I was in a riotously good mood today and it was remarked on several times. I always just grinned and kept on working.
Late last night, I had had another...precognitive flash of sorts. Right in the middle of my 'flight' rune prototypes, I wrote, completely unthinking of what I was doing: Mystogan is coming to the guild hall. And right beneath it. Laxus is coming back. Seeing two of my favorite people in the guild who were away so often was always a treat.
...And no, it wasn't just because Laxus was my only real contact to Freed right now.
But either way, seeing them was always something to look forward to. That said, something was clearly wrong with Laxus. I had been reading high levels of tension and frustration off of him, though his future plans were clouded with secrecy. I could deliberately look away from certain parts of a story if people deliberately classified them as a secret. Every now and then, anyway. My control over my Retrocognition was spotty at best but Laxus agreed to help me practice all the same.
"What are you so cheerful about?" Lucy asked as she sat at my table flipping through a book, my rewrite of 'Into the Land of the Unicorns', that was going to be sent out for publishing next year under a new name. She was...kinda scary when she heard that I had already completed the first draft. Lucy had gleefully claimed the place of 'proofreader'. The book wasn't that long, even with the expanded story that I had woven into it and she was a fast reader even without her Windreader glasses. She was already almost halfway through it.
"Two of our S-class mages are coming back today." I replied happily. Gray paused.
"Really? Can't be Gildarts already, right?" I shook my head.
"Mystogan and Laxus." Gray sighed.
"Figures. The guy no one has ever actually seen and the lord of all assholes." Erza chopped him on the head and he went down with a yelp.
"Mind your language." She told him. Whatever she saw at her trial yesterday has shaken her and scared her badly. My mental bland commentary on life reported. Erza was tenser than a ballista strung at full draw.
"Laxus is coming back?" Natsu grinned like a shark. "Awesome! Hey Erza! Whaddaya say we pick up where we left off yesterday? I could use a warm up for when that blond bastard comes back-"
Erza laid him out flat with one punch to the stomach.
"I'm not up for it and you certainly aren't in any shape to take on Laxus." Lucy hummed.
"Oh yeah. I remember. Yesterday, they said that the position for the strongest male wizard was a toss up between Mystogan, Laxus and that one Gildarts guy..."
"It's really not up for debate." I informed her. "They're just the S-class guys. Gildarts is easily the strongest of the three, we just don't see him a whole lot cause he takes on the super tough jobs that take him all over the place."
"So is that what that board up there is for?" Lucy asked, pointing up to the S-class board on the second floor.
"Yup. Only S-class mages or the master can go on the second floor." I scowled. "Someone tried to steal a quest from their board once too often and got everyone else banned." Lucy sighed, glancing down at the prone Dragon Slayer.
"I wonder who that could have been...?" Right on target, Luce. Right on target.
"Come to think of it, neither Laxus or Mystogan have been back for a couple weeks now. Not that they're around a whole lot in the first place." Gray mused, pulling himself back onto a chair, rubbing the lump Erza had left on his skull.
"Three months, two weeks and four days. But who's counting?" I asked going back to my writing. I had shelved flight for the time being and was focusing on the storage runes. Make storage runes that I can use as extra magical batteries and hello unlimited stamina~!
"Um, you are apparently?" Lucy stated a little dryly. She had a knack for doing that. And the talent got plenty of practice considering the company she usually kept. There was a lull in the conversation while Happy tried to wake Natsu up with limited success.
"Nah...s'all tastesh gud t'me..." Lucy sighed.
"Only he could dream about food after getting socked in the gut like that..."
"Nah, Gildarts could too." Gray objected. "He's a lot like Natsu..." The conversation turned to Gray telling Lucy more about the three absent S-class mages.
-vVv-
I felt the beginning tendrils of a familiar spell about an hour later and my head came up even as the others in the guild started to become drowsy with the potent spell that was being cast. When did Mystogan get here?
