Chapter 1: Aiden
Fiore Kingdom - Hargeon Port. Year x793
The twenty two year old blond looked like he had just come back from a war. His hair was so dirty that it might as well have been colored brown. His hands and legs were covered in blood and bruises and he had two very intense scars in his face and neck: one was a cut that started above his left eyebrow and ended beneath his eye, and one was a claw mark under his chin.
A guy like that would have called attention to himself on a regular day. This day, he came out of the water, as if he had spawned there, and he wasn't by himself: a group of very dirty and bloody people came with him.
It took about a minute for people to gather around them, some curious, some concerned. For them or because of the/m was the issue.
"Where… Who…"
"Are you kids ok?" An old man asked, approaching the group, "it's a lot of blood you've got there."
"Y-Yeah," the blonde replied, while the others looked around trying to understand just what had happened, "we were in a fight," he said and frowned, "old man, where are we?"
He looked even more concerned.
"Hargeon Port, of course," the man spoke while gauging the group.
A light blue haired girl stepped forward and looked at the man.
"We're mages," she spoke after a while in awkward silence, "we want to get to Magnolia. We're fine, sorry for the inconvenience."
"Ah," he spoke just as the crowd started dispersing, as if everything about the bloody people suddenly made sense, "so you're with those troublemakers. That explains it. Train is that way."
The girl smiled sweetly and prompted everyone to walk. They did, still too shocked and confused to form proper words.
"Aiden," she called the blonde, whose eyes wouldn't leave the sea, "come on."
"She's not here," he spoke, looking at their group, "Yume, where is Nashi?"
"And Wendy and Gail," a red headed guy added.
"Screw Nashi, but yeah, Wendy and Gail should be here," a white haired girl added in an oddly concerned tone for her first words.
"She's probably on some mission," Yume spoke dismissively, "you know her. She's going to-" Yume's words were interrupted by a panicked call for Aiden coming from the water.
"Kori?" Aiden at first thought the dark blue haired girl was dying: there was a pool of blood around her, so much that the waves weren't washing it away easily. It also seemed to keep flooding, and the group looked terrified at her. Aiden and Yume ran back into the water, with Lyra, the youngest, at their tail. It wasn't until they got close enough that they realized Kori wasn't bleeding: the girl floating in the water was.
Kori's hands were shaking and she seemed to be keeping the girl's body afloat with some difficulty. They were all exhausted and with most of their magic depleted, so the slightest effort was too much.
Aiden froze and Yume gasped and held Lyra back, but the girl had already seen it.
"No!" Lyra's screams attracted the attention of the people again, "no, she's not dead, right?! She can't be dead!"
Snapping out of it, Aiden picked her up and carried her to the shore, hating how much blood kept pouring out of her. At that rate, she'd be out of blood before they reached the nearest building.
A woman who stood watching gasped, and a few men moved and started calling for soldiers and officers and doctors. Aiden's group reacted in mixed manners.
"Maine, can you use your barriers to keep her blood from leaving her body?" Aiden asked, getting creative, "and we need a blood transfer. If Kori can handle it, I think Rob is compatible, right?"
He was shaken, but his voice was still steady. Still, unlike during the war, when his mere suggestions were taken as orders, now everyone hesitated. Maine, the white haired girl, and Rob, the red haired guy, exchanged uncomfortable looks.
Kori didn't seem very inclined to help either.
Yume removed her shirt, ignoring the reactions from the bystanders who were shouting questions and demanding someone help the random strangers and/or get the soldiers there quickly, and put it above the deepest cut in the girl's stomach, trying to slow down the bleeding.
"Maine!" Aiden called again, now shouting.
"She did this," Maine said, looking around them, "look around you, brother. We're not in our world anymore. The kind of magic to transport all of us would kill a normal person… how do you think she got so wounded?"
"You do realize who we were fighting, right? For all we know he did this to her and Wendy or someone else sent us here!" Aiden spoke back, angry beyond words. "Either way, it's not about a petty fight, Nashi is seriously going to die!"
