My studying throughout the week didn't prove as productive as I'd hoped.
Everyone and their dog seemed to be determined to interrupt me, intentionally or not. Not to say that it wasn't funny at some moments. All in all, it was fairly standard guild life.
First, my mental Nalu ship started pinging happily. It had been Macau and Wakaba talking about the good old days of their generation. The talk had trickled from their time period to speculation and wondering when and with whom the current generation would settle down.
That was two days ago. And now all of my ships were going off quietly because everyone was gossiping about the people involved.
"How do you tune them out?" I asked Levy, trying to focus through the mental chatter.
"Practice and a good pair of earplugs."
The usual noise wasn't hard to filter through. Natsu was dancing on a table, now he and Gray were picking a fight with one another, Lucy was caught in the middle, Happy was making his comments and stuffing his face. Normal things. I had almost reduced the 'updates' to complete mute.
Then Juvia walked in and for some reason, this set off all my alarms. I looked at her more closely and saw that she was carrying a potion. Even just looking at it, it seemed shady to me. She was also being super shifty and staring at Gray with lovestruck eyes. So after watching her agonize for a few minutes, I bit the bullet and got up to talk to her.
"Juvia, what are you doing?" She jumped, but soon beamed down at me.
"I have found the way at last to my beloved's heart!" She held the bottle close to her chest, cradling it like it was a living child. I deadpanned for a split second.
"A love potion? Seriously?" There's committed and then there's desperate. Three guesses which one this falls under.
She had the decency to blush.
"I know my love's feelings for me, but he simply needs some additional encouragement to express his feelings!"
"So your solution is to drug him. In a word, to try to get him drunk." The blush became darker and more pronounced and she fidgeted awkwardly.
"Well...it can't hurt, can it?" I considered this...
"You did make sure it won't accidentally poison him or anyone else, right?" She nodded vigorously.
"It was the first thing I checked! Just watch, Fae! My love will gaze at me with more passion than he ever has!" I narrowed my eyes and touched the bottle briefly.
It...vaguely resembled a potion meant for competition. Just to help people focus and allow them to push themselves further than normal. But it had since aged quite a bit so the effect was quite a bit stronger...
Through sheer dumb luck, and a man mixing in roughly the right ingredients at random, it's become a rival making potion.
Literally that. The first thing or person someone saw after taking a dose of that would become the object of their fixation and they would then obsess over beating that thing or person.
This...will result in absolute, but somewhat entertaining chaos. Hopefully with minimal property damage.
"I...hate to tell you this Juvia. I don't think it will work the way you want it to."
She was undeterred. Of course.
And even as the Gruvia ship got stronger on her part, the Nalu section started to explode. I didn't read why until I walked by Lucy.
Natsu has asked her to meet him this evening under the old tree.
The...The Old Tree? As in the place-where-I-do-not-ever-go-barefoot-or-touch-anything-ever-again? It was a popular place for couples to meet up. I would be...very surprised if that was why Natsu wanted to see Lucy there though.
By this point, Juvia had finally worked up the nerve to try the potion. There were purple bubbles of something neither liquid nor gas floating around the room, randomly afflicting various people.
Soon almost everyone in the guild hall was trying to outdo each other. Master had declared alcohol his rival, though I wasn't entirely sure if he had been dosed at all. Cana was trying to outdrink him. Mira was trying to pick a fight with Erza, but was being ignored in favor of Erza verbally abusing one of the structural pillars of the guild hall. Elfman was trying to find someone who wasn't already focused on someone or something else to fight with, but he was being ignored at every turn.
As I had warned, Juvia's plan had gone hilariously awry. Gray had fixated on Happy of all things and was trying to challenge the winged cat to a flying competition. Meanwhile, all Happy wanted to do was eat his fish.
Kinda weird Natsu didn't take him along for...whatever he was planning on doing.
Lucy had already left, clearly deep in thought and worrying over the implications of her future meeting. Actually, the fact that Natsu wasn't bringing Happy in on this was kinda telling. Happy was involved in just about everything Natsu did. Except for this meeting with Lucy...
