Rising Moon
Summary: A second chance wasn't something I, Aldrin Zevon, expected. I didn't expect to wake up in a five-year-old body in a forest, nor did I expect what would come after. A multiverse of possibilities has opened up to me, and I intend to take it for all it is worth. SI-OCxHarem, Fairy Tail/Multicross Story
This story is inspired by A Nascent Kaleidoscope by AStoryForOne. I HIGHLY recommend you go check it out. It's almost 1 Million words, still going strong, and definitely worth the read.
Chapter 8
I let out a sigh as I leaned back in my seat, staring up at the ceiling of my room, books strewn around the ground around me.
After Kurnugi taught me the basics of how to mould magic for my Sword Saint Dragon Slayer Magic, he told me it would be up to me to make my own techniques. He, like Qila, refused to teach me the Secret Arts, saying it was for when he took on a Dragon Slayer that was completely his own.
When I asked for even a hint, he just smirked at me and said:
"Just create your own."
Over time, I'd come to rather enjoy his company… But god if that smirk of his wasn't fucking insufferable.
Two months had passed since I trained under Kurnugi, and he'd stopped teaching me after about two weeks when I'd learned the basics of how to utilise the moulding aspect of Sword Saint Dragon Slayer Magic.
The moulding aspect was very interesting, and difficult. You weren't only moulding the shape of the magic, but also influencing the element. It was only possible because the Element of 'Sword' was also encapsulated in sword techniques, though it didn't make it any easier.
There was one thing to note, however. Elements from a Sword Saint Dragon would never match the intensity of other dragons. You could get pretty damned close, but they'd never be able to match it.
I wasn't a master of the moulding technique by any means, but I was able to do it and knew how it worked. All it would take now was proper training to use it in battle.
After he'd stopped teaching me, Selene took up training me once again, and my life returned to normal as I worked on my magic and other things in my free time.
I'd make note of several magics I wanted to study when I had time; transformation, concealment, elemental magics, letter magic, archive, and so on. I wouldn't learn them yet, I had enough on my plate, but I was copying books from Selene's library and storing them in my pocket dimension, which also doubled as my Requip space due to my Requip being an adapted spell to my Dimension Dragon Slayer magic.
Sadly, I couldn't really find anything on enchanting magic. It didn't seem enchanting had a dedicated magic, and instead there were different versions of how to enchant items without a solid decision on what was 'best.'
The way I figured it, Enchanting was either a 'lost' art or it was kept heavily secret by people who wanted to profit from it. Honestly, I was banking on the latter. As they say, 'Silence is golden.' If nobody spread the word about it, massive profits could be made from the enchanting business.
I let out a sigh as I finished copying another book and putting it in my dimension. I'd just have to try my luck with learning enchantment magic in another world, or see if I could figure out something with Letter Magic… Maybe Archive would be able to help me along?
Experimentation down the line it was.
"Aldrin," Qila's voice whined softly as she opened my door, looking at me with a pout. "Stop reading and come cuddle with me!"
I felt a blush rise to my cheeks. Even after nearly two years since I'd met her, Qila still insisted on cuddling with me as much as possible, and it never failed to make my heart and stomach flutter.
It didn't help that I was a very early bloomer, having already started puberty, so now cuddling with her made me uncomfortable in another way.
"Sis, I get so little free time to study other magic as is," I told her.
"I know," she grumbled. "But I wanna cuddle."
"And I was led to believe you were shy," I grumbled. "Shy my ass."
"Enough talk, more cuddling!" She demanded.
I sighed. "Compromise. You can cuddle me, and I'll read while you cuddle me."
"Deal!" She grinned, taking a seat by my desk and patting her lap. I climbed onto her lap, and she wrapped her arms around me, pulling me into her embrace. "Mm, much better!" She hummed happily.
I blushed warmly but pulled a book from my Requip space and began to read it.
"So, what are you reading?" She asked me.
"A book on God Slayer Magic," I told her. "I've had no luck with learning it, though it is a lost magic so I shouldn't be surprised. It's also very similar to Dragon Slaying Magic, so it's hard to really even tell if I'm getting it right."
"I see," she nodded. "You'd probably need to encounter a God Slayer and get a good 'feel' for their magic, or at least encounter some kind of god."
"Here's hoping that never happens," I grumbled, at least not a god in Fairy Tail. If Ankhseram was any indication, gods in Fairy Tail weren't the friendliest of people and I wanted nothing to do with them.
"Indeed," she wrinkled her nose. "Gods are so stuck up."
"… You've… Met a God?" I asked, surprised.
"Two," she told me. "I've met Zatia, Goddess of Destruction, and Irena, Goddess of Space."
Those names didn't sound familiar… "Tell me about them?"
She hummed and then shrugged. "Well, Zatia was probably the more interesting one between the two. Despite being a Goddess of Destruction, she was actually very sweet and loves life, which is very contradictory given her nature as a Destruction Deity. But don't let her sweet face fool you, she's a God of Destruction through and through, and when she gets mad, she won't rest until the object of her rage is erased from existence."
"… So, she's bipolar?"
Qila snorted, lifting a hand to her mouth to stifle her giggles. "Bipolar… Pft… That's one way to put it, but don't say that to her. She might get offended."
"If I ever meet her, I won't call her bipolar," I agreed without issue. I was a bit sassy, but I wasn't in the habit of back talking beings that could wipe me out if I pissed them off.
"Irena is…" She paused, looking like she was debating how to phrase it. "Hard to read. She doesn't really show emotions, her face is pretty blank. Even her voice doesn't betray how she's feeling at all, and it's really unnerving. Despite that she's not a bad person, just unnerving."
