Good day all of you beautiful people you! Here I am with another chapter! I hope you like it!

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VOID SOUL: LEAVENS LANE

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"Awaken!"

The loud voice boomed throughout the apartment. Auralie was ripped from her dreams with a jolt and fell off the couch, the kitten sprung awake and began running around the apartment.

"What's going on?" she looked from side to side tensely, "Erza, it's five in the morning!" she pulled the blankets around her and curled up on the sweet, sweet ground.

"Now is no time to be sleeping, we have work to do!" Erza ripped the blanket away, goosebumps rose all over her body as the morning chill washed over her.

"Five more minutes," she pleaded, Erza stood over her, dressed in a black tank and grey capris yoga pants. Auralie felt herself being lifted by the arm, "Alright, alright! I'm up! Jeeze, what did I sign up for?" she mumbled under her breath.

She got on her feet with more of Erza's help than was welcome. Straightening up, she cracked her back and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Looking around, she saw that the apartment had been tidied up and two mat's lay perfectly aligned in the middle of the room.

"Wonderful! You're already dressed for the day. You must've been so excited about the armor that you slept in it! Truly, you're dedicated to what is to come!"

"And what is that?" said Auralie, coughing to clear her throat of morning gunk.

"First, we welcome the day!" she walked over to the mat excitedly and motioned for Aura to take the one opposite of her, "Now," she said once Auralie was situated, "Do as I do,"

While Erza lead with perfect form, Auralie spent the half hour attempting intense yoga on the mats with little grace.

"Do you do this every morning?" Auralie asked.

"Yes. It focuses the mind, we will be meeting from now on every morning at 5:30 am. That should allow enough time for you to 'sleep in'," she air quoted.

"Oh? I uh, didn't know this was going to become a regular thing,"

"Of course! This is part of my extra good deed this month, I told you, I must beat Natsu," she said going into grasshopper's pose with ease.

The kitten ran around Auralie's feet and climbed on her legs while she also attempted grasshopper's pose. Her arms trembled as she tried to balance, she could feel her center of gravity preferred the floor to her arms as she started to tip forwards. Her chin headed for the ground and her arms gave out

"You need to focus, take things one breath at a time," said Erza, "You sound like a panting dog,"

Auralie nodded and attempted again, breathe in, she inhaled, breathe out, she exhaled, pushing up to her arms. Breathe in, ankle on the knee, breathe out, and balance the ankle atop the elbow while sticking the leg out...

"Kya!" she yelped as she fell.

"Again!" said Erza, coming down from grasshopper pose gracefully, a light sheen of sweat glistened over her face and arms, "Focus, listen to your body, find a place between your head and your heart where tranquility lies,"

She nodded, trying to clear her mind and breathed in deeply. Breathe out, she exhaled, pushing up to her arms. Breathe in, ankle on the knee, breathe out, and balance the ankle atop the elbow. She felt herself beginning to tip forwards again as she stuck out her leg, but a firm hand kept her steady.

"You must hold the position for five seconds in order for progression to happen. Let me know when you're ready,"

Auralie looked at Erza and nodded, trying to shift into a solid position she'd be able to hold, "Ready," she said.

"One, two, three, four, four and one quarter, four and two quarters," Aura could feel herself starting to tip forwards, "Four and three quarters…" Erza said and sat down, then looking at her wrist she fell silent.

Her forearms trembled and she could feel the vein in her forehead start to pulse. A cool drip of sweat fell down her nose and ticked onto the mat.

"Are you timing me?" she grunted, Erza pushed a finger to her lips, silencing her. Her lower back was starting to feel the pressure of holding her legs up and her arms started to loose balance, "Kya!" she crumpled to the mat and rolled onto her back, slowly extending her sore arms, they felt wired in place.

"Amazing!" Erza exclaimed, "you're five seconds past trainable!" she said holding her watch above Auralie so she could see her time. She could see where Erza had ticked off a certain time on the watch that said 'trainable'.

"Did I really make it for forty seconds?"

"Yes. You did eighty times better than I thought you would,"

"You thought I'd last half a second?" Aura let out a laugh.