Did he actually ask Lucy out or am I tripping? I was certain I hadn't been touched by one of the bubbles...Or maybe targeted was the better word. There was a collection of them drifting around, and I felt like they were watching me.
I decided, to better preserve my sanity and writing, to leave the hall. A quick Bubble-head charm thwarted the bubbles when they chased after me.
What was in that potion originally!?
-vVv-
Unfortunately, the madness followed me there.
Happy, wailing like a child, started to hide behind me, trembling.
"Fae! Gray's finally lost it! He's trying to kill me!" I patted the blue cat's head reassuringly.
"It can't be that bad, can it?"
"THERE YOU ARE!" Gray's shout made sure everyone nearby heard him. Thus, most of the civilians were quickly getting out of the way of what they anticipated to be another Fairy Tail brawl.
"YOU CAN'T HIDE FROM ME, YOU BLUE SCAREDY CAT! COME AT ME, WE'RE THROWING DOWN, RIGHT NOW, YOU AND ME!"
"Hi Gray." This simple greeting seemed to normalize him for a few seconds.
"Hi Fae, I was wondering where you were." Happy tried to slip away from them while the Ice Wizard seemed to be distracted. "WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?!"
Juvia seemed to be having a moment. I was concerned for a moment that she was somehow upset but then I saw her absolutely glowing smile as she regarded Gray.
"My beloved cares for you so much that even roused to such passion he won't raise his voice to you!"
Ok...Apparently being a child means I don't register as a rival, even potentially. Given who all she considers her rival, I was worried for a second.
Happy then had a bright idea.
"Hey Gray! I'm not the only one who's weak and can fly, remember? Fae is like that too!" This seemed to freeze Gray up as he tried to process this new realization.
I gave the desperate animal a flat look and imitated Erza's smack down on his head, albeit without a metal gauntlet, but it still made him yelp in pain.
"Ok. One: no throwing me under the bus. Two: I may not be one of the guild's top fighters, but I am not weak."
I couldn't really make out what all was going on with Gray; it mostly involved a lot of conflicting emotions and internal yelling. But his magic was starting to condense around him in a visible aura...
"NO! YOU ARE MY RIVAL HAPPY! RAAAAAAAGH!"
Gray grabbed the cat and dashed for a high building by the ocean. Juvia naturally followed him and I was left standing alone, wondering what the heck had just happened...
And thinking that it was a wonderful thing that Natsu and Lucy were occupied today. Another guild war might have started if Lucy picked Juvia as her rival and went for Gray's attention while she was under the potion's influence.
Gray is still attracted to her and-
Shut up, shut up, shut up...!
I mentally punched the voice into submission before it could continue. Juvia had proven that when it came to women gunning for Gray, that her instincts were on par with mind reading. She may have been thoroughly distracted, but I was taking no chances on her...Gray-sense tingling and coming for me later to find out why.
And Natsu...well Natsu was already a complete maniac and prone to strange fixations, so on the one hand, the potion might not change anything at all.
On the other, with our luck, it could lead to Natsu seeing himself in a mirror and declaring himself his rival and burning down the guild hall in the process.
-vVv-
I tried not to look at what Lucy and Natsu were doing. If it was an actual date, they deserved some privacy. But the Nalu ship turned a dejected blue and the explanation of what Natsu had been thinking made me start to laugh. Apparently, he wanted Lucy to help him find an old book of embarrassing photos that he had somehow concluded was buried beneath the tree. So when she showed up in a nice cocktail dress, he was covered in dirt and digging a third waist-deep hole.. He didn't even notice her outfit, and just asked her to summon Virgo to help him dig. Why didn't he just ask me first? I could have told him there's nothing there in the first place, not to mention that I know every embarrassing story about the entire guild.
The question is, what do I do about this, if anything? It's not my place to interfere, but at the same time, I'm the only one who knows how upset Lucy is right now...
-vVv-
I wasn't supposed to be out this late, but I knocked on Lucy's door anyway that evening.
