Interlude: Ginger Village

"Phew...! My legs sure are killing me!"

Ditzy puffed and huffed as she walked through the end of a damp cavern, the sun's rays beaming down on her face and forcing her to cover her eyes. Her blonde hair was even more disheveled than it normally was, and her uniform was littered with tears, muck, and grime. Despite her ragged appearance, the young delivery girl had a radiant smile on her face matching the sun itself.

She was ecstatic when Boss had entrusted her to deliver a letter for a boy named Taruko. She rarely ever got to do much deliveries due to her... unique brand of clumsiness, even if her methods were rather efficient despite what many would claim. Her trips took longer than necessary due to her always ending up in bizarre situations that hold her up.

Whenever she gives a reason for why she's late, though, people think she's making stuff up!

She was very close to her destination. Ginger Village. The boy from a few weeks ago, Taruko she thinks his name was, had come from that place. She didn't know much about the place personally... it was a massive village with smaller settlements on the outer rim. Residing on the countryside bordering the western side of the Fiore kingdom close to the coast. The trip to the village was long and arduous however, as it was rather disconnected from the bustling cities and neighboring villages, passing through dangerous mountains filled with several magic beasts like Vulcans, which were the most common around those parts.

That's partly why they don't get many visitors. Several weeks worth of travel, and navigating dangerous caverns and mountainpeaks teeming with powerful monsters would set anyone off. That... and aside from that tidbit, it wasn't a noticeable village, all things considered. It was mundane in every sense of the word - aside from the forest...

Ditzy heard that a pair of powerful Wizards had moved to the village over a decade ago. She couldn't recall the name of who they were, though...

The monsters were the main reason why Ditzy appeared so scuffed in the first place. But Boss said she was a scrappy girl, which she could only assume meant she was good at running away! Which she was! Hiding, too. She was really good at squeezing through tight spaces.

Adjusting her satchel, Ditzy hummed and peered over the cliff side. Below was an expansive forest stretching as far as the eye could see. The trees were a lush dark green, and she could make out the sounds of wildlife, even from how high up she was.

She looked up at the sky and hummed, eyeing the setting sun. Then she slapped her dirty face and puffed her lips out into a determined pout, pumping her fists. "Alright! I can't let Boss down. I'm almost there! Just..."

Her determination faltered as she peeked over the edge and frowned nervously, shuffling her feet away when she watched a few tiny rocks tip over and fall into the sea of green down below her.

There was no way she was climbing down that way! One wrong step and she'd be as good as dead! Ditzy was scrappy, sure, but she wasn't as durable as those Wizards.

"Awh, man. What am I gonna do...?" Ditzy whined, her offset eyes looking around nervously. "I can't fail now! If I don't, I won't get any muffins!"

Because that was certainly her only worry. And not delivering the letter safely to it's required destination. Certainly not!

Ditzy blinked owlishly when she spotted a set of stairs carved out of stone on the side of the cliff, leading to the forest. She tilted her head to the side and chirped. "... Well that's convenient!"

With a gleeful hum, Ditzy made her way down the steps. Careful to watch where she was stepping... it wouldn't do her any good to slip and fall when she was so close to completing her delivery! And she prided herself in completing her deliveries on time!

... w-when she was held up by distractions, or when her... luck... got in the way...

... Ditzy slapped her face again to pep herself up, reaching the bottom of the staircase and the entrance of the forest by proxy. Staring at the road ahead, it felt rather daunting up close. The trees were massive and wide, blocking out the sun and sky with the sheer abundance of leaves. The delivery girl got an odd feeling wheb staring ahead... the eerie silence and lack of critters unnerved her. Didn't she hear animals before coming down here?

"No use worry about, I guess!" she murmured and stepped into woods with a conserved expression.

The sun finally set, the orange sky bleeding over into pitch black night. The silence was deafening, with the only sounds that Ditzy could hear being her own breathing and boots grinding against the dirt with every step. That odd feeling she had before continued to fester and grow... it felt like several ants were crawling all over her body. Like she was being watched by something.

"Did they mention it'd be this scary...?" Ditzy squeaked, looking around with worry. Shadows stretched across the forest as far as the eye could see - as if swallowing the light around her. Her only saving grace was the moon's luminescence seeping through the gaps through the trees.

Her heart hammered in her chest and the anxiety got worse. Ditzy clutched the strap of her satchel and swallowed the growing lump in her throat. She didn't like this feeling, not one bit. Out of all her trips throughout Fiore, this was one of the freakiest. Maybe she should turn back?

