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Flitting Dreams

Chapter 1

Magic

Drowning, suffocating—the dream was all too real.

But it was just that, a dream, because the next thing I knew, I was gasping for breath.

I blinked rapidly, trying to clear my vision as I fumbled about blindly with the comforter covering me, terrified that I'd be suffocating myself again. I pushed the comfy comforter away, and swung my legs off the bed (I found out the hard way when I nearly tumbled off the bed).

This place was dark.

I grimaced in pain, nursing my broken ribs, and feeling the many bruises on my body smarting.

I stretched my tiny hand (how old am I now? Four? Five?) to assess my surroundings, I didn't expect someone to take the offered hand. I jerked in surprise, but relaxed when the larger hand squeezed back reassuringly.

"You're awake," The other's soft voice remarked. "Are you okay? I found you terribly injured."

"What happened?" I asked, voice as soft; what if we were in enemy territory and we need to be silent? I clutched onto the hand tightly, waiting for my vision to adjust. I could feel the other person reaching out and removing the gauze covering my eyes.

Slowly, very slowly, colors came into my world when he removed the bandages.

I still couldn't see clearly; everything was blurry at best and the shape before me was vaguely of a boy with spiky blonde hair, indistinguishable eye color and pale skin. His clothes were colors of various dark colors.

"What's wrong with me?" I rasped, clawing at my eyes, rubbing furiously to clear my vision. "I—I can't see!" I yelled, my voice rising in panic.

"Hey, hey, calm down!" The boy yelled, his hands flailing in panic as well before he decided to stop me from gouging my eyeballs out to examine the problem. "When I found you, your eyes were already that injured, I couldn't do anything. I bandaged your wounds as best as I could."

"Who're you?" I finally asked, trying to blink back tears at the prospect of being blind.

"Me? I'm Laxus, a mage of Fairy Tail; what about you?"

"I'm not a mage," I answered in a whisper. "I don't even know where I am."

"I have no idea either, this is just rundown village I brought you to," Laxus said, shrugging. At least, he seemed to be shrugging. I could see the twin blobs beneath the blonde blob moving. "the sign was crap. Anyway, what are you doing up on the mountains? 's dangerous, see what happened to you? Locals say that the mountain is inhabited by spirits and they forbid anyone from stepping in. Me? I'm not scared, it's my mission, after all." He shuffled about, presenting something to me triumphantly. "Ta-da! I got this rare herb, people say it could heal anything. I got extras so I'll use one on you, your eyes will be okay. Don't give up! I'll bring you to a skilled doctor—"

I stared blankly at him as he babbled on, but I interrupted on the last part.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Huh?"

"How do you know the herb, whatever it is, could heal my eyes?"

Laxus shrugged. "I don't. But—"

"It's best not to keep my hopes up then," I mumbled, rubbing my eyes, sniffling slightly.

Laxus shuffled his feet awkwardly, not knowing how to handle this situation. I decided to save him the trouble by turning away. "What're you doing on the mountains anyway?"

"I'm on a mission," Laxus answered, jumping at the chance to changer a depressing subject. "This is supposed to be super hard! I'm going to show my grandfather that I'm strong, completing such a hard quest when I'm just eleven and all! Yeah! And then he would have no other choice but to let me be a S-class Mage 'cos I'm just that—"

"Where are we?"

Laxus sounded displeased that I had interrupted him but he answered anyway. "Oh, we're in Bosco." His answer seemed to downtrend his mood. He crouched before me, and judging from his stature, he was wary and intimidated of something. "We have to be very careful here."

"Why?"

"There's slave trading in this country, and they target kids like us, so don't stay too far, okay?" He reached out and patted my head. I was insulted, suddenly reminded of my kid body, I was sure I was older than this boy.

"Why are you so nice to me?" He must want something but I have nothing to give him in return. Information maybe? I don't know anything but it'd be best to keep that little info stored away until he helped me out.

"You're hurt when I'm on a mission, and members of Fairy Tail are supposed to used their powers to protect people! I failed miserably—oh, man—since you were very close to where I was and I failed to keep you safe," I heard him sighing to himself. "I'm going to get a lecture for sure, man..." he groaned.

"So... you want nothing in return?"

"What can you give me?" Then he winced, scratching his cheek sheepishly at the harsh statement. "Sorry. Obviously, you're lost, well, I'll—"

"Where is Bosco, actually?"

He blinked. "How old are you? Five?" Seeing no other way of answering, I nodded. He blinked. "Well, I guess since you're still a baby, you could be excused for not knowing your geography."

"Bosco is east of Fiore, south of the Seven Country."

"Where's, uh, Fiore?"

There was a long, long pause. "...Earth Land." Laxux' tone of voice told me that he was not amused and if I proceeded to ask where that was, he'd lose it.

"Uh, have you ever heard of America?" How the heck did I get from one country to another was a fucking mystery.

Laxus was silent for another long interval before he answered, "No. How lost are you?"

I flushed. "Very. I seem to be in another country than where I'm originally from. I've never heard of Earth Land."

Laxus nodded, accepting my explanation. "Well, I guess since neither of us know about the other's country, it must be because our countries are too far away." Then, he frowned. "So how did you get here?"

"That's why I asked you where we are, I don't know how I got here," I frowned. "I just woke up in the mountains, and then here I am."

"Must be magic at work," Laxus said. "nothing unusual. Do you know what magic is?"

"No," I said. "There's no such thing." Even though I sincerely wish I could use magic.