She looked like she had been crying, and bravely attempted a smile when she saw me.
"Hey Fae, what are you doing out here so late?" In answer, I held up ice cream, and a lacrima.
"One time offer: exclusive pre-production screening of the first scenes of the Lord of the Rings the motion picture, as imagined by yours truly." Her laugh was genuine as she pulled me inside.
"You're the best."
Lucy was thrilled to see what I had visualized and eager to give both praise and commentary. Her melancholy seemed completely banished, but there was an eagerly jumping thought from the Nalu shipping corner that wasn't leaving me alone.
Finally, I let it out.
"You know, Lucy...Natsu is an idiot. But he does like you back." I may as well have spray painted her face red. She looked mortified and seemed to be at a loss for words.
What did I-?
Oh...
'Like you back'. I am an idiot too. Natsu, you have been upgraded to a common cold in terms of contagion.
It wasn't like I was embarrassed about this though. I'd been in the loop for months. So...
"How...How do you know that I like him? You have no way of actually knowing, it's just a big misunderstanding!" Lucy was warming to her rant, having abandoned her seat and empty ice cream bowl to start pacing, gesturing wildly. It was actually...kinda funny. Did I have it in me to be a ship teasing troll, youth notwithstanding? I'd have to see.
"I mean yeah, he brought me into Fairy Tail and has been a super good friend. And he's saved me a bunch of times!"
"And randomly breaks into your house just to say hi, and has a passionate aversion to going on jobs with anyone except you." I added, feeding her rant and watching her face glow with embarrassment. Ok, this is actually kinda fun.
"And that! He's a rude jerk who doesn't know what personal boundaries are! I've had to kick him out of my house four or five times in the last month alone!"
"Not counting the three times you just let him sleep." I said between bites of ice cream. This was way more entertaining than the lacrima I had brought.
"Fae!"
I did eventually have mercy on Lucy and stop teasing her about Natsu after she vehemently denied being interested or even attracted to him for a good three hours. I could tell she wasn't actually all that mad at my playing around since she made up a bed on the couch for me without any prompting. Still saying the whole time that she absolutely, definitely, indisputably, in no way whatsoever liked Natsu.
-vVv-
I went back down to the ocean the next morning, since my magic told me that Gray and Juvia still hadn't left the area.
I got there in time to see Juvia pour the rest of the potion down Gray's throat and watch him basically combust.
"LISTEN UP, YOU ARROGANT HORIZON! FROM THIS DAY ON YOU ARE MY RIVAL...!"
And then he proceeded to run on water out to the horizon and out of sight. I watched...then took out a piece of paper and wrote a message on it.
Dear Master,
Gray appears to have discovered a new magical technique that lets him walk on water and is gunning for the horizon with no sign of stopping anytime soon. He is apparently unaware that by definition he can never catch it. I'll be going after him to retrieve him before he slows down and potentially drowns. Please let Mira know that I'll be late to work today.
I folded the piece of paper into an airplane and sent it flying towards the guild hall with a whispered word, then I jumped off the edge of the harbor into the air, and started flying after Gray.
And that was just the middle of the week.
-vVv-
It was supposed to be a productive weekend of studying in preparation for my becoming a ninja. (Not that I had told anyone that was what I was doing.) It had been in the morning and early afternoon with my hashing out a couple prototypes to test for permanent placement once I recovered my energy.
And then, Hurricane Natsu kidnapped me to introduce me to one of his and Happy's favorite pastimes:
Breaking into Lucy's house while she was away.
They had a habit of doing this whenever she went on a job that didn't involve them. I had the feeling that it was their way of punishing her...
A glittery pink voice giggling in the back corner of my mind with a huge 'NaLu' banner hung over it, making me bash my head against Natsu's shoulder to try and drown it out.
"I feel like you just brought me along as a convenient skeleton key." I told Natsu as he piggybacked me inside after I unlocked the door.
"Nah, Happy and I would have come in through the window like we normally do. But Lucy got really mad at us last time we did that."