"What's going...on-?" Lucy swayed before collapsing, though she lasted a good bit longer than most of the others. Natsu had gone out within the first fifteen seconds. He was kinda susceptible to this kind of magic whenever his blood wasn't up and roaring from a fight.
Pathetic. They call themselves a guild? The whisper of sound in my mind was in Laxus's voice, though I hadn't seen him arrive, either."Hiya, Laxus!" I called cheerfully, looking up towards the second story. He didn't acknowledge me, looking as if he had swallowed a lemon for some reason as he looked over the guild, most of whom were either falling asleep or getting to that point.
"Hello? Laxus?" Still nothing. I was aware that the master was watching me with some bemusement. Mystogan wasn't inside yet. He was probably somewhere up the street, and had just started casting early to ensure that everyone would be asleep by the time he got there.
I will not be ignored.
I still hadn't figured out flying, but there wasn't anything from stopping me from getting up to that level while still following the rule about only S-class wizards being allowed upstairs...
I grabbed a scrap of paper and quickly wrote out what I needed. "Put a stair case here." I murmured, pointing to a section of railing a little ways away from the S-class Wizard.
The steps that appeared led me all the way up to where Laxus was sitting on the rail like some giant thunder-vulture. No one else would be able to follow me up the stairs without making it break, and it wouldn't last very long in the first place, but it ought to get me close enough to make my goal. I hopped the short distance to the sturdy railing, needing to haul myself up when I barely didn't make it. I then proceeded to walk along to where he sat as if I were on a tightrope. I was still only a little taller than he was when he was sitting down. I am short...Am I...Nah, he's just really tall.
I was now about even with Laxus, just off to the side from where he was staring into space and not responding to anything.
I reached out and poked his cheek.
He blinked, coming back to reality.
"Wha-?"
"I didn't write you a daydream, so what were you thinking so hard about?" I spoke lightly, somehow managing to keep my balance on the narrow wood beneath my feet. I wouldn't be nearly this calm if I didn't still have my bouncy seals on... The man looked at me then, eyes narrowed for a split second. But with some measure of concern rather than any real scolding.
"What are you doing on the second floor? You know it's against the rules." I grinned, letting a little bit of sheepish childishness seep into my voice.
"I'm 'technically' not on the second floor." I was standing on the railing next to him, not on the floor. It was a loophole and I was running with it!
Then Laxus demonstrated a narrow field of vision that he had thus far managed to keep from becoming common knowledge. He looked at me...then it clicked.
"Get off the railing before you fall, brat." He told me, grey eyes flat and unamused.
"I would, but rules are rules and the first floor is a long way down..." Deliberately being difficult with Laxus was like playing on the tracks. Risky, but thrilling so long as you didn't get hit by an oncoming train.
"How the hell did you get up here?"
"I made stairs." I replied.
"Ok. And why are you up here?"
"You weren't answering." I reached out and lifted away one of his headphones. "How loud is this playing? You're gonna blow out your ears." His hand came up to take the earphone back rather forcefully and I slipped.
Oops.
"Fae!" Mystogan's voice sounded alarmed and I already felt his magic flowing from a staff that caught me before I had fallen more than three feet. I didn't think he was that fast on the draw... I flipped backwards on the cushion of...air that had caught me.
"You can let me fall, Mystogan. I'll just bounce!"
Mystogan sputtered for a moment at that statement. "You! Fae! Why! Gravity doesn't work like that!" The normally unflappable S-class mage looked rather irked at my current predicament. He was just standing in the door, one of his staves in hand. I felt a large hand grab my ankle and hoist me up off of my floating perch.
Laxus held onto me even as he jumped down to the first floor to deposit me back on the ground. He bopped my head with a fist.
"That was dumb, brat." I was unrepentant.
"Why? I was serious when I said I'd bounce." I held up my wrists which still had my cloth bracelets tied onto them, the amber runes looking more like ink on the pale material than magic. "I've been trying to figure out a way to fly for awhile now and I made these to keep myself from cracking my head open." Laxus' fist descended on my head anyway, giving me a noogie had me squirming and yelping.
