Emotionless
Chapter 77, Of Snow and Thieves
A/N: Hey guys,
I am so so so sorry for being gone for four and a half months with this story. Life got really chaotic non-stop and worse, because I had been off fanfiction for so long all my notes for Emotionless had been trashed because of the 90 day limit in Doc Manager. Not that I blame them, of course, but it has taken me some time to get caught back up with all the knowledge in Emotionless (in other words I re-read my entire story whilst taking notes) but now I'm back!
My writing style may be a little different at first, but I'll do my best to get the rhythm of this story back. Thank you all for your support and brace yourself because Fairy Tail is about to get really interesting with the Lost Souls.
Disclaimer: No, for the 77th time I do NOT own Fairy Tail
"Friendship isn't about whom you have known the longest… It's about who came, and never left your side.." - Mikaela Tiu
Normal Pov
"Hey, Kei?" Lucy asked as she stood in front of her blue river.
The familiar black wolf materialized in front of the mage in a show of combining golden wisps. She found it interesting how black could be formed out from gold.
He looked at her curiously as she gazed at the calm river of the magic Grahkrindrog had given her.
"If I had any questions regarding this magic, would you be able to help me with it? Even through Grahkrindrog is no longer here."
Kei nodded. "Yes, as I have said before I am you and what potential you hold to become."
When Lucy gave him a blank stare he sighed before continuing, "In other words when Grahkrindrog gave you his magic he had given you his knowledge to wield it as well. As a spirit he had resurfaced here to train you directly under him. You learned from the firstborn dragon and first Dragon King of his kind. When his spirit left his knowledge he had given you did not leave with him. And because I am essentially you-"
"You have the knowledge he had given you, or me technically." Lucy finished.
"Yes, I am an embodiment of everything you know sorted out into a more organized and easily accessible method. Everything you have ever known is stored inside of me, and when you require the knowledge you have forgotten, I return it to you."
"So what would happen to you after I've learned everything I need to from you?" Lucy questioned her wolf spirit.
"I know as much as you do Lucy, and that is a question not even I would know. Although I imagine as your shadow had, I would merely become who you are entirely."
"Oh, so that's where Shadow Lucy went.."
Kei walked up to stand beside Lucy. He lifted a paw to her chest where her black heart beat strongly below. "Your shadow and I are as much as part as you as your arm and legs. We are merely a more magical and internal aspect of you. Since it is the ethernano which flows within your veins that allows you to do magic you also have a filter which turns the raw ethernano into concentrated magic only you can wield."
When Kei removed his paw Lucy lowered herself to the ground where she felt closer to her magic flowing in the river.
"Just as the world lives in rotation with the sun and the moon, darkness and light, your body works in the same way. There cannot be pure light or pure darkness in any living being's form, as it would be rendered limited. For example, all light would be limited and blinded while all dark would be destructive and consuming. When combined both sides are balanced."
As Kei settled himself lying down beside Lucy she looked at him confused.
"But Kei, doesn't my black heart make me unbalanced? I saw my blood turned black when my heart absorbed Lullaby's magic."
"No, as I was saying about the balance between light and dark your body works the same way. Even with a black heart that pumps small amounts of black magic through your bloodstream that does not make you pure dark. Your shadow is the dark side of you while I am the light side. One side is as black as the night while the other is a bright as the gold of my eyes. Your life magic is gold while the actual organ of life - your heart - is made up of black magic in order to allow you to live."
"To put it into more simple terms your shadow lives more in a literal existence than internal as I do now. When Kira had destroyed your heart you were at the brink of death.. your shadow had given me the knowledge of her magical training she was meant to teach you so that she could become your heart so you could live once again."
"I hold the knowledge of you and of both sides of your magic: dark and light. You are still balanced as the gold life magic is created from your heart's pure black magic. Just as you had seen when I arrived black can turn to gold as shadows can only be seen with light, even though they always exist. Rather than white and black you have gold and black, but it follows the same rules."
Lucy nodded as she combed her fingers through Kei's fur in though.
"I think I am beginning to understand now. My heart's raw black magic turns to concentrated magic that I can wield outside my body because it is essentially my life magic. Black can turn to gold just as raw unstable magic can be transformed into concentrated stable magic."
Kei nodded.