"You are breaking into her house, so I say she's justified."
"If she doesn't want us to do it, then she shouldn't be so funny when we do it!" I gave Happy a flat look.
"Careful, cat. If you become any more of a troll, we'll find you stuffed under a bridge somewhere one of these days."
"Huh?" Both he and Natsu said this in stereo, looking at me in obvious confusion. I sighed, slumping over Natsu's shoulder.
"This is why I'm friends with Lucy and Levy as well..."
I was tired, and Natsu saw no problem with hauling me around like a strange backpack, so he went through and headed straight for Lucy's kitchen. He seemed to know his way around pretty well, so that told me how frequently he came here to freeload. And how good his nose for food was.
"Hey Fae, you want anything?" He asked as he peered through the cupboards. I was half dozing on his back and mumbled a negative, blearily thinking about how loud Lucy would yell when she found us in here, and if she would have good enough aim to only hit Natsu.
The Dragon Slayer and his sidekick happily made themselves at home while I curled up on the couch with a yawn.
"Do you only come here to eat Lucy's food or what?"
"Nope! We had a really cool sleepover with the whole team once!" Happy said, chowing on some fish while sitting on Lucy's pillow. I looked at him for a second, then moved him elsewhere with a muttered Levitation spell. No matter how fresh, I didn't think that Lucy would appreciate her pillow smelling like Happy's favorite food. He was lost in fishy bliss, so he didn't even seem to notice.
"Hey, we should have another one of those with everyone!" I...didn't turn so much as flop to look at Natsu.
"Not even you can believe that the whole guild would fit into this place." He grinned, munching on what looked like some super spicy jerky.
Lucy does not like spicy food.
But she definitely doesn't want him breaking in, oh no...
"'Course not! I mean bring you along too! Last time we did it, you were off in your baby badass training with Mystogan so you didn't get to come. It'll be fun! And with you there, we can really play Truth or Dare without anyone cheating-!"
Ok...little bad that he's breaking into Lucy's place regularly. Kinda bad that he's dragging me along. Worse that he's planning on inviting other people into a house that isn't his.
I smiled as I looked up at the ceiling of Lucy's apartment.
Kinda nice that he wants to do it again just so I can be there.
Natsu was the one who had brought me to the guild, to Fairy Tail. He taught me how to throw a good punch long before my magic resurfaced and had been including me in his antics whenever we had been around each other.
The child part of me was happy at being included.
The adult part of me recognized it as something deeper. He had brought me to Fairy Tail, apparently after I had extracted a promise that he do so. But even after that, he stuck around, took a vested interest in me. And now with Lucy, he was still staying close to her.
Saying it out loud and to his face would never be the same as the fact.
Natsu had a responsible streak in regards to looking out for people he impacted personally. Happy was the first example of that, having hatched under his and Lisanna's care and never having moved from his side throughout his few years of life.
Then he had found me, and brought me back to his home. I recalled his voice during the first dim recollections I had of my recovery under Porlyusica's care from my injuries. He had been a regular visitor, recounting how this or that job went. It was through him that Gray and Erza became part of my life because they had gotten curious about where he was going so frequently. And ever since that day, he had been there, not teaching full time, but supportive and encouraging.
With Lucy, Natsu had met her, and deemed her a good addition to the guild, so he brought her back and introduced her to the right people. I don't think Lucy realized it, but his endorsement alone spoke a lot about where she was in his regard and respect. (Though he probably didn't consciously realize it.) Even after Lucy became part of us within days, he still kept an eye on her, and now was regularly involving himself in her life, much as he had done to me.
Although he has a slightly different motivation with her...
I chalked it up to a dragon's protective/possessive instincts. Natsu had lost his father as a child and with him a lot of his guidance. That meant that when he found someone who was lost in some way, he wanted to go and find them as Fairy Tail had found him.
Family. That's who Natsu was, he was family. The whole guild was, of course, but he was my family.
And his flying troll of a cat too.
