Disclaimer's on chapter 1
Wendy Marvel could not believe the day she had been having so far.
This morning, Cait Shelter's Guild Master Roubaul had announced that a wizard from Fairy Tail would be paying them a visit today sometime this afternoon. Just hearing that someone from one of the most well known Guilds in Fiore would be visiting their own small Guild was enough for Wendy to ask if she could be the one to go out and meet the wizards from Fairy Tail before Roubaul could ask for volunteers to go out to Eucalyptus to meet them. Despite his surprise, Roubaul granted the eager young wizard-in-training's request knowing just how big a fan the girl was of Fairy Tail and several of their wizards especially.
Too excited to wait for her best friend, who had told her several times to be patient ever since Roubaul had given her permission to go to Eucalyptus this afternoon to meet the wizards from Fairy Tail and guide them back to the Cait Shelter Guild, Wendy set off for the docks right after lunch and asked one of the boatmen to take her across the lake completely unaware of the danger she would be in the moment she set foot back on land.
As the boat crossed the lake, Wendy kept herself preoccupied by thinking about which wizard or wizards from Fairy Tail she could be meeting. While she would not have minded meeting Erza Scarlet or Mirajane Straus, two of the most powerful female wizards to date, Wendy was more hoping she would be getting to meet Natsu Dragneel and Wilhelmina 'Will' Surefire who, despite not being as popular as some of the more powerful Fairy Tail wizards, shared something in common with her.
By the time the boat had reached the lake bank, Wendy had been too excited and eager to meet the visiting Fairy Tail wizard to check to see if there were any beasts or bandits around and had quickly disembarked only to be suddenly ambushed by a group bandit wizards who had been hiding in wait, if not for her then possibly either someone else from the Guild or maybe for anyone coming to visit the Guild regardless of whether they were part of another Guild or not.
In their clutches, Wendy could do little to escape from them and was worried what would happen to the rest of her Guild when Wilhelmina Surefire herself entered the scene, not that she knew who she was at first in all the confusion. When her supposed rescuer suddenly collapsed after taking out her captor, Wendy was too busy worrying for her to realise another wizard had arrived and taken out the rest of the bandit's minions until the word 'Thaumaturge' caught her attention.
He was not how she pictured 'Thaumaturge' to be, granted all she had to go on was the gossip that the older women giggled about the wizard along with whatever snippets Sorcerer Weekly had about him. He seemed...grumpy. That was the first word that came to mind as she immediately saw the scowl that looked like it was permanently etched into his face. The complete opposite of Will, who almost always had a smile on her face- until she suddenly gotten sick, that is. The only thing that the two had in common from what she saw, was a fondness for the color blue and that was without including 'Thaumaturge's' hair color.
And then, before her very eyes, 'Thaumaturge' attacked Will knocking her clean out of their captor's hand when he tried to use the older girl as a hostage and right out of the boat. Seeing what the wizard had done to his Guildmate, Wendy was beginning to fear what he would do to her captor, and more importantly herself, when Will suddenly shot out of the water looking perfectly fine and really angry with their captor rather than 'Thaumaturge'. Angry enough to destroy their boat with a Dragon Slayer attack and send her flying into the air also.
The next few moments had been a blur but Wendy could have sworn she had been riding a river in mid-air briefly before finding herself slamming into 'Thaumaturge' and sending them both to the ground injuring the blue wizard in the process. In the hopes of making amends for the trouble she had caused, as well as trying to avoid his wrath for harming him, Wendy quickly offered to heal 'Thaumaturge's' injury. The praise she had gotten from the wizard upon healing his injury had left her feeling both surprised and very happy as if she had just been complimented by her Guild Master himself.
Happiness soon made way for nervousness.
Now sitting aboard the makeshift raft the two wizards from Fairy Tail had cobbled together from the remains of the boat Will destroyed, Wendy had just sat herself down and hugged her knees to her chest too nervous, and a tad scared, of the fully fledged wizard in blue beside her to properly marvel at the speed Will was towing the raft through the water by herself. Even though he had praised her skill in healing magic, there was something about 'Thaumaturge' that just screamed out "back off" to her.
As the raft got ever closer to her Guild, Wendy was brought out of her musings by the prodding of the little ginger cat Will had introduced as Rui- after the bandana wearing tabby had scratched the Water Dragon Slayer badly for "discarding her to take out some trash" whatever that meant.
