Somewhere in Fiore - Year x793
"She's not here," he spoke, looking at their group, "Yume, where is Nashi?"
"And Wendy and Gail," a red headed guy added.
Maine still fumed. The idiotic Dragneel girl was responsible for them losing that war and for taking them from their home to wherever they were now, and the first thing her stupid brother worried about was her.
"Screw Nashi, but yeah, Wendy and Gail should be here," she had promptly replied, and all it did was lead them to find the girl and Aiden had the audacity to ask Maine for help.
How could they all be so blind when it came to that girl?
"So are you thinking the same thing I'm thinking?" Rob asked, falling behind to walk alongside her, unaware of her anger - for some reason people never noticed when she was angry.
"That we are clueless and lost?" she asked, looking ahead and wishing they'd reach a town soon. They had taken a boat and sailed until they found land, that turned out to be a forest, and they had been walking on it ever since.
"That we time traveled," he ignored her sarcasm, "look at these woods, and even the ocean we sailed in… there is no way they existed in our time. And this isn't a different world, that port we were in was Hargeon. We're in the past."
"Congratulations, you've solved a mystery. We're clueless and lost in a different time," Maine sighed.
"This means Nashi's plan is to probably stop Ankhseram before he gets too powerful," Rob explained and Maine gritted her teeth. Not her again, "and we can help."
Maine stopped and turned to face him.
"I am not going back and I am not going to do her bidding anymore."
"I never said we should go back," Rob rolled his eyes, "no, whatever needs to be fixed or handled back there, I'm sure Aiden, Nashi and Yume can handle it… or nobody can. I think we should deal with another issue before it gains power… one we specialize in,' he smiled, "demon hunting."
It took a few seconds for Maine to realize what he meant, but as she did, her anger vanished and a feeling of joy slowly took over her.
"You want to raid the Demon Raiders before they become an issue?"
"Kori and 'Tear are already on board with it," he spoke calmly, and Maine felt a flash of jealousy: of course she was the last to know. People always treated her as some weird sidekick girl who had no importance and no meaningful magic - just her stupid barriers.
She walked away from Aiden and Nashi and figured people would look up to her as the leader - the only other Dreyar there, but as it seemed, people went to Rob Hernandez.
"So where are we going?"
"Well, their guild. This time, we'll be ready for their powerhouses, and we will destroy them," a glimpse of something dark shined in his eyes, but it went away quickly. "Tear is guiding us there."
"Guess she is finally useful," Maine mocked, and Rob walked away from her. Good, she thought, she was better on her own anyways.
They walked for the rest of the day, when they finally reached a small coast village. Maine's eyes went straight to the docks, and one specific ship there.
"The Maiden," she read out loud, approaching the ship. It wasn't too big a deal, yet it felt familiar, like she'd seen it before, or heard of it.
She shook her head, trying to shut her own mind up, and looked around for the sailor, but the villagers were nowhere to be seen.
"This is strange," Kori spoke, approaching her with Rob and Ultear by her side, "this village… it's not abandoned, it's too clean, but where are the villagers…"
A loud shrieking sound made them jump and look above. The answer to Kori's question came in the shape of a flying dark shape, that seemed to quickly multiply while launching for them.
"Water Demon's Eruption: jet sword," Kori moved her arms and a huge blast of water shot from the ocean, getting the form of a sharp sword and cutting the dark creatures down one by one.
"Shield dome," Maine cast, surrounding themselves and the boat with her barrier. More dark shapes came from the sky.
"Simone!" Rob called, and his sister raised her hand, making a red bow appear.
She pulled, and a dark arrow appeared.
"Slayer shot," she whispered, releasing the arrow, and charging again. One after another, she and Kori took down the demons.
"Those are weaklings, the summoner can't be far," Kori spoke, looking from Rob to Ultear. The dark haired girl nodded and closed her eyes. Golden footprints appeared by her feet and made a path towards one of the village houses.
Rob followed.
Maine stayed. Something about that boat made her want to protect it more than Rob, so she didn't see it when he took down the summoner, but the demons turned to dust, showing their victory. Kori and Simone stopped, and Maine dismissed her dome.
Rob returned with the summoner's corpse.
"I'm guessing this is why the village is empty," he guessed, throwing the body in the water. "Come on, let's take the boat."
"How will we know where to go?"
"You won't," Ultear looked at her with a soft smile, "I will. Come on, Kori can sail the ship."
"Sail the ocean, you mean," Kori rolled her eyes, but got on the boat. Maine felt like she should complain, or suggest another boat, but she also wanted to sail it. She felt weirdly drawn to it, in a way she'd never been drawn to anything.
Kori sailed for half the night, making the water move the ship, with Ultear guiding her. However, eventually exhaustion took over them, and they slowly succumbed to exhaustion.
Maine was the last one to fall asleep, and the last one to wake up…
To a sinking ship.
"Kori, keep us afloat!" Rob was shouting, but Kori seemed exhausted and the water barely obeyed her, "Damn it! Crap! Crap!"
"What happened?" Maine frowned, watching the ship sinking fast, and rubbing the back of her neck - somehow she felt more exhausted now than before falling asleep.
Her shield appeared atop the water and she jumped from the ship onto it, standing perfectly fine in a thin layer of magic above the water.
"Come on," she signaled to the others, and they all came down.
As the ship sunk, a wave pushed them, and Maine had to raise shields around them, locking them inside a shield box, so that the water couldn't harm them or sink them.