"Back to Grahkrindrog' s knowledge though, I had a few questions regarding his magic."
"You may proceed."
"This one is probably not all that important but I was wondering what this magic was called," Lucy said, gesturing towards the river.
"As Grahkrindrog had given it to you I imagine he has left it up to you to name. I imagine you would name it well, as he had faith in you and trusted you with it for how you lived in harmony with his Nakanama. The dragons you once hated with all your heart has now found a special place in your heart."
Lucy nodded, "The dragons had taught me that the mistakes I've made in the past can be burned away allowing the ashes to be reborn into something better. I realized now that like Grahkrindrog, when the Eclipse Gate was opened and they were forced into it they saw everyone as a threat to their existence and of course, tried to be rid of that threat. I imagine that human relationship with the dragons could have gone a lot better if humans weren't so afraid of them. There's nothing to fear but fear itself because its fear that caused humans to want nothing more than to destroy the dragons for their superior power and as a result the dragons wanted the same thing, because their land was being taken away from them by the humans."
"An interesting view of the situation. The human children raised by the dragons perhaps have the best perception of all the human race as they were trained to slay dragons by a dragon themselves. Aside from you, that is however. You are not a dragon slayer as you were not taught magic of a dragon to slay. Dragon slaying magic was created specifically for humans. Similar to devil slaying magic. The human mage takes on traits of what they are trained to slay so that they may slay it with their magic."
Lucy's eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "But since I was physically given a dragon's magic, let alone a king's magic, it separates me entirely from dragon slayers who forged their magic inspired from a dragons."
"While dragon slaying magic is a copy-cat of a dragon's magic, consistent with an element, your magic comes directly from the heart of a dragon. Grahkrindrog's which is not based off an element just as your life magic is not based of an element. In a sense, you have been given the heart and soul of Grahkrindrog by gaining his knowledge and belief (his heart) and his magic and purpose (his soul) to protect those you love and the land you love. By containing his magic it has essentially become apart of who you are unlike holder magic where one temporarily has a certain kind of magic that is not physically apart of you."
"I understand," Lucy replied. "I suppose I'll give it more thought as towards the name. It's definitely going to say more than 'Dragon King Magic' or 'Dragon Magic'. That would be too mundane and categorized by humankind. As I am now part dragon, the dragons deserve to have their magic and existence respected.
"You had other questions?" Kei questioned as a soft wind caressed them both.
"Grahkrindrog taught me his magic through creating a dragon form and I was wondering if I could edit the dragon form I have created by using the same visual techniques he had taught me."
Kei rolled over onto his side before replying. "You can as it is completely apart of you now however like all magic, its potential and ability grows as you grow stronger. For example, with your holder magic your spirits have double the magic capability to you have by default. So, as you grow stronger so do they, otherwise you would surpass them easily and as many of your challenging opponents will be stronger than you, they would be useless in a fight against them. If their magic was equal to yours than there would be no point in their existence as holder magic is often like a guardian to its user, which is more often than not why their wielder is referred to as master."
"When you face an opponent stronger than you such as Dontrell, you must grow stronger in order to defeat him. That is also why humans often say that experience is more valuable than raw potential because one has had to overcome obstacles in order to become stronger while raw potential merely remains raw potential and doesn't actually grow until one has experience with it."
"There will always be a stronger opponent than you.. c'est la vie."
Lucy nodded slowly. "So, I should wait until I've had more battle experience before beginning to change my dragon form. My current state is how I created my dragon form now, and if I did try and enhance it there would be no point because it would still be at the same level I had created it at."
Kei nodded before rolling back over to sit.
"Do not worry about it too much Lucy, you live to have a purpose meaning that you are constantly traveling and facing foes along the way. Besides, you can enhance your dragon form and even your other magics whenever you wish. You'll feel it when your magic is ready, emotions or not."
Lucy smiled slightly before gazing into the starry night.
"I have just one last question Kei, but its not really in relation to Grahkrindrog's magic."
Kei looked up at the stars as well where the sky had never seemed closer than it did now.
"In my homeland the Grand Magic Game Teams, or at least A Team had informed the guild that Ultear had forced their Second Origin to be released with her magic. Am I able to do the same without having her magic? And what is second origin exactly?"
