This chapter took forever to write. At 7,777 words (not including author notes), it holds the record for my longest chapter. And yes, that word count was intentional.

X777

March, X777

"Crimson Bolt!" I yell as a huge red lightning bolt shoots out of my hand towards a half buried log. As soon as the lightning bolt hits the log, it explodes, sending chunks of it everywhere.

Over these past several months, I've been struggling with some of the lightning spells that were listed in my spell book. Since my magic likes to give me trouble, it does not agree with most of the spells in the book. Meaning it often explodes when I try the more advanced spells. Thankfully, I don't get burned anymore, due to my passive magic shield finally being strong enough to protect me from my magic.

Since my magic is not agreeing with some of the more advanced spells, I've been experimenting with my magic and coming up with spells that work, or adapting some of the spells from the book, and making them my own. My magic favored the spells that required a lot power and less control, so the more precise spells did not work out so well. It also favored spells that I personally come up with.

It sometimes takes forever to modify a spell so that I could use it more easily with my magic. It sometimes takes hours to mess with magic outputs, stances, body movements, and many other factors. The first spell I modified, was the Lightning Bolt spell. I was able to make it stronger, but use less magic power at the same time. I dubbed the modified spell "Crimson Bolt", because since my life seems to be based around the color red right now, I might as well name it that.

Next to the exploded log was another one, and I prepared my next move. I start sparking red electricity around my body and I get into a fighting stance. I then lunge at the second log, my fist forward and leaving a trail of electricity in my wake.

"Thunder Punch!" I yell as my fist connects with the log. A large chunk of the log chips off and goes flying.

Thunder Punch was one of the spells that worked. In fact, most moves that involved punching or kicking worked pretty well and didn't need much tweaking for me to use.

There was still some log leftover, and I give it a magic enhanced roundhouse kick to finish it off. My foot hits what's left of the log, and it breaks with a loud crack. I still had some energy left, but unfortunately, I ran out of logs to destroy. Darn.

"Well, Kid, if you keep this up, you'll end up killing an entire forest. I've lost count how many logs you've destroyed." Came Celia's voice from behind me.

I turn around to see her looking at me with her usual smirk.

I sigh, "I'm sorry, Master, but I can't exactly practice on live targets, so logs will have to do." I say.

"Oh, I know, it just gets tiring to keep replacing these logs all the time." She said while making a dismissive hand gesture. "Anyway, Maribelle wants to see you. She says to bring your wooden sword thing."

"It's called a bokken, Master." I correct, which earns an eye roll from Celia. "Did Shishou say what she wanted me for?" I then questioned.

Celia shrugs her shoulders, but still keeps her smirk on her face. "Nope. No idea." She says unconvincingly.

I eye her with suspicion, but I come to the conclusion that she won't tell me what I want to know.

I eventually acquire my bokken and I find myself standing next to Kagura, and Maribelle is in front of us.

"Did your latest job go well, Shishou?" Kagura inquires.

Maribelle nods her head, "Yes, Kagura, it went very well… But I did not call you two hear about my adventures. No, I called both of you here to teach you a very special lesson." She said calmly.

She then drew her katana and the blade started glowing white. "Today, I am going to teach you how to enhance your weapon with magic power. This will be the basis of what is known as 'Sword Magic', which is a very diverse magic with many forms."

I was starting to get really excited, and I could feel a grin on my face. I was wondering when I was going to learn a different magic from my own.

"Sword Magic can be as simple as enhancing your swords strength and cutting power, to adding special properties to it such as elemental effects or making any strike explosive… It is a very versatile magic, and it will be very beneficial to your magic career." She continued.

She then pointed at the bokken that were in both our hands. "You will learn how to channel magic power through those first, because wood is harder to channel magic through than metal. If you can achieve that, then you can easily apply it to actual metal swords. Now get into your stances, and listen closely."

We both nod and we get into our combat stances.

"First, you must will your magic power to flow through the length of your blade. Be careful not to channel too much, or you blade will explode… Rubina, try not to channel lightning, but instead channel just pure magic power. Kagura, you don't have to worry about much, as your magic is less volatile and can be controlled easier." She instructs.

I nod, and I close my eyes. I start to will my magic power to flow through the bokken that I was gripping with two hands. Right away, I felt the wood resist, and I start to increase my output very slowly and very carefully. I didn't want this thing to explode and send splinters everywhere.

