Looking back on it, she hadn't expected them to have stayed together for so many years, but it had already been three years since that day. Luckily, Sara had dropped the incomprehensible stutter, and instead spoke very quietly. Alice would have probably stabbed her long ago if she hadn't dropped the stutter. They had both grown, but while Alice had always been huge, Sara herself had shot up quite a few inches in the last couple years. Not nearly where she should be, but at least she didn't look like she was five anymore. Her powers had developed as well, thanks to the practice of having to support Alice in combat. While on the road, she had soon realized that Alice's powers were no ordinary ones. She could do things, see things, and even smell things that other people couldn't. She had heard the story of Alice's upbringing about a year ago. At first, the dragons seemed a bit far fetched, but it would definitely explain her tendency to call out "of the ice dragon."
She sighed dramatically. Well, for better or for worse, they were a team now, and they would have each other's backs.
Realizing she had fallen behind her taller friend, she sprinted a bit to catch up, tripping and falling over a large rock that had purposely strayed onto her path. Laughing, Alice pulled her up. They had gotten quite close to each other lately.
"Come on then, shrimp, don't kill yourself before the mission even starts!" She said affectionately.
"I'm just a bit worried," she replied softly. "This is our first S-rank, after all. I hope we don't die…"
"Come on, S, we're eleven now! We can deal with anything that comes our way. We've gone way past those stupid timber wolves. We can take on this Daemon guy no problem!"
Sara smiled. "Remember that time you crushed a wolf's throat with one hand when he was twice your size?" She shook her head. "Unbelievable, you are."
"What can I say, I have a gift!"
"More like you're still a meat-for-brains!" She said childishly.
"You're just jealous because I'm athletic. I have the physique of a god!"
Sara rolled her eyes. "You have the physique of a meaty eleven year old gorilla, miss ice dragon slayer."
Alice stuck her tongue out at Sara. Sara stuck hers out as well, and they both giggled. Suddenly, Sara stopped giggling and became serious. This was an S class mission, and they were joking around. Several older mages had already died to this Daemon. Why should they be any different? They were younger and inexperienced. They couldn't afford to joke around. Alice noticed her serious look and frowned.
"S, don't worry. I'm qualified for this mission, remember? And there's no one else I'd rather have by my side than you." Alice reassured her. Sara smiled. As annoying as it was sometimes, Alice's hubris made her feel better.
"Thank you," she said quietly. "You're right. We're going to defeat this Daemon, and return to our guild victorious."
As they began getting closer to the area in which the Daemon was last seen, Alice's posture changed, and she was more serious and alert. They didn't have much knowledge on it, but she assumed that they would know when they came across a Daemon that ate villages for breakfast.
They had seen Daemons before, but never ones that could cause this much destruction. Not that she was scared or anything, she told herself, but she just had to be careful. She didn't know what was out there, and she was determined not to be surprised by anything.
Sara giggled a bit. Alice's feelings always showed on her face, she was so easy to read. Right now her face was in an uncomfortably concentrated grimace, eyes darting cautiously over their surroundings.
"Now it's my turn to calm you down," said Sara lightly."Something of that power has a presence that we won't be able to miss. I mean, it's not like he looks like a normal human being like me and y-, well, like me."
Alice narrowed her eyes. "Thanks, S. Way to make me feel better."
"I didn't mean it like that, I mean, well, like, you're sort of... Menacing. If a tall, muscular girl with grey eyes, silver hair, and pale skin to match it ran at you, it would be pretty scary. A little bit, Daemon like, I suppose, considering those sharp teeth or yours. But don't get me wrong! You look awesome! I mean, you're still really pretty, I mean, but, it's just kinda, well, unique?"
Alice stayed silent for a moment, and Sara held her breath until she heard laughing coming from her friend.
"You are too funny! So you really think I'm pretty?!" Alice asked with a grin.
"You meanie pants, I thought you were mad at me!" Sara pouted.
"Come on," Alice said with a grin. "This Daemon isn't going to obliterate itself."
They walked along the winding mountain path until they came to a widening of the road and stopped. What they saw was beyond anything they could have imagined. Their map said there should have been a town here. Instead, there was a giant black circular stain on the ground. On closer inspection, the blackness was composed of the rubble of fallen houses and buildings. In the center of it all, was a figure. They couldn't see it very well, but Sara had a hunch that it was exactly who, or what, they were looking for.
"I'm gonna kick its ass," Alice said lowly. Sara whipped her head around to look at Alice.
"Are you crazy?! We don't even have a plan!" She argued. Alice rolled her eyes.
"I do have a plan. It's called: kick the crazy Daemon's ass plan. Details? Kick the Daemon's ass. See? Plan," Alice grinned.
Sara pouted."I don't want you to rush in and get hurt," she said. By now, the figure had noticed them. Sara stiffened and Alice chuckled.
