I'm sorry this took longer than expected. I've been busy with a lot of games like Fallout 4 and Xenoblade Chronicles X. Speaking of which, I'll be posting a rant in the ending author's note. I hope you all enjoy!
It was early morning and the sun shone through the window's blinds. A nude Callista, now 24 years old, was face-down on a bed with her face in the pillow. The sunlight forced her to bury her face in the pillow and groan. She forced herself out of the bed and started collecting her clothes, which were thrown about the floor along with what appeared to be a man's clothing. As she finished getting dressed, a naked man sat up and rubbed his eyes.
"Where are you going?" The man asked. "Don't you want to stay in bed a little longer?"
"Oh…" Callista chuckled. "Clearly you don't know how a one night stand works."
For the last six years, ever since the day she found out about what happened to Tenrou Island, Callista had changed. After she got word, she tried to do as many jobs to obtain as much money as quickly as possible and buy all of her late childhood friend's belongings. However, her regular mercenary work wasn't bringing in as much as she needed, so she sold herself off as a prostitute. Once she got the money she needed, she bought all of Zale's possessions and quit her life of prostitution. However, eventually she started having one-night stands with other men just for fun.
Callista had returned to her home in Onibus, where a young man with short silver hair, a thin build and wearing a black thin shirt under a forest green jacket and jeans was trying to maintain a ball of light in his hands. He was trying to concentrate as intensely as he could, but it had broken once Callista opened the door and closed it.
"Dang it, Sis!" The young man shouted. "I almost had it!"
"Flynn, you're 17 and still trying to learn how to use magic?" Callista laughed. "Why not ride your bike with training wheels?"
"I told you… Every time I try to ride a bike I fall… even with the training wheels on…" Flynn, Callista's younger brother, said. "Anyway, Amber just woke up. She's having breakfast in the kitchen."
"So she's the reason you didn't say the 'D' word." Callista said. "I'll be right back."
Callista entered the kitchen where a little girl with blonde hair tied into twin pigtails and wearing a green and yellow casual children's dress was eating a bowl of cereal.
"Hey, sweetie!" Callista happily greeted the child.
"Mommy!" The little girl's face brightened upon seeing Callista. "Uncle Flynn made me cereal!"
"Did Uncle Flynn drop all of the eggs again?" Callista asked as her eyes darted behind her.
"Ha-ha!" Flynn mockingly laughed from the living room.
"Yes." Amber (Age 3) said. "Can we go to the park?"
"Of course." Callista petted Amber's head and kissed it. "Mommy just needs to shower first, but then we can go to the park."
As Callista went upstairs, Amber bounced up and down in her chair.
While Callista and Amber were at the park, Flynn was at the doorway of a large room that was filled with a variety of items that made it impossible to enter. Right next to the door in the hall was a table with a photograph on it. It was of Zale when he first joined Fairy Tail as a child.
*I don't remember anything about him.* Flynn thought. *He was Sis's friend growing up, but I was too young to even know he existed. I guess I'll never have the chance to meet him now.*
Flynn then noticed another, more recent photograph right behind it. It was from the Harvest Festival a little over six years ago and he examined the older-looking Zale. Catching his attention was Juvia hugging him from behind.
*Looks like someone had an admirer.*
That thought immediately reminded him of what Callista would constantly tell him.
*'You really need to find a girl', she says. I'm 17 and have all the time in the world… but I do want one… badly…* He looked back at Zale. *I still can't believe the circumstances in which Tenrou Island was destroyed. No, that's not right. More like it was obliterated off the map… Sis… ever since you found out, you became... obsessed with preserving Zale's memory… Now it's sleeping with random guys.*
After a moment of thinking to himself, he went back downstairs, grabbed his house keys out of a bowl and left the house.
A few hours later, Callista and Amber were walking down the streets of Onibus, hand in hand.
"Did you have fun, sweetie?" Callista asked.
"Mm-hm." Amber nodded. Her arms and knees had sand stuck to them.
"Well, when we get home you're going to take a bath." Callista smiled. "Uncle Flynn wouldn't like it if he had to clean sand off the floor."