I could hear the grin in Laxus' words. He clapped his hand, and my eyes widened in disbelief when I heard and saw sparks flying from his palms. "What...?"

"This, my friend, is what we mages call magic," he chuckled at my awe. "do you want to learn?"

"How do I do that?" I asked, excited.

Bah, maybe I'm not in another country. I'm just in a dream, a very real dream but that was okay. If I could have fun with magic for a while, before I wake, it'd be worth the terror I felt earlier.

"Uhm..." Laxus pressed his hand to his forehead in thought, seemingly troubled. "I heard that everyone has this Eternano thing in us that allows us to use magic. I have a lacrima in my body so I don't need to awaken the Eternano in me since lacrima already helped me and I don't think I can find a lacrima for you. I guess I just have to help you through the process." He settled himself by my side on the bed, holding out his hands for me to take.

"I've seen grandpa do this to younger kids who wish to learn magic and join the guild," he said excitedly. "I don't know how it works exactly but I saw his magic flowing into them, I think his magic awakens the Eternano in them by jolting it. I can't wait to try it out!"

I retracted my hands instantly.

Even though this was a dream (I barked out in silent laughter, as if this magic crap could be real), I was still afraid of pain. The process he mentioned sounded painful. I mean, jolting the Eternano thing awake? Pain could wake one up from a dream; this dream was too good to be true and I didn't want it to end so soon.

Laxus picked up on my problem.

"You're scared that it'd hurt? Meh, it won't hurt at all, now come on! We haven't got all day!" He sounded terribly impatient but I expected that, he was just a kid after all, excited at the prospect of trying out

I hesitated before placing my hands in his.

Was this the purpose of my new body? Because this new body had the Eternano thing that I could use where my real body didn't have such a thing?

Cool.

(this was just a dream, I reminded myself when I saw sparks flying from his body and recoiled, nothing bad would happen)

Heat seared my skin, veins and bones to the very core. I stiffened, feeling pain invading my body but before I could scream, the pain left just as quickly as it came.

I looked past my terror, concentrating on Laxus' wide-eyed face. His yellow electricity bounced off the walls and his body, but I saw a different energy mixing in with his; a different color, white and teal colored electricity energy bouncing off me. He laughed joyously and very soon, I found myself joining him.

So this was what having magic felt like: adrenaline pumped through my veins and the emotions I felt was so intense, I feared my dream would end.

"Yeah! This way, I can become the guild master sooner and initiate kids who want to be mages—"

The door to our room went flying.

Our childish laughter died. I started trembling in fear when I saw many blobs trampling the door and charging into the room. I could sense their anger emanating from far away.

I worried my lip. This was just a dream (however real it felt), it wasn't like I would be really hurt, right?

(so why was it that I was trembling so much from their serious killing intent?)

"W-who are they?" I croaked out, shying away but Laxus's grip on my hands tightened. That was when I realized that the only thing keeping them from charging at us was our combined magical energy.

The electricity bounced about the section of the room where we occupied the bed.

I was starting to tired out, I didn't think it would be long before the barrier of electricity dispel. I glanced at the older boy. "What do we do now?" I asked, hoping that he knew what to do. He was a mage of a guild, he must have some sort of solution to our problem.

"They're mean, mean guys whose asses I kicked because they were being mean to the locals! They're a bunch of dark guild members! Meanie!"

"Shouldn't we run?" I asked, tugging on his sleeve timidly, ready to make a break for it even if he refused to follow. All man for himself, ever heard of that?

"Yeah, listen to your friend, little boy or surrender now!" A pause and I could hear the leer in his voice. "And maybe I'd make sure you and your friend will be sold to a kinder master, eh, brat?"

"I defeated you assholes once," Laxus declared bravely. "and I can do it again!"

"When we brought an entire army, you little shit? Drop the barrier and come over here to beg for forgiveness and maybe I'll let your friend live!"

"Never!"

I would've been impressed by the kid's bravery but my senses were clearer now, I could actually sense it: this strange force of nature in this dream known as magic. Laxus' magic was strong, yes, but he was outnumbered and he had fought, used his magic, back at the mountains.

He'd never stand a chance. I glanced at him, then at our hands; he'd released my right hand and even though he wasn't supposed to be able to draw out anything significant from those measly reserves, lightning crackled in his hand.

Was he using my reserve of Eternano?

I didn't mind but even my reserve wouldn't last long if we kept at a standstill like this. "Hold onto me tightly, okay?" Laxus whispered to me. "Close your eyes and hold on tight. I'm going to bring us out of here."

I nodded and before I could say anything else, the world spun.

I was exhilarated and terrified at the same time as Laxus raced across the streets of the city with the speed of light. I wonder if I could at least try this out once before I wake from this dream.

I was dreaming and I'm loving every minute of it; I hope I never wake up.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

A.N: If the OC seems too accepting, please note that she thinks this is a dream. Oh, knowledge about the Fairy Tail World? She knows but she hasn't realize it yet.

At any rate, thanks for the feedback from the last chapter. I hope I don't disappoint anyone with this- and yes, she will be fairly close to Laxus who will be her role model and guide in the magical realm. I included him because I feel he deserves some spotlight and, once upon a time, he was a pleasant boy, wasn't he? Like the flashbacks had shown us, so I don't he's OOC at all.

About the concept of learning magic, I based it on how one learns Nen from Hunter X Hunter. I find the explanation appropriate.

Got a question about this story? Just ask. n.n

So, if it's not too troubling, review!