With Deliora no longer being a factor, all that remained was to cure the villagers of the demon curse.
When questioned about the part his group had to play, Lyon revealed that he had no idea why the villagers had changed. He claimed that, in three years, his group had never interfered with the village and that no one from the village had come to investigate his activities in the ruins despite Moon Drip being active every night. He also remarked on the fact that his group had been bathed under the same light for three years and had never had their bodies corrupted by the Moon Drip.
Erza encouraged Natsu to spare Lyon and his followers of any further conflict, a move which Nora supported wholeheartedly with the memory of the old woman from Brago still fresh in her mind, and Gray encouraged Lyon to go and join a guild in order to find a new purpose in life with Deliora being gone.
"Nora," Lyon spoke as the group started to turn away, and the Huntress looked back. "You truly believe that... all I have to do is live?"
"Yeah," Nora said, and she gave a light grin. "So keep it up, okay?" She winked. "Don't think I won't make handing out backhands a habit if I have to."
Lyon chuckled quietly. "No need... I'm far too curious as to what life I might find to squander the opportunity now."
"That's the way to go," Nora told him, looking away, then she paused. "Oh, um... There's an old lady, one of the people from Brago. If you run into her, can you tell her... 'yes', for me?"
"... Very well," Lyon agreed, and Nora flashed one last grin at him over her shoulder before she ran to catch up with her guild-mates. "Hm... What a peculiar person."
As the Fairy Tail members made their way back towards the village, Nora again took point in order to survey the jungle ahead of the rest of the group.
It was always Ren and Blake's job back on Remnant, but she did not see any of the mages volunteering—and there could still be enemies who did not know how things had ended with Deliora and Lyon lurking about.
"Nora," Lucy began. "You suggested that it was something in the air that was causing the change rather than something in the moonlight."
"I'm starting to think I'm wrong," Nora said, frowning. "It actually kinda started with that guy on the boat."
"Bobo?" Lucy cringed, recoiling. "You mean the demon-ghost?"
"I don't think he was a ghost." Nora looked back at Lucy, frowning. "One of my... abilities... allows me to sense when things are nearby, like other people and threats." At that, the others looked at Nora in surprise. "I'm not exactly the strongest with the technique... my partner, Ren, was always better... but I know what I saw. Bobo flew away from the boat."
"Flew?" Gray blinked. "His demon-form had wings, then?" He became confused. "But wait, they said that they killed him—there's a grave and everything. And even if there was some sort of mistake, he was away from the island. He wouldn't have been under the purple moon, so how could he have done a complete transformation?"
"Exactly," Erza agreed, her eyes narrowing as she regarded Nora. "You understand, then?"
Nora gave a sheepish smile. "I'm not entirely sure, but I think that I'm starting to—especially after seeing Lyon's group and hearing some stuff one of Lucy's spirits said. It just took a bit to figure out, 'cause -well- I'm not from around here. I don't know the rules. I could be completely wrong..."
"Hm." Erza managed a small smile of her own, nodding. "It's alright. You're learning about your new surroundings—and you're quite quick on your feet, all things considered."
"Why are you going so easy on her?" Natsu complained, folding his arms behind his back and glaring at Erza. "She broke the rules, same as the rest of us!"
"She did." Erza nodded. "But she did so in an act of kindness and courage, not out of naïvety or ambition. She will still be punished, but I do not believe she did what she did for the same childish reasons as the rest of you."
"Heh." Nora looked away, a little embarrassed. "I don't know about all that. I'm the first to admit I'm a ditz. I'm here to make dumb jokes and swing my hammer around. If anything that comes out of my mouth makes any kind of sense, it's probably a mistake."
"Then, you make a lot of mistakes," Gray said, and Nora looked at him in surprise. "Good ones, I mean." The ice-mage was looking at her in all seriousness. "I mean it. I know I acted like it didn't, but a lot of what you said back there got to me."
Nora blinked, then she looked down. "It just kinda… spilled out. I don't have a filter at the best of times, and this… wasn't."
"You feelin' any better?" Natsu asked her, frowning. "You got kinda shaky when we first faced that Lyon guy, and it only got worse after Gray nearly used that spell. Then, after you did that thing with the lightning-"
"Lightning?" Erza regarded Natsu, raising an eyebrow.
Natsu's eyes lit up. "Oh, yeah! Some rocks were gonna fall on us, but Nora swung her hammer and this bolt of lightning shot out and blasted all of them to dust!" He laughed, placing his hands on his hips. "Once we get back to Fairy Tail after completing this S-Class quest, we gotta tell Laxus there's some competition! I wanna see what he does!"
"You're a lightning-mage, then?" Gray questioned Nora. "Is that why you were so confident when-?" He went to look at her, only to see that she was no longer with the rest of the group. "Nora?"
"Guys!" Happy called, and the four mages looked back to see that Nora had paused on the path, closing her eyes and taking deep breaths as she hugged herself. Happy was flying around the orange-haired girl's head, looking down at her worriedly. "She's breathing funny!"
"Nora?" Lucy asked in concern, raising a hand to her mouth.
"She did the same thing in Deliora's cave," Natsu realized, then he turned and ran back to the girl, frowning. "Nora? Hey, are you-?" He went to grab her arms, then he paused and seemed to register her scars again for the first time since they met, blinking in surprise. "Oh…" The Dragon-Slayer looked up at Nora, nodding in understanding. "That's how you got hurt, isn't it? The last time you used your lightning magic, something went really wrong."
"It appears so," Erza decided, eyeing Nora's scars carefully as she walked over with Lucy and Gray. "She told me she had to use her powers and suffered the consequences. She's only just recovered physically… Perhaps the last three days are finally taking their toll on her, now that the adrenaline is wearing off."
"I'm... fine," Nora pressed, opening her eyes and looking up at them. "Just tired. My endurance is still pretty shot… I was so worried about my muscles, I-I didn't practice enough with-..." She gave a weak grin. "I'm okay, really. I just need to do some more training, once we get back to Magnolia. I bet Elfman'll be up for it."
"... The rumor in the guild-hall is that you were injured because you were a part of a mission and you were ambushed, and you aided your comrades out of a trap so that they could save a different friend of yours," Erza told Nora, and the Huntress nodded to confirm it. "That was what you had started to tell me, the day we met. But there is something you failed to mention… Why are you no longer with those comrades?"
Nora blinked, then she tensed. "I-..."
"You seem to be a very loyal person, even to those you've only just met," Erza said. "You came all this way to protect four mages you've hardly interacted with. So, given that you were only injured a short time ago... where are the comrades you made such a sacrifice for?"
Nora stared at Erza, her eyes wide, then she looked away and hugged herself tighter. "... They're just scars. Who cares?"
"They're all over," Lucy protested. "How could your friends leave you, after-?"
"Can we just get to the village, already?!" Nora asked, quickly stepping past the others and starting to walk down the path again. She continued to hug herself as she walked quickly, her eyes on the path, then she noticed a weight on her right shoulder and looked up.
Happy wrapped his tail around Nora's neck as he nuzzled close, closing his eyes as his wings dissolved. "I'm tired, too."
"... Then, just hang tight," Nora said quietly, turning her eyes back to the ground. "We're almost there, and we'll be heading back to Magnolia soon."
"Okay," Happy murmured. "Nora?"
"Yeah?"
"I like you," the blue cat told her. "Make sure not to fall into Lucy's stupid pit-fall when we get to the village."
"Heh." Nora found herself smiling as she reached up and rested a hand on Happy's head. "Okay…"
/\
Once the group had returned to the village, Nora found a place where she could lean against the bizarrely restored wall by herself for a while as the others milled about and interacted with the villagers. She had to get her head on straight before they finished the job, so she slid down into a seated position and tried to relax, closing her eyes and taking deep breaths.
"... You said he nearly killed himself, and that he did eventually die," a voice spoke, and Nora opened her eyes and looked up to see Gray getting down on one knee to look at her. "... You didn't say that, when he did die, it was because he killed himself or... made a sacrifice. However you want to put it." The ice-mage's face fell as he looked at Nora. "You told me that story yesterday, and then today… you did exactly what you said you did for him, when I tried to use Iced Shell. And your face…" He sighed. "I'm sorry, for putting you through that again."
"Hm." Nora looked down. "You'd think I'd be used to it, y'know? But…" She looked up at Gray, her eyes narrowed. "I will always believe there's a difference between fighting 'til the bitter end and accepting the bitter end. You know it when you see it… Gray, you've gotta find the value in your life."
"I know," Gray told her. "And I did… I think I'm starting to remember, now." He gave a small smile. "I just wanna go home."
Nora nodded. "Okay… Just so you know, it's probably Natsu you need to apologize to more than me. He was really worried."
"Tch." Gray looked down. "Natsu, worried?"
"Yeah." Nora frowned. "I don't know what memo you missed, but Natsu's been the one leading the Gray Protection Squad since we hit Galuna." The ice-mage looked up at the Huntress with a raised eyebrow. "I mean, in case you don't remember, I stood with him. Natsu's the one who decided that if you were going to go down with Deliora, you weren't doing it alone."