"Seems like he knew we were coming. We shouldn't keep him waiting any longer," Alice began walking forward. Sara gritted her teeth, but she followed anyway. As they grew closer to this figure, they could tell that it was, in fact, the Daemon, and an ugly one at that. Around eight feet tall, she estimated, dark blue, with rigid scales covering its massive, misshapen body. And its face was the most hideous. With squinty red eyes and a sharp, rotting black teeth, it smirked at them. Suddenly, the face froze, and his entire head spun 180 degrees! Sara's eyes widened. There was a face on the back of it's head! This one was just as hideous as the other one, but it had a horrible scowl, and its eyes glowed the same ugly blue as its skin.
"Who dares trespass on my beautiful destruction?! Who dares insult my art?!" The angry face bellowed. Alice twitched, excited at the prospect of a fight.
"It's just a stain. Stains aren't beautiful," the other face said, dropping the smirk. "We should have just killed all the people individually, instead of atomizing them. Blood is the most beautiful art. This has stain has no diversity." The Daemon had turned sideways so they could see both expressions. Sara looked a bit confused, but Alice found it funny.
"Fine, you know what, because I'm nice, you can kill these two, and make them beautiful works of art."
Alice's eyes narrowed. She crossed her arms and the area quickly grew colder. Sara shivered and pulled her jacket closer. She reached for her backpack and drew out her chalice, ready to help her friend.
The Daemon's eyes widened as he saw what Sara had pulled out of her bag. "You! How did you get that?!"
Sara blinked. "Um, I-I j-just h-ave i-it," she stuttered. Alice gritted her teeth. The stuttering always came back near strangers, demonic or not.
The Daemon growled. "You have no idea the power you hold, brat! Now give me that chalice!"
The Daemon lunged forward towards Sara, but was sent flying backwards by a powerful blast of ice. Alice barred her teeth in a vicious snarl.
"Don't you dare come near her," she threatened. Her eyes were as cold as ice.
The Daemon laughed.
"Interesting! So you didn't come here on accident!" They concluded together. Sara's eyes were wide with fear as she took a reflexive step back. She tripped on some rubble on the ground and fell backwards.
"Come on, S. I need you to back me up!" Alice said, attempting to rouse Sara from her fear. Sara shook her head, trying to compose herself. She gritted her teeth when she felt tears well up in her eyes. The Daemon laughed and Alice yelled at him to shut up. She shot her a stoic glance. "Come on S, I need you. I can't do it without you. Without you, I probably really would die! So come on, let's kick some Daemon ass. Together," Alice held out her hand, and Sara took it, allowing her to pull her up. They stood side by side, and they would get through this together. Sara smiled, relaxed now.
"Yeah, because with me, you're invincible," she said with quiet confidence. Alice smiled.
"Well then S, let's go kick some ass."
By now the Daemon had collected itself enough to attack again. It once again lunged for Sara, and Alice jumped in front of her to deflect the Daemon like last time, but it was prepared, and she took a hard hit to the chest, flying back onto the blackened ground.
Jumping up, Alice whipped herself towards the beast.
"Iron Fist of the Frost Dragon!"
It connected with the middle of his chest, and both heads shrieked in unison.
Alice fell to the ground on her knees with a hard thud, holding onto her chest. Sara scowled, spun her chalice in her hand once, and took a deep breath.
"I call upon red, the color of healing!" She murmured. Red swirled in the chalice before shooting and dousing her friend. Alice had gotten used to the weird feeling of the liquid hitting her over the years, and it was a welcome relief now.
She got back up, and the fight resumed.
Sara watched as the two powerful beings launched attacks at one another, some landing, some not.
She wondered if she would ever be able to fight like that.
The wind blew harder, and she shivered as the temperature continued to drop as Alice used her strange magic.
The Daemon had spells of its own, however, and they were pretty evenly matched.
"Double Sided Sword of Mastery!" It shrieked, and the impact hit Alice so hard she once again fell to her knees.
She shakily stood up, and prepared to use one of her newer, more difficult spells that she had been working on.
"Frost Flash!" She yelled, throwing the little flurry that had appeared in her hand at the Daemon.
It hit the target dead on, and a harsh frost enveloped the Daemon who screamed angrily as he felt the cold crawl up him. It grew until the Daemon couldn't move anymore, and resembled an ice sculpture.
Alice cautiously approached it, and after seeing it was properly frozen, promptly kicked it as hard as she could in the chest.
The entire thing shattered into innumerable pieces that rained down upon the wake of its own destruction.
Alice grinned as the surprisingly easy battle ended. "Told you I had a plan."
She held her hand up, and Sara slapped it, grinning.
Alice's knees buckled underneath her, and Sara just barely managed to catch her before she passed out. Sara rolled her eyes.
"Wake up! I can't carry you, Al!" Alice remained out cold. Sara sighed. She would have to wait for her to come to. She laid Alice down gently and sat down next to her. Despite this, she felt content. They had easily taken care of this Daemon. She pushed Alice's hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear, and made sure she didn't have a fever.
She always pushed herself too hard. It was as if there was something she needed to prove, an ambition that most other people really didn't have. Sara had her own ambitions. Alice had always protected her, and so she would make sure that no harm came to her, and she would keep the chalice around long enough to make sure of it.
"That was some impressive magic. Need a hand?"
Sara jumped up as a strange voice came from behind her.
