"They've all got cats."
"Cobra didn't, and neither did Laxus."
"They're half Slayers. They got the power, but none of the instincts. All Dragon Slayers who were properly raised by a dragon have got cats. Why don't I got one too?" Gajeel's demand was somewhat petulant in tone.
I could mention Sting, since he doesn't have a cat, but I think that would cause more problems than it would solve, given everyone's reactions to hearing about Rogue.
He had come in late on the night Rogue and Frosch visited our guild, and I had happily towed the big Iron Slayer over to his tiny fanboy and left them to bond. I didn't sense anything bad happening, and Gajeel had looked more surly-grumpy than growling-grumpy after the fact.
He was meeting with Raven Tail as their double agent at Makarov's behest. And G2 seemed to think that this conversation hadn't been one Gajeel enjoyed. His overall tension levels had gone down after talking to Rogue and he didn't snap at anyone for the whole night!
Mission(s) accomplished! Get Gajeel to relax a bit, and get Rogue his chance to talk to Gajeel!
But this was an unexpected side effect of the night. Gajeel had been scouring the city for the past two days looking for cats. Then he had come to me, and demanded I track down a cat for him. Apparently it was supposed to be a Dragon Slayer thing now.
"Because your standards are too high for house cats to manage." Foremost on the list of requirements: Badass. Which in Gajeel-speak meant someone he could reasonably spar with. Which was in pretty short supply...Around here at least. Maybe in Edolas, their home world, it would be a different story.
Pantherlily the Exile meets all of Gajeel's desired requirements.
I shook my head, trying to clear the swarm of information from my mind. Why Pantherlily was called the Exile, what he looked like, what he fought with-
That's a freaking huge sword...and holy crap, that cat is buff. How can a cat be buff?!
"You got something."
"It's nothing!"
"Kid, where's my cat?"
I had to improvise an escape route, quickly.
-vVv-
Note to self, Magnets + Gajeel = ?
Noted for future experimentation and analysis.
-vVv-
I had passed a new horizon of insanity. I was sitting, trying to think of a name for the voice in my head.
It had to be a unique name, not something I would hear anywhere else. Something uniquely and completely hers...
Gildarts is en route. Gildarts Shift begins in 2 days, 23 hours and 59 minutes.
You're just trying to distract me...You're getting a name!
My designation is sufficient.
Your designation was assigned to you by the monster who killed our birth family and tried to take away our free will. This argument tended to follow the same patterns. I was just happy that she was actually responding as opposed to silence unless I touched my magic.
You are the master of our life. What she meant was whatever name I assigned her would be the one she used from then on out.
Not good enough! You're a person too. I picked my name when I started a new life. And you are not the same tool they made you to be. You can't stay G2.0 because you're not her anymore!
She had no response to this. I took this as a point in my favor. I'm not sure what it said about my mental state if I was keeping score in arguments with...basically myself, but I wasn't overly worried about it.
But if Gildarts was coming...
I jumped to my feet, hissing at Cubellios that I had some surveying to do.
:to what end?: She inquired, flexing her muscles slightly and slimming down from 'massive' to simply 'large'. She was still about the size of a boa constrictor. (We discovered she could do this after her hiding in my bed to escape the cold resulted in her cracking the frame.)
:to teach Sky Wyrmling how to fly: She hissed in amusement and quickly slithered out of the hall beside me, protected from the chill by a band at her neck that had a rune meant to keep her blood at a comfortable 80 degrees. With the ability to scorn the outdoor temperature, Cubellios was a lot more fearless about venturing out and about. Especially if there was something amusing to be seen.
-vVv-
"Fae, I really don't think this-"
"You are cocooned in enough enchantments to survive falling off a five story building onto your head with nothing but minor bruises. C'mon, it's now or never the shift will be starting soon!"
"Why are we even doing this?" I gave the Sky Dragon Slayer a bright grin, tightening the laces of my red and white shoes and adding a spell to make sure they didn't go flying.
