The brunette that was Cana followed her enemy's trail that was leading off to some ten miles north, closer to the mountains than what she had thought. She waited for when dusk arose and got a move on when that time had finally arrived. Using the information Craig forced out of the Sand Mage from before, she eventually found herself close to a small guild hall.
Inspecting it high above a hill secluded in trees, she saw how feebly revolting the joint was, as it was all run down and the bricks were poorly put together.
"Well this certainly is a dump, perfect for petty dark guild pigs." She figured. 'Now, to get in?'
It took her a little while to get a small idea, but a diversion seemed the most logical choice in mind. With that in mind, she could divert several guild members outside and launch a surprise attack. This would lead to a full-scale warzone in which she would have to start and end.
With a plan set, and with the lighting of the guild hall as her only source of guidance, she snuck threw the trees and slowly pulled out a card.
Inside, Falcon's Calling was as grumpy as ever. They were even more agitated with five of their most skilled mages gone; and with that, they were even more riled up than ever.
"Of all of our luck. Now how in the heck are we gonna go about? Those five were our best."
"Well it doesn't matter now. We'll just have Karma pick a new ambush squad. It's as simple as that."
"Sucks to be them. I can't imagine who was that strong to take them out."
Quite a few were just so stressed with the whole dilemma that they downed booze until they entered drunken stupor mode and fell over. Many were more than tempted to spread out and take the small town by storm.
The Master was none other than Karma, a very tall guy. He stood at 10-foot, and as dark guilds would have it, he was all scruffy, unkempt with a brown Mohawk that was very short. He had bandages on his rough arms and he had long, slim legs. His attire was slim tan pants and a tattered gray shirt underneath a short-sleeved darker shade of gray jacket.
He sipped from his mug and his face was red, meaning he was drunk. He was a very heavy drinker, and no one dared to question him since he gets drunk a majority of the time.
His tongue hung out as he slammed a mug on a table. "Now listen you yellowbellies!" He hollered drunkenly. "No one gives a damn as to what happens! We're just going to have to screw our plans! Tonight, that little town's gonna be ours! No ambush squad, no waiting!"
Several smirked and snickered with glee. They were waiting for their boss to say something like that, and they were pretty much done waiting. They've been collecting jewels for a long time, and their patience ran thin. With their goals set, they raised mugs high and cheered as their drunken Master laughed hardily.
A small chill suddenly went through the guild hall and many mages looked confused. They turned to one of the walls and their eyes widened as large icicles pierced one side. Ice spread and froze the remains of the wall and a few members that were caught too close.
"WHOA! What in the world is going on?!" A fellow dark mage screamed.
"Where'd those icicles come from?!" Another exclaimed in shock.
Karma twisted his face as he growled and slowly turned his eyes towards the left wall being covered in frozen-solid ice, including a few members. "Gnnngh. What?" He then turned towards the front. "Whoever did this, make sure they don't get out this alive!"
"You heard him! Time for some payback!" Mages stood up and were rallied or a fight. They all scurried outside and turned the corner to where they would find the culprit, but about ten of them ended up in a large circle surrounded by cards.
"Summoned Lightning!"
Mages felt pulsing electricity coarse through their limbs and screamed as the electricity swelled up their senses. Everything went to black for them as they fell unconscious and remained twitching.
The forty other dark mages jerked away to find their attacker to be none other than the Card Mage, Cana Alberona. With them in shock, she flashed several glowing cards with a smirk. "Careful much?" She swiped and launched cards at the startled mages in front, which exploded upon contact. They all yelped and smoke took up the space.
Cana could hear five extra thuds within the smoke clouds. She turned around and began to run off with smoke provided as cover. She ran to the guild hall's backside and ran around it, coming around on the other end, only to be intercepted by ten more mages.
She caught several spells that were comprised of bubbles, feathers, and more fire being shot at her. She dodged right and skidded harshly to a halt. She flashed her cards again and shot them with dead-on accuracy.