"You're still a cheeky little brat. 'Technically not on the second floor,' my ass."
"Stoppit!" I beat at his larger form with very ineffective fists as I struggled to free myself. His story read of very deeply hidden affection and irritation. But the dark bitterness that had prompted his negative reaction to the sight of the rest of the guild was gone for now.
"Grease!" I squeaked, feeling my skin become slick to the touch and his grip suddenly slid from its firm hold. I managed to slip free, skipping well out of arm's reach. I let the brief boost spell lapse and stuck my tongue out at Laxus triumphantly.
"Tricky little brat." This sounded like a compliment coming from him. Mystogan had continued forward and was choosing a job off of the board.
"Aw, thanks Laxus!" I skipped after Mystogan as he headed out the door. "You always have something nice to say!" I ducked as a tiny flicker of electricity made for me. I was aware of my laughter resonating through the slowly rousing guildhall as I chased after one of my older friends.
-vVv-
Makarov chuckled as Fae tripped out after Mystogan, so very much like a puppy yapping at the heels of a favored soul... She acted like that around most of the older guild members, but she had a special soft spot for Mystogan since he wasn't around as often as others. The masked wizard often had some kind of treat or present for her, saying to Makarov that he truly enjoyed being the object of such innocent admiration.
But what was more interesting to him right now...
"I see that smile, Laxus." The aforementioned expression of his grandson's face vanished as soon as he spoke.
"You're getting senile, old man." he grunted, thrusting a rolled up paper back at him. The last job he had undertaken with the Thunder Legion. "The joke of a dark guild has been taken apart." Makarov accepted the job and the report, filled out in Freed's elegant hand, with a nod.
"I'm glad to hear it." The distance between him and his grandson was something that concerned him greatly.
Laxus had been very bitter over his father being excommunicated from Fairy Tail and had swiftly become reclusive and shunned the company of others in the guild. When he brought Freed into the guild some years ago, it had been a tremendous relief to the old guild master. It meant that Laxus was no longer forcing himself to be alone. Freed had been an odd one and had taken some time until he became fully comfortable in their guild. But he had warmed up to them over time. They largely kept to themselves, working in a very effective team to complete jobs. And then there were two. Freed idolized Laxus to a certain extent that Makarov knew couldn't be healthy or entirely platonic. But this wasn't a major sticking point for anyone, and the Rune Mage was reasonably covert about it, so no one had a problem with it. But they were still very clearly two individuals gravitated towards one another and precious few others.
Then Fae had happened.
Upon discovering her magic, and the course in which her power lay, Fae had latched onto Freed's experience, hungry for any knowledge that he could impart. And being regarded so highly by a soul such as Fae had done some very interesting things to Freed's personality. He became more confident, more certain in using his unique Visual Magic. And he adored the young wizardling in turn. Rare was the occasion when he didn't have some kind of gift for Fae when he returned from a job, and rarer still was the time when Fae didn't leap up from whatever she was doing to embrace him in greeting.
It truly warmed the heart to see the affection that the two Rune users shared.
Consequently, Laxus had noticed Fae and try as he might to deny it, Makarov could see he too was falling victim to the young girl's lovable nature.
-vVv-
Spending time with Mystogan was always a treat. He had ventured west this time on a series of protection, escort and item recovery jobs.
"You got to see an original Archive Hub!?" I asked, extremely jealous. "A new one of those hasn't been made in centuries!" Archive Hubs were storage lacrima, utterly, and ridiculously massive ones. They could take a normal wizard's archive capabilities and magnify them to many thousands of times it's overall effectiveness. They were databases of magic from the time when guilds were still feared and hunted instead of celebrated. The magic and knowledge that the wizards in those days had used was some pretty hot stuff nowadays. Split offs of the Archive Hub lacrima were tightly controlled and went for a ridiculous price in any market. The oldest Hub that had been found contained almost a thousand years of data and wasn't even a quarter of the way filled.