"We're working on your spatial awareness and reaction time while we're in free fall. The human instinct when they're falling from a great height is to panic. But we need to get rid of that if we're gonna make any progress in your flying. I want you to focus on the air around you, how it feels and how your magic responds to it."
"I can do that, but-"
"No buts! We've gotta figure out how your aerodynamics work if we're ever gonna get you off the ground. Now remember: Don't worry about the impact. Your protective seals will work like a giant trampoline and bounce you back to the top. And if you get off target, Cubellios will catch you." The blue haired healer looked remarkably steady and not like she was going to run away the moment I took my eyes off of her. Fear aside, she did want to overcome this fear of heights. It also meant she trusted me a great deal that she was willing to even try this crazy idea.
"I am seriously questioning your methods..." Wendy said with a gulp.
"You say that, but you're still here! Brace yourself, the shift starts in 15 seconds..."
-vVv-
"Hi Gildarts!" The Crash Mage looked up at the cry and saw a green haired girl fall from the top lip of the straight tunnel leading to the guild hall. She did look familiar but...she was too young to be a wizard... She was at least falling properly. Spread eagled and not even looking nervous about the rapidly incoming ground.
Should I catch her? I'm not getting any sense of incoming disaster...When your magic was literally all about making things come apart, you got a sense for when something was about to go horribly wrong. And he wasn't getting that feeling even though the girl was very clearly in deliberate free fall.
She tucked herself into a ball as if dive bombing into a pool, throwing herself into a spinning motion with a strange whizzing sound and a startling burst of speed. Then she hit the ground...And bounced upwards with incredible velocity and a loud boing.
"It woooooorks!" She cheered as she soared upward again with a crow of triumph and clearly not even the least bit affected by her impact with the ground.
A far less calm sound, it sounded rather like a strangled shriek of terror, came from down the tunnel and he paused to look back.
The girl, about the same age as the first, had long dark blue and was falling with a look of comical terror.
"Tuck and roll!" Came a distant call from above. "Cubellios!" A large purple snake with wings dove out of the sky, catching the girl in one of her coils and soaring upwards again.
Magnolia's gotten a lot more lively since I've been gone if this is what the kids are doing for fun these days. He then turned and started back towards the guild hall.
-vVv-
We only had a few minutes of optimal jump time to make the most of. When Gildarts was in the hall, the Shift ended and the city went back to normal. So we were going back to the guild hall, very windswept, but laughing. Wendy partly from enjoyment and partly from nervous relief.
"So, how was it?"
"Once I...got used to it? It was...kinda nice. I don't think I like moving that fast though. At least not in the same direction and with the ground coming at me."
"Well, I can tell you that your flight will be limb based as opposed to my wings." I said, nodding firmly as we walked into the guild hall.
"Why do you say that?"
:once you stopped flailing like a falling tree-rat, you moved to striking position: Wendy politely kept looking at Cubellios to the end of her long hiss before looking to me for the translation. I still hadn't worked something out to make the Parseltongue enchantment transferable to someone else.
"She saw it too. After you got over your initial panic, you always streamlined your body to pass through the air more easily, hands over your head instead of to the sides. That means your ability to fly probably depends on whatever air your generate from your hands. Most of your best combat abilities come from either there, or your breath, so that'll be what we focus on next. And you can't say you're not meant to be in the air because you never once got disoriented in your falls or flights with Cubellios." I punched her shoulder with a smile. "Face it, Wendy; you were made to fly! You just need to remember it."
"You think I already know how?"
"I'd bet money on it! ...You know, if I had any." Alas, components are expensive no matter what field you are in... I needed to do another job. Soon.
The shoes on my feet had been a tongue in cheek idea I had after I decided to add the funny sound affect our anti-concussive force seals. The jump pads Sonic used made such an iconic sound and they made me laugh...and I figured giving it a sound effect would help Wendy be reassured there was actually something protecting her. I'd changed the color of my shoes to red in some places for my own amusement to go with the sound once I had listened to parts of the story.
