The rest of the train ride was kept in silence, with only the mutters of how dangerous Fairy Tail was, yet how helpful and powerful they also were. I couldn't help but feel jittery. I would be a Fairy Tail wizard. I was going to be a wizard that everybody knew about.

As soon as the train stopped, I grabbed my things and ran off, taking in my surroundings in the few seconds that I halted my steps. This city was huge. There was no way I was going to find the guild hall if I wandered around for ages.

Then the ground began to move.

Shrieking, I tripped over the ground and covered my head with my hands. What was going on? An earthquake? Maybe Fairy Tail wizards would come out to inspect the damage afterwards. And I would meet one of them! Wait, why was I worried about meeting a Fairy Tail wizard much more than my own safety? Looking up from my fetal position, I saw that the city was literally splitting in half, and there was a man in a black cape walking down the path straight to the middle of the city, where I could now clearly see the guild hall. It was magnificent! To think that I would be in that hall in just a few days, after I received my bearings and found somewhere to live.

Then I saw people start coming out of the hall, first a pretty girl with red hair, clad in armor. Then a pink-haired boy with a flying cat. This wasn't weird at all. Why did they have to split the city in half for this one guy? I stood up and watched carefully, waiting for anyone at all to say something that would give me a hint to who this mysterious man was.

Then the murmurs began.

"Hey! How long's it been since old Gildarts was here? Four years, right? I wonder how that quest went with him." A vendor behind me started muttering to his customers, daring to speak in the harsh quiet of the city.

This was Gildarts? I had expected more, to be honest. The strongest man in Fairy Tail? Could he not find the guild hall, so they had to make a straight road to it? I'd have to ask when I got there. Turning to the vendor behind me, I wiggled between the customers to get in front. "Where's the closest inn with a good price to the rooms?" I inquired, getting several looks from those whom I'd pushed. He gave me directions to the closest inn, the Fairy Scroll, that was named after the local guild. I thanked him, placing a few jewels on his table before walking towards the inn.

While the inn was quite pretty, it wasn't anything special. After speaking to the owner, I got a hot meal, a shower, and a place to sleep for the night. Magnolia was seeming to be quite the place! After settling to bed, I realized that I would never get any sleep if I didn't stop worrying about what would happen when I got to the guild, and asked if I could join. Around midnight, the city began moving back, yet I found myself very comfortable with it now.

In the morning I got dressed and headed off to the guild hall, which was no longer in my sights due to the city rejoining with it's other half. Doing the best I could to find it, I only wandered for about thirty minutes to get there. Soon enough, I stood at the doors of the guild, catching my breath as I slowly walked up, only hesitating a moment as I knocked on the big double doors. And nobody answered.

My throat caught and began running dry. Did they not let regular people come into the guild hall without an escort? Sure, it looked fishy, but I wasn't sporting another guild mark, nor covering one up. I knocked again, a bit louder, and tried to listen in on what was happening inside. Lots of crashing, people obviously fighting and yelling, and many groans of displeasure. Well, this sure was a rowdy bunch. I leaned against the door to try to get a better perspective, and then it opened.

I crashed to the ground, face first. "Ugh..." I groaned, struggling to sit up and look at who'd opened the door. It was the man in the black cape, Gildarts. Oh no. This wasn't good. "Hey pretty lady. What are you doing here?" He asked, not at all phased at the thought that I might've been (which I absolutely was) eavesdropping on the guild. "I-um-I-Fairy Tail-join-want-to-please?" I stuttered, my words coming in jumbled groups not only as I spoke them, as I thought them. He looked down at me in confusion for a minute, and then the pink-haired boy peeked over his shoulder. "Hey, what's goin' on? You scared, Gildarts? Wait, who're you?" He asked, obviously not understanding what I meant, and since I couldn't speak anything other than single words that didn't make any sense, I wasn't sure if I could even remember my name at the moment.

"I think she wants to join. She's obviously a wizard. Lots of potential, I can just see it. Come 'ere, let's get Master to evaluate you. But we do have to know your name before we let you in." Gildarts replied, soon after grabbing the salmon-haired boy by the hand and throwing him back inside towards an old balding man with white hair.

"C-Cadence DesRosiers. And yeah, I wanna join." I replied, standing up by myself and finding my whole body shaking with anticipation. But they still had to evaluate me, and something told me that it would be very hard to pass. "Alright then, Cadence. Come right on in. What kinda magic do you use, if I can ask?" Gildarts inquired, opening the door wide open to the silent guild.

The Fairy Tail guild was all staring at me, quietly taking note of exactly what I looked like and who I was. An obviously drunk brown-haired woman was simply looking at me and shrugging. A blonde girl was looking at me and smiling, waving enthusiastically along with a blue-haired girl. In the middle of the bar, the balding man stared at me critically, taking me in and obviously making sure I wasn't somebody that he might've seen as an enemy. I stood in the middle of the guild hall, letting them inspect me even though I was shaking like a nervous wreck.

A long moment passed, and the white-haired man began to smile. "Nice to meet you! I'm Master Makarov, but everybody here calls me Master or Gramps, whatever you prefer. I see you've already met Gildarts. I understand you'd like to join? I didn't catch your name." I opened my mouth to speak, but the pink-haired boy beat me to it. "She smells weird, Gramps. Like some kinda soap." He muttered, taking me by surprise. When had he smelled me? And soap was a good smell, wasn't it? "NICE SCARING HER, NATSU! SHE'S OBVIOUSLY REALLY NERVOUS! AND THAT'S WHAT EVERYONE WHO WASHES THEMSELVES CORRECTLY SMELLS LIKE!" The blonde yelled at him, turning back to me and shaking her head as if to say, don't worry about him. Taking her advice, I took a deep breath and began to answer all the questions he threw at me as the guild began to ignore us and made more noise. Thankfully, nobody was starting any fights, only chatting amongst themselves for the moment.

"My name's Cadence DesRosiers."

"What type of magic do you use?"

"Sound magic. I could show you, if you'd like."

"In a few moments, Cadence. I have to speak to my S-Class Wizards. Gildarts, would you come over here, please? You too, Erza." Master said, turning to the red-haired female who was currently eating a piece of cake. Staring tearfully at her food, she cleared her throat and got up, leaving it behind to speak to the others. Looking down at my shoes, I couldn't believe that I had really gotten this far. It was actually happening.

It only took a few minutes of quiets whispers from the group before they gestured me over to the bar. I recognized Mirajane Strauss, who was quite popular on Sorcerer Weekly. She was all smiles, seemingly supportive of me being there. I couldn't help but grin as I sat down at one of the stools. Erza looked at me critically, peering at me for a second before glancing at Mira and also releasing her frown for a neutral look. Gildarts also remained neutral, but Master Makarov had a grin on his face. "What color would you like your guild mark to be?" He inquired, Mira picking up a group of stamps from behind the counter. My grin spread into a smile as I held my right arm up upside down, pointing to my forearm. "I want to thank you for this opportunity, sir." I told Master as I pointed to the white stamp. Wincing slightly as Mira pressed it onto my skin, I took a breath, and the Fairy Tail emblem was seared upon my arm. And it would be there for a long, long time.

"So, when are you gonna take your first job?" asked Gildarts, pointing to the request board across the room.