Wow...I suck.

I took WAAAAYYYY too long with this update.

I made it long though...

I am so sorry.

You may throw pitchforks and tomatoes as you please...

As soon as Aurea scanned those few words, the ground began to shake just like when the spider called its companions. The stones around her started to hold a faint glow, and started to spin around in circles. Kai stood outside of the circle, looking at the stones in slight horror. Aurea stood there, holding the book tightly and trying desperately not to fall over while her eyes were closed tightly. Then, out of the blue, everything just stopped. The whole cave was silent, and the only thing that could be heard was the breathing of the two children. After waiting a few seconds, Aurea peeled open her eyes, thinking it was over, but right when she did, the stones had started moving again. Strangely, they didn't spin around in circles anymore and they unraveled themselves into a ling instead of a circle. The stones moved away from the young mages, and the first one started to crack. Bits and pieces of it were being chipped off and crumbled in a random order. The rock continued to break, until it was a shape similar to a snake's head. The stones started to glow again, and the front of the line of rocks lifted from the ground, as if they were standing up, but it stopped a third of the way, the rest of them still on the ground. The glow increased on the first stone, mostly on the sides where a large piece was chipped off of each. The glow on the first stone then turned red, and engulfed the full line. When the glow faded, the rocks seemed to be merged together and in a position that resembled a cobra about to strike. A blue glow then lit up on the head, and the form of the being could be seen clearly. It was a serpent made of complete stone, taller than a normal sized house, and it was staring straight at the two children. No, it wasn't. It was staring at them, yes, but was only concentrating on one.

And that one was Aurea.

Before the children could react at all, the creature spoke. "You have peered into the Βιβλίο του μυστικά, or in English terms the Book of secrets, without proper authorization. The punishment for that is death." it said in a deep voice.

The children both squeaked at the word death.

"I'm sorry Mr. Snake!" Aurea exclaimed, "I was just trying to see who it belonged to!"

"Yeah! She didn't know she couldn't do that!" Kai exclaimed.

"Ah so I see you're a friend of this girl." the snake said.

Kai nodded.

"Then you'll have to die too."

"WHAT!?" Kai exclaimed, he was about to continue, but Aurea stepped in front of him.

She bowed and hung her head low, holding the book to her chest. "I am so sorry I looked in the book, it was wrong of me to even touch something that wasn't mine. I had no intention of reading it, I only wanted to find who it belonged to. I'm so very sorry." she said before walking towards the giant snake, despite Kai's warnings for her to stay away, and placed the book on the ground in front of it.

After that small speech, the serpent's gaze seemed to soften and it leaned closer to the girl.

"Hmm, your intentions seem pure, and you are still young…" it started, "so I will not kill you."

Kai gave out a sigh of relief.

"Instead, there is a different price." the stone reptile continued, "Each of you must speak your darkest secret, so they may be added to the novel's connection." it finished.

"What!?" Kai exclaimed, yet again.

"Our darkest…secret?" Aurea muttered to herself, looking down in thought.

"No…no I can't do that! Can't it be something else, I mean, I can't just tell you my secrets. That's just wrong!" Kai exclaimed, as he started rambling around.

He was frightened. His secrets were his, and his alone. Especially his darkest one, and he didn't want to say it. It wasn't he didn't want to say it in front of the snake, no, he was fine with that. He looked back at the girl whose head just snapped up due to his outburst. It was because of her. She always looked at him with a bright glow in her eyes, as if he could do nothing wrong, as if he was perfect. But he wasn't. And he didn't want her to know that. So, he continued to ramble, shaking with his crystal blue eyes squeezed shut. Vines started growing out of the ground, but they were shriveled and black, reflecting his fear.