I start to sweat a little, but I feel my magic starting to slowly make its way through the rest of the bokken. I increase the power up a one more notch and I finally feel it flowing throughout the entire bokken.

I open my eyes and see that the bokken has a red aura around it. I look to my left, and see Kagura's bokken surrounded by a blue aura. I look back at my own and start to stare at it. It was kind of hypnotizing.

"Excellent. I knew you two could do it." Came Maribelle's voice, which snaps me out of my stupor. "Now, you will continue to do that, until I say to stop." She said simply.

"Yes Shishou!" Kagura and I both exclaim.

This didn't feel very tiring, so I think I can hold it for a while. Unfortunately, Maribelle made us hold it for two hours, before she said to stop. It was very difficult to hold it for that long. She dismissed us and said to be prepared to do the same thing tomorrow.

This was going to be torture.

XXX

1 Week Later…

After a week of just channeling magic power through a wooden sword continuously for several hours at a time, I gotten very good at it, and could hold it for about three hours before I started feeling the burn.

Anyway, Kagura and I were standing next to each other, still doing what we have been doing for the past week. But we gotten good enough that we could hold a conversation with each other without disrupting our concentration.

I hear Kagura sigh, "Ya know… I kind of wish I had your magic sometimes, Rubi."

I look to her and I feel my brow furrow. "Why is that?" I ask, genuinely curious.

"Well, I don't know how I could apply my magic to my sword, but I can think of several ways that you could apply yours. I don't know, it just seems like this particular magic is more suited towards you, and there isn't much use in me learning more than the basics." She says rather casually, despite how negative her words were.

I let out a sigh, "Well, I do agree that I can get more uses out of sword magic, but I don't think that there is no way you could apply your magic to your sword." I say, trying to cheer her up.

She looks at me, her face filled curiosity. "Really?"

I nod my head, "Yeah. You have control over gravity right?" I ask rhetorically, to which she nods. "Well, what if you increased or decreased the gravitational pull of your sword… Like if you want to deflect something, you could use a gravitational force to push something away. Or if want to cut or stab something, you could use gravity to pull something towards your blade. You could mess with the gravitational field around your sword and really mess with someone." I lectured

Kagura looks away from me. "Huh… I never thought of that…" A grin then appears on her face, "Thanks, Rubi! I'll see if I can do that." She says cheerfully.

I smile, "You're welcome. I'm happy to help."

XXX

April, X777

I was sitting at a table in the guild hall. In my hand was a clear white crystal.

It was a lacrima.

More specifically, a blank lacrima that Maribelle got me at my request.

The crystal felt like a white quartz crystal, and was vaguely shaped like one as well. I only had a small crystal because it was really expensive to get such a refined crystal like the one I was holding. I was surprised Maribelle even got me one, so I asked her why she got me such a refined crystal, she said that it was gift for working so hard.

Lacrima was a weird, but wonderful substance. Like duct tape, it could be used for some many different uses. You could charge it with your magic, use it as a long range communication device, have it show movies, tan your skin, make it explode, and so much more. If you're lucky enough, you could find a dragon lacrima and get dragon slayer powers. It was a magic crystalline substance that could be programmed to do almost everything.

That was the part I was most interested in. I needed something that I could store my magic power in and be able use that power for later use, and also be able to recharge it as well. Like a battery. This was exactly the thing I needed for my project. Unfortunately, I could tell already that the crystal in my hand was too small, and wasn't dense enough to contain the required amount of magic I needed. I would have to wait until I was an official mage, and start earning money before I can buy most of the materials for my project.

"Whatcha doing, Rubi-nee?" comes Araña's voice.

I stop examining the crystal in my hand to see the seven year old sitting across the table from me with Mr. and Mrs. Fuzzy on the table.

Ever since Araña turned six, she has been coming to the guild more often. She also got another stuffed spider, which she calls Mrs. Fuzzy. Anyway, since she has been coming to the guild more often, she started adding the "nee" suffix after Kagura and I's names. I think it's pretty cute, but I hope she doesn't call me "Rubi-nee" forever. Hopefully I can get her to stop when she is older.

I sigh, "Nothing much, Araña-chan, just examining this crystal that Shishou gave me." I say calmly.

Her eyes grew curious, "What type of crystal is it, Rubi-nee? What does it do?" She inquired.

"Hmm… Well, this is known as a lacrima. It is a magical substance that can do many things. This one in particular is known as a blank lacrima, which means that it hasn't been modified to anything yet, and is a blank slate for me to do whatever I want with it." I explain carefully.