'No!' she shook her head, taking in a shaky breath. 'Boss wouldn't be happy if I didn't complete this job, and I wouldn't be satisfied either. That boy really wanted this letter delivered, too... I have to get it done!'

She had to do it! For her pride as a deliverer! For Boss! For the kid! For-!

*GROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!!!!

The creature roared, releasing a shockwave that nearly busted her eardrums. Ditzy's screams were muted by the roar as it lunged at her. Her instincts from scraping by against several beasts on her jobs saved her from becoming red paste on the ground as she rolled out of the way. The ground ruptured and cratered as it crashed into the ground, and her body bounced across the dirt.

With a groan, Ditzy removed her hands from her buzzing ears and blearily looked around. Her breath hitched in her throat as several more wooden snakes appeared from the shadows. She scrambled to her feet and bolted in the opposite direction, their enraged roars rattling her to the core.

'What are those things?! What's going on!? Nobody mentioned anything about giant wood snakes trying to eat MEEEEEE~!' Ditzy squealed in fear internally, jumping over a log in the road as the massive snakes gave chase, smashing through the trees and into each other in an attempt to get to her. "SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

Her cries went unanswered. So she kept running. She didn't know how long she kept running, but her legs were starting to hurt, and her chest was beginning to burn as she sucked in more air, desperately trying to hold onto the last tredges of energy she had left.

It was times like these where she wished she could use magic like the Wizards.

Ditzy felt her legs give out on her as she tripped over a root in the ground, letting out a sharp cry of pain as she twisted her ankle and tumbled across the ground painfully. The girl groaned and rolled onto her back, her chest heaving up and down. She couldn't move. She felt woozy. Even if she wanted to, her legs wouldn't respond, and she sprained her ankle.

She wouldn't make it very far.

'I don't wanna die...' Ditzy whimpered softly and scrunched her eyes shut as the wooden snakes barreled towards her. 'Please...'

The ground trembled as they closed in on her.

'Someone...' tears rolled down her face and she bit her lip in anguish. 'A-Anyone...!'

A snake lunged at her, unhinging it's jaws to swallow her whole...!

'HELP ME!!'

"GET OUTTA THE WAY!!"

*SCHWING~!

Ditzy gasped and her eyes snapped open in surprise to see a boy no older than 14 with spiky grey hair and a prominent bang hanging over his face, with sharp cyan eyes dive in from above. His arms clad in razor-sharp silver scales. One of his arms shifted into a blade, radiating magical energy as he cleaved the snake's head right off the rest of its body. She watched as the boy took in a deep breath, his cheeks bulging outwards...

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!" his roar echoed through the forest with explosive force, stunning the girl with his impressive display of power, a beam of raw, magical energy erupting from his mouth and tearing the wooden snakes to shreds. Like thousands of slashes were poured into one condensed blast...

Despite destroying them all, more seemed to appear in their place. Ditzy yelped as a girl with auburn hair, the same age as the boy, swooped in and hauled the delivery girl over her shoulder. She noted the steel kite-shield and gilded sword strapped to her back. The boy followed after the two as the snakes gave chase once more.

"W-Who are you people?!" Ditzy squirmed awkwardly in the shorter girl's grip, but she held on like a vice.

"No time to explain!" the girl said, her blue eyes flicking up to meet with Ditzy's offset golden irises. Then she directed her attention to the road. "But we're here to help you!"

"Maiya, they're closing in!" the boy barked, spin-kicking a snake with enough force to slam it's skull into a nearby tree. "You ready or what?!"

Maiya nodded as they breached the clearing. "Yup! ALRIGHT, LET IT RIP, YOU GUYS!"

Ditzy looked up and gasped. Glowing arrows rained down from the skies above, exploding on impact with the wooden beasts that chased after them. The ground rumbled and split apart as giant vines lashed out and tried to ensnare the kids. The boy's arms warped into blades again and he lunged forward, bringing his arms down in a downward arc and releasing an x-shaped wave of magical energy that cut the vines in two, giving them an opening to escape.

They leaped through the clearing to see another girl and boy standing at the edge. The girl had wild, silver hair with a dark purple gradient at the tips, with catlike pink eyes and an orange silver bow in her hands. The boy had a more sticky build with slicked back spiky brown hair and squinty eyes, thick muscular arms and a pair of large metal gauntlets. Maiya peered over her shoulder to see the vines coalesce together, contorting and twisting into larger root.

