I didn't have a lot of magic to throw around, but some Transfiguration coupled with muttering a familiar story made Jellel's outfit shift into something more akin to what Mystogan wore on a day to day basis. Including a mask. I called my wings out to float me up to his height to put it on him.
"What are you doing?" he asked, leaning away reflexively in surprise.
"Taking advantage of the fact that Mystogan's always been super careful about showing his face."
How long until they can hear us...?
Two minutes and 12 seconds.
Ok, a little more time for costume adjustments and explanations.
I stepped back, scanning Jellal head to toe.
"Shift your stance a little. Mystogan trades on being unnoticed, yet mysterious and confident. So, relaxed, neutral shoulders, but head held high."
"Faerun, what are you talking about?" I met Jellal's gaze with what I hoped came across as something firm and confident.
"You are physically identical in every way to a member of Fairy Tail, Mystogan, one of the S-class mages. He's also my teacher, so him being here to rescue me from being kidnapped is not implausible. So we're going to pretend that you're Mystogan for the Rune Knights, and then you won't get arrested for everything you did while possessed!" I saw it as a very positive indicator of Jellal's new/old morality when he looked horrified at the idea. "It's not ideal, I know, but-"
"You're suggesting that we lie in the face of authority, and that I steal the identity of one of your guildmates?"
"Borrow! borrow his identity. I'll apologize to him later." He pulled the mask to the side.
"No, I won't-" I smacked my fist into the side of his head in. In certainly got his attention. I put as much pleading into my gaze as I could.
"Please, Jellal. You've already lost almost ten years to the man who possessed you. Don't let him take anymore of your life by getting yourself put in jail. That's exactly why he released the possession spell! So you would take the fall for his actions!"
"Faerun, if they see through this, you and all of Fairy Tail will suffer for trying to hide me!" Jellal argued, in a lower voice. "I've already done enough to you and your family-"
"It wasn't you! How many times will I need to say that...!?"
Hey, how far away they?
47 seconds until they are within earshot.
I had to get this self sacrificing, ridiculously law abiding idiot to let me lie in the face of authority to quite possibly save his life.
The heavenly bodies all move according to precise laws. Jellal needs to overcome an integral part of his nature in order to accept any kind of deception or subversion of the law.
Makes sense, but not helpful right now!
I grabbed Jellal's face, outright begging now.
"Please, don't go back to jail...Erza knows you didn't want to hurt her. None of your friends do now that they know the truth! Please, Jellal, just-"
A man who barely remembered anything, snatched me and ran me away from my kidnappers. Protected me. Would have laid down his life for me without even knowing me. Who had jumped into this fight with no reservation. Who had given both blood, magic and very nearly his life, to stop Brain and Zero while protecting others.
Jellal Fernandes is not someone who deserves prison.
He would be torn apart, targeted on all sides because of crimes laid to his name.
He wasn't broken by his possession, but jail would destroy parts of him that he could never get back. If he was punished, then he wouldn't ever be able to view himself as a good man ever again. Just an endless cycle of finding something new to atone for.
You don't deserve that
"-just let me protect you." I finished quietly, a wave of exhaustion that had nothing, or very little, to do with how I had been using my magic, washing over me. I let my wings fade and landed on the ground again, swaying dizzily on my feet. I hadn't eaten or drunk anything for about 24 hours, so once my adrenaline ran out, I would need some significant time to recover.
Gentle hands grabbed my shoulders and steadied me.
"Fae?" I looked up at the kind, worried face, so much like Mystogan's it was unnerving. He even had the same worried face...
Face.
I reached up and tugged his mask back into place. My hand rested on the side of his head.
Please show him...
Mystogan.
Everything that I felt, and knew about the man was passing through my head and into his.
His unparalleled skills in the use of magic staves, his kindness and compassion. The lessons he had taught me, the doors he had opened. My friend. My teacher.
This is Mystogan.
Jellal.
Jellal's talent for magic was prodigal. His compassion had survived years of possession from an evil man who was so far removed from immediate implication that I couldn't find his name or identity looking through his history. He was a good man, and had done so much for me all without really knowing me...So how much more of a friend could he be?
This is you. Please don't go...I don't know you that well, but I do know I don't want to lose you.
I felt him sigh and a tangible barrier gave way.