"Not so fast!" A fellow dark mage clasped his hands together and a sudden compressed force of water from above struck the cards down with perfect timing. It was like an upside-down geyser that neutralized the incoming cards.
This left the brunette with a foul taste in her mouth and several more began to come up from behind, following her trail. Pretty soon she found herself surrounded by more than fifty. She grunted as she miscounted.
'That client's gonna get a piece of my mind if I make it through this.' She thought.
"Heck what is this? Don't tell me this bimbo made that icicle! Come on!" A dark mage hollered.
A fellow dark mage held up a sword. "Well I don't know about you, but I'm in no mood for this. She's gonna get in our way!" He pointed his sword ahead. "Men, get her!"
Dark mages began to close the distance around her with various weapons of poor craftsmanship, from large hammers to dull swords. Many more kept a distance to ready individual spells.
Quickly finding her wits, Cana swiped a card. "Oh no you don't! Prayer's Fountain!" She threw the card to the ground with a picture of a fountain on it and the card shined before letting loose a large volume of volatile beams of water in all directions, like an out-of-control geyser. Many guys were swamped by the attack and sent flying off. A few others were blasted square in their abdomens, making them shoot back into other guys full force, and many others scurried and yelped as the uncontrollable water fountains went about.
With them all in a mess, she ceased the spell and saw an opening as many were left to recover from the volatile spell. She made a dash towards the front again.
"Hey! We're not done with you!" A dark mage called out. He then ran after her.
Cana looked back with more tarot cards. "Yeah, well I am!" She launched the several cards like projectiles once more and they pierced the ground in front of the dark mage. Before he knew it, the ground erupted and those who began to follow him were caught in an explosion and sent tumbling and blacking out like the rest.
She turns the corner and then made way inside. She quickly took note of the super tall drunk in the back and the other thirty or so on standby. She had to make these next few spells count, and they had to be big.
She stood in the middle of the guild hall, watching as many already began to surround her, bringing her back to what happened outside. She looked around and smirked. "Well this'll be a hoot."
Karma chuckled drunkenly in the back, his tongue still drenched in booze. "For us it is." Despite his drunken stupor, he stood up, and his height startled Cana as she stepped back. He pulled out a dull and uneven sword with poor and misshaped edging. "Taking out our little ambush squad was pretty gutsy of you. Too bad you're gonna lose them."
Cana held up a card. "That's what you think." She then held it up high. "Thunderbolt's Fate!" The card flashed a small green Magic seal and hundreds of small bolts went flying in all directions. Many of the dark mages hollered and wailed as they felt their spines fry at the shocking attack.
Karma twisted his face again as a couple of his men twitched on the floor with eyes devoid of pupils. He watched as Cana put the card away and readied to pull out more.
"Now, who's next?" She asked as she held up several more cards that began to glow. The men began to turn uneasy as they were left to face another one of Cana's attacks, but Karma grinned as his drunken state extended an arm out, and the palm glowed purple.
Cana's cards in hand ceased glowing, which caught her off guard. "What?"
Karma laughed hardily as his face was still a little. He then held his cheap sword out at Cana. "You've made the biggest mistake of your life, thinking you take us all on when I have Dispel Magic!"
Cana's eyes widened. "You're kidding me!"
"Not only are we gonna kill ya, but I'm gonna watch you become the little package we send back to that wimpy fairy guild!" He laughed again. "They'll be devastated it'll be almost too priceless!"
Cana shuddered as she was getting frustrated. 'Damnit, I really screwed up this time! I should've brought Macao or Wakaba along.'
"Go ahead and try to use Magic! I'll just dispel it! Have at her!" Karma's words were the ones his men were waiting for. They all began to close the distance physically with small knives and swords and Cana turned about in haste as her Magic was completely useless with Karma's Dispel Magic.
She grunted and closed her eyes to prepare for the worst as a sword was raised high into the air.
A moment later, not a gushing, bloody sound, but a clang was heard. Feeling herself unharmed, she slowly opened her eyes again. To her shock, she found herself protected once again.
"You again?!" She asked in disbelief.
