Apologies, as I know this took longer than a "few minutes!" I ended up deciding I wanted to add a bit to it before I posted it, and tweaked a few things after copying and pasting from Word. As promised, though, two chapters in one night! Hooray!

Hope you enjoy! :)

After Mira had announced Sage's arrival to the guild, everybody had turned towards the bar. That is, everybody other than that idiot mage from earlier. No, she hadn't even been in the guild for a few hours, but it seemed she had already managed to find someone who irritated her (a rival perhaps), and not the preferred one either. That dumb pervert from earlier apparently had a name, Gray Fullbuster, and he was an Ice Make wizard. Sage hated how he got on her nerves so easily, but no matter how much she tried to ignore him, he just made it damn near impossible! Yet, even though he irritated the hell out of her, there was something about him that she couldn't quite put her finger on… Not that she wanted to put her hands anywhere near that frosty stripper! She was almost 100% sure she had never seen this man in her entire life, but at the same time, something about him seemed incredibly familiar.

She wasn't sure if it was a good or a bad thing that Natsu also rivaled with Gray, but knowing that she wasn't the only person who he managed to irritate made her feel a bit better. After all, the first argument she had with Gray was also how she had become acquainted with the other members of Team Natsu, excluding the woman from earlier, whom she had found out to be Erza. Apparently the redhead had just gotten back from a mission and still had to go home and put her things away. She had stopped at the guild only after hearing the ruckus from inside, and after she had dealt punishment to the three men who had instigated the large brawl, she headed home. However, Team Natsu had plenty to tell Sage about the 'Titania.' After hearing of her frightening reputation, she felt a spark of excitement bubble up within her despite the original hesitation. Another powerful female mage… She would make sure to train as much as she could, and challenge that strength in the near future!

She learned through the Celestial Spirit mage Lucy Heartfilia that Natsu was just what she had labeled, a Dragon Slayer. Son of Igneel, on top of that! She was finding out quickly just how powerful the mages here were, and her heart pounded in her chest with enthusiasm. She looked forward to eventually getting to battle each one of them!

She found herself chatting with Lucy and her friend Levy for a few hours, the two girls exchanging comments about a book that the blonde of the two was currently writing. Though her mood had been thrown off after the argument with that damned ice mage, she already felt like she had begun to settle in here. The warm feeling that she got from this guild's members both comforted her and made her want to withdrawal. She decided that it was acceptable to make friends for the duration of her stay, so long as she wouldn't forget what she originally came here for.

"Excuse me guys," she said, standing up from the table. They looked at her in surprise, but she offered them an apologetic smile.

"I still need to head over to the apartment I rented and get my stuff unpacked. It's been an exhausting journey." She chuckled as she remembered some of the things she had encountered along the way, and the two girls nodded.

"Well, see you tomorrow then, Sage!" Lucy said, and Levy shouted a farewell along with her.

The raven-haired girl let out a sigh as she stepped outside. The sun had almost set already, and she was glad that she had already picked up her keys on the way here. She swung her key ring around on her finger as she walked towards her apartment. Most of the shops had started to clean up before closing, and some of them had closed already an hour or so ago. She was glad that it was summer, the days longer and the sun staying out later. The pale moonlight of night didn't come until she had finally reached her doorstep.

She was tired from both her journey and the excitement of today, so she wasted no time in opening her apartment door. She barely evaded tripping over her suitcase on the way inside, and with a sigh she picked it up and carried it with her on her trek to the bedroom. She flopped down onto the bed that she had paid movers to bring in while she was gone, and within moments, she fell asleep. She had hoped that because of the eventful day, she would fall into a wonderful, dreamless sleep.

She had hoped.

Flashback

Screams. They were the only thing she could hear now, accompanied only by the sounds of crumbling rubble and the earth shaking as the monster slowly destroyed the entire village. Men, women… Children.. Toxic smoke poured into the air, filling and burning her lungs and depriving her of desperately needed oxygen. She stumbled up to a standing position, looking around her at the complete and utter chaos. The town she had called home was destroyed. Mauled and crushed bodies lined the streets, buildings lay collapsed in wreckage. People screamed and wailed for their lost loved ones, begging for gods of all types to either return them or take them instead. Flames licked the sky, the deathly smoke seeming to trap the once quiet town within its darkness.