But the Sonic spin-ball move I had done? That was sheer improvisation. And while I hadn't been trying to do any actual damage...I did so want to see if I could make that a viable attack.
Might need some kind of armored clothing for that. My back isn't made for that kind of thing.
"You're already out of cash? How do you spend it so fast?"
"Materials." I said, stretching and letting Cubellios slide around my shoulders for warmth. "My magic seems to be straddling the line between Caster and Holder, so I wanna see what kind of magical tools I could make. And none of that stuff comes cheap."
"You mean the stuff you're buying isn't cheap..."
"I refuse to be known for low quality goods!"
"How are you managing to get the shop owners to sell you product?" That...had been another improvisation.
-vVv-
The shop owner looked over the counter at the shards of lacrima I had placed on his counter. They were small, they honestly looked like gravel, but they were also meant to store energy. They weren't quite a controlled material, but they were very close. (Actually, if people realized what I was planning on doing with these, they might just declare them controlled...)
"Aren't you a little young to be buying Kinetic Lacrima?"
"Yes. Yes I am." I held my breath as the man looked at me for a moment longer...then shrugged and held out a clipboard with nonchalant casualness.
"Well, it's nice to see someone with healthy hobbies at your age. Sign here, kid. That'll be 25,000 jewel."
-vVv-
I...was not sure if I had accidentally used magic to Phineas my way to materials no ten year old should have access to. But I'd only worry about that if the item I was making with them only lasted for a day.
I never thought I'd have to be careful about how I line-drop something.
"There...might be some magic involved..."
"Fae, you didn't use some kind of Charm magic on him, did you?" Wendy looked alarmed and I hurried to pacify her worry.
"No, no, nothing like that! If I did anything, I didn't realize it! ...Which would be even more concerning..."
"Yeah, just a little. I think you'd better talk to Mystogan or someone." Actually, given his experience with mind affecting magic, Jellal might be the guy to talk to in this.
"I'll ask him. But I didn't do anything on purpose. I just accidentally referenced a story where some kids about our age manage to get away with all kinds of crazy stuff because the adults providing their building materials never question why ten year olds need sheet metal, hydraulic presses or anything."
"...I think you'd better not try and get anything else until you've double checked to make sure your not accidently using Charm magic."
"Probably for the best..."
A loud crash made Wendy and Cubellios flinch as something flew through the guild hall roof, trailing fire.
"Is that...?"
"Yeah, that's Natsu. He was just saying hi to Gildarts. Come on! You've gotta meet him, he never stays in town for very long!"
I concluded that running around carrying Cubellios must have been a tremendous work out for Eric and contributed to his overall physical strength and stamina. Even with her scaled down to a smaller size for me, I was still breathing hard when I arrived at the hall. Gildarts was already sitting down, a drink and food set nearby as people interrogated him for news.
My eye automatically drifted to the side.
Cana was sitting nearby, but not so close that she seemed to be deliberately eavesdropping. Her eyes met mine and then dropped, turning away in shame.
She's scared to tell him he's her father.
Yeah, that had been something that popped up years ago. I'd only regulated it to the back of my mind. Mystogan telling me about Edolas, and triggering the recall of that information, had made me go back through all the stuff I had read over the years that I'd never really noticed...and boy howdy was there a lot that G2 picked up that I automatically incorporated without really noticing.
"And here's one of our newest members! Wendy Marvell. Wendy, this is Gildarts!" Master was sitting close to Gildarts, hearing his public report. They would go aside privately and he would get the private scoop on what was going on in the world.
"Pleased to meet you, sir!" Wendy said, smiling like the cute girl she was and bowing to him politely. The Crash Wizard laughed.
"Sir? I'm not that old, kid." He paused and then looked around. "Speaking of kids, where's Fae?"
Dead silence fell. Everyone stared at him in disbelief.
