Author's Note: Yay! I'm back from my unannounced Hiatus, sorry I took so long but I just couldn't remember what I wanted to write, so I decided to get away from it for a while. It took longer than I had planned but thankfully, it did eventually come back, so here it is, Chapter 8. By the way, I decided to keep it at Karina's point of view.

Chapter 8:
Family Dispute - The Siblings Separate

"The handwriting's the same. Tanzeru, you don't think it's from gramps do ya?"

"It could be, possibly." Tanzeru replied, hand on chin thoughtfully.

Gajeel grunted a bit, and growled, "Mind telling us exactly who this doc guy or gramps guy really is?"

Erza added, "I too am curious about this man, and why would he go through the trouble of sending two different requests. He could've easily cancelled the one before, which ever request came first. It definitely would have saved him some money."

Charle nodded in agreement and mentioned, "It is rather strange, maybe the threat we're facing is more dangerous than we're anticipating."

Wendy mumbled something, but it was hard to understand since she was strangely chewing on a giant lollipop, nibbling at the top since it was too big to fit in her mouth. Natsu yelled in excitement, "Ah, where did you get that damn big lollipop, I want one too!"

Ignoring Natsu, Gajeel interpreted, "Maybe he just forgot to cancel, so she says."

Lucy, hands on hips, mocked, "Nobody would forget something this important."

In a slightly annoyed tone, I noted, "If this is the guy Tanzeru and I are thinking about, I wouldn't put it past him to forget."

The group looked at us with slightly curious looks in their eyes, so Tanzeru explained, "His name is Doctor Helios, though around there, they call him Dr. Scatter brain or the doc for short. We met him around the time we first started traveling. He took us in for a while and let us help him out for money. As his nickname suggests, he is often confused and forgets things easily, however, he takes on a totally different persona when he is working. He's usually very laid-back and slack, but when a life is on the line, he becomes the most serious person ever. He can't use magic, but he knows a lot about it. Also, besides being a doctor, he is the village chief."

"This guy seems like one heck of a crazy character." Gray commented. Honestly, I had no choice but to agree with Gray.

We proceeded through town, gathering a lot of attention in our wake, but what else is to expect. Fairy Tail was a very well known guild, and admittedly, I guess it was somewhat intimidating to see such a large group of powerful, and/or destructive mages.

I may have stayed silent, but listening and observing this odd group was refreshing. Charle scolded Wendy for eating the entire lollipop so quickly, complaining about cavities and other such, she sounded like a mom. Happy tried talking to her, but then she yelled at Happy. Then there was Gajeel, Natsu, and Gray who were merrily arguing and bad-mouthing each other, randomly throwing punches at each other. Erza and Lucy were talking and giggling about, who knows what and my brother just walked silently with a big smile on his face. It was the first time I've seen him genuinely and contently smile since the day that mom died. This day seemed perfect, like nothing bad could possibly ruin it.

…

After about an hour of walking, we reached the end of town and were nearly to the village. We could see the large wooden gates in a distance, as well as a few creatures soaring over head. We were too far to distinguish exactly what they were, whether they were demons or young dragons. They were a variety of different shapes, sizes, and colors.

We saw a man look down at us from on top of the gate, but he quickly jumped back down. Slowly, the gates creaked open and a view of the village quickly came in to sight. It was exactly how I remembered it, the houses were arranged in a circle around a huge well that laid in the center of the village. The chief, aka the doc's house was located directly north of the gate, far behind a number of houses and bush. It was almost as if it were separated from the rest of the village. Literally, it was in the middle of the forest.

A young woman greeted us at the gates. "You are the ones that accepted the request right, allow me to lead you to the chief."

We nodded and followed the woman, being greeted by many of the villagers as we passed. Everyone seemed happy, despite the fact that they were being tormented by the demons, or dragons, or whatever. That's when I thought to myself, "Come to think of it, I should probably ask about it, whether we're here for demons or for dragons." So I asked the woman.

Gajeel grunted, "No matter what it is, I'll take 'em all out."

Natsu head butted Gajeel, growling, "I'll take 'em allout, way before you get a chance!"

While the two continued their idiotic argument, the woman answered the few of us actually listening. "It seems that they only start attacking at night, otherwise they just fly above the village. At first, it seemed as if only demons were attacking. One week after we sent out the request to slay the demons, it became apparent that baby dragonssomehow found themselves being attracted to our small village. Instead of putting them together as one request, Doctor Helios decided it would be easier on the mages for them to work together to drive away both species of creatures."

"Wouldn't it be cheaper to just make one request, saying all of that. How can such a small village, afford to waste money like that?" Lucy asked, probably thinking about her unpaid rent.

That's when the woman smiled at us and said, "If money is your only concern, then you need not worry. This village, though it may be small, is very rich. We keep our wealth secret to avoid treasure hunters and pirates." Then she flashed a glimmering gold necklace with a large emerald in the center that was well hidden behind the collar of her shirt.

