Siegrain dreamt of a white tiled ceiling and a dingy mattress to his back that never seemed to get any better. The air was stale and constant, and the grooves in the ceiling were the same as they always were.

So it's this one.

Siegrain let out a resigned sigh as he sat up, his expectations for a decent dream already gone because he knew she was bound to be here. She was always here to make his dreams a nightmare when he woke up.

"Hey Siegrain..."

Since reality would set in, and he would be reminded that she had long since died.

"How was your nap?"

"It was alright," Siegrain muttered as he got up and walked to his spot across from Seven. She was sitting in the center of their room on the cold floor because that's where there was the most space for their games. Her golden eyes watched his every step with a playfulness that only she could bring to the lab and all its horrors.

"Alright? You slept like a log."

"I don't sleep like a log."

"Sure," Seven said with a sarcastic drawl, chuckling as Siegrain pouted at her before tapping the ground across from her, "Come on, let's start. We should have an hour before my next practical."

Siegrain complied, because why wouldn't he, and sat crisscrossed before Seven. His eyes lingered on her for a few seconds before he lowered them, doing his best to hide his downcast expression as he asked, "Which game is it?"

"Tarantula."

"We haven't played that in a while."

"Perfect reason to play it now. Wouldn't want you getting rusty and becoming even easier to beat."

Seven's eyes twinkled with mischief as she saw Siegrain huff in annoyance. Siegrain crossed his arms and rolled his eyes in response to Seven's childish taunts and reasoning, glancing at the ground between them before nodding slowly, "Alright..."

Siegrain took a deep breath, soaking in the dream as he brought the magic to his fingertips. His eyes were dull and brown, contrasting with Seven's bright and golden eyes that constantly searched for a way to make everything brighter.

"Let's play."

He had never beaten her before she died, and he probably never would, even in this figment of his imagination, but that didn't matter, not to him.

"You seem confident? Are you sure you want to play like that? My records are already padded as it is."

Siegrain was fine with losing.

"I'm sure."

Siegrain would play and lose this game for as long as the dream allowed him to.

Wendy spent the first good morning hours catching up with all her friends. Every guild member in Cait Shelter asked her about her trip, and she got to answer each one of them about how incredible it was.

"They had a castle, and it was really pretty and tall."

"Really? Those old things," Pepe commented with a laugh, watching as Wendy nodded excitedly. Her mouth open to tell Pepe all about the castle at the top of Oak Town before she stopped, turning her head to the top of their cat-shaped guild hall, not as impressive as a castle but still remarkable in its own right, "Do you think Siegrain will wake up soon? It's been a few hours, and he knows more about the castle than I do."

"I'm unsure," Pepe said as she glanced at the threaded hammock hung up between the two cat ears of Cait Shelter's guild hall. The guild master had told her that Siegrain decided to sleep up there after they had 'the talk,' Pepe couldn't find it in her heart to say to the guest to sleep somewhere else. Anyone who had to listen to the guild master talk about the birds and the bees had her sympathy.

"We should just let him rest, Wendy. If he's still there, you can wake him up in a few hours."

Pepe turned to Wendy, surprised to see Wendy glancing down silently. Her fingers fidgeting in an obvious sign of unhappiness that Wendy's timid nature was too stubborn to voice.

"Hey Wendy, wanna tell me why you want to wake Siegrian?"

Pepe watched with a small smile as Wendy flinched, her ears flushing red as she glanced at the ground and mumbled under her breath, "I want to show him around Cait Shelter..."

Pepe let out an ah in understanding, her eyes softening as she kissed Wendy's adorable little head, earning a giggle from the girl. At the same time, Pepe murmured, "Well, that's wonderful," Pepe then sighed as she turned back to look at the hammock, hating to be the bearer of bad news but not wanting to watch Wendy get disappointed, "Although you know there isn't much he hasn't already seen from up there right?"

Cait Shelter is a little small.

Pepe lamented the thought while Wendy's mood sunk lower, her voice small as she kicked shyly at the dirt under her shoe, "I know," Wendy then stiffened, "I also promised to get him a gift," Wendy glanced over at Pepe, reaching a small hand out to her pants and tugging on them shyly, "Um... I don't know what to get him. Can you help me, please?"