Gray blinked, then his eyes widened. "I-..."
"Hm." Nora smiled. "You've got a pretty good friend looking after you, y'know that?"
Gray just stared at Nora, then he gave a small grin and relaxed. "He's still a moron."
"It was his idea to tilt the temple," Nora remarked, and Gray huffed. "Sorry, just being honest with you."
The ice-mage sighed. "... I'm never living this down, am I?"
"Nope," the Huntress assured him.
"Heh." Gray shook his head, then he looked up at Nora. "... Natsu's a pain in the ass, but he's a good guy." He looked down. "If it weren't for everything he's taught me over the years, I wouldn't have stood a chance against Lyon—and the thing is, while I know he's a petty bastard, he also... cares."
"Duh," Nora said, and she giggled while Gray shot a playful glare at her. "I think I'm finally starting to see the family bit. You two definitely act like siblings, based on what I've seen of 'em."
"Oh, really?" Gray quirked an eyebrow up.
"Yep." Nora nodded. "You've got your older brother Lyon who's an over-achieving teacher's pet and you've got your annoying-but-overprotective younger brother Natsu who says 'love ya, bro' with his fists. That makes you the dummy in the middle, with your edginess and death-spells."
Gray shook his head. "You're weird."
"Says the guy who showed up to get Natsu in trouble by jump-scaring him," Nora commented, smirking.
Gray snorted, grinning, then he blinked before deadpanning. "That proves nothing."
"Suuuuuure," Nora 'agreed', winking.
Gray rolled his eyes, then he frowned. "...You took that hit from Lyon. It should have pierced your body. How did you manage to survive that?" Nora drew her knife, held it above her free palm, and stabbed straight down as Gray's eyes widened. "H-Hey!"
"Hm." Nora grinned as the knife bounced right off of her crackling pink aura, ignoring the piercing pain. "Made you jump."
Gray blinked, then he grinned again as his shoulders sagged. "Oh, that's just cheating."
"Hey, just because I took the time to learn a defense technique while you guys were learning how to toss ice-chunks and fireballs and swords and… spirits… doesn't mean that I'm cheating," Nora insisted. "It just means that, for once, I might be the smartest person in the room... in one very, very specific area."
Gray snorted. "That's terrifying."
"I know, right?"
"Heh." Gray shook his head, then he looked at Nora with a smile. "... Thank you, for everything you did."
"Thanks for coming along as my 'backup'," Nora joked, and the two of them snickered.
Erza gathered all of the villagers and Fairy Tail members before the village gates for an important address, claiming that—at its conclusion—she would destroy the moon.
"Should we be worried?" Nora asked warily, and Gray, Natsu, and Happy nodded shakily while Lucy held a thumb up.
"Let us review," Erza began, her hands on her hips as she faced the crowd of villagers. "You all appeared in these forms after the moon turned purple. Correct?"
"To be precise, it's only when that moon comes out that we look like this," Moka replied.
"And, considering what we've heard, this has been happening for the past three years," Erza went on. "Yes?"
"Yes," a villager agreed. "It has… probably… been that long."
"Hm." Nora glanced at Erza, her eyebrow raising as the knight started to pace.
Erza glanced at her and nodded, then she closed her eyes. "However, the Moon Drip has occurred on this island every night for those past three years. You should have been able to see the light falling on the ruins."
"... Erza, look out!" Nora suddenly shouted, her eyes wide, but it was too late.
With a shriek, Erza stepped on Lucy's covered pit-fall and dropped into it.
"Too late!" Happy lamented.
Natsu grimaced. "She said 'kya'!"
"That was cute," Gray commented, seeming perplexed.
"This is not my fault!" Lucy wailed. "This is not my fault!"
Erza climbed out of the pit, straightened herself, and crossed her arms. "... Therefore, was it not the most suspicious place on this island?"
"Champ," Nora commented, grinning as several of the villagers looked flustered.
"I don't understand why you never investigated," Erza pressed, looking out amongst the Galuna Island natives.
The villagers exchanged glances, then a wary Moka spoke up: "It is tradition in this village never to go near those ruins."
"But this is no time to be bound by traditions," Lucy insisted. "You've had victims, and just look at the amount of the reward for the guild."
Moka looked down, at a loss, and Erza frowned at him. "Will you please tell us the truth?"
"... We really don't understand ourselves," Moka began. "In truth, we've tried to investigate those ruins many times. We never use weapons but we took them up, I trimmed my sideburns perfectly, and we all headed toward those ruins… but we couldn't get near!" He grimaced. "As we walked toward the ruins, before we knew it, we were back at the village gate! We cannot get anywhere close to those ruins!"
"What could it mean?" Lucy wondered. "You can't get near them..?"
"We all went inside them, no problem," Natsu noted, frowning.
"We didn't tell you because we thought you wouldn't believe us," one of the villagers admitted painstakingly.
"But it's the truth," another pressed. "No matter how many times we tried to go there-
"Not a single villager has ever set foot in them," a third villager concluded.
"I thought so," Erza said quietly, then her armor faded away as she turned. "Natsu, come with me." With a flash of light, she was in a set of bulky yellow and black armor. "We are going to destroy the moon."
Natsu's face lit up as Happy, Gray, and Lucy let out cries of alarm.
Nora raised an eyebrow, but just decided to allow the chaos to ensue. 'Wizard stuff's gonna happen. Not really my division.'
"We'll destroy the moon, and everyone will return to their original forms," Erza went on, and the crowd of villagers cheered.
Natsu ran over to Erza. "If we're going to destroy the moon, wouldn't being on top of the ruins help? It's higher-up than here."
"No, this will do," Erza assured him, her arms crossed. "And the villagers can't get near the ruins."
"Destroy the moon?" Gray asked meekly. "Well, this is Erza we're talking about, but still…"
"Wh-What does she plan on doing..?" Lucy asked, her eyes wide.
Happy seemed unconcerned. "Quite heart-racing, don't you think?"
"In a lot of ways…" Lucy winced, then she looked at Nora. "You seem… weirdly calm about all of this."
Nora shrugged. "There's a lot of weird moon stuff where I'm from. It'll be fine." She gave a small smirk. "Probably."
"This is the Giant Armor," Erza told the villagers. "It enhances my ability to throw. And-" She extended her hand, and a massive spear appeared in her grasp. "The De-Malevo Lance, which repels darkness."
"Awesome!" Natsu exclaimed, absolutely delighted. "So, you'll chuck that at the moon and blow it up?!"
"However, I do not think it will reach the moon with only this," Erza noted, then she glanced at Natsu. "That's why I want you to give me a boost with your flame's power. When I throw the spear, hit the back-end of the lance as hard as you can. By combining the throwing power of the Giant Armor and your flames, we will destroy that moon!"
Natsu nodded eagerly. "Alright! Gotcha!"
Nora had her eyebrow raised for Erza's entire explanation, then she blinked.
…
"I wanted it to be a plan that would get me really fired-up!"
…
The Huntress smirked, shaking her head.
"Oh, she's good…"
"Huh?" Lucy looked at Nora, confused. "What are you talking about?"
"Let's go!" Erza told Natsu, and the boy followed her without question.
"Why are the two of them so into this?" Gray asked, perplexed.
Lucy had a hand raised to her mouth. "They're not actually going to destroy the moon, right..?"
Natsu and Erza went to the top of the village watchtower, and Gray, Lucy, Happy, and Nora watched them from down below as they launched the lance through the watchtower roof and up into the sky.
The lance appeared to strike something, and before everyone's eyes, a massive web of crack seemed to form in the moon.
The villagers cheered as Lucy and Gray cried out in alarm and Nora braced herself for Remnant Moon 2.0 (just in case), but then the web moved beyond the moon and burst, revealing a white moon in a purple-clouded sky.
"A dome," Nora realized, her eyes widening as she watched the alien surface continue to separate and fall around them.
"It wasn't the moon that broke," Lucy agreed, stunned. "It was the sky…" She looked at Nora, awed. "You were right, it was in the air—it just wasn't a gas, it was a glass."
"Huh." Nora blinked. "That's… neat."
The villagers were all surrounded by a golden light, but when it faded, they retained their demonic forms.
"They're not going back to normal?" Gray asked in dismay.
Happy's face fell. "Oh, no."
"Give it a second," Nora advised them, a little bit tense as she watched the villagers.
"She's right," Erza agreed, walking up in her normal suit of armor. "Everything is as it should be." She regarded Nora. "You were right, you know. Moon Drip caused a gas to be sent up into the sky above this island. It merely crystallized into a lens full of evil energy, making the moon appear to be purple as its dark influence affected these people." She nodded, smiling. "You have good intuition, even if it took some trial and error before you saw the full picture."
Nora rubbed the back of her neck. "I would've never guessed about the lens…"
"Hm." Erza shook her head, exasperated, then she looked at Lucy, Happy, and Gray. "The evil lens did not affect these villagers' bodies. It affected their memories."
"Their memories?" Lucy asked, confused.