Razor sharp thorns jutted out the mass, but the larger boy with gauntlets rushed forward and slammed his fists into the ground. Ditzy's eyes went wide like saucers as the ground was uprooted and a wall of earth blocked the root's path. The group of kids ran away leaving Ditzy in shock. She found herself asking the same question from before in her mind.

'Who the heck are these guys?!'

X-X-X-X-X-X

The group ran until they couldn't any more, arriving at a large house near the outskirts of the forest, resting on a cliffside where the sea crashed against rock below , residing next to a massive oak tree that provided shade for the sun when it's out. They dashed into the house and slammed the door shut, locking it. Ditzy quietly looked around. The place was barren, the windows boarded up. Food, water, medicine, and some medicine were strewn about haphazardly.

She yelped when she was dropped onto the couch. The boy with swords for arms sighed as they reversed back to normal, revealing tanned skin. He grumbled under his breath and sighed. "This is a bad idea."

Maiya glanced at the boy silently. "What? Were we supposed to leave her to die?"

"It was a simple scouting mission, like you said! We put ourselves at risk!"

"I know, Lance! But we can't leave people to get hurt and pulled into this mess, either." Maiya frowned at the boy.

Lance huffed. "She could be a spy for all we know. BAM! Our hideout is gone. Once she snitches on us!"

"It'll be fine. They don't patrol around these parts. As far they're concerned, nothing is out here. We're gonna be okay."

"I guess..."

"U-Uhm," Ditzy stuttered, earning their attention. She looked between the group of kids with knitted brows and shuffled awkwardly. "S-Sorry to interrupt on whatever this is, but, who are you guys...?"

Maiya smiled apologetically. "Sorry - this is all probably a shock to you. I'm Maiya." she gestured to Lance. "Grumpy pants over here is Lance,"

Lance rolled his eyes.

The girl with silver hair silently walked forward with a medkit in hand, pulling up Ditzy's pant leg and eyeing her sprained ankle before tending to it. Maiya chuckled. "That's Nala..."

She pointed to the gauntlet-wearing boy. "And that's Boota."

Boota grinned, showing a few missing teeth. "Heya!"

"... Hi," Ditzy smiled, a bit of her energy returning.

"We make up Ginger Village's resistance." Maiya crossed her arms proudly.

Resistance? What?

"... What?"

"We're dealing with... some issues. Big issues." Lance grunted, plopping himself down on a chair. "Like, dark guild level bad."

Ditzy's eyes widened in alarm. Dark Guild?! Oh, man, what was she getting into...?!

"You're definitely not from here." Maiya mused. Her eyes widened. "That means... you're from outside!"

"Y-Yeah! I was supposed to deliver a letter to Ginger Village?" Ditzy mumbled, fishing into her satchel and pulling it out. "I didn't know that I'd be getting into any Dark Guild nonsense, though...!"

"I doubt anyone would've." Boota mumbled with a frown. "It's not exactly known."

Maiya took the letter and gave it a once over, humming softly as she opened it and read the contents inside. Her eyes widened further and a sharp gasp left his lips. "... he's alive."

"What?" Lance spoke up with a look of confusion, his brows furrowing. "The hell're you talking about, Maiya?"

"This letter... it's from Taruko!"

Noises of surprise echoed throughout the living room and Lance shot up with a scowl, snatching the note out of her hands. "Give me that." he read the letter silently, his grip tightening with each word. His lips peeled back into a snarl and his eyes narrowed harshly. "... after all this time, and now all of sudden this bastard wants to send us a post card? What the fuck is this?!"

Maiya frowned, gently taking the note out of Lance's hands. "I know you've got problems with him, Lance, but this just might be our chance!"

Boota blinked, tilting his head. Nala finished tying the bandage around Ditzy's ankle and stepped back, mimicking the gesture. "Chance for what?"

"To get help! Taruko's alive... and he's in Fairy Tail!" Maiya chirped, an enthusiastic grin stretching across her lips, earning a look of surprise from both Boota and Nala. Fairy Tail's reputation was well known around Fiore, rising up the ranks and quickly becoming one of the most popular guilds for rising upstarts to join. In recent years they've been gaining notoriety for their newer members causing... a lot of ruckus on their jobs. "We can get him and his guild to help us!"

"What?! No way, we don't need that asshole's help! We're doing just fine as is!" Lance was quick to object, his scowl never leaving his face.

"... Look, Lance. You may not like it, but this is our best shit at finally finishing things." Boota reasoned with a calm frown. "Fairy Tail's one of the strongest guilds around right now, and we haven't been able to get any help out because of those guys. If Taruko's with them, then he's gotta be MUCH stronger. Hell, we probably don't even need to ask him specifically, we could have him relay the message to the Magic Council if we're lucky!"