He will do it.
He picked me up again, though I knew he must be even more tired than I was.
"Alright Fae...Alright."
"Who goes there?" A challenge came.
"Hopefully a friend." Jellal called back, not having the right inflections to be Mystogan, but...close enough. I relaxed into his hold, trying to scrape together more magic in case I needed to do something to help complete the act.
The white cloaked men advanced, and one man with a captain's knot on his shoulder held up his fist.
"Identify yourself!" He ordered sharply.
"Mystogan of Fairy Tail." Jellal replied, voice perfectly steady even as his legs trembled with the effort of holding us both upright. "Is there a medic in your squad? I think Fae has strained her magical core over the day she's had."
"You need one even more than I do..."
The medic came and examined me, giving me a small bottle of distilled ether to drink to regain my magic. At my age, completely emptying myself would be the same as burning out a portion of my capacity to use magic, so keeping my reserves high was critical. Adults got more concentrated doses.
Jellal was questioned, but I stayed close to him and between the two of us, we got a feasible story as to what had happened.
'Mystogan' had used a Wind Walker staff to reach the area, and had discerned my location. He had managed to free me and Wendy and we escaped. He gave over several of his magic staves to power a 4 Tier Dismantling Vortex to destroy Nirvana before it could be resurrected, and then had sent Wendy and I to safety while he stayed to hold off Zero. But I had been reckless, and given all the staves to Wendy and Loke and gone back to try and help. By that point, Natsu had arrived on scene. Mystogan had sacrificed his last staff to give Natsu enough magical fire to enter Dragon Force and defeat Zero, then he had taken me and fled to look for help.
"Destroying your staves like that was an extremely reckless thing to do." The doctor said sternly as he examined Jellal's core on a lacrima monitor. "You're lucky you didn't end up draining yourself completely..." Which wasn't an issue for the real Mystogan, but neither here nor there.
They're checking the guild registry.
"We're going to need to verify your identity without the mask." I hid my flinch at the words by drawing away from the needle approaching my arm. They were giving me extra fluids through an IV. The attendant said something soothing that I barely paid attention to as I focused on Jellal a short distance away. I saw one of the knights had a slate of lacrima with a picture on it...
I think it has the right picture, but please, please...!
"-just be a little pinch." I winced as the needle slid into my arm and the cool fluid started trickling into me. "Very good." The medic assistant slid off his cloak and slung it around me. "You'll be feeling a bit colder because of the difference in temperature, but it'll pass quickly."
I couldn't decide if the knight's were genuinely suspicious of Jellal's story, or if my nerves was just making it seem like that. But they seemed to be keeping a pretty close eye on Jellal and were asking him a lot of questions...
Erza and Gray are here.
My head snapped to the side, heart lifting and smile crossing my face.
There was the same red hair, and the same-
Gray lost his shirt again. Seeing the pair of wizards made my heart lift in joy and satisfaction. It really was over, and now they were here, and I didn't have to handle this alone!
"Erza! Gray!" My arm was tugged by the needle still in me as I tried to wave to them. But calling them was enough to get their attention. Both of them abruptly turned aside from the Rune Knight they had been talking to and made a beeline for me.
Their magic, as familiar as my own, wrapped around me as Erza picked me up in a tight hug.
"Thank goodness you're alright..." She breathed. I hugged her back.
"Mystogan took good care of me." Her breath caught faintly at the name of the wizard she knew for a fact wasn't here. And she also saw Jellal sitting a short distance away, subtle surrounded by four different Rune Knights. There was no way she wouldn't recognize him, or confuse him with the real Mystogan.
"He always does." There was a slight shift in her tone that would let anyone who knew her now that she was hiding something. But she covered it up with an imperious voice. Her command tone, the voice she used when she was warming up to barking orders, then raising hell if she wasn't obeyed yesterday.
"Is there a problem here, sir?" The captain straightened slightly and saluted.
"Standard verification of identity, ma'am."
"No one can lie to Fae, Captain." Erza said firmly. "If she says he's her teacher, then he is. No one in the guild knows him better than she does. But I will provide verification as one of the senior mages of Fairy Tail and as the certified emergency stand in for Master Makarov." She let me go with a fond ruffle of my hair. "I'm glad you're safe, Fae. Rest up while you can. Your training is doubling as soon as we get back home. No arguments." She then handed me over to Gray and marched over to where Jellal sat.