It could shake the box and make them stumble inside from one side to the other though, and when a storm hit, that's exactly what it did. Rob and Simone both cursed, and Ultear held tightly to Kori, who was still asleep.
"She needs to wake up soon!" Simone shouted above the storm noise, "or we'll die, and I refuse to die because of a freaking storm!"
"We won't," Rob gritted his teeth and raised his hand, and Kori woke up screaming.
Just then, Maine blacked out again.
Fairy Tail Y x805.
"Here, Maine, the sword I promised. Just don't get water on it," Laki delivered a wooden sword to the six year old girl. Maine smiled and eagerly moved to show it to her friends.
Simone and Rob both laughed when the clumsy girl accidentally broke Cana's glass when moving the sword to show it off. She laughed as the glass broke, unconcerned with it. Cana could just replace it anyway.
"Maybe you should have waited a couple of years before giving her a weapon," Gale spoke to Laki in the corner, both watching the girl hitting every surface with the wooden weapon. She nearly missed Rob's side and only missed Simone's head because she ducked.
While Maine harassed the kids around her, Laki approached the lonely girl on the other corner of the guild. Nashi sat by herself on the 'kids table', unused since the tragedy, but still enchanted to prevent any harmful magic from hitting it. The pink haired girl looked sadly at the keyring in her hands, something many people would give a lot to have - yet Nashi would give away in a heartbeat if it could give her what she wanted.
"Why don't you go play, Nashi-chan?" Laki suggested, looking at Maine, and Nashi's eyes followed. She shrugged.
"I don't fight with swords," said the girl, sounding a lot older than her six years. Laki frowned, unsure of what to say. What do you say to a kid dealing with that much loss?
One key drew Laki's attention, one she'd never seen before.
"What is that blue…"
"Nashi!" A male shout startled Laki, who was surprised by Aiden Dreyar and Kori Fullbuster arriving next to Nashi. The girl looked at them but didn't seem to really acknowledge their arrival.
"Look at what I can do!" Kori called, opening both hands and concentrating. Nashi looked, and Maine, listening from the other corner, stopped swinging her sword to approach them and look as well. She had noticed how Laki stopped paying attention to her to talk to Nashi, but figured it couldn't be helped. Nashi was the sad girl in the guild now.
Water suddenly appeared in Kori's hands, just enough to spread through her palms and fall.
"Water make pillar," Kori spoke the incantation and a small pillar - barely the size of an index finger, rose in her hands, but fell down shortly after. "It's not much, but it's cool, right?!"
"Congrats, Kori," Nashi smiled weakly, then stood up.
"I can do more!" Kori spoke, a bit disappointed by Nashi's lack of reaction, and opened her hands again. Nashi, however, walked away.
Or she tried to, because as she was passing by Maine, Kori's water magic moved towards the girl, splashing Maine instead - and her sword.
As soon as the first drop hit the wood, it disappeared, leaving Maine empty handed.
The girl looked shocked at her hand, anger building up inside her as she turned to face Kori, whose face changed from excitement to fear.
"S-Sorry," she said, moving to hide behind Aiden, who frowned at his little sister.
Nashi turned to face Maine, frowning too, and touched the girl's shoulder.
"Easy-"
That was a mistake.
Maine turned to yell at Nashi, her anger blowing up, but as she moved, darkness took over and she didn't see anything anymore.
When she woke up, she was on the other side of the guild, and the entire hall was wrecked. Chairs, tables, even concrete pillars were destroyed. Simone cried in a corner, holding a bleeding arm that Wendy was tending to, while Rob and Aiden stood in the center, holding a very wounded Kori. They all looked horrified at Maine, who was very confused.
Her anger was gone, and she noticed a new sword next to her. So Laki made her a new one after she blacked out? But what happened to the guild?
"You!" Rob shouted, but he sounded more scared than angry, "you-"
"Shut up," Nashi shouted at him, from behind Maine, who turned around to see her looking messy, but otherwise unharmed. Her hair, usually braided behind her head, was loose and tangled, and she was panting. Her eyes were fierce, however: the only kid not looking terrified. "All of you, not another word," she commanded, and Maine frowned when everyone settled down and obeyed, not saying a word.
"What… What happened? Who attacked?" She wanted to know, confused, "was it the same guy who hurt your parents?"
The question was for Nashi, but it was Aiden who reacted to it. A small spark flew from his hand towards Maine, too little to really damage her, but still surprising. She blocked her face with her arms, but it never hit: it moved in the air, attracted by…
"Dad!" Maine's mood shot up from confusion to happiness as she saw her father and mother in the entrance. They both looked confused at the mess, and Laxus looked angrily at Aiden, who shrunk in his place.
"What do you think you're doing, attacking your sister?!"
"I'm not the one who attacked-" Aiden started, but Nashi called his name and he stopped, shutting up. Maine frowned, confused again.
"Why are you doing as she says?" She demanded, "why are they not allowed to tell me what happened?!"
"That's not what I'm doing," Nashi told her, "you're all messy. Just go home and rest, Maine. Laki made you a new sword."
Maine had already noticed the sword, and couldn't care less about it: she wanted answers, not gifts.
After that day, everyone always seemed to walk on eggshells around her, and she had no doubts that it was Nashi's doing. Whatever the dragon girl had on them, it was enough to turn her entire guild against her. And Maine hated it for a long time until she was finally able to understand just how much Nashi had risked for her.