Ten years later...
A meeting with the witch's council is hardly ever called if there's good news. They were a seculded bunch who prefered not to get involved with the lives of other witches and warlocks unless it was absolutely neccessary. And when they had to get involved, they would be in rather cross mood because again, they did not like to be called away from their private lives to deal with foolish matters.
The so-called foolish matter at hand, were two young witches. Lucy Heartfilia and Erza Scarlet, cousins who were related through the maternal side and apart in age by two years. They had attended the same magic school since Lucy entered her first year, and being older, Erza thought it best to look out for family. To be Lucy's immediate first friend and guide through their peer group, try to keep her younger cousin out of trouble. But that did not end up being the case.
Lucy was blond, her hair shined like a thousand suns and her skin was like the light tan that the sun could leave you with during the Summer time. Her eyes were wide, the color of a deep brown, and if you looked into them you could see countless stars sparkling. The instant the girls hit pueberty, the boys couldn't keep away from Lucy and she enjoyed the attention. Boys looked at her and got so dizzy they had to be rushed to the emergency room for a hit of oxygen or a pint of new blood. Men who'd been happily married, and were old enough to be her father, suddenly took it into their heads to propose and offer her the world, or at least their version of it. Needless to say, she was an awfully pretty thing and she knew it.
She knew the effect that she had on boys and she liked the attention. Probably because since the passing of her mother at age five, her father had pretty much forgotten she even existed. The man was so desperate to escape his grief, that he buried himself completely in his work and did no more than say hi to his daughter or buy her an expensive gift to keep her occupied. This gave her a very lonely childhood and she made up for it by causing trouble as a teenager. Not only did she run around breaking hearts, but she also would stay out for hours in the evening partying or casting wicked spells on other magic users and monsters. But you couldn't exactly call her bad girl because despite her rebellious nature, Lucy was a very sweet, cheerful, and friendly young lady. She was not bigoted against non-magic users like her father and she didn't let their wealth or their status define who they were. And you were ever to become a friend to Lucy or if you were family, she'd stick by you til the end.
Lucy also had a strong passion for the night. She didn't just stay out late too cause mischief or to attend a wild party, she did it because nothing made her feel more alive to dance underneath the starry night sky. Obviously because she was a witch of astrology and forutne. She knew every constellation, could communicate with astral spirits, would occasionally have a quick vision into the future, and once she had fully matured in her powers, she would be ale to actually travel into the astral line. See the world that existed beyond the stars and how she eagerly awaited that day.
Erza was quite different. She had long, stunning, blood-red hair and that looked like fire in the light, and soft, freckled skin like a peach. Her eyes were a sharp and serious hazel that would sometimes flash to the shade of green like leaves and grass, or brown like trees or the earth itself. Like many of them women in her family, she was gorgeous and could have her pick of any man. She even had a few admirers and a few dates, but nothing serious. She wasn't ready for a really serious realtionship and thought it best to get her schooling out of the way first. Now she would have long lasting friendships and she looked after Lucy like she was a sister rather than a cousin, but men? No she would go slow and be wary of men.
She was mature, studious, and nurturing. She always had her nose in a spell book or in a cauldron, trying to learn how to master each and every spell possible. And when she wasn't praticing and learning magic, she was cooking nutritious dinners or taking care of the marketing or cleaning the house. Her mother tried to encourage her not to be so good. Goodness, in her opinion, was not a virtue but merely spinelessness and fear disguised as humility. Perhaps this was because she had allowed herself and her daughter to live under the wretched thumb of her abusive husband for eight years and was trying to make sure Erza wouldn't become anyone's doormat. In the end her mother left her father and was able to support herself and her child, but there were scars left on that woman that would never heal. No matterh ow hard Erza tried to help her heal from them.