"'Don't...let...Alastor's...looks...scare...you…He's...really...just...a...big...softy...at...heart'?" She quietly spoke out what the tabby was writing in the air with one of those light pens, Wendy believed they were called. She wanted to know how a pen could do something like that, along with why Rui could not just speak seeing that she was just like her best friend. But, the question most bugging her that she could not help but ask was: "Um... Can you turn around and write out the rest, please? It's kind of difficult to read what you're writing back to front."
Despite being polite about it, Wendy squeaked in fright as Rui lunged at her angrily- apparently the tabby took offence to the young female wizard for saying she could not understand her. Closing her eyes as she braced for the painful reprimand, Wendy cautiously opened her eyes after a few seconds when she did not feel any pain to discover that Rui was just floating right in front of her with paws flailing angrily.
"I'm trying to invite their Guild into an alliance. The last thing I need is you shredding up one of their members just because she said something about you." 'Thaumaturge' said to the prisoner of his wind sphere prison before turning to Wendy who was looking at him in a mixture of surprise and awe. "Don't mind her- she does that to everyone who says that. It's why everyone in Fairy Tail can read backwards so fluently."
Wendy could only nod, her mind and attention too caught up at looking from Rui still suspended in mid-air in her little magic prison to the wizard who had cast it in what appeared to have been the blink of an eye. He did not appear to be angry, a little irritated at best perhaps, but not enough to warrant a hex that could knock her right off the boat like he did to Will earlier. Perhaps there was some truth to what Rui had wrote.
Her curiosity getting the better of her, Wendy gathered up her courage and attempted to start a conversation with the enigmatic wizard.
"That spell you just cast, Mr 'Thaumaturge' sir, that's a wind spell isn't it? Does this mean you're a Wind or Weather Wizard?" She asked hesitantly wanting to know more about 'Thaumaturge' but not make it sound like she was trying to be nosey or anything- she most definitely did not want to swim the rest of the way home.
For a second, as 'Thaumaturge's' deep blue eyes locked onto her, as if seeing right through her and not just at her, Wendy feared that she had just overstepped her boundary. The relief that swept over her was as great as the breath she suddenly exhaled when he started speaking.
"Firstly, just call me Alastor. And as to your question: I'm actually a Balance Wizard." He replied.
"A...Balance Wizard?" Wendy echoed a picture of a set of brass scales coming to mind.
"It's a Lost Magic just like Will's Dragon Slayer Magic and your Healing Magic. It allows me to conjure and combine elemental magic using the surrounding ethernano not just my own Magic Power." Alastor explained easily noting the confusion in her voice as well as her face. "Here, watch this."
Standing up Alastor conjured a ball of fire about as big as his hand.
"A fireball is a basic offensive spell, easily mastered by any kind of wizard. Now, a Fire Wizard could make this more powerful by putting more of their Magic Power into it but a Balance Wizard can use Water Magic to decrease the level of moisture in the air surrounding the fireball, Wind Magic to enrich the air that fuels the fireball, Lightning Magic to charge the fireball and Gravity Magic to compress and contain the fireball…" As he spoke, Alastor used the aforementioned elements to manipulate the fireball so that it now burned brighter, hotter and more powerfully despite it's slightly smaller size. "To create this!"
Thrusting his hand forward, the customised fireball shot off like a rocket across the lake. To Alastor, that was just one of the first Balance spells he had created since joining Fairy Tail seven years ago. To Wendy, who had been watching with rapt attention, it was pretty much the most amazing thing she had seen since waking up seven years ago to find herself in one of Cait Shelter's storage cellars.
"That was amazing!" She gushed all nervousness gone from her body as she stared at Alastor in a new light.
"It was just a Plasmabolt." Alastor brushed off as he sat back down. It was pretty much just his version of the fireball spell, which was rather mild compared to some of the other spells he had come up with over the last few years.
"So does that mean you can use any magic and combine them into spells?" Wendy asked curiously.
"Not exactly. I need to first have a basic understanding of the element and it's properties in order to successfully combine it." Alastor began before stopping as he realised what he was doing.
He had never been this talkative before. While he did give a brief explanation now and again, usually to shut up his nosey Guild mates, he had never bothered being in depth with anyone other than Lisanna whose persistence was even greater than that of Will and Natsu combined when it came to whatever he was doing.
Yet, here he was talking away to this stranger like they had known each other for years. Sure, the hair color was nearly the same but that was just a coincidence.
"Is something wrong?" Wendy asked wondering why he had suddenly gone all quiet on her.
"It's nothing." Alastor replied pulling up the hood of his jacket. The tone of his voice indicated that he did not want to talk any more even as he cancelled the spell he had on Rui.
"Oh…" Was all the young girl could say in response realising that she had likely done something wrong to anger him.
