A/N: Posting early this week, because I will not be available over the weekend. Expect the next chapter on the regular schedule, so in about three weeks.
Getting things organized to visit Eric took time. I was reasonably sure the only reason I was even allowed to was because I had Fairy Tail backing me. And though we had a reputation for being insane, we were a large guild, and a disproportionately powerful one at that. It also helped that Simon had a literally spotless record. Yes, you heard me. Simon was to date the only marked Fairy Tail wizard that had not done anything illegal. (At least not in Fiore. Edolas doesn't count.) This, and the fact that Loke was also coming along let us bypass the worst of the safeguards without much issue.
Kinana was coiled under my jacket collar, nervous and silent, but excited beyond belief.
"If I understand Eric's abilities correctly, he won't be able to hear your thoughts even now. But the translation spell will let him understand you. The guards shouldn't realize you're not actually a snake though."
She pressed her scaled head against my chin in an affectionate nuzzle.
:I understand, fairy child. Thank you for arranging this:
Simon was a large silent forerunner and Loke followed close behind. I had only sent a letter last week informing Eric that I was intending on visiting. I had also taken the time to write a letter to Soriano, Macbeth and Richard, and had informed the latter that his brother was alive and well. Simon had contacted Wally to let him know what had happened to Richard. While their reunion was not typical in any sense of the word, it was good that they knew about each other at the very least.
The warden led us to a room down a featureless hallway layered with suppression and containment magic. Prison for wizards had to be as bland and mentally unstimulating as possible as well as heavily reinforced and warded to minimize the risk of breakouts.
As I took a step, I sensed that Brain had walked down this hall. My spine prickled uneasily and I couldn't contain a shiver. A warm hand rested on my shoulder.
"You ok, princess?" Loke's query was welcome and his concern was touching. But Brain would always give me the heebie-jeebies. I erased my own programming and removed all knowledge of it from his brain. He cannot control me ever again. I smiled stiffly and nodded.
"I'll be ok."
"You'll only have fifteen minutes." The guard escorting us said as we stopped by a door. "Do not touch him or get too close. Damn bastard's poisonous."
"Venomous." I corrected under my breath. "He's only poisonous if someone eats him."
"We understand." Simon said, nodding with a gravity that made the guard feel respected but not submitted to. It was a fine line, and I wasn't sure how Simon managed it. I guess it must have been how massive he was. But he always carried himself as though status did not exist. He was a person, and everyone else was a person. There was no bowing or submission in his attitude, yet he wasn't arrogant or cocky either. And I had caught a glimpse that once, on a job, some guy had decided to try and prove his dominance by cowing the intimidating looking Darkness Wizard.
By the end of their five minute encounter, the man was terrified and Simon hadn't done anything except wait him out and give minimal answers to his demands.
Courage is knowing what not to fear. I was pretty sure Simon simply had no time for fear anymore. It had been too prevalent in his life for him to let it bother him now. And there was little more intimidating to a blowhard than someone who was absolutely not going to be afraid of you no matter what you did.
The room was bare save for a table with two chairs seated across from each other. Eric sat in one, hands placed in easy view on the table with the cuffs on his wrists worn with an air of ease.
He's very accustomed to wearing them by now.
Simon entered first, followed by myself and Loke. Eric's posture shifted slightly when he saw me come in, his eyes flicking to Simon and Loke with wariness.
"I know they're not specifically on your visitors list, but I wasn't allowed to come by myself." I explained once the door was shut and we had a moment alone. We technically weren't supposed to bring anyone in other than ourselves. That meant we had to be very careful about when Eric and Kinana had their conversation. We had decided early on might be best.
I wasn't sure if Eric could still hear thoughts, so I had asked that Simon come along, for one because he looked scary and could help me and Kinana escape notice, and for another because of his telepathy. As soon as we entered the room, Simon had informed Eric that he would be blurring the watcher's perception for a few minutes to let him and his old partner have a short conversation.
I saw when this message was transmitted by the miniscule widening of Eric's eyes and a sudden tensing of his shoulders before he forced himself to go lax again.
"I'd not have let you come at all." He admitted, slouching slightly as if he weren't poised on a hair trigger of anxious anticipation.
"They didn't have much of a choice."
"You're clear. Two minutes, girls." Simon's soft mental whisper made my face break out into a smile.
"Not when both of us wanted to come." I gestured to Kinana who lifted her head into view. Eric looked surprised.
"I haven't seen her that small in years. Is she ok?"
Kinana knew she wasn't allowed to touch Eric. We had gone over that part of the rules very explicitly and both of us figured that giving him access to his old partner, who had also been a magic source for him, might be a bad idea. We trusted Eric, yes, but better not to tempt fate. She nodded, hissing with happiness.
:I am well, my friend:
The look on Eric's face was one I will treasure for the rest of my life.