Suddenly, a familiar voice rang out among the others.

"Sage!"

She spun around. The voice of her mother rang clear as a bell through the night air, desperate and pained. She ran as fast as she could, following her mother's voice until finally she saw her.

There, her mother was. But she wasn't alone.

Men stood to her mother's left and right, two on each side. Another man stood behind her, a knife at her throat.

"Mommy!" Sage screamed, her voice sounding hoarse and labored as a result of too much smoke inhalation. She ran towards the group before one of the men stepped forward. He thrust his hand out toward the small girl, and before she could comprehend what was happening, her body was engulfed in purplish-black flames. She screamed, thrashing as her flesh seared under the hot embers, before she finally collapsed to the ground. Her mother now cried out in anger, fighting against the mens' hold until the dagger bit harshly into her throat.

"You stay the hell away from her!"

Sage heard the anger in her mother's voice, and though her mind was foggy from the pain, she could mentally envision the woman's eyes taking on a dark persona, her body slowly beginning to heat up as she charged her magic. As her mother's magical energy began to become plausible, the raven-haired girl thought for a moment that she would get them out of this. She thought that possibly, her mother could get rid of those men, and they would run away and forget all of the horrible memories of today. Her thoughts, however, were suddenly cut off as her mother's magic ceased suddenly, her angered screams turning in the blink of an eye to ones of agony. She looked up to see her mother had been encased in sickly barbed vines, slicing and cutting deep into the woman's precious skin.

Anger grew and pushed back any fear she had felt a moment ago. The need to protect her mother made her mind run rampant, and despite the third degree burns on her body, she forced herself to stand. She let out a cry of anger and darted as fast as she could towards them, using as much magic as she could muster, if only to save the one fragment of family she had left. She felt the magic her mother had taught her magic flow through her small limbs, heard the shouts of the men as they realized she was suddenly incredibly close. But it was too late. She felt magic form at the palms of her hands, and as she neared her mother's main captor, she lifted her tiny fist, sailing it through the air. She aimed for one of his eyes. If this attack hit, the surge of air around her arm would surely allow it to knock out an eye, but she didn't care about any of the damage she may cause to these men. Nothing mattered except for her mother, keeping her alive. Yet, something was off. Why wasn't he recoiling?

A grisly looking smile spread across his face, a dangerous glint flashing across his expression, and he slowly raised his eyes to lock directly with hers. Without warning, her entire body froze up, and fear overwhelmed all of her senses. His face… How could she possibly forget the face of that man? The one who had tormented her for years in her dreams, whispering words of death. He showed her the deepest horrors of this world, never once sparing her simply because she was a child. He told her that one day he would find her, and that she would finally experience death, just like the many people that he had showed her. He told her that if she had ever told anyone about these visits in her dreams that he would do the same to any person she had or would ever care for.

She felt bile rise into her throat. Him being here, having her mother in his arms with a knife pressed to her throat… It was her fault. She shouldn't have told her mother about the dreams, yet she had been noticing the girl's increased insomnia, and demanded an explanation. She had always been horrible at lying when it came to her mom… but it shouldn't have mattered. Now, her mother's life was about to be taken right in front of her. Because of her mistake.

He opened his mouth wide with his malicious grin, his razor sharp teeth glinting and his long, snake-like tongue slithering within his mouth. For a moment even the white of his eyes flashed black, and her mouth dropped open in terror as his free hand rose, needle-like claws swinging down upon her so quickly that she almost didn't even detect the movement. They sliced across her stomach, cutting deep into her flesh and leaving burning welts in their wake. She flew backwards, letting out a shriek of agony as her entire body suddenly experienced an all new fire. It flowed through her veins, igniting every single nerve cell with the burn. What was this pain, this poison? Blood poured out of her wound, soaking her skin and clothing with its warmth. She brought a hand to the wound, and it didn't take much to realize that it was fatal, the skin ragged and misplaced from the blow. With the last of her strength, she forced herself to turn her head towards her mother. Tears leaked out of her horrified violet eyes as her vision began to fade in and out.

"I told you not to tell anybody…" his haunting voice echoed.

"Momma… I'm sorry.."

Sage woke up gasping for air, her face moist with fresh tears and her entire body covered in a thick sheen of sweat.