Luckily for her, they had reached the village during their conversation and the raft was just drifting into the dock where Will was already out of the water and waiting for them with her trademark grin firmly in place with several of the village's populace staring at her in wonder no doubt puzzled by the fact that she had just swam all the way here while towing a raft made from one of their boats.
"So, how did you like travelling the Leviathan Express? Pretty cool, huh?" The Water Dragon Slayer asked of Wendy.
"Yeah, it was amazing! Do you do that often?" Wendy asked all smiles and excitement again by the fact she was talking to a wizard of Fairy Tail.
"Not often enough. Al here tries to take jobs that require land travel more than sea or river travel." Will explained as she helped Wendy disembark the raft. "I think he does it on purpose just to see me at my worst."
"I see that on a daily basis." Alastor countered as he got off the raft with Rui nodding her head in agreement.
Wendy could not help but giggle out loud as Will glared at the two as if they had just ruined the image she was trying to portray.
"The Guild hall's this way. Follow me." She told them before running off in the direction of said Guild hall.
"Don't think we need directions for that." Alastor remarked looking up ahead to the cat shaped building that had been noticeable from the other side of the lake.
"Quit being a stick-in-the-mud, Al. She's just trying to be helpful." Will reprimanded her friend as they followed after their guide at a more sedate pace.
"Or trying to get his attention." Rui quickly scribbled in mid air with her light pen as she walked just ahead of the two wizards. "You should have seen them on the raft. He actually seemed to be in a chatty mood for once."
"Oh? Another fan for your ever growing club, Blue-boy?" Will teased nudging the wizard in the ribs.
Alastor did not bother to reply to Will's ribbing. While managing to avoid having his picture in Sorcerer Weekly sans the odd silhouette now and again, the way the magazine had depicted him had given him quite the fan club most of which being female. It was prime material for Will and several other members of Fairy Tail to tease Alastor about whenever the Guild received anonymous fan mail addressed to him.
Wanting to think of something other than why girls always wanted to meet him in person, along with not wanting to listen to Will teasing him about it, Alastor brought his attention to the area Cait Shelter resided in. From a distance, it had looked like a small village but, now that he was here, it looked and felt more like a community than anything else with everyone within a part of the Guild. Every person he saw was wearing similar clothes, face paints and even the Guild mark somewhere on their body. The only really notable difference he had seen so far had been Wendy's hair color.
Thinking of the little blue haired girl made Alastor begin to wonder if they also knew the same magic as she did. Given that this Guild seemed self sufficient and pretty much closed off from the rest of Fiore, it would not be that big of a stretch to assume they were like that to prevent the knowledge of a Lost Magic becoming public knowledge for fear of who or what may come after them for their own selfish reasons be they Legal Guild, Dark Guild or even the Magic Council.
Noticing a sudden lack of teasing coming from his travel companion, Alastor looked over at Will to see her hugging herself as if trying to keep warm. Something which was strange considering she wore sandals, shorts and crop tops everywhere from hot deserts to freezing mountain tops.
"You alright?" He asked a hint of concern in his voice.
"This place…" Will muttered looking around as if expecting someone to suddenly jump out and scare her. "It's giving me the creeps."
Alastor raised an eyebrow at her remark. Sure, the place was quiet and remote, but there was nothing he could sense that gave the impression that something was going on behind the scenes.
"Stop talking nonsense." Alastor told her wondering if the Dragon Slayer had been listening to Mirajane talking about one of her recent jobs of tackling a ghost haunting a graveyard to the Guild again. "Come on. Our guide's waiting for us."
Not even the sight of Wendy waving to them from the centre of the village could shake off the unease Will was feeling. Something about this village was giving her the shivers and yet there was nothing out of the ordinary as far as she and even Alastor could tell.
Perhaps all those evenings listening to Mirajane's ghost stories while scarfing down cold stew before calling it a day were finally getting to her.
It was taking Wendy all the restraint she had to wait for the two Fairy Tail Wizards to catch up to her before dashing off again towards the Guild hall. Perhaps, had she listened to several of her fellow Guildmates calling out to her to slow down before she hurts herself, she might not have caught her foot on something and literally dive through the entrance doors of her Guild to land painfully on her front.
"Ow…." She groaned feeling sore from the landing mixed in with embarrassment for making a fool of herself in front of visitors to her Guild. At least, that was what she was feeling until she saw just who she had landed in front of.
"And just where have you been, child." The small, white furred feline admonished the girl. "I barely let you out of my gaze for a second and you go gallivanting off on your own to see those hooligan Wizards paying us a visit despite my warning to be patient and wait."