Aurea, on the other hand, was a bit saddened at Kai's outburst. She hated to see him like this. She could see the fear in his eyes before they were shut, and she hated that. It made her feel like she couldn't do anything, that the world was turning dark yet again. Yet again. She didn't know what she meant by that, but she felt like she'd felt darkness before, that she couldn't escape it for the longest time. It was cold, and she had no hand to hold, or comforting words to save her. She was alone. She hated that feeling, which is why when she saw Kai like that, she darted upwards and ran towards the plant mage. She sped towards him, and wrapped her arms around his frame, the plants growing around him shattering into dust as her body made contact with his. Kai's eyes opened wide, while Aurea's squeezed shut and she held him tighter. Her mouth was curved downwards in a slight frown as she held onto Kai.

"It's okay…you don't need to be scared." she whispered, "It's just a secret, no one will think anything different of you for it, I know I won't." she said, releasing her hold and grasping his hands.

"Secrets never helped anyone, they only hurt you if you keep them to yourself. There's no need for them, because you have people around you that will help you all along the way, and you won't need to care about that stuff anymore." Aurea continued, looking into Kai's eyes.

Kai just looked down at Aurea in disbelief, her words looping over and over in his mind, causing a single tear to leak down his cheek, falling on top of their intertwined hands.

"Okay." Kai sighed, letting go of the light mage's hands and turning towards the stone serpent.

"When I was away from the town…I wasn't out doing chores. Actually it was nothing like that. I- I had run away."

~~Flashback~~

Kai was carrying to pails of water back to his house from the pond. His arms had started to ache due to the weight, but he continued carrying them, as his father told him to get it because their stock was running a bit low due to the piping problems. He had to get back to his house before dark, or his parents would go out looking for him. The sun was already low in the sky and almost about to set, and he could see his house not too far off. The crisp leaves of the apple trees scattered along the ground crunched as Kai took each step. The water in the pails swishing around slightly with every labored step. He was only about a ten minutes away from his house when he heard rustling in the bushes. He stopped and looked around, searching for any wolves or ghouls that decided to start their prowls early tonight. Strangely, after a few seconds, there was nothing, so he continued his walk towards his home. Suddenly, the rustling was heard again and a large animal darted out of the blackberry bush in front of him, running straight towards him. Desperate to get out of the way of the creature, Kai stumbled to the side, almost falling over. Fortunately, he was able to stop himself, and the water had not spilled from the buckets. Sadly, the creature turned around and rand back towards Kai, grazing his legs so that the boy came tumbling to the ground, the water-filled buckets spilling over him and landing beside him. He looked up to see the mysterious creature was actually his neighbors' pig, Napoleon, whom they allowed to roam around the woods at night. He looked down at his now drenched clothes, and then at the empty pails lying beside him. He observed them closer, looking for any signs of water, but there was none left. He looked up to the sky at the sun's location, and saw that the sun had already started to set. Noticing this, he grabbed the empty buckets and darted towards his house, running as fast as his legs could take him.

The sun had just lowered below the horizon when Kai finally reached his house. The sky was dimming faster and faster, but the stars had yet to show themselves. Kai reached a hand up to knock on the door, but first looked down at the two empty buckets in his hands. How would his parents react? Would they be angry? Would they not care? Kai had no way of guessing this, so he started to thrust his knuckles at the wood, but the door opened in front of him before he could do so. He looked up to see a man with dark yellow hair and a thin line of aftershave across his skin. His skin was tan after the years of farming and such. He wore a deep red shirt with long grey pants, his deep brown, almost red, eyes looked ahead of him sternly in an expression that never changed. Behind him was a woman with light lavender hair that flowed down her shoulders and a light-blue dress with a white apron at the front. Her eyes were a light blue and looked forwards with an innocent expression. The two adults were both carrying large flashlights and wearing hiking boots, their facial expressions were some of concern and a bit of anger as they were about to leave the house. These were Kai's parents, and they were just about to go look for him. His mother's gaze shifted towards the young boy, and her expression turned to a relieved smile as she ran up and hugged the boy.

"Oh Kai! We thought you got hurt, or lost!" she exclaimed, she had always been a bit protective.

Sadly, his father came up to him with a different approach. "Kai! What took you so long? I said to be back before sundown, and look at the sky! Do you see a sun up there?" his father questioned sternly.