"Of course," Erza looked again at her watch, "6:00 on the dot, come quickly!" she pulled Auralie up and out the door in one motion.

"Where are we going?" they ran down the stairs and out of the apartment, kitten in tow, "Erza?"

"It's time to run! Usually I do ten miles a morning but seeing as you're a beginner we'll do five!"

"What?!" Auralie looked over her shoulder and saw the kitten still following her.

"What are you doing? We can't stop!" Erza said running back to her and taking her arm, "Oh, I forgot about the kitten, you'll have to hold him while we run, come on!" she said pulling Auralie along.

The next five miles of her life were gruesome. The armor trapped heat in all the wrong places and she was sure there was going to have lots of chafing. She could feel warm bubbles on her feet where she was sure she'd get blisters. Fifty minutes later they finally made it back to the apartment.

After this, they got ready for the day as quickly as possible. Rather abruptly, Erza made an announcement.

"Now, we eat!" Auralie was pulled out the door again, kitten and newspaper in arm, while Erza lead the way down Magnolia's cobbled streets. Their breath trailed little white clouds behind them as a light blanket of snow fell over the city. Auralie shivered and rubbed her bare arms to keep somewhat warm.

Soon they arrived at a quaint coffee shop called The Cozy Cup. The vanilla aroma warmed their senses as they took their seat in a worn, leather booth. Auralie ordered eggs and toast, while Erza had ordered strawberry cheesecake.

"That's an interesting breakfast choice," she pointed at the cake.

"Not really," said Erza tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Auralie felt a little head nudge her elbow and lick her arm with its scratchy tongue.

"Hm," Auralie ripped up half of her toast in minuscule pieces, placing it on the mini plate that was beneath her cup and broke an egg yolk over it. She steered the kitten away from her plate and to his own mini breakfast.

Some couple of minutes passed, Auralie was only halfway through her meal when Erza pounded once on the table with another announcement, the kitten jumped into air while she nearly choked on her eggs.

"Now, we assess the situation!" said Erza bringing her hand to her chin thoughtfully. Auralie coughed, trying to simultaneously pet the kitten, letting him know everything was fine.

"Pardon?"

"First, what has caused you to be in a situation of needing to get on your feet?"

"I uhm, ran away from home." she could feel her face heating up.

"Why Magnolia?"

"Furthest I could go."

"Ah. So then I assume you have nothing to your name,"

"Nope." Auralie said softly, drinking from her empty cup to hide her face. Erza allowed the silence to stretch for a few more moments.

"If you were on death's door when Natsu found you, or so I've heard, then I assume the circumstances under which you fled from home were unfortunate. For that you have my deepest sympathies." She took another bite of her cake and chewed, then an idea seemed to pop into her head, "Is someone chasing you?"

"I don't know." Auralie pushed her plate away slightly and set down her fork. She wasn't sure she'd ever be comfortable talking about what happened conversationally.

"What about the Inanis? I didn't mean to eavesdrop but I heard you tell Master Makarov that you were chased,"

"Uhm, I don't… it's a strange kind of…they might—"

"It's alright, I can see your uncomfortable talking about it right now," said Erza. Auralie smiled and wished she'd noticed sooner.

"Let's focus on the most immediate problem," said Erza, "You need to find a job so you don't become a mooch; therefore, we will search for work!"

"I actually found a job in the paper," she brought the newspaper up to the table, spreading open the page where she'd found the Help ad.

"Ah, so that's why you have a cat,"

"Yes, and I figure if I find the other fifty-or-odd-some kittens that I can make up to 50,000 Jewel. It may not be enough for rent, but it's something," she smiled.

"I see, but what about after that?"

"I'm not sure," she thought, "I do have some magical abilities, but they're not fully fledged in the slightest. I thought I might be able to try out some requests on the board, but maybe it's not such a good idea," she rested her hand on her cheek.

"Maybe not, but how else will you get good?"

"I need to train somehow," she said, shrugging her shoulders, "I'm going to try and find a part time job so I can work on magic in my spare time,"

"I accept,"

"Accept what?"