"It was my job to renew the protections around it, so yes, I saw quite a bit of it." Mystogan said, chuckling. "I did not get the chance to use it, or see it in use and it was only a little under four hundred years old." I glared at him.
"Stop trying to undersell it to make me feel better. It's not working."
"Don't worry about it Fae. With the way your rune work is progressing, you'll be at the needed level to work in that field before long."
"I'm not even a real member." I groused. "I've been asking to take a mark for almost a year now, and Master still says no..."
"You're only nine."
"So was Gray when he started working." I retorted.
"Gray had his own set of circumstances that dictated what he was ready for, just as you have your own challenges to deal with." The masked wizard, placed a hand on my shoulder. "You're making incredible progress, Fae. But don't be in such a hurry to leave your childhood behind you. You won't ever be able to get it back once you do." My shoulders slumped.
"Everyone says that..." I had been told this, or some variation of it since I first asked to become a full member after six months of part timing with Shadowgear on their jobs. "I don't see what will really change after I have a mark. I'll still go out on jobs with other people before I try to solo anything. I'll still be Fae..."
"So why are you so desperate to grow up?" The blue haired wizard's question was one I had considered already and had an answer to once I realized just how frustrated I was.
"Because I don't have any reason to stay a child." I looked up at him and saw that he was surprised at how easily I had answered.
"I'm the youngest wizard in the guild, Mystogan. Except for a few people, there isn't anyone I can talk to without automatically being reduced to the level of a child in their mind. I love everyone in the guild, but they have the unconscious habit of believing themselves to be older, and wiser and obviously more knowledgeable than I am. It feels as though they only hear half of what I say, and dismiss the rest because 'I'm just a kid'."
"It could just be your frustration making it seem like that."
"Master, Laxus, Erza, Natsu, and you are the only ones that treat me like an equal and let me make my own mistakes." We sat down on a bench, Mystogan automatically adjusting his staves to allow for swiftest action should the need arise. He's always so paranoid...Like he has to act in an instant...
My magic spoke then.
The Anima must be reacted to promptly. I blinked.
What the heck is an 'Anima'? The main definition of anima is a person's true self or their deepest soul. But that was capitalized, it's a thing separate from a person...It wasn't the first time I'd heard a strange term from Mystogan's Story and I was rather curious but unwilling to pry.
"So you're hitting the point in your life when you start to crave more independence." I rolled my eyes.
"I'm nine, Mystogan. I'm not hitting puberty for a few more years."
"The mental transition from child to adult doesn't necessarily have to follow the body's maturing rate. As far as I can see, you've been touching on that change since you first came to the guild. Especially after you first deliberately used your magic."
"If it's that obvious, why don't more people see that?! It's not like I try to hide it!"
My outburst resulted in Mystogan resting his hand on my head, combing his fingers through the light green-blue strands.
"The only thing I can tell you is something you don't want to hear, Fae." I sighed.
"Be patient?"
"Be patient."
-vVv-
The next morning, it came to light that someone had stolen an S-class Quest.
Happy took it from the board because the reward includes a golden Celestial Spirit key and he really does like Lucy. Natsu took it to her for the same reason. This apparently qualified as a ship update.
"Hey, Fae." Gray sat down beside me. "You can read the stories of people right? Do you know who took the quest off the board?"
"Happy did." I answered. "The reward included a Celestial Spirit key so he must have grabbed it for Lucy."
The particular request had been on the board for going on three months. It was possible that the requester would have sent word to another guild of the offer of work and annulled the flyer on Fairy Tail's board.
"Of course he did. Did Natsu put him up to it?" I paused in my writing...then shook my head.
"I can't tell."
Gray has been given the assignment of retrieving them and the job request.
That explained why he was talking to me about this.
"Damn, I suppose it doesn't matter anyway." I poked Gray's hand before he could take off his shirt. I give it ten minutes before he loses his shirt on the way. Cana tended to call Gray out on his stripping habits after he had removed his attire.