"Second Origin is the name of your inactive magical organ. The organ does not technically exist in means or physical form. It is similar to your soul in a sense. We know it exists but it cannot be seen. Like how your body is constantly flowing with ethernano magic because of your magical heart you have the ability to use magic no matter where you are, even if that area does not have ethernano."
"Ethernano exists in this world as much as oxygen. It is essential for other mages to be able to use their magic because they need a constant input of magic into their body since they do not have a physical magical organ like yourself. Second origin is where excess ethernano is stored and in your case is where all the input Ethernano is stored since your body has no need of the input but takes it anyways because of the unseen magical organ."
"Most mages are unaware of this organ (Second Origin) so they remain at their level of magic that grows with experience, unaware of the potential they have stored inside of them. When Second Origin is released a mage has full access of an Ethernano amount they're bodies do not normally have allowing their natural power to increase greatly and cause harder spells to become much easier to cast."
"Second Origin is also like a mage's life magic. When they are unaware of it they cannot use it to strengthen their muscles or create aura blades as you have done. They always have the ability to do so but because they are unaware that they can do it they never can. When Second Origin is acknowledged by the mage it can be open constantly or it can be closed until the mage choses to open it as a trump card."
"For you I would recommend opening it permanently because your magics grow together at a continuous rate and you have no need for a trump card because without it you are able to increase your skill during your battles. If you used Second Origin like a trump card you would be neglecting your growing skills for an easy win. Though using Second Origin as a trump card is beneficial for other mages it is useless for you."
Lucy nodded and stood.
"Does it matter when I open it? I mean since this world is constantly flowing with ethernano especially after Edolas doesn't that mean my body will just form another organ to take in the Ethernano? Or since my heart is my magical organ wouldn't my Second Origin close empty because all that released ethernano would be in constant cycle with my body?"
Kei was silent for a moment seemingly in thought.
"Fairy Tail Team A had been recommended to open their Second Origin at that time because they were literally deprived of Ethernano for seven years. So, while the world outside Tenrou Island had adapted to the Ethernano over the course of seven years, those of you that were frozen in time for seven years were unable to grow both mentally, physically, and magically."
"The world around them were much more powerful than they were much like your time in Edolas. You were stronger than the alternates because you had grown up with a great deal more of Ethernano than they had. When they're Second Origin was released they were on par with everyone else's magic. That is also why Max was a challenge for Natsu until he used his Lightning Flame Dragon Slayer Magic which wouldn't normally be used with simple battles like that."
Lucy understood that much.
"I imagine the only way to know whether or not your body would be able to store more ethernano after releasing Second Origin is by looking at it yourself similar to how you correcting your magic ability by destroying two unnecessary magics and placing the remaining magics with their appropriate title as you had done during your battle against Riisovzun."
"You may also be able to form another alternate container yourself however I wouldn't know for sure until after you've meditated. If you did create a second container it would be if your current Second Origin could not disappear after its release and would be unable to close after its release whereas you would remove it similar as you had done with your extra magics before filling its place with your own created Second Origin. Magic is a fascinating thing, you can do anything you want with it so long as your believe in it and do not break the Laws of Magic created by Magic itself."
"You would be able to create your own Second Origin as you see fit although following the guidelines left behind by the natural Second Origin would be wise. We'll discuss more about creating your own Second Origin once you've meditated."
"As for when? I would say that depends on everything else. If you discover you can use Second Origin again after releasing its current amount than when wouldn't be a question anymore. If your current Second Origin is left open permanently without replacing it I would say it would be best to open it if you find yourself even waking up nearly a decade later in your same state or if you end up in a non-magical dimension."
"For now, when should be out of your mind as we'll know more once you've discovered what you have yourself in your meditations."
Lucy stood and grinned at Kei.
"Thanks Kei! I think I'll meditate on this after these missions are complete when I'm on my way back to Fairy Tail."
Kei nodded and began to glow gold.
"I'll be waiting," he said before disappearing with the wind.
Normal Pov
Lucy awoke to the feeling of snow beginning to twinkle down from the sky from where she was perched on a tree outside the cave (what was with thieves and caves?) where the bandits were hiding out.
