Aftermath Pt. II
"Alright that's it!" Natsu cried, reaching his limit as hours have passed since he showed up at the castle, and stomped his way towards the meeting room the queen was in. "I've had enough of all this talking, I'm speeding things up!"
His complaint didn't go unawares as the rest of his team quickly got to their feet, not to mention some of his other guild mates that were also called to the castle and made their way to stop him. No doubt the slayer was going to cause problems when there was already a big enough one to deal with at the moment but were too late as he kicked the large doors wide open. All individuals within the room fell silent instantly and turned their heads to look at the angry pink haired young man.
"Excuse me your royal-ness, but this meeting's gone on long enough!" Natsu crossed his arms as the initial excitement died down and he got the attention he was hoping to get. "We've waited long enough and it's time to kick some a-"
Natsu wasn't able to continue as a huge hand caught him in a vice grip to shut him up, and all eyes followed it towards its owner. Makarov was wheeled in by Laxus as he kept bowing apologetically to the queen, he knew the slayer would do something stupid although he wished that he made a commotion outside instead. He released Natsu once Erza had made her way towards the dragon slayer and kept a "calming" hand on his shoulder as the rest of Fairy Tail crowded near the door.
"I'm very sorry for Natsu's behavior, Queen Hisui. He's become restless since the days following the attack, I'm afraid it's gotten the best of him." Makarov apologized, but allowed relief to slowly sink in as Hisui smiled amusedly.
"It's quite alright Master Makarov, I felt it was time to conclude this meeting." Hisui said as she looked up towards the group of people hovering at the entrance. "It's alright everyone, you can come inside now."
At her claim the remaining Fairy Tailers began to pour into the room, which was thankfully large enough to house them all in. Before them they could see the queen's entitled seat at the center of a half circle table which had the other representatives seated at her sides, but that remained solely as the center of the room as benches lined the walls around it. As quickly as they could, they took their seats at one side, although Natsu had yet moved along with Erza, Laxus and Makarov.
"Understanding that Mr. Dragneel is quite vocal about his complaints as he is stubborn, I'll refrain from asking the four of you to take your seats." Clara Greybourne voiced out as she had noticed a number of politicians glaring at the standing mages before them, it was an attempt to keep civility inside the meeting room.
"But please keep in mind to speak when asked, if that is not too much to ask for." Hisui added as to avoid full blown arguments between her people and Fairy Tail.
"As you wish your Highness." Erza answered and Makarov was glad that she was always on top of these things, plus she was right for the job in keeping Natsu in check.
"Thank you and as I've said, I'm concluding this meeting as I've come to a decision." Hisui began and immediately an uproar of voices rang out with complaints that there was still so much to discuss before the meeting could truly be over. "That's quite enough everyone."
Hisui raised her hand and the volume in the room immediately dropped, much to the impressment of a few Fairy Tailers as they've come to see how far the Queen has meshed into her position of power. Makarov braved a glance at Natsu in hopes that he was being well restrained, although the aging guild master hadn't expected the slayer to be in awe at how the Queen silenced the room with a simple raised hand. A part of the old man had a feeling that Natsu hadn't grown accustomed to Hisui being the crowned queen of Fiore, rather he still saw her as the risk-taking princess he met her as a few years ago.
"Now then, both sides have made great points in attempts to keep Fiore out of an over reaching war on one side and to showcase our country's might on the other. We can sit here for hours, possibly days without reaching an agreement and I am glad that Natsu had barged in here at such an opportune moment." All eyes went straight for the pink haired slayer and though he wasn't one to shy away from others' gaze, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being judged for more than walking in unannounced.
"As much as I have my reserves with this idea, Fiore will be heading out beyond the Gate." A collective of murmurs began within the room, but a subtle smile crept on Natsu's face to see the queen taking action. "Ms. Myu, please inform your superiors that we gladly accept the aid your country will be sending us. I wish to have us ready to mobilize in a week's time, we've spent too much time without taking action."