Please, please, let her stage fright have a sense of comedic timing only and not blow this for us...!
Gray's body was cold, and that was uncomfortable, but I leaned into his familiar embrace anyway.
"We were worried about you." He said, his voice warmer than usual.
"I was scared." I replied simply.
We were just stating facts of the past that were no longer relevant to the present.
"She'll be fine." The doctor assured Gray. "She's didn't get any food or water, and she underwent severe mental strain, but she'll recover completely within a few days at the most."
"Thanks, doc."
The scans they performed looked for trauma and assault of any kind. Physical, mental, or sexual.
It was an unfortunate necessity that they had scans like this for kids my age. But there were nasty people all over the place, so I understood it.
Now that the doctor left us alone and Erza was drawing all the attention, Gray and I had some privacy. He sat down, and I folded myself up to cuddle him aggressively, just letting my stress bleed away.
"So you wanna tell me what you thought up?" Gray asked quietly. I glanced up at him, then around.
"What is it?"
"How close is the nearest Knight?" I asked him quietly. Muffliato had a personal range, but these wizards were all sensitive to underhanded magic. If one of them was too close, they would sense my spell as it went up and the nature of it. I would never forgive myself if my twitchiness was what blew his cover.
Erza would help smooth things over, her reputation and her now public personal history with Jellal would lend credibility to his cover as Mystogan. The betrayal and subsequent antagonism. Not the still present rosy feelings. Just thinking about it made the Jerza ship pop into existence in the back of my head with a slew of evidence in favor of it. Sorry Simon. I thought with a faint wince. I think you're out of luck here. If only because Erza still resolutely saw Simon as a friend. A close, very trusted friend. But just a friend nonetheless. Jellal, she had been nursing a major crush on since childhood. A crush that had survived a perceived betrayal-
She's in love with him. Completely.
No need to destroy Simza like that! I complained at the voice in my head. G2 gave a shrug from where she hovered, centered in my magic, but now freed from the chains that had puppeted her back into the driver's seat. She seemed happier to be regulated to the back again though...In a, monotone, emotionless kind of way.
She was never meant to be a person, after all, just an automon.
She needed a name.
Something to give her a sense of identity. Something to further distance herself from the person she, we, had once been.
"If you need to talk about it in private, it can wait until then." Gray assured me, his arm tightening protectively. "I trust you...And Mystogan."
He has a hunch as to what you've done.
I nodded, sighing and turning to glance over his shoulder at the scene. Erza's bluster and attitude had made all but one of the Rune Knights go on about their business of scouting the woods for any more Dark Guild members. One who was particularly suspicious was hanging around and paying the price for daring to question Erza to her face without knowing her.
It's good entertainment.
It dimly occured to me that I could have pointed the Rune Knights right to wherever all the rest of the Light Guild coalition members were. But that would be showing far more of my magic than Makarov, or I, wanted to right now.
But that didn't have to keep me from using it for my own benefit.I cast my mind around to check up on everyone else in the area.
Blue Pegasus had connected with the Rune Knights and were busy logging and recording all the arrests, to collect and sort through any minor bounties that were claimed. The total pool would be split between all participating guilds as additional reward money.
Lamia Scale, or Lyon, was making shelters for the prisoners to be kept in until proper transportation could arrive to ship them away.
Lucy had found Wendy and Loke and were both heading this way, led by Wendy's nose.
Natsu-
Passed out cold from Dragon Force. Happy's carrying him this way.
...They'd find him eventually.
Lucy gave me the biggest hug ever upon seeing me, and since I had been set free from the tube and needle in my arm, I could return it with full enthusiasm.
Loke then scooped me up.
"So you survived Erza, princess!" I laughed nervously.
"Kinda...she still doesn't know all the details, and she's already threatened me with double training when we go home."
"Survived is right. What were you thinking, going off by yourself!?" Lucy demanded, hands on her hips. "We were running all over the place trying to find you. And as soon as one of us does, you go running off alone? And get caught by Brain?"
"Zero, technically."
"Which from what I've been told is much worse." Lucy nagged me playfully, shaking her finger in my face. "If you thought people were protective after the Tower of Heaven, you are going to be grounded for years for this, missy!"