Shock, happiness, loneliness and euphoria all blended together into one expression that Morgana happily captured in our mind. A perfectly preserved memory of his genuine emotion alongside our deep, abiding satisfaction at having worked hard to make this good thing happen.
He couldn't manage to speak for a bit, but his old partner had no issues in filling the silence.
:The fairy den has been good to me. I've experienced much and am happy with them as kin.: She lifted her head a little, displaying a light green Fairy Tail guild mark just below her throat. :They tell me that you might be free one day. So when you are, you can find me among them.:
Eric nodded, voice hoarse.
"Yeah...they're getting me a deal. Information for a reduced sentence."
The sentence still adds up to more than 20 years. Yeah, there wasn't a lot of forgiveness in being in a dark guild. Even if you were kidnapped by one as a child and basically forced into it.
:The fairy child found my name, friend. I will soon be able to speak to you as I am meant to.:
This time I did see a suspicious gleam of something wet in Eric's eyes before he managed to blink them away.
"What is your name?"
:The tongue of serpents does not use names. The fairy child will tell you. I love you my friend. I look forward to when we may speak again.:
"30 seconds." Simon's message was projected to both myself and Eric this time.
I turned my eyes to the Poison Dragon Slayer.
Nod if you can hear me.
He didn't respond. And this kind of thing was best spoken aloud while we could manage it. So I spoke aloud in the brief time slot we had until people noticed Simon was screwing with the camera and microphone lacrima.
"Her name is Kinana."
Eric reached out his hands, still bound together, one turned upwards. I reached out and took his hand and he squeezed it tightly, expressing years and years worth of gratitude in the gesture.
"Thank you Fae."
Eric has just sworn his entire life over to you.
I don't want his life. I want his happiness to be his own. I returned the pressure on his hand.
He hid that I was still there in spite of Brain activating my programming. He gave me my life. I can't give him his, but I can do this for him. And he was a good person. Even if his life had not let him be an especially kind one.
We both withdrew our hands before any guards could see and yell at us for breaking the rules.
The rest of the ten minutes visit passed quickly. The lion's share of our purpose in coming had already passed in the first two minutes. Eric had asked about Natsu and the others he had seen me with, what they were up to.
"Kinda pathetic that the closest thing I have to a friend is the guy who got me arrested in the first place." he said dryly.
"There is a lot to be said about the bonds you can make with people by beating the crap out of each other." I said in my most matter of fact tone, because I knew it exasperated most of my friends when I used it.
"Your Fairy Tail upbringing is showing, Princess." Eric's brows rose upon hearing the nickname. I wasn't sure if it was in surprise or some other emotion.
"'Princess'? You?"
"He's the only one who calls me that." I said, not quite managing to hide my rolling eyes.
"Mind if I steal?" Oh no. I forgot for a second that Loke had fought Eric too...And it was almost distressingly easy to picture those two clown's dressed to the nines in formal suits as daily wear and trying to cross examine the nearest elementary school for people I might end up liking in that sense someday. Plus the sunglasses at night and inside. The basis for the unholiest friendship of the ages there...abort, abort-! oh too late.
The grin they shot at each other said that they had just become best friends.
"Not at all, I've been trying for years to get it to stick with the others, but she's got them wrapped around her finger."
"I do not, they tell me no all the time!"
"'Fae, no.' 'Fae, yes'." Simon came in in a perfect deadpan. I huffed.
"Simon, not you too!"
-vVv-
The lighthearted atmosphere we had established with Eric lasted in spite of the disapproving scowls of the guards as we were escorted from the prison. It lasted all the way home too. Simon was apparently feeling generous and light hearted, since our conversation had deviated to whether or not my sass was an integral part of my personality or if it was a natural response to external pressures.
There is someone new at the guild hall.
Really? Who?
When Morgana told me, I froze in my tracks, eyes going wide with surprise.
"Fae, what did you see?" He inquired calmly.
I was too busy staring straight ahead and seeing a dark haired girl with a fierce scowl softening into uncertainty as she looked up at Erza.
The red haired Requip mage looked down at her with wide, soft eyes.
"I remember you." She said, a smile softening Titania's face into something warm and affectionate. She bent and seized the girl in a tight hug. "I'm so glad you made it..." The girl's hair was a dark, matte purple. And I saw a tinge of familiarity in the shape of her face and in her skin tone to the face I was already familiar with.
"I...I looked for you." She admitted, huddling down slightly. "But...I saw...Simon? Is he here?"
I didn't say anything. I just grabbed Simon's hand and started towing him straight for the guild hall, smiling hard enough to make my cheeks hurt.
:Fairy child, why are you running?: Kinana asked with the faintest note of complaint in her voice.
"You'll see!"
"You saw someone at the hall."
"Someone very important! Run faster Simon! You'll be glad that you did!" He took this to mean he ought to pick me up and sprint. While Simon was a big guy, he could keep up a respectable jog. And by sheer virtue of having really long legs, that meant he could cover more ground than me.