"I—I'm sorry, I—" Kai tried to reply.

"And what's this!?" his father exclaimed picking up the empty buckets, "I sent you to get water! What were you doing all this time!?"

"I'm sorry! I had the water, honest, but the neighbors' pig—"

"I don't care about that stupid pig! I told you to do one thing, and it didn't get done!"

"It's alright darling, we still have enough water for tonight…" Kai's mother spoke up, trying to coax her husband.

"Can't you do anything right!? You can't plant crops, you can't harvest them either, and now you can't even get some water so your family can survive!?" the man continued, ignoring his wife completely.

"I'm sorry…" Kai tried to say.

"You're a disgrace!" Kais father yelled, throwing the buckets back at him, one hitting Kai's arm.

That was enough. Kai couldn't take this anymore, he couldn't listen to his father anymore. His eyes glossed over with tears and he turned away from his father. And he ran. Ran from his parents, from his home, from everything. His parents called after him, obviously pleading for him to come back, but he didn't listen. He just continued running. He ran far from the town he lived in, until he reached a small tree. At the tree, he stopped and fell, resting his back on the trunk of the plant and laying limp. Then, he pulled his body together and hugged his knees, burying his face in them as the tears flowed out of his eyes, emptying out all the sadness and anger left inside him. The stars now shone brightly in the night sky, and Kai's eyes began to droop. Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep.

The sun shone in Kai's eyes as he was awoken from his deep slumber, his back was sore from sleeping against the rough bark of the tree. He stretched his limbs before slowly raising himself from the ground. He looked up to see a bright blue sky with no clouds in sight. Smiling, he found this as a good sign and started to run back to his home. Everything that was going to happen played out in his mind. He was going to apologize to his parent, and they were going to stop him and apologize themselves before they all will go into a group hug. Then everything will be alright and they'd eat sandwiches made by his mother for dinner. He smiled, running with his eyes closed until he reached his town.

Nothing he had imagined was going to happen.

The whole town was blackened and demolished, there was no sign of any of the casual farmers wandering around. There was no one. Kai's eyes scanned the area until they rested on his own home. It was completely demolished, the walls were no more as they had turned into a pile of broken wood and the whole area had turned black.

"Mom…" he whispered, scanning the area for his parents.

"Dad?" he asked, a little louder, but still got no response.

"MOM!? DAD!?" he screamed as he ran into the remains of his house, tears starting to stream down his cheeks.

He ran up to a large plank of wood, and lifted it up, hoping to find someone under it. But the weight was too much for him. Right after he lifted it above his head; he dropped it and it landed on his crown. He fell to the ground and one last tear fell from his eyes before he faded into darkness.

~~End of Flashback~~

"…The next time I opened my eyes, you were there." He finished, looking at Aurea, remaining tears drying on his face.

"Oh, Kai…" Aurea gasped and pulled him into another hug, which he accepted gratefully.

The stone snake just nodded and looked to the girl.

"Now, you, young child. You must say something to enter into the book, then you are free to leave." it said.

Aurea froze, as if she hadn't expected that to happen.

"Hey, Aurea, you okay?" Kai asked, noticing the girl's sudden reaction.

She just shook her head and left Kai's grasp, her bangs covering her eyes.

"I—I…" she started to say, but couldn't make the words out.

"Aurea…?"

"I…c-can't…" she said, starting to shake.

"What do you mean!? Aren't you the one who was just telling me to not keep secrets to myself!? Come on!" Kai exclaimed.

"I—I…"

"Aurea!"

"I can't…"

"Why not!?"

"BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE ANY!" she cried out.

Kai just stood there in shock. She was obviously lying…wasn't she? That's not what her eyes said.

"I—I'm so sorry Mr. Snake, I can do anything else, I just don't have any secrets to give you." she said, looking up at the stone serpent, "You can even keep me here, but please, don't do anything to Kai!" she exclaimed.