"I'll just distract them until Mystogan takes me away for training." Brand new magic circle!
Developing a magic circle was little more than a sign of your magic settling more firmly into it's chosen course. It was always something to be celebrated.
My magic had decided that runes and words was the best way it could express it's inherent ability to use stories as power and inspiration. Thus, I had needed to develop a script that best used that ability. Something personal, that was mine down to the core. But now I had managed to organize my magic into a circle. A mandala-like pattern that expressed a signature spell. Not something I had taken from a story word for word, but that was completely and wholly mine.
Everyone had a first spell that was theirs. And from that first spell, they built the rest of their arsenal around it.
I called that one Unseelie Arts. So that could leave me open to creating Seelie as well.
The division of the courts between Summer and Winter wasn't a common theme in many stories. But the division did make sense. How some fairies could be helpful, while others were absolutely terrifying and not approached at all.
I think I just accidentally set myself up as Mab to Erza's Titania.
After a bit more scolding, a few more hugs, and a lot of projected relief and happiness, Lucy went to check in with Erza and find something else to do. Loke disappeared with a sigh of relief, gone to his home plane to recuperate.
I wanted to stay near my friends as much as possible, but they also didn't want to bring up the gritty details of being adults around a kid.
I'll read them all later whether I want to or not, so while I appreciate the sentiment...
One of the prisoner transports they had brought with them was being loaded up.
I saw them carry Midnight, who was still out cold, inside and sat up from where I sat on the sidelines.
Eric?
If he was here then he could hear me...
He walked into my view with suppression handcuffs on his wrists and four guards escorting him. He looked terrible. The sleeves of his coat were gone, and most of him was covered in burns of various degrees. His face was horribly bruised, likely from his fight with Natsu since I couldn't remember if Loke ever got close like that. He was probably only capable of moving thanks to his Dragon Slayer magic and even then, he was limping.
There was a delay in loading Eric, since they were attempting to maneuver Hoteye inside the too small door. So I got to watch him closely and noticed something was wrong...
If you can hear me, can you look at me?
He turned his head slightly to catch my eye.
Where's Cubellios?
The snake would never be willingly separated from her partner. So what had happened to her? Did she get hurt in the fight with Natsu? I didn't deny the bubble of worry that formed in my stomach at the thought.
Of all the guild members of the Oracion Seis, Eric was the one I saw as my enemy the least. But then again, I had also gotten the chance to see a more human side of him than he let most see. The side he showed to Cubellios.
Are all of them like that? I wondered. Do all of you have some small seed of humanity left in you?
The Seal of Six Prayers.
G2 began to recite the six keys that had bound Zero.
Six pieces of human soul that had kept the monster at bay.
Eric's I already knew.
To hear the voice of my friend.
What about Midnight? The one who had taken me to Brain?
To sleep in a quiet place
The image of a dark haired boy tossing and turning in shackles, tear tracks glinting on his face as horror raged around him made something inside me twist sadly.
Racer.
To be faster than anyone. Faster even than pain.
Oh boy this is gonna hurt... A young boy with a big nose desperately trying to outrun the guards and grimhounds chasing him for sport.
Ok, bad, but bearable...Angel?
To fade into the sky like an angel.
To be untouchable and unseen by her tormentors. These images were the hardest to look at and made a fist of sympathy twist in my gut. Suddenly I get why she became so cruel...Ow... Hoteye?
To be reunited with his long lost brother.
Well that makes me feel a bit better after Soriano.
I swallowed dimly before turning my attention to the last member of the Oracion Seis.
Brain...?
That at the very least, his son would not disappear.
Holy Crap, Midnight- Macbeth is actually Brain's son!?
The overwhelming sensation of all these fractions of humanity, these desperate hopes that had sustained these people through a hellish upbringing and life of crime...
You're all still people, aren't you?
I had known and felt their stories, known they were real. But they had been the opposition, my kidnappers. I hadn't been able to think around my own fear enough to realize they were still people too. Even Brain.
This thought made a sardonic smile come to Eric's face as he turned away.
This left me to think.
What can I do to help? Prison won't change them. They're too bitter for that. Something has to actually...
Someone has to do something.
Hoteye's wish was sweet. He wanted to find his brother again. So...who was his brother?