I slid out of his arms and bounded inside, taking advantage of Coco's Racer anklets to blur inside, running over Elfman instead of around him. Since he was four times my size, he didn't even twitch. Erza was seated with the little girl, an arm around her with Jellal seated a short distance away. I pranced happily over to him and took a seat to watch, knowing I was sparkling with excitement.
"Dim the lights a bit, Fae." Jellal cautioned. "You're glowing." I forced my magic into stillness. Erza's attention had been drawn to me when I came in and by extension, the girl's had too. But I just grinned and winked at their apparent loss of words for my behavior. I then pointed to the doorway which was being almost completely filled by Simon.
The little girl's breath caught in her throat. He stared, unbelieving for an instant...Erza gave her shoulder a gentle push.
"Go on. He's missed you too."
"Kagura..."
He approached, eating up the ground in large strides as he seized the girl in a tight hug, easily lifting her off the ground. She seemed surprised, but she eventually relaxed and wrapped her arms around him tightly.
There were no survivors from the slave raids. Everyone who wasn't taken was killed. All except for her because Erza hid her and drew the raiders away so they wouldn't find her.
Suddenly, Simon's treatment of me back in the Tower of Heaven made sense. He had been a big brother, and had been separated from his little sister. The closest thing to a surrogate he had found was me. And now he had her back!
Fairy Tail is gaining a new member.
Yay! Another party!
-vVv-
Introducing Kagura to everyone went easily enough, but she seemed to have a strong aversion towards leaving Simon's side. She never went more than an arms' length from him at a given moment. When Wendy, Natsu and Lucy came back from their job, I went and snatched the Sky Dragon Slayer.
"C'mon. We're making a new friend!"
"Oh, ok. Who is she?"
"Simon's little sister! She got separated from him when they were little. Erza saved her life years ago so she decided to try and ask for her help in finding Simon!" Or that was what I read she had told Makarov. I wasn't going any deeper without talking to her first and potentially getting her permission.
"And she got a lot more family than just him now." Gildarts said, grinning down at her as he entered, ruffling her hair as she passed. "Welcome home, little one!" Likely because she didn't know Gildarts well, she didn't do anything other than scowl at him and straighten her hair. But all she managed to do was look adorable. Simon helped, absently straightening an old white ribbon that she had tied in her hair in a bow.
Their grandfather was mostly blind, so their parents gave Kagura the bow so he could tell them apart more easily. It even looked like she had kept the same ribbon she had been gifted, though it was much more worn now.
Now, if she was going to be a member, it most likely meant she had some kind of magic. So when Wendy and I went up to her, it was in confidence that she would be one of us one day.
"Hi! I'm Faerun, guild ward and future member. And this is Wendy, currently the youngest full member."
"I am called Carla, and this lovely lady is Kinana." The white Exceed said with a polite curtsy. Kinana lifted her head and waved her tail tip in a friendly manner.
Kagura looked at us like a deer in the headlights before glancing up at Simon. He seemed to be on the verge of laughter.
"Relax. They're not gonna bite, they're my friends."
I felt the situation called for some flippancy to lighten the mood. I nudged some of my friends playfully.
"Well, Wendy might bite and Kinana has a history of doing it. But only to bad guys."
"Fae!"
:I will not deny that I have bitten people, yes.:
"But only bad guys." I insisted, looking at the snake. She hemmed and hawed, shifting her body as though indecisive.
:Wasn't I one of them, though?:
"Minor detail. The term still applies."
"Fae, you are scaring the girl!" Carla scolded.
"No I'm not. 'Cause she doesn't scare easy. Just like Simon." I said this with perfect confidence. Not just anyone had the guts to walk into a guild like Fairy Tail alone, unaccompanied and not even knowing for certain if who you were looking for was inside. I felt 100% certain of that. Kagura was not scared of us. She just didn't know if she could trust us yet. Simon had vouched for us, and that was a major step towards her coming to view us the same way.
Her magic is powerful and she was not a guild ward.
Oooooh...I get it now.
"What kinda magic do you have, Kagura?" I asked, deliberately loosening my grip on my own power to let a bit of it leak out. Thus, Happy, nomming away on his fish, was surrounded by sunbeams and smiley faces. Someone was slumped in the emo corner, dark lines hanging over his head. (Elfman, reason was still uncertain though it probably had something to do with Lisanna.) Max, already passed out on a table, had a sawing log symbol floating above his head, surrounded by several floating Z's. "I'm a Story Mage!"
"And I'm a Sky Dragon Slayer." Wendy came in behind me with a smile that practically made flowers bloom. (No seriously, Wendy's aura was typically the kind of sweetness that made light brighter, rainbows form and flowers bloom and float around her randomly when I let loose near her.)
Kagura swallowed hard, wet her lips and finally spoke.
