I would like to thank all that left positive feedback on the last chapter. As this story gets longer, I plan on trying to get the average chapter length to 4,500 to 5,000 words. Not all chapters will be that length, but I will try to get them to be that length.

Free Time

April, X776

I'm currently in the field in front of the dorms, in a combat stance, gripping a rubber knife with my right hand. Standing six feet away from me is Kagura, who is also holding a rubber knife with her right hand, and is in a similar combat stance.

We are both wearing white T-shirts, but Kagura was wearing her black leggings, while I was wearing tan shorts.

Maribelle is standing about twenty feet away from us. "You two may begin." She says calmly.

I immediately lunge forward and stab at my opponent. She side steps and makes her own attempt to stab, and I dodge.

I flip my knife and hold it in a reverse grip. I slash at her, and she deflects and counters. The next few minutes are spent slashing and stabbing at each other, trying to land a hit.

"Ouch!" I say as I feel the blunt rubber blade hit my rib.

"Kagura wins." Maribelle says.

We get out of combat stances, and we shake hands. I start rubbing the spot where I got hit, "Did you really need to hit so hard, Kagura? That hurts ya know?"

She put on an apologetic smile, "Sorry, Rubi. I got really into it…" She says sheepishly.

Before I could respond, Maribelle steps in. "Alright you two, I feel that we are ready to move away from hand-to-hand combat, and start the next style of sword combat." She says calmly. She then held out her hands, and two wooden swords appeared in a gold flash.

I think they are called bokken if I remember correctly.

"You will be learning how to use a katana next. It is a sword that, unlike the rapier, can both cut and stab very well. But that comes with a tradeoff. It is not as light as a rapier, and thus you cannot maneuver it as fast. The handle also has room for two hands, and if you want maximum effectiveness from the sword, you are going to need to use both hands rather than one." She instructed, and she handed us the wooden swords. She then drew her own, full sized, metal katana from the sheath on her hip, then got into combat stance and gripped it with two hands.

"The stance for using this type of sword is much different from a rapiers'. It is a little more rigid, but it allows for more power to be applied… Now get into a similar stance as mine and we will start practicing the forms." She instructed again.

"Yes, Shishou!" Kagura and I exclaim at the same time, and we imitate her stance. The rest of day went similar to when we first learned how to use a rapier, but we were more disciplined and Maribelle wasn't required to hit us with a yardstick.

Instead of a lecture on sword safety, she started telling us about the strengths and weaknesses of a katana, and the many different styles that come with it.

At the end of day, Kagura seemed to like the feel of a katana style sword more than she liked the rapier style. This shouldn't be surprising, considering she wielded Archenemy in the anime. I don't know how she acquired it, though. Maybe Maribelle gave it to her for some reason.

XXX

Today was a great day to be alive. I was finally allowed to practice my magic without supervision. Well, except when I'm trying new techniques, but that's a non-issue.

During the many months since I tried to recreate Chidori, I've gotten to the point where I don't explode anymore. In fact, I haven't exploded since last September. I can't begin to describe how it feels to be able to wield all this raw power without injuring myself. When I really get going, it feels like I'm on a constant adrenaline rush.

But I also have recently noticed some changes to my body, most notably, my reflexes. I seem to react to stuff much faster than I remember me being able to. There is also this weird feeling I get whenever a strong thunderstorm happens. Whenever there is a major storm, I can feel this weird tingling in back of my head, and it feels like the storm is calling to me.

When I asked Celia about this, she said it was because of me getting more in tune with my element, and it's only natural for me to feel a large source of natural lightning. She said that she feels a connection to large bodies of water.

I asked her if it was possible to control natural lightning, and she said yes, but it is extremely difficult. Apparently, lightning was the hardest of the basic five elements to control in its natural state. This was due to the sheer amount of energy that was in a storm, and someone had to have an extreme amount of willpower to wrestle control from Mother Nature. Also, she said using natural lightning was more powerful than magic generated lightning. This was due to natural lightning having less ethernano than the magic lightning. This lack of ethernano made it possible for the natural lightning to go through the passive magic shield that most humans had in this world.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that. Apparently, people have a passive barrier that is powered by their magic reserves, regardless of whether they can use magic or not. Mages obviously get a stronger shield than non-magic users, due to them being able to expand their reserves. This reminded me of how aura worked from RWBY. It also explained why characters could take such huge hits and not be blown to bits. The shield couldn't protect you against everything, but it did a pretty good job regardless. It also explained why I was only getting first degree burns and not something much worse.