Erza grinned deviously. "The false memory that they became demons during the night."
"Ah!" Lucy jumped, then she recoiled a bit, her eyes wide. Gray raised his guard, his eyes narrowing. "What is the meaning of this..? You don't mean-..."
"That's how it is," Erza said plainly. "They were demons from the start."
Lucy actually shrieked and sank to her knees.
"Seriously?!" Gray asked one of the demons who had helped him when he was injured.
The demon blinked. "... Yeah, now that you mention it. I'm still a bit confused, but-..."
Nora blinked, then she snorted and raised an eyebrow, still on-guard with self-aware demons about but observing them with more cautiousness and curiosity than suspicion.
"They all have the power to change into humans," Erza explained. "With their memories being affected by the Moon Drip lens, they ended up thinking that their human forms were who they really were."
"But why were Lyon and the others okay?" Lucy questioned the knight, confused.
"Because they are human," Erza replied. "It seems like this particular ailment only affects the memories of demons."
'So, we totally could've messed with Deliora if he'd walked around for a bit.' Nora was suddenly hit by the mother of all intrusive thoughts. 'Made him think he was an accountant and watched him have a mountain-sized meltdown every time he broke a typewriter.'
"It's also because they are demons that they can't get near those ruins," Erza went on, all while Nora shook her head and smacked her forehead a few times. "Beings of darkness could never get near ruins that have absorbed so much holy light."
'Then... how was Deliora in the basement?' Nora wondered, lowering her hand and tilting her head. 'Did Ur kill him, or did the gods do it? But wait, the people here tend to say 'God'... Shoot, what are the religions on Earthland? Do I sound crazy?'
"Impressive," a voice spoke, and everyone looked back. "I'm glad I trusted this to you." Bobo was there in his demon form, grinning and waving, and Nora blinked before grinning and waving back even as Gray, Lucy, and Happy all jumped. "Thank you, wizards!"
"It's the ghost!" Lucy cried, hugging Happy.
"The dude from the boat?!" Gray asked, then he looked at Nora. "You called it."
"B… Bobo…" Moka managed, stunned.
One of the other villagers gasped. "But you're-..!"
Bobo raised a hand to his chest, laughing merrily at his neighbors. "Demons don't die from being stabbed in the chest!"
"You disappeared from the boat…" Gray managed, his eyes wide.
Nora nudged him, deadpanning, then she made flapping motions with her hands. "I think I remember calling something else."
Bobo darted into the air, spreading a massive pair of wings. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you the truth back then! I was the only one who gained back my memories, so I left this island. Since all the people of the village thought they were humans, they were all scared of me!"
"Bobo…" Moka suddenly spread a pair of wings and flew into the air. "BOBO!"
The chief crashed into his son, hugging him tightly as he laughed and cried, and Bobo grinned as he hugged his father back. "Finally back to normal—huh, Pops?"
The rest of the demons soared into the air to embrace their long-lost friend, and Erza smiled at them. "A demon island indeed."
Natsu walked over, grinning. "But y'know, just looking at all their faces… they look less like devils and more like angels."
"Hm." Nora's eyes shone as she relaxed. "Yeah… I think you're right."
/\
That night, the villagers held a Demon Feast to celebrate the successful restoration of their memories and Bobo's return.
Nora watched Natsu eat fire off of torches as Gray was dragged about by several of the local girls, and she heard Moka and Bobo tell Erza and Lucy the reason why Galuna Island was rumored to be cursed. The demons had feared that their appearances would cause humans to scorn them, so they used fear to keep outsiders away so that they could hide from the world.
"But from now on, I think we'll be able to get along better with the people from the continent," Moka told the mages. "We should cooperate and help each other."
"If you speak to them in this way, it won't matter how you look," Erza told him kindly. "You'll be understood."
Nora hoped that Earthland was a kinder world than Remnant.
"Miss Valkyrie, right?" A voice asked, and Nora blinked before looking up as Bobo walked over and kneeled beside her. "I won't take up much of your time. I just wanted to thank you. You had orders, but you came when you learned we needed help—and you never shied away, from danger or-" He held up his arm, smiling with a hint of shyness. "Well, you know… So, thank you."
Nora blinked again, then she grinned and shrugged her shoulders. "Hey, you don't have to thank me for that. When someone needs help, you help them—and people are people and you should treat people like people, no matter what. That's how it should be."
"Is that the Fairy Tail way?" Bobo asked the Huntress curiously.
Nora shrugged her shoulders. "I've been in the guild for two weeks and I've been on the bench, so I'm still learning the ropes. That's really just how warriors back where I'm from are supposed to be brought up." She bowed her head. "I just... wanna apologize. There aren't any demons back home, and after all this stuff with Deliora, I was a little jumpy at first when I came back here and everyone's memories got fixed. I have a lot to learn, and I-I shouldn't have-"
"Miss Valkyrie!" Bobo laughed, clapping her on the shoulder. "Don't tell me you're getting skittish, now." He looked down at her, smiling genuinely. "It's alright. No harm done."
Nora frowned. "But it wasn't right. Just because one demon was like that doesn't mean I should have gotten scared—I met a TON of humans who tried to hurt us after all, and all everyone here has done is be kind and try to help." She sighed, shaking her head. "There aren't demons back home, but there are problems like this and people I care about have suffered. I shouldn't have let myself think that way, even if it was only for a few minutes." She looked down, crossing her arms. "I'm really sorry."
"I know," Bobo assured her. "And that's why it's alright. It's humans like you and your friends who give demons like me hope for the future." At that, Nora looked up at him in surprise, and Bobo grinned. "You saw me fly away from the boat. You knew I might be a demon from the start and what that could mean for the rest of the island, and you still came to help my people even though you did not know what it would mean to meet a demon.
They told you that they were human and that they needed help because it was a sickness, and then you encountered a rather bad demon that hurt a lot of people. You were scared, but you still came back to put things right—all of you did, despite your fears." Bobo reached up and rubbed the back of his neck, grinning awkwardly. "And I am hardly one to talk, you know. I have spent my whole life wary of humans, avoiding them at the ports and concealing my true nature.
I had my own preconceived notions and fears to try and get over because of tales I had heard told about a few acts of cruelty from many years ago. This misunderstanding, it goes both ways and is difficult to overcome." He lowered his hand, smiling at the Huntress. "Now, we are sharing a meal as friends—human and demon together, not a fear to be felt. That, Miss Valkyrie, is a very good and hopeful thing."
"... Hm." Nora smiled back at him, her eyes shining. "Yeah."
A hush suddenly fell across the crowd.
Nora blinked, then she looked up and saw that Sherry and Yuka were not only inside the village but only a short distance away.
"What do you want?" Erza asked, standing up to face the two as Gray stepped forward to defend the girls he was with.
Nora stood up as well, reaching back to rest her hand on Magnhild as she stepped between the villagers and the enemy mages.
"You guys did Reitei Lyon pretty good," Yuka said, smirking. "He can't even move."
"We have come to pay you back," Sherry said, frowning.
"Wait a second!" Lucy stood up, frowning at the pair. "Didn't you hear? We and Lyon have already-!"
"That's a separate issue," Yuka said.
Sherry nodded. "We will end this, once and for all."
"Cool!" Natsu ran forward, grinning. "Show me what you got!" He glanced at Nora, his eyes narrowed as a flame appeared in his hand. "Don't you dare take Wave Dude, this time! I totally should have fought him instead of the other guy! He's mine, got it?!"
Nora huffed. "Fine…"
"Wait!" Bobo protested, standing up. "We can't keep relying on you for everything."
"Yeah, that's right!" Another demon agreed.
A third raised his fist. "We have to protect our own village!"
"I can appreciate the sentiment," Erza told the villagers, frowning. "However, leave this matter to me."
Erza strode out to face the two mages, and Sherry smiled. "Fairy Tail's Titania? You did quite a number on me on that beach."
"This will be a worthy opponent." Yuka grinned in anticipation.
"Watch out, Erza!" Lucy called. "That woman can manipulate rocks and trees!"
"And weird eyebrows dude can neutralize magic!" Natsu added.
"I see," Erza stated, then she was suddenly on the move. "Then, I better finish this up before they can pull any tricks!"
Erza kicked Sherry to the side before turning on Yuka and punching him in the face. Both of the enemy mages fell to the ground, and Nora blinked as the crowd gazed on in wonder before her eyes narrowed.
"That was way too easy," the Huntress decided. "They didn't even try to defend themselves or fight back... They knew we were all here, that Erza was here, and they just… walked up with their guard down?"
Gray looked at her, confused. "Are you saying it's some sort of trap?"
"... No," Nora replied quietly, though she did not take her hand off of Magnhild. "I don't think so."
"Impressive." Sherry looked up from the ground with a weak smile.
"It's true…" Yuka grinned as he recovered, his cocky smirk gone. "We're no match."
The two mages rose to their feet, gazing at the ground with sad smiles, and Lucy blinked before her eyes widened. "Wait, you mean-..."
"I know this doesn't atone for our actions…" Yuka began quietly. "But we wanted to finish things off."