She didn't know it, but a tear had started to slip from one of her eyes. Though, this was not any ordinary tear. It glowed golden as it dropped to the ground and shone like a flashlight. Seeing this, the serpent narrowed its eyes at the tear and moved closer to it, his head almost touching the strange liquid. Then, it did something no one expected, it slipped its tongue from its mouth, and lapped the tear up like a dog in one fast flick of the tongue. Right after the drop sailed down the creature's throat, its eyes started glowing golden as it stood completely straight. White light engulfed the serpent's body and the two children had to shield their eyes. When the light died down, a whole new creature was standing before them.

The serpent turned a pure white that glowed, causing a case of light to form around it. It was no longer chipped and poorly made like its stone form, but smooth and angelic in its new casing. Its head was more of a basilisk's, and its eyes were a glowing blue that looked at the children softly. Two angelic, feathered wings sprouted out from behind it, spreading out as if it was about to take flight, but it didn't. It looked at Aurea and Kai kindly, and seemed to smile.

"Thank you, children, I had been waiting for you." it said in an almost feminine voice.

"I am Beatus, the protector of Βιβλίο του μυστικά. I had been encased in that stone form waiting for a person whose soul was pure. Thank you, for I have found you." it continued.

"M-me?" Aurea asked.

The serpent now known as Beatus nodded.

"Wait, so were you actually gonna kill us?" Kai asked.

"Oh, heavens no! I wouldn't kill innocent children just for their curious minds." Beatus said, almost chuckling.

"Oh." Kai sighed, a bit angry about being afraid for nothing.

"Excuse me…um… I've been calling you Mr. Snake all this time, did… I get your gender wrong?" Aurea asked timidly.

This time the serpent actually did laugh. "No, child, I do not have a gender, but I am thankful for your concern."

"Oh, that's good."

Beatus smiled again and moved its tail to sweep under Aurea. Aurea yelped at the sudden contact, but soon felt safe it the snake's gently wrapped tail. It brought her up close to the serpent's face, letting her gaze into Beatus's eyes.

"You are so pure, young child. Do an old guardian a favor, and stay that way." Beatus sighed.

"I-I'll try." Aurea replied.

Beatus smiled again, setting the light mage back on the ground.

"But what am I doing, asking for a favor? For helping me return back into my normal self, can I do anything to help you?" Beatus asked.

"Um… actually… we came here looking for a little girl's pet, have you see it?" Kai asked.

"Oh yes!" Beatus exclaimed reaching behind itself, "I was keeping the poor thing safe from the cold, here." it replied, placing a black tarantula in Aurea's hands.

"Oh! That's probably how the little girl got so far into tis cave without being attacked! Spiders won't attack another spider!" Aurea exclaimed, giggling.

"And now, I will send you both out of this cave, good luck to you both." Beatus said, before a light surrounded the children, and they disappeared from the cave.

They appeared back outside Mr. Jaeger's house. They both blinked a few times to process what had just happened, and they observed their surroundings. Noticing their location, Kai knocked on the door while Aurea held the spider tightly in her arms. The door opened to reveal Mr. Jaeger looking forward with a somewhat concerned expression, but when he looked downwards his face lit up with joy.

"Oh, children! I'm glad you came back safe." he exclaimed, inviting them in.

"Yup! And we got your daughter's pet back too!" Aurea exclaimed once they got in the house, holding the spider up for the man to see.

"Ah, so you have!" he remarked, "Mikasa! Come over here and see what this little girl found!" he called.

Soon, a small girl with long, black hair and gray eyes emerged from the other room. She was wearing a white dress with a red scarf wrapped around her neck. She slowly walked over and looked up at her father timidly. She was about to say something, when a small boy burst into the room after her. He had short, brown hair and green eyes that were filled with wonder for the outside world. He wore a brown t-shirt with black jeans that held to his legs. He scrambled across the room, slipping a bit right before he reached the man.

"Hey, Dad, who's here?" he asked curiously as he directed his green orbs up at his father.

"Well, Eren, these two are wizards from a magic guild." he explained.