She had tracked them down after the man from the clothing store she visited to purchase more clothing to replace her battle-worn clothing (borrowed jacket excluded) and persuaded the owner with some jewels to tell her where he last saw the thieves heading who weren't as sneaky as they thought they were.
"Fade," Lucy whispered as her body sunk into the shadow of the tree before moving towards the cave unseen. It was well after evening and there was not a sound in the air as Lucy traveled quietly. When she reached the cave she blended herself with the cave ceiling as she moved forward taking note of the little light sources at the entrance.
If she didn't know that this was a thieves den then she would've assumed it was just a regular cave.
"Derek, we shouldn't raid the town tonight. There's a Fairy Tail mage sent out to find us!" A male voice echoed as Lucy reached a sudden cliff at the end of the cave, revealing a large living area lit with torches and surrounded by ragged dressed children.
To say Lucy was surprised by this was an understatement.
"I'm well aware, Kuname. However I won't allow anyone else to starve!"
"But we're no longer taking food or clothing anymore! We're stealing valuables and more! That's probably what drew our attention to the Guild in the first place!" Kaname cried out.
"Enough! That town is filled with people of the lowest level! I won't turn my back away from them!"
As Lucy drew closer to the argument the mage couldn't help but slightly gawk at the apparent leader of the thieves.
"Lexi, this is no longer an act of Robin Hood! If we continue like this we'll be looking more like villains they thieves!"
This girl had an uncanny resemblance to the little girl she had seen answer the door. She even called herself Lexi like the young girl had wanted to be. The only difference was that she appeared to be in her mid-teens and an anger that was not present in the young girls.
She wondered if these two were different people or the same, possibly memory and transformation magic combined. But if that was the case, why would she created a guild of thieves rather than simply steal from her mother without her knowing.
It made no sense to her and she was determined to discover the truth in this.
"Never say that!" The girl called Lexi raised her arm and suddenly Kaname was floating in the air struggling to move as his blood was beginning to rush to his head.
"Lexi!"
"My own mother cast me out because I wanted to help! I didn't want to live a pompous life of wealth and luxury while there were children starving on the streets ten feet from my home! She doesn't even see me as her daughter anymore!"
Lexi released her hold on Kaname. "We're attacking tonight, and this time we're taking everything and leaving all of them in the dust! You won't have to suffer on the streets anymore. We can leave and make a new life elsewhere. We won't be worthless thieves or beggars anymore!"
"Lexi, please-"
"SHUT UP!" Lexi exhaled as she raised her fist at Kaname. "Get everyone together, we leave in ten minutes!"
Lucy had left after Lexi's exclamation. She gathered enough from the girl to know what was going on and she knew that she couldn't allow Lexi to make the mistake she's about to. She has to get through to her, because if she didn't Lexi would have a bounty on her head and would risk being sent to prison.
As a mage of Fairy Tail she had to obey the law, but before that she needed to do the right thing.
The right thing was preventing this raid of happening and getting through to the children of the streets. Which brought Lucy out here, in front of the forest clearing in direct view of the cave opening dressed in dark blue shorts and a tank top covered by the borrowed coat. She was relieved that she couldn't feel the cold and had enough adrenaline to keep her body heated away from the affects of the cold snow.
She chose not to use weapons, as this was not going to be a duel necessary for it. Lucy needed to get through to them, not destroy their will to be strong.
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?" A familiar voice yelled across the field of snow.
Lucy glanced up finding a little more than a dozen children surrounding the cave entrance with Lexi stepping up to the front.
"I hear your the band of thieves that have been stealing in the city. I've been asked to prevent that from happening again."
The leader, Lexi grit her teeth and threw her arms forward causing the snow covering the ground to fly towards Lucy like an incoming tsunami. However Lucy easily leapt over the attack, easily able to outmatch an unexperienced mage.
"But I haven't come to fight you," Lucy finished as she tucked her hands into her pockets.
"You will not get in my way! Everyone! Get Going!"
As the many children scattered in their goal to reach the city to begin their uncontrolled raid, Lucy had to clench her fists in order to prevent herself from creating a barrier with her magic as she swore she wouldn't. Not like this. This situation didn't call for magic.
Instead, she chose to use brute strength to prevent the children from reaching the city and instead slammed her foot into the tallest tree she could find and watched as it quickly began its descent and hit the ground preventing the children from going further on that side before knocking down half a dozen more trees completely preventing them from moving further.