Just then, a few people in white arrived and pushed past the crowd and tried to approach Aiden and Nashi, but he refused to let go of her or even let them approach without warning. Yume, too, stood in front of the body.
"Move aside, or you will be arrested. The girl needs immediate treatment."
"Maybe I can do it," Lyra suggested, her eyes teary from seeing Nashi like that, "I'm… I'm sure I have enough magic to help."
"Not in front of everyone!" Maine spoke in such a loud voice that it killed the whole secrecy purpose, but it was enough to startle Lyra.
Aiden took a deep breath to try and calm down. He did that more out of reflex than anything, since breathing in dusty and heavy air never actually calmed him down until… it did. The air there smelled pure and salty - probably from being so close to the sea. There was no scent of blood - aside from Nashi's but it wasn't predominant - or dust or smoke.
He looked at Maine, and for the first time in years he felt rage for his little sister. Did she not realize how much Nashi had done…
"I think we should leave," Rob, ever so loyal to Maine, spoke, his red hair looking as vivid as the blood in the sand, "we... we need to figure out where we are and what's happening. Staying here with her won't help," he shrugged, uncomfortable under Aiden's gaze.
"We can't just split up…" Yume protested, but Aiden raised his hand, while also allowing the doctors to check on Nashi.
"Go," he said to them, and saw that most of their group agreed with Maine and Rob. Some looked scared, some just didn't know Nashi well enough to stay for her, and some just wanted to enjoy whatever that place was.
The crowd didn't seem particularly interested in their banter, being more concerned for the nearly-dead girl lying in the sand, but they parted ways for the group that left. Yume, Aiden and Lyra looked at Kori, who seemed lost.
"I'll go with them. If it turns out we're in a dangerous place, they'll need me more than you will," she said, and it was clear she felt awful, but she left with her head down. Aiden sighed, rubbing his hair in frustration, and accidentally shocking the closest doctor.
Said man looked alarmed at Aiden and moved away, and the others stopped, now ready for an attack.
"Don't stop!" Aiden demanded, watching as the blood slowed down after whatever they were doing, "she'll die!"
"What he means is he's sorry he hurt you," Yume spoke in a soft tone, looking at the injured doctor, "we don't mean to take all your time, or to cause trouble," she looked at the crowd, "we'd be happy to take her to another city for treatment if you point us towards it. We…"
Before Yume could finish, the air pressure suddenly increased around them, and so did the magic presence. Aiden and Yume changed their postures immediately, standing up back to back and ready to fight. The crowd dispersed, probably very used to high magic pressure leading to dangerous battles, and the doctors looked reluctant between Nashi and the open streets.
Two people wearing black cloaks appeared on the shore, and it was clear the magic came from the tallest of them. Aiden closed his fists and an electric field formed around himself, Yume and Nashi: anyone who stepped on it would be electrocuted.
He waited for Yume to give them wings or produce something scary, but instead she gasped.
"No way-" she spoke, breaking out of her position and nearly stepping on the electric field herself. Aiden removed it at the last second and was about to call her out when the people lowered their hoods.
"Jellal-san?" Lyra spoke, recognizing the man. Aiden looked shocked between Jellal, Yume, and the woman, who was the one who probably shocked Yume the most.
"Meredy," Yume spoke, eyes wide in shock, forgetting about even Nashi for a second.
Yume's mother.
Fairy Tail Guild Hall: Year 799.
Five year old Aiden couldn't understand for the life of him what was so impressive about that day. The guild was in ecstasy, partying hard - even by Fairy Tail standards - and celebrating as if… he couldn't even put any event after the 'as if' that would justify that kind of party.
He was in the Little Fairies area of the guild hall. It was just one table filled with magical toys that had been protected by Levy and Freed with a barrier to keep anything from harming the children such as the occasional brawl between guild members. Aiden was around three when they decided they needed one with all the children that were being born in the guild.