I was very definitely falling asleep on the sinfully comfy couch as these thoughts drifted through my head through a detached, floating sensation that told me I would fall asleep very soon.
Best brother ever...
-vVv-
Lucy got back way later from her job than she had expected. All she wanted to do was change, brush her teeth and fall happily into bed, grateful that she didn't need to be anywhere in particular for the next 24 hours.
Finding her door unlocked, she had her suspicions.
When she came upstairs into her loft room, she confirmed them, and also felt her heart melting a little bit.
Natsu and Happy were there, as she expected. And she also saw how they had unlocked her door without damaging it.
Fae was asleep on the couch, curled up and draped over one of the arms with a throw blanket covering her and Happy asleep on top of it and her. Natsu was sprawled on the floor close by, having fallen asleep sitting up. There were the remains of some kind of game on the floor.
From what she could guess, Fae had succumbed to dreamland first, prompting one of them to cover her so she could rest a little easier. Natsu and Happy had played for a bit before Happy knocked out as well, and then finally, Natsu fell asleep on the floor watching over his two companions, all while still waiting for her.
She was still annoyed that they had broken in, but this was a far cry better than them sneaking in through her window at night.
Whatever. I'll deal with it tomorrow. I'm too tired to throw them out right now...
-vVv-
Lucy wasn't used to waking up to the smell of food. Nor the smell of fish.
Her hand shot out from under her comforter and knocked Happy off of her chest.
"Thanks for the terrific wake up, fish breath." She grumbled, shuddering. Happy didn't even seem phased just popped out his wings and zipped to the kitchen.
"Hey guys! She's awake!"
"Good! Can we eat now? I'm starving!"
"Wait for Lucy to get dressed, Natsu."
"It's not gonna kill you to wait for another few minutes."
Wait...Natsu, Happy and Fae were here last night. When did Gray and Erza show up!?
Lucy scrambled to put herself together and move into her kitchen.
Fae was manning the stove, standing a small footstool to reach more easily. And she was making pancakes with great speed. Erza was slicing fruit, and sneaking strawberries, while Gray was fending Natsu off of the stacks of flapjacks Fae had already made.
"What are you all doing here?" Lucy asked, still trying to wake up in order to think clearly.
"Team breakfast." Fae replied, sliding another handful of finished pancakes onto a plate. "With yours truly employed as the cook because no one else can."
Lucy's small kitchen was crowded with six of them in it, but Fae seemed to have the situation well in hand, or out of it as the case was. She was intermittently using small levitation spells to guide her tools in spite of Natsu and Gray scuffling. Without it, there would have been at least two catastrophic batter spills.
"You're not using any words or incantations." Fae held up her hand, to show a strip of paper around her wrist.
"I borrowed some tools from your desk to make this a little easier. If you're up though, that means I get to stop and we all get to eat." She snapped her fingers and the table was set and all food in place in three seconds. "So grab while you can, Lucy, cause once Gray stops restraining Natsu, there is going to be nothing but carnage!"
As predicted, it was carnage. Complete and utter.
Erza had a monopoly on the cream and strawberries. Natsu and Happy were having a syrup chugging contest. Gray was trying to reason with Erza to give up some of the whipped cream. Fae was calmly eating as if this were the most tranquil environment she had ever been in and Lucy was torn between laughing at the chaos and enjoying the breakfast she was being treated to.
Fae grinned at her and winked, mouthing at her;
Whoever eats the most is on dish duty.
Lucy snickered and nodded her agreement.
I love my friends.
-vVv-
I was heading home after the impromptu gathering in Lucy's apartment. I had wondered how Gray ended up inside the apartment before the rest of us woke up, and had gotten an interesting little tidbit for my trouble...
Is it concerning that Mira somehow has a copy of Lucy's house key and that she just gave it to Gray?
Since it was Gray, and he'd as soon as cut off his own hands than hurt someone he cared about, probably not. But on some levels, it probably ought to be worrying.
At least about Juvia if nothing else!
Then again, if she hadn't already tried to give Gray the key to her place, she-
She skipped right to trying to move in with him.