"Oh." She lets out. Her brow then furrows, "What are you going to do with it, Rubi-nee?" She asks curiously.

"Well, I'm experimenting with this crystal, and seeing what I can do with it. After that, I will hopefully get more crystals and use them on a secret project that I'm working on." I say simply.

She then grew even more curious, "What's the project, Rubi-nee?" She asks.

I put on a small smile, "It's a secret, Araña-chan, and I can't exactly tell you what it is. Besides, I promised Kagura that I would show her first." I say teasingly.

"But, I really want to know…" She pouts, and I let out a giggle.

"How about I show you after I show Kagura. Is that fair?" I ask.

Her faces brightens, "Sure!" She says cheerfully. She then grabbed her two stuffed spiders, "I think I have to go now. I think Momma is waiting for me at the classroom. Bye, Rubi-nee!" She says, before running off.

"Bye, Araña-chan." I respond, before I bring my attention back to the crystal in my hand.

I then start channeling the smallest amount of magic power that I could muster, and I carefully start pumping it into the crystal as slowly as I could. The crystal goes from an almost clear white crystal, to one that is tinted a light red almost immediately. As I keep pumping magic power into it, the red tint becomes more and more solid, before the crystal turns completely red.

I stop the flow of magic so that it doesn't explode, and I examine it once more. Right away, something about it feels different. Before, it was pretty inert, and I didn't feel anything from it. But now, I can feel the magic power within it. I then close my eyes, and start concentrating on the power that was in the crystal and try to draw it out. At first, I felt nothing, but then I felt the magic power drain back into me from the crystal.

After I could extract no more, I open my eyes and see that the crystal is now tinted a light red. It will probably be like that forever now, but that's okay, I got what I needed from it.

I repeat the process of filling the crystal with magic and then drain it again. I feel a grin on my face. I just made a magical battery that could be recharged. I repeat the recharging and draining process over and over again. It never got old.

This would do nicely for my project, but I would need a super high density lacrima, and those were not cheap. One pound of the stuff was 500,000 jewels, and I needed a couple pounds of it to experiment with. It's going to take me forever to get that kind of money.

I let out a sigh, "First world problems."

XXX

I was by the lakefront, still experimenting with my lacrima crystal. I already confirmed that I can make it act like a magic battery, and store or absorb magic from it at will, but I want to see how far away I can get from it and still be able to influence it. I borrowed a chair from the guild hall, and I place the crystal on the seat. I then walk about fifty feet away, turn around and face towards the crystal.

I then extend my hand and start concentrating on the crystal. I have my eyes closed and I could feel the magically charged crystal. I try to influence the magic power in the crystal, but nothing happens. I then walk about ten feet closer, and try again. I feel the magic energy in the crystal move a little, but nothing major happens.

I then shorten my distance to the crystal to about thirty feet. I get a much better reaction at this distance. I hear a sparking sound and I open my eyes and see the crystal shooting out little sparks of crimson electricity. I feel myself grin, and I walk ten feet closer.

The sparks get bigger, and they start shooting towards the direction of my hand. I walk another five feet and long arcs of electricity start connecting with my hand. I start gathering the electricity in my hand and I shoot out the excess energy towards the lake.

Before I could continue my experimentation, the chair that the crystal was on suddenly catches fire. "Shit!" I exclaim and I immediately run over the chair, grab the crystal and put it into my pocket. I then immediately grab the chair and I dragged it into the lake, putting out the fire.

I was panting from the adrenaline rush.

"You know… Master is not going to be happy when she finds out you burnt one of her chairs" Came Kagura's voice, which made me yelp in surprise.

I turn around to see her looking at me with amused expression.

"Well, Kagura, she won't find out. I'll just dispose of the evidence before she finds out. No one saw me take it out of the guild hall and she doesn't have a surveillance lacrima." I counter back, and I immediately charge my hands with magic power, and shoot a high powered bolt of lightning at the floating chair in the water. It immediately explodes into thousands of pieces and those pieces float out to the middle of the lake.

Kagura rolls her eyes and shakes her head. "You didn't have to do that, Rubi. You could have just put it in the woods." She says flatly.

I cross my arms, "Nope, there mustn't be any evidence! You know how scary Master is when she is angry!" I exclaim.

Kagura sighs again, "Well… I can't disagree on that, so I guess I can't blame ya." She reluctantly agrees. Her face then grows curious, "What were you doing? Why did that chair catch on fire?" She asks.

