In the newsletters, an interview by reporter Jason of Sorcerers Weekly Magazine stirred buzz nationwide. An exclusive glimpse of two geniuses in Phantom Lord's wings, one quiet and polite, the other being more outspoken and bold. It was a strange combo, but to the readers, only one thing in the interview caught their attention and held it in a vice grip.

Jason: Dead field?

Vera: It's the field Jose made for my training.

Training, that single word shifted the entire conversation around. It wasn't because it was unheard of for someone so young to receive training, even formal training; mages were supposed to train from an early age. No, it was the fact that Jose Porla, the Wizard Saint, was training this mystery child that popped up out of nowhere.

"Jose took on a student..."

"He must be a monster..."

"No way..."

"How did he convince him..."

"Maybe he bribed him..."

"Training under a Wizard Saint..."

"It's gotta be fake..."

"Aren't they usually reserved..."

"Maybe he's a relative?"

The theories and guesses ran rampant after the interview, half wondering if this was the sign of a new monster like Laxus, the youngest S class in Fairy Tail's roster. The other half believed there had to have been ulterior motives involved or even that the article was a hoax.

"There's no way a Wizard Saint is going out of his way to train a random kid."

To be trained by a Wizard Saint was an honor sought after by every mage in Ishgar at one point or another. That random kid who couldn't even use more than one magic had snatched that honor out of thin air; it was absurd. It baffled almost all readers, regardless of how they viewed the sudden news, and it wasn't even a full day before the shock shifted to bleeding curiosity. The readers were on their toes, waiting for more info to reveal itself on the boy that captured the attention of a mage who rested at the pinnacle of Ishgar.

"What's so special about him?"

Everyone wanted to know about Vera, the boy trained by a Wizard Saint, and as if to answer their prayers, a new article with a photo of the young man was released only a day later. He was well dressed and prepared for the swarm of reporters around him, nothing like the description from Jason's story had claimed him to be. At first glance, it could be assumed that Jason had mixed up the two boys, as Siegrain had done his extra interviews in dirt-covered clothes, unlike the sharply dressed fashionable teen previously described.

Nameless Reporter #1: Your friend told us he would bring you; we got his interviews earlier.

Vera: Fuck.

All those doubts vanished the second the crude boy opened his mouth.

Nameless Reporter #1: Um... sorry? Did you-

Vera: I said fuck, now shut up. I have to do something real quick.

The interview then describes how Vera seemingly held out an arm, and a pen and paper fell out of a shadow on his palm. The flabbergasted reporters described Vera's expression as a mixture of annoyance and what looked to be begrudging respect as he wrote down something on the paper, before he closed his hand, and the pen and paper vanished into the shadow on his palm.

Vera: There, that should be enough.

Nameless Reporter #12: Was that your magic!?

Nameless Reporter #5: Is it true that you don't use any other magic!?

Nameless Reporter #8: Sorry, but who were you writing to?

The reporters had swarmed the boy with questions the second they had the opportunity to. In the chaos, no one noticed how a portion of the boy's shadow seemed to separate from himself—crawling under the feet of the rabid reporters and blurring past the crowd to follow the train that had left the station.

During that time, the reporters hadn't given up their hunt for answers, but they slowed down as they saw Vera lazily glance past them. The boy they all sought an interview with gave an annoyed and resigned sigh as he put his hands in his pockets and spoke calmly, silencing the reporters with a single sentence.

Vera: I'll answer three questions.

Nameless Reporter #15: But your friend said you would do a full interview!? That Isn't-

Vera: My problem. First question: What are the next two?

This part of the article might have been the most entertaining. As the meaning of Vera's words settled in, silence had drawn over the whole crowd of reporters. Even more emphasis would be put on each question, and the journalists seemed to understand that wasting their questions would reflect poorly on all of them.

Nameless Reporter #13: Can- No, we'll talk about it and then ask you our questions.