I was taken aback for a bit, and even a little hurt until G2 spoke up.
You hadn't unlocked your magic when he left. He thinks you're still a civilian ward.
There were cases of young wizards accessing their magic once in need, and then never being able to touch it again because the trauma overdid it. It put a door in to access the power, and then closed and locked it.
Oh...He's forgiven...Well, mostly forgiven. Activate Crocodile Tears!
I totally heard G2 sigh in my head in exasperation. It wasn't just my own breath in my ears. I refused to believe I wasn't rubbing off on her in some ways.
"You...you don't remember me...?" The minor illusion emphasized large, watery eyes that reflected more light than they should to give the impression of greater sadness. I had been toying with the idea of adding some sound effects. Either sad music, or a muted zone of silence to make whatever I was saying more impactful.
But for now, this was enough.
"Huh? Oh, you're that girl who was bouncing around town earlier." I pouted, letting my shoulders slump and layering Puppy Dog Eyes over Crocodile Tears. "I..don't think I've...Wait."
Gildarts leaned in close, squinting at me.
I had gotten a lot taller since I was seven, when he had last seen me. My hair had grown out to my shoulders, instead of being close cropped from my head injury. I had also grown into myself as a member of Fairy Tail. Before, it had been a place I lived and I stood out as a stranger amidst family. Now it was home. I belonged here.
"I don't...Fae? Kid, you got your magic working!" I dropped the illusions and laughed, jumping at Gildarts. He acted...oddly. He shifted to catch me with his off hand, hugging me with a laugh.
What's up with that?
His dominant arm has been replaced with a prosthetic and he isn't so good at controlling his strength with it yet.
What? Since when?
"That's old news, man. She's even got her circle put together!"
"Atta girl! Let's see it!"
-vVv-
Gildarts was enjoying catching up with his family, and seeing how the little green haired waif had grown into a sassy, young, as yet unmarked but undeniable member of Fairy Tail.
Jumping off of cliffs at her age...The next generation is in good hands!
Between Fae's energy and Wendy's sweetness, it certainly looked like the two girls would be the ones to set the pace for the rising generation. The de facto leaders, though they only had each other and Romeo at the moment.
After Fae greeted him and showed off her circle for a bit, she went to help Mirajane behind the bar. Wendy lent a hand as well.
"Cutest bar crew ever." He chuckled into his drink as Fae levitated plates and mugs all over the place while Wendy gathered up dirty dishes, weaving around each other with laughs and familiarity. The big purple snake Fae had been wearing was now stretched out by the fire and allowing Romeo to play with her tail.
"They're good girls." Makarov said fondly. "And good for each other."
Family's growing all the time. Gildarts could see a number of new faces as he glanced around the room. A cute blond girl who Natsu had joined when he came back from wherever he had sent him flying. A blue haired woman hovering around a mostly uninterested Gray. A large, dark haired man reading by the fireplace, seemingly oblivious to Romeo climbing all over him, using an amused snake as an improvised climbing rope. And a scowling black haired, piercing riddled punk glaring at him from across the room.
Makarov had also mentioned there was one more, but he needed to remain reclusive for Mystogan's sake. Another of Erza's old friends, Jellal. He was at their guild cabin, a smaller property set away from people. He needed medical treatment and therapy to recover from being mind controlled for years, blasted by the elements of an unstable etherton blast and then stuck in a coma for months, followed by being beaten into a pulp by a powerful dark wizard. The kid deserved some down time, though Makarov said he was eagerly awaiting clearance to join normal life. Apparently Mystogan had agreed to loan him his identity for public use.
Lucy, Juvia, Simon and Gajeel were those who were immediately present. Makarov had told him their names, who had brought them in and general descriptions of course. But seeing how they were in the guild hall told Gildarts volumes about how they felt in regards to Fairy Tail. Out of all of them, only the Dragon Slayer seemed to be ill at ease, still glowering at him-
Oh damn. Dragon Slayer.