"I don't know." She admitted. "It...breaks things." I couldn't help it, I laughed. Gildarts did too, leaning back against the bar.
"You'll fit right in." He held up his prosthetic with a wink. "I break stuff all the time."
"He really does." Simon affirmed dryly. "No one in the guild breaks more."
"Though not for lack of trying on the part of some people." I added, sliding an arm through Kagura's and pulling her along. "Come on! We'll introduce you to some of the contenders for 'most destructive' in Fairy Tail!" Gildarts paused.
"Hey now, whaddya mean 'contenders'?"
"Figure it out, old man!" I called back cheekily.
In reality there was no contender. Gildarts still wrecked the most out of anyone. But I found it fun to mess with him and take advantage of the fact that he wasn't in town a lot so stuff happened while he was gone.
"I'm not that old!" Then Natsu came into the discussion with his usual manner, aka loud, and us kids were mostly left alone to do our own thing.
"What do you like to do for fun, Kagura?" Wendy asked after I summoned some food from the bar for us. The purple haired girl seemed to be on the verge of shrinking into the seat, and she moved very gingerly.
Just how much stuff has she broken?
Net worth value: 750,000 jewel. That made me pause in some concern. That was a hefty sum for a kid who wasn't even ten yet. How had she paid it off? Or who had paid it off?
The financial investment guild Dusk Gnoll covered the expenses and eventually turned the orphans and their caretakers out of their property. It said a lot about Morgana's growth and capacity to feel that she sounded vaguely disapproving of the guild's actions.
And it was a pretty darn heartless thing to do. Repossess an orphanage and turn away a bunch of kids? I mean, really? No wonder she was so hesitant, she likely felt responsible for the whole thing.
"I...not much." She admitted, perched lightly on the edge of the bench and picking at her food. "We didn't have a lot to do."
And the games that she could play with her peers she voluntarily pulled away from to avoid hurting them if she got upset.
Alright, give Kagura a crash course on childhood! And maybe magical control!
"Oh." Wendy looked vaguely chagrined at touching an uncomfortable subject for her and looked to me with a silent plea for help.
"Alright! Time for a list. Everything that involves being a kid, so we can find something that you think is fun!" I slapped paper down on the table and pulled a pencil out from the inside of my bracer. The purple haired girl looked at my materials, then me, then her eyes flew down to the table.
"Fae keeps pens and paper everywhere." Wendy explained. "With her magic, being able to write stuff down is really important."
"Inspiration cannot be domesticated, it must be hunted thus, no opportunity can be allowed to escape!" I said by way of explanation as I wrote. There were a lot of things that I thought were fun, but not everyone was like me. "Carla, Kinana, what do you two think? A general sampler of all things fun!"
The white Exceed stood on the bench beside me to peer at my list. And edit it.
"Explosives are not fun!"
"Everyone who uses fireworks to celebrate events says that they are." Hazel eyes bored into mine with intense curiosity.
"You know how to make explosives?" I felt myself swell faintly with pride.
"Yep!"
"Why?"
"Because I shook a bomb disposal experts hand." That had been an interesting day. "I like reading stories. You can find them everywhere if you know to look hard enough. Maybe we can ask Levy, she's worked with kids before..." Some jobs were about raising awareness of wizarding lifestyles and Team Shadowgear was a popular team to visit school age groups. "Maybe you can try gardening too! Droy's really good with plants."
"And Reedus for art." Wendy added.
:Juvia could teach swimming:
"Ooh, good idea!" I looked at Kagura with a smile who was still looking hesitant, yet strangely hopeful. "It'll be fun! Promise!"
"What if I hurt someone?" She asked in a very small voice. It was a major fear for her, apparently.
She isn't sure whether her first use of magic was saving people from a falling cliff or causing the cliff to fall in the first place.
Yeah...that would make me hesitant too.
According to Morgana's quick assessment, Kagura had a rare problem. She had so much magic that even if she didn't ever exercise it, she would have more raw power than the average wizard would ever gain in their lifetime. Whether she chose to become a wizard or not, she would have to have some outlet for her magic if she wanted to have a safe, healthy life.
"No problem!" I jumped up and marched for Cana, grabbing her from the bar and towing her back. "Come on, wonder woman we need your expertise!"
"Wha-?"
"Esuna."
"Fae, I was working on that buzz for hours, I'm disqualified now!" She whined, not looking back at Gildarts who was celebrating his victory by forfeit.
"I'll make it up to you later. Right now we've got a mini-you who needs help!" I looked back at Kagura with a bright smile when I reached the table. "Kagura, this is Cana! She's got super powerful magic, like you. She knows all the ways to keep from hurting stuff accidentally." I yanked the older brunette down beside us. "Teach us, oh great master!"
She gave us all an askance look.
"You want me to teach you?" She may be a perpetual drinker, but she does not approve of underage drinking. And since that's her method of coping with absurd magical strength...
