Author's Note: I decided to change format a bit because I feel it looks neater like this. Anyway, this chapter is gonna reveal a whole lot of detail from Karina's past, but not all of it. You're gonna find out about her past with Erza in this part, so please excuse the length. It seems pretty long to me.

Chapter 5
Children of Lightning

I woke up early for another day working on the slave drive known as the 'R-system'. I got pretty used to it since I was here since the day I was born, so that means it's been three years exactly counting today. I started working the day I could walk properly. I heard some of the guards talking about a new shipment of slaves that were being brought in, so I was kind of happy, but in a way, I felt kind of bad. I mean on the one hand, there might be a child with them and I'll finally have someone my own age to talk to. On the other hand, more people are going to end up suffering, being forced to 'work' in this hell hole.

First thing I did was check on my mother, like I did every other morning. She was sick and often too weak to work, so the guards would keep her locked in the cell. "Let her die pitifully like a worthless dog…" were their exact words. Despite that, she was always smiling, every time I came to see her. Even today, she was smiling and was as happy as always. I was allowed in her cell, so I sat next to her and said excitedly, "Mom, you remember what today is right!"

Her eyes were a deep sapphire blue. With her usual gentle voice, she replied "Of course. Happy third birthday."

"Yea! And do you remember what you promised?"

She covered her mouth and coughed slightly. I got a bit worried so I asked, "Are you alright?". With her hand still over her mouth, she laughed and said "Don't worry about it. Now, what did I promise you again?"

A bit dissatisfied with the response she gave me, I whined, "Eh, you don't remember? You promised me you'd tell me another story today, before I started working." On occasion, she would tell me stories of a time when she was a mage. They would go out on 'jobs' and work with 'friends'. It would make me dream of how a place outside the R-system looked, using the way my mother described the outside world.

" I see. Well, this one is a fable my mother told me when I was little girl. Only, I was a bit older than you. It was called 'Children of Lightning'."

Puzzled, I repeated, "Children of Lightning"?

She nodded and continued,

"Long ago, before the dawn of magic, people would pray to the heavens for warriors who could protect them from the Earth's wrath. One day, five travelers decided to climb to the highest mountains and pray for the warriors to come down. Suddenly, a surprise storm hit. It was certain if the men stayed, they would die, but instead of leaving, they continued to pray for three days under the wrath of the storm. After the third day, the storm cleared and five dragons descended upon them. A flame dragon, an iron dragon, a sky dragon, a water dragon, and a lightning dragon. Each breathed their elemental breath over the men, sharing their power with each man and spoke. "You will become the warriors your people have wished for all these years. Go and protect them as warriors from the heavens. However, you are not allowed to have children for you will be given an eternity of youth." With that the dragons flew off and left the men. For 100 years they followed the dragon's rules, fearing they may return. After the century was over, they thought the dragons would never return, so they each went back to their hometowns and had children. Violently the dragons tore through the skies, each dragon looking for the owner of their power. They each angrily ripped apart the man whom owned their power. Then, in a language only the offspring of the men could understand, they declared a message to each child. The lightning dragon declared, "To the children of lightning, you will be cursed and tormented by your own element. You will be dragons trapped into the body of normal humans. You will be forced to hide your miserable and terrified interior under a false strength and impulsive mindset. That will be the cause of your destruction and lightning will dance on the day of your death. Speak this into the ears of your children and none other. If you attempt to break this rule, you will be struck from lightning before you speak and burned into something that is neither ash nor dust." and at the end of each message, the respective dragon flew away into the heavens. And that is the story of 'The Children of Lightning'.

I thought about the story for a while and then asked, "Hey mom. If only the children of the lightning and their children could hear the message, how come you know and you could tell me?"

She looked at me with sympathetic eyes and rested her hand on my head. She spoke softly. "Because you are a descendant of the lightning, my child. Karina, please remember this story so you can tell your children as well."

"What about my little brother, is he coming out soon? Are you gonna tell him, too?" My mother was pregnant, and I couldn't wait to get a younger sibling.

"I'll tell him if I can. But, how do you know its going to be a boy?"

With strong confidence, I stood to my feet and said "He told me he was going to be a boy. He talks to me in my dreams." My mother giggled a bit, I always loved to hear her laugh.

She told me, "I will be sure to tell your brother if I can. Just be sure to take care of your little brother, and protect him, okay Karina."

I kept thinking about the story 'Children of Lightning'. It was probably something I'll understand later on in life, because at the moment, I was really confused. I couldn't imagine a kid like me being able to control nature or lightning or whatever, so it didn't make much sense to me. The guards yelled throughout the prison, "Eh, you worthless, lazy dogs, time to work!" I got up and left along with everyone else. I got shackled and went straight to work, leaving my mother in her cell.

While I was chipping away at the rock, a boat came into the harbor. Some of the guards returned with a cargo of slaves with them. Hiding behind the rocks, I watched from a distance as they guided the shackled slaves off the boat. I watched carefully until I saw a young girl with red hair walk frightfully off the boat. She was crying, the guards kept rushing her and scaring her. I couldn't just stand back and let them do that, so I threw rocks at them to distract them. When they turned to see where the rocks were coming from, I took the fall and came out of hiding. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to." Of course I had a devious smile on my face. One of the men screamed with spit flying from his mouth, "You again! I'll deal with you later." I was pretty popular among the guards for being so troublesome at such a young age, just like the story said, I acted on impulse. When the girl got off the boat, I followed her to see where the guards would put her to work. I was really happy to hear she would be working in the same area as me.