Wendy said to me, "You never mentioned that the village was rich."

"Like she just said, they kept it a secret, even since Tanzeru and I were kids. We can't just tell people unless we get gramps' permission."

Charle raised an eyebrow as she argued, "We're teammates on a job, you shouldn't withhold any sort of information you know."

I remained silent to avoid a long and boring lecture about how trust in a team is important and blah, blah, blah, annoying stuff. After we passed the last row of houses, we ended up in the forest, the doc's house close in sight. I could see the shock on everyone's face as we approached the house. I guess they didn't expect to see something like this out in the middle of the forest.

Looking up in disbelief, Gray commented "Amazing! I'm not sure if it's more like a small hotel or a big inn."

Happy added, "It's nothing like the other houses in the village, this one is huge and pretty!"

Even Erza found the sight amazing. "Its very well decorated, probably very expensive."

Suddenly, the young woman popped up between everyone and said, "It costs less than one percent of the village's fortunes to maintain. And we spent even less money to build it."

The building was almost twice the size of a normal house. There was a large bell mounted on the top of the roof, used for ceremonial purposes. There were gems encrusted in the walls. Rubies, emeralds, and diamonds alike were aligned horizontally along the house. It was painted a pastel white color with a light green trim.

When we entered the house, there was a rope hanging from the roof. "You may pull it if you like." the young lady said, noticing the group stare at the rope questionably. Natsu walked up to pull it, but then Erza held him back and said, "We don't know what it would do, so it would be better to leave it."

Tanzeru finally broke his long silence, assuring "Don't worry, it's just like a doorbell system. It's to alert the good doctor that he has visitors."

Natsu grabbed the rope and pulled on it as hard as he could. Suddenly a series of chimes and bells started ringing throughout the entire building. It lasted about three minutes before all the bells and chimes stopped ringing. "If the chief is here, he'll take a while to answer so allow me to show you to your rooms. Oh, and I also forgot to mention, my name is Shiruna and please call me if you have any problems. The creatures won't attack until night, so it would be best for you to rest now."

She led us upstairs and showed us to our rooms, boys in one room, girls in the next. Tanzeru was a pretty gentle guy so I was worried about him. Was he going to survive until nightfall in a room with Natsu, Gray, and Gajeel, the three brawling idiots? Come to think of it, I'm sorry for Happy too, he has to follow one of those idiots around. Regardless, I told Tanzeru to watch his back, even if he had no magic to speak of. He was still smart, so he could probably survive if he played his cards right.

Now here's my problem. I have trouble falling asleep around people I don't know that well. Erza's not the problem, since I knew her before I knew Tanzeru, and Wendy seems like an innocent enough kid. Lucy's okay, I guess, she doesn't seem to be much of a threat even if she turns out to be an enemy of mine. She uses Celestial Magic, I can tell since she carries those keys around, but other than that, she's harmless enough. And Charle… well no worries, its just a flying cat, her bark is probably worse than her bite (wait, cats don't bark, well you know what I mean anyway). Basically, I don't think I have to worry around this bunch, so I can probably sleep soundly.

As we got adjusted to our room, we heard a knock on the door. "Its open!" Charle yelled.

Slowly Shiruna opened the door as she happily spoke, "It seems as if the chief is not here at the moment, but a messenger has been sent to alert him of your arrival and he should be back soon. I've already told the boys the message."

Still a bit worried, I asked, "Exactly what are the boys doing at the moment."

She blinked a bit before stating, "They were fighting the last time I saw them. Poor white-haired kid was in the corner trying to avoid getting hit from their magic. Those three were really causing a big commotion in there."

The only thing I could do was let out a big sigh and hope for the best. I could only imagine Tanzeru whimpering in the corner with those three yankees causing destruction, I just hope we won't have to pay for damages. As Shiruna left and closed the door behind her I could hear Lucy giggling behind me. Embarrassed I yelled, "What the hell are you laughing at?"

"You! I find it amazing how you worry so much about him even though you're not legally related."

"I'm not worried about him, idiot. I'm worried about what your three friends are going to cost us if we have to pay damages." I lied trying to cover up the fact that she found me out.

"Say what you want, but even I could tell that you were worrying over Tanzeru. You've always been that kind of person, a tsundere who would put their life on the line to protect someone else." Erza added to my embarrassment.

"You sound more like a big brother than a big sister." Wendy giggled.

"I dare you to say that again." I growled.

Charle put the icing on the cake as she said, "I admit, it is truly admirable of you to go through such lengths and hardships to stay with him, despite the fact that you aren't related." I felt really good at that moment before Lucy asked, "Could it possibly have something to do with your dead little brother, like you're trying to replace him? To complete that promise you had with your real mom?"