"So, that's what they meant by 'pay back'," Happy realized.
Nora nodded, removing her hand from Magnhild. "And they said it the way they did because they wanted Erza to kick the snot out of them."
"We heard from Reitei-sama." Sherry folded her hands, then let them fall to hang. "Thanks to you, we're free of our hatred for Deliora."
Gray blinked. "So, you guys also-..?"
Yuka closed his eyes. "Our towns were destroyed when we were kids."
"Reitei-sama was finally going to defeat Deliora," Sherry said softly. "That's why we followed him."
"But that's still no reason to hurt innocent people in the process." Yuka opened his eyes and cast them towards the ground.
"We hated Deliora so much, we ended up becoming no better than it was," Sherry agreed, then she looked up and saw Nora. "Just as you said… We forgot love."
"... YES!" Natsu cheered, then he ran over and wrapped his arms around their shoulders, beaming. "Come here and eat with us!"
"But we were your enemies!" Yuka protested, his eyes wide.
Sherry cringed. "If I eat things with a lot of calories, my weight will-!"
Natsu hugged them tighter, stifling their whining with crippling affection. "No complaining! Have fun!" He dragged them over to the tables, threw them down in some seats, and sat across from them. "Now, let's live it up!"
"He's adopted them," Nora remarked, grinning lightly. "What are their odds of escape?"
"Slim to none," Gray informed her, and the Huntress snickered. "What are my odds of escaping the dance floor when those girls catch up with me again?"
"Zero," Nora assured him, and Gray let out a pitiful whine as the girls appeared and dragged him back into the crowd. "Oh, come on! You know you're having fun!"
Gray rolled his eyes, then he smiled and let himself be pulled away.
Nora walked back over to the table and kneeled in her place, and she waved to Yuka and Sherry before leaning over to wave to Lucy, Erza, Happy, and Bobo.
"How's Gray holding up?" Natsu asked teasingly when Nora looked at him.
The Huntress shook her head. "I don't know how he's not out cold, all things considered. I honestly don't know how any of us are awake, after all this craziness…" She looked up at the Dragon-Slayer, smiling deviously. "But he's on the dance-floor, if you wanna see what moves he's got. Maybe that can be your next big competition. Can't let him get better at anything, can you?"
Natsu's eye twitched. "... That's it, I've gotta get myself some dance lessons!" He then ducked his head, his eyes wide as he lowered his voice. "Just not from Erza…"
"Oh, geez." Nora raised an eyebrow, smiling awkwardly. "You're even scared of her when it comes to dancing?"
Natsu huffed. "I'm not scared of Erza."
"What was that?" Erza leaned over to look at Natsu skeptically.
The Dragon-Slayer gulped. "Nothing!"
Nora closed her eyes and laughed, and her guild-mates looked at her in surprise before smiling as several of the spectating demons joined in with the Huntress's merriment.
"Heh…" Nora calmed down, raising a hand to her chest, then she opened her eyes and smiled at all of the people surrounding her before her expression softened a bit.
It was not as if her last time laughing back on Remnant was anything special, but all the same… she wondered how many times she would have to do it in Fiore before the twists in her chest went away and she stopped feeling guilty for letting herself be happy.
/\
That night, after Sherry and Yuka departed, Nora was one of the last to head inside to get some sleep with Natsu lingering outdoors to continue eating flames from the village torches. It was a Dragon-Slayer thing, apparently.
The Huntress hummed as she made her way to the room she was sharing with the others, finding Gray passed-out cold and Happy snoring, but Lucy and Erza were still awake. Lucy was rubbing the back of her neck and gazing at Erza sheepishly, clearly in the middle of a scolding from the knight, but both girls looked up as Nora stepped into the room.
"Hey," the Huntress greeted, walking over to her mat and sitting down. "Shouldn't you guys be hitting the hay? We're heading back to Magnolia tomorrow, and it's a long trip."
"In time," Erza replied, turning her attention to the orange-haired girl. "Are you feeling any better after what happened earlier?"
Nora sighed, closing her eyes. "Yeah, just… still a little wiped." She raised a hand to her neck, frowning, then she opened her eyes. "I guess I never really considered that I might have a problem using my powers. They've been a part of me for so long, and I-... I-..." She put her hands in her lap and looked down at them. "I don't regret what I did. I know it's what I had to do, and I knew what I was doing… so why did I get so scared when I did a smaller version?"
"There's no shame in being afraid of dying, Nora," Erza said, and the Huntress looked up at her in surprise. "In fearing injury and being left helpless and powerless to fight for the causes you serve." The knight lowered her chin. "You have spent weeks in recovery, struggling and pushing yourself to get where you are now. In using your magic, you were reminded of the incident which brought you to that state, and you were scared.
Fear is not an enemy, as long as you do not allow it to control you." She nodded. "You kept fighting today in spite of your fear. You used your magic to help your friends and these people. You did well, even as you broke the rules." Erza gave a small smirk. "You will still be punished for that, as that is only fair—but know that you have my respect... one warrior to another."
"Yeah, Nora," Lucy agreed, beaming. "We're glad you were here." Her eyes shone. "Maybe you can come with us on more jobs. I mean, if you want to…"
Nora blinked, then she gave a light grin. "Well, uh… Erza did say that—after Eisenwald—you guys'd find something for me to do. Since I volunteered to come here after you guys ran off and you didn't find it for me, I guess... it doesn't really count for that, does it?"
"No, it does not," Erza mused, a devious glint in her eyes. "It appears that we shall have to find some other means by which to keep my word to you, Nora."
"Heh." Nora crossed her arms. "Yeah, I guess. Hope you meant it when you're guys implied you weren't sick of me just yet." She looked away, giving a sheepish smile. "I wouldn't blame you if you were just being nice. I know I can be a bit of a handful."
"Nora, Natsu and Happy are my best friends—not that I would ever admit it to their faces," Lucy remarked, putting on a snarky smile. "I think that you grossly underestimate my understanding of 'handfuls'."
Erza chuckled, crossing her arms and closing her eyes. "I have been in Fairy Tail for eight years. I was there the day Natsu and Gray met." She opened one eye and smirked at Nora. "Believe me, you are hardly a 'handful' in comparison to what they have put me through. They used to crack their heads together like wild goats to try and assert dominance."
"Used to?" Lucy and Nora asked together, and all three girls blinked.
Then, they burst out laughing so loud that Happy whined in his sleep and Gray rolled over and folded his pillow over his head with a loud grumble of annoyance.
That night, Nora's eyes snapped open and her hand flew to her chest as she took deep, shaking breaths and tried to calm herself down. She stared at the ceiling of the room, her body trembling as she tried to recover from the nightmare.
…
Glowing pink rivers ran across her body like spiderwebs as electricity flowed through her body, the lines covering her skin more and more until she realized that they were more like cracks in glass and she shattered into a million pieces. She was still somehow conscious even though she was in pieces, but she could not move or speak or think straight.
The black void she was in filled with voices, all of them crying out for help—her team, friends, the students at Beacon, the people in Amity Coliseum, the people of Kuroyuri and Vale and Mantle. So many voices, then it all went pink and gold as she just left them!
"Nora," a woman's voice spoke, and Nora was suddenly all together again and so much smaller than she should have been. She saw someone so familiar and yet not standing some distance away, a broken expression on her face.
"... I'm not like you," Nora insisted at a whisper, her eyes wide. "I didn't run. You had a choice, I didn't. I would have stayed." The woman turned her back and started to walk away. "Do you hear me?! I would have stayed!" Nora ran forward and reached out. "I would have stayed!"
Nora tried to grab the woman's wrist, but the woman turned into black smoke just as something big and black with bone armor and hellfire eyes lunged right at her.
…
"We'll keep each other safe."
…
Nora raised a hand to her mouth, taking another shuddering breath as she closed her eyes and tried to calm herself down.
"... Gate of the Harp, I open thee," a voice whispered in the dark, and Nora froze in place and tried to feign sleep as she realized that Lucy must have been awake. "Lyra."
A chime like a doorbell rang out, and a giggle rang out. "Heya-!"
"Shh!" Lucy shushed the spirit. "Don't the others… Lyra, do you think you play a lullaby? Something peaceful that'll help-..?"
"Oh." The spirit seemed to understand whatever it was Lucy wanted. "I know just the thing." Soft harp music began to play. "...
Ooh… Ooh…
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh,
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh…
Raindrops fall down
On the water lilies
As the lady of thunder cries.
Hush, little stormcloud—
Dry your tears, now.
The time has come, no more 'goodbye's…
Rest up, soak in the moonbeams—
Sleep, little stormcloud.
You'll need your rest come sunrise.
You're only just starting—
Live, little stormcloud.
Keep moving forward, and you will fly…" As Lyra sang, Nora found herself starting to drift off again. "
Strength of the heart is
Yours, little stormcloud—
And love is a magic that never dies.
Be brave, stand tall—
Hold on, little stormcloud.
Wipe those tears 'way from your eyes…"
In her final moments of consciousness, Nora thought she heard Lucy sigh in relief. "Thank you, Lyra."