The figured turned to face her, revealing him to be her savior twice now. Craig had an unsheathed sword out as he used but one arm to wield the one weapon against several others. He didn't even flinch as he fended them off without looking.
"Well, Brownie, I could be wrong, but I think you're trying to be the damsel in distress just to see little ol' me again. How touching." He joked in his agitated manner. He broke the stalemate when he turned back towards the dark mages. With his bright red sword in hand, he slashed wide and cut through the individual weapons, swords, hammers, and all, and fell one or two in the process.
Cana got out of shock and grew rather mild as she saw Craig's counter. "Still as cranky as ever I see, but what are you doing here?"
Craig leaped and did a midair spiral kick that sent a few mages flying back. When he landed, he faced the brunette.
"Again with the 20 question? Geez, how many times have we been through this? I told you." He pointed his bright red sword at Karma. "Karma has a bounty in his head, and I intend on making it my own."
Karma's grip on his uneven sword tightened and he growled at Craig. He took a step forward, and said step actually made the mages surrounding Cana and Craig make way. Everyone turned towards the ill-will Master to see his killer gaze set on Craig.
"GRAH! You've got thing's the other way around pal." He testified. "I may have a bounty of 80,000 Jewels on my head, but you ain't getting anything but swords to the brain!" He turned left and then right, looking at his men. He then looked forward and narrowed his eyes, sword pointed ahead. "Get'em!"
Craig and Cana were back to back as the dark mages began to advance. As he eyed the incoming numbers, he held up the one sword. "So how's about it? You take your reward while I get the bounty?"
Cana nodded. "Deal!"
The two then dashed in to attack. Cana jumped and bombarded dark mages with explosive cards, while Craig pivoted and drove a swift fist into a dark mage, knocking him down almost immediately. He pivoted in the other direction and ducked a sword swipe. While crouched, he punched the guy's gut and quickly sheathed his sword. He picked up the hefty guy and threw him overhead into several more mages.
Craig turned around and saw a feather spell aimed at him. The multitude of sharp feathers went flying in towards him, but he quickly unsheathed his dark red sword in the blink of an eye and his strikes were like blurs that sliced through the feathery attack.
The dark mage was caught in shock before Craig went zooming in towards him. Craig clenched his right fist as veins popped out near his wrist with sword in left grip. He closed the distance and punched with all his might. "Smash!" His punch was like an elephant stampede to the victim as he got the blow to the abdomen and he shot back so hard that all that were behind him flailed to the ground while he continued on until he crashed into the wall and fell to the ground.
Cana turned back to see what Craig had done and momentarily grew suspicious. "Smash? Really? Isn't that just a plain old powerful punch?" She questioned. However, her answer came in the form of Craig turning around and jumping over her head and vertically slashing his dark red sword on a dark mage with a hammer that would've struck her down if not for him.
Craig landed on a knee and kept his glance on the enemy. "Shut up." He responded to her. He brought one of his legs back and kicked the end of a sheath under his thin, gray jacket around his waist, jerking the bright red sword out and Craig grabbed and held it up. With two swords now in hand, he zoomed in and pivoted, slicing with his two-sword attack through an ice spell. He twirled the swords and crossed them to attack, darting deeper into the fray.
"Sun's Strength!" Cana threw cards at some mages and as they traveled, erupted into flames. The attack struck a few dark mages and made an explosion. "Now let's make you guys fall asleep like your pals." She reached and held up a single card with a sheep on it. She held it in front and the dark mages in front grew weary.
"Sleep!" The card in her hand glowed, and she watched as the ones exposed to the card, which were the ones directly in front of her, fall to the ground in a deep slumber. She watched as a few of the enemy's numbers backed away from witnessing her Magic.
Karma grew agitated and saw his men growing bashful and uneasy with Cana and Craig gaining the advantage. This made him pretty mad and he extended his sword out. "Don't just stand there you worthless bunch! Incapacitate them!"
The Earth Mages that were present were shown, which were a few in numbers, but when they extended their arms out in unison, brown Magic seals appeared in front and Craig found himself unable to move after using his two-sword slashing to take out several in one go.
