"Dancing engages the whole body and allows for a freedom of movement that is central to your ability to dodge. To begin we will work on your flexibility and some simple dance moves that mirror deflecting attacks," I said. I took them through both yoga and dance moves. They were awkward in their movements, but I had expected as much on their first time.
We quickly settled into a routine of early morning jogs and core work outs. Balance and cardio are very important to any kind of dancer. We then did yoga and other stretches. I admit it was amusing to me see Levy and Lucy struggle to stay in the stretches for the splits. The first two days I struggled right along with them, but my body was quicker to remember the shape it was in before the void. A lite lunch was followed by real dancing and gymnastics. We ended the day with more yoga and a hearty dinner.
At the end of the week, both Ersa and Juvia had the left and right splits. Lucy and Levy were getting there, but they both seemed better suited for a full sideways split. I had regained my right and left splits and I was half way from completing the side split.
Although none of the girls could be considered professional dancers, they all were much more comfortable in their own skin. Ersa and Juvia may never use what I taught them because their fighting style was so different form my own, but Lucy and Levy could definitely apply the comfort the found in movement to their fighting. I checked flexibility off the list.
Their final test was sending them one by one against Ersa. It seemed a little harsh when I thought about it, but she was the best qualified to push the girls to their limit. She also knew the control that the rest of Fairy Tail was lacking. One by one they danced their way out of the way of Ersa's flashing blades. With more practice these girls would really look as if this deadly training was really all just a choreographed dance. Ersa was sent up against Juvia, and they both tested my skills. They all passed with minor scrapes and bruises. I checked defense off the list.
The last night of our training vacation found us sitting around the camp fire sharing stories and starting at the sky.
"And then he said, 'that was no woman that was my wife!'" Lucy squealed out the punchline. We dissolved into fits of laughter. I laughed so hard I fell off the log Levy and I were using as a bench. My back against the cold grass I laughed even harder at the idea of how silly I looked. Lucy looked over at us and laughed even harder at what she saw: my legs sticking up in the air. Levy had to brace her self-side-ways on the log to prevent herself from falling off she was laughing so hard, and Juvia had tears streaming down her face.
We lapsed into a comfortable silence. I started at the stars and sighed, "The stars haven't changed. They're still so beautiful. Just look at them, they've seen so much and could tell us so much about ourselves."
"Uh-huh," Lucy said, "I've learned so much form my celestial spirits. Crux has tons of stories from the past. Some of them are boring like battles from some ancient war, but some are so romantic like this one about this girl who keeps traveling through time. Crux called her the Deja vu girl because when you're young you could see her and then when you get older you could see in the exact same place and she wouldn't be a day older than the last time you saw her."
"What?!" I yelled grabbing my knees to see them properly. Lucy looked surprised at my outburst, "It's just an urban legend about this girl that can never be with the one she loves because she is cursed to fade in and out of people's lives and thus she seems to be no more than a sensation of a forgotten memory." It was pretty accurate, but tragic love story? I didn't have one.
"What love story?" I couldn't help but ask, "I want details!" At this Levy looked at me strangely; she knew that I was from the past, but she didn't know any of the details, like that I was nicknamed the Deja vu girl. It was hard to tell just how many times when I was in the void my dreams were really reality. I could have appeared five times walking down the same road and would have no idea it had happened.
"Well she was a mage and she fell in love with the lover of a Guild Master," Lucy really got into the story and was waving her arms around and completely drew us in, "She knew that she would never be with him so she tried to get rid of her feelings, but the Guild Master found out and sent her on a deadly mission. She never came back and has been seen by town's people around the world in the Déjà vu manner." Levy and Juvia sighed in awe. Ersa just looked contemplative, but I was almost offended. I was never in love with Zeref!
"That's not true!" my mouth betrayed me and everything just came out, "She never loved him, and I willingly took that mission. The Master could have asked the world of me and I would have started a revaluation." I ended with a huff and started into the fire.
"Uh…" one of the girls uttered into the awkward silence. Suddenly Levy gasped and exclaimed. "You're the Déjà vu Girl!"
I buried my head in my knees and groaned, "Ye-es. I wasn't supposed to tell anyone. I wasn't supposed to say what I just said."
"It all makes sense now! Why you don't know any recent history, why you don't know any of the popular culture, and why your social skills are so out of whack!" Ersa exclaimed. Then they just started at me awkwardly.
"This doesn't change anything Aiya-chan. You are still Juvia's friend and you belong here with Juvia and friends," Juvia said and the girls nodded, "Now what was this about Mavis being in love with the dark mage?"
I let out a slow breath; they just totally rolled with it. I'm pretty sure I would get more questions later, but I felt greatly relieved when Juvia said that. "Well first I need to tell you not to tell anyone else! Nothing about me, or the story of Mavis and Zeref. Only the current Master and Laxus know about me and my past," I paused here and waited until I had received a nod from everyone, "Alright then I will tell you:
"I was the one to support their relationship. Precht and Warrod Sequen disapproved of them even if they were all the best of friends. I had always felt like an outsider. I may have been the first real member outside of the creators, but I was estranged by time. Zeref understood but was too caught up in Mavis and the rest of the world to notice that my curse might have been caused by one of his demons. Which ended up not being the cause by the way. I had tried asking once. It failed as Mavis turned on me. She must have felt that I was trying to seek some revenge on Zeref. I stood in shock as the words spat from her mouth.
"How dare you come here and seek out such a thing?! Zeref was one of us long before you came along. If all you want is to see him in pain then you can go," Mavis's words cut me to my bone. The master that had brought me in and helped me adjust to such a strange new world was shutting me out.
Recovering from my shock I opened my mouth to explain, but never got that far, "Don't try to lie to me with false excuses. I've seen the way you all look at us. You guys don't really try to hide it do you?" she practically yelled. I had seen the way the others looked at them after we figured out who Zeref really was, but that meant nothing to me. The past was the past for a reason and I had no right to judge.
As we stood there in an awkward and tense silence, I realized that there was nothing I could say that would make her understand what I really wanted. So instead I pulled out a mission flyer. I was going to ask her about it in the morning, but we both need space to cool off. It was an S Class mission on the border of Fiore. I quietly set it on the table, squared me shoulders, looked Mavis once in the eyes and turned to Zeref. "I'm-"
"Aiyana! Don't you even dare," Mavis shrill exclamation told me that our conversation was truly over. Despite my straight posture and resolve to stay strong, I could not help the look of hurt that I gave both of them as I walked out the door for the last time.
It was on the way home from this mission that I was sucked into this void for another 95 years."
"So how old is Ayia-chan?" Juvia asked.
Lucy looked at her in astonishment, "Juvia, you just can't ask women how old they are!" We all broke out laughing.
After I tamed my giggles I said, "It's alright Lucy. Let's see I was born…um somewhere around X460. So I would be about 331."
"But you only look 18!" Juvia exclaimed.
I nodded sheepishly and said, "Even though I'm awake the entire time I'm in the void and I think and dream, I don't age in any other way. It's kinda like Limbo. I don't age, feel, get hungry, or change in any way but mentally." They all let this sink in and quite settled in.
"Well we better get to bed. Tomorrow we give Aiyana the ultimate test, she must go on a solo mission," Ersa said. I bolted up right. Snapped my head in her direction. Stared at her.
"Oh come on Aiyana, it won't be that bad. We'll be there in case something goes wrong," Levy exasperatingly said.
"Yeah you totally got this," Lucy said while getting up. Slowly they got up and Ersa doused the fire.