I sent my magic after the train of thought and came back with a shock.
Wally.
Erza's childhood friend, Wally, was Hoteye's brother...Apparently, when they were both taken, Brain had singled Richard out, as he was originally called, because he had a stronger latent magic. And taken him while leaving his brother in the tower. Just knowing his brother was alive would do a lot to giving him motivation to change.
How many more connections could I find? What else could be done to...reform these wizards?
Racer's dream to outrun his pain...wasn't something I could really help with. Brain, I couldn't find the pity or mercy in me to do much about. Macbeth though...
Design a dream catcher that absorbs sound. I could already imagine the runes etched into the outermost rim to perform the functions I intended.
Angel...or, Soriano as G2 told me her name was, was another person I didn't know how to help. Not when all she really wanted to do was die. Was there someone, anyone in her past life that could maybe inspire a desire to live?
She does have a little sister.
I'll take it! Find her name and I'll track her down!
Eric had turned his head back towards me and was watching me with an unreadable expression. He could hear everything going through my head. But what he thought of it...
"Get in the hole, snake." The knight behind him prodded him in the back with his spear tip and Eric moved forward obligingly. But he tripped, and only a sharp tug on the chains kept him from falling face first on the ground.
"Not so smooth now, are you?" I resisted the peevish urge to mute the chatty Rune Knight and watched Eric closely. I had a feeling he was winding up for something.
"Sorry, I think I left my balance back where the hothead schooled me."
Cubellios.
G2 confirming my hunch let me take the implication Eric had slipped me and follow it.
Cubellios was still unconscious, lying in the bushes. Eric had woken up, heard the Rune Knights coming, and used what little strength he had to hide her before he was arrested.
I'll find her. I promised Eric. I'll take care of her.
He didn't give any other sign that he had heard my thoughts, but a particle of tension left his shoulders and he entered the transport without a hitch or stumble.
So, now I was left with my next challenge.
I had recovered enough magic to be functional, but I was still running on practically no sleep over the last day. And with my guildmates throwing glances my way every few seconds, getting away to find the purple winged snake would be a lot harder.
Ok, which is most likely to be ok with my approaching a large venomous snake who was formerly an enemy?
-vVv-
Fae's plan, however impromptu and reckless, had been brilliant.
Jellal and Mystogan were practically identical, and the S-class Mage was secretive enough that any small discrepancies in his act would be overlooked. Now, the pressure was on Erza to keep her composure around Jellal, something which she had never been very good at.
Most of the initial suspicion upon seeing his face had been cleared with enough of her stalking around, demanding action and that the enemy wizards they had stopped be detained instead of their guildmates. (She'd maybe been a little more...sharp than she intended. But she didn't like the way one of the Blast Spears was half angled at Jellal's back.)
"What is she doing?" One of the knights asked, head turned aside and watching Fae.
The girl who had just committed a national scale crime and involved all of them in it, was sitting on the ground, drawing on a bare patch of ground she had cleared in the grass.
"What she always does." Erza said with pride. "She's working on something."
"If she has an idea, she'll sit down and figure out a way to make it work, no matter what." Jellal said with the same rueful affection that most of the members of Fairy Tail had for their ward.
"Maybe-"
"I'll go check on her." Their eyes met briefly and in complete understanding. The knight seemed like he wanted to protest, but Jellal didn't give him another glance.
Erza let out a long, silent breath she hadn't been aware she was holding from the moment Jellal met her gaze. Focus, Erza! Now isn't the time to get distracted! We're not completely safe yet!
She went back to business.
Fae had saved Jellal, but had also set them into a precarious position. If Jellal was now discovered to be a fake, all of them would be charged with obstructing arrest..
She dimly heard Jellal and Fae discussing something in soft voices.
The same kind tones she remembered in Jellal's younger voice were back, replacing thick cruelty. And she heard the notes of contentment and happiness in Fae's words.
Good luck getting away. She thought dryly. Jellal would no doubt try to leave, stealing someone's identity temporarily was one thing. But permanently? Have there be two 'Mystogans' in the guild? No, Jellal would never stand for that and Erza wouldn't either. No matter how badly she wanted to keep Jellal close...
She couldn't do it as Mystogan's expense. He was her comrade and guildmate, and had been for years.