"Any time, Lucy!" The spirit whispered excitedly to her summoner. "Call me!"
"Alright, bye!"
/\/\/\/\
Nora stepped out into the sunlight the next morning, stretching her arms behind her head, and she closed her eyes and sighed as she smiled in content. She opened her eyes and noticed Gray sitting on the ground with Lucy kneeling nearby, staring at something on his face, and Nora blinked before walking over.
"It looks like you'll be left with a scar," Lucy was saying.
"Oh?" Gray raised an eyebrow, then he glanced away. "It doesn't bother me."
"It's on your face!" Lucy protested, and Gray glanced back at her.
The ice-mage saw that Nora was approaching behind the blonde and blinked, and the Huntress bit her lower lip to stifle a laugh before raising a finger to her lips.
"... I don't care where I get scarred," Gray told Lucy, putting on a grin and smiling. "As long as they can be seen."
"Ooh, that's deep!" Lucy teased him, winking at the ice-mage.
"It's a pain in the butt, that's what it is," Nora remarked, sitting down behind Lucy, and the blonde shrieked before plopping down on her rear and looking at the Huntress in alarm. Nora looked at her, grinning. "I'm really embarrassed by it, but I've got a scar from a fluke during my first haircut under my left eyebrow. Luckily, it's faded away a bit with time…" Nora made herself go wide-eyed as she leaned in close to look at Lucy, feigning panic. "Right?"
Lucy just stared at Nora as Gray wheezed and gripped his stomach, then the Huntress closed her eyes and started laughing.
"You're horrible..!" Lucy whined, closing her eyes. "So mean to me..!"
"Sorry, it was too good." Nora opened her eyes, smirking at the celestial-mage.
Lucy huffed, then she looked at Nora with a small frown as she bowed her head. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I just didn't understand how he wasn't bothered by it…"
"You didn't hurt my feelings," Nora assured her, grinning. "Believe me: when that happens, people can tell. You're fine."
Lucy blinked, then she smiled. "Hm."
"... What's a scar you can't see?" Natsu asked in confusion, standing over the trio and holding two torches like cotton-candy sticks.
Gray looked up at him in annoyance. "Quiet, you! When I say something cool, you shouldn't step all over it!"
"That was cool?" Natsu raised an eyebrow.
Nora glanced up at Natsu, smiling. "He was talking about scars in here." She pointed to the side of her head, then to her chest. "And in here. You get me?"
"Oh." Natsu blinked, then he frowned and nodded. "Okay… Yeah, I'd rather have a scar anywhere else but there."
"She speaks Natsu," Gray realized, his anger dropping as his eyes widened, then he looked at Natsu and smirked. "At last, after years of searching, we've found a translator."
"Shut up!" Natsu complained while Lucy raised a hand to her mouth and laughed.
Nora rolled her eyes and stood up, placing her hands on her hips. "Hey, not everyone is quick to pick up on stuff like that. I know I sometimes have trouble with stuff when folks don't just say what they mean." She shook her head. "I know I'm guilty of it too, so… until folks just say what they mean and talk to each other instead of beating around the bush, we've just gotta be cool with explaining things sometimes. It doesn't mean that the other person's any less smart—it just means they're better with more-literal phrasing, and that's fiiiiine." She opened her eyes, looking at Gray with a raised eyebrow and a deadpan. "Everything's fiiiiine."
"Yeah!" Natsu grinned, wrapping an arm around Nora's shoulders. "She gets it!"
"Hm." Nora glanced at Natsu, smiling as she crossed her arms, then she blinked as she looked forward in surprise.
'Oh, my gods… Chasing after a bunch of crazy kids on a death-quest… Dealing with my baggage in a really vague and secretive way… Lying about some of my abilities and background to hide a part of my past and knowledge that the rest of the world doesn't know about… Offering advice whenever I'm not doing something reckless and stupid…' Nora's eyes widened. 'I'm a Huntress with no magic surrounded by a bunch of magic-wielding kids with no aura who think that they can take on the world... and Erza, who actually could... and I'm just trying to keep them all alive when—as it turns out—I can barely keep myself together… Did I fall through time and space just to accidentally become some sort of alternate-reality reverse-QROW?!'
"You okay?" Lucy asked, seeming to notice that something was off.
Nora blinked, then she sighed as her shoulders slumped and she gave a weak smile, shaking her head. "Yeah… Just thinking."
'I'm so dead. I'm so, so very dead,' Nora thought as the group walked over to where Erza was waiting with Happy and their luggage while speaking with the villagers. 'I grossly underestimated the magic in this world and my mental state, I have no idea what I'm doing, and I'm now getting caught up with these guys—these guys, who were stopping assassinations a week ago and have now immediately graduated to saving entire islands from continent-crushing demons. It's worse than us getting our butts kicked by Tyrian twice and then deciding we could take on Atlas's finest.' Nora's eyes widened again, and she looked at the young mages. '... Gods above, I'm their Qrow. This is my karma for being the one who survived.'
"Thinking hard, huh?" Natsu teased, and Nora blinked before looking up at him. "Must be something important. Trying to figure out how you could even stand a remote chance against me in our match, Valky?"
"... Just figuring I should use you as a meat-shield when we face Master Mak and save myself the trouble," Nora told him, grinning, and Natsu's jaw dropped. "Kidding!" She winked, giving a sly chuckle. "Maybe..~!"
"Don't even joke about that..!" Lucy whined as Gray grinned and shook his head, but Natsu snickered and Erza looked towards the group with a smile and crossed arms while Happy sat perched atop their cart.
Nora looked at them, her eyes shining, then she sighed and shook her head. When she looked up again, she was beaming.
'It could be worse, I guess.'
/\
Because the job had been taken invalidly, Erza refused the reward for the completion of the Galuna Island quest, which was apparently seventy million jewel. What that was worth, Nora had no idea—but it seemed to stress Gray, Natsu, Lucy, and Happy out, so she figured that it had to be a lot of money.
Erza did, however, accept a golden key which was being offered as a secondary part of the reward as a token of the villagers' good will. This choice made Lucy incredibly happy—so, Nora knew that it was a win.
Erza had apparently struck some sort of alliance with the crew of a pirate ship, so that was the Fairy Tail members' ride back to Hargeon. After saying farewell to the villagers of Galuna Island, the six boarded the ship and sailed back to the port—and one train ride later, they were safely back in Magnolia.
Or… maybe not.
"You haven't forgotten that you'll be punished when we get back, have you?" Erza asked as they made their way through the streets, pausing in her tracks to frown at the others.
Nora shook her head, but the others looked back in a panic and Natsu actually let out a quiet whimper. "Punished?!"
"I thought we'd dropped that already!" Lucy cried out as they all turned to face Erza.
"Don't be silly." Erza scoffed. "Accepting your actions was a field decision on my part. You still must receive your punishment."
"Oh, no!" Lucy wailed as Gray and Natsu grimaced.
"I think you should be mostly forgiven for what happened this time," Erza went on. "However, your judge will be the master—and I have no intention of defending you. So, be prepared to take your punishment."
"He's not gonna make us do that, is he?!" Happy asked fearfully.
"Wait a sec!" Gray was suddenly crouched on the ground, gripping his head. "I never want to do that again!"
Nora raised an eyebrow. "Gray? You good, buddy..?"
"What is that?!" Lucy asked, her eyes widening as she gazed down at the ice-mage.
"Don't sweat it!" Natsu insisted, smiling and patting Lucy's shoulder. "We did a good job, so Gramps'll be impressed!"
Lucy was unconvinced. "Someone's being optimistic…"
"No." Erza gave a small smirk. "I think it's pretty much decided already." She looked back. "I look forward to it."
Natsu started sweating nervously despite his forced grin, then he screamed and tried to flee before Erza grabbed him by his pack and started dragging him away. "NOT THAT! ANYTHING BUT THAT! NO..!"
"... Let's just get this over with." Nora sighed, grabbing the rope for Erza's luggage and starting to tug the cart along. She grabbed Gray and set him on the cart, where he proceeded to curl up into the fetal position and continue to whimper, then she looked at Lucy. "Coming?"
"What the heck is that?!" The blonde complained, then she looked at Nora. "And how are you being so nonchalant?!"
"The gods have been trying to kill me for years. If Master Mak pulls it off, he's earned it," Nora replied jokingly, and Lucy blinked. "Plus, Erza will just track us down if we try to run."
"... Fair." Lucy sighed, her shoulders slumping, then she walked side-by-side with Nora towards the guild-hall. "... Isn't that cart heavy?"
"Mm." Nora tilted her head. "I mean, the weight of Gray's regret is definitely more than I was prepared for, but-"
Lucy let out a quiet laugh. "How do you come up with these things?"
"Two words: no filter," Nora replied, smiling and shaking her head. "If it pops into my head and doesn't cause some sort of freeze or crisis, it usually leaves my mouth."
"Then, you're really funny," Lucy claimed, and Nora shook her head again. "Really!"