Dragon Slayer who was unfamiliar with him and who had no reason to trust him.
He can probably smell the other dragon.
Their staring contest across the guild hall was interrupted by the sound of Wendy's tone becoming uneasy instead of welcoming. Their gazes shifted as one to the other men, wizards from Twilight Ogre, said something to Wendy that Gildarts didn't quite catch. But it obviously made her uncomfortable.
There came a splash and the wizards were now liberally soaked in fruity wine.
"Oops!" Fae's voice rang out completely unapologetic. "My bad sirs, I'll clean that up for you. Scourgify." The charm had no visible effect other than to make soap bubbles burst from their stained clothing and make them squirm slightly. It removed the wine stains, and Fae had moved in beside Wendy to clear away dirty dishes from the table, making them fly about with a little more velocity than was strictly necessary. The foreign mages said nothing more to the pair. And the trio of Fairy Tail wizards sitting at the next table relaxed only once Fae and Wendy were out of reach from the unknowns.
Not normal, but given how Fae was snatched out of the hall under everyone's noses, I can't say I blame them.
But Fae was still angry over whatever had been said. Her hair was shifting slightly, carried on the drifts of magic she was exuding from her skin. He could taste the faintest promise of destruction in the air.
He reached out as Fae passed, instinctively letting his hand rest on her shoulder. He went to just let a microscopic portion of his power mingle with hers, breaking up her angry aura so she didn't accidentally lash out with the residual power she had collected.
But that wasn't all that happened.
She went stiff as a board, eyes widening and staring into the distance as a look of absolute terror came over her face.
"Fae?" Flash back to her kidnapping? No...
Haunted eyes looked back at him, tears filling them as Fae shook slightly under his touch. The touch of his prosthetic metal arm.
"Gildarts...his name...is Acnologia." Then her legs folded under her as she collapsed like a dropped rag doll.
Gildarts caught her reflexively, staring at the girl with utter shock and disbelief. Makarov bent over, quickly checking her over and reassuring the worried wizards that Fae was fine, she had just gotten a bad shock. The snake, Cubellios had vanished out the door in a surge of violet scales as Gildarts cradled the unconscious girl, too shocked to react.
"What...in the actual name of Myrddin was that about...?" He asked Makarov in an undertone. "How the hell could she know...?"
"Faerun's magic is incredible." The old guild master said simply. "Incredibly powerful, but also incredible personal. She probably saw a portion of your last quest-."
And if that was the case, if she had seen something he had seen...Only one thing he had encountered in the last three years could elicit a reaction like this.
Acnologia. So the cataclysmic force of pure destruction (Not nature, nothing about that beast was natural) had a name.
Gildarts was suddenly aware of Gajeel's hard stare, alternating between him and the unconscious girl. While he wasn't among those clamoring to know if she was alright, he was certainly paying a lot of attention to her. Happy, and the new white cat Carla were gently lifting Fae out of his hold and to somewhere she could lie down. A room upstairs. A thin trickle of mist drifted through the door, gliding up the stairs. A long, sleek shadow passed the window, also headed upstairs.
She'll be fine. Gildarts assured himself, his celebratory mood at being home rather spoiled by his accidentally traumatizing a child. She's got plenty of people around to take care of her. And all that monster can do right now is scare her.
And what a monster it was. Fairy Tail made a habit of destroying monsters that made little girls cry, but this was a whole new breed. One that he would need time to prepare himself if he wanted to face him again. He'd escaped last time because his injuries were accidental, however horrific they were. Next time he saw Acnologia again, he would do his best to make that thing remember him.
-vVv-
Mystogan has arrived. Cubellios is nearby.
Yeah, I could feel the weight of the size shifting snake on the bed beside me. My head was still swimming, images of what I had read off of Gildarts flashing through my mind and making me flinch again.