Anyway, back on the subject of ethernano. Almost everything in this world was filled with the stuff like a soaked sponge. It made sense, this world is probably billions of years old like Earth, so the ethernano has had plenty of time to soak itself into almost everything. Rocks, water, wood, living beings, the very air we breathe, and even refined metal. That explains why Erza wasn't killing people whenever she used her swords (she was probably holding back as well). One couldn't get ethernano out by smelting metal, they had to literally suck it out with some type of absorber. Interestingly, this is how they made magic nullifying handcuffs. They suck ethernano out of the metal, and the metal becomes a void. Nature doesn't like voids, so it naturally tries to fill it. It takes a lot ethernano to make those cuffs saturated enough to stop working.

Anyway, ethernano didn't immediately saturate something, hence why natural lightning didn't have much in it. It appears and disappears too quickly for it to absorb a decent amount of it. Fire was very similar, but it was harder to get fire that lacks ethernano, because fire often fed on materials that contained ethernano.

This didn't mean natural lightning or fire was more powerful than all the types of magic spells, as there probably is some type of super hax spells out there, but pound for pound, the natural stuff hit harder (at least on human beings, that is). The only drawback was that it was harder to control, and harder to get. So it was way more convenient to just use magic generated lightning…

I was standing on the docks, my hands sparking with electricity. Since I could finally practice by myself, I was free to do anything I want. So naturally, I let out my inner nerd.

"Yes… Let the hate flow through you…" I say, doing the best Palpatine impression I could with an eight year old body.

I then hold my hands up in the same way Palpatine does when he is about to attack. I then will the lighting to shoot out my fingertips.

Long, crimson arcs of electricity shoot out my fingertips and connect with the surface of lake. "Heh, heh, heh, hah hah!" I cackle with my best impersonation of Palpatine's laugh. Unfortunately, I'm an eight year old little girl, and it sounds nothing like it. Bummer.

I stop before someone catches me. I think I probably look like a lunatic on drugs when I do that. I then make my hands look like guns and start shooting lightning out my fingertips while making, "Pew, pew, pew" noises. I do that for few moments before that gets boring.

Another idea then enters my head, and I try something that I always wanted to do since I found out about my lightning magic. I point two fingers and I start doing some elaborate arm and body motions, while willing lightning to spark around my hands. As I'm doing the fancy motions, there is a trail of red lightning being left behind as my hands move through the air. I end my motions by pointing at the lake and shoot out a long, concentrated beam of lighting. The large beam of lightning almost reaches the center of the lakem and almost hits the Island that was in the middle.

I let out an audible squee, which I'm embarresed to admit I made, and I was extremely giddy. I just lightning bended like Azula. I couldn't explain in words how much I was internally fangirling right now…

Wait… Did I just refer to myself as a fangirl?

XXX

June, X776

I was in my room, strumming away at an acoustic guitar. Ever since Christmas, I have decided to listen to Kagura's advice, and learn how to play an instrument. I decided to learn how to play the guitar, because most of my favorite songs from my previous life were played on a guitar. I actually had an electric one in my previous life, but I never got to learning how to play it fully. I had it for years, but I only managed to learn some basic chords and never picked up the thing again. I feel kind of guilty about that, as it was an expensive Christmas gift from my parents.

In my notebook, I had written down as many song lyrics as I could remember, and I could remember surprising amount. I was always good at remembering music, as I would always have a tune playing in my head, even when I was falling asleep. I really have missed the music from my past life, so I decided that I will recreate the music from my old world, and introduce it to this one

The hardest part, however, will be recreating the music itself. I will have to spend hours of my free time experimenting with the guitar, trying and testing out chords to get the sound just right. I will have to use an acoustic guitar for now, because electric ones are very expensive in this world. In fact, the guitar I'm using for learning purposes isn't even mine. I'm borrowing it from Maribelle, who apparently knows how to play multiple instruments, not just the violin.

Right now, I'm already ahead of where I was in my past life, and making steady progress. I already figured how to play some of the more iconic and simple guitar riffs, but was still having trouble with the more complicated songs. I still needed to work on my playing speed as well.