Erza's power and passion was in the Earth and nature. She knew which plant could make a deadly posion or a healing medicine, she could hear the unspoken voices of flora and fauna, she could feel the planet's aura from her toes to her finger tips, she could move the soil and call the breeze with just her mind. On very stessful days or nights, she would go into a forest or a field, and relax by just letting Mother Nature soothe her. The smell of grass and morning dew made her feel as if anything possible and it renwed her confidence. Lucy may have preferred to reach for the stars, but Erza was happy to stay down on Earth. Erza did have one very bad flaw, and that was her obssesion to get better at magic. She wanted to reach her full potential and that wasn't a bad thing but sometimes that would lead her to break certain rules.
These two cousins were extremely different, and extremely close. They lived on different sides on the Other Realm so the only time they could interact was in school but when they were together you could hardly seperate them. They would study together, have luch together, and some nights party together. They enjoyed each other's company and confided in each other about everything, and they only thing they ever fought about was when Lucy's free-spirit would get them into trouble. Every time Lucy would wander off to do something crazy, Erza would follow along and try to stop her, only for the both of them to get blamed.
In fact that was the reason for this meeting. Last week Lucy had met this young warlock who got the idea to spike the coffee in the teacher's lounge with a frog formula. A frog formula that Lucy knew Erza had recently concocted and swiped from her locker. When Erza discovered her formula gone the next morning, it didn't take long for her to figure out what happened to it. She headed straight for the lounge just as the teachers were pouring the coffee, Lucy and her new boyfriend were hiding in the closet, watching their prank unfold. Instantly all the teachers turned into frogs. All the teacher's except for Headmistress Porlyuscia Tsuda who had arrived late due to broomstick trouble and she saw the three magic users fleeing the scene. She also happend to be a member of the witche's council and had finally reached her limit with Lucy's mischief.
She summoned the other members, Lucy's father, and Erza's mother for a meeting as soon as possible. Of course Lucy's boyfriend tried to pin the whole thing on the cousins which resulted in Lucy dumping him, but luckily Porlyuscia was not a fool and easily recognized that low-life as the mastermind behind the entire disaster. That's why he was immediately sentenced to Twilight Ogre Academy, a harsh and mercliss military magic school for wayward witches and warlocks. No student was allowed to use magic there without permission and to make sure of that, they were stripped of their powers until class time. No magic user wanted to be sent there, and Erza and Lucy were absolutely terrifed they were going to be the next new students there.
"This is all your daughter's fault!" Erza's mother Irene said to Lucy's father Jude has they conversed with council. "My daughter had nothing to do with this!"
"Excuse me, it was her formula that was used for this prank!" Jude protested. "And last I checked transformation potions are not allowed to be made on school property, unsupervisied!"
"She was just trying to study harder! She wanted to make sure she would pass her test! Unlike your troublemaker!"
"Troublemaker?! I bow before the queen of troublemakers!"
"Enough! Both of you!" Porlyuscia said. "Mr. Heartfilia, this is number fifty of the many magical pranks and disturbances your daughter has cuased and if you had come to any of the parent-teacher conferences held here, you'd know that. She is uncontrollable and something must be done."
She turned to Irene next.
"Ms. Belserion, your daughter is one of the best students here and I know she does not seek to cause trouble and I admire her dedication to her studies. But the fact is not only is she always seen with Miss Heartfilia at the scenes of these disasters but she has been caught more than once making certain potions on school property without a teacher's assistance and you know we can't condone that. Even if she didn't intend to use it for anything other than study. Something must be done about her as well."
"What exactly did you have in mind?" Irene asked.
"Ogre Twilight!" Insisted the member known as Ooba Babasaama. An cranky and slightly looney witch who didn't believe in showing mercy to the young. "In my opinion they're just as bad as that Asher punk! If you ask me we're going too easy on these kids! We need to come down hard! Teach them that magic is a privliege! Not a right!"
Every member except Porlyuscia nodded in agreement.
"Simmer down Ooba." Porlyuscia said. "We're not in the dark ages anymore, and thank God you never had childeren."