That was more than a little disturbing!
I'd actually gotten the chance to talk to Gray on our return flight after the little Rival Potion fiasco about how he was handling being the object of such...rigorous affections.
-vVv-
"It's cool and all that she's going for it. She's my guildmate and I'd die for her like I would for any of you...But, yeah it does get kinda annoying when she just won't take no for an answer." I hummed, keeping my arms firmly locked under Gray's arms as we flew. I had to take it a little slower on the way back to account for the increased weight. It was fine, though. It had given us time to chat.
"I feel you." I said, all too honestly. The Ice Wizard paused for a second...
"...You literally do, don't you." I sighed.
"Yup. It counts as a romance from her perspective. That romance and you are literally a basic part of her life. I am always getting weird notices in my head about what she sees as a romantic gesture, or some moment that one might consider as 'evidence of reciprocated feelings'." Gray made a sound that conveyed both nausea and choking.
"Hold on a second. Does that mean you are in on every dirty secret of every person you know?"
"If you can find it in a romance, then I know about it. It's a popular genre for a reason." Probably because that kind of relationship was something you could find in real life on a casual basis as well as an epic adventure story. And then were was my favorite out of the whole genre: Comedy.
Oh I had plans for how best to torture my elders. Among other things, I had this idea to roleplay Sherlock Holmes for a day to see what happened. With what I did instinctively with my magic, I could totally pull it off, and just maybe I could get the intellectual boost to be on the level that the genius detective was renowned for. I just needed the right accent and a deerstalker hat.
"That's...horrible." Well, he certainly understands the potential drawbacks.
"I just try not to think about it too much." He was silent for another moment...
"Any chance you could warn me about anything crazy Juvia is planning?"
"Gray, she's already planned out your wedding, reception, honeymoon and first house and has picked out names for more than thirty kids... And all of this began a week after she first laid eyes on you. You're going to have to narrow that request down a little."
Gray, who normally had a stomach like iron when it came to travelling, groaned suddenly, sounding very sick as we continued to fly.
"...right...Short term schemes, max limit of one week to execution."
"Fair warning: I can't help with any of her spontaneous stuff, only premeditated plans. And I can only pass info discreetly. If she or Mira ever figure out I can do this, then it will be open season for matchmaking-" Gray finished the thought for me.
"-And nobody wants that. Deal."
-vVv-
As I was taking a walk home, walking on the edge of the canal wall, much like Lucy did on her way home in the evenings. I heard the voice of my magic speak, clearly and distinctly.
Fairy Tail will gain two new members.l
That was it.
That was all the information I could get. Nothing about how, when or who.
Ya know, some days I hate you.
I addressed that to the voice in my head as I continued on my way. The guild hall wasn't open for business today, since the week's completed jobs were being organized and the new requests were being set out. There were a good number of regular, routine jobs on the board, such as the supply run Mystogan had taken me on. And they were easy to report and file, you just had to note anything unusual that happened. Like, say, fighting a Stone Golem.
The more unique jobs were a good bit harder. It was also no help that some people were notoriously bad about giving reports. Gildarts had yet to give reports for the three ten year quests he went on before he took the century quest and disappeared.
I was still trying to figure out if he had done it like that on purpose to get out of the paperwork.
I shook my head, throwing off my speculations and focusing on my current project again: Becoming a ninja!
I'd found a place that would make me a sturdy headband with a forehead protector like what Mystogan wore. I had placed the order during the week, and I had today to go pick it up!
I picked up my pace a little to a merry skip along the low wall.
"Careful kid! The fish are biting today, I'd hate for you to scare them off if you fall in!" The show of concern, veiled by friendly heckling, made me laugh and wave as I ran.
Erza and Natsu's combat teachings had given me an almost unparalleled sense of balance. Sure, dealing with a growth spurt would no doubt throw it out of whack and make me start over from the bottom. But for now? I was as sure footed on the ground as I was in the air!