"Well, remember my project I was telling you about?" I ask and she nods in response. "Well, I was experimenting with how much I could manipulate a lacrima charged with my magic, and well… I guess a stray spark caught the chair on fire…" I trailed off. "…Yeah… Not my greatest moment." I say with a hint of embarrassment.

Kagura smiles, "I think we she get out of here before Master gets curious and comes outside." She said jovially, and then let out a giggle. "Come on, let's go."

I grin, "Yeah, let's get out of here."

Later that day, Celia went on a witch hunt, but never found her missing chair. Kagura and I were sweating bullets as Celia looked everywhere, but luckily, she never suspected us.

XXX

July 7th, X777

I was standing across from Kagura. In my hand was a slightly longer than normal bokken than what we been practicing with. The reason why was because we were learning how to use the bigger swords of the katana family, known as nodachi or ōdachi.

The particular style we were learning was known as the Style of the Undrawn Long Sword, which involved various stances or "forms" to achieve different things. Strong form was for stabbing, shield form was for defense, and slashing form was for slashing. Those were the three basic forms of this style of sword combat. Maribelle said that she really didn't favor this particular style of combat, because she finds larger swords too bulky and she doesn't like the stances of the style.

I myself didn't particularly care for it either, but Kagura loved it. She took an immediate liking to it, and was more skilled at it than I was.

I position my right hand on the hilt of the bokken and my left on where the sheathe would be. I get into what was known as the slashing form. In response Kagura widens her stance, and grips her bokken the same way I do, but she positioned her sword in a more defensive position.

I immediately lunge at her with magic enhanced speed and start striking at her with a fury of rapid slashes. She manages to block every one and somehow finds a hole in my offensive. She lunges her bokken forwards in attempt to stab me, but I leap backwards and she misses. I continue to leap backwards until I'm about twenty feet away.

It was Kagura's turn to go on the offensive and she starts sprinting at me with great speed. She uses her magic enhanced muscles to jump high into the air. She positions her bokken into a stabbing position and she gets into the strong form.

I leap back once again, and she lands where I was previously standing, her bokken went into ground with little effort. I see the ground visibly crack under the extreme force of her strike.

Wow, she is really getting into this.

She immediately pulls her bokken out the cracked ground and lunges at me again in her own slashing form. I get into the shield form and try to fend off her savagely fast strikes. I'm not as good as Kagura with this style, so she is able to hit harder, faster, and way more precise. The only advantage I had over her was that I was taller than her, and had a greater reach.

I start to struggle against the tsunami of sword strikes and eventually hits my hand, which causes me to loose grip, and she hits the bokken out of my hands, sending it flying.

I immediately start shaking my hand because of the pain. "Ow! Ow! Ow!" I say in response.

"Kagura wins." Comes Maribelle's voice.

I see Kagura with an apologetic face, "I'm sorry, Rubi! I didn't mean to hit that hard." She apologized quickly.

At this point, a little bit of the pain had worn off, but my hand was still shaking. "It's ok. I'll be fine." I respond, before I feel a smile make its way upon my face. "But I don't think the ground is so lucky as me." I say and I point to the spot where Kagura cracked open like an egg.

Kagura looks to where I was pointing and looks back at me with a visible blush on her face. "Oops! I think I over did it a little." She says with an embarresed voice.

"Maybe just a bit. Thank God I dodged that, otherwise, I would be sporting a gigantic bruise right now." I tease. I then extend my hand and she shakes it.

"You two are dismissed for the day." Maribelle says, and we both start walking back to the dorms.

As we are walking, I look to Kagura. "Well, it looks like we found your preferred sword style. I could barely keep up with ya." I compliment.

She smiles and looks at me, "You really think so?"

"Yeah, definitely. You looked like a master of that style already." I reaffirm my compliment.

"Thank you, Rubi. You were not so bad yourself, but I could tell that you felt uncomfortable using that style." It was her turn to complement.

Before I could respond, something in the back of my head goes off and I stop walking immediately. I feel gigantic source of power coming from the west, which was behind me. I whip around, but see nothing out of the usual.

I forgot to mention this, but as I have been getting stronger in the magic arts, I have been able to sense sources of magic. I could only sense large sources so far, but I have been getting better at it. I also had to be close to something to sense it. So for me to be able to sense such a large source of magic, but it to be nowhere in sight. The source must be extremely ginormous.

"What's wrong, Rubi?" I hear Kagura ask in concern.