She thinks he's hot.
Good lord I did not need to know that! I scrubbed my ears as if that would help erase what the implications of that statement were.
"-idiot. No reward is gonna be worth the punishment master's gonna deal out..."
There are only 12 golden keys in all the world. They are priced at approximately-
HOLY CRAP THAT'S A LOT! I felt my mouth hang open slightly.
"Fae?"
"Gray...you are aware that there is only one copy of each Golden key in the whole world...?"
"Really? Are they that important?" I face planted on the table.
With each key you can summon a uniquely powerful extraterrestrial being that is not bound by the rules of human magic. Foremost being, they can be summoned from just about anywhere without regards for most barriers or blockades. These people have been alive since literally the creation of the concept of the Zodiac, that is, a really freaking long time...
"The estimated value of a Golden Gate Key is well over a billion jewel..." I said into the table. I heard Gray start, he twitched so hard the bench rocked.
"What!?"
"Collectors would give an arm, leg and several internal organs to have one of them in their possession, they are that rare and powerful but most of all: They're reliable and darn near indestructible. Silver keys warp over time, but nothing is known to be able to break or damage a golden Gate Key."
Except summoning the Celestial Spirit King.
You are being remarkably chatty today.
"Holy crap...I didn't think the things were that valuable..."
"They're really only usable by Celestial Spirit mages, and there have been fewer and fewer of those as time passes. But yes, they are unbelievably rare. It's probably the only reason that the job was on the S-class board in the first place. Either way, don't you have some wayward wizards and a flying cat to catch?"
And Lucy has four of them. If that doesn't tell you how rich her family is...
-vVv-
Erza went after Gray when he didn't come back after a day with the missing wizards. I just kept on writing, mentally keeping tabs on updates to their story. I sincerely doubted that anything could hurt them if they were all together. But just in case...
-vVv-
The hall always seemed so quiet without Natsu or Gray there to cause trouble or pick fights with one another and Erza to keep them in line.
Freed is on the outskirts of town. I rose almost instantly and raced out the door.
I might not be able to fly, but I did manage to work this out...
"Leap tall buildings in a single bound!" I said, activating the bands I had tied around my ankles and springing to a rooftop and scorning gravity. I landed lightly, the shock having been absorbed by my bouncy seals and I started running. Erza had recommended free running to build up my endurance since I wasn't very inclined towards learning weapons like she was. I could tell she was immensely disappointed in my lack of interest.
Running and jumping as if I were in a reduced gravity zone did have its downsides, such as when I overshot roofs. But my safety seals kept me from getting hurt or causing much collateral damage. I heard some people laughing as I went by overhead and I waved at them.
It's not flying...I hit the roof running hard and launched myself forward for the jump the the cathedral roof. I pushed off with a little more force than before and I soared... But it's still pretty darn cool.
I landed on the roof tiles, and knew I only had a few moments until the Rune Knights got on my case for being here. I held my hands in front of my eyes, cupping them as if I were holding binoculars.
"Scanning for Justine, Freed..." I mused, voice enhanced with magic.
Nothing really changed as I turned slowly in a circle...then I spotted a glowing beacon in the distance. Found ya! I dismissed the brief spell and started running.
"Hey you!"
I crowed with laughter as I jumped off the cathedral roof.
Somebody's gotta cause trouble with Natsu not being around and Erza isn't here to scold me!
-vVv-
I paused on a rooftop, confused at what I saw Freed doing.
He was using his rune magic, but he was setting up a one way barrier around a certain area. And the conditions for being able to leave the area...
Two people enter the trap. One person leaves. Only the fact that the rune he was using could be used for more than outright 'death' kept me from freaking out. But the auto-reset was...concerning. There was no top limit on how many times people could get stuck in that. What was Freed doing? Was he planning for an invasion?
I was about to ask, but I looked closer, crouched behind a chimney and watching my teacher work.