Vera: Huh, you're smart. Okay, go ahead; I don't care.

This was a rare instance of reporters putting aside competition to get a good story out as soon as possible. The overnight celebrity known as Vera was under the protection of Jose Porla, and it was apparent the budding star didn't like the press. If he got Jose to run interference, they doubted they would get to talk to him again. If one of the reporters got greedy and messed up the few questions promised, it could close the door on all future attempts.

Nameless Reporter #17: Okay, we have two questions; I'll ask them.

The two questions they were asking had to be incredible.

Nameless Reporter #17: Why did Jose Porla choose to take you on as a student?

The first was obvious; it was on everyone's mind and had to be included in the conversation. Why did Jose Porla not only break his rule of not taking any members under 14 but then go as far as to take on one such recruit as a student? What made Vera special enough to catch a Wizard Saint's attention?

Vera: That's all?

The answer was both unexpected and intriguing at the same time.

Vera: Well okay, he told me it was because our magic functions are similar and that he figured I could learn more from him than anyone else.

Who knew, there was a boy with magic that Jose Porla had taken an interest in and one with magic similar to Shade Magic. Shade Magic wasn't unknown, but it was rarely practiced in Fiore, even less by light mages. While some might assume it was due to bias or intention, the reason was more practical than that: Shade Magic was seen as a bad investment for mages to spend their time developing.

Now, this wasn't to say that Shade Magic was weak; it was anything but; however, for Shade Magic to work, one needed a supply of ghosts to control, and said ghosts were usually sparse. They were beings of regret and personal attachments that couldn't move on, and they either lingered near people they knew in life or hovered in familiar locations. Collecting even a few dozen ghosts usually took the average mage a lifetime; the fact that Jose had collected hundreds, maybe thousands before his thirties, was one of the reasons he was so respected.

Knowing that there was a boy who might have done something similar was enough.

Nameless Reporter #17: Thank you for the comment.

The first question would keep people talking for a few days, leaving the journalists' chosen spokesperson with his second and probably final question of the day.

Nameless Reporter #17: As for the second question, what are your plans for the future?

The second question was a simple parting gift, a hook for readers so they could know what to expect from the boy from nowhere. When they asked his friend this question, he said he would be looking for something important but that he would eventually return to Oak Town and Phantom Lord.

Vera: The future...

Vera's answer was more specific.

Vera: Well, there's a few things but...

It was direct and spoken confidently, instantly reminding readers of the other young star in another guild who claimed boldly that he would take Fairy Tail to its highest point. Confidence that turned words usually saved for dreamers and hopeless romantics and spoke them into existence. Even with the boy sinking into his shadow a moment after he said them, the reporters knew his words would become a talking point for the public.

Vera: I'm waiting till I'm in S class to do them.

To the readers, it was synonymous with having a new racehorse to bet on.

Vera of Phantom Lord seeks to challenge Laxus' title for youngest S class wizard of this generation! READ how two Wizard Saint Legacies topped the charts in Sorcerers Weekly's new Rising Stars List!

"That isn't what I said..."

Vera grumbled as he tossed the article from yesterday's shit fest behind him. His mood was at its absolute lowest because A) He was still in the shitty clothes from the interview because Jose threatened to hang him if a lousy photo of him showed up in the newspaper, and B) he had given the press three questions, fucking three, and they somehow turned it into a national headline. Sorcerer's Weekly Rising Stars List, a group of thirty mages under 25 ranked by their popularity & power.

"This list is so bad..."

Vera was certain the popularity part of the list held more weight than the power part.

"How the fuck am I second?"

Vera was decent, sure, but he wasn't in S class yet. He definitely wasn't as close as some of the other articles made him out to be. There were a few people on the list that should have been above him, like Totamaru, who was actually fucking S class, or Siegrain, who he still couldn't beat in a spar. Not a serious one, anyways.

"Maybe they'd change their minds if they saw Siegrain's tear through the forest..."