"Mom…" she whimpered, pulling her knees to her chest and trying to quell her rampant thoughts. Her breathing was ragged and uneven, her heart still thumping painfully within her chest and the sound of blood flowing ringing in her ears.

"Get it together, Sage.." she whispered to herself. After a few moments, she took in shaky breaths, wiping the tears from her eyes and swinging her legs off the bed. She looked at the small clock lacrima at her bedside and read the bleary numbers. Half past 3am. Most people wouldn't be up at this hour.

She took a quick shower, brushing her teeth and putting on the lightest clothing she could find before heading out to the guild. If everybody was still home and asleep, as hoped, she would be able to use the space out back for training; the only thing that had managed to get her mind off of her nightmares for the past few years.

She headed immediately towards the grassy area at the back of the guild, first stopping at the corner to peek and make sure she was alone. Satisfied and eager to begin, she wrapped her knuckles, picked a large tree, and began to train.

Gray P.O.V.

Gray strolled towards the guild, eager to get in some early morning training before everybody else woke up and decided to head over. He used to always train in the yard behind his apartment, but eventually found himself irritated by the limited amount of space. Yet, he had to have a place to train. Couldn't let that stupid Flame Brain get stronger than him, after all. After a while, he had decided that he preferred the spacey area behind the guild, coming up with a time schedule so that he would have about an hour or two before others began to show up. He had made sure that now, at 4 in the morning, everybody would normally still be asleep, so that he could train without being bothered.

As he made his way to the back of the guild, he suddenly stopped. His ears picked up on movement from around the corner, and as he struggled to hear better, he made out labored breathing and the sound of repeated and methodical strikes. Now curious as to who was at the guild this early in the morning, he carefully peeked around the corner.

His heart nearly stopped in his chest when he realized who it was. There stood the female mage from yesterday, clad in a loose white tank top and black shorts. Her raven black hair swirled around her as she landed hit after hit on the tree in front of her. As much as she irritated him, he couldn't help but be mesmerized as he watched her train. Every movement she made was smooth and calculated. She made it appear to seem effortless, almost as if she were simply recreating a dance of sorts.

He retreated and pressed his back against the wall with an irritated sigh. He would let her have her time just for today.

Though he insisted to himself that it was PURELY unintended, he found himself coming back the next few days to watch her train. Something about the way her strength blended into her movements while she still managed to keep complete control over her body, and how she always seemed so focused on her target that the entire world around her meant nothing.. He would furiously deny it to any who asked, but it awed him. He was almost envious of the amount of practice it must have required to have perfected such a combat technique, and he found himself slowly beginning to develop a newfound respect (and envy) of this rival of his.

Great. Now he had two knuckleheads to keep up with!

He was so lost in thought that he hadn't been able to realize soon enough that she had paused. She picked up a discarded towel from the ground and quickly rubbed her face with it, tossing it over her shoulder and whirling around. Before he could move, blue eyes met a sparkling violet, now lowered in irritation.

He brought his palm to his forehead. Well, shit.

Chapter two has come to an end! I hope you all enjoyed. It's around 1am where I am now, so I'm starting to get sleepy!

I hope you all will come to enjoy this reboot as much as you did the original. I know you guys have had to put up with a bunch of crap from me, but I can assure you that nothing means more to me than seeing that I've had people review or favorite or even just look at one of my stories. I know that may seem a bit childish, but even getting one note on tumblr for my other story excited me beyond belief.

Speaking of which, if you have checked out my other story, I recently made a Tumblr blog with a few of my friends in order to have a specific place where I could post both chapters and art for the chapters/characters in the same place. My wonderful friend Jackie is an exceptional steamy writer (if you're into that) and my friend Jay loves to draw just as I do. Though a good amount of the posts will likely pertain to The Infinity of DragonWraith, I may occasionally post chapters of Black Ice as I write them, and if I can find the inspiration, maybe some story art? I know I had been asked quite a while back after I mentioned it in a chapter about whether or not I had a DeviantArt that I posted my work on. Unfortunately, I don't have one of those! Tumblr is the closest I'll probably get, haha!

So, if any of you find yourselves curious, feel free to check it out. The blog name is the same as my fanfiction, RoseArriChan!

I look forward to any feedback you may wish to offer. See you next chapter!

~Rose