I don't look at her, as I'm transfixed at the horizon, which was the direction the power source.

"Do you feel that? The giant source of magic?" I ask.

She stays silent for a moment. "Yeah… I think I feel something…" Says slowly.

Maribelle then appears in front of us. Her face was serious. "I assume you two sense that enormous presence coming from the west as well?" She asked with a serious tone.

I node, and I assume that Kagura does as well.

"You two get back to the dorms, and stay there. I have to talk to master." She commanded

"Yes, Shisou!" We both exclaim loudly and we start sprinting to the dorms.

The large source of magic disappeared eventually, and we were given the all clear to leave our rooms. I asked Celia what was the cause of the large magic presence, and she said that she didn't know.

So caught up in the excitement, I didn't notice that the date was July 7th, X777.

XXX

August 30th, X777

It was early, nine o'clock to be exact, and I was sitting in the guildhall with Kagura. The guild hall was empty because the Mermaid Festival was in a few days, and most of the guild members were once again setting things up around Salice.

"Hey, brats, I need ya for something." Comes Celia's voice, and we both turn around and see her tapping her foot. "I need to go to Hargeon to get a ton of fireworks, but I need some extra hands to carry it all."

"Yes, Master!" We both exclaim, and we get up and follow her out the door of the guild.

We eventually end up right in front of Celia's magic four-wheeler. It was a covered in a cool aquatic design with pictures of sea life painted on. Celia hops into the driver seat and attaches a black strap to her arm that has a tube coming out of it.

She then looks at us, "Ok, hop in the back, we don't have all day."

I nod and walk up to the vehicle. I open the door to the cabin behind the driver seat, and I look back to see Kagura sporting a fearful face. She hadn't moved an inch.

"What's wrong, Kagura?" I ask with a concern laden voice.

"I-I'm not going in one of those again! Not after last time!" She exclaims nervously.

Last time? I don't remember me or her ever riding in Celia's four-wheeler. In fact, this will be our the first time leaving Salice.

"Last time?" I question out loud.

I suddenly hear Celia snickering.

"You still hung over about that, Kid? That was a long time ago!" She laughed out.

"That wasn't funny, Master! Not at all!" Kagura yelled back.

Ok, I definitely missing something. "Can some please tell me what's going on!" I shout.

"Oh, she is a little upset at me for going too fast with you and her in the back. The reason you don't remember this, was because you were unconscious from the head wound you received on the day I found you two." Celia explained while snickering. "Kagura-chan is just being a baby about it."

"I am not! You could have injured me as well!" She pouted angrily.

I sigh, "Come on, Kagura, we don't have time for this. Can we just get a move on already?" I say in exasperation.

Kagura looks at me, and then to Celia with suspicion, before finally giving in and starts walking over the vehicle. "Fine, but you better not do what you did last time, Master." She says seriously.

"Sure, Kid. I don't have an injured person to transport anyway." She says with a smirk.

Kagura and I get into the vehicle and we sit opposite from each other. Kagura frantically starts buckling herself up with a seatbelt.

I raise a brow as I buckle up my own seat belt. "Was it really that bad?" I inquire.

She starts nodding her head rapidly. "Yes, it was that bad. It was just after she found us, and she had you strapped in while you were unconscious. I wasn't strapped in and she drove it like a crazy person."

I feel the vehicle start moving and I see Kagura visibly tense up. "Calm down, Kagura. I don't think she will do that on this trip. Besides, aren't you excited to leave Salice for a little bit? Because I am."

Kagura calms down a little, "I guess… But if she drives crazily again, I think I'm going to lose my mind." She said, and I giggled at her paranoia.

"Just relax, everything will be fine." I giggle out

She stays silent, and we stop speaking to each other, so I decide to start taking a nap. I lose track of time, but I am awakened by the four-wheeler stopping. I open my eyes and start stretching. "Are we there yet?" I ask with a hint of tiredness.

Kagura shakes her head, "No, you were only asleep for half an hour. Master stopped for something." She then got out of her seat, rolled down one of the windows, and looked outside. "It seems that she stopped for a boy. He looks a little bit older than us… I think he is a hitchhiker."

"Hitchhiker?" I echo.

"Yeah, and it looks Master is going to give him ride." She says, and she comes to my side of the cabin and sits next to me.

The door opens and reveals a face that made heart stop in my chest.