Vera chuckled at the thought, his shoulders slumping with relief that he wasn't the object Siegrain had chosen to take his anger out on. Vera had seen the amount of space Siegrain had added to the training field; it wasn't small.

"Whatever, these lists are all stupid anyways..."

There were more floating out there than he could count: Hottest Bachelors, Cutest Couples, Hottest Models, Smartest Sorcerers, the list went on and on. Vera wouldn't waste his time lamenting that his interview inadvertently caused another one to be added to the list.

"At least now I can make fun of Siegrain for being ranked lower than me," Vera said with a slight smirk; his joy halted as he looked around the empty library and plopped his head down on the table he was sitting at. His sighs were dramatic and well deserved because he was bored and no one was here to help; Siegrain was gone, Doronbo and Pause were on a mission, and Aria still wasn't back from whatever he had to do.

I could ask Totamaru for a lesson...

It had been a while since Vera had gotten a sword lesson from Totamaru; now seemed like as good a time as any. Additionally, Wendy mentioned that he was on house arrest for a day or two to ensure the healing worked, so it's not like he would be busy.

Wait, that means I'll have to go outside... never mind.

Vera wasn't precisely 'incognito' at the moment; his face was everywhere. He was bound to get hounded by someone if he left the safety of the guild hall and its labyrinth of corridors that acted as the perfect security.

Well, that also cuts Sol out of it; he isn't in the guild hall either.

That meant the last person Vera could feasibly go to was Jose, and he was...

"Huh..."

Well, Vera didn't know where Jose was.

"Might as well kill time while Siegrain's gone."

Vera had nothing else to do; his best friend was chasing his brother, which would probably take a while. Maybe Vera should have been worried; a part of him was. If Siegrain found Jellal, it wouldn't end well, but he was confident it wouldn't happen. At least not any time soon; Jellal was hidden on a no-name island, Erza was the only one who could feasibly tell Siegrain where it was, and she wasn't going to do it with the hostages involved, and to top it all off, Siegrain was chasing Mystogan's trail.

Nothing terrible will happen if Siegrain finds Mystogan.

It would be awkward, sure, but Mystogan wasn't dangerous, not in the way Jellal was. Vera was okay with letting Siegrain chase after someone he knew wouldn't kill him, especially since it would buy time. Vera hoped that Siegrain would keep chasing Mystogan until they were in S class, but it should be fine even if he didn't.

Siegrain isn't dumb.

Siegeain was doing something stupid, but he wasn't stupid. Siegrain knew the risks, and Vera was confident he wouldn't meet Jellal unprepared, even if he somehow found him. That knowledge alone was enough to reassure Vera; it was the reason he only asked Sho to deliver the message in the first place.

"Thanks for that, by the way."

Vera glanced at a nearby bookshelf, his shadow nodding from it with a nonchalant shrug. Vera chuckled as Sho used shadow puppetry to comment on the little adventure their friend was going on. Silently saying the Siegrain was 'bound to get into trouble without them around.'

"Oh, come on, you're being a little harsh. It's not like Siegrain's reckless."

Sho leveled Vera with a skeptical look that even a lack of facial features couldn't hide.

"Ok, it's not like he purposely looks for trouble. Usually, he wanders into it."

Sho seemed appeased with that answer because, for the most part, it was true. Siegrain was a magnet for trouble; it seemed like any time they partnered, there was bound to be an altercation they didn't account for, like back in Monne or Oak Town.

"I'm sure he'll be fine this time."

Were Vera and Sho saying this to deflect the blame for some of their past run-ins with trouble, maybe. However, Siegrain wasn't here to defend himself, so they saw no harm in doing so. It wasn't like anyone was here to tell him-

"No rodent; I have to say you are the more troublesome one."

Vera and Sho flinched at the slightly amused drawl that cut through the library, the two turning back sheepishly after being caught by Jose, who had floated silently behind them. Jose's smirk only grew as he saw Vera coughed into his hand and muttered in a desperate attempt to change the topic, "What're you doing here? Don't you have babies to scare or something?"

