I do NOT own Fairy Tail or Shelter, sadly.

Chapter 2: A New Life

Nothing changes, it's always the same…

…It's always the same, I'm always alone…

…I'm always alone but, I don't feel lonely at all…

…I don't feel lonely because of what you gave me…so I'll remember

…I'll remember to keep moving forward in life! In hope of a brighter future! Because of these memories you've given me, I'll never be truly alone…

-Rin

Scripted by Yours Truly, Clover

Northern portion of Fiore, X779 July 7

Woods near Worth Woodsea and Cait Shelter

An apple. It's a big bright red apple. And it looks delicious.

Maybe Carla would like it…

Wendy, a petite fair skinned child, nearly reaching the 4 feet mark, can be seen trying to climb a large and gnarly apple tree. She has a somewhat long dark blue hair, with two bangs framing her face. Her eyes are a pretty shade of brown, almost like a chestnut, both staring intently at a single apple.

She took a step forward, still staring at the apple. The gnarly roots of the tree made her trip as she fell unceremoniously flat on her face.

"Owwww… That hurts…"

She stood up, wiping off the dust that had clung on her face and clothes.

She gave climbing another shot as she leapt up and latched on to the tree's mangled trunk. She stared at it. Wait, is that a face? She shuddered.

"This tree looks a bit scary… But it makes climbing a much easier task!" She stated as she hoisted herself up a branch, as if boosting her self-confidence. After all, she's just a clumsy 9-year-old, slightly fearing that she might fall off any second, just a bit.

'-'

"Ah, I got the apple!" She declared proudly, cupping the apple with one hand, the other, seizing a branch nearby, keeping her balanced. A heavy blanket of silence covered Wendy and her surroundings; the nearby animals seemed to have disappeared as well.

"…Now, how will I get down?" Uh-oh, she hadn't thought of that just yet.

She looked down. She seemed to be quite ways from the ground.

"Urk, I told myself I'll cross the bridge when that happens. But th-this is quite the height…" She mumbled, shaking slightly on her wooden perch. Her heart thumping furiously against her chest.

She leaned carefully against the tree, its rough bark dirtying her stark white polo. She couldn't care less about it though. She calmed down.

She glanced down again, bad idea. Her heartbeat rate shot up once more.

She sat still, calming herself and silently contemplating whether she should just jump off and break her legs, or should she call for help from the others. She opted for the latter, but it seems impossible, she was far from the guild. Very far to shout for help.

And so, she stayed there for what seemed like hours. Wondering how on Earthland she got herself in that kind of situation.

She sighed heavily. A cat fight.

She's stuck on a tree because of a cat fight.

No. Wendy thought. Just a misunderstanding.

She sighed again as she recalled the events prior to now.

Just a little while ago, Carla berated one of their guildmates because he accidentally spilled the Darjeeling tea Carla entrusted him with. The snooty cat was clearly enraged as the tea she was about to drink was spilled all over the hardwood floorboard of the guild. The poor man apologized, and of course, Wendy forgave him. The same could not be said for Carla though. So, they fought.

The man chimed in and said that he'll buy more Darjeeling tea for Carla to replace what he spilt. Carla still would not forgive him. Wendy thought it was a great idea, she too, albeit secretly. The cat's just too stubborn and prideful to give in. And so, Carla took flight. Leaving a bedraggled Wendy behind and into this mess.

"I just hope that Carla would come back and find me…" She muttered, unconsciously holding the apple closer to her chest.

;-;

It was nearly nighttime; the setting sun painted a wonderful scenery as the blue sky turned red in the distance. It would have been perfect, if not for the fact that Wendy's still stuck on the higher branches of the tree, tears flowing freely and throat sore from all the shouting she had done.

"H-help, somebody…" Wendy croaked, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

As if on cue, the bush to the right of the tree started to shake.

Wendy was startled and became wary as she ceased her crying. She tried to peer over the bush, but to no avail as the canopy of the branch below her was blocking her view. Wendy's heart started to pump faster in response to the tension she's feeling.

"Hello? A-are you alright? A soft mellow voice asked.

Wendy felt excited. Someone's here! Someone came for me!