He tried to move his feet, but he somehow couldn't. "What? Don't tell me…" He looked down to find his feet covered in thick stone cuffs that kept his and Cana's feet attached to the ground.
Cana budged herself but found her feet unable to move. She looked down to find her feet in the same predicament as Craig. "You've gotta be kidding me!"
With the advantage back on their side, all of Falcon's Calling gained their distance from Craig as he still had swords, so getting near him wouldn't be the best idea. Mages began to charge up for long-distance spells as Craig was open.
"Damnit. These guys are fusing their Magic to suppress these cuffs." Craig kept his swords out as he couldn't let his guard down. He could try cutting the stone, but then that would leave him open for a destructive assault.
Cana tried to keep moving, but she still couldn't budge. Her circle was smaller compared to Craig's, and she didn't have much room as dark mages had her surrounded once more. "You guys are really pissing me off!" She flashed some more cards in her hand that glowed.
Karma drunkenly laughed. "Oh come on, is that your best?" He extended his arm out, and like before, Cana's Magic was dispelled, making her tarot cards plain old cards.
Her eyes widened. "I forgot about that!"
Craig was looking uneasy. "Come on, come on. Think!" He scolded himself. "You've been in scenarios like this before, so…"
The sudden sound of heavy footsteps and panting was heard, and Craig's eyes widened as he turned around to find Karma approaching an incapacitated Cana, who couldn't even use her Magic. Immediately his heart rate began to accelerate as he was getting a bad idea of what was gonna happen next.
Cana budged as hard as she could, and she growled continuously until she pulled so hard that she fell to the ground while stiff having her feet cuffed. This lead to her ankles springing and she let out a quick yet painful scream as her ankles ached.
'N-No. My legs! I can't-!' She was interrupted by a shadow looming over her, which was Karma's humungous form with his uneven sword in hand.
His dark smirk and red face made her spine shiver once more, and he sure didn't seem like the kind of guy to give mercy to her.
Seeing the scenario, Craig was left with little options. His eyes darted around the room and found many spells readied for firing. It was either try and cut the stone and attempt to save the brunette and suffer an all-out attack, or wait it out and have the brunette's life forfeited.
His grip in his swords tightened he growled lowly. "Grrrrr! Alright, it looks like I have no other choice."
He put one sword in the other hand and used the free hand to reach for something tucked away behind him, something that glinted with the shine of gold…
Meanwhile, Karma glowered down at Cana, his tongue still sticking out. "Listen girly! You picked the wrong turf to tread on!" He raised his sword high. "Now you're gonna die!"
Cana's eyes widened as the blade glistened. Just like before, she was about to meet her end, only this time, her little savior with an attitude problem was in the same problem she was in.
The sword came down onto her, and she saw her life flash in front of her eyes as all she saw her blurs and sparks.
There was a swipe and a huge clang sound that echoed through the entire guild hall. The sound echoed until it became a single tone that dimmed away.
Cana noticed that her head wasn't split open and that the cuffs on her feet were gone, yet she still couldn't get up due to the injury she had.
"What?" She looked around to find the dark mages around her petrified in fear and awe as they were looking at something. Curious as to what exactly, the Card Mage slowly looked up ahead, and her eyes widened and her heart rate skipped several beats at what she was witnessing.
There he was, Craig, and his two swords in hand. One in each, but that wasn't what surprised her. It was the fact that he had a third sword in his mouth, but unlike the other two, this had a gold colored handle that his sharp teeth held onto; and on top of that, there wasn't just one blade on the end, but a second blade on the other end, facing the other way.
One end of said sword intercepted the large, uneven blade belonging to Karma, and said individual was just as startled as his eyes were wide. "W-what?!"
"No way…three - er, I mean, four swords?" Cana caught herself stumbling as she was confused at just what exactly the number was supposed to be.
Craig snickered while he had the sword in his mouth. "You know what?" He asked with his mouth full of sword handle. "My patience is just about out. I really didn't intend n doing this, but it's times like these that you just gotta bite the bullet."