Anyway, I'm sitting on my bed, experimenting with the guitar and I hear the door open. I stop playing and look up to see Kagura walk in. She was wearing her usual outfit of black leggings, white dress, and of course, her white ribbon on her head.

She looks at me curiously, "I've been wondering where you have been, Rubi. When I said you should learn how to play an instrument, I didn't mean you should spend all day in our room doing it…"

Despite dying and being reborn, old behaviors have carried over from my past life. One of these behaviors, was my tendency to spend my days inside a room by myself, and do whatever to occupy my time. Since there was no computers or internet in this world, I had to have something to occupy my free time, and the guitar or my little project that I'm working on were the perfect things.

Hooray for reclusive behavior! At least I'm doing something productive this time

"I like it in here… It's private." I argue weakly.

Kagura was not convinced, "You should really get out more."

I open my mouth to counter her.

"And no, training does not count, Rubi." She says flatly.

It's really weird to be scolded by a legitimate eight year old. I'm surprised by her maturity every day. Is it just me, or do children of anime worlds mature faster than real children do? Sometimes, I believe Kagura is older than eight, but I know that's not the case.

Speaking of Kagura, she seems different from how she acts in the anime. I know that she didn't appear until she was in her twenties, and she could have changed a lot between childhood and adulthood, but I'm not seeing much of her anime self in person. From what I remember about her in the anime, she was always calm, stoic, and serious.

The girl that I now live and interact with every day is very different from that woman in the anime. Yes, she has gotten calmer since we first meet, but she is nowhere near as stoic and serious as the woman I remember. The only time she displays those traits is when we are with Maribelle, practicing our combat skills. She seems more cheerful, and just looks… happier than her anime counterpart.

I don't know how she became that woman in the anime with the way she acts now…

Maybe she acts differently because of me. From what I could remember, she was the only one Erza was able save in canon, and if I assume correctly, she was probably found by Celia all alone. Despite the guild being welcoming, most of the members of the guild were very busy and didn't have the time to hang out with young children.

Without me here, there would have only been her and Araña, who only came to the guild like three times a week. She must have been so alone… It might be arrogant of me to believe this, but I think my presence has changed her from what she would have turned into. Me being here gave her someone to relate to. But it is too early to tell for certain.

"But, it's really nice in here, and what's the harm of staying inside for a few hours?" I argue back.

In response, she shakes her head in exasperation. A small smile then makes its way on her face, "I guess I can't convince you then… You'll just become a cave vulcan, then." She teased

I make a face of disgust, because from what I remember of Vulcans, they were truly disgusting creatures and quite horrifying. They could apparently take over your body.

I distantly remember them being somewhat perverted as well, but I might wrong.

Seeing my face of disgust, Kagura let out a short giggle. "I'm just kidding, Rubi, I wouldn't wish that fate on anyone." She then eyed the guitar I was holding, "How's it going with that guitar?" She asked curiously.

I feel a grin form on my face at her question. "It's going very good actually! I actually got the basics down pretty well, and I can play some basic tunes. I just need to work on my playing speed." I say excitedly.

"Is that so? Can I hear something?" She asks.

Do I really want to show her right now? Oh hell, why not? She is my best friend after all.

I shrug, "Sure, why not." I say casually.

She then walked over to my bed, got on it, and sat across from me with her legs crossed.

"I'm not exactly great with this thing, so I will be playing a little slowly and I will most likely make some mistakes." I say and she nods her head. "Ok then, I'll be playing a little bit of a song I've been working on." I say before I close my eyes.

I take a deep breath, and I start strumming the guitar. The main riff from Seven Nation Army fills the air. Even though the tempo was not quite at the same pace, and I was making occasional mistakes, it was still pretty recognizable. I couldn't play the faster and more complex parts yet, so I just stuck to the main riff. I also didn't sing the lyrics.

I play the riff for about a minute before I stop. I hear Kagura clapping, and I open my eyes to see her with a grin on her face.

"That was really good, Rubi!" She says excitedly.

I feel my face heat up at the praise, "You really think so?" I was never good with other people's praise.

She nodded excitedly, "Yeah! I really do!" She then adopts a curious expression. "What's called? Does it have any words?" She asks.

"It's called 'Seven Nation Army' and yes, it does have lyrics." I respond simply.