"Council you can't really mean to send them to Twilight Ogre." Jude spoke up. "At least not Lucy. I know she's a bit of a wild thing but so was her mother and Layla eventually grew out of it. Lucy will too. Just give it time. Also don't forget, I always donate to this school's fundings every year."
Jude Heartfilia was probably the wealthiest Warlock in all of the Other Realm. His great, great, great, great, grandfather made his fortune by creating the only potion capable of curing witch warts. Now the Heartfilias had their own skin care business, selling potions and lotions to witches suffering from the terrible skin plague known as warts. And like many millionares, Jude would use money to buy his way out of trouble.
"Sorry Mr. Heartfilia." Ooba said. "We're above bribery and blackmail. If we weren't then we wouldn't be on a council."
"But we are open to reason." Porlyuscia said. "From what I've observed, Lucy Heartfilia and Erza Belserion-"
"Excuse me." Erza spoke up. "I'm actually going by my mother's maiden name now. Scarlet."
"Alright. Lucy Heartfilia and Erza Scarlet are good girls but are lacking in discipline and guidance. Now I am not blaming you Mr. Heartfilia or you Ms. Belserion, I know it's not easy being a single parent and I know you both have demanding careers. Still your daughters need a guide on and off school property, and they need to be some place where their magic must be limited. So I recommend that they spend the reamainder of the year in the Mortal Realm."
"The Mortal Realm?!" Gasped Jude and Irene in horror.
"You can't be serious!" Jude said.
"How are they supposed to learn magic in the mortal realm?!" Irene asked.
"I understand that they have one exeprienced and responsible realtive living in the Mortal Realm. Anna Fiore."
"Nanny Anna?" Lucy and Erza said at the same time.
"Grandmother?" Irene said.
"You mean the old biddy is still alive?" Jude asked surprised.
"Anna Fiore and I have talked about the idea on several occassions and she's says that she'd be more than happy to assume temporary guardianship of you daughters. She says that in Mortal Realm they'll be less tempted to use magic and learn to make do. She's also willing to take full responsiblity for all their magical education."
"What makes you think she'd be a good teacher?" Jude said.
"She happens to have been this academy's finest professor before she retired."
"Yeah, retired to live in the Mortal Realm."
"She has her reasons for making that choice and I respect them. I trust you all will too. So these are our terms, either the girls spend one year in the mortal realm under the care and gudiance of Anna Fiore or-"
"Or we send them to Twilight Ogre!" Ooba said. "Your choice!"
Naturally the choice wasn't made right then and there. Both parents needed time to think it over. As for Lucy and Erza, anything would be beterr than Twilight Ogre and they would love to see their great-grandmother again. But it had been a very long time since they last visited her. Lucy was about ten and Erza was twelve when Anna decided to live in the Mortal Realm for good. Only time they ever heard from her was through magical letters.
"Why did Nanny choose to live into the Mortal Realm?" Lucy wondered. "Dad always said it was becuase she was crazy. I know that's not true but no one ever told me otherwise."
"She moved there to help Uncle Derek take care of Cousin Juvia." Erza said.
"Who?"
"Auntie Ondina's daughter. Don't you remember Nanny telling us about her?"
"Oh yeah. Aunt Ondina is the one who married a mortal right?"
"Yeah and everyone in the family disowned her for it. Well everyone except Nanny and Auntie Layla. Which is a shame because from what I remember, Auntie Ondina was very nice."
"You got to meet her?"
"When Nanny would babysit me, she'd invite her over to visit. But I never met Cousin Juvia. Did you ever meet her?"
"No."
"I've always wondered what she was like. She's half mortal you know."
"Does that mean she doesn't have any magic?"
"Nanny says with half mortals it's a flip of the coin. Some inheirit magic and some don't. She says you won't really know if they'll have magic or not until their sixteenth birthday."
"Well what a birthday surpise it'll be for her if she has magic."