Karma growled as he was using both arms to press down, but found it super difficult to move his sword. "Just…what are you?!"
Craig's eyes narrowed as he glared like a feral animal at Karma, which made Karma tighten his grip out of fear. "Me?" He crossed his swords as his double-bladed sword suppressed the one sword. "I'm the guy's who's gonna get some payback for Brownie behind me!"
Karma's eyes widened largely. Craig slashed both swords in an X formation, one that cut the uneven blade off of its hilt and it fell to the floor in between them, clanging when touching the floor.
Cana and Karma were left in sheer disbelief before the next thing that happened was Craig twisting his body, slashing Karma with the sword in his left hand and the left mouth blade. Karma screamed as two gashes on his abdominal region left some of his blood to spill.
The humungous Master slowly fell back with a thud from the overwhelming strike and blacked out, leaving Craig to straighten out and looked down at the man's unconscious form.
"Sorry, but normally I'd be done with guys like you right about now. You really were a hassle." Craig expressed his annoyance quite thoroughly. He then turned back around to face the remaining dark mages, who were shuddering in fear. "Now, your turn."
The dark mages all panicked and shut their eyes as they let loose long-range spells like crazy. With their Master defeated by that unique sword slash, they were on their own. An endless sorts of spells went bombarding away, and explosions and bursts were erupting.
After a minute of unleashing their Magic, they all stopped to take a breath. As the dust settled, they were expecting nothing left of him, and the Card Mage. "Alright! We got hi…"
A fellow dark mage was cut short when they all saw Craig still standing with his swords still in his hands. They only saw but a few scratches on him, but otherwise no harm was done; instead, the wall behind him was reduced to nothing but smoldering rubble.
"W-wait!" One shouted.
"You mean he deflected all those shots?!" Another shouted in disbelief.
The four sharp blades glinted with defined edging, which reflected all of their fear as Craig held his swords, pointing them in one direction. Everyone froze as Craig zoomed in and pivoted. With that pivot, he spun in a spiral-like drill clockwise forward with his swords slicing along the way.
"Spiral Dragon Slice!"
He planted his feet on the ground with swords in a swiped motion, posed while the dark mages in front of him screamed as they all had at least one large cut on them and they fell to the ground in unconsciousness.
Cana shuddered at how it was so unreal yet it happened so fast. She didn't even see them all get cut, yet it was such a huge spiral. No words could be described at just how scarier he had become to her.
Craig stood back up and looked back at the dark mages who weren't hit. Immediately, they all screamed as Craig flew like a hawk into them, his feet moving fast.
"Dual Guillotine!"
Both swords were reached out on opposite sides, and as he darted in with a huge leap, the double-bladed mouth swords and two other swords slashed. The dark mages screamed as they felt two slashes, one lower than the other, and fell to the ground, blacking out like everyone else.
Craig struck another pose before he stood back up from his knee. Looking around, he saw that the ones surrounding him from before were down.
If you were wondering how he got out of that predicament earlier, it happened bluntly as so: He reached for his golden sheath and it flipped open on one end, as did the other. The two sheathed clipped off and clipped to each other and the unique sword was put into his mouth. There, as spells were fired on him, he sliced the stone cuffs off his feet and turned, with the mouth sword following, and his sword turning deflected a few spells, and his swords picked up from there, and thus did a Spiral Dragon Slice to black out the enemy.
Seeing all of the unconscious bodies lying around, if not incapacitated, Craig scoffed and turned towards a startled Cana. He didn't bother to look at her in the eyes, nor did he cared to do so. He disregarded her blanked out appearance and used one sword with great precision to cut the stone cuffs on her feet, freeing her.
"Just…wow." Cana couldn't find the words. How could she? This was just too mind-boggling for her to take. She watched as Craig sheathed his two swords tand brought the two gold sheathes and slowly pressed them in, each side making a clang sound. He took the sword out of his mouth and put it back behind him.
He looked down at Cana. "Hey, you alright?" He asked.