"I will train you in everything I know!" stars shone in her eyes, "We will become an unstoppable team, defeating every villain that dares cross our path," her fists shook with excitement as she continued fantasizing, "We can even wear matching armor!—"

"Erza!"

"Yes?"

"I think you're getting a little carried away,"

"Do you… not want to train with me?"

"Oh, I…" Auralie looked at Erza, dressed in armor and clad in hope, "I'm sorry that's not what I meant, I… I just thought I could go to the address in the ad and return Mrs. Peebles kitten first,"

"Perfect! While you are returning the kittens I will head to the dojo and make preparations for training!"

"MmHm!" she smiled, what had she gotten herself into?

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The sky was filled with fluffy cotton ball clouds that brought a light snow down over the town. Auralie walked down Leavens Lane, kitten in hand and newspaper clutched to her side. It had taken an hour, but she'd finally found the right street.

"Yo!"

That voice… Her morning had been so busy that she hadn't thought once about Natsu or Happy, she never went back to their home last night. She looked down at her armor, her armor.

"Aura where have you been! I thought you were deaaad!" Happy hugged her neck, "Wh-who is that?" he looked down at the kitten in her arms, "You've already replaced me!" Happy's eyes welled with tears.

"No, no Happy it's not like that," Auralie said patting his head, "He's just lost, I'm returning him to Mrs. Peebles,"

"You promise?" Happy sniffled.

"Yes, she's just a couple houses down— I think,"

"I take it you've been with Erza," said Natsu nonchalantly as he strolled next to her.

"Y-yeah,"

"What do you think?"

"She's very kind, and very straightforward," said Auralie, Natsu laughed.

"You've got that right. So, I see you've made a change in wardrobe,"

"MmHm," she could feel the heat start to raise to her cheeks.

"So then can I have my clothes back?"

"Uhm—" Auralie covered her face with the newspaper, pretending to read Mrs. Peebles address.

"Did you hear me?"

"Uhh…" she peered over the newspaper, but quickly hid again, Natsu stood with his hands in his pockets, "I think Mrs. Peebles house is this way," she turned around and began to walk quickly in the opposite direction.

"Hey!" Natsu walked after her. Auralie peered over her shoulder and went a little faster, burying her head in the newspaper. She heard his pace quicken, she peered over her shoulder again.

"Eeep!" he was right behind her, she strafed to her right and turned again in the opposite direction, walking faster. She could feel her face getting redder by the moment.

She peered over her shoulder again, but he wasn't there. The next moment it felt like she'd walked into a wall. She lowered the newspaper and peered up at Natsu. He grabbed her shoulders with his hands.

"What's with you?"

"I-it's n-nothing," she could feel the kitten squirming in her arms.

"And where are my clothes?"

"Th-they uhm," the kitten jumped to the ground and walked around them.

"Yea?"

"…may have been burnt,"

"What? How?"

"Nevermind how, i-it doesn't matter, I'm sorry, I'll pay for a replacement," she started to hide her face in the newspaper again.

"You and what job— would you quit it with the newspaper, why do you have it anyways?" he took it out of her hands and tossed it on the ground.

"I found an ad for someone who'd lost their kittens and," she looked at her arms, "… where's?" she looked around them, the kitten was nowhere in sight. She heard the sound of an engine in the distance and looked towards the street. The kitten had wandered into the gutter and was prancing towards the road.

Auralie left Natsu and ran towards the kitten, but her footsteps startled him and he ran further into the road. The vehicle was getting closer. She lunged towards the kitten, capturing him in her arms out of harm's way. But she wasn't so fortunate, and a knowing feeling sunk into her bones.

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This chapter was a little bit slower, but don't worry, it'll pick up soon (: the story is still in the beginning stages where characters are being introduced, and a little bit of danger of course (x

The next chapter will be interesting (: I'm not exactly sure when it will be posted but I'd like to say two weeks! I know that's a long time but the more time I have to go over my work the better quality it is (:

Soo, did you guys like this chapter? Or the story in general? Have any guesses as to what's gonna happen next?

Until next time, see you lovely's later! ;D