"I can do that in my free time, or I would have if you hadn't given me more work."

"What're you," Vera's words stumbled as Jose tossed him the newspaper he had thrown away earlier. Vera caught it and raised an eyebrow as Jose merely hummed and held up a finger, "First, don't litter. It's unbecoming of my student."

"It's paper in a library; if anything, I returned it to its natural habitat."

"Funny, now secondly," Jose said sarcastically with a roll of his eyes as he held up a second finger. "You have to leave town for a while. At least until the guild masters conference. I don't care where you go; keep it in Fiore and out of my way."

"How am I in your way?"

Vera asked with a slightly offended tone. Jose sparred with him once a week, and even then, it was only for a couple of hours; even with the conference coming, there was no way Jose was that busy. He couldn't see why Jose would-

"You aren't; your pack of reporters pestering me for an interview are."

Oh, yeah, that made sense.

"They still haven't given up," Vera said with a frown, his annoyance stifled but not unexpected. After the interview yesterday, Vera thought he'd be free, but apparently, it wasn't enough for those bloodsuckers. The second they were assured that Jose wouldn't blow them to bits, because as much as Jose might have wanted to, he had an image as a Wizard Saint to uphold, they started scouring Oak Town. Vera was honestly worried they'd find his apartment soon, in which case he'd have to move, "Do they look like they're gonna leave soon?"

"No, half are asking around the guild hall, and the other half are interviewing the residents." Jose said with a slight frown, his eyes narrowing with a dangerous glint at Vera, who was the cause of all his current troubles, "All of them are getting on my nerves, and I can't give them a reason to leave while you're here. So you need to leave town or suffer through a couple hundred interviews."

"I'll leave within the hour."

"That's what I thought," Jose said with a silent smirk, tossing Vera a stamp with the symbol of Phantom Lord on its face. Jose idly floated around as he saw Vera's eyebrow raise in question, "What are you giving me this for? Siegrain isn't back yet."

"He's not, but I have a feeling he'll be preoccupied for a while, and I'll be damned if I let you sit in your ass waiting for him to get back." Jose said with a sneer, his amusement visible as he saw Vera click his tongue as he muttered in defiance, "I wasn't going to sit on my ass."

"Bothering me counts as sitting on your ass."

"Whatever, does this mean I can go on missions by myself now?" Vera said with the cut of a knife; his voice tinged with annoyance but more so interest because he'd never been on a solo mission before. Disregarding that Phantom Lord functioned using a partner system rather than a team system like in Fairy Tail, he thought Jose still saw him and Siegrain as too young to take on solo missions. After all, Pause and Doronbo were still under that restriction; Vera didn't see why his case was any different.

"Well, brat, if you must know..."

Jose said with an off-handed shrug, his eyes lazily gazing at the ceiling as he laid back in the air, like relaxing on a floating bed, "S-class mages are more likely to go on solo missions than others. There aren't many missions that would require two of them."

Vera furrowed his eyes in confusion, his eyes subtly widening in surprise as he connected the dots with Jose's bored drawl, "Since you and the other one are already separated, this is as good a time as any to get you two used to the expectations of an S class mage."

Vera blinked in surprise, unsure how to react because he wasn't used to Jose outright telling him how far he expected him to go. It was implied that Jose believed Vera would make S class, a return for his investments, but usually, Jose wouldn't say it out loud. Vera wasn't sure how to respond to Jose's expectations laid bare for him to see, spoken with a confidence that held no room for doubt.

"After all..."

It was almost like he was praising him...

"It would look bad for Phantom Lord's image if your big 'declaration' yesterday turned out to be a lie."

Never mind, he was mocking him, which was more in line with what Vera knew. "It wasn't a declaration; the press is just twisting my words."