It was Jellel. There was no mistaking it. He had the blue hair and the very distinctive eye tattoo. Why do I keep attracting trouble? I got lucky with Macao, but he wasn't a possessed lunatic that was willing to sacrifice my sister to resurrect a guy that wasn't even dead.

It takes herculean effort to keep myself calm and not betray any of the emotions that I was currently feeling right now.

"Ah, hello there." He says calmly with a small smile on his face. He was wearing a black shirt and white pants that had a short red stripe on both sides. He was carrying a large back pack and had a large wooden staff that was wrapped at the top, and was formed into a circle at the end.

"I was just walking to Hargeon, and I noticed that you guys were going the same direction." He said as he climbed into the cabin and sat down across from us. I followed him with my eyes, watching every move he makes, waiting for him to do something. "I have been walking a lot, and I needed a short rest, so I asked your Master if she could give me a ride, and she agreed."

He then extends his hand, "I'm Je-*cough* I mean Mystogan."

What… Oh great, Jellel's Edolas counterpart. That means that I have runned into another member of the guild that I was trying to avoid. Before you know it, I'll somehow run into all of them at once. Well, at least he isn't the crazy Jellel. That would be pretty bad.

I reluctantly extend my hand and shake his hand. "My name is Rubina Crimson." I say as calmly as I could.

"And I'm Kagura Mikazuchi." Kagura introduces herself out loud.

Mystogan nods his head, "Nice to meet you two." He says. He then takes of his back pack it puts it on the seat next him. He then lets out a relaxed sigh as he sits back into the chair.

"So… Why are you traveling by yourself?" I question.

"Well, I like to travel the world, and I have things to do, places to go." He says with a shrug. But from what I could remember of Mystogan, he was trying to stop something. I think it was called anima.

"Don't you get lonely?" Kagura asks.

Something flickers briefly in his eyes, but if you weren't watching him closely like I was, it would be unnoticeable. "Sometimes I do, but that's fine… Actually I had a traveling companion, but I determined it was too dangerous for her to be traveling with me, so I left her at a guild to keep her safe."

I furrow my brows in fake confusion. If I remember correctly, he traveled with Wendy for a short period. "Dangerous…" I echo. "Are you a mage?" I question, already knowing the answer.

His face flashes briefly in surprise, before a small smile appears on his face. "Heh, you would be correct in that assumption. I guess my staff gave it away didn't it?"

I nod.

"Wow, that's cool." Kagura says. "What type of magic do you use?" She then asks.

"Well, I use this staff to do a variety of things. I can cast a multitude of spells with it." He responds.

"Are you part of a guild?" I inquire, even though I probably already know the answer.

"No, I'm not currently in a guild yet, but I plan on joining one soon." A curious expression the makes its way upon on his face. "How about you two? Are you mages?"

"No, but we will be next year, though." Kagura answers for me.

"If you don't mind me asking, but what magic do you two use?" He asks curiously.

"I use gravity magic, while Rubi here…" Kagura then points to me, "Uses lightning magic that has a pretty red tint."

At her last statement, I feel my face flush. "Don't call my magic pretty! It's not supposed to be pretty!" I exclaim, which earned a giggle from Kagura, and even Mystogan chuckled a bit. "You stay out of this!" I say while pointing at him. That made him chuckle even more.

I eventually calm down enough to ask him some more questions. "Is there any particular reason you are heading to Hargeon?" I ask, genuinely curious this time.

He shrugs, "Well, I need some supplies, and Hargeon has a big variety of stuff that I could need. So I figured it was the best place to go to get everything I need. It is a major port after all, so it stands to reason it will have a lot of different goods from many different places." He explained. "Plus, it is a major railroad hub, and I can get across Fiore faster if I go there and take a train."

Before I could ask any more questions, the four-wheeler comes to a stop. "Ok, brats, we're here!" Come Celia's voice from outside.

Mystogan then starts putting his back pack on. "Well, I guess this is where we part ways. Maybe we could cross paths again in the future." He then gets up and leaves the cabin of the vehicle.

We follow him out of the four-wheeler and see him toss a small bag a Celia. "Here is something for the ride." He then starts walking into the port city.

"See ya later!" Kagura shouts.

He looks over his shoulder and waves. He then turns right and starts walking down a different street. That was the last we saw of him.

"Ok, brats, follow me closely. Hargeon is a big town and I don't want ya getting lost." Celia says.

"Yes, Master!" We both say in unison and we follow her through the bustling town.