"Over here!" She responded in kind, waving her limbs, the free ones anyways.

The person beneath her slowly emerged from the bushes, plucking a few rogue twigs that got stuck on her cardigan and looked up. Then she suddenly froze. She was staring at Wendy, unblinking.

"Hey, over here!" Wendy continued to shout cheerfully.

The girl beneath her has long slightly sparkling reddish hair ending at her waist, her bangs were shifted to the left with one long clump of hair framing the left side of her face reaching down to her waist, and large reddish eyes. She wore an alternating pink dress, beneath a white cardigan, slightly frilled in the middle.

Wendy stopped, only now noticing the girl's tension. Awkward silence hung heavily over them.

"Hello?" She hesitantly spoke up, worriedly staring down to the person below her.

The person rapidly blinked once, twice, shaking herself from her obvious stupor and began to climb the gnarly tree.

"Uhm, thanks for saving me…" Wendy's timid side surfaced as she kept looking between the ground and the older girl while fiddling with her fingers.

The atmosphere still felt awkward as the older girl continued to intensely stare at Wendy, as if trying to bore holes through the latter. Due to the attention she's receiving, Wendy flushed and had suddenly become very interested in the ground.

Both girls heard a loud rumble and Wendy flinched, as she thought something was out there, watching them. But soon after, she sighed in relief as she realized it wasn't some kind of beast, instead it came from the older girl. More specifically, her stomach.

"Uhm, here, you can have this…" Wendy took the older girl's hands into her own and placed the apple between the girl's palms. I'm sure Carla wouldn't mind… she thought.

The older girl averted her gaze from Wendy as she continued to stare at the apple in between her hands.

"Are there any more of you?" the girl slurred softly.

But despite Wendy's advanced hearing, she couldn't catch all of it.

"More… apples?" Wendy tilted her head slightly, queuing in the question marks. Is she that hungry? She pointed her finger towards the guild's direction "Oh, if you wanted some more… there's bound to be some in the guild. Would you like to come?"

"Eh?" The girl was taken aback. "Y-yes please..." She flushed, apparently embarrassed by the way Wendy had misheard her.

' '

As Wendy walked in through the guild doors, everyone stopped whatever it was they were doing and stared at her. Wendy froze. She reminded herself that she practiced her speech on the way back. But still, she felt anxious.

"Uhm, s-sorry for coming back this late…" Wendy stuttered, starting to flush at the attention she's receiving "You see-"

""WENDY!"" a chorus of cries rang out from the crowd.

"Where were you!"

"Did you get hurt?"

"Did some bastards get to you?"

"Oi, language!"

"Oh Wendy, we were so worried…"

Wendy did a retake as everyone tried to swarm in on her, inspecting her from head to toe.

"Wendy…" An old man said as he started to hobble towards her, the crowd making way for him

"…"

He stopped in front of her, a shadow covering his face.

Wendy was starting to get even more antsy than before. She began to sweat profusely.

"…"

"…"

"… Masteri'msosorr-"

"WENDYYYYYYYYYY!" He cried, catching her off guard. "WHERE WERE YOU! YOU HAD THIS OLD MAN WORRIED SICK! YOU'RE JUST 9-YOU HEAR ME! 9!" He grabbed Wendy on both shoulders and started to shake her vigorously.

"H-hey old man Roubaul, cut it out. You're making her dizzy…" A bunch of men tried to parry Roubaul's grip on Wendy, but to no avail.

Eventually, Roubaul let go. Tears still flowing comically down his cheeks.

Wendy took a few steps back, trying to rid the dizzy spell she was experiencing.

"Uhm, where's Carla?" Wendy asked, clutching her head, still a bit woozy.

"Over here child." A snooty cat flew from somewhere and perched on top of Wendy's head.

She leaned over and slapped her padded paw on Wendy's forehead. "Where were you child? You made everyone worried."

"Owww…" Wendy rubbed her forehead. "I'm sorry."

"So, where were you?" Carla swiftly moved Wendy's hand away and slapped her forehead yet again.

"Ow! Stop!" She shielded her forehead protectively.

"You see, I tried to get you an apple…" She started. "I found an apple tree in the woods…" She continued, her face slightly red.