"No, it's all just a bunch of dumb jokes—most of them made at the really, really wrong time," the Huntress said, reaching up to rub the back of her neck with her free hand.
"You just like to keep things light," Lucy disagreed. "And you know when to take things seriously. I saw you, on Galuna Island—how you challenged those people and tried to make them see what was right. It was powerful, Nora—and a lot more than some 'dumb joke'."
"Heh." Nora looked down, smiling sheepishly. "I don't know what I'm doing or talking about, Lucy. I barely know anything about Fiore, and I'm just trying to keep up and do what I think is right… but I might just end up making things worse." Her hand dropped, and she sighed and closed her eyes, her shoulders slumping. "I don't belong on big, high-stakes jobs where you have to put in a lot of thought or fight some big baddie with powerful magic. I'm only really good for breaking things, so… I belong on jobs where someone's just gonna point to a thing and say 'hit that', and it'll be over from there."
"You're good for a lot more than just breaking things, Nora," Lucy insisted. "I haven't known you for long, but I can see that… And honestly, I don't think you should judge a person's worth based on what they're good for."
"Hm." Nora looked up at Lucy, smiling. "That's a nice thought, but… for a guild-member going on a mission? I think that what you're good for kinda matters there, Lu." She looked down. "It was all happening so fast and I had no idea what I was doing… I was just kinda there, wasn't I? Everyone else was making the plans, and I was just trying to keep up and help."
"And you did help," Lucy said, frowning. "You warned us to brace at the bottom of our boat, you spoke to Gray and got him to open up when no one else could, you got Natsu out of the ice, you made sure Natsu and Gray didn't fall into my pit-fall trap, you stopped the village from getting destroyed, you lightning-blasted those rocks Natsu mentioned-"
"You beat that Yuka guy, you stopped me from using Iced Shell on Lyon, you stopped Lyon from stabbing me, and you helped Natsu keep me from using Iced Shell on an already-dead demon," Gray added dryly from the back of the cart, his eyes on the sky. "You might not have helped me when Natsu punched me unconscious either time or tied me up, but you helped."
"Heh." Nora gave a small smile, glancing back at the ice-mage. "Sorry, Gray."
"Don't apologize to me," Gray grumbled, closing his eyes. "Save that for Gramps."
Nora giggled softly, and the ice-mage and the celestial-mage smiled.
/\
Once Erza, Natsu, Gray, Lucy, Happy, and Nora were all in the Fairy Tail guild-hall, Erza stepped forward and crossed her arms.
"Is the master in?"
"Welcome back," Mirajane greeted, walking towards them with folded hands and a small smile on her face. "How was the island?"
"Don't get us started, Mira," Nora joked, waving to her friend.
Mirajane giggled. "It's good to see you in high spirits, Nora! Did you take a little swim in the ocean?"
"It wasn't that kind of trip, Mira," Erza stated as she walked forward to properly face the white-haired girl, her eyes narrowed. "Where is the master?"
"He had some kind of council something-or-other meeting, or whatever," Macao informed the knight.
Wakaba nodded. "He's been gone since yesterday."
Happy sighed in relief, and Natsu smiled. "We're safe, for now!"
"Alright!" Gray pumped his fist. "None of that until Gramps gets back!"
"Thank goodness!" Happy was practically in tears. "We can put off staring into the gates of Hell for a while longer!"
Nora raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
"Tell me what that is, already!" Lucy pleaded, tugging at her hair anxiously. "You guys are freaking me out! It's scarier when I don't know what that is!"
"Be quiet!" Erza commanded, and Gray and Natsu hugged each other while Lucy and Happy recoiled. Nora just blinked, and Erza looked back at Mirajane with narrowed eyes. "When will the master return?"
"Hm… It shouldn't be long, now," Mirajane replied as the others started to calm and faced Erza again.
Erza turned to the rest of the group, placing her hands on her hips. "When the master returns, I will immediately ask for his decision. Going on an S-Class quest without permission is against the rules, period." Her expression darkened. "Be prepared for the consequences."
Gray and Natsu immediately hugged each other again with Happy clinging to Natsu's back, and Lucy gripped her hair once more, her brown eyes wide. "And what consequences should I be prepared for, exactly?!"
"It's probably something like cleaning out the guild-hall bathrooms or letting Erza kick the snot out of us for three minutes," Nora told her, and the celestial-mage blinked before looking at the Huntress. "Maybe we'll even get to ding-dong ditch his jerk-wad grandson just to see if we can outrun lightning. It's probably something crazy like that."
"I can't outrun lightning!" Lucy hissed. "And how can you be so calm about that?! Can you even outrun lightning?!"
"No, but I don't have to," Nora informed her, smiling mischievously. "I just have to outrun you."
"It's not outrunning lightning!" Erza told them after Lucy's jaw dropped, raising a hand to her forehead and sighing. "And if there is anyone alive foolish enough to 'ding-dong ditch' Laxus, that is its own punishment."
"... I got her to say 'ding-dong'," Nora whispered, grinning like an idiot, and Lucy bit her lips and looked at Nora with wide eyes as her shoulders began to shake. "... Okay, wrong time—but I'm still actually kinda proud of that one."
Lucy placed her hand on Nora's shoulder and doubled-over, taking deep breaths and visibly trembling. "God… I'm dying… Why..?"
"Well, too bad for you!" Wakaba teased the unfortunate group, then he raised a cigarette to his mouth. "Although… it's one thing for Natsu and Gray to experience that, but for Lucy-chan and even little Nora-san, it's just-..." He looked at the girls gravely. "You poor things."
"Poor things?" Lucy asked, looking up at the smoke-mage warily as Natsu and Gray walked over to challenge him but only ended up brawling with each other. "Why-..?"
"Because some things never change," Nora remarked, watching the ice-mage and the fire-mage brawl while spitting insults and throwing their respective elements at each other, smiling and shaking her head.
"A man takes responsibility for his actions," Elfman insisted, his arms crossed as he watched the boys. "You're men, right? Then show it!" He gestured to Nora, his eyes narrowed. "Or be upstaged by a real man!"
Elfman closed his fist, and Nora grinned and bumped it. "Missed you, too."
"Hm!" Mirajane walked over as Gray, Natsu, Lucy, and Happy continued to bicker and panic, a smile on her face. "Things clearly did not go as planned, but I'm glad you're safe. How was your first job, Nora?"
"We didn't get paid, but I made friends with an island of really awesome demons," Nora replied, grinning, and the Strauss siblings blinked. "Turns out they just thought they were humans and we had to fix their heads after we had to knock the sense into some of these traumatized survivors of the Demon of Disaster Deliora and Gray's teacher—who is now the ocean—finished turning Deliora to dust after he was trapped in her glacier for ten years." She shrugged her shoulders. "It was… a thing, I guess?"
"A thing?" Mirajane questioned the Huntress, frowning.
"I mean, everyone else was getting constantly surprised while it was happening but they're all acting like that's just the way things go now that it's over, so I'm kinda trying to figure out how to respond," Nora told her honestly, still just grinning at them.
"... That's weird, even by our standards," Elfman told the Huntress.
Nora sighed, her shoulders slumping. "Oh, thank the gods." Mirajane giggled while Elfman smiled, and Nora grinned. "It's good to be back."
"Glad you're not dead." Cana walked over and slung her arm around Nora's shoulders, smirking at her. "Look at you, our little baby Valkyrie. One day, she's taking her first steps. The next, she's running off on an S-Class quest with the biggest dumbasses in the guild."
"... Okay, seriously: how old does everyone think I am?" Nora asked, frustrated.
Cana raised an eyebrow. "How old are you? You can't be much older than Lucy, and she's -what?- seventeen."
"Ugh…" Nora groaned, her head hanging. "Cana, I'm nineteen."
"... Ah." Cana blinked as Elfman burst out laughing, then she grinned. "Oh, that's just precious."
Nora deadpanned, then she sighed. "Well, I think I'll go and check the board for a quick in-town job I can run while I'm waiting for Master Mak to come back and deal with us. A girl needs to earn a living somehow."
"You just got back," Mirajane chided her as Nora ducked out from under Cana's arm and walked over to the request board. "And I told you, I have your first month's rent."
"I have to start fending for myself, Mira," Nora insisted, not even giving the translation request a second glance. She could not even read half of Fiore's common written language, so she knew that was no job for her. "And if I can survive supporting an S-Class quest, I think I can handle a little milk-run." Nora noticed a few requests towards the bottom of the board and raised an eyebrow, then she smiled and snatched them before walking over to Mirajane and holding them out. "I'll take these."
"Hm?" Mirajane blinked, then she took a look at the papers. "Find My Missing Cat, Sir Fluffles… Help My Stubborn Husband Move Our Furniture So He Doesn't Break His Back Again… I'm New in Town, Please Give Me a Tour of Magnolia… Escort Me to the Library… Tell Me a Story I've Never Heard Before…" The white-haired girl looked up at Nora, confused. "These are all busy-work jobs, and you said-"
"Demolition. I know," Nora told her, smiling as she placed her hands on her hips. "But I'm decent with tracking and I knew my fair share of strays growing up, I'm strong, I memorized a map of Magnolia, and I can do everything else those jobs asked for." She glanced away. "Plus, I've... been told I should try to keep in mind I'm good for more than just breaking things. I think doing this will help." She looked up at Mirajane again, shrugging. "And they all still need to get done, don't they?"