"If you don't mind, please." Wendy said, giving her the adorable shy smile, and shoulder shift that tended to make even the hardest hearts of the guild melt.
Cana sighed, propping her chin in her hand as she looked at Kagura. I felt when she opened up her magic to the world. Cana's power was unique in many aspects. For one, she was one of the few people in the guild with Holder Type Magic. She was able to be almost endlessly versatile with her gifts, it all depended on what cards she had that she could play. But unlike the solid clang of sword against sword that was Erza, or the raging bonfire/protective volcano that was Natsu, Cana felt like chaos being curbed into order. The random chance of hundreds of card combinations being snapped out in specific patterns. The discipline and deceptive skill it took to properly count cards and do magic with it. (Fun fact, Cana was banned from every casino on this side of Fiore.)
Taking a concept like that and amping it up until you felt like you could open your mouth and taste it was overwhelming in some respects. Wendy actually tasted the air deliberately and she gave a considering look in response. I wonder how it actually tastes.
But Kagura felt the power and her head came up, looking at Cana with new eyes. With knowing eyes.
"Yeah, that's me." The Card Mage said with casual dismissiveness, reigning in her power with practiced ease. "Let me get a feel of you."
"That sounds wrong." I interjected. I ducked under Cana's half hearted smack on the back of the head.
"Let your magic out, kid. Just a little trickle and we'll see what we can do to get your lid on right."
Kagura did not manage to let out a trickle. The wash of pure power that rolled out of her was discernible to several people. Wendy got a full dose of it and hastily gulped down water, her eyes watering.
"What'd it taste like?" I asked curiously.
"Strong!" She said between gulps. "Really, really strong!" Cana slapped a card down on the table, Clean Slate, and it neatly vacuumed the stray magic out of the air as she pushed some of her power through it.
"You got some power behind your punch there!" She said with an approving nod. Kagura was looking around, somewhat startled.
"Nothing broke." Cana burst out laughing at her bewildered tone.
"Kid, this is the Fairy Tail guild hall! We've got dozens of wizards that practically live in this place! There's more than enough of their magic settled into it to keep your little spillover from doing much damage by accident! Why do you think wizards are organized into guilds in the first place?"
"And why young wizards are supposed to be fostered by guilds or other magic users?" I added.
Magic was a wizard's ethernano interacting with the world around them. And if one was surrounded by other wizards, they were constantly exuding bits of their own ethernano. And since magic was such a purpose focused art, only 'untamed' ethernano reacted violently to stray power from young wizards. Sort of like accidental forest fires. If other wizards were constantly around, picking up and carrying flammable materials with them instead of leaving them piled up, it didn't really matter if a newbie threw off a few more sparks than was intended. Deliberate spells worked just fine, but accidental magic was cut down to a fraction of what it might have been.
"So what can I do?" Kagura asked finally after mulling things over for a minute.
"Stay!" I invited, throwing my arms wide to encompass the lively guild hall. "That's literally all you gotta do! You can either become a guild ward like me, or live with Simon. He's already making arrangements for you in either event." It was what he had been discussing with Makarov ever since I kidnapped his sister to befriend her.
"Regardless of what you choose, if you stay you will get taught how to control your magic. Whether you want to do more with it is up to you." Cana said, eyeing the bar with a certain kind of longing. I summoned water for her, she was getting kind of dehydrated.
"Would I have to join?"
"As I understand, you would be invited to do so on account of being related to Simon." Carla said, her tail twitching, the pink bow she had tied to the end of it waving gently.
"No one forces anyone into a guild." There came a small flash of something in Kagura's eyes and she gave me a long, measured look.
"They don't?"
"They're not allowed to." I returned her gaze, golden hazel meeting etherion blue. What do you know?
Her entire demeanor shifted. From reserved and quiet to laser focused and angry. Kagura was furious for some reason, but not at anyone here. Her power slipped out into the air and Cana tapped her Clean Slate card once again to clear it before something more drastic happened.
"Who can teach me to use my power?" Kagura asked, fists tightening and eyes blazing. "I want to know everything."
"Eh, let's see. Pick a card." Cana pulled the rest of her deck out and spread a number of cards across in a neat row. "Any one that calls to you the most." I sat up with interest now, Kinana did likewise.
Cana's fortune telling was very vague and often ambiguous at best. But for technically being blind chance, it had an uncanny way of providing accurate suggestions and advice. The jury was still out on whether it was magic, or just Cana's own insight projected through her insanely skilled card tricks. Her perpetual drinking and impressive control over her own magical aura had another side benefit of making literally everyone she had ever met underestimate her. She encouraged it by passing herself off as laid back, not incredibly bright, and not particularly caring either.
No one who actually knew her believed that for a second.
Kagura chose a card abruptly, one almost directly in front of her. She turned it up to reveal a featureless figure, vaguely reminiscent of a woman, a crown on her head and arms crossed powerfully before her. Behind her were several smaller figures, children.