"Oh, I can see where this is headed." Carla deadpanned. "Go on, continue with your story."

"I climbed it, then I got the apple…"

"Wendy."

"Y-yes?"

"You were too afraid to go down, right?"

"Right…" Wendy meekly said.

"So, how were you able to go down?" Carla asked.

"I uh, I was helped by someone…"

"Did you thank her?"

"Yes, I did thank her proper- wait, how did you know it was a she?!" Wendy asked incredulously. Carla flew off her head.

"How could I miss her." She landed on the ground gracefully. "After all, she's standing right in front of the doorway." Carla said, jabbing her paw towards the door.

Everyone stared at her.

"Oh, uhm, hi…?" She greeted, holding out the core of the apple. "I wanted some more… apples."

'-'

"So, as thanks for saving our Wendy, you can have all these apples." Roubaul proudly declared.

"You seem to like the apples miss… Woah, wait. Why are you crying!?" A young girl asked.

"Oh, uhm Rin, the name's Rin…" she said in between sobs.

Everyone started to panic while Rin starts to sob even louder.

"Ah, Miss Rin! Please don't cry. Don't you like our apples?" Roubaul tried to ask frantically while stroking the crying girl's back.

"I-it's, it's just th-that, it's been s-so long s-since I've seen another h-human!" Rin cried in between sobs.

"Is that so, well were where you before, child?" Carla gently asked.

Rin was in no condition to answer as she cried louder.

"Uhm Rin-san, you said that you've been alone for a very long time, right?" Wendy sat in front of her and grabbed both her hands "Well, if that's the case, why don't you join Cait Shelter? Oh, uh I'm not forcing you or anything… by the way, my name is Wendy, Wendy Marvell. And this is Carla, she's really soft" Wendy said as she handed Carla to Rin.

"I can introduce myself just fine child." Carla snidely said.

Soft… Rin thought as she started stroking Carla, ceasing her cries immediately.

Roubaul gave a hearty chuckle, before saying, "Little Wendy is right, you must've felt very lonely, Cait Shelter would be glad to accept you. I'm Roubaul" Roubaul gave Rin's shoulder a comforting squeeze as he smiled gently at her.

"R-really? You really are accepting me in… Cait Shelter?" Rin's eyes widened.

"Yes, after all, the more the merrier right?" someone enthusiastically said as Wendy pulled Rin up "Would you like to come with us, Rin?" Wendy asked.

"Yeah… I'd love to!" Rin said as she wiped off her remaining tears.

Wendy and Roubaul led Rin to the registration area to get her stamp. "What color and where would you like your mark to be miss Rin?" Roubaul questioned

"Eh, uhm, uh, b-brown. And on my right hand please." Rin said as Roubaul held her hand gently.

"Welcome to the guild, Rin!" everybody chorused as Roubaul stamped the Cait Shelter guild mark on Rin's right hand. "Welcome to the family!" Rin teared up again.

Dad, this is it. It's just like what you said, If I don't give up hope, a new chapter would unfold right in front of my very eyes. With my new family, I'll make more fun memories! Rin thought fondly.

"Oh, uhm, by the way…" Rin wiped her eyes then, brightly smiled "What's a guild?"

A/N: Clover here!

Bring on the sweat drops!

And there it is, the end of the second chapter!

I'll try to upload as quickly as possible.

I hope I did a fine job in this chapter.

So, here's a quick rundown:

Rin: turns into 15(don't ask why cause I'm not entertaining questions)

Her appearance remains the same as she was in the simulation

She seems to like apples…

Wendy: around 9-years-old exactly 2 years after her arrival on X777 July 7

Her appearance is the same as when Jellal left her in Roubaul's care(She hasn't grown out from it yet, lil' midget :d)

Carla: around 1-year-old

Likes Darjeeling Tea

Snooty, as usual

Roubaul: A doting and loving father-like figure

PS: This is a revamped edition. I'm planning on revamping the other chapters. I'm not sure if I would be able to upload chapters monthly, cause like I said, real-life responsibilities. They can be quite a pain in the arse.

See you later, you lovely lot of people, and have a great day!