Callista and Amber both giggled and the latter pointed straight ahead.
"Uncle Flynn!" Amber said.
Callista looked to where Amber was pointing and saw her brother lying face-down, surrounded by spilled bags of groceries.
"FLYNN!" Callista shouted as she ran over and knelt down to him. "Flynn! Tell me you're not dead!"
She flipped his body over to see a blood stream flowing from his head and she placed her ear over his chest to listen to his heartbeat. After listening for a moment, she sighed with relief.
"MOMMY!"
Callista turned around to see a group of five thugs, two of whom had a firm grip on her arms.
"Amber!" Callista shouted.
"If you don't want us to hurt your little girl, hand over all the money you and your buddy there got." One of the thugs said. "Don't be stupid like that guy."
"He was weak, too!" Another thug chuckled. "I only punched him once in the face and he went down!"
Callista clenched her fists tighter and tighter as the thugs continued speaking. She didn't want to get Amber hurt, but her instincts and emotions were telling her to kick their asses. Before she could react, a bright light flashed around them and blinded everyone. As they all covered their eyes with their arms, Flynn got up as quickly as he could and fired balls of light at each of the thugs' faces. The thugs fell one by one and the ones holding onto Amber let her go and she ran in the direction she last saw Callista.
"Mommy!" Amber ran into Callista's legs and grabbed onto them.
Flynn then punched each of the thugs until the light died down. Even though he was now in front of her, Callista could tell from his clenched fists, shaking arms and heavy breathing that he was seriously pissed off.
"I don't care what you do with me…" Flynn growled. "But touch my sister or her niece…"
Flynn fired a large orb of light in front of the thugs and they backed off from the impact it created. The thugs ran away like frightened little girls until Callista, Amber and Flynn couldn't make them out anymore.
"Are you and Amber okay?" Flynn turned back to them.
"Wow, Flynn…" Callista said. "You were a badass for once in your life."
"Watch your language around Amber, Big Sis!" Flynn scolded.
"There's my Lil' Bro." Callista chuckled. "But in all seriousness, we should take you to a hospital."
Flynn touched his forehead and saw blood on his hand, causing his eyes to widen.
"Please don't scream." Callista said.
Later that night, Callista put Amber to bed and kissed her goodnight before going downstairs and sitting down on the couch. Flynn, who had gauze wrapped around his forehead like a bandana, was next to her.
"You know… It's confusing…" Flynn said.
"The hell are you talking about?" Callista questioned.
"If it weren't for those thugs, I wouldn't have finally been able to use magic." Flynn clarified. "But I didn't want it to be at the risk of you and Amber's safety."
"Don't sweat it." Callista slapped Flynn hard in the back. "What matters is your balls finally dropped. Maybe you can finally use those to give me some nieces or nephews."
"Ew… So, you're not going out tonight?"
"Naa, after what you did today, I feel like I should better handle my sex life."
"Well, I'm going to be up all night. I got a concussion that will permanently put me to sleep if I conk out."
The next morning, Callista was sleeping on the couch as Flynn, bags under his eyes, went to the market for some fresh bagels. When he came back, he lightly shook her awake.
"Callista, wake up." Flynn said in a hushed voice.
"Nnn… I told you I don't want that kind of relationship…" Callista groaned.
Flynn just leered at her. "It's your brother…"
Callista eyes shot open and she sat up.
"Anyway, I overheard something while I was in the market today. You said that your friend Zale was on Tenrou Island when it was attacked by Acnologia, right?"
"Get to the point."
"He's alive!"
Callista blankly stared at Flynn in disbelief.
"The Fairy Tail wizards that were on Tenrou Island… they came back."
There was a smile on Callista's face that was bigger than any she had in her life and it was as if she just got a burst of adrenaline.
"Then what the hell are we waiting for?!" Callista happily questioned. "Wake up Amber! Now!"
"Right now?"
"YES, right now!"
Callista, Flynn and Amber rode the train to Magnolia and arrived at the Fairy Tail guild hall.
"You know, I thought this place would be more bustling than this." Flynn said.
A middle-aged man passing by overheard them. "That building's been vacant for over six years. If you're looking for the Fairy Tail guild, I can give you directions."