"I think I'd rather meet her than the potentially bipolar goddess."
She giggled in amusement. "That's fair."
"So, do you mind telling me about Transformation Magic? I figured it might be useful in the future."
Qila didn't hesitate to start telling me all she knew about transformation magic, and I relaxed into her embrace, both listening and reading through my God Slayer Book.
Just because I was preparing for the future didn't mean I couldn't also spend time with loved ones…
Especially since we both knew my time under Selene's tutelage was coming to an end.
.
.
.
Three years.
It had been a long time, but three years had come and gone under Selene's teachings. I was eight now, and I was stood in front of the Moon Dragon God on the night of a full moon as she looked down upon me.
"Three years," she spoke. "Since I took you in. Back then, you were full of potential, like a jewel shining among the dirt… You were refined, you have grown… And now, we have come to the end of your training. Before you were a gem, but you have gone beyond even that now. You are my Dragon Slayer-!"
"What are you doing?" I asked her, cutting her off.
She stared at me for a moment before she pouted. "I was trying to do this big dramatic send off, you can't just cut me off like that. It's not fair."
I stared at her for a moment before I chuckled. "… Let me talk then."
She raised an eye and looked down at me.
"These last three years… Have sucked."
"Pardon?"
"You're a slave driver," I told her. "You have me train until basically exhaustion most days to the point I barely get time to get any reading in, you made me prioritise your wants and desires over my own. You're lazy, selfish, provocative, and you put me through hell. Your instructions suck, and you never consider my wants, you only go about doing what you want and inform me about it after you've made a decision."
The more I spoke, the more I saw a vein over her eye was getting more pronounced.
"You tease me all the time, you deliberately flash me in or out of spars, and the amount of times you've dragged me to bathe nude with you in the bath to embarrass me is frankly outrageous," I told her. "These three years have without been… Some of the best years of my life."
The vein died down as she looked at me in surprise.
"Despite the pain, the headaches, and the general lack of peace… I wouldn't trade what you've given me for the world. So, thank you… Mum." I stepped forward, wrapping my arms around her.
Her eyes widened in genuine surprise as I wrapped my arms around her in a tight hug, and she slowly brought her own arms down to hug me back. "… That's the first time you've called me mum," she said softly with a smile.
"Well, don't get used to it," I told her. "You teased me, so it's hard to see you as a mother."
"Oh, you see me as a woman?" She smirked.
"Yes," I nodded. "I plan to make you mine."
She stared down at me and a light blush dusted her cheeks before it quickly died down. "How bold, and how do you plan to accomplish that?"
"First I'll grow past five feet, I'll tell you when I figure out the rest," I chuckled.
She snorted, tilting her head back and laughing before she finally let me go and stepped back.
"So…" I looked to the side where Qila was sat with her back to us, hugging her knees to her chest and pouting because I was leaving. "You wanna handle that, or should I?"
She chuckled. "I think I've got this one, just this one… Where will you go?"
"Ishgar," I told her. "I was hoping you'd use Aqua Aera to open me a way there, I'd rather not get on a boat since… You know, transport."
"Believe me, I know…" She shuddered, looking a bit ill at the thought.
Turns out all dragons had severe motion sickness, but it was due to the enhanced senses. Movement on a vehicle caused an issue with the ear canal, and as a result it made dragons and dragon slayers very sick and nauseous. Didn't explain why Gajeel didn't have the issue right away… Probably a writing decision that came later.
"Very well, I'll open a portal for you," she nodded, creating water with magic at her finger tip. "Any kingdom requests?"
"Fiore sounds good to me."
She nodded and waved her hand, the water linking in a circle and creating a portal to a forest in the Kingdom (country really) of Fiore.
I gave a sad smile as I looked through the portal… The end of one part of my journey, and the beginning of another.
"Well, this looks like goodbye," I told Selene. "I'll miss you, Selene."
"What happened to mum?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," I said innocently.
She grumbled with a smile. "Brat… I'll miss you too."
I looked to the pouting Spatial Dragon. "I'll miss you too, Qila. Cuddle time with you was… Nice."
She looked back at me. "… I'm gonna come visit you," she told me firmly.
"No, you aren't," Selene said sternly. "Acnologia will find you, and he WILL kill you without hesitation."
"But…"
"No," Selene repeated. "I might be as strong as him, but it doesn't mean I can defeat him. I will not lose my daughter due to her selfish desire to be with her brother, understood?"
Qila stared at the ground.
"I'll come visit here instead," I told them both. "I'll visit whenever I get the time, check in on you, the whole shebang. I promise."
Qila sniffed and stopped pouting, running over and giving me a tight hug. "Uuu! I'm gonna miss my cute little brother!"
"I'll miss you too, Qila," I told her as I gave her a tight hug. "I'll make sure to put all the lessons you taught me to good use."
"You'd better," she sniffed. "And you'd better visit me like you promised! Come straight into my dimension, I know you can! I wanna spend time with my little brother!"
"I promise, I'll visit," I smiled warmly as she let me go and I turned to Selene. "Well, this is goodbye, Selene… Give Kurnugi a kick for me, would you? Still owe him for that 'just create your own' line."
She chuckled. "I'll think about it."
I took a breath and turned towards the portal. "… See you later."
I stepped through the portal and gave one last look at both of them smiling at me before it closed shut behind me.
I took a breath and looked on ahead. Eight-years-old, and once again alone in a foreign world.
"Well, no time like the present," I stepped forward, using my enhanced senses to sniff out the direction of the nearest town…
And immediately tripped, landing on my face.
I let out a muffled grunt of pain before I rolled over and looked at the sky.
"This does not bode well."