I entered the guild hall through an upper story window. Testing all available entrances and exits certainly wasn't a bad idea. You never know when you might need a quick escape route and you had better be practiced with the unusual ones!
I needed some of my tools from my table before I started to experiment in linking some of my runes together for the ninja enchantment. When I heard several different voices though, including Makarov's in very serious tones, I backtracked hastily before I could read what was happening-
It is a conference of several of the more powerful guild masters. They are assembling a combined team of four guilds to strike at the Oracion Seis, a dark guild that worked in conjunction with the Tower of Heaven. Makarov's contribution is Team Natsu.
-but because it involved those people, there was no real way of avoiding catching on.
I sighed, sitting down on the upper ledge of the guild hall roof.
Now that I had read that, I was also feeling Mira being on guard at the door to keep people from entering and disturbing the guild masters as they discussed logistics, where to meet and what role their wizards would play in the conflict. I'd flown in from the forest where I had been testing chakra walking on solids and liquids and had only come back for my etching tools to begin making the spell totem.
I also read, without being able to stop, that five of the members of the six overall wizards who made up Oracion Seis had been former slaves in the Tower, like Erza and Jellal. But their magic had manifested, so they had simply been slipped out quietly and were given specialized...conditioning in accordance with their magic to turn them into useful pawns. No doubt, had they been able to subdue Erza after her fighting spirit was roused and her magic active, she would have met the same fate.
But she had escaped that life.
They hadn't been so lucky.
I had a feeling, though, that this brush with her past wouldn't shake Erza nearly as much as the first one had.
I rose, calling out my wings to fly to my apartment and pretend that I hadn't uncovered a covert plan. I'd tell the Master later, and he'd roll his eyes and grumble about my Story Magic making it impossible to keep anything a secret. He wouldn't tell me to keep it quiet, because he already knew that I would until he gave the word to talk about it. And I'd ask him about what information they had about the Oracion Seis to see if I had uncovered anything they didn't already know.
It's been a busy few months.
Lucy had joined up, and that seemed to have been the signal for everything in the country to go crazy. If there was a diabolical evil scheme going on, then Fairy Tail would trip on it and usually end up breaking it in the process. It wasn't even just Team Natsu. Team Shadowgear had been hired by a minor noble family to clear some pests from their garden. They had ended up discovering and dismantling an ancient curse that had plagued the family for generations. The Thunder Legion had been deployed multiple times in the last few months to target smaller Dark Guilds and take them out of the game.
And then there was that moment when Lucy took out the Naked Mummy guild single-handedly because she thought they had kidnapped her father.
And yet she somehow still seems to think she's weak...
Everything was stirring, picking up for the climax.
But this wasn't the end game. The big conflict was still a ways away, I felt that. But even a tornado has to start from a few breezes. And these little incidents were here, and would probably only get bigger.
-vVv-
Once I got my lacrima, which I had been able to keep from my job with Mystogan, I found a secure place and started to see how I could tap into the energy it contained and transfer it to my newest project.
The staff had worked as it had in spite of the low power I'd sacrificed to make it. But I suspected that it was only because the story of Gandalf was known by many people. As far as I could tell, the more people knew and were invested in a story, the less energy I needed to use to power items based on it.
That meant that I had to find a way to publish even more of the stories in my head in order to utilize their full potential. At least, if I wanted to use totems based on specific characters. For my runes, which were a little more versatile, a story only I knew seemed to be good enough.
So, I wanted to use these lacrima I had salvaged to see if I couldn't make a stronger enchantment. If I gave it a higher overall energy potential, then I could use some of my kinetic charging runes and give it an extra way to get its energy back. Or, once I got good enough, make it self sustaining entirely.
Ok, the kinetic runes will work for this because parts of it rely on combat which requires a lot of movement. I can get the physical power from them. And since I'll be using it to move, generating more kinetic force, maybe have a couple copied runes so they get recharged even as I'm using some. Link them into a deliberate chain?