Pepe smothered a smile as Wendy pleaded, not knowing that it probably only would have taken a word to get Pepe's agreement.

"Alright, did he say anything that might help?"

Pepe watched as Wendy's widened, a small smile on her lips before she pursed them in thought, her eyes furrowed as she looked down before looking back up at her with a small voice, "He said it couldn't be big because then he wouldn't be able to take it back to Oak Town."

"Well, that doesn't help our options," Pepe sighed because most of the things she could think of were more significant than a handbag. Clothes, animal skins, pelts, and quilts weren't small, and she wasn't sure if the boy would want them. Even the books were-

"Oh, he said he liked to read."

Well that was unfortunate.

"Wendy, I don't think the books would count as small items," Pepe said with a strained smile, giving a nervous chuckle as Wendy tilted her head in confusion before Pepe explained why Cait Shelter's books weren't exactly small, "They're from a long time ago, and from a people that were more," Pepe wanted to say isolated but she felt that was a little too on the nose, "traditional than others. The paper inside them isn't like other paper, it's made from papyrus. It makes our books thicker than regular ones."

"Really?" Wendy said with wide, curious eyes. Her hand going to her chin as she mumbled under her breath, "I never noticed..."

"That's because I read them to you, Wendy."

Pepe shook her head as playfully as Wendy's face flushed a new shade of red. Wendy's embarrassment cut short as Pepe snapped her fingers, "Oh, I got it!"

Wendy yelped in surprise as Pepe grabbed her arm and pulled her along with a gentle, firm tug, "I was going to teach you how to do this anyways, but now's as good a time as any."

"Where are we going?"

"The river," Pepe smiled as she watched Wendy's little feet move to their limits to match her stride, Pepe's voice cheery as she pulled Wendy out of the shelter and towards the familiar forests, "We need feathers, and that's where the birds will drop them."

Hopefully, they could be done by the time Wendy's friend wakes up.

Siegrain didn't know what to expect to wake up to when he set up his hammock the previous night. Honestly, he hadn't thought it all the way through; he just wanted to sleep under the stars after his conversation with Raubol, and that was the best place to do so. So he set up his hammock and fell asleep with little on his mind except that the stars shone brightly out here.

I am going to kill...

Maybe waking up to bird poop on his forehead was an act of karma.

That stupid bird.

Siegrain narrowed his eyes, using a sleeve to wipe away the bird poop as he stood up from the hammock. Using a hand to dismantle the threaded hammock and another to mold it into a new bow, an arrow was already in his grasp as he aimed it at the sparrows flying overhead. His mind calmed, and his muscles relaxed as he pulled the bowstring back to his ear. "Just a little bit more..."

Siegrian let his eyes trace the sparrow as it started circling, flying in a path away from the guild and right into how his arrow would fly in.

There-

"Oh? Are you going to hit it?"

The old and amused voice cut through the air out of nowhere and his concentration melted like butter, prompting Siegrain to let go of his arrow early and watch it miss its target.

How does he keep doing that?

Siegrain was getting tired of Cait Shelter people popping up out of nowhere. If he wasn't so pissed at missing his shot he would have threatened Raubol for an answer, instead he could only flick his eyes back with annoyance as Raubol laughed, "Good aim, kid!"

"I was going to hit it."

"Of course you were," Raubol said with a chuckle, ignoring Siegrain's flared nostrils as he patted the boy on the back and spoke with an amused expression on his face, "Anyways, now that you awake, you want to see what Wendy's been making you? I think you'll enjoy it."

"She made me something?"

"Of course, she said she would get you a gift, right?"

Siegrain kept a poker face as he mentally cursed because he forgot about that little agreement from the train ride. His internal dilemma was shelved for later as Raubol tapped him on the head with a wooden cane he had gotten from who knows where, "Oh yeah, before that, I also have something to ask you."