I rushed back to the work area before they realized I was gone. I was actually happily working, looking forward to another kid working alongside me. When she finally came, she looked confused and nervous. So I introduced myself. "Yo, my name is Karina. Just Karina. I just turned three today. Nice to meet you." I gave her a big, mischievous smile.

She looked around and stuttered, "My… name… my name is… Erza. I'm three…as well."

I was a bit upset that she felt uncomfortable around me. I couldn't help myself, so I thumped her in the head, but I didn't do it to hurt her. Surprisingly, I saw little pearl-like tears build up in her eyes as she started to sniffle. I knew it was wrong, but she looked so cute that day when she cried, and most people around here don't cry anymore, so a tear was a rare sight. Ever since, I constantly would do things to make her cry, from poking her in the head with a stick, to throwing rocks at her, to scaring her at night. Unfortunately thanks to my constant teasing, she started to fear me and would keep her distance. It felt bad knowing that I scared away the only possible friend I could have made. So I started to stay quiet around her and leave her alone.

About three weeks after giving up on teasing Erza, she got into some problems. The pickaxe she was using to chip the rocks slipped out her hand and hit one of the guards in the back of his head. Before the guard turned around, I quickly handed Erza my pickaxe. He turned around and noticed I didn't have a pickaxe in my hand, which was exactly what I was hoping for. So he grabbed my hand and dragged me away. I found it funny to look at Erza's puzzled face as I waved goodbye with a smile on my face. I was carried off to the torture room for two days before I returned back to work. My torso was covered in open wounds, but I still worked normally like nothing had happened, but Erza seemed to work closer to me now. After a while of staring at me, Erza asked "Why did you get in trouble for me?"

"Hmm, probably… I'd have to say, because I didn't want anyone else to make you cry. I'm pretty selfish about these things."

"But, you got hurt. They took you to the torture room."

I couldn't help but smile to know that Erza didn't completely hate me. "If you want to make it up to me, how about letting me call you Eru-chan? In exchange, I'll protect you like a big sister should, okay."

Again, she wore a puzzled expression on her face, before changing to a big smile. It was the first time I'd seen her smile. She said excitedly, "Okay, thank you!"

About two years after was the day my brother was born. I brought Erza with me to see my baby brother, but a strange ship landed. I heard that merchants would often come to trade goods for slaves or sometimes even buy the slaves, but this is the first time its happened since I was here. We were all taken to a line up, one of the guards was holding my baby brother. The merchant was a large and muscular man, and he looked each slave over one by one. When he reached Erza and I, he stopped. He yelled to the guards and told them to come. I was scared he was going to take us. "I want that baby over there, that way he'll never question me since he won't remember this and I could put him to some serious work. Also, I want this one with the red hair one. She looks like she'll grow up to be a good sale." When a merchant said he was going to sell someone, he often means prostitution.

He grabbed Erza's shoulder while one of the guards carried my baby brother into the boat. She struggled, but I knew Erza couldn't stand up against him, so I ran up to him and kicked him in his manhood. He fell to his knee as I shielded Erza. Trying to play the hero, I said with great pride "Don't worry Eru-chan. I promised I would protect you like a big sister should."

The merchant laughed as he got up and the guards surrounded me with their shock-pole weapons. They all electrocuted me, I've never felt a pain so severe. I couldn't even stand to my feet anymore. The guards backed away and one of them said, "We apologize. She's a very stubborn one, we'll be sure to punish her in a way that even a worthless dog doesn't deserve."

The merchant lifted me by my shoulder and said, "No, I think I'll take her instead of the red head. I like the hard cases, it makes 'em more fun to crack open." I managed to wiggle my way out of his grip and force myself to stand on my feet. However, I finally realized that if I left, I wouldn't cause anymore trouble for Erza, plus I'll be able to take care of my baby brother like I promised my mother. I walked on the ship without a struggle and the merchant set sail.

After we reached about five hundred meters from land I ran to the edge of the boat to wave my finally good-bye to Eru-chan, but while I was waving, the merchant's boat was raided by a group of mages. In an act of defense the merchant blew the boat up with a bomb. The huge explosions were engulfing everyone and the boat as well. In a flash, lightning struck and I remembered the story my mother told me. Lightning would strike when a child of lightning died, which could only mean that my baby brother was killed in the explosion. I ran to find him, I couldn't believe he was dead, but a mage stopped me and shielded me during the final explosion that wiped just about everything out. But, I survived the explosion, however I was badly injured. I just allowed the water to let me drift away, since I was in too much pain to move.

Author's note: So this chapter was completely dedicated to Karina's past with Erza, however, this is not where her eventful past ends, this was only the first five years. By the way, this was suppose to take place before all of Gerard and Wally those came. But don't worry the rest of her life wasn't as eventful as this, so the story of her past should probably end during the Mid-chapter. I'd like to here your opinions so please review. Like I said, excuse the length, it looks pretty long to me.