"Yes, they do," Mirajane agreed, nodding, then she smiled. "I'll approve the assignments."
"Thanks, Mira!" Nora chimed, folding her hands behind her back and rocking on her heels. "I won't let you down!"
/\
Sir Fluffles the cat was living in a small alleyway next to a luxury bathhouse and living off of gourmet scraps. Nora would have almost felt bad about bringing the chubby kitty home, but the look on his owner's face when Nora brought the cat home made it all worth it. Twenty-thousand jewel, and another bright smile from the very same little girl Nora had helped on her first walk through Magnolia—Riley, Nora learned—as her excited older brother Robert showed her that their pet was home safely.
The elderly couple who needed their furniture moved around bickered the entire time, as Mr. Lee (who used a cane and walked with a limp) insisted that he could have handled it all by himself and Mr. Leigh proceeded to call his husband a moron. After they made up, Nora ended up staying for lunch and looking at pictures of their grandkids. Five-thousand jewel and a plastic baggie of no-bake cookies.
The shy girl Nora coaxed out of her apartment for a tour of Magnolia kept her hood raised and stayed tucked against Nora's side, but the Huntress did not mind as she escorted the girl about. Nora confessed to being new to Magnolia as well, but she did her best to show the girl around and tell her what she knew, telling the girl stories as they went about things she had seen at each site since arriving in the town and the things she liked best about the environment. When the girl whispered soft questions which Nora did not know the answer to, the Huntress would seek out a Magnolia local to ask and receive the answer on the girl's behalf, which got the girl to give a small smile. When the tour was over, Nora received another five-thousand jewel for the job and an unexpected hug that she returned.
The middle-aged, wheelchair-bound woman who needed an escort to the library—Miss Grace—lived on a street which was in need of repair and was legally blind. Once Nora got Miss Grace to the local library and into the Braille section, she sat down and—with some help from the librarian, Mr. Löwe, who was kind enough to help—wrote a letter to the city officials of Magnolia about the problem with the streets. Once Miss Grace had checked out her books, Nora helped her get back to her house, and she received seven-thousand jewel and a warm feeling in her chest and face when Miss Grace unexpectedly told Nora that she knew what she had done and thanked her.
The last job came from an old man who lived alone in a large house at the edge of the town. His name was Mr. Ryre, and his request was ongoing; any story he had not heard before would receive two-thousand jewel, but there were rules. It could not just be any story, like the story of what you and your friends did for fun last week; it had to be some epic tale, legend, or fairy tale. It could be made-up or based on true events, ancient or new—it just had to be a story, a good one.
Nora sat down with him in his living room, taking the chair across from his, and she took a deep breath before she started telling stories: The Tale of the Two Brothers, The Girl in the Tower, The Story of the Seasons, and others that she knew from growing up like The Gift of the Moon, The Warrior in the Woods, The Hunter's Children, The Girl Who Fell Through the World, and The Indecisive King...
As Nora told these tales, she tweaked them somewhat to make sure that they made sense for Earthland; Grimm were just 'monsters', Remnant's completely shattered moon was instead Earthland's with its fractured phases, and there was no mention of Dust, aura, semblances, or Hunters.
By the time Nora was through with these fairytales, she had realized that Mr. Ryre was just a lonely old man in a big house looking for people to talk to him—and telling stories was a way to make the visits last. She decided that there was more to say.
She told him the stories of The Invincible Girl, The Imposter Who Became a Knight, The Last Silver-Eyed Warrior, The Defiant Heiress, The Runaway Rebel Who Came Back, The Sisterly Dragon, The Crow and the Raven, The Farmhand with Two Souls, The Metal Girl With a Soul, The Great Stowaway, The Happy Huntresses, The Bad Luck Charm and the Good Luck Charm, The Man Who Held Up the World, and finally The Children of Kuroyuri.
Once it was over, Mr. Ryre chuckled and shook his head. "I must confess, I have never heard any of those stories."
"Were they okay?" Nora asked, using one of her gloved hands to wipe her eyes before looking up with a frown.
"Indeed," the old man told her. "They were more than okay, Miss Valkyrie… but now that you are done with your friends' tales, I have to wonder about yours."
Nora blinked, then she closed her eyes and gave a weak laugh. "I don't think that one's too interesting."
"Try me," Mr. Ryre insisted, smiling.
Nora opened her eyes, her expression softening, then she took a deep breath. "... When I was little... or littler, I guess... I was afraid of thunder and lightning. Most of the fairytales I ever had the chance to hear came from my aunt, but... there was one my mom told me. It was one of those little things parents tell their kids to keep them from getting scared, y'know?" She looked up. "My mom came from a group of nomads who focused a lot of their stories on magic and monsters, so... when she told me about storms... she said that there were dragons fighting in the sky.
The thunder was their roar, the wind was the beating of their wings, and I might see their shadows in the clouds if I looked close enough. The flash of lightning meant my favorite was winning." She giggled, shaking her head. "I guess she wanted me to use my imagination, and..." Her expression softened. "Just... fall into my head, when I was scared. That way, it would be easier." She folded her hands. "Eventually, I wasn't scared of storms anymore. I loved them more than anything, and my aunt would call me 'stormcloud' and 'stormbreaker' and those kinds of things.
So... I guess this is the Story of the Little Stormbreaker." Nora took another deep breath. "Once, there was a little girl who lived by the sea. Her favorite nights were the ones when it stormed, not just because she could watch waves and the clouds, but also because the noise from the sea and the sky would block out most of the other noises—at least, she liked to think that." She opened her eyes and gazed at the floor. "You see... The little girl's parents were kinda sick. Her father's eye was always haunted or angry and her mother's eyes were always sad or empty.
Both of them were scared by the lives they lived before they had their daughter and they took it out on each other or even on her in one way or another, and the little girl didn't know which was worse… but she didn't have a choice of which one she ended up with, in the end." Nora looked up at Mr. Ryre. "One day, while her father slept, the little girl's mother took her by the hand and led her away from their house by the sea… and she would not see the sea again for a long, long time... But whenever it stormed, because storms happen anywhere, she remembered.
Even when she was by herself, after her mother let go of her hand."
When Nora was done with her story, again stripped of all references to Remnant and anything she was uncomfortable with sharing, she was thanked for the stories and paid her forty-six thousand jewel.
Mr. Ryre told her to come back if she ever had any more stories to tell.
/\
It had been about eight hours since Nora had left the guild-hall when she returned, having pocketed eighty-three thousand jewel—whatever that was worth. She would have to talk to Mirajane about putting it in a bank.
When Nora poked her head into the guild-hall, she saw that Makarov was back and everyone in the guild-hall seemed to be in a sour mood, and she blinked before taking a deep breath and walking inside to face the music.
"Hey, Master Mak," Nora greeted, and the old man looked up at her in surprise. "I'm sorry I've been gone all day. I was running a few jobs, and they took longer than I thought they would." She reached up and rubbed the back of her neck. "I know there's gotta be some sort of punishment for me going on that S-Class quest, so… I'm just gotta buck-up and take it." She shrugged her shoulders. "What's it gonna be?"
"Hm." Mirajane, who was oddly sitting on the counter next to the guild-master and holding his staff, raised a hand to her chin. "That's an excellent question, Miss Valkyrie. There is always that…"
"Mira?" Nora asked her, confused.
Makarov sighed. "Nora, I'm Mirajane. A spell has been cast over the guild-hall and everyone besides Levy, Lucy, and Gray is currently trapped in a different body."
"... Wait, what?" Nora blinked, then she looked around the guild-hall with wide eyes. "Oh, my gods. How did that happen?!"
"Natsu started it and Levy made it worse," 'Elfman' replied, groaning as he gripped 'his' head. "So much for a 'real man'. Your alcohol tolerance is shit, Elfman…"
"How do we fix this?" Nora asked, her eyes flitting around to each swapped pair. Jet and Droy, Loke and Natsu, Erza and Happy, Cana and Elfman, Makarov and Mirajane… "You guys can't just stay like this."
"Well, we're kinda screwed," Loke admitted, walking up as fire dribbled from 'his' lips. "The spell had to be removed in thirty minutes, and it's been hours."
"You're kidding!" Nora raised a hand to her mouth, then she walked over to where Levy was working and looked down at the paper. "Hm… The words on either side are a bunch of gibberish. It gives me a headache, just looking at it…" She blinked, then she tilted her head to the side. "Hm. The end of the day… The storm… Them of which I thought…" She glanced outside, seeing that the sun was setting, then she looked back at the swapped mages and raised an eyebrow. "... Oh, you've gotta be kidding."
"Hm?" Levy looked up at Nora, surprised, then she looked down at the words in the margins and sighed.. "I know, right? It's absolute nonsense, no matter how I try to crack it!"