Siegrain tilted his head, watched as Raubol coughed into his fist, and spoke with a slight, almost sheepish glance, "As a guild master, I'll be the first to admit that our guild isn't the most popular-"

"99% of people I've met so far don't think you exist."

"Regardless," Raubol said with a dismissed wave of his hand, using his illusions to create a map of Fiore with Cait Shelter marked as a star near Fiore's eastern border, "As a humble guild, Cait Shelter doesn't get many jobs requests. So I was hoping you'd be willing to take Wendy on one."

Raubol watched as Siegrain considered his request before snapping his fingers and having a red circle envelop the forests around Cait Shelter, "Close to home, preferably? We just got Wendy back; it would put us all at ease if she didn't go too far."

Raubol chuckled nervously as he let the map fade and watched Siegrain think over his offer with a frown, the teen opening his mouth to argue that he technically wasn't even supposed to be here alone, much less on a mission, before Raubol cut him off, "I already sent you're guild master a letter asking permission. I'm sure he'll agree and send one back within a day or two, you know, as repayment for sending little Wendy over to heal his two S classes."

Ok, well, that changed things.

"I guess that's fine then," Siegrain said without much resistence. If the guild master allowed it, there wasn't an excuse not to do it. Besides, for Wendy's sake, he had already planned to stay for a day or two, even if the Jellal lead hadn't planned out. He didn't mind making it a week if it was to take Wendy on her first mission, he'd do that for her.

"I'll take her on a mission."

"Wonderful!" Raubol slapped Siegrain in the back a couple times in approval, ducking under the elbow thrown at him in retaliation as he chuckled and walked towards the edge of the roof, "Come on, if we hurry, we can sneak up on Wendy and Pepe before they finish."

"Aren't you too old to be playing tricks on people?"

"I'm a master of illusions, kid," Raubol said with a smile, letting Siegrain's eye-roll bounce off his thick skin as they jumped to the ground and headed towards the sewing huts, "Tricks are all I know."

"Wendy will still notice it," Siegrain said with a blatant disbelief in the guild master's words, because Wendy was a dragon slayer. Her senses were better than the average mages; run of the mill illusions wouldn't work on her, she'd notice something was off.

"Oh ye of little faith."

That didn't seem to stop Raubol from confidently walking towards the hut on the edge of the village. Siegrain's eyes going wide as Raubol snapped and a cloud of mist enveloped them, before refracting to mold their image into the environment so it was like they were nothing but air, "Just watch..."

Siegrain really didn't want to admit it to the old man, mostly because he found Raubol a tad annoying; but it really was an impressive feat.

"You might learn a thing or two."

Raubol's illusions seemed to trick the world itself.

Wendy knew that people sewed in the small hut at the edge of the village, filled with wooden tables and spools of yarn and string. She had heard about it, but she had always avoided sewing there; the reason was pretty simple.

"Wendy, don't-"

"Ow!"

"Never mind..."

She wasn't good with needles.

"Sorry, Ms. Pepe," Wendy said with a pout, sucking on her bloody finger as Pepe sighed and took the needle from her grasp. Pepe frowned and watched Wendy shed tears while looking at the small wooden circle in her hands, "Hey, don't worry, Wendy. It's not like everyone can get it on their first try."

"But I-"

"BOO!"

Wendy shrieked and nearly fell out of her chair as the guild master appeared above the center of the room. Her eyes closed as she heard a punch followed by Pepe's angry voice, "Don't play any of your damn pranks when we're in here! Wendy could have been holding something sharp!"

"...yes, mam..."

Wendy peeked through her eyes to see Pepe chewing out Raubol, who was looking down guiltily. A flinch crawled up her body as she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see Siegrain looking over her blankly, "Good morning, Wendy."

Wendy blinked in surprise, "Good morning..."

Wendy looked around for a second, glancing past the arguing guild members as she saw the single door and the closed window. She couldn't help herself when asked, "How did you get here?"

I didn't even notice you.

Wendy tilted her head curiously as Siegrain let out an 'ah' in understanding, pointing to Raubol as he spoke with a begrudging tone of respect, "He did it. He used illusions to make us invisible when we entered the room."