Hargeon was truly amazing. It was right on the ocean, which was as blue as the Mediterranean Sea. The buildings were way bigger than the ones in Salice, and there were way more people as well. I was truly in awe of the town, and it felt great to go somewhere new in this world. I wonder if I could fine the spot where Lucy met Natsu for the first time.

I'm eventually snapped out of my trance of admiring the city by Celia suddenly stopping in front of a large building that had a large sign on it that said "Fireworks!" She then opens the door and we follow her inside.

The building was loaded with rows upon rows of fireworks, and I could easily smell the gunpowder in the air. This brought a wave of nostalgia over me, as I used to go to a large fireworks warehouse just like this one in my previous life.

"Ok, brats, I'm going to get a lot of fireworks, and I'm going to need your help carrying it all." She then points to some carts that were next to the entrance of the building. "So grab a cart and follow me."

At the end of the day, Celia ended up spending over 500,000 jewels on fireworks.

On the trip back to Salice, all I was thinking about was my earlier encounter with Mystogan. He must have already met Wendy and dropped her off already. I was also thinking about whether or not I would be running into anymore canon characters unexpectedly. Hopefully I don't, but I guess I'm not in control of who I meet.

XXX

January 4th, X778

Well, it was official. I was now ten years old, and legally old enough the join the guild and officially become a mage.

I was currently in the guildhall with Kagura, Celia, Maribelle, Lana, and Araña. I was sitting in front of a birthday cake with ten candles in it. Everyone, even Maribelle, was wearing a birthday hat, and were singing the happy birthday song.

I have a large grin on my face as I blow out the candles on the cake.

Lana then removes the candles and starts cutting the cake, and hands me the first piece. I use a fork to put a piece of it in my mouth and let out an audible moan at the taste of it.

It was strawberry flavored, which for some reason, this body liked a lot. It was really weird when I first awoken in this new body. I acquired quite the sweet tooth, and as I got older, it just got worse and worse. I found myself liking things that I never really cared for in my previous life. A prime example was cake. I never really liked cake in my previous life, but now, I absolutely loved the stuff. Especially if it was strawberry flavored, which I found ironic, because I knew Erza loved strawberries as well. I guess I'm more like her than I thought.

After I, and everyone else was done eating cake, it was time to open presents. The first was from Araña and Lana. "Happy birthday, Rubi-nee!" Araña said as she hands me a large gift bag that was stuffed with colorful tissue paper. I remove the paper, and pulled out a large spider plushy. It was very similar to Mr. Fuzzy, but instead of it being black, it was a bright red.

"That's 's cousin. His name is Mr. Red." She says cheerfully.

"Happy birthday, Rubi-chan." Lana says

I smile, "Thank you, Araña-chan. Lana-san"

The next was from Maribelle. She hands me a long rectangular box that was wrapped in white wrapping paper. I rip off the wrapping paper and open the box to find two Japanese style swords. The smaller one was a wakizashi and the other was a full sized katana. They both had black hilts and black sheathes. I have a mile wide grin on my face.

She had a small smile on her face, "Since you are of age, and can finally become a mage, I decided to get you something that you can use. The larger sword is for when you are older, so for now, you can use the smaller one until you grow into the larger one." She says calmly.

I bow my head slightly, "Thank you, Shishou!" I say excitedly.

It was Celia and Kagura's turn.

"I told Master what would be an awesome gift for ya!" Kagura says excitedly.

"Yeah, yeah, I hope ya appreciate this, Kid." Celia says in a joking tone as she puts a large box in front of me. When I open the box, I find myself speechless.

Inside was a solid black acoustic guitar with a red lightning bolt on the pick guard.

"Kagura said that you liked to play the guitar, and Maribelle said that you have been borrowing one of hers for a while, so I went out of my way to get this one made for ya." Celia explained.

"U-Uh." Is all I could get out. "T-Thank you. I don't know what to say." I manage to say.

I see Kagura grin brightly. "Well, are you going to play something? You should sing something!"

I feel my face heat up at her request. "I don't think anyone wants to hear me sing, Kagura…" I didn't like being the center of attention like that.

"Nonsense, Kid. You might as well play us a tune… You can't be as bad as the guild on karaoke night." Celia says encouragingly.

"Yeah, Rubi-nee! I wanna hear a song!" Araña shouts excitedly, and Lana just nodded encouragingly.

I look to Maribelle, who had a small smile on her face, "Go ahead, Rubina. I am sure you will play well."