Vera huffed and crossed his arms at Jose's smug expression, rolling his eyes as he turned and walked towards Sho, who was waiting by silently, "I already got a request in mind, but I'll pick up an extra one on my way out just in case. Sho will give you your stupid stamp back later."

"Wow, such reassuring words from a thief."

"Steal one box of clothes, and suddenly I'm a criminal for life," Vera muttered with a vengeance, stopping in front of Sho as he heard Jose's tone dip from banter to seriousness, "Word to the wise runt, you're now a celebrity whether you like it or not."

Vera could admit he sometimes thought Jose was talking out of his ass, but he decided to take this little parting lesson to heart.

"Don't forget about the target that paints on your back."

It sounded like he was speaking from experience, after all.

The train station was busy but still erratic enough that Vera could sneak past the few reporters there. His shitty formal clothes were still on his body, even though he should have been able to change now that he was leaving Oak Town. All because a reporter was camping outside of his apartment building and probably waiting to see a shadow blur into one of the open windows. It was a recipe for disaster if Vera had ever seen one, so he skipped the packing and headed to the train station.

I should have enough to make do...

Vera idly recounted the supplies he'd stored in his shadow space, a lot more than he originally expected. So far, he hadn't found a limit, but if he had to guess, that might be because it was more of Sho's limit than his. Vera was sure Sho was slowing down with each new object he put in the shadow space. That meant that instead of a regular requip space, which only had a size limit, Sho's world seemed to have a weight limit. The heavier something was, the slower Sho would go.

Matches. Check—canned food. Check. Sword. Check. Tent. Check—water bottles. Check. Rags. Check. Bandages. Check.

Still, it was barely noticeable, even with the necessities he'd put inside already. If Vera had to guess, his shadow space could probably hold a room's worth of stuff before Sho started slowing down enough for it to make a noticeable difference. Vera figured he was already on a closet full of just supplies he'd packed for emergencies and convenience.

"Ticket, please."

Check.

"Sure thing," Vera said as he let his ticket fall out of his palm, handing it to the ticket pleaser, who only quirked an eyebrow before shrugging. Checking Vera's ticket before Vera went on the train and claimed a booth for himself. A breath of relief escaped his lungs as he loosened his tie and slumped against the seat, glancing out the window as he waited for the train to start making its way out of Oak Town, "You think he'll notice Sho?"

Vera turned to Sho, who shook his head before pulling out a discontinued D-rank job request from the board. Sho tossed it to the trash near the corner of the cart since it wouldn't be helpful for them; they had just picked it so that if Jose found out, they could claim innocence since they technically weren't lying. They picked a job request on the way out; it just wasn't active.

"Well, that's good; now he shouldn't question it if we're a little late."

Vera smirked at Sho, who tilted its head back at him, his shadow hearing his silent request as it took out a flier for a C Rank Demon Extermination request. Vera grinned as he traced the stamped Phantom Lord logo on the front of it, "It's official, Sho."

Job request fliers were all magically linked so that when a guild stamped one, their mark would appear on them all. That way, any guild could see if a job request had already been claimed and avoid the possibility of two guilds taking the same mission. Now that they had stamped the flier, everyone would know that Phantom Lord had claimed the job request in Paragon.

"We're going to pay off our debt..."

The mission should only take a week at most, giving them an extra one or two weeks to see the city they had planned to visit. To know the guild Vera had wanted to join before he found a place for himself in Phantom Lord and the sleepy city of Oak Town.

"Then we're going to Magnolia."

One of the rising stars of Phantom Lord was making his way to Fairy Tail.

A/N: Hey guys, so just wanted to let you know that everything's good. Without going through specifics I'll just say that there was a medical scare in my family. Things got better though and are looking better so I'm back and still able to post. Weekly stuff should be back on track.

P.S. Might take a two week break or something in like February for midterms and all that - same for finals.

P. P.S. thanks for the comments, last week was shitty and they made it better :)