"The Shieldmaiden." Cana said, grinning. "Well now that's interesting..."
"Who could that mean?" Kagura asked, demonstrating she had understood why Cana had offered her cards over concrete words.
I saw two possibilities for a card like that. I glanced back and saw Mira and Erza were having a fierce discussion in whispers and were vaguely starting to emit some magic power of their own to combat one another. A throwback to another time. People were already starting to edge away. Just in case.
"Well, obviously it's suggesting you'd benefit more from another girl teaching you rather than a guy. Simon's scary good at what he does, but he's got a completely different type of magic to you. It's also showing that your teacher had better be as fierce and passionate as you are. That really only leaves two candidates." I smothered giggles as Mira and Erza excused themselves after a look from Master.
Rock-Paper-Scissors over who gets to teach Kagura.
That's adorable. And really considerate to not tear up our nice guild hall. The last time they fought was almost three years ago. Nowadays, they'd probably end up ruining a lot of walls and possibly collapsing the upper story. They had both gotten better with time and the excitement of facing off with their childhood rival again would probably be more than their self control could handle.
"I guess you could decide between them by answering this question: Do you like using spells or prefer weapons?"
So, Erza got a protege because Kagura said she wanted to learn swords.
She had wanted to use weapons in the first place because she admired Erza and kept track of her career.
Aw, another fan! Which reminded me that I hadn't seen Gajeel's fan, Rogue in ages, and Pantherlily had never met Frosch! It could only be a good thing to teach the little guy about being an Exceed. Or the functional details of being one at least. I had to bribe Gajeel with information about some 'punks' he was hunting in order to get him to relinquish Lily into my company.
"Does it bother you that he acts like that?"
"Not especially. He knows if I truly wished to accompany you, he would have no say in the matter." Gajeel knew that and respected it.
"Cool! Let's go find our frog then!" He was currently living with Rogue so while Lily had his moment of bonding with the kitten, I'd get to catch him up on what was going on in Fairy Tail and bring him up to speed on Kinana.
"Is it just going to be the three of us?" Lily asked, Aera wings already out and hovering in preparation for the flight. I followed his gaze and saw Wendy hauling Kagura along, who was still carrying the blunt training sword Erza had given her.
"If you're going to visit Rogue, we're going too!"
Sure! Let's overwhelm the inverted emo boy with three girls to his one! If I cackled internally, who was to know?
-vVv-
Sometimes, simplicity was really the best way to approach a new friendship. So, after we went and found Rogue, who was not nearly as unsettled by being the only guy as I had hoped, the four of us played tag.
"I don't know if the shadows should count." I said, pouting after Rogue managed to freeze me with some darkness creeping along the ground.
"Well, not the non-magical shadow, just what he's controlling."
"Still shouldn't count." Stupid shadow managed to catch me even while I was flying. I would call it a variation of Shadow Paralysis, but I don't think Rogue had gotten that far in naming his spells. He was actually the best at this game because shadows were something all of us cast unavoidably, and even emitting light made the shadows denser even if it reduced its size. Kagura had shown surprising agility in avoiding him but she was also taking this way too seriously.
"Yay! Rogue won!" Frosch cheered, scampering along Kinana's back as she hung from a tree we had dubbed as our base to drop into his friend's arms.
"Barely. If we allowed more than one spell, both Wendy and Fae could have evaded me." Sky magic differs from Wind magic by adding Light to the mix to allow for healing. Wendy didn't do much with it., but she could probably throw out some devastating Light based spells if she practiced a bit. But since that wasn't what Grandeeny had taught her, she was probably avoiding it.
"Not as much, I don't have my staff with me and most of my good light stuff is attached to that. Kagura did really well though!" It was kinda heartbreaking how she looked when taking a compliment...Like she had never heard one before in her life.
Members of Dusk Gnoll are approaching.
I turned, eyes narrowing.
Grown wizard approaching kids was never a normal thing if we weren't doing anything wrong. And Morgana's tone suggested something was wrong. The air felt weird. Kagura's grip on her training sword, which she had never put down the entire time we were playing, was now tight and alert.
Kinana let herself fade into the greenery above, poisonous green eyes alert and glittering down.
Wendy and Rogue, dragon slayers and attuned to their surroundings more so than the average person, picked up on our tension right away. Carla quietly stepped forward and took Frosch. Pantherlily however, was on the verge of 'hulking out'.
"Hey Kagura, missed seeing you around." If 'creep' had a sound, it would be that guy's voice.
The men, about seven of them, were scattered in the trees though only one of them was standing in the open.
"I haven't missed you." Kagura snapped coldly.
Uh, I get that she isn't the most social person, but context?
Dusk Gnoll did something very personal and painful that makes Kagura despise them with a passion.
And because I had been trying to respect people's privacy, I had warned Morgana off of invading their history unless it was a truly dire situation.