"My Queen, retaliating seems like a course of action built solely out of revenge and I fear that we won't gain anything from amassing an attack like this." Samuel truly wanted to avoid this outcome, what could Fiore possibly gain in the long run by attacking another nation. "Are you positive that we should really undergo military action?"
"Of course, we should! These bastards took innocent people in cages across that damn thing to become slaves for them!" Natsu cried out and once again all voices grew silent at the dragon slayer's claim, no one said a thing until Saul spoke up amongst the elongated silence.
"What did you say young man?" Saul read the reports himself thoroughly and not once had he seen any indication that people were taken captives. "My Queen, is what the mage said true? Have innocent civilians been taken hostage? Or worse still, have they been taken as slaves?" A hanging silence befell the room before the Hisui bowed her head solemly.
"I'm afraid so, this information has been kept confidential until my Left Hand can correctly confirm it, even if there are multiple witnesses that can attest to it." Hisui replied and a number of people began clamoring about how they should've mobilized much sooner if this was the case or how they couldn't believe such thing was kept from them.
"I would like to give you all my sincerest apologies for not informing you about this sooner, I wished to see the differing opinions that you all had at the idea of mobilizing a military force to the Gate. This was for me to see the long-term effects once we have deployed and the problems we would be facing when that time would come around." Many within the room had to give the Queen credit for taking steps to foresee the future, but there were those who felt that she should have disclosed this sensitive information to them much early on no matter the case.
"Sorry to interrupt your Highness, but I have news that the Left Hand have arrived and are awaiting your permission to enter." A knight said once he entered the room and the Queen made a gesture that indicated that they could enter.
The knight nodded before leaving the room and opened the door once again a few moments later, but this time he held it open for eight hooded figures to enter the room. They flooded into the center where the Fairy Tailers were standing and each bowed their heads respectively towards the Queen.
"I hope you came bearing news about the abduction reports?" Hisui asked the hooded individual at the forefront of the group nodded in acknowledgement. "Then you may all lower your hoods and report your findings."
As they lowered their hoods, Erza was the first to notice the blue mop of hair at the forefront of the group and had immediately recognized who the group was. She was the first, but the rest of the Fairy Tail mages quickly caught on as well once they had finally seen the group's faces. As for the requip mage, she had to keep her surprise under wraps given to the fact that she had to uphold an image in front of the Queen. Though she did let her mind wonder back when Jellal had told her he had a job to do and would be out of contact for some time, this recent reconnaissance mission for the queen being the job he mentioned.
"We tracked them as far we could and had been successful in recovering one of the straggling carts with captives in it. No enemy survivors, but the innocent civilians were unharmed during the rescue." Jellal replied and the Queen gave a quite sigh at the news. "I'm afraid that any knowledge pertaining to what exactly was going to be done with them wasn't given up easily and we decided to return with the gathered intelligence."
"Thank you for the report, that will be all." Hisui said and Jellal, along with the rest of Crime Sorciere, gave one more bow and retreated out of the room. "It is as I feared, what we are doing now is not a declaration of war, but a rescue operation."
"I can say with confidence that all representatives gathered here are in agreement to mobilize a rescue attempt my Queen; however, is a week's time truly enough to ready our troops to cross the Gate?" Saul knew that they'd cross sooner or later, but he believed they would have more time to regain their strength before they sent a force over.
"We have no other option as the famed Natsu Dragneel himself has claimed that we have wasted too much time with our talks. I am at fault for that and because of that I humbly ask you, Master Makarov, for your assistance in allowing some of your guild's members to join our forces as advanced personnel." Hisui turned her gaze from regarding Saul over towards Makarov, who was internally conflicted with the Queen's question.
"Time is of the essence for our people to be rescued, but I can't whole heartedly commit to sending anymore of my members to fight such battles." Makarov replied as the last thing he wanted was for his children to become mercenaries, with the likelihood of doing everything asked of one with none of the benefits. "They've all been through so much and I wish for them to be at peace rather than going off to fight in this conflict."