"FAAAEE!" Natsu came tearing out of the trees at a full sprint, Wendy following behind as quickly as she could.
"Stand down. It's the Salamander." She cautioned the remaining Rune Knights. "It would not be wise to get between him and Fae." Not after everything Natsu had done to find her again.
The Fire Dragon Slayer had yanked Fae up from the ground and was crushing her in a tight hug, which she was answering, tears glittering in her eyes as he spun her. They seemed to be talking over each other, with Happy squished between them, bawling his eyes out and clutching Fae's shirt.
It was a messy, noisy reunion. But Fae's quiet shell broke open and her joyous laugh started to flow out.
And it was all as it was meant to be again.
Erza's attention was taken by the Rune Knights bringing in another collection of dark wizards. When she looked around again, Jellal was kept company by Wendy who was using her healing magic on him, Carla close by her side. But Natsu and Fae were nowhere to be seen.
"Have you seen them?" She asked Gray who was half passed out leaning against a tree.
"They went off together a few minutes ago. They'll be back soon." he didn't seem too worried about them being alone. And neither was Erza. It was a very foolish creature that tried to hurt Fae after the display Natsu had put on today.
Defeating first Brain, then Cobra, followed almost directly by Zero? The Rune Knights were nervous around him normally, something in his aura making them aware they were in the presence of a predator. But now with this kind of battle record in the last day alone with no real rest? They would be be terrified. But mostly grateful it wasn't them he was angry at.
"Erza?" Fae's voice sounded and she turned towards her.
An odd sight greeted her.
Fae was carried piggyback on Natsu, Happy was sitting on her head. And wrapped around all of them was a large purple snake that Erza...dimly recognized. Wasn't that Cobra's partner...?
"She's alone now, and she needs help. Can she come home with us?"
Some children bring back a puppy. Or a kitten...And Fae asks to bring back a flying, acid spitting Violet Dracne. She had encountered the breed on the first 10 year quests she had undertaken. They were extremely dangerous enemies, but not very intelligent. But this one seemed different, it was watching her with extreme awareness, curling around Fae with obvious discomfort. But there was a spark of something in its eyes...
"Fae, who is this?"
"She calls herself Cubellios. She's forgotten her real name."
"Oh?" Fae nodded, determination hardening her jawline.
"She's been cursed to be a snake for more than ten years, but she's actually a human. I want to free her." Ah... A lost soul with no identity. Fae was somehow seeing herself in this...woman? Erza took a closer look at the dracne, and saw, now that she looked for it, the barest flicker of human awareness in it's eyes. She offered her hand to the large snake.
"Welcome to Fairy Tail, Cubellios. You're in good hands." Only when Fae hissed something at the snake did she place her tail in Erza's grasp in a parody of a handshake. The girl gave a few more encouraging sounding hisses and Erza just held in a sigh and a smile.
Oh Fae, whatever will you do next?
-vVv-
In hindsight, I really should have expected someone to be glued to my side since the last time I wandered off, I had come back with Cubellios. I wasn't sure if my exhaustion finally caught up with me, or if I was given something to encourage rest, but I fell fast asleep with my new companion coiled around me for warmth. When I woke up, I was in a small, sturdy-looking hut, placed on a pallet with plenty of blankets.
You've been asleep for many hours. It is now mid morning.
Since it had been well into the evening when I was reunited with my guildmates, that meant it had now been a full two days since I was first abducted. My bracers were laying by my side. I had been wearing them when I was taken, but at some point, they had been removed. Apparently they had been recovered somewhere along the way.
Cubellios hissed at me, lifting her head to look at me.
I didn't understand her.
"Oh, hold on a second." I slipped on one of my bracers and touched a finger to one of the lacrima. "Parseltongue." The serpentine looking rune settled in the crystal. The timer in my head that showed how long I could make the spell last just had an infinity sign next to it. That was good. It meant that I would take in enough ethernano throughout the day to compensate for whatever I was using to keep it active.
:Sorry. I needed to recast the spell to understand you:
:It is alright: Cubellios's head lifted and she nosed me gently, but still conveying a tremendous sadness. I hugged her head close to my chest and ran my hand soothingly down her back in answer to her wordless plea for comfort.