"I haven't seen you in Magnolia before." I said, projecting more cheer and friendliness than I really felt. "What guild are you guys from?" Their eyes swept over me and upon seeing no guild mark, a fake amiable expression crossed the spokesman's face.
"We're from Dusk Gnoll, little lady. Kagura here is a sort of unofficial member of our guild."
"Really? Cause it doesn't look like she wants anything to do with you." I said bluntly, still smiling, mentally calculating the distance and angle of every man surrounding us.
:Hatchling, carrion is circling.: meaning the other men were gradually getting closer.
"Well, she likes to play around, ya know?"
"Oh yeah, we've been playing all afternoon." I nudged Wendy, warning her to back up my next statement. "We were just about to head back home for dinner. Mira's waiting for us."
"Yeah." Wendy was the only marked wizard among us. But her age would make her seem vulnerable to these guys. If they had even noticed her guild mark.
How do we get out of this without throwing the first punch? I was affiliated with Fairy Tail and my every other combat encounter had been against either members or associates of enemy nations of guilds. Dusk Gnoll wasn't dark. Just scummy. And they were careful to not get drawn into the Rune Knight's eye.
But...then again...
Taking stock, we had a supremely strong and fast unmarked, unidentified wizard, two dragon slayers and a rune wizard. Plus a trained battle commander of an Exceed and large, intelligent, venomous snake.
We can totally take them.
But should we?
"What is your business in being here?" Pantherlily demanded, stepping forward and seeming commanding in spite of being...well...cat sized. The other man looked taken aback at the sight. Especially the battle scar on his face and his tattered ears.
"We're just talking, pussycat." Another man from the side jeered.
"No. You are being condescending and insulting and harassing a child to join your ranks. What good can you offer Kagura? I can't smell any women on you, you wouldn't have the proper qualifications to support her growth."
"And you're kinda being jerks." I added, absently looking around and meeting the eyes of all the men, letting them know they weren't being sneaky. "If this is how Dusk Gnoll does recruitment, no wonder you guys are one more violation away from going dark."
"They don't deserve to be considered a guild." Kagura snapped, true anger burning in her eyes as she stared at them hard.
"Perhaps. And perhaps not." There came a rapid movement behind us and suddenly Pantherlily was standing at his full height and seeming to make the men trying to circle us that much smaller in comparison. Suddenly we were no longer a bunch of kids playing alone in the woods. We were a bunch of kids chaperoned by a large, angry bipedal panther. "But it really is time to be getting these children home. If you would excuse us, gentlemen."
Kinana dropped out of the tree to coil around my shoulders in a languid motion, staying as large as she could without making my knees buckle.
"I think the special tonight is grilled pork! It's my favorite with the raspberry cobbler." I chattered at my friends as I strode forward with no apparent acknowledgement for the men around me.
"As long as it's not strawberry." Wendy said with a laugh that only sounded a little forced and nervous. "I don't think I ever want to see Erza like that again."
"It will happen every time strawberry cake is on the menu." I grabbed Rogue and kagura by the hands and gently tugged them forward. They were both glaring at the Dusk Gnoll members, clearly unwilling to walk away from the confrontation.
I guess Kjagura is just naturally aggressive and Rogue is a male Dragon Slayer and more inclined to react to a threat to his territory.
That thought made me pause. Territory?
You are his friends. The threat was perceived even if it wasn't explicitly stated.
Awwww!
That made my smile all the more genuine as I hauled the fighting duo away from the potential conflict.
-vVv-
Even on the way back to the guild hall and all throughout dinner, Rogue and Kagura didn't ever really relax. They just glowered at everyone (except for Frosch) and barely spoke two words.
Had I not had Morgana, I would have missed their departure entirely.
They are going after Dusk Gnoll. Alone.
My head whipped around to see a shadow, a literal shadow, sneak across the floor and out the door. Carla was tending to a very sleepy Frosch with Happy purring happily to lull the kitten into a more relaxed state. I had been occupied mentally tallying the latest winner in the bi weekly arm wrestling tournament. People usually liked to consult me over the record book so I paid attention to the dumb little competitions.
But Rogue and kagura were gone and were apparently following through on their desires for violence against the other guild.
Well...they are both unaligned, so...technically it wouldn't be anything but some kids causing trouble.
Some kids that had literally Lost Magic that thrived on darkness and a girl with magic so powerful she had saturated four feet around her when she tried to emit a spark of magic into the air.
I sighed, reaching over to Wendy and nudging her shoulder.
"Wendy...We gotta go." I pulled my ninja headband out of my pocket and looked around, making sure that everyone's attention was occupied by something other than what we were doing.
"Huh? Ok?" She was confused, but she let me tow her outside. The moment we were out of sight, I tied on my headband and clasped my hands in the familiar cross seal.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu." Four doubles of me poofed into existence and saluted before three of them transformed into copies of Wendy, Kagura and Rogue and walked back inside the guild hall, acting like their henged body doubles as best as I could manage.