She then tilted her head in confusion, "Why didn't you sing then? You have a really pretty voice, ya know."

I feel my face heat up again, and I advert my eyes. "I didn't feel like singing… The song isn't even complete yet. The tempo wasn't at full speed…" I say awkwardly. I still got nervous singing in front of other people, even if I only did it front Kagura. This was another thing I kept from my old life. Shyness. More particularly, public speaking and performing.

Her face then got really excited, "You should perform in front of the guild!" She exclaimed suddenly

My face got even hotter, "I-I think you're overestimating my skills, Kagura." I say nervously. Public performing would definitely set off my social anxieties.

She then move from the opposite side my bed to right next me. She then put a hand on my shoulder, "I think you're selling yourself short, Rubi." She said confidently. She then gave a conspiratorial glance around the room and leaned towards me. "Plus, I think you're better than half the guild. Have you seen karaoke night?" She stage whispered.

That made me laugh. "I'll think about it." I giggle out.

XXX

I'm standing across from a log that was half way buried into the ground.

Today I was going to figure out how much I can manipulate my lightning. I already knew that I could condense it into a spherical shape, but I wonder how far I could manipulate it.

I hold my hand out, and it starts sparking with electricity. I then condense it to point of forming a chidori. The air becomes filled with the sound of a thousand chirping birds.

My hand turns a little wobbly from the power that my hand contained, so I use my other hand to secure my wrist. I then begin to concentrate, and start willing the dense ball of lighting to take a different shape. At first, the ball does nothing. But then, it starts to slowly morph and elongate. As it gets narrower and longer in shape, it becomes increasingly difficult to control. My concentration starts to deteriorate and I decide to abort before I blow myself up. I quickly point my other hand to the sky and lightning shoots out my fingertips. The lightning that was in my right hand dissipates.

I was breathing heavy, and feeling a little exhausted.

Ok… it seems that I can manipulate it into other shapes, but it took a lot of concentration to do so. Maybe I should have used less power…

I wait a few minutes to catch my breath, before I start gathering lightning in my hand once again. This time, I use about a quarter of the power that I used before. I start willing the lightning to elongate, and it responds much quicker than before.

The lightning elongates into a vague rod shape. I feel a grin make its way upon my face as I see the rod of lightning in my hand. I cautiously bring my other hand to the bottom of the rod, making sure that I have magic flowing through it, and grip the rod. My hand gets a little tingly, but nothing bad happens and my grin gets bigger. I reposition my main hand and grip the rod of lightning like a sword.

I then get into a sword stance, and swing at the log in front of me. The rod slices about half way through with ease, before dissipating.

I start giggling with excitement.

I just figured out how to use my magic to form shapes, and proven that it can cut quite efficiently.

XXX

Here is a little bonus Omake.

Bittersweet Freedom

Tower of Heaven, X776

Erza was in shock.

'Jellel… He just killed that man with magic and had no remorse. He…he laughed as if he were playing a game.' she thought as she followed him through the rubble of their prison.

She was battle worn. She was wearing small metal chest plate over a white dress that was a little too small for her. Her arms and legs had bandages wrapped around them and her wrists had metal cuffs on them. Over her right eye was a white eyepatch.

Jellel was shirtless, wearing only worn, green pants. He had similar cuffs on his wrists as well.

"Erza… let's complete the R-system… I mean the Tower of Heaven together!" He said suddenly.

"Eh!?" Erza said in half confusion, and half shock.

"Then we can resurrect Zeref." Jellel continued, ignoring his friend's surprise.

'What!? Why would he want to do that!?' Erza thought quickly.

"Stop saying such crazy things! We're going to get off this Island! I have to find my sister!" She exclaimed.

Jellel looked over his shoulder with annoyance. His right eye glowed red, and Erza was sent flying backwards at a great velocity by an invisible force. She crashes through a stone wall, and eventually lands in a cave that had scaffolding everywhere.

Erza's arms and knees where on the ground, and she slowly got up as she heard Jellel laugh menacingly. She looked to see Jellel standing on top of some scaffolding.

"Fine. If you want to go so badly, you can leave this island on you own." Jellel said in a slightly condescending tone.

"O-On my own?" Erza whimpered out.