"I'm not going to fight you, but I won't let you reach the city either," Lucy told them after she turned to Lexi once again who was shaking her unsuppressed anger.
"You wouldn't understand what it feels like! We need that city to be free! Now, get out of my way!" Lexi screamed before throwing a row of knives into the air before propelling them towards Lucy with her magic.
The emotionless mage easily leapt to the side only to find the knives were following her. Lucy knew she could jump over Lexi who would be hit by her own knives but this wasn't a battle of life and death. This wasn't a battle where she could simply defeat her opponent and walk away to the next. This was a challenge. A challenge to show this child, these children what a real purpose to living is.
Lucy was determined to give these children and this city more meaning than a purpose for wealth!
"Gah!" Even though there was no pain, the pressure nearly knocked her off her feet. Even Lexi stumbled back a few steps in surprise as her weapons hit their mark. Perhaps she expected Lucy to use magic to deflect her attacks and give Lexi further reason to pursue her angry purpose.
There were five daggers in total, one for every finger of her dominate hand. Every one of them had formed a circle against her side where below the light of the snow was now tainted in her blood.
Lucy glanced up at Lexi and saw that she was scared, maybe even terrified of what she had done. Lucy knew then that this child had no true will to harm against those she feels angry for. Lucy was rather certain this girl was merely tired of feeling misunderstood and deprived of her dreams. Dreams of being free and dreams of the city being happy and other children free of poverty and the harshness of the streets.
Lucy chose to leave the weapons in her body as it was the only way she could be certain Lexi wouldn't do something she regrets even more.
"I do understand, Lexi. You can be happy again Lexi, all of you can be. But not like this, you can't."
Lexi took a step forward with her fists raised in anger. "You don't know anything! You're apart of a Guild! You were paid to take this job which means you don't care about us! None of us! All you care about is money! That's all anyone cares about so why should we be any different!"
The girl gasped as tears flew from her eyes. "Look at us! All of us! Do we look happy to you? This life isn't promising unless we take what we should already have!"
Lucy stared at the girl, hands tucked in her pockets still.
"My Guild, Fairy Tail doesn't care about money. We care about friendships and family! We take jobs not for the money but to make people's lives better! Whether its killing monsters or working at restaurants or returning items we do it to benefit others! Our payment isn't about money but about making people happy again!"
"Happy? You know nothing about happiness! What is you expect us to do? We have no family that will care for us we only have ourselves!"
Lucy began to walk towards Lexi who immediately began controlling the snow around her to try and keep Lucy away as she neared her.
"These people here, you care for them, I can see it in your eyes. You want to keep them safe, but by taking this life by choice, you are not helping them."
"No!" Lexi screamed throwing Lucy back but that didn't stop her from getting back up and walking towards Lexi again, their audience watching carefully.
"You have their interests at heart but your taking the easy way to false happiness. If you really want everyone to be happy then you need to think of everyone in your city; the children, store owners who have families to feed, and your mother! Every life is sacred! You know this, so why go against everything you know in your heart! The world is not as simple as rich and poor, black and white, anger and happiness!"
"Stay away!" Lexi screamed as her dominant hand twisted causing Lucy's body to crumple to the ground. She coughed out blood but only raised her arms to pick herself off the ground.
"You believe that your happiness has been stolen from you! You belief your free will and rights have been stolen! But two wrongs do not make things right! All you are doing is spreading misery back and forth! And for what? Revenge! Lying to yourselves to believe your doing the right thing by taking and destroying! Have you learned nothing?"
Lucy found herself coming to a halt a foot away from Lexi who had her hands clutching the snow as tears ran down her face while her eyes were shut tightly.
She found her voice softening as she continued.
"Fairy Tail is my home. They became my second family and what one family member goes through we all go through together, thick and thin. I learned from them that life and our past representsthat the mistakes we've made and the pain that hit us in the past can be burned away so that the ashes of tomorrow may be reborn into something better."
Lucy laid a gentle hand on Lexi's shaking shoulder.