Blackness darker than the cold of space, slashed through with etherion blue. A pale underbelly leading up to a head with teeth...eyes...no, those weren't eyes. Just empty, white spots of power. And the oppressive aura. The horror of a blade of grass looking at the wildfire bearing down on it. Not just the laughable hope of surviving. No, what burned the deepest was a clear, distinct knowledge...that not only were you about to be destroyed. But this thing wouldn't even notice that you were in its path, before or after it had killed you.
Acnologia.
G2 affirmed, voice subdued and quiet. I wanted to know more...and I wanted to forget. I wanted to forget I ever saw that thing. Pure nightmare fuel.
"Fae?" I squeezed my hand reflexively, noticing that it was being held by a much larger one. Tears were still running down my face.
"I'll be ok..." I just needed some time...Time to process the image, and time to construct a barrier of happy memories to hold the horror at bay. "I just...I want it to go away...I can still see him, Mystogan. He's still there. He..."
"What did you see?"
It took me a moment to force the words out of lips I could still barely feel.
"...A dragon." But unlike the glimpse I had gotten of Igneel, the sight of this beast only filled me with terror. "Gildarts ran into a dragon while he was on his job... He got in the way...it's why he's back. He lost an arm. It wasn't even attacking him, and he still lost an arm..."
"And you saw that..."
:hatchling, if the man who smells of dust did this to you, I will bite him...:
Cubellios was clearly more than a little unnerved. Once second I had been fine and happy, the next, after Gildarts touched me, I was freezing up and passing out.
:no. He didn't do anything: I assured her.
"She's upset too."
"She was gonna go bite Gildarts. I'd bet on him surviving it, but still..."
Mystogan gave a humorless chuckle and I heard the faint rasp of his glove running down Cubellios's back.
"I would too. If he can see a dragon and live then there isn't much I would bet on taking him out." I lay there in silence for a bit longer.
Natsu is waiting outside, as are Freed, Happy, Lucy, Gray, Erza, Simon, Wendy, Carla-
I know, I know, the usual suspects.
I need to distract myself. And my friends from worrying about me. It probably wouldn't work, but...
"I think I'm almost ready to make a magical tool." I told Mystogan. He lifted his head, a smile crossing his features.
"Which one? You've told me about several."
"The headband."
"For the ninja skill set? Fae-"
"Just for a physical enhancement, I'm not about to try spontaneous simulacrum creation." I assured him. Yet. He exhaled slowly.
"Take me through your process." Since Mystogan wasn't a Rune Wizard, he couldn't help a lot in the details of the spells. But he knew his way around magical tools. Especially ones that bonded with their users like this one would need to.
"The Core is for a Ninja Academy Graduate. Granting enhanced speed, strength, durability and proportionate reflexes. Also allowing stable visual illusions, incorporeal decoys, and extreme sleight of hand...that may be short range teleportation. I don't know yet." He gave me a look. The kind that said that I had better make it sleight of hand and not teleportation. I sighed and waved the hand he wasn't still holding in acknowledgement.
"Spoilsport..."
"Materials needed?" he asked with only a small smirk acknowledging my complaint.
"Base: Metal plate etched with stylized leaf symbol attached to bandana, preferably in dark blue or black. Foundational story written in runes stored inside enchantment lacrima. Additional enchantment lacrima containing the techniques and physical enhancements. Kinetic lacrima shards to provide power."
"Where are the stabilizing lays located?"
"Micro etched into the symbol on the front."
This kind of talk helped us both relax and unwind from the stress of the situation. And then Natsu and Gray accidentally broke through the wall instead of the door. Erza yelled at them, Lucy and Wendy just moved around them to come to me, Happy was cuddling up to me, fur puffing slightly at Cubellios...
It was normal again.
I basked in the familiar sounds and sights of Fairy Tail...and let that memory cover what I had seen in Gildarts past with the warm balm of family.