Cana slowly sat back up, but didn't bother getting up due to her sprained ankles.
Craig turned away, disregarding the few scratches and cuts he ascertained. "Well the deed's done." He sighed. "Alright, I'll get those crappy Rune Knights, you just be sure to…" Turning around, he saw her sprained ankles, which led him to see the predicament.
He slumped forward. "You've gotta be kidding me."
Cana raised a brow in irritation. "Well excuse~ me, for having to try to move when it was merely an accident!" She then crossed her arms as she sat up. "Great, now how am I gonna get around?"
She suspiciously looked up to Craig, and Craig looked at her, and then it clicked.
He bared his sharp teeth. "I am not carrying you!"
"You're despicable. You know that, right?"
Craig growled all the way as he was supporting Cana as they made way to town. Since she couldn't get far on her own, he had to support her by having each other's arms over their shoulders. Rune Knights came earlier and apprehended all of Falcon's Calling, and with Craig claiming the bounty of 80,000 Jewels from Karma's apprehension, all that was left to do was get Cana to the client.
"You're just mad because you've never been close to a pretty girl before, right?" Cana joked as she limped with Craig helping her.
Craig growled and looked forward. "I'm more than tempted to just leave you here."
"Oh, don't be such a killjoy. It's been one hell of a day." She argued. "You know, it wouldn't hurt to lighten up some, Cranky."
His glance turned to her. "I had to save your hide numerous times back there, Brownie." He spited back. "Next time you go on some mission like this, bring something more useful like these people called guild mates."
"Yeah, yeah. I know." She bitterly agreed. "And just so we're clear, I still don't appreciate how you can just say no to booze like that."
"That stuff kills your liver and brain cells." Craig explained harshly. "And I ain't risking any cells rotting…not on my watch."
That last sentence she heard, something was off. Cana heard behind that cold statement, there was something demeaning and spine-shivering mentioning of the brain. When she thought about it, he did lash out harshly when she asked of his sword arts and of his past. Something was going on, but knowing Craig, he'd probably just leave her lying on the ground if she asked, so she kept her mouth shut for the rest of the way as the dark night chirped with crickets.
Later on that evening, Cana, accompanied by Craig, met the client, who wasn't as honest as he was intended. He left out some key details of strength and ranks, to which Cana made a big fuss about. The client was quite stubborn with giving her the reward as described, but thanks to a certain someone who had a sword pointed at the client's throat, negotiations went for the better, and the brunette was given triple the award. At least Craig's…negotiations were good for something.
She soon found herself at the train station, and that's when things got out of hand.
Craig shook angrily at her. "You want me to do what?!"
"You heard me! You're coming with me for the train ride to Magnolia." Cana stated.
Craig snarled at her. "I have no desire to be your little 'stepping stone'. If anything, you look just fine."
"Oh really?" Cana released her grip from Craig's support and she was wobbly before her ankles gave in quickly and she began to fall down. Craig quickly caught her, and once he saw her raised brow at how he was wrong, all he did was bitterly turn his head away.
"See?" She countered.
"Don't get all mushy on me, Brownie."
Cana sighed, seeing as how this may drag on. The train was ready to depart, so she turned towards him. "Look, I hate this as much as you do, but once we reach Magnolia in the morning, you can drop me off at my guild and that'll be it. Deal?"
Craig honestly wanted to throw her into the train, and he could, but then it'd just be an insult to injury. He recalled saying that Cana and him had a deal of dinner, a deal on the guild bounty, and now here they were, making yet another deal.
"This is starting to get redundant." He muttered under his breath. With a sigh, he turned towards Cana. "Alright, deal."
Cana grinned. "Alright, then let's go…Cranky."
"Shut up, Brownie."
"It's Cana, FWI!"
"Whatever."
The train was heard roaming the tracks, and the cabin the two shared was fairly snug, though Craig sat on the opposite end and lied on his back and looked up at the ceiling. Cana was on the opposite end, watching the nighttime landscape go by. Today was pretty hectic, but at least she got two things out of this: A heaping reward, and a bodyguard with serious anger issues.