"My family works hard every day so that the citizens of Magnolia can be happy. Hell, I've stood up against royalty in order to do the right thing! Sometimes we just need to believe what we know is right and pull through the hardest challenges in order to make our beliefs become recognized by others. You have people here that will follow your lead because you're the first person that has had the heart to follow what you believe is right! All you need to do now is face your fear! The hardest challenge anyone will ever face is confronting their fears and live so that others can be happy!"
Lucy brought her hand down to Lexi's chin to raise her eyes to her own.
"Because the truth is, happiness is born from other's kindness. Because kindness is born from the loneliness of lost souls."
Lucy's Pov
After many tears and screams of heart filled sadness Lexi was able to come to her senses and spoke to her band of guilds. She had told them that she would make things right for them again, but not by being thieves.
Lexi had asked for them to place their trust in her for the day and that by tomorrow they would have a new life to make of, with no mistakes in it.
Her friends had listen to her and not one of them questioned their leaders actions. I could see the faith they had in Lexi and I could tell that she could see it as well.
We sat alone in her sanctuary inside the cave as the other children laid to rest with high hopes and wishful dreams for the future while Lexi gazed silently outside the gaze suddenly lost in deep contemplation.
I had removed the knives from my side and cleaned them thoroughly of my blood before returning them to Lexi only to watch as she buried them underneath a mountain of snow. She told me she never wanted to hurt someone who was trying to help her again, or anyone for that matter.
I could see a little bit of myself in her when I was a child. She had the potential for greatness in her, and whether Lexi chose to use that potential for great or terrible I had faith in the girl that she would stay true to her beliefs.
By morning Lexi had left after insisting that I remain at the cave with the children. After seeing the determination in her eyes I had relented and followed the other children's actions by placing my faith in that girl before dining with the children and played games with them with my magic. These children were intrigued by the harmless golden replicas of my nakanama I had made with theater actions of their own personalities.
I had found myself laughing with them before noon as many of the children began to imitate my teammates after I dispelled my creations.
It wasn't until the sun was beginning to fall did Lexi return and the cave fell silent. I had left to give them their moment with their leader while waiting outside until Lexi came out to speak with me. She told me about her conversation with her mother and how they made amends after having a long conversation. Her mother went to the city council and after a heated debate they came to a decision.
Lexi's mother chose to turn her mansion into a temporarily home to anyone that needed a home for the time while the city council returned wealth into the city without neglecting one side. It would be a slow process but within a year the city would be restored and there would be no more monopolies overbearing the city. Lexi had given me this look before climbing up the tree I had been perched on one of its branches.
She had told me how she had been kicked out of her home after threatening to take her sister and leave to another city and maybe join a guild to make money to support her and her sister. She wanted her younger sister to not lead into a noble life where her life would be all about increasing the wealth of the family business and marrying to a man she did not love and having children for the sake of carrying the family fortune.
Lexi wanted to give her sister a life of happiness and of earning what she wants rather than being given it without work.
Her mother was afraid of letting them into that world and also of losing her children. Lexi thought that her mother didn't love her and when her mother to leave and never return if she was going to be selfish then she could do just that.
In truth her mother had never meant anything she had said. She was just scared and worried. Just hearing Lexi's name was difficult.
When I asked her why her sister wanted to be called Lexi she had told me that her full name is Alexia and that her younger sister and she used to be known as the Lexi sisters since neither liked their full names and decided on the same nickname.
It was safe to say the younger Lexi wasn't happy about suddenly being called Alexandria and losing big sister all at once.
The older Lexi had convinced their mother to let both of them live their own life away from home and after a long moment of silence, she asked me if she could go to Fairy Tail.
Now those two are on a carriage to Magnolia with the sack of jewels I had given her as well as a small amount of jewels that would last her two months living at Fairy Hills and of course a ride to Magnolia (with food and other necessities included). I could see the potential in both of them, and Fairy Tail was the perfect place to find a new start as well as for any other child from Osterg Cavern that wished to join as well.
After all one doesn't need to have magic to be apart of Fairy Tail.
I realized that this chapter was considerably longer than the average chapter but after writing so much more often I find it hard not to write a chapter of at least this length.
Consider it part 1 apology letter.
I also have a new poll up on my profile homepage. I do hope all of you vote for this story.
Feel free to send in a PM for any questions or leave them in a review! Thank you for all of your support and sticking with this story even after this long break.
Sincerely,
- Gothic Rain