:I know. You miss him:
Natsu had been completely agreeable to taking me to find Cubellios. Actually, taking him along had calmed her down from her initial panic upon waking up and realizing that Eric was gone. Natsu had a similar enough smell to placate her while I explained what had happened and what I had promised him.
She had naturally been heartbroken that she had failed Eric in battle, and that she hadn't been able to rouse herself quickly enough to try and protect him. But with patience and understanding, Natsu and I had persuaded her to give Fairy Tail a try and see if we couldn't make it so when she saw Eric again, she could speak for herself instead of needing me to translate.
Getting Erza's approval was something I had been worried about, but she had acquiesced and Cubellios was now my partner.
"Maybe having someone like her around will keep you from getting abducted again." I had laughed, until Cubellios asked what had been said. Then the giant snake had thought about it, and agreed that no one would be coming near me unless she said it was ok first. Her unfriendly smile, filled with poisonous fangs, made me aware that I desperately needed to iron out any kinks that might keep Esuna from working on poisons...
After freshening up, changing clothes and casting a basic Warming Charm for my reptilian friend in light of the growing winter chill, Cubellios and I went outside.
The Cait Shelter guild was set up more like a small, native community rather than a city guild. There was a large fire blazing in the central area, and Wendy was tending to it with several older women.
"Good morning, child." Carla's voice made me look down.
The white cat was immaculately groomed and still looked undeniably snooty...but her smile was genuine.
She likes taking care of people, though she'd never admit it.
"Good morning. You're Carla, right?" The she-cat's whiskers twitched in amusement.
"You needn't pretend you didn't already know my name. Your friends were quite vocal about praising your skills before we received word that you had been kidnapped." I shrugged, fidgeting slightly.
"It feels rude to take advantage of my magic like that. It makes some people uncomfortable." It certainly unnerved some of the more irregular members of Fairy Tail. There were more than a few who only stopped by once or twice a week who I wasn't particularly close to, and many of them felt I was more than a little odd.
"There is no shame in using your talents. Ignoring it is as good as denying who you are." The cat turned towards the fire, and I saw she was hauling a bundle of herbs nearly as big as she was. "Come along, breakfast is almost ready, though you are the first of your friends to wake."
Cubellios and I followed Carla, the snake beside me hissing with delight as we drew within range of the fire's warmth.
Something was bothering me about this place. There were plenty of people up and moving about, but it still felt strangely empty. Like every sound I heard should be echoing.
My first instinct was to delve into the mystery with my magic, but Wendy spotted me and flew towards me to grab me in a tight hug.
"I'm glad you're awake! How are you feeling?" I smiled back at the girl
"A lot better. You've got some impressive magic. I barely even have psychic trauma from what happened." Wendy blushed faintly and then looked down at Cubellios.
Since she was about as big around as I was and three times as long, she was intimidating.
"And good morning to you too! I don't know what you normally eat, but we've got plenty of fish and meat for you to choose from, cooked and not." I relayed her words in Parseltongue and then spoke back to Wendy.
"She prefers lamb meat if you have any. And she has no preference for raw or cooked, just as long as there are no strong spices on it."
"I think we still have a haunch of lamb." One of the cooks mused to herself. "Wendy, be a dear and fetch it for our guest?" The girl shot a bright smile at her.
"Sure, Marr! Come on, Fae. Let me show you around."
She's never been around another child her age and she desperately wants a friend.
G2's comment made my heart melt a little bit. I looked at Cubellios.
:Want to come along, or would you rather stay by the fire?:
She slid over the chilly ground to one of the rocks that would normally hold food to keep it warm.
:I will stay here, hatchling. Go explore with the wyrmling:
:Wyrmling?:
:She is a young dragon, like my friend and the Prince of Fire: This was apparently a sufficient explanation. But it just left me with a very big fat question:
Why did Cubellios call Natsu a prince? Maybe it had something to do with Igneel being termed a Dragon King?
Either way, I followed Wendy through the huts and buildings.
Several parts of the community were still sleeping, but others were busy. I saw several women and men working on hauling large sections of thread out of the river in baskets. There was a massive loom being strung and two men arguing over whether they should use flax or cotton to fulfil the order. We walked past another section where leather was curing, stretched out on racks.