...Maybe there's a variant I can write that will store magic power to the same effect so long as my control is so lousy. A way to recycle extra energy that would otherwise be wasted until I get good enough to not have any spillover. It would probably have some of the same components as the kinetic seal...Maybe...
-vVv-
I went to the guild hall after about an hour, giving them plenty of time to finish their discussion.
Makarov took one look at me as he sorted through his papers and sighed.
"You heard everything, didn't you." I hung my head, embarrassed in spite of myself.
"I didn't hear anything. I just saw you were in a teleconference and who with and the magic supplied the rest of it." The little old man groaned, massaging his temples.
"Girl, I know you are doing your best to control that skill of yours. But what you once could only read with a touch of your hand, you can now read with a glance at who is involved. It's growing stronger."
"I know. I'm trying to stay on top of it."
"I'm starting to wonder if you ever will." Makarov said, leaning back from his typewriter with a sigh. "You may as well have been born in this guild. You've been pulled into a group that is constantly seeking the never ending mystery of adventure. And I've watched as time goes on that you adopt that mindset more and more, in no small part thanks to the company you keep." I couldn't tell if that was a chastisement for hanging around the most destructive group of nutjobs in the guild or not... Makarov was still speaking, reflection and thought in his tone.
"I've concluded that living that ideal of adventure is something that you've internalized. And have done so to such an extent that your magic responds. As all magic is based on desire, it takes your desire to know, to seek and to learn: And it gives you information of things otherwise kept secret. Even if simply knowing it could endanger you." And I knew there were some things that I could get in trouble over just by knowing about them.
"When you say it like that, it makes it sound like I go looking for trouble to get mixed up in it for the thrills." He gave me a look that was both weary and warm.
"Were you almost anyone else, I would say that is precisely what you do. But just the fact that you recognize what it could potentially lead to makes me far less worried about you having access to this knowledge, and all but sweeps away any concern that that is what is driving your power to develop in this direction.
"Whatever your desire is, whatever it is that makes you continue to rise in the morning and keep living, it isn't a desire to prove your strength, win fame or anything that easily leads to rashness. That would indicate a very hasty, temporary personality, which you clearly don't have inspite of your age. If you did, you would have manifested your power in a far more spontaneous and erratic way. Almost any way except for Rune Magic. It requires a great deal of preparation and patience and does not suffer fools easily. And you-." He poked my forehead with his ridiculous smiley face staff, "-are no fool, your preferred company notwithstanding." Ok, that was a very deliberate compliment to me, and also a very flat insult to the people I hang out with...
And I couldn't even protest him calling my friends stupid. I had no leg to stand on there.
What Master said about Rune Magic was certainly true. All the ways runes could go wrong were somewhat terrifying to think about. It took incredible, painstaking and grueling effort and attention to detail.
Magic was all about desire. What you most wanted, deep inside yourself... It also, on some level, involved a willingness to sacrifice your life for what you wanted, if necessary. Magic was inside everyone on some level, and we did use what was in our cores it to survive. Otherwise it wouldn't be possible for a non-wizard to contract Magic Deficiency Disease. And while it was far rarer for a civilian to get it, they could still get it!
This core was your personal store of magic. And you had to want something enough to open part of yourself to the magic around you, give up part of yourself. And when someone did that and did it with enough focus and force...For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. There was suddenly a void in you. And since ethernano permeated everything in this world naturally, it would come in and try to repopulate what you had forcibly vacated. The ethernano coming into you could only enter through the door your desire had opened. When it did, it crystalized it within you, leaving it as an open passage. Keeping it open after that first manifestation was a matter of practice and continued will. But it would always be there.
But that first desire...that first time, that was critical. And it left me wondering.
Natsu said he and Happy had found me barely conscious and alone in a forest a short way away from a dark guild he had stumbled across. Since he wasn't much for talking when roused, he had simply beaten them all silly rather than investigate where I had come from, or how they had gotten a hold of me since they had apparently been searching for me.
Something about my encounter with Natsu and Happy had probably triggered my first use of magic. So what had I wanted so desperately back then that it had made me into what I was now?