-vVv-
Since I wasn't actually injured, I managed to persuade Mystogan to help me start to put together my headband the next day. Wendy was off on a job with Levy, and Mira was more than capable of handling the morning rush by herself. Weekdays were always a bit slow.
Normally, it would have been better to do this work indoors. But I needed peace and quiet to get this done without wasting my weeks of effort and preparation, and the guild hall was literally never quiet. I'd already showed my runes to Freed and he said they looked like they should work. I'd checked them twice with G2, and she had gone over the most likely things to go wrong until the chance of this blowing up in my face were reduced to about 7%.
"Etherium conducts magic the best, but you'll get a much stronger hold out of steel. So for your first try, you should use the regular connectors." Mystogan informed me, opening the front of the headband. In order to make wearing it easier, I had decided to go with simply making the plate a shallow box, shallow enough that you couldn't really tell it was two layers of metal instead of one.
The back of my soon to be newest item resembled a harddrive in blue lacrima and orange glowing runes.
Since Naruto had by far the most developed story in the whole series, he was the titular character after all, I had decided to put his story of progression into this item. And since it would be all stored inside a lacrima, which would have room for a lot more information than what I was putting in it, this enchantment could be moved to another item as I grew and became more able to handle additional powers.
Shadow Clones, you may elude me for now, but one day you will be mine!
I had written an extensive paragraph, describing Naruto as a young boy. Headstrong, endless determination, and more importantly, endless energy. Hence the addition of my kinetic relays matched with lacrima of the same type. The more I moved, the more energy I would have. In theory, anyway. It wasn't a perfect science. I would run myself down eventually, but this would give me several more hours of effective use.
I scanned it, biting my lip and checking each part of the text carefully for errors, or unclear phrasing...
"I think I'm ready." At this, Mystogan, wearing gloves designed to wick away excess magic, placed my largest piece of lacrima before me.
I had been storing enough of my own energy in this to magic it malleable to my will. So I shaped it into a thin, but deceptively strong sheet, just big enough to fit into the space inside the metal headband.
Once I did that, I let the string of words, the story I had written, trickle down, one word at a time, into the lacrima.
It came to life and began to glow...
Energy moved through the lines of tiny words that linked the sheet to the other smaller lacrima set into the metal before me. I bit my lip then as I put it together, the metal backing fitting into place with a solid click. I bolted it onto the metal fabric and then sat there holding it, feeling for if was ready...
Activation incomplete.
G2 said blandly.
Come on...I'm so close!
What had I done with Link's hat in the Tower that I hadn't done here?
I thought back, brow furrowed. Mystogan sat quietly and let me think undisturbed. He simply waited.
Tower. Link. Child. Alone. Scared. Fight. Sword. No experience, needed experience.
This was Naruto's headband. What he earned from Iruka, his father figure, when he found out about the Kyuubi, Kurama. What he prized and valued. What became the shaping force of his life.
I smiled suddenly, tying the bandana into place as I spoke the words.
"I don't quit and I don't run. And I never go back on my word. This is my ninja way!"
Activation complete.
-vVv-
Mystogan, sans his mask because it was actually far easier to breathe without it, watched as Fae raced around the clearing with her new magical tool. She was thrilled at what she was discovering, and he was happy that she was so overjoyed. It certainly seemed to be everything she wanted it to be...
Though she hadn't mentioned the possibility of running up the sides of trees. But judging by how she laughed, she wasn't that upset.
"And once again, I defy you gravity!" This was said with great relish. And then she paused suddenly, hands patting her head as though to assure herself it was still there.
"Something wrong?" He called.
"Just making sure my hair doesn't decide to get all weird and spiky. Also, let me know if you see me going blond."
"Blond?"
"When I did this before, I noticed some spillover effects. It didn't affect me, just Happy, but it's always better to be aware of the possibilities."
"Very wise." Don't laugh. It's very good that she's thinking ahead and showing foresight. Don't laugh because of how funny it looks to see her looking so serious about the possibility of turning blond...