If I asked him...would he tell me truthfully? This wasn't the kind of trap that you set up for fun, or even just as a last resort. It took too much energy to be a backup plan.
I looked over the rune circle warily. He wasn't activating it. Just hooking it up into a previously laid down ground work. The kind that could connect several separate spells so they could be activated at the same time.
He has already made twenty other trapped areas like this. I loved Freed. I trusted him...but this sat wrong with me. It was like hearing nails on a chalkboard in my subconscious. It just made my hackles go up.
Maybe if I went and found the other areas he had already made, I could find something about why he was putting them up. It had to be an experiment of some kind...or... a tournament. That made more sense. Some kind of tournament for the guild...that he wasn't telling anyone about.
All my laughter and excitement at seeing him had slowly been draining down to nothing.
If Freed had made these to not undetectable until he activated them, I'd probably only find what I was looking for if I literally stepped in one. I'd have to either wait until he finished this one, or try and sneak up and get a hand on it without him noticing me. Which...
Stay hidden.
Reading a spell's motive was harder than reading it's intended function. I usually had to touch it before I could sense any kind of motive beyond the general intent.
I stayed hidden on the roof, and focused, trying to discern what feelings Freed was bleeding out through his magic.
Channeling emotion into one's magic power was a very old method of boosting a wizard's reserves. But as magic became more and more refined over the course of time, knowledge building upon knowledge, people learning from their predecessors, the greater the gap between emotion and magic had become. More precise spells needed finer control, which meant emotion was a hindrance instead of a benefit. Kinda like trying to use a fire hose to put out a lit match at thirty yards without getting the wood wet. Not very many people could channel magic like that nowadays. Or at least, not sustainably or consciously. I was reasonably sure that about ten percent of Natsu's normal magic power came from his feelings. Which said a lot about why he was one of the most notorious among us for making a mess of his jobs, even if they were done successfully.
Point being, you couldn't have magic without any emotion at all. So what was Freed feeling right now?
It was like trying to pick out the bass in an orchestral piece through earmuffs. But...
Uncertainty. Determination. Loyalty. Fierce devotion.
That's weird...
Freed wasn't sure that this was the right course of action, but his the object of his loyalty and his devotion to it was enough to motivate him to do it anyway.
Usually seeing Freed made me happy like nobody's business. Any of my guildmates was a warm reminder that I had a family. And they didn't care that I was a nameless nobody.
That warm, comforting reminder was suddenly more like a choking band around my throat as I watched Freed complete his rune trap in silence and watched him leave the area.
Freed...what are you doing?
-vVv-
I wasn't sure if I could behave normally and this nagging concern wasn't letting me rest. I wandered through the city, still using super-enhanced jumping skills to navigate and free-run. My legs would probably feel like well-cooked spaghetti tomorrow, but I was on a mission. What was Freed up to?
Rare was the moment when I deliberately was nosy. My Retrocognition was usually more than I needed to find out secrets. But that worry hadn't dissipated.
To make traps effective, you have to put them where you know people will fall into them. Which meant Freed had mostly turned various sections of the main roads into arenas. They got the most traffic. And the more direct routes that some individuals preferred would also be trapped.
But Magnolia was a big city and for all that I could cover a lot of ground with my current getup, I was still a small girl. I didn't find anything. I didn't want to accuse Freed of anything if it was something harmless, so I didn't say anything about it. Besides, it's Freed-sensei. He won't do anything to hurt the guild.
-vVv-
"Sweet Ether and stardust, Fae! What did you do to yourself!?" Mira demanded, helping me stay upright as lances of pain shot through my legs.
"I was just free running..." I defended halfheartedly, flinching as my muscles burned.
"Carrying what? You can barely stand!" OK. Definitely overdid it. I hope I at least got a good workout from this.
"I wasn't carrying anything 'cept for me." It wasn't magical exhaustion. I still had plenty of magic. It was just my legs hadn't been quite up to the strain of the exercise. What did I expect? I jumped onto the cathedral roof. That's at least 120 meters tall...