It was impressive, if I'm being honest...

Illusions were common, even more so than thread magic, but he had yet to see any illusions as good as those of Raubol. Neither Wendy nor Pepe knew they were in the same room, even though Wendy's senses as a dragon slayer should have been sharp enough to notice something was off. Siegrain had waved his hand in front of her face and she hadn't even flinched; and Raubol had claimed that was an easy illusion.

I've never seen anyone even close to his level of skill.

'Master of Illusions' really didn't do it justice; Siegrain doubted he could find Wizard Saints as good as Raubol when it came to illusions. The guild master of Cait Shelter was just that skillful, and it didn't even end there. Apparently all of Cait Shelter was decent at illusions, although nowhere near Raubol's level. Raubol himself had mentioned during their 'sneak attack' that he taught most of his guild members illusion magic.

That explains why they keep popping out of nowhere.

Siegrain wasn't a dragon slayer, he could fall victim to decent illusions from time to time. Especially if those illusions were coming from people that Raubol had trained personally.

They must have learned a lot from him...

Siegrain sighed at the thought, his eyes lowered and expression downcast and quiet as he thought back to the skill needed to produce such an accurate illusion. To trick the sense of everyone and everything around him until even the world thought there was nothing but air.

He's an incredible mage...

A part of Siegrian was envious that he could make weak magic seem so strong-

'Don't worry about things you can't control'

Siegrain's dreary thoughts froze as Raubol's words from last night echoed back to him; at the same time as the old man himself yelped from the side of the room after a hit from Pepe, who seemed one step from starting a mutiny, "Stop goofing around and act like a guild master for once!"

"You know that's impossible!"

Raubol's childish whine cut through the room and cleared the rest of the muggy thoughts out of Siegrain's head. Siegrain's lips twitching as he shook his head and turned back to Wendy, his attention grabbed as he spotted the thin circle of wood in Wendy's hand. It was well carven and had holes in the sides of it, with a spool of string lying across Wendy's other palm and a few feathers on a nearby table.

"What's that?"

Is that the gift?

Siegrain tilted his head as Wendy flinched, nodding silently as she fiddled with the piece of wood and spoke with a timid voice, "It's supposed to be a dream catcher; there's supposed to be strings that run along the inside like a web to catch nightmares."

Wendy gulped as she let the hoop lay flat on her palms and mumbled, "But I'm not good with needles, so-"

"Can I see it?"

Wendy blinked in surprise as she looked over to Siegrain, who kept a blank expression as he held a hand out gently. Wendy looked at it briefly before quietly nodding and handing over the wooden ring with a defeated expression. Siegrain taking the ring and flipping it in his hands; he didn't really care about the whole dream part, since his dreams and nightmares were usually one in the same, but if Wendy wanted to make one he could finish it for her.

"Is it okay if I use my magic?"

Siegrain didn't know if there was a tradition involved with this or something; he didn't want to step on any more toes. Thankfully, Wendy nodded, and he smiled slightly before turning his head back to the hoop with a quick hum as he let his threads flow through his fingertips. Their path inched across the inside of the wooden hoop and connected through the opposite sides of the ring. Siegrain's eyes trained on the trinket as he let his threads slip through it seamlessly.

Like a spider's web...

Siegrain lost track of time as he let his threads wrap around themselves repeatedly into the dream catcher, which was complete. Lying in his hand with blue strings stretched across a brown wooden ring and the loose ends of the rope hanging below it so the feathers could be attached there.

"Wow, it's so pretty, Siegrain," Wendy said with a smile, pulling Siegrain out of his self-hypnosis. Siegrain gave a soft smile to Wendy as he nodded and tossed her the dream catcher, much to her dismay because she sputtered as she caught it with clumsy hands, "Wait! This is your gift! I can't-"

"It's fine."

Wendy paused in her chair as she saw Siegrain's eyes relax. Her previous worry at not getting Siegrain a gift was replaced with joy as she saw him take an empty wooden ring and move his threads through it just as he did before. The only difference was that this time, the lines were white, and this time, he had a slight, wistful grin on his face.