Eren then grabbed Mikasa's hand and dashed over to the young wizards. Strangely, Mikasa was actually a bit taller than Aurea, which they both noticed, whilst Eren was a bit taller than Kai. It made Aurea feel short, which she was, but she didn't really mind. Eren looked at the two curiously, then looked up at his father, confused.

"They're wizards? But they're not even older than us." Eren stated.

"Eren, we don't really know that." Mikasa said.

"Okay, so how old are you guys?" Eren asked.

"I'm nine!" Kai exclaimed happily.

"And I'm eight!" Aurea added, just as optimistic.

"Wait? You guys serious? I'm eight, and I'm taller than both of you. You guys are short." Eren stated.

[Edward: WHO YOU CALLIN' A HALF-PINT SHRIMP THAT'S SO SHORT THAT YOU CAN'T EVEN SEE!? Me: Nobody's talking to you!] [Hehe, Fullmetal Alchemist.]

"Yeah, but that just means we're faster." Kai replied.

"Oh yeah? I doubt that." Eren retorted back, "I bet I could beat you in a race any day."

"I don't need someone YOUNGER than me thinkin' they're better than me!"

"And I don't need someone SHORTER than me thinkin' they're better than ME!"

Whilst the boys were arguing about who is better than who, Aurea walked up to Mikasa, the spider cradled in her hands. She held her hands out and opened them, revealing the black creature that rested on top of them.

"I got your pet back!" Aurea exclaimed happily.

Mikasa's face lit up at the sight of her pet and she swiftly took it from Aurea's hands and started hugging it tightly.

"Levi!" she exclaimed whilst cuddling the spider in her arms. "I missed you!" [I didn't know what else to name it :I]

"Thank you for finding him!" she finished.

Aurea gave a nod in response, smiling brightly as she saw the black-haired girl happy. She was then pushed a bit forwards by a large hand tapping her shoulder. She looked up to see Mr. Jaeger looking down at her, he shifted his head to the side, directing to the two boys. They were still arguing. Aurea smiled at the two boys and waved her hand in indication that she could handle it. She walked towards the two fighting boys and stopped almost in-between the two. They didn't seem to notice her as she stood there silently.

"Um, Kai? Eren?" she tried to gain their attention

They didn't listen and just continued fighting.

"Guys, please…stop fighting." she pleaded, but they still ignored her.

She sighed sadly. She had wanted to solve this dispute peacefully, and yet these two hooligans didn't seem to want that. A slightly dark aura engulfed her and she stepped closer to the boys. Before they knew it, her hands were on the back of their heads as she brought them together with a small clunk! They both fell to the floor rubbing their heads, as Mikasa looked at Aurea in a small bit of wonder.

"And that's how you get people to stop fighting if they won't listen to you!" Aurea declared happily, as Mikasa smiled in response.

Once Kai had recovered from his…*cough*….head injury, Mr. Jaeger pulled the two young mages over to the room where they first received information for the job. He walked over to a small drawer and pulled something out of it. He then walked over to the children and handed them each a group of slips. [Eeeeeh, I don't know what jewels look like…] Aurea looked down at her hand to see 35,000 jewels, she looked to Kai to see him holding the same thing.

"Wow! Thanks Mr. Jaeger!" Aurea exclaimed happily.

"No, I should be thanking you. You both did a wonderful job at finding my daughter's pet." he replied, smiling.

~~Mini timeskip…I mean really really really mini~~

"Bye Eren, bye Mikasa!" Aurea and Kai exclaimed.

"And bye to you too Mr. Jaeger!" Aurea continued.

"So long children, be safe!" Mr. Jaeger replied as the two young mages walked back to Fairy Tail.

"So…" Kai started after a few minutes of walking, "Do you know what you're gonna do with the jewels?" he asked his light-mage friend.

"Uhuh!" she replied happily.

"So, what is it?"

"It's a surprise!"

And that answer got a small growl in response as the sun started to set on the children's way back to the guild.

Somone help! this thing isn't working right!

Sorry 'bout that. Fanfiction was being really weird...^^;

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Till next time!

Hasta-la-pasta!