I sigh, but my face is still very warm. "Ok… fine… I'll do one song…" I finally relent. I then pick up the solid black guitar and start tuning it. I hear Kagura and Araña cheer in excitement.

Over this past year and a half, I've gotten much better at playing a guitar. I have improved my playing speed significantly, and I barely make any amateur mistakes anymore. I also figured out to play most of my favorite songs as well. Unfortunately, some of them just could not be played with a guitar alone, or did not sound good with an acoustic guitar. But I still had them in memory, and I actually started learning how to read music notes so that I could record them properly. There were still some songs that I was still trying to get down, but that was okay, I would get them down eventually.

I'm finally done tuning the guitar, and I look up to the little audience that was waiting on me. I feel my face heat up once again. "The song I'm going to sing is dedicated to my sister and Kagura's brother." I say nervously, before I close my eyes.

I take a deep breathe to calm my nerves and start strumming the guitar. The opening riff of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" fills the air.

This song was one of my favorites, and I was quite proud when I figured out how play it.

….How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have we found?
The same old fears.
Wish you were here.

When I finish the song, I open my eyes and everyone starts clapping.

"Well, Kid, that was actually pretty good. You should sing more often." Celia complements with a smirk.

"That was very pretty, Rubi-nee!" Araña shouts, and I feel my face heat up once again,

Kagura suddenly rushes up to me and gives a giant bear hug, which forces the air out of me. I feel some wetness on my shoulder and I notice that Kagura was crying a little. "T-Thank you, Rubi… That was really good." She says, clearly touched by the lyrics.

I manage to put the guitar down and return the hug, my face still extremely warm. "Are you alright, Kagura? I didn't mean to make you cry."

She lets go and backs away a little. She has a smile on her face and her eyes were a little wet. "Don't be, I just really liked your song." She assured me.

I feel myself grin, "I'm glad you liked it."

"Ok, Kid, since you are of age now, you can now join the guild legally now." Celia interrupts.

I look over to see her holding a stamp that had the guild's logo on the bottom of it.

"Where do you want your mark and what color do you want it to be?" She asks.

I shake my head, "Um, can I wait a little before I join the guild, Master?"

Her eyebrows furrow in confusion, "Sure, I guess… Can I ask why, though?" She inquires.

I feel a small smile make its way on my face. "I kind of pinkie promised Kagura that we would become mages together, and I would be breaking that promise if I became a mage before her."

Celia looks at me for a second, before letting out a laugh. "Sure, kid. I can respect that." She says with a large grin on her face.

I look to Kagura to see a shocked look on her face. I start snapping my fingers, to get her attention. "Uh, Kagura… Are you there?" I question her.

She snaps out of her daze, and immediately tackles me to the ground in a hug even bigger than the one a few minutes ago. As a result, I let out choking noises.

"I didn't think you would actually remember that promise. I barley remember it myself." She laughs out loud.

"Of course *cough* I remember *cough* that promise. I have a really *cough* good memory." I manage to get out.

She eases up the pressure of her hug. "You didn't have to do that. It would have been fine if you had joined."

She then lets go, and we both stand up. "I don't like to break my promises. No matter how small they are." I say with a grin on my face. I then let out a yawn, "Well, I think I'm going back to the dorms now. That performance really tired me out… Thanks for the party everyone! I really appreciate it!"

And I really did. This was perhaps the best birthday party I have ever had. My mother in my old life would have fainted at the sight of me getting a sword, though. But at least I was trained to use it properly and was actually going to use it.

As I was laying in my bed, I was thinking about the future in excitement. I couldn't wait for Kagura's birthday, and become a mage. I'll finally be able to explore the world around me and see things that I would only dream of in my old life.

Thinking about the future also filled me with dread as well. There was giant shitstorm coming, and I still had a lot of preparation to do. Even though anything worth worrying about is many years away, I still had to be vigilant and make sure I was strong enough to weather whatever was thrown at me. I also have to protect the ones I cared about as well.

I will never give up, ever!

Ok, Rubina is learning new magic finally, and she will learn a few learn a few more. She ran into Mystogan, but thankfully, it was only brief. Mystogan will be the last encounter with a fairy tail member for a while. She got one step closer to completing her project with her experiment with the lacrima crystal. And she is now officially ten and can become a wizard now! She also introduced more music from her previous life as well.

Manga Spoiler below

For those who are caught up on the manga, you could probably guess what she was sensing. It was Layla Heartfilia opening the eclipse gate, and it would make sense for Rubina to sense such a large device.