Suddenly I felt the atmosphere around me turn cold, I'm sure even Lucy realized that she had stepped into a minefield at that moment. I was too shocked, too flustered with emotions, to even say anything before the door creaked open.

Slowly and gravely I turned to see Tanzeru's crying face peek through the door. His teeth were clenched, but slowly he opened them as he spoke, "Is that all I was, a replacement?"

It felt like an arrow went through my heart and lightning violently rampaged through my stomach. I don't think I've ever felt worse, not even on a train, than when Tanzeru asked that question. I opened my mouth but even my vocal cords were confused with what to say, so not one word came out.

"You can't say anything anymore? Well then, I'll speak." I've never heard Tanzeru speak in such a tone, like it was deepened by despair and accented by pain. "All this time, I've been lied to? And even worse, strangers knew about this before me. That I was just there to replace your real brother. That all that time we spent together, you were just imagining I was your dead brother so you could keep a promise to your real mother."

I was outraged by the accusations that Tanzeru pinned on me. I wasn't even thinking when I spoke, I was just angry that Tanzeru thought that I would think about him like that. "I never thought about it like that, and I didn't want you to find out this way, but never once have I thought about you as a replacement. you could never replace my real brother. Even if I only knew him for a few weeks, maybe less, maybe more, you could never replace blood."

Tensions grew high and the argument attracted Happy, Gajeel, Natsu, and Gray to the room. Even Shiruna came up to see what was going on. Tanzeru and I were both saying things that we never thought we could ever say in any kind of situation.

"I could never replace blood huh. Who ever said that I wanted to be a replacement, if I knew I that you weren't really my sister, I never would have accepted you in our family. What kind of idiot would accept such a dangerous lightning rod into their family anyway unless they thought they were blood? Why would I accept the person who killed my father, into my family? Someone who attracted the lightning that caused mom to die. Why would I accept the person who physically and mentally scarred me for life and practically single-handedly destroyed my every happiness, unless they were my blood related sister! One of the few happy moments of my life was meeting my real big sister, and now I find out that it was all a lie, and I have to find out from some stranger. Why should I listen to you now, if you couldn't say anything before?"

"That's why you're an idiot…" There they were, the tears I thought I had run out of. I thought I would never feel their cold path tracing down my face again, but there they were. I felt my body tense up as the droplets hit the floor. "You were always an idiot, easily fooled. You're parents didn't even have to make up a story for you to believe them. Then it turned out that I was the black cat in your life that you should have never taken in, am I right, or as you more accurately put it, the lightning rod that brought destruction to your happiness, right. I knew I was destined to suffer, so why bring down some other family with me? Guess I was just a cursed black cat, forced to be spat upon by the world, crying and searching for some kind-hearts to share their happiness. But all I did was eat up all their happiness. That's my life, in my own words I guess."

After I said all that, I finally realized what I had done. I looked over at Tanzeru and realized his fists were clenched so tightly, his veins were popping out. His teeth were clenched so tightly, it seemed to be straining his jaw. He cried so much, it seemed his tears were as endless as the ocean. His eyes were shut so tight, it seemed like he was trying to escape from an endless nightmare. The endless nightmare… that I caused. I had even forgotten that there were people watching us, the only figure I could see was what seemed to be the broken pieces left of Tanzeru, the person right in front of me. Realizing that he had no idea how to respond, I slowly, almost regretfully asked him, "So now that you know, what do you want me to do about it?"

"Leave."

I was surprised by his almost immediate response and the rough tone he used as he said it. Everyone tried to talk him into a different decision, but it seemed I was the only one who actually could see he meant it with just about every being of his soul, though I tried to shun away from it. That's when he repeated himself, in a way more clear for the others.

"Leave, I don't want to be anywhere near you. You didn't want to join Fairy Tail anyway, so no one's stopping you from leaving right now. Leave and never come into my life again."

You couldn't get more clear than that, while the others tried to persuade him to reconsider, I slowly grabbed my things, slipped myself out the window and dropped two stories, tactfully landing on my feet. I fell from higher places, this was nothing. As I hit the ground, I looked up at the window, only to see some of them crowd to the window, trying to convince me to come back. I ignored them, though. If Tanzeru didn't want me there, then there was no reason to stay, right? I did the only thing I thought I could to ease Tanzeru's pain, even if just a little. I left, bag on back and board secured in it.

I ran into the forest and out of their sights, I could hear their voices calling out to me, though slowly fading. I traveled far into the forest, the further I get away from Tanzeru, the happier he'll be. That was my philosophy at the moment anyway.

Author's Note: Here ends another exciting chapter of the Traveling Mage (I know I spelt it wrong in the title). Karina's life was now crumbling before her eyes. Suddenly, her perfect dream turned into an unimaginable nightmare. The last bit of family she knew has now supposedly stood against her, but all for good reason,… right?