to be the right spot. It was pretty close to her blue tack too.
"Should we plan to send a team to that location?" She tossed Erza a reassuring smile at the question.
"Not yet I think. We have plenty of time for that later and we still have to deal with Phantom Lord and the Tower." That and she kinda had... plans. The door opened and Makarov walked in.
"Someone want to tell me why my brats are losing their minds down there?"
"Didn't realize they had minds to lose, Gramps." The girls giggled at that. "Did Arman or Laxus talk to you?"
"No. What did Bickslow do this time."
"Oh, nothing. Remember that war I mentioned Arman launching White Sea into? Laxus and the Thunder Legion just left to join it." Makarov paled. "Sorry. I totally didn't think of that. Not sure why."
"War against who?"
"Pergrande." Makarov hit the ground and did that ghost thing. This time Alanza helped catch his spirit and cram it back inside him. It was... Weird. Like holding cotton candy that moved and wiggled. Honestly it was gross.
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(Man, I Feel Like a Woman by Shania Twain)
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To be continued.