"... Best option. Can't do it alone." Nala spoke up, her voice soft and monotone as she blankly stared at Lance.

Lance bit the inside of his cheek and grimaced, clenching his fists tightly in frustration.

Maiya placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently. "You might not like this, but at this point, we need all the help we can get. You understand, right?"

"... fine. Doesn't mean I gotta like it."

"Waitwaitwait," Ditzy stammered, flailing her arms about wildly. "What's going on?! Hello?!"

They all exchanged a glance and Maiya stepped forward. "What's your name?"

"... Ditzy."

"Okay, Ditzy... we're in a dire situation. And we have... personal history with the guy that tasked you with delivering this letter," the girl flashed the note and sighed, donning a serious expression. "You've probably been through a lot to get here. It isn't easy to get to Ginger Village, I know that much, but... still...!"

Maiya bowed deeply, scrunching her eyes shut tight and earning a look of surprise from Ditzy. "Please! I know it's selfish to ask - you don't know any of us, but we need your help! Please help us get a message to Fairy Tail!"

Boota and Nala swiftly bowed as well. Lance's brow twitched and he groaned, reluctantly following their example. Ditzy sat there in stunned silence and swallowed thickly, sweat rolling down her cheek as she contemplated her choice.

She was right. She didn't know any of them. She wasn't obligated to help them... but then again, they weren't obligated to save her, and they did. She'd be dead if it weren't for these kids. She owed them. The least she could do was help them in their time of need. It seemed like things were really dire.

"... I don't exactly know what's going on... but you guys saved me." Ditzy smiled. "That's all the incentive I need to help you guys out! So I'll do it!"

Lance perked up, letting out a soft 'huh' of surprise and smirking goofily. "... huh. Y'know, at first I thought we shoulda left you to the wolves, but you're not that bad after all! Thanks, Derpy!"

Ditzy blinked in confusion. 'Derpy?'

*CLONK!

Lance's face was driven into the floor by Maiya's fist. Steam billowing from the massive lump that began to form. As the boy groaned in pain on the floor, Maiya directed her attention back to Ditzy and smiled demurely. "Despite Lance's... rude nickname, he's right about one thing. We're thankful for your help."

Ditzy nodded with a giggle, and rolled her ankle around with a wince. "No problem! But... I'm not gonna be able to get anywhere with this bad anke."

"... will heal in a week as long as you rest properly." Nala informed softly.

Maiya cupped her chin in thought, narrowing her eyes. She slowly nodded, and Boota shot the girl a grin. "You got a plan?"

Maiya smiled. "I do. We'll wait for Ditzy's ankle to heal, and then I'll help her get through the forest and back through the mountain path and go deliver the message to Fairy Tail. That should give us enough time to get them off our backs." she crossed her arms, looking between Boota, Nala, and Lance. "I need you guys to hold down the fort while I'm gone."

Lance grunted and rose to his feet, rubbing his bruise with a wince. Maiya shot him a serious look. "Lance, you're the strongest of us four, so you're in charge once me and Ditzy leave, got it?"

Lance blinked in surprise and nodding, adopting a determined expression. "You got it. I won't let you down."

Maiya smirked. "I know you won't."

The auburn-haired girl exhaled through her nose and stepped away from the group, walking over to an open window and resting her hands on the window seal. She gripped the wood tightly and inhaled through her nose, momentarily closing her eyes to calmly gather her thoughts...

After reaching a moment of clarity, her eyes snapped open. Her sapphire eyes glittering like stars as she peered up at the sky and shining full moon above. "It's time..."

"It's time to reunite with an old friend."

Sword Saint

The Return to Ginger Village Arc.

A/N.

And so, we have ourselves an interlude, and a little peek into the first arc of this story! I'm really pumped for this. It won't happen right away, we'll have a couple more chapters of character building to set things up, and then it's time for the big stuff~!

I hope you guys are as pumped as I am, and I hope you guys like it. A lot of authors struggle to stick the landing when it comes to writing original arcs, so I hope I do a good job to deliver you guys a great, or at the very least decent story.

God, now I'm nervous.

We've got a glimpse at a few new characters! Maiya, Lance, Boota, and Nala. Their characters will be expanded upon when the arc rolls around. Keep an out for Lance and Maiya, though~! ;)

I'll see you guys next time! Hope you enjoyed! Make sure to leave a review, your positive feedback, speculation, and criticism motivates me to pump out more chapters and improve!

Toodles~!