"Fae, what are you doing?"
"Making sure no one freaks out and thinks we got kidnapped or something. Now come on! We gotta catch Kagura and Rogue, they're going to go pick a fight with Dusk Gnoll!" I started off but Wendy squeaked.
"Shouldn't we tell someone from the guild?" I glanced back at her with a smile.
"I just did! Don't make me rile you up about this. But for whatever reason, Kagura has got a bone to pick with them and she will not stop until she's satisfied. I can't see what exactly their planning, probably Rogue's fault, but they're planning on doing something crazy and if we go along we can mitigate it into some pranks or mischief instead of them trying to fight fully grown wizards."
"Would that be bad?"
"Oh yeah, the paper work would be insane and Master would probably ground me for a week."
"I meant wouldn't they lose? We're kids!"
"Are you kidding? They'd totally win. Or they have a good chance of winning at least. They're absolutely going to win if we're there to help them and I got a reduced sentence if I win whatever fight I got myself into! That's a rule they added for Natsu especially."
"I feel like I'm going to regret this..."
-vVv-
Rogue might have been able to hide their plan, but they could not hide their trail from Wendy's nose. We followed them right to them, moving over the roof tops to cut back on travel time until we caught up to them. They hadn't entered the main city and were skulking about on the outskirts in cheap inns or taverns.
"Guys, I'm offended!" I said in an undertone as we dropped into the aly behind them, making the pair jump. "I thought we were friends!" Rogue shifted a little awkwardly, blushing faintly.
"We...thought-"
"Clearly you didn't!" I planted my hands on my hips. "What, you thought if you didn't tell us we'd stop you?"
"No, we thought you could provide an alibi once we finished." Kagura said in her level tone though her mouth suggested a hint of annoyance.
I sighed, shaking my head and slinging my arm over her shoulder.
"Oh Kagura...it's true, good friends bail each other out of jail, or least overnight juvie when they need it..." My face cracked into a brighter grin and I knew my eyes glowed a little brighter.
"But best friends are right there in jail with you, saying 'damn that was fun'. So my fellow chibi wizards: What are we doing to these poors saps?"
"And why are we doing it?" Wendy interjected a little firmly, giving a disapproving frown at me. I rolled my eyes. Rogue merely gestured at Kagura.
"I think your reason is better than mine." He muttered, somewhat embarrassed. She let out a short breath.
"They tried to buy me." All humor left the air in an instant. "Dusk Gnoll repossessed the orphanage where I lived with the other children. I was...upset when they came to give us notice of eviction. They saw I had magic and said they would clear the debt if I joined their guild. Matron refused. And they threw everyone out then and there. They could have it all back...if they got me."
Kagura knows Erza sacrificed herself to protect her from slavery. She would rather die than go back to it, but she feels that her friends lost their home because of her. She came looking for a guild to try and control her magic in order to join them and earn the money to buy back her old home.
Ok, they're all gonna die. Every single one of em.
"Good reason." I said with a nod, this time a not so nice smile on my face. "Rogue?" Considering how his face had changed upon hearing Kagura's story, he hadn't known the reason why she was so angry. But he was just as angry now and I think Wendy was even suppressing growls.
"They smelt like carrion." He seethed. "Their souls had a lot of shadows and darkness in them."
Oh, I did not think of that. Shadows could be found literally and metaphorically and it seems Rogue's education with his magic had covered both of them. This was likely why he could conceal something from my magic like his plans for the night.
Ok, so the scumbags deserved what was coming. There was no question about that. The only question that really mattered...
"Ok...so actually, with them trying to trade Kagura for property...they've technically gone Dark Guild." I glanced at Wendy, feeling a smile play on the corner of my lips. "And it is Fairy Tail's sworn duty to eradicate evil wherever we may find it. And we do have a certain policy of shall we say..."
"'It's better to ask forgiveness than permission.'" Wendy quoted, folding her hands and looking as sweet and innocent as an angel. "And I am a Fairy tail wizard..."
"And we're just good citizens helping out...!" I said, rubbing my hands together with glee. "Guys, this is totally gonna be one for the scrapbook."
The night ended with Dusk Gnoll's membership, about thirty men altogether, being either subjected to horrible nightmares, dragged through paint, thorns, itching powder, poisonous plants and other irritants in various combinations, subjected to horrible motion sickness or nausea...Or just buried up to their necks in the ground. Or having been subjected to 1000 Years of Death.
As they lay about groaning and after making sure they were all stripped and restrained with their own clothing, we left pictures and documents showing their trail of steadily darker inclinations as well as evidence of their beginning to dip into slavery by trading land for younger wizards and newly broken through magic users. Then an anonymous tip was called in to the Rune Knights and we fled the scene.
But not after taking a picture with our handiwork in the background. All of us, yes, even Kagura, were smiling in it.