"I'll have plenty of time to make more."

Wendy couldn't have been happier knowing that Siegrain would stay with her for a little longer.

Somewhere between the woods surrounding Cait Shelter and the mountains bordering the country Seven, a figure cloaked in dark robes could be seen sitting on a tree branch overlooking a moonlit field. With the night sky overhead; he watched with his eyes hooded and face covered as he gazed down from a nearby tree, an apple in his hand as he watched a farmer wander the area. The farmer was spilling curses about how his cattle, his magic cattle that produced beef that tasted like honey could have disappeared in a day.

The figure took a bite of his apple before tossing it to the ground and standing on a lonesome tree branch. The wind billowed past him and the three wooden staves on his back as he glanced at the marks in the earth that littered the empty field. The swirling grooves dug into the dirt in various parts of the area, a mystery to the farmer who hadn't seen them a few days prior.

They're getting quicker...

The figure hadn't been able to prevent those grooves because he hadn't made it in time; they were getting too quick for him to keep up. What had once been one every month had quickly turned to two, then three, and now there was one every week, all in random locations around Fiore. There wasn't enough time for him to get to them all, and it wasn't hard to guess why.

This has to be his doing.

The figure clenched his fists quietly, his hidden gaze downcast as he stared at the grooves. Etching each one into his memory before he whipped his head towards the east, a frown taking his face as he realized where the sensation, where the next portals would erupt.

Of course, it's that place...

The figure sighed at his rotten luck; his gaze resigned as he took a handful of jewels from his pocket and tossed them down to the field. He took out a stave from his back and tapped it once so an illusion of a giant arrow showed up in the sky and pointed the farmer toward the jewels. The hidden figure hadn't been able to stop the merchant from losing his cattle, but he figured the gems would help ease his worries.

I'll have to be careful.

The figure revised his plans as he put the stave back in its place on his back. His eyes narrowed as he thought of the most pressing issue, which surprisingly wasn't the chance of being spotted by anyone in the guild he was trying to avoid. He was good at hiding himself; he always had been. It was even more simple in this world where people with his condition didn't exist. No, the issue was much simpler than that.

I need to pick a new name.

The figure hid well, but the information wasn't free, and neither was money. Unfortunately, he would probably have to talk with some townsfolk or travelers near that place to get an exact estimate of where the portals would appear. That meant he'd have to introduce himself, and the introduction he'd been using since he got to this world wouldn't fly.

I can't go around calling myself Jellal anymore.

Jellal had been holding off on changing his name for sentimental reasons, but he couldn't put it off anymore. It was bound to get back to her if he used it in a town near that place. Then he'd risk getting caught and dragging her into his problems, his family's problems. He wouldn't do that to her, especially since it was dangerous for someone with magic like her's to be anywhere near the portals when they activated.

Mystogan should be a good name.

Jellal had been thinking of it for a while now; he liked the name Mystogan. It came from a bedtime story he and his brother used to read back when they lived in the castle. It was a folktale that most people in Edolas knew about, with a benevolent king who sought eternal youth, an evil wizard who tried to take over the kingdom and was banished, and a servant who made a sacrifice even the noblest of knights couldn't make. They used to read it every night, and when they could, they would act it out, dragging one of the only friends they were allowed to have in that icy palace along to be the third member of their little play.

It fits, too...

No one would know about the fairy tale, so he figured taking Mystogan as his new name would be fine.

I'm practically banished anyway.

Mystogan gave a mirthful chuckle at the thought, shaking his head as he turned towards the east. Mystogan gave the field one last wistful glance before running through the trees, the moonlight catching his tufts of blue hair as he jumped from branch to branch.

Just seal the anima and leave.

It would be risky, but Mystogan was confident; he had the skills and the patience to pull it off without getting caught; that only left him with one problem.

I'll need to stock up on jewels at some point...

After giving the farmer the last of his jewels, he was very much lacking in the money department.

It's unfortunate that C-Rank was already taken.

Thankfully, some decent missions near Cait Shelter shouldn't be too hard to find.