"Fae!?" Uh-oh. Freed was standing in the guild entrance, and had spotted me right away, and I was very clearly unable to stand unassisted. "What happened!?"
"I overdid it free running so my legs hurt." I said, trying desperately to undersell what had happened.
"Fae-chan." the Master's voice was stern as he stood in the doorway, casting a surprisingly long shadow for his size. "What's this I hear about someone running around the rooftops yesterday afternoon?"
"I was just testing my shock absorbers..." I was not gonna get out of this, was I?
"But you were wearing them at all times?"
"Yes master." Well at least he seemed satisfied. I suppose the man who had all but raised Natsu, Gray and Erza couldn't expect young wizards to be perfectly well behaved constantly...
Freed had done an admirable impression of a bulldozer and plowed through the concerned bodies around me to pick me up and set me on a table and look over the damage himself.
"Are these the seals that you made to test your flight prototypes?" I had told Freed what I was going to be doing while he was gone, so he knew about the concept at least...
"I altered them a bit." I explained, wincing as Freed worked my knee gently. "Same concept, but reflecting part of the energy instead of just absorbing it, so I can jump and run further and longer."
"How much did you do with them? Just free running shouldn't have caused that much strain." Aw man...
I muttered my answer under my breath.
"...I jumped onto Kardia Cathedral..." Freed was already writing some pain suppressants and leg support runes for me.
"What was that?" I sighed and spoke a little louder.
"I jumped onto Kardia Cathedral." He froze, lifting his head to look at me.
"You did what?" This was not gonna be pretty.
"I was free running, and looking for you, so I needed a height advantage to try and spot where you were with my magic. So I climbed onto the banking guild's roof and jumped onto-"
"You jumped more than 100 meters with one basic enhancement!?" Freed looked angry. Others just started laughing.
"Way to go, Fae!"
"Not bad for a first try."
"Gonna be flying in no time!"
"Shut up!" Freed yelled, glaring at them. "Even with those scripts on to absorb the shock of impact, you're lucky you didn't break your legs landing!" Considering that the phrase I used was borrowed from Superman, who is, you know, indestructible, I don't think that's a major concern.
"Which is why there was structural enhancements in the enchantment as well." I told Freed, tilting my head. "I'll be fine, Freed-"
"You almost crippled yourself and you think that you're fine-"
"Silencio." Being on the receiving end of a Freed rant is not a fun thing. And considering that all I felt right now was a really bad case of leg cramps, his freakout was not warranted. Even the master had already settled down with a drink.
It was kinda funny to watch Freed yell at me without making a sound. Something he realized and gave me a stern look for.
"Look at the enchantment, Freed-sensei." I told him. "There's no magical damage. Just the same kind of strain you'd expect for someone running around the entire city three times in a single afternoon." I looked at my legs. "Leap tall buildings in a single bound." Almost instantly, I felt the pain vanish and new strength surge into my limbs. All of them. Aside from gaining massive leg strength from this, I had also gotten a significant boost to my coordination, balance and depth perception to be able to perform on the level the spell-story required.
The amber words twined around my ankles and calves in a continuous, shifting loop and I held them out for Freed's inspection.
Reluctantly, he let his Visual Magic activate and he examined the script.
I could tell that I won when his shoulders slumped and he sighed inaudibly.
"Finite Incantatem." I released his voice and the enchantment.
"If you had missed even one part of that formula..." Freed muttered angrily, shaking his head.
"But I didn't." I replied, gingerly flexing my still aching legs. "I may be a part of this guild and hang out a lot with Natsu, Freed-sensei. But that doesn't automatically make me an idiot."
-vVv-
Mirajane chuckled as she saw Fae talk to Freed about the other ideas she had for physical enhancement. Apparently, the Rune Mage wasn't going to let the matter rest until he had made doubly sure that all of Fae's ideas wouldn't cause any irreparable harm.