"The rest of them are mine. Completing this tower will take a lot of work, after all. You don't have worry. I'm not like them. I'll give everyone clothes, food, and rest." Jellel had an arrogant smirk on his face, his eyes were slightly deranged. "Although ruling through fear and power can give rise to hatred, the work efficiency will be bad."

Erza couldn't believe what she was hearing "What are you saying? Everyone is already on the ships, waiting for us! No one is planning on coming back here and working!" She said incredulously.

Jellel was on unfazed by her exclamation. "That's because they never explained to us the meaning behind the work. I will show them the meaning. They will work for the glory of the great wizard Zeref!"

"But… who would choose to continue sacrificing themselves?!" Erza shouted, desperately trying to get her friend to see reason.

"Sacrifice?" Jellel echoed lowly. He then looked upward, "Sacrifice is not what I need right now. Zeref taught me, you see."

Erza had tears forming in her single remaining eye, "Jellel, please open your eyes." She begged.

Jellel then looked at Erza and extended his hand. "My eyes are already open." He said simply, before a purple magic circle appeared in front of his hand.

A shroud of dark energy then enveloped Erza, and she felt her neck getting strangled. Weird red lines started surrounding her, and she brought her hands up to neck to try to remove whatever was choking her. She then started floating slowly upwards.

"I have no more need for you. However, I will allow you to live, since you eliminated all those who stood in my way for me." Erza was having a hard time breathing. "You will leave this island and have your fill of that transient freedom." He continued.

"Jellel…" Erza struggled to get out.

Jellel was seemingly unfazed by her cries, and continued to choke her. "But you will never speak of this to anyone. If the government finds out about this tower, it will become quite troublesome. If you try to tell someone, I will have to destroy this tower, and everyone in it." He threatens as he slowly levitates Erza over to him and releases her right in front of him. He then puts his hand under her chin. He then started bringing her face closer to his. "You are also forbidden from coming near here. If you even set one foot here… Yes, that's it. First I'll make Sho disappear…" He whispered in her ear. "…Maybe I'll even find your sister as well, and pay her a little visit. Rubi, wasn't it?" He threatened.

Erza's widened, "Jellel…" she said in a fear laden voice.

"That will be your freedom!" Jellel shouted, and a weird symbol appeared around his right iris. "Live knowing that your friend's and family's lives hang on your shoulders, Erza!" He then dragged her to the entrance of the cave they were in, and threw her into the sea.

Erza lost consciousness as soon as she hit the water.

XXX

Coast of Fiore, X776

Erza awoke on a beach. It was night time and there was a full moon in the clear night sky.

She slowly got to her knees, and tears immediately started hitting the sand.

'Why…Why Jellel? Why would you do this? What happened to you?' She internally questioned.

Sobs were starting escape her.

She then remembered his threats against her friends…against Rubina. She knew that he would be watching her somehow, making sure she didn't tell.

The tears started flowing more intensely, and the sobs picked up in frequency.

'Rubi… I'm sorry… For your safety, I… I can't be allowed to find you… Jellel can't be allowed to find you… Onee-chan is… is…' She couldn't complete her thoughts as she started sobbing violently.

'Sorry'

She gripped the sand under her hands and let out a sobbing howl that filled air. She spent that night, under the full moon, crying herself to sleep.

She woke up the following morning, and lifelessly got up to find civilization, and to find Fairy Tail.

This chapter was mostly filler again, but it did provide some information on the magic of the world and how Rubina spends some of her free time. She also realizes that her presence may have had an effect that she didn't intend to happen. Having some to relate to after a tragedy can make the difference. Also, the beginning of the chapter was my first pathetic attempt at writing a small action scene. I'm going to try to work on that.

I'm sorry for the mood shift with that Omake, but someone was asking about Erza, and I wanted to show how Erza was doing. As you can see, Jellel is hitting where it hurts and threatening the one thing Erza cares about above all others. Her sister. What's the best to keep someone quiet other than to threaten their loved ones. The best way to protect her sister is to keep her hidden, and since Jellel will be keeping an eye on her, she can't be near her and expose her sister's location to him. I hope Erza's reasoning is realistic enough. I didn't make the omake a whole chapter, because this story isn't about Erza, and I didn't want to study whole episodes to properly show Erza's reality. Plus, if I were to write about Erza's life as a slave, I think I would have to bump this story up to M rating. The scene I used for this Omake was from episode 35.