Which made this specific day even weirder in Aiden's opinion. He asked his parents very frequently for an explanation - they had been preparing for the festivities for weeks now - but the only answer he got was that they were celebrating something happy.
Levy and Gajeel were closer to the Little Fairy area, and while Levy had happy tears, Aiden could swear she looked a bit sad, and Gajeel looked… scary. He always looked scary to Aiden.
The blond looked at his friend, hoping he'd have answers, but Gail was deep into a story book Levy had given him. In front of him, the twins were bickering about who had the coolest sword set - a collection of toy swords given to them by their mother, under the instruction that they were to play with it only in Fairy Tail so their dad never found out about it. Jellal wasn't big on weapons for kids according to Aiden's mom.
Gray and Juvia stood near the counter, chatting with Cana while Juvia held on to a small baby. Gray kept trying to hold on to it, but for the first time since Aiden could remember from his short life, Juvia said no to Gray.
"This is a great day, kids!" Gildarts came to the Little Fairy table and put a mug down with such strength that it broke the edge of the table. Gail immediately moved his book as far away from Gildarts as possible, still sour about the old man accidentally destroying his last book before he finished it. Rob and Ultear looked excited at Gildarts: the two idolized him.
"Why?" Aiden asked, focusing on his words. The 5 year old was getting cranky from not getting answers.
"Because it is a miracle day! I tell ya, a miracle! Remember today! The fact that it…"
Gildarts never finished the sentence on the account that Cana dragged him away, and that at that moment Wendy appeared on the stairs and announced, looking very tired, that Lucy was fine and the baby was healthy.
The guild erupted in cheers and celebration, and Wendy retreated. Natsu came down a bit after that, looking very shaken and very non-Natsu like. Aiden had only ever known him to be a prankster and a childlike adult. He got in the weirdest arguments with Aiden and Gail over checking out new toys. He always made a mess out of brawls and Aiden knew of two times that Natsu burned down his house - leaving Lucy very annoyed.
Natsu had never looked shaken. Grandpa Makarov looked shaken a lot, specially when Aiden asked to know more about his grandpa's golden days. Gray looked weird and emotional ever since Kori was born, so Aiden began to assume that people just turned weird when they had kids.
Never that weird though.
Gray and Juvia smiled and welcomed Natsu at the bar, and the fire dragon was surrounded by his friends saying stuff like congratulations and how they were so happy for him.
Then Lucy appeared atop the stairs with a bundle of pink in her arms, with Wendy close to her. Natsu promptly moved and helped her down the stairs, earning some snickers and sarcastic comments from Gajeel, Laxus and Erza, but even the trio looked like they wanted to cry.
"What is so special about her?" Aiden asked, hoping Gail would answer now, but his dark haired friend just shrugged.
"Mom and dad keep crying when they mention today, they say it's magical and a miracle, but that's about it. I read that parents always think births are miracles though."
"Because they are. It's a magical thing," little Ultear told them in her 'know-it-all' tone.
"Nobody made this kind of party when the two of you were born though," Aiden pointed out in a snarky tone, and regretted instantly as he saw tears in her eyes. Rob looked angrily at Aiden and grabbed one of the toy swords.
"Aiden-chan, come meet her," Mira called him, distracting the group, and Aiden reluctantly left the table and approached Lucy, who was now sitting down in the closest chair with the girl in her arms. She was wrapped in a pink blanket and a white checkered scarf - the one Natsu never took off.
Aiden said congratulations to Lucy, mimicking his parents, and looked at the baby.
All Aiden saw was an ugly baby - as all babies were. He still didn't get why everyone was crying about it - even Loke and Aquarius, who had been granted permission to open their own gates that day. Aquarius, Lucy's mean old hag spirit, had tears in her eyes.
Aiden just assumed everyone was going crazy. It was a normal, ugly baby. What about it was a miracle?