I don't think any of us saw this coming... She thought, covering her mouth to hide her laughter. Freed's a mother hen. Fae wasn't the type to run headlong into danger like some people, aka Natsu/Gray, but she couldn't grow up in this guild without some lingering effects from regularly defying the laws of gravity, physics and sometimes the local laws too. The boys had needed someone to clock them on the head and tell them they were being foolish. Fae needed someone to fret, worry and cluck over her so her rational thought and desire to see everyone around her happy would kick in. Once that happened, she would self moderate her behavior without any further instruction.
The two green heads were sitting together alone at Fae's table as the little girl scribbled out various things on some paper. Every now and then, people could catch flashes or images flickering around the area as the hundreds of stories Fae never told gave her material and strength to shape her magic with.
"No."
"But it would be so cool! And flying comes with it automatically!"
"This 'Super Saiyan' enhancement will kill you unless you are already so strong that it almost wouldn't make a difference! Until the day comes with you can beat Natsu in an arm wrestling match using only your pinkie, this is forbidden!"
And just like Fae needed someone to worry over her, Freed needed someone to exasperate him and draw him out of his self imposed shell.
They're good for each other. Mira smiled, seeing the sibling like bond, loving it and missing her own sister. Just like she did every day for the last two years.
Almost unbidden, all the different things Fae had said showing her remarkable, uncanny insight came to the surface of her mind.
"The weight of loss never goes away. We just learn how to carry it."
"Grief is love with no place left to go." And the last one, something that told Mira that Fae wasn't quite done mourning either...
"Goodbye hurts the most when the story wasn't finished."
Mira watched as Fae reached up and drew an impressive handlebar mustache on Freed's face, and she laughed harder, louder and more joyfully than she had before.
-vVv-
I blamed the supernatural effects of ethernano when I was able to move without pain two days after my escapade, which had already become part of the guild's stories: 'Fae's run'. Laxus had left town, but Freed hadn't gone with him. It hadn't stopped him from briefly looking like a lost puppy, but he had stayed and not felt...terribly sorry about it.
Well. Only a little.
I'm not sure who Freed thought he was fooling. Everyone knew that he had a crush on Laxus. Cana was running the betting pool. Primary bets were that Laxus was dense enough to not notice Freed at his most obvious, or that Freed had denied so hard that Laxus was ignoring it.
I wasn't allowed to place a bet on the matter. At first I had thought it was due to emotional attachment alone, but Macau had let slip that that wasn't the only reason. Since I had Retrocognition, I could always verify what had happened in the past. And because Freed had apparently elected himself my mother/big brother, I could also influence him however I chose. Thus, I was locked out of the bet due to an unfair advantage.
I got them all back by refusing to tell to them the facts of the matter. (Laxus was straight, Freed knew it. Freed liked Laxus. Laxus knew it.)
I was currently trying to puzzle out how best to ask Freed about the various rune traps in the city without seeming like a nosy, paranoid stalker. And I was stuck bar-tending since Freed literally growled whenever I so much as glanced towards some more experimental material.
"You can't keep me from getting hurt forever, sensei." I told him as he glared haughtily at a patron calling for another drink.
"Magic isn't supposed to hurt!"
"What world are you from?" I asked, bluntly. "Everything I'm doing, I'm literally making up as I go. I don't know anything for certain."
"Which is why you have to be careful!"
"I am being careful! I do at least a dozen small scale runs before I trust any new array! What would it take to make you feel better? Wearing a suit of bubble wrap!?" He looked at me with an expression I knew all too well. "You have no idea what I just said." I sighed and reached under the counter for my notebook. "Create a 1 by 2 foot length of 5/16 inch bubble wrap."
The material appeared attached to the lip of the counter and Freed looked at it askance.
"What is this?"
"Prototype of a packaging material I'm designing." I told him. "Also, viable method of self therapy."
Freed spent the next two hours systematically popping each and every bubble on my conjured piece. He felt much better by the end and he had stopped growling altogether! He even felt nice enough to come and further test my Superman jump boost. Win!