The banished prince, reached for his staves, lying on the ground beside him, and rose.
"Do you feel up to a test run?" This got a brilliant grin fired at him from his pupil.
"Lead the way!" She cocked her head then and giggled, zipping over to him and noticeably faster speeds than she could have managed before, and pulling his mask back into place...
Then she did another lap of the field and let out a delighted laugh.
"That makes it work ever more!"
"My wearing a mask?"
"Circumstantial support! Naruto's first real teacher always wore a face mask! The more accurate it seems to me, the less magic it seems to use!"
"Maybe it's just your concept of the story that is supporting the enchantment latching onto a passing detail in order to channel more power into your item." Mystogan felt this was far more likely. There weren't many actual magics that relied on the user deluding themselves into thinking something. There were several curses that did that, but this was no curse.
"Noted! Where are we going and is it close enough to go on foot? I want to practice tree running!"
Mystogan's plan had been to give her a run through the woods, then letting her get used to the item's enchantments on sand, stone and mud so she would be prepared in just about any situation.
Mystogan's plan had been to let her play and tire herself out, noting how long it took for that to happen in order to report back to Makarov about Fae's progress.
Prince Jellal of Edolas stopped dead at the sound of something tear open and a massive surge of energy suddenly vacating the area. Fae swayed on her feet, eyes wide and blank as she read what had just happened...
The duo turned around, back towards Magnolia and their guild hall.
They emerged from the trees to see...White
It was as though the whole city had been turned to ashes. Buildings were gone, people had disappeared. All gone.
But...They couldn't aim, They couldn't use it. It was useless. I made sure of that. How did they...? He had destroyed the semantics of the stave they used to direct the Anima. He had made doubly, triply sure that there were no traces of it left. No spare copies, no left over materials, nothing they could use...(He had earned his banishment just with the amount of royal property he destroyed.)
"They made another one..." Fae whispered, standing by his side, eyes focused on some distant point, barely keeping herself from shaking. "Byro managed to rework the Anima, find replacement parts, design new ones...it took him a long time. And it isn't perfect..."
"What went wrong?" He asked in a dull tone. Fae was silent for a second...
"It wasn't meant to take the buildings..."
So they did intend on this new Anima to convert people into energy. It isn't just about taking what this world can spare anymore and sucking in people on accident...though it hasn't been accidental for a long time.
Mystogan lifted his gaze upward, seeing the familiar, damning faint line hovering in the air.
You...
This wasn't just innocents at the wrong place and time, people who were caught in the line of fire and got pulled along. The first time the Anima had been turned on people had been an accident. The two experiments that had followed, that drove him to his breaking point, had caught one or two people.
This wasn't harvesting energy for day to day living. This was an attack. They had aimed for the biggest bright spot they could, knowing full well it contained wizards and a populated city. The only thing they could be using this much power for was war.
You took my family. And Fairy Tail was his family. This wouldn't just be an Anima he could close. They had taken too many important people to him to just try and cover this up.
A small hand wound into his and bright blue eyes glowed up at him from under a silver head plate. Trust shone in those eyes. That he would make the right choice.
Their own had been harmed, their city and their guild. Every standard in the guild law dictated what must now happen. And it was Mystogan's job as an S-class wizard to see to it that they were carried out, since he was guild master interim in Makarov's...absence.
"Fairy Tail is going to war." Fae's quiet statement made him feel a flicker of guilt. He was dragging his apprentice, a child, into a fight she had no place in...
No. That isn't right.
Fairy Tail was Fae's family. And it was her right to defend her family.
"Anima can be reversed." He told her, clasping her hand a little more tightly. We can get them back.
"But not if they drain the lacrima." She would know that clearly. Have a timer in her minds eye of how long they had before they started to lose wizards.
He didn't know what to say. But Fae looked up at him. A steely, cold resolve in her glowing eyes.
"It's ok Mystogan. If I can't protect my friends...then you can be damn well sure I'll avenge them."