Wendy was going to the waterfall, and the storage cavern I read was behind it. People were coming and going from the entrance and she wove through them with practiced ease and I tried my best to follow her example.
In doing so, my arm brushed up against one man carrying a large load.
He's dead.
I choked a little and almost tripped.
What do you mean he's dead? I demanded of G2, but she was silent. She had said her part, and now she was quiet until I found more information to trigger my psychometric abilities some more. In practicing with my gift to use it deliberately, I was picking up a lot less random information, but it meant I usually needed to focus on what was going on around me.
But still, a pronouncement like that...that was scary.
"I hope this will be enou-...Are you alright, Fae?" Wendy asked, arms full of a wrapped up piece of meat about half her size.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine. Just reading something." Wendy's eyes lit with interest.
"Like with your magic? Your friends mentioned you had Story Magic..." Ok, that's it. Somehow Wendy is joining Fairy Tail. That kind of information was not something my friends gave out to strangers.
"Yeah. There's a lot of history around here to read too." Wendy looked a little hesitant, but she steeled herself and asked.
"So...does that mean you could see my dragon in you touched me?"
I don't even need to do that much.
I could see glimpses of a beautiful white dragon with soft looking feathers, immense wings and powerful bird like talons regarding a young Wendy with a mother's tender care.
"Yeah...Natsu mentioned that, huh?"
"Mmhm." Wendy sighed. "I know it's a little silly, but I really want to see her again. Even if it is just a memory."
"She was your mother, Wendy, there's nothing silly about wanting to see her and keep her memory alive." I didn't understand why some people thought they needed to apologize for missing people that they loved. "When did you last see her?"
"Seven years ago." ...OK, that can't be a coincidence. Natsu and Gajeel had both lost their dragons seven years ago as well. On July 7th, in the year 777. That date was a magical powerhouse in terms of some rituals, so maybe there was a connection there?
For curiosity's sake...
I touched Wendy's shoulder lightly and focused...
Reaching into her past, I found the same long, dark tunnel I saw in Gajeel and Natsu's history if I tried to locate the last place they had been with their dragons.
Once is happenstance, Twice a pattern, three times is deliberate action.
"What was she like?" Wendy's face light up with love and fondness as she began to tell me all about Grandeney the Sky Dragon.
About how much she had gone flying with her, and how she had never felt safer than she did when buried in her feathers.
About the lessons in magic and anatomy she had been given.
About how to read the wind, predict the weather and thrive in the outdoors.
"Some parts I can't remember as well." She admitted. "I was only four when she disappeared."
"Well, maybe whatever parts you can't remember so well, I can help recall. That way, you won't lose what you have left." It was a simple enough offer, but I saw gratitude and something that may have been tears shine in Wendy's eyes as she shot me a grateful smile.
Once the topic moved away from dragons, the ice was well and truly broken. Wendy told me about her home, and the people in it. The stories of the pranks and embarrassing moments.
But it was in her story about how she had fallen into a container of yellow fabric dye when it started again.
"-pushed me in!"
"I did no such thing!" An older gentleman with feathers braided into his iron grey hair protested with a chuckle. "You were just having a particularly klutzy day."
"Yes you did!"
He's dead.
What the actual-!? He was missing an arm, and his chest was oddly sunken in. Like something massive had stepped on him. Then I blinked and he was normal again.
A kindly woman ruffled Wendy's hair and handed us both some honeycomb.
Dead.
Her face was so cut up, it looked like she was wearing a flesh and bone mask. Then my vision cleared and she was smiling again.
A rangy teenager called a good morning with a string of fish over his shoulder, who Wendy blushed furiously upon seeing.
Dead.
There were six different spear wounds piercing his torso.
How can they all be dead? I asked, watching as everyone around me carried on with a perfect semblance of life. But all my magic was showing me was death, death and more death. Was I seeing their deaths?
No. I had Retrocognition. I saw the past, I had no talent whatsoever in diving the future.
You're not seeing how they will die. But how they did die.
G2's voice completely ruined my appetite as it hit me then.
I was in an honest to goodness ghost town. The only person I saw from here who didn't flash between the sights of death and various stages of decay perfect health was Wendy.
Wendy who talked to everyone, who everyone knew by name. Who everyone greeted with a smile.
This is her home.
Her family.
They're all dead.
...
And she doesn't realize it.