Speaking of which, the topic of Craig came to her. It wasn't about his attitude or his spiteful demeanor, but his sword arts. The way he utilized his swords, and how he was so physically brutal, it was uncanny at least. She looked at Craig and at his three sheaths. She didn't seem to understand how he could be so good. It was clear he wasn't self-taught, to her knowledge at least.
"Hey, Craig." She asked.
Craig turned his head towards her, a grouchy expression plastered on his face. "The hell you want now? Didn't I tell you 20 questions is bad for your health?"
"Yeah, so I've noticed." She remarked. "But that's beside the point. How did you use three swords – er, four, whatever. You get the idea."
Craig turned his head back up towards the ceiling lights, which were very dim. "Sorry Brownie, but I already gave ya a freebie. I told you I got tips and a few lessons from an acquaintance, and then I went from there. Story over, the end."
Cana turned back towards the roaming scenery before her. "Geez, you're even crabbier than earlier today. Well I guess it won't matter anyway."
"No duh. After tomorrow, it's hasta la vista." Craig looked back up towards the ceiling. "See ya in the morning, unfortunately."
"Same to you, Cranky." She spited back.
Eventually the two were left to fall slowly into their individual slumber. The train went on through the night air and Craig slept rather still, his arms behind his head.
A little boy, possibly no older than three, was seen stumbling through the woods. He barely had an appropriate shirt on as it was all torn in a few places. He seemed lost and very confused, for he had no idea on where he was going.
He read the sign that was in front of him. "Gar…denia." He read slowly. He slowly crept from out of the woods and had stumbled into the cute little town of Gardenia. It wasn't as prosperous as Magnolia, but the people living around were looking quite content and happy. Various animals were pulling carts full of food, many young women were carrying fresh flowers around, and there were a few children playing about with others.
However, the small boy with short black hair was too young to understand, yet he could seemingly tell that by the looks he was given, the children clearly didn't want him around. So he took his little legs and carried himself elsewhere.
His small stomach was begging for food, but from what he knew from observation and interpreting, he needed money, to which he had none of. The small boy aimlessly walked through the town's roads, far away from others. The adults didn't seem all that worried, which was discouraging.
He soon came to a stop when he found a bench. He struggled a bit, but he was able to hoist himself up onto the seat and sat idly. He needed some food bad, but the dilemma was that there might not be any signs.
He could try that little trick where people threw lines into the water and out came fish, or maybe find some wild berries. It didn't matter. Anything sounded good right about now.
As his little mind was left to contemplate, a sudden little arm popped out from in front.
"Huh?"
The little boy looked forward to see a brown-haired mother smiling down while holding her daughter's hand. The daughter had brown hair just like her mother, and about the same age as the little boy.
The little girl was using her left arm and held out a small piece of bread to him. The little boy looked confused as the little girl smiled generously.
"Hi!"
Craig's eyes widened and he jerked awake. He sat up and breathed heavily. His mind was trying to comprehend on what he had just dreamt about.
"What the…the heck was that?" He curiously looked over towards Cana, who was sleeping pleasantly on her side. He stared at her for a few moments and turned away. He had more than a few dreams over the four years of starting from ground zero, but most of the dreams he had were consisted of others he met along the way…
That bitter thought left him wanting to stick his head out the window and take a heap of fresh air as the train rolled on. As he felt the night breeze, he was left uneasy with his most recent dream.
It felt different to say the least; like it wasn't a dream. This was too much to process for him and he dropped the matter for now. He used his arms as a chinrest and watched the landscape pass by through the darkness.
Happy St. Patrick's Day! Here's the next chapter guys! I was pretty surprised at how I got this updated in less than a week, but for me it turned out better than what I had intended.
If you were expecting Fairy Tail to come around this time, then don't worry. Fairy Tail and its characters will show next chapter, as well as a little Natza.
If you were trying to get an idea of Craig's sword art at its potential like from before, the cover image is a good reference.
Keep reviewing and favoring this story guys! Till next time! :)