"That's because it really is just nonsense," Nora said, and Levy blinked. "It's a bunch of random words just tossed onto a paper, but they threw a few pieces of useful information in there. I saw this sort of stuff posted at three in the morning on social media from time to time back home, before the CCTs went down." The Huntress blinked, then she chuckled. "Oh, geez—that was a thing." She glanced over at Makarov, grinning in relief. "And really? This is your idea of a punishment? You've scared everyone to death, Master Mak!"
"Huh?!" Everyone looked at Nora in confusion, but the orange-haired girl started laughing as she started fishing around in her bag.
"I swear, you're worse than Ozpin—and he used to launch the initiates for his school off of a cliff!" She joked, drawing a yellow crystal. "This prank of yours is just MEAN! I mean, I totally get it—we broke the rules, and you had to get us back somehow! But come on!"
"Hm." Makarov started to smile, raising an eyebrow as he watched the girl. "I was starting to get worried when the hour grew late, Miss Valkyrie. Leaving before you could be punished was rather unbecoming."
"I was just trying to be productive," Nora insisted, walking over to where Makarov and Mira were waiting. "And at least I'm not stuck in this situation. I'm able to-..." She paused, then she looked down at the crystal as her hand started to shake. "To-..."
"Miss Valkyrie?" Makarov asked, perplexed.
Nora went silent, then she closed her eyes and took a deep breath before pinching off the top of the crystal, crushing it between her index finger and thumb to get a charge in her body, and placing the crystal at her belt. Then, as she looked between Makarov and Mirajane, she channeled the electricity to the tips of her index-fingers before poking their arms.
"Eep!" Mirajane yelped, then she blinked before looking down at her hands, her eyes wide as she found herself back in her body. "What?!"
"It's a prank-spell and the extremely-convoluted backup-cure's a simultaneous quick-zap of the swapped idiots at sunset," Nora quipped, lowering her shaking hands. "I know my pranks, even if the wording gives me a migraine. It was WAY too specific and this whole thing was just way too chaotic and coincidental to not have been planned."
Makarov chuckled as jaws dropped. "Well done, Miss Valkyrie. It was supposed to be you and not poor Loke who was caught in the initial spell's casting, as I knew your power would still linger with enough strength for the reversal."
"What about me?!" Erza demanded, placing her fuzzy paws on her hips. "Why was I meant to be caught in this madness?!"
Makarov just snorted.
"Well, I'm here now," Nora said, turning to the rest of the guild-hall and sighing. "Pairs, line up. I'll zap you back into your bods." The lines formed before Nora with alarming speed, and she blinked in surprise before holding her trembling fingers up and taking a deep breath. "Okay…"
Natsu and Loke. Zap.
Cana and Elfman. Zap.
Jet and Droy. Zap.
Happy and Erza. Zap.
"You did it!" Levy cheered as everyone reveled in having returned to their bodies.
Nora put her crystal away before she gripped her wrist, taking a deep breath as she tried to stop the shaking. "Y-Yeah…"
"Huh?" Cana glanced over at Nora, noticing the state the Huntress was in and frowning. "Hey, are you okay?"
"Mmhm…" Nora closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, then she blinked as something landed on her shoulder before looking up.
Happy smiled, curling his tail around Nora's neck as he clung to her vest. "Being Erza was fun, but I missed flying! Thanks, Nora!"
"... Heh." Nora reached up, her hand still shaking a bit, and she grinned tiredly as she patted the blue cat's head. "Any time." She looked at Makarov. "So, I guess it's time to get my punishment over with. Go ahead and lay it on me, Master Mak."
"Hm." Makarov looked at Nora carefully, raising a hand to his chin and frowning. "In light of what you've done, I suppose I can let you off with a warning instead of subjecting you to that…" He held a finger up. "But it must be a punishment fitting to the crime."
"... I could ding-dong ditch Laxus?" Nora offered, shrugging her shoulders.
Makarov's eyes bugged out of his head as Erza's eyes narrowed. "I said, no!"
Nora snickered, then she sighed and crossed her arms. "Well… there is one thing I've been thinking about. I don't know if it counts as a 'punishment', but-..."
"What?" Makarov raised an eyebrow.
"Well..." Nora looked away. "I want to start learning… a new form of magic." She glanced at Makarov. "If you can count the hours I'll have to log in researching and practicing, it'll probably take up a good chunk of time." She tilts her head. "Think having to learn how to make myself more-useful could count as a punishment for running off on an S-Class quest I was supposed to stop... because I decided the people needed help more than I needed to keep to the rules?"
"... You thought this through." Makarov gave a small smirk, raising an eyebrow.
Nora gave a sly grin. "Back at my school, my headmaster was a bit of a weirdo. It's the kind of thing he would have done, I think."
"Heh." Makarov shook his head. "Very well, Miss Valkyrie." He looked up at her. "But I expect regular updates on your progress as you attempt to learn this new form. Do we have an understanding?"
Nora nodded. "Yes, sir."
"Alright!" Natsu held a fist up, grinning, then he ran over. "What kinda magic do you wanna use?! Something awesome, right?!"
"That's what the research is for," Nora said, grinning at the Dragon-Slayer, then she looked away awkwardly. "And anyway, I have no idea what I'm capable of."
"Exactly." Erza crossed her arms, smiling at the Huntress. "May I make a suggestion?" Nora looked up at her. "My first use of magic was telekinetic. I moved on to my use of weapons and armor later." Erza's eyes glinted. "You rely a great deal upon your weapon, Nora. Perhaps a none-carrier, caster-type magic technique will give you the edge you seek."
"Like my Molding Magic," Gray agreed, crossing his arms from where he sat and looking at Nora intently. "My teacher, Ur, told me this: 'Among the many magics, Molding Magic is the magic with the greatest freedom. Each individual's Molding Magic is unique. Devote yourself, and seek out your own form'."
Nora blinked, then she looked away thoughtfully, humming. "It's a lot to think about. I haven't really added anything new to how I fight—aside from learning how to fight with others—in ages. It's not gonna be easy…" She looked up, smiling deviously. "But 'easy' really is no fun, anyway… I'll figure it out."
Let the good times roll.
Sorry this update took so long. School decided to hit me like a truck.
I tried to cover a bit more in this chapter:
- More development of Nora's relationships with Natsu, Gray, and Erza.
- Foundations for Nora's relationships with Happy and Lucy.
- Nora acclimating to her new circumstances and surroundings with and without help.
Really, this chapter was meant to cover a lot of things as it exists within a traditional stage of the series. The ending of Galuna and the Changeling episode really let me explore a few themes I thought could be interesting.
Nora's unease with electricity is going to have to be something for her to work against and push herself onward from, especially considering that she is currently on the bad side of a certain Lightning Dragon-Slayer. However, many of her allies are now aware of this unease and may start working with her in the future to try and help her get over her fear and recover her might.
I know that I created it, but I would die to protect the relationship Nora's fostering with Natsu and Gray. Our recovering Huntress found a hyper-sunshine-'be strong and hit stuff' bro and a snarky-dry-edgy-banter bro to look after and be looked after by, and that's fantastic.
Nora and Erza respect each other, but Erza is also well-aware that this girl has very Natsu-like tendencies which she really hopes are just part of a sense of humor and not actual intentions. Nora got Erza to say "ding-dong".
It was subtle, but after Nora let Happy perch on her once, Happy started perching on Nora without warning whenever she started closing in on herself and saying something to distract her from her thoughts. Nora's still not sure how this flying blue cat can talk, but she's not about to pass up on an emotional support Happy.
Lucy is an angel: kind and wise, but also capable of smiting. She's can be a little dramatic, but she's also really sweet and smart as well as determined and I wanted her to take one look at Nora's struggles and self-deprecating comments and say "not in my Fairy Tail guild". You love to see it.
Nora did some little odd jobs around town to start picking up some money for rent. I looked up online how much jewels were worth, how much Fairy Hills rent is per month, and how much each type of job tended to hand out and sort of went from there when designing the jobs and prices.
Nora's little hints of backstory came from pieces of Norse myth and little bits of what what we know about her and what we know about the world of Remnant so far. There had to be a bit of creativity and interpretation, but I really want to start developing this character and that seemed like a good place to start working. I kept it vague, but you can see the basic building-blocks of what's happening so far.
The end of the Changeling bit was just me having fun. They never explained what really happened or how everyone turned back, so I just turned it into a prank Makarov set up as his punishment for the Galuna group which got really out of hand. Nora being able to make sense of it because of her knowledge of the Remnant-equivalent of shitposts was totally not me giving up after reading the Changeling paper six times gave me a migraine.
Now... Nora's decision to try and learn magic.
This has been building up since Nora saw magic on Galuna Island and realized how out-of-her-league she was as a Huntress in a world of wizards, but this choice has a lot of serious connotations—especially considering where Nora is from and what she has faced.
How will I be exploring this in the future?
You'll just have to wait and see.
I own nothing. Please read, review, check out my other stories, etc. Thanks! :)