"W-Who are y-you!? And w-what do y-you want!?" She asked suspiciously. A tall giant of a man with chestnut hair smiled down at her.
"I'm just a passing through traveler," he reassured. Sara relaxed quickly, noting his sincere expression and posture. She could easily tell when someone wanted to cause harm. She nodded.
"U-um, y-yeah. I n-need t-to ca-rry-y m-my f-friend b-back t-to o-ur g-guild, b-but I-I'm n-not s-strong en-nough," she admitted. The man nodded and crouched down, eye level with the small girl. He noticed her eyes were rimmed with youth. They were a dark forest green. He noticed the little bags under her eyes.
"Where's your guild?" He asked.
"I-in C-C-Carnati-on. W-we're f-from M-Moonl-ight I-Ins-omnia-cs," she said. The man looked at them in surprise.
"That's a pretty powerful guild you're in, but from what I saw of that fight, you both deserve to be there." he mused. "Must've taken a lot to get in at your age."
Sara shrugged. "A-Alice j-just p-punch-ed s-some-one a-and th-they i-invited u-us. W-we h-haven't do-ne a lot. Th-this wa-s o-our first S c-class mission."
"S class!? You kids?! How old are you anyway?!" He exclaimed.
"Eleven," Alice said with a groan as she sat up. "Who's asking?" Sara blinked before shoving her down.
"You're still injured," she said clearly. "You shouldn't sit up!" The man noted her stutter completely disappeared when addressing her friend. She took hold of her chalice again. "I call upon red, the color of healing."
The strange man watched curiously as the chalice worked its magic, pouring red liquid onto Alice. She coughed and sputtered when it went down her nose. She glared as Sara smirked at her teasingly. He had never seen any magical item like that, even on his many travels. He supposed he would have to ask the master when he got back.
"So you're on an S class mission all by yourselves? Won't your parents be worried?"
"We dont have any parents, creep. We can take care of ourselves," Alice snarled.
Brushing off Sara's protests, Alice pushed herself to her feet.
"And we don't appreciate creepy old men asking about our personal business."
"I suppose you're both fine then," he said, getting up to leave. They would be easily sought after as allies in the future, of this he was sure. He kind of hoped to see them again. If he had observed correctly, they had an insane amount of latent potential.
"U-um, th-thank y-you f-for o-offer-ing t-to h-help!" Sara called after him. "I-if I m-may a-ask, w-who are y-you?" The man looked back with a soft smile.
"My name is Gildarts, of Fairy Tail!" He grinned.
Sara's eyes widened. She had heard of them before. It was a guild that caused quite a bit of trouble for the magical council, but they were rising fast in popularity and status. Sara made sure to bow to him as he walked away with his cloak fluttering behind him. His thoughts included Mirajane Strauss and Erza Scarlet. The two were a few years older than these girls, but they had achieved S rank at nearly the same age. Alice's eye twitched. What a drama queen. Alice grabbed Sara's hand and began dragging her away.
"Let's go get our cash," she said, her eye still twitching. She didn't like how Sara was so trusting of him. Sara nodded and smiled.
"Doesn't the reward include some sort of magic cloak?" Sara asked. "Who should get it?"
Alice shrugged. "Well, I thought since you're a magic item holder, you should get it. I have physical magic, so it wouldn't be a lot of use to me to have a cloak dragging me down." Sara agreed.
They arrived at the client's house easily. The woman who had put out the job offer looked distressed.
"I was worried about sending you children in against that monster! Did you do it?!" She asked. Alice laughed.
"He was a weakling. I eat things like him for breakfast," she grinned. Sara rolled her eyes. The woman smiled.
"Very well. I'm proud of you both. Here's your two million jewels, as promised. And the cloak, too," the woman said as she handed them a heavy bag of currency. "I'm not really sure what it does, as it was an old magical item belonging to one of my sons, but I hope you'll put it to good use." Sara had felt a little weird about the woman being proud of them, but she easily shrugged it off.
Alice grinned as Sara clasped the cloak on. The small girl scowled when she realized it was a little too long on her. She began bunching up the cloth to make it fit her when Alice spoke. "Well then, S, now that we've completed our first S-class mission, I think we should celebrate in the best way we know how."
"You don't mean-"
"I do mean."
"BUFFET!" They screamed in unison, even if it seemed out of character for the shorter dark haired girl. She had a huge soft spot for food.
"Can we go to that one buffet?" Sara asked. "The one with all the different foods from all over?" Alice grinned.
"I've heard they have really good food. " Alice admitted.
"I really want to try these things called breaded rice balls. They're warm balls of rice and cheese covered in breadcrumbs and deep fried."
Sara used her sleeve to wipe away the drool that was beginning to appear.
Alice laughed. "Sounds like my kinda place. Let's head out!"
Authors' note: Hello folks! Pleasure to meet you. We are mater-in-filium. Before anything else, we would like you to check out our profile page and vote on our poll. We need names for OCs, and we need three of them. Well, besides that, we formally welcome you to Faires or Foes?, a Fairy Tail fanfiction centering around - you guessed it - Sara and Alice. Review if you enjoyed, or even if you didn't. We thank you for either.