"That would be most helpful, sir. Thank you." Flynn said.
After following the directions the citizen gave them, they came to the current Fairy Tail guild hall… which was more of a small building than anything.
"Fairy Tail must have fallen pretty hard if they went from that huge building to this as their guild hall." Flynn commented.
Callista looked down at Amber. "Amber, you're about to meet Mommy's friend from when she was your age. Be on your best behavior, okay?"
"Take you own advice." Flynn muttered.
"Do you want to lose what you got yesterday?" Callista threatened.
"I'll shut up."
Callista stood in front of the doors, took a long, deep breath and opened them. Incredibly loud cheering leaked out and Amber hid behind Callista's legs. She couldn't make out anything in the crowd of partying wizards, so the only way to get Zale to come to her was to call out to him.
"ZALE!" Callista shouted.
Some of the people in the guild calmed down and turned toward the door. One of them walked up to her with a look of surprise.
"Callista?"
Callista was both happy and shocked; Zale was alive, but…
"Wow, Zale!" Callista said. "You look like you haven't aged a day!"
Zale nervously scratched the back of his head. "Yeeah… That's because I haven't…" He then looked at Flynn.
"So YOU'RE Zale Aeon?" Flynn asked. "You might not remember me, since I was only 3, but I'm Callista's younger brother, Flynn."
"… I remember now!" Zale said as he shook Flynn's hand. "I still remember the day you were born! Wow, Flynn, you really grew!"
"Wait, go back!" Callista interjected. "What did you mean by 'you haven't'?"
"I'm still 18." Zale answered. "No one on Tenrou Island aged over the past six-plus years."
A/N: I'm going to end the chapter here. I hope you all enjoyed it! And Happy Holidays!
Anyway, if any of you are gamers like me, you've probably heard a lot of censorship issues in gaming news. Xenoblade Chronicles X had its custom bust size for the female avatar removed for NA and EU releases (despite the fact that FFXIV has that same feature without getting any complaints) and Street Fighter V practically removed a character's animation. What pisses me off about these is that there's no reason for it! They'd both be rated T either way and that SF character is a wrestler, she's supposed to be over the top! There are people who are boycotting those games because of the censorship which I think is even stupider than the censorship choices. I know they want to make a stand against censors, but a majority of people are still going to buy the games regardless because of their gameplay and modes. I'm one of those people. I'm really excited for both of those games and have them pre-ordered and I highly recommend getting them when they come out. And here's a petition to convince Nintendo otherwise.
p/nintendo-put-the-breast-adjustment-option-back-in-xenoblade-chronicles-x
Another thing is that Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 won't be releasing outside of Asia because of those annoying SJWs and that it won't sell well. I'm indifferent on whether if I want to play it as I've never played any of them, but I signed petitions just for the hell of it (I love the fighting games, by the way). The Xtreme games are proven to have sold better in US than in Japan. Personally, I do find the series' ladies physically attractive, but I only really care about the ones who have attractive personalities (If you know the characters, my favorites are Honoka, Momiji, Kokoro, Kasumi and Nyotengu). In my opinion, a character can be sexualized as long as there are non-physical aspects that can be considered attractive, interesting or likeable. I also love looking at their eyes in DOA5 than any other part of their body, even though I'll still ogle the bodies. I'm indifferent on Xtreme 3, but what happened pisses me off. Go onto with the following link and sign the petition to get the games over here if you want, if anything just to make a stand against SJWs and Tecmo. Actually, what escalated from there is kind of hilarious so I recommend checking out all of the news articles on the topic of the game's localization and Play-Asia (who are selling the Asian version which will have an English text option).
p/koei-tecmo-bring-dead-or-alive-xtreme-3-to-the-west?recruiter=333197059&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=share_twitter_responsive
Sorry for the long-winded rant, but I needed to express my thoughts on those occurrences. Feel free to express your thoughts on the matter in your review as long as you also comment on the chapter. I once had a review that only focused on what I talked about and not once mentioned the story or the chapter and that really bugs me when people do that. Anyway, I do hope you enjoyed the chapter. Stay tuned for next time!