Despite barely reaching the blue haired girl's knees while standing on her hind legs, the way she held herself and the way she dressed gave off the impression she was more Wendy's mother rather than her best friend from the way Wendy started to curl up the more the cat lay into her.
"And quit huddling up like that. You offered to be their guide in front of everyone, did you not? You should stand tall and proud like the powerful Sky Dragon Slayer you are." The cat scolded her.
"But...Carla…" Wendy began unsure how to continue. She was not as great a wizard as her best friend claimed she was. If she were even half as powerful as Carla said she was, then she would have been able to take out the bandits before Will and Alastor had arrived and saved her.
"What's that about a Sky Dragon Slayer?" Wendy heard Will say.
Twisting round, the young Wizard saw that Will, along with Alastor and Rui, had caught up to her and was now looking down at her in a mixture of curiosity and confusion. After a few quick glances from Wendy to Carla and back, the Water Dragon Slayer's face broke into a wide grin as she connected the dots.
"You're a Dragon Slayer?! Why didn't you say so?!" Will exclaimed grabbing a startled Wendy by the shoulders and picking her up so that they were seeing eye to eye. "Who's your dragon? Have they been training you long? Are you still in contact? Do you know if-"
"Will." Alastor cut in. His voice was calm and even but had such a keen edge to it that it cut through the Water Dragon Slayer's thirst for information concerning Wendy's past like a knife and bring her back to reality.
Realising that she was scaring the younger girl, Will gently put Wendy down on her own feet again. No sooner had her feet touched the ground and Will had let go of her, Wendy quickly ran to hide behind Alastor which would have been amusing to Will were she not currently feeling terrible for scaring the girl seconds earlier.
"Sorry about that." Will apologised feeling properly ashamed of herself for how she had just acted.
"N-no, I'm the one who should apologise." Wendy blurted out. If she had told them that she was also a Dragon Slayer in the first place then none of this would have happened.
"Well don't. We didn't ask if you were a Dragon Slayer and just assumed you were a Healer." Alastor said bluntly.
"As much as I hate to admit it, the hooligan is right, child. They are the ones who should be apologising not you." Carla agreed grateful that at least one of these visiting Wizards had some common sense but still prefered that they got their business over and done with then left before they caused even more trouble like the rest of their Guild was infamous for.
"Hey! I just did apologise you posh, pampered tabby!" Will snapped at Carla.
"Excuse me!? Just because I'm a fellow feline does not mean you can lump me together with that tomcat at your feet!" Carla retorted pointing at Rui evidently offended at being called something that described an alley cat rather than a proper lady like herself.
'Like I'd want to be related to someone dressed to the nines & sounding like a grandma!' Will scribbled angrily glaring at the white cat as if wanting to use her as a scratching post.
It took a few seconds for Carla to read Rui's backward writing. By the time she finished, it would not have been surprising if her white fur suddenly turned red to match her mood at being called old among other things.
"Enough." Alastor cut in again before an all out catfight began.
He had not raised his voice or anything but the way the two cats and Will ceased their bickering had it looking like he had shouted at them. Even Wendy, despite being just a bystander beside Alastor, had jumped slightly when he spoke.
"I didn't come all this way just for you Dragon Slayers and your partners to duke it out. If you want to continue, do it outside where the crowd won't bother me and the Guild Master." Alastor continued glancing at the four of them before stepping past them and into the Guild hall.
As both Will and Carla opened their mouths to protest their sides of the story to Alastor, as well as retaliate or admonish the Wizard respectively, not a sound came out as they finally noticed the crowd that had gathered at the doors to the Guild hall to watch the spectacle unfold. No doubt they had been wanting to see why someone from Fairy Tail had requested an audience with their Guild Master only to instead be held up by Carla, Will and Rui blocking the entrance as they had a heated discussion. By mutual agreement, the trio wisely decided to abide by Alastor's suggestion to stop their bickering but just one look at any of their faces showed that they would be picking up where they left off before parting ways later on.
With the entrance clear and the spectacle now over, the rest of the Guild members filed into their Guild hall most of them sporting looks of amusement at what they had just witnessed rather than impatience.
It was not every day they got to see little Carla riled up in such a way, after all.
Another chapter done & dusted. For those curious about Alastor's mage class, history,& all that jazz, all will be revealed in due time. The same for Will too.
On a lighter note, Merry Christmas one & all! Especially to Minstrel, a non-writer who I have become rather close to in recent weeks.
Review if possible & until next time
Watch this space, peace out & Merry Christmas!