"Master Makarov, we know that your guild has been through a lot throughout the years, but the lives of dozens of people are depending on us. Are you certain that you want to remain inactive during the country's crisis." Saul was trying to goad the aging master's pride into action so that he'd agree to the Queen's request, but the sour look he was receiving from the old man wasn't what he expected.
"Pardon Mr. Representative, but my brats have already put themselves in danger in Crocus' defense. I can't ask them to travel to who knows where the Gate leads and what unknown dangers that lurk there." Makarov wouldn't make that call as this was a decision his children had to make for themselves. "It is not my place to send them off and risk their lives in an unknown place, even if they've done so for many years here."
"As noble as your wishes to protect your members are, I believe it's in everyone's best interest that Fairy Tail supports us in our time of need." Saul countered as the number one guild should willingly deploy into action once the Queen has asked them to.
"They are more selfish than noble wishes, so I don't be-"
"I'll volunteer!"
All eyes within the room once again turned to look at Natsu who stood standing straight with determination burning in his eyes. Makarov was very familiar with that look and had been afraid of it rearing its head at a time like this, but if he knew the young man than there was hardly a chance for him to stop the dragon slayer.
"Natsu!"
"No, I won't keep quiet Erza!" He replied defiantly towards the requip mage before turning his gaze back to the Queen, no sense of fear within him after regarding Erza in such a way. "Your Highness, I want to volunteer myself into the army or whatever. I'll make sure that our people come home."
"I admire your bravery Natsu Dragneel and so I welcome you into the Fiorean Army openly, of course as a well-regarded mage volunteer." Hisui said with a kind smile and amongst those sitting at sides of the room, Lucy tried her best not to follow in Gray's actions of face palming to her best friend's declaration. "Furthermore, I ask those within the room if they too are willing to volunteer in our rescue operation."
Hisui waited to see who else would reply to the call of duty and slowly grew a bit worried as no one else seemed to follow up, until a metal gauntlet rose up before her. She gave a kind smile as Erza raised her hand and stepped forward alongside Natsu, much to the noticeable surprise of her guild master.
"I, Erza Scarlet, pledge my blade in service to the Queen's request." As formal as ever, but it was how the requip mage was around those who needed to be regarded with respect.
"If those two are going over then I guess I'll go too." Came the voice of Laxus as Makarov twisted his head to look at him with surprising speed that one would think he should've experienced whiplash.
"You too, Laxus?!"
"Sorry Gramps, but Erza's going to need all the help she can get keeping the fire breathing goofball under control. Besides it's partially my fault that these punks got away with so many people in the first place." Laxus wasn't one to show regret so easily, but even Makarov could see the lingering signs of anger that were subtly hidden on his features when he thought about his grave mistake.
Soon enough, the majority of Fairy Tail members within the room stood up from their seats; save for a few exceptions. Them being Gajeel, Gray and Carla who each had their own reasons for not wanting to follow along with the idea of joining the Fiorean military, even if temporarily.
"I guess my brats have spoken, but I wish to ask your Highness to allow me to choose which ones of them will go." Makarov understood how much heart they all had for under taking such a task, but he couldn't out rightly send so many of them away.
"I say you should just send the people who came for the counter attack." Laxus suggested and the old master was rather curious as to why he should do that. "It minimizes the amount of people being sent off and I'm positive that five slayers, Erza and the cheerleader are enough to equal several battalions."
Laxus had made a good point as the tides had greatly changed once the limited Fairy Tail mages had arrived and the enemy was driven back quite easily. Though Makarov was still weary of sending them out, he couldn't deny his brats of what their hearts were telling them. The old man sighed to himself and finally decided on taking up Laxus' idea, hoping that Mavis would be watching over his brats.
"I will be sending a concentrated roster of my brats that will be assisting the military, but I hope your Highness isn't solely relying on just our guild in this effort." Makarov couldn't help but ask as he didn't want to be the only magical guild out there and leave his children to fend for themselves alongside soldiers.
"Of course not Master Makarov, I will be asking the other legal guilds for their assistance as well. You need not be worried for your members' safety as they will have allied support during their time on the other side." Hisui answered and it brought a bit of relief to the old man, but it wouldn't erase most of his worries as the tale of his brats going to Edolas crept into his mind.
"Thank you, your Highness."
"You're welcome, and with that it is time for us to begin mobilization efforts. We are working against an ever-closing window of bringing back all of our people home safely." Hisui said as everyone bowed to her and quickly filed out of the room to get things underway before the week was up.
As everyone began to file out of the room, Erza scanned the hallway in search of one particular individual that she really wanted to speak with. With the occasional bump with a stranger, a hand had gripped her gauntlet and pulled her out of the large group of people. The red head smiled kindly as she looked up at the tattooed man before her, glad he had pulled out of the swath of people hurriedly rushing away with preparations. As for Jellal, she had noticed the way he had signaled to the rest of his guild to continue without him and slightly scowled at the shit eating grin Eric was giving him once the dragon slayer had noticed him with Erza.
"So, the Queen's Left Hand. Quite the step up from being an independent guild working in the shadows." Erza began to regain the blue haired man's focus on her and her merely chuckled at her questioning tone. "How come you never told me that you guys were now in service of the Queen?"
"Well, I didn't find a good enough time to tell you. In fact, I've been trying for the last couple of years." A part of him couldn't shake the embarrassing feeling that he had gotten tongue tied in the red head's presence so often that there hardly was a time he could say anything clearly.
And Erza enjoyed the fact that he was so easily flustered with her around.
"Given our line of work, there hardly is any time to for us to speak with each other for so long." She enjoyed their talks, it was something she missed having with the blue haired man before the tower incident when they were kids. "You should try to say the more important things as soon as you can, else you'll hold it in for years."
"I'll keep that in mind, but what I wish to know is if you are serious about going into the Special Region with the rest of your guild mates and the military." The requip mage could see the uncertainty within his brown eyes, but she had faith in Natsu's words when he said that nothing on the other side could harm them. Even if a little because one could never be too sure and it was better to be safe than sorry.
"I am, I need to keep Natsu in check to the best of my abilities. Or else the military is going to have their hands full with a rampaging dragon." Natsu's words held no room for a rebuttal and Erza knew he was serious, meaning that she had couldn't take the dragon slayer's behavior lightly. "By the way, did you guys call it the "Special Region" on your own?"
"It's a work in progress, but we derived it by the way the world on the other side feels." Jellal replied as he could still feel the lingering difference between there and Fiore. "It's a completely different experience that some of my guild are still trying to get used being back home."
"You just said 'the world on the other side' just now, are you saying that this is not a mass transportation structure?" Erza had believed that someone with great amounts of magic power, or access to it anyways, had opened a transportation gate from some region undiscovered on Earth Land.
"It definitely isn't, for starters the stars do not align in any pattern I'm familiar with. They are basically different constellations entirely, then there's the ethernano." Erza could believe the difference as Jellal focused to the constellations in the night sky as his meteor magic revolves around a set of them.
"What's wrong with the ethernano?" She wondered what drew such attention from Jellal to name that as a main difference between Earth Land and the Special Region; was it sparsely there like in Edolas or much more abundant?
"The levels are quite adequate, no need to worry about wasting all of it trying to use spells. It's just that the only word that comes to mind is that it feels very archaic, if it helps any to describe how it felt to us." Now that was an interesting way to depict magic as only Lost Magic was ever considered archaic by today's standards. "In a way, the ethernano here had centuries to refine itself, but over there it feels as if any normal spell feels so much more potent than what you'd expect.
"Are you saying that your magic was much more powerful in comparison to usage here in Earth Land?" Erza couldn't believe that as she thought the reverse would happen and any magic they casted would be weaker overall.
"While we made are way back to the Gate, we experimented to gain a grasp of what we were capable of and the effects were shocking." The requip mage could tell that Jellal was thinking back to that point and time and could only wonder what the results were discovered. "I'll use tiers to describe the changes; say Natsu casts a fireball at its weakest at tier one here in Earth Land, in the Special Region it becomes a tier three, give or take a half tier."
"That much of a difference?" She didn't believe the changes would be that large, she thought more along the line of half a tier maybe even one. "I guess that explains why no survivors were taken when it came to the enemy."
"We tried to use our least inconspicuous spells as we attacked, but because of that we couldn't correctly gauge the difference before it was too late." It was a mishap, but what could be blame in this case? An error in judgement or the natural order being different from the norm?
"Well the good thing is that you guys saved the captives and soon enough, I'll be doing the same thing on an even larger scale." Erza smiled confidently even if she still worried over the fact that she basically enlisted in the armed forces voluntarily.
"I don't doubt that for a second Erza, maybe we can speak again when you get more free time in the future. I should let you get back to preparing for your journey across the Gate." With a respectful nod of his head, Jellal excused himself and walked in the direction his guild mates had gone off too.
"Looks like I'll have to keep Natsu on a tighter leash this time." Erza thought to herself and before long she noticed the dragon slayer she was just thinking about running down the hall towards her. "Speak of the Devil..."
"Mind telling me why you didn't stand up when everyone else found their confidence to go on the rescue op?" Gajeel questioned once he located Gray out on one of the castle's many balconies, though he did wonder what was up with him and balconies as of late.
"Funny, I could ask you the same thing. I haven't met a dragon slayer who shied away from a fight." Gray retorted but was answered with the click of the dragon slayer's tongue as he took a spot near the railing. "Besides, wouldn't you want to up show the pink haired moron in proving which one of you can find the captives first?"
"You're being more of an ass than usual, what's got your boxers in a bunch?" Gajeel knew that he and the ice mage didn't have the clearest relationship, but they haven't bit back at each other like this in a while.
"Nothing that you'd care to know about, but I'm sure you won't tell me anything unless I reply first, right?" Gray didn't need any form of confirmation to know that he was right, but what could he tell him that'll make the most sense to the metal head? "Let's just say that I'll be more useful out of everyone's way rather than getting so involved."
"That only makes sense to you than me, but you'll probably shut up even more if I press you to be clearer." At least they knew each other's boundaries, but who wouldn't when speaking to the person you can hardly stand to look at. "As for me, I can't leave Levy and Gale behind to go off and become a killing machine again."
"Too bad we'll get the short end of the straw."
"You heard blondie too, huh? We'll be sent either way and as much as I want to refuse, I can't help this feeling of wanting to return the "kindness" we were given tenfold."
"I guess you dragon slayers love a good fight or something, else you wouldn't really want to think like that." Gray off handedly commented and was replied with a snort from the iron dragon slayer in turn. "But even I can't help but know how it feels to be like that."
"As hypocritical as you are, why is it that you so defiantly avoid sharing Salamander's view?" Gajeel had notice the way the ice mage would contradict himself in saying he didn't want to be a part of this, but he would show some signs of wanting his own sense of justice to be paid. "Is it that you don't want to be similar to him in thinking or what?"
"It's a lot more complicated than that, our basic nature makes us behave differently to the situation. I have control while Natsu focuses mainly on his emotions."
"Hmph... control, yeah right." Gray would have rolled his eyes if Gajeel walked away after saying that, but the dragon slayer just stood there waiting for him to react. "You can talk it up all you want and it won't convince me that you really know what control is."
"Look Gajeel, we've been through this for three years straight and had plenty of encounters with passive aggressiveness to boot. Just be up front and tell me how you really feel, it'll be better for us to really know where we stand." This was a long time coming, three years was slow progress but it needed to be sped up for the sake that this war has messed everything up.
"So, you finally grew some balls to ask me what's wrong, huh?" It was almost in a mocking tone, but Gray couldn't be bothered by how the dragon slayer responded to him at this point. "I'll be crystal clear; I hate you."
"Why am I not surprised?" It wouldn't be the first time someone hated Gray; Ultear and even Meredy at one point hated his guts.
"You'd expect that wouldn't you, but I hate you for other reasons." Gray could only guess what those reasons were, but it seemed Gajeel would enlighten him soon enough. "I hate you for failing Juvia, that's a major one, but I hate for even existing."
"Meredy and Ultear felt the same way..."
"Juvia meant a lot to me, she was the closest thing to me in that shit hole of a guild that was Phantom Lord. I'll be honest with you so you really know how deep my hatred for you goes, she was the woman I fell in love with before I got to know Levy."
Now that was something Gray didn't expect, he knew the two of them were close although he didn't expect them to be that close.
"My life was a living hell, but I found company in someone who was suffering just like me. She may have come off so cold and distant, but if you got to know her then you'd see a blue rose caught in a rainstorm. With a little more time, I would've tried...I would've tried..." The long-haired man let the sentence die in his lips before shaking his head and continuing on.
"Then you came into the picture and all she could ever talk about was you, you a random ice mage we had considered our enemy. Somehow you did the one thing in your first encounter with her that I've been trying to accomplish for years. You freed her from her eternal rain storm and she fell in love with you for it. I didn't want to accept it, but soon enough I started to realize that maybe this was for the best for her. How stupid I was to think like that."
Something sank in the pit of Gray's stomach and he wondered if Gajeel ever really considered him as a friend like he had with Natsu and the others. The rational part of him thought that he did to some extent, but the other part of him said that the slayer hid his true feelings really well for so long.
"You didn't appreciate the effort she put into trying to please you, you didn't bother giving her your attention when she asked for it, you didn't acknowledge the fact that she was going above and beyond to gain your approval. At first, I thought you were being a dick, but then you were nothing more than an asshole to her. I wanted to tell her that she was wasting her time, but I had never seen her so happy and couldn't bring myself to take away that smile I tried my damnedest to see."
"It was the first time she was truly in love and she had no real idea of how to act, so some of that weird behavior you tended to see her do was for the fact that she had no real idea what to do. Apparently, it made you just distance yourself from her even more, God how much I wanted to punch you in your pretty boy face every time you backed away from her."
The ice mage stood there taking it, but he had to wonder how long Gajeel had been wanting to tell him this face-to-face. It would seem like years, or rather from the very start as he inadvertently took away the woman he truly cared about.
"Only near the end did you start appreciating her and what then? She gave up her life for the person she loved and I'm left with a regret that I can't erase. You can tell me that you loved her, but I'll never see it since it never was there for so long. Lucy actually showed that she loved her much more clearly than you could ever do and Juvia feared that she'd take you away from her. I wish she did, so that she didn't have to waste her life trying to please you. There was even a point that I thought that if you could make her happy for the rest of her life, then that would be enough for me and now here I stand knowing that'll I'll never see her smile again. One filled with such love and warmth that I thought couldn't be possible when we were in Phantom Lord."
"I hate you Gray, Juvia could have done so much better and yet she chose you of all people. I thought I would be a hypocrite if I said I never once liked you, but now I know I was right."
"I guess I never truly appreciate what I have until it's taken away from me, just a repeating pattern that has yet to stop."
"All in all you're basically right, we've been tip toeing around each other for too long and I think you should know why it's been so hard for you to regain any standing with me. As much as I hate you, you are still my guild mate and Levy trusts you with her life. I wish she didn't, but she has faith in you and she's the reason why I even bother trying to tolerate you. When the time comes, I'll put aside my personal feelings to help you but that doesn't mean they'll go away. I hope you're satisfied knowing what I think of you now."
Gajeel left without another word and Gray stood there speechless, a new pang started up in his heart and knew that he fucked up much more than he had ever realized. He destroyed Lyon's dream, he took Ultear's mother away, made Meredy's pseudo-mother suffer and yet he managed to fix those to the best of his abilities. This though, this was something he doubted he could ever fix. It ran very deep into the core of the iron dragon slayer and it was the second time Gray ever saw the crack in his iron hide.
"You've made plenty of friends, but the people who hate you make such an impact." His mark remarked, but he rather it talked to him than be left to his own thoughts.
"Wasn't it the same case for you, Zero?" Gray gave it a name a while ago, but at the moment the name made so much more sense for other things other than being the title of his mark.
"The Etherious hated me for existing because I was the contingency plan once Zeref was finally killed. That iron dragon slayer on the other hand, he hates you for a personal reason the likes of which only humans seem understand than I do." If there was something Zero didn't fully understand was how humans would think with their emotions rather than cold hard fact. "That woman helped unlocked the fledgling bounty of potential power you had in store and with more time you could have used me to the furthest extent possible like your father did, so I see no problem with her sacrifice."
"Her name was Juvia and my father discovered what you had to offer because he gave up trying to be the man he once was before our final battle."
"True enough, but it seems this has hit you harder than I had expected. Are your sins finally crashing down upon you? I'm positive your deadly sin is wrath over anything else, a compatible one with a being of my power." Zero received no reply as Gray lost himself in thought and judging by the growing negative energy it was accumulating, it knew that the recent conversation was truly weighing on the ice mage. "Come now Gray, you'll lose control at this rate. Not to mention that your dragon slayer friend is approaching."
"Hey Gray have you seen Happy!?" Natsu quickly made his way towards the ice mage who shook free from his thoughts before he answered the jittery fire dragon slayer.
"I haven't, didn't you say that he was helping out people during the battle?"
"He was, but all this stupid talking and no action made me so angry and distracted that I don't know where he is. I thought Carla or Wendy might have seen him, but they told me that they haven't seen him either."
"Look, I just want the day to end already, so relax hot head I'm sure he'll turn up sooner or later." As he replied, Gray walked past him as he had enough fresh air for the day.
"Well I'm not gonna wait for later, I'm going to find him right now!" Natsu ran off to someplace within the castle, leaving the ice mage alone.
"Although I do wonder where Happy ran off to anyways?"
Somewhere near a forested area on the outskirts of Coda Village was a lone cottage that is home to a well-known grand master wizard named Cato El Altestan, whom was reviewing a few of his old spell tomes in order to brush upon a few new lessons to his aspiring student. As he thought about her, he came to the realization that she had yet to return from her trip to Coda Village for supplies until the sound of the front door was heard opening. Placing a few spell tomes onto his desk, Cato went off to greet his young pupil although he hadn't expected her to return with more than just the supplies.
"Lelei, what is that within your hands?" Cato asked the sixteen-year-old girl as she placed down the supplies with her magic before regarding her master.
"On my way back, I found it lying on the side of the road by a bush. I believe it to be a rare species of domesticated cat, Master." Lelei responded as she held up the aforementioned cat for him to see. "A naturally blue furred feline such as this is a rare find, I should discover what gives it's fur this hue."
"Ever curious to unlock the mysteries of the world as ever Lelei, but I believe it would be best to keep such a specimen in one piece since you can never be too sure if it is the last of its species." Cato knew the girl had a brilliant mind, although discovery of the unknown does come with a price if one is not careful, he of all people was very aware of that.
"Very well Master, shall we keep it for observation?" Lelei had truly wondered what natural forces causes blue fur; was it the water, nature or the cat's diet that brought about this vibrant color.
"It should be fine but do make sure it doesn't cause a mess. The last thing I want is for my staff to be thrown to the ground." He could allow Lelei to keep it, whether she'll treat it as an experiment or a pet was up to the young teen. "Oh, it seems our little friend here is waking up."
Lelei turned the feline to look at her and as its eyes opened even wider and it looked directly at her, she and her master had been caught by complete surprise. Reason being was because the blue feline recoiled